Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing for a gifted copy of this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Yours to Keep doesn't come out until the fall but as soon as I got a copy, I knew I couldn't wait that long to read it. Pro baseball player Carter Ramsey is about to be Citizen magazine's Man of the Year, but due to his recent injury his career may be over, so he goes to his hometown to recover and sulk. A perfect distraction comes in the form of Olive Dunn, his old high school lab partner, who is as quirky as ever and she happens to live next door. As they develop a friendship, she's determined to not fall for his charm and be left in the dust when he leaves town again.

Lauren Layne is one of my favorite contemporary romance authors and she didn't let me down with Yours to Keep. This book is fast paced, well written, funny and swoon worthy. I blew through it in 2 sittings. I loved how Olive always put him in his place when his ego gets a little big. And Carter is adorable and super sweet. The story not too angsty but still has enough to make you ache a little for them. It totally reminded me of Josh and Hazel by CLo. And it's a standalone novel so you don't have to pick up the first to get into the story!

This is the first book I have read by this author and i received an early copy from NetGalley. It was wonderful. The characters were great, the banter sweet yet smart and overall, I really enjoyed watching Olive and Carter falling first into a fantastically fun friendship and then into love. This is a slow burn romance but I think that just the progression of their relationship was the most fun of all to witness.

Carter goes back to his hometown to attend his high school reunion. As a baseball player who is I hired, he is questioning himself and he wants to see if he can find himself when he goes home, perhaps through reconciliation with an old girlfriend. But when getting there, he gets reacquainted with his old lab partner, Olive and it was a funny meet-cute. I loved how boisterous and fun Olive was- she encompasses my favorite characteristics, making no apologies for her loud laughs, zest for life and geekiness. carter is more serious but Olive brings out the best in him. This is a light hearted, fun romance and I will be searching for more books from this author.

This has probably been my favorite of Lauren Layne's series to-date -- and Book 2 absolutely keep that feeling going. It was so refreshing to have a series with a link to the previous book but a totally new cast. Just finished it and already looking forward to the final book in the trilogy!

I click on Lauren Layne books without hesitation. This one was a slow burn romance between two old schoolmates who didn't expect to fall for each other. Even though I found that Olive was sometimes a bit much, she grew on me in the same bit by bit way that the book developed. I also liked the realistic way her relationship developed with Carter, two people who knew each other on a superficial level, peeling back layer to reveal their deeper selves that were actually meant for each other.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I can always rely on Lauren Layne for a fun and sexy romance. This was perfect escape. I am looking forward to reading more in the series.

What a fun book! Carter is every book boyfriend and I loved that Olive is not your usual romance novel heroine. Their story was fun and yet had enough angst to make me want to see how it ended. Lauren Layne rarely fails me, and she hit this one out of the park. One of my recent favorites.

Dialogue-driven with the reminder that some kind of magic can happen in small towns, Lauren Layne’s ‘Yours to Keep’ is very much the light-hearted, though slower-paced type of romance that readers could expect and a sort of high school friends-to-romance trope. And it all gets rolling into action when an injured star baseball player goes home to lick his wounds and ends up meeting an old lab-partner that is furthest from his type.

Layne’s ‘Man of the Year’ series not as much of a standout as I’d hoped it would be so far: Carter Ramsey did feel and look like one of those self-entitled and self-absorbed characters—despite holding the title of the small-town boy having made it big—with a cocky edge that made him more smarmy than cool.

The saving grace perhaps, is Olive Dunn, who is a different sort of heroine from the start: one who goes the opposite way of hot or gorgeous or beautiful, and consciously staying in that state instead of conforming. As a teacher in a small town, squaring up to Carter in her own way is an interesting one though most of it is through a familiar ‘multi-hatted’ pedagogical combination of being teacher-bossy, showing a little high-handedness and having a counsellor’s listening ear.

