ARC Review: 21 Stolen Kisses by Lauren Blakely

Hold your horses, people! I've come to love this book so much and so are you! This is one book with so much feels and restraint and just every freaking thing you love from a love story. And this isn't your ordinary one!
Forbidden Love 
Musicals 
New York 
Second Chances 
Swoon-worthy Guy 

I was hooked the moment I started reading. A personal favorite of mine!








21 Stolen Kisses
Author: Lauren Blakely
Publisher: Bloomsbury Spark
Date of Publication: 26 May 2015
Source: From Publisher via Netgalley
When I first met him I resisted.

Like any forbidden love, I told myself he was a crush, and it would pass.

That was a lie. It never faded.

And I never expected he would fall for me just as hard.

There were so many reasons that should have kept us apart, least of all, the decade that separated us. Growing up in New York City, I learned early on that love is a double-edged sword. Love broke up my parents, love took away my friends, and love — the big, intense, never-been-like-this-before love — landed me in therapy. Now I’m heading to college, and it’s time to give love a clean slate again. But, can I really start over when he’s still in my life Because the one man I’ve always wanted, is also the only guy I absolutely can’t have…And he wants me just as fiercely.

Can I settle for anything less than the love of my life?

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Bloomsbury



Lauren Blakely


Lauren Blakely is an unabashed fan of clever jokes, toast, and good guys in novels. Like the heroine in TROPHY HUSBAND, she thinks life should be filled with hot men, cool clothes, and the kind of love that love songs promise. Lauren lives in California with her husband and children, and spends her days writing both true stories and make-believe ones.
Connect with Lauren: Twitter | Facebook | Website | Goodreads


*I received an Advance Reading Copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine and I was not compensated for this review.  I am in no way associated nor acquainted with the author and publisher.

Whoa, whoaa! Okay, I was a bit over the top there. But damn. You never really knew what hits you.
"As I read the words again, I can't help myself. My mind returns to him, the effects of the bike ride are washed away with words, I am thinking once more of the man I can't forget, the one who gave me flowers because he found the heart in one of them. I might keep company with cold, hard facts in my notebooks about my mother, but inside of me, in the places she can't touch, I know who I am. A purist. A lover of love. I adore love letters, and professions of love, and true, heartfelt moments when two people know they're meant for each other."
Kennedy is a seventeen year old girl who has issues that tainted her early life. Love is what she need to cure. Love is the cause that sent her to see a shrink and be on therapy. Pretty much love ruined everything, even the divorce of her parents. But if love seems to be the problem, the one thing that ruined her, how can she find love in the arms of the man she wanted to be with forever? I know. It sounds really forbidden, right? But it doesn't stop there.

I must admit, I have actually never read any book from Lauren until this. And this book actually has me looking up at her with such amazement and awe. I had never thought she was this good of a writer. Totally had me. Blown. Away. I can say this book meant so much to me and has a very special place in my heart. Lauren, can you sign my book when it's widely available? He he he. I have truly fallen in love with the story.
"I suppose it was his office where we came together. Ironic, because we never did business together, but in the safety of those four walls, we removed the biggest barrier—not age, not jobs, not station in life. But the physical presence of my mother."
This book is just painfully the sad reality of the current issues among people, among couples, teenagers, and pretty much everyone since this one tackles a very sensitive element of relationship. Some might say that age is just a number but when you consider the laws, it will be a long process to take all in.

The story takes place in New York where musicals and tv shows are a hit, where well-known actors and actresses live, and pretty much their daughters, too. Kennedy is a seventeen year old girl who has a lived a life of an actress's daughter and has ever since loved arts in many different ways because of her father. Her parents are divorced because of her cheating mom and since then, she has been passed, or when she decides to, where she stays the night. Her dramatic life leads her to Noah, her mother's best friend and agent. Soon she finds solace in his arms and you know what happens next. They kept their relationship a secret and no one should know then life gets hard. *coughs* Though, high-spirited, Kennedy gets the help of her shrink on a day-by-day basis. She's made her do amends to get on with life.

Noah, on the other hand, is just the sweetest human being I have ever experienced in this novel while I find Kennedy really strong and full of faith. Noah actually shows the patient, perfection of a man every woman needs. He's shown so much care for Kennedy, has been very forgiving, and just the perfect amount of person you'd want. Period. I can't even describe him perfectly because.Gaaaah. This is harder than I thought.

Anyway. Well, there's Lane, too, and he's a different story. He was the friend. He was sweet and understanding, and funny, too. Everything you ever wanted to find in a friend. He was the same-age friend she could lean on to whenever she needed one since they met each other while in therapy. I'm not gonna say more. I feel like I'm revealing so much after everything.
"'How long has it been now?' He scrubbed a hand over his jaw and swallowed. 'Three years.' Each word was a scrape. Dry and harsh. I wanted to take away the hurt, so I did the one thing I could do. Keep talking. About musicals. About art. About Patti Lupone. Until the raw edge left his voice."
The style of writing was a bit unnerving, though. The sudden filling in and shifts of the present to the past kind of sets the mood off of reading. Its a little disturbing but bearable in some way. I winged it away, anyway, I managed though and you can, too. And goodness, I'm not a big fan of such big words. Good thing the built-in dictionary on my kindle has been put to a good use. It's just putting up some time though. But thank you, the new words I have experience were put to good use. I've been practicing on using them each day.

This is actual madness that lures you to know more, how the story unfolds. It was similar to the book I have read and reviewed before, though that was a teacher-student relationship gone wrong. It was sad. It felt hopeless. It wasn't a happy ending. There were no happily ever afters.  But this one sure had hope written all over it. I actually wanted to make sure that it ends on the right path, so I cheated my way and see how it ended while just barely halfway through the book. Soothed my nerves like chamomile. It's actually realistic how they take things slow and sweet and careful. I am experiencing a not-your-ordinary-type- kind of romance story in here. Truly, this is not the kind of story you'd want your mommas to read. This is significant. This is highly incomparable to the stories I have ever read. It is unique in its own way. I love it. I might have just experienced a beautiful book that has made its way to my top recs. Truly lovely.
"They say time heals all wounds. But does it close the gaps too? Maybe it can. Maybe in a year it turns an eight-year time gap into dust. Maybe it turns a girl who didn't know what she wanted into someone who became certain. Maybe it turns twenty-one stolen kisses into endless given ones."
It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful this novel is since it has been through so many ups and downs before publication. I can't wait to actually get my hands on the physical copy because it is really. Just. Beautiful. And. Poignant. Having the opportunity to read and review this was more than a blessing. I love it! It encapsulates love in a different way, see through things, feelings and the bunch. People, you might want to try reading this book and look around, look at life differently. Look at love differently, big time. Love is not about age, or height, or physical appearances. It's about feeling and experiencing and time. You never know when you have it. I dare you to.


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