Both are probably on paper, characters who would meet, maintain a superficial friendship and go their separate ways (which was really what happened in high school) and at times, it does seem as though Layne is dragging out the small-town familiarity just to carve these very different characters into a couple. For that reason, the middle sags a bit with much ado about nothing and keeping my mind stayed on it without much forward momentum had me drifting…a lot.

There’s of course some odd drama to do with a high school ex and the expectation that Carter would head for a different reunion of his own, but Layne does round it all up with a solid heroine whose practicality somehow trumps the idea of ’star-crossed’ lovers. In short, ‘Yours to Keep’ isn’t really a favourite, but it’ll be one that fans would nonetheless appreciate.

This was an interesting story. I kinda felt the description of the book doesnt do a good job of describing it. That said it is well written. I would have enjoyed it more with a lot more romance but it was still a good book. I felt it suffered because of a love triangle and so the author was not able to have as many romantic scenes as maybe this book warranted.

This is the story about a baseball player in NYC who is grounded with an injury. He decides to go back to his small town in New Haven for a 10 year reuinion and tyo see family and friends. His sister gets him a home to rent for the month next door to his old high school lab partner, Olive. However she gets him to go there by telling him he can see his high school sweetheart, Felicity who is now divorced.

He goes back home and he rediscovers his hometown and becomes very close friends with Olive, so much so that stops thinking about F and instead gets very close to Olive. He and F promised each other if they were single 10 years later they would marry. So this story has a bit of a love triangle even though Felicity is only in a few scenes.

I HATE love triangles. For many reason but one is it hinders the love story between the main couple, as it did here. Carter is very honest with Olive about his feelings and relationship with Felicity and so it hinders her feelings for him as well. In this case the love trinagle hurt the story ALOT and did not really make it better in my opinion.

I also wanted more of the story and seeing Carter and Olive after the love triangle ended and I did not have that either. We see the story in an 8 years later scene but I really felt like I wanted more of this couple in the present.

The Man of the Year angle was a sentence here or there and Carter does something cute with it near the end but it really did not feature much in the storyline here. This was a good story I just wished I had known it featured this love triangle and how little of Man of the Year was featured in the storyline.

I personally love Lauren Layne's love stories but this one is different from the previous book in the series. It's more down to earth but is filled with Layne's signature humor and witty dialogues that made me swoon. This one can't be put in a second chance romance category since the main characters were not involved in the past. But they are certainly involved now and it's about to get complicated since live very different lives.

The plot is interesting and refreshing. A pro baseball athlete and a high school teacher are as opposite as they get but they simply can't seem to stay away. I was in love with both of them. Carter and Olive are a case of opposites attract. There was nothing in common between these two but a chance meeting at high school reunion made up for a great book. I couldn't put it down and finished it in one go. The banter was engaging and flirty and it was one of my top favourite books by Layne. The supporting characters are equally good. The meddling mother and sisters and the small town theme made this a very enjoyable read. The chemistry was hot and I can't seem to get enough of their flirty banter. Though every story has its ups and this one was no different but all's well that ends well and this one has a near perfect ending.

It mostly takes place in small town rather than in Manhattan like the previous book. So it is a bit less high profile but no less charming. If you are a Lauren Layne fan or love cute rom-com's with great characters and flirty banter then it's a must for you. I am really looking forward to the next book in the series and I highly recommend it too. Hope you all love it as much as I did or may be more lol.

Olive Dunn is happy with her life as it is, she's the science teacher at the local high school in the small town where she grew up. Living on the edge of town next to an empty house she doesn't even have a neighbor to bother her until Carter Ramsey returns. The injured pro baseball player is almost exactly how she remembers him from their lab partner days 10 years ago. Forced together to work on the upcoming 10-year reunion, Olive's pretty sure she can resist his charm, especially since he's actually back in town to reconnect with an old girlfriend.

Yours to Keep is a sweet quick read with very little angst and some laughs, a slightly slow burn. There was nothing super amazing that stuck out to me, I like that it's a small town, I also liked that Olive is not a tiny woman, it also gets an extra point for the epilogue being 8 years in the future instead of 6 months. If you're looking for a quick easy distraction that won't break your heart, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book a lot, but I didn’t quite love it as much as Lauren Layne’s other books.

After suffering from a possibly career-altering injury, MLB player Carter Ramsey discovers that he lacks a personality. His entire life has been baseball, and now with that out of the equation, he has no idea who he is. So, he decides to head back to his hometown for his high school reunion, where he hopes to run into a familiar face that can fill the void in his life…he does. It just isn’t the one he expects.

I enjoyed the overall story. I liked the setting. I loved the characters…but on their own.

Olive is an amazing heroine. I applaud Lauren Layne for writing such a brilliant female protagonist. She is tall, physically strong and loves being ‘built like a viking’. That in itself is so rare to find in this genre, where most women are either slender, curvy or overweight. There isn’t much in between. It’s also so rare to find a woman who likes working out…it seems most heroines LOVE eating but rarely ever go to the gym to justify their frames. It’s just unrealistic for women to read as it is for them to watch in films. So, kudos to Layne for this.

Also, can we please applaud the creation of a nerdy heroine who doesn’t hide behind her tortoise-shell glasses? It’s nice to have a confident woman who is smart, outgoing and funny. Look at that, women can have facets to their personality…shocker!

Carter is a pretty typical All-American guy. Despite his pro-athlete status, he’s humble and a little unsure of himself. I’m glad we’re getting more and more heroes in this genre who stray away from the ‘Alpha’ trope. It’s nice to see a rich, successful guy, questioning himself and trying to figure life out.

Together though, these two seemed like platonic best friends for most of the story. I kept hoping that there would be a moment that would push them past that threshold for me, but it never really came. There wasn’t any spark. It just seemed kind of…there.

I think what really put me off with the story was how little we saw of Felicity. She was the whole reason he came back to town. It was such a big part of the plot early on, and I felt that it became an afterthought. I would have liked the conflict to be the presence of Felicity, not the other stuff. The fact that she was conveniently out of sight for a good chunk of the book when Carter was stuck with Olive, then when she shows up, she’s given all of one chapter…it didn’t make sense to me.

I felt like a lot of little plot points started off strong but kind of unravelled somewhere along the way. Whether it was the planning of the reunion, or Felicity, or the Man of the Year magazine - they could have been more pronounced. The most we got was the baseball game, which was really well done, and one of my favourite parts of the book. I love reading Lauren’s baseball scenes - they were such a treat in the Stiletto series.

I think the scenes between Carter and Olive kind of bled into each other and didn’t really create a distinct arc to map out their journey. There was no particular scene that I can point out to as the turning point, or particularly cute.

I liked the small town vibe. People were generally quite nice, and I enjoyed getting to know the side characters. The ending was adorable, and I think the ‘gesture’ really bumps this book up a star.

Here’s the thing, I liked all the individual elements of the story a lot. I just think there was one or two ingredients that could have really kicked it up a notch and made this a truly memorable story.

A huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read and review this book early.

I personally love Lauren Layne's love stories but this one is different from the previous book in the series. It's more down to earth but is filled with Layne's signature humor and witty dialogues that made me swoon. This one can't be put in a second chance romance category since the main characters were not involved in the past. But they are certainly involved now and it's about to get complicated since live very different lives.

The plot is interesting and refreshing. A pro baseball athlete and a high school teacher are as opposite as they get but they simply can't seem to stay away. I was in love with both of them. Carter and Olive are a case of opposites attract. There was nothing in common between these two but a chance meeting at high school reunion made up for a great book. I couldn't put it down and finished it in one go. The banter was engaging and flirty and it was one of my top favourite books by Layne. The supporting characters are equally good. The meddling mother and sisters and the small town theme made this a very enjoyable read. The chemistry was hot and I can't seem to get enough of their flirty banter. Though every story has its ups and this one was no different but all's well that ends well and this one has a near perfect ending.

It mostly takes place in small town rather than in Manhattan like the previous book. So it is a bit less high profile but no less charming. If you are a Lauren Layne fan or love cute rom-com's with great characters and flirty banter then it's a must for you. I am really looking forward to the next book in the series and I highly recommend it too. Hope you all love it as much as I did or may be more lol.

Happy reading!

A big thank you to NetGalley and Montlake Publishing for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This is book 2 in the series, but it reads great as a stand alone. I really enjoyed this book. Carter and Olive have good chemistry, and a common goal. I found this to be a fun entertaining book. Well worth the read. 4 stars

Thank you @netgalley for a copy of Yours to Keep. I zoomed through this book in a day and did not want to put it down. I love banter and chemistry between Olive & Carter. This is second book of Man of the Year and is a stand alone.

Sports romance mixed with small town? Sign me up! This book delivers for fans of both genres. Carter is the biggest name in baseball. He's won every award there is and is at the top of his career. A serious injury has sidelined him at the same time he is about to be named "Man of the Year" by a national magazine (think - Sexiest Man Alive from People). After reading the article, which focuses only on his baseball achievements - he is left wondering what is left for him after baseball?

Olive is a hometown girl - she is a biology teacher at the local high school and loved by pretty much everyone in town. She and Carter were science lab partners in high school - but otherwise didn't interact much. Carter was in love with another girl (who even made a marriage pact with). Olive is confident, kind, smart, and has a brash personality that pretty much takes over every experience and place she goes.

Carter is quieter and intensely focused. His focus on baseball hasn't left room in his life for anything else. When he and Olive meet again he isn't at all sure what to make of her. Neither of them is looking for a relationship or even really considering one. They are definitely a slow burn - and watching the banter between them is adorable and sexy.

I loved watching Carter figure out that what he has isn't really what he's needed or wanted all these years. And the epilogue produced some serious tears for me.

This was a great, happy read with a minimum of angst. It is only loosely connected to the last book in the series so no worries if you didn't read that one first.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are all my own.

Lauren Layne always writes a fun story. Great characters, witty sexy banter and a happily ever after. What's not to like? We always buy her books for our library.

Carter Ramsey is a profession baseball player, but suddenly he has a whole lot of time on his hands. You see, he was recently injured and now he's contemplating his life choices. He had imagined at this point in his life he would have been married, maybe with a couple of kids. Instead, he's featured in Citizen magazine in the Man of the Year article. Carter wishes to change a few things about his life and so decides to head back home to Haven for his 10 year high school reunion hoping to reconnect with his high school sweetheart.

Olive Dunn has continued living in Haven even after high school was over. She's a biology teacher in the local high school (same high school she went to) and loves her job and her small town. She lives on the outskirts of town and doesn't expect any new neighbors. That is, until Carter Ramsey strolls up next door. Carter and Olive were lab partners in high school once upon a time, but that was about it. Now they're back in the same time and end up co-chairing the high school reunion together.

I loved the banter between Carter and Olive! I was either laughing or had a silly grin on my face while I was reading this book. I absolutely love that the chemistry between Olive and Carter was gradually introduced to us. We got to reunite with these two as acquaintances, who then turned into friends, before the sexual tension started burning up the pages.

This book is low on the drama, but high on the feels. If you want a lovely romance with some sizzling chemistry then pick up this book. Although this book is part of a series, you could definitely read it as a standalone. Yours to Keep releases September 1, 2020.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.

Carter has had a great run as a pro athlete, but when he's injured he realizes that it might be time for him to retire. When his sister talks him into coming back home for his high school reunion, he ends up working on the reunion committee with Olivia, his old lab partner. Olivia is unlike anyone he's ever known and it's refreshing not to be treated like a celebrity all the time. As they get closer, Carter realizes that he is more than just an athlete and she's more than a friend. Enjoyable friends to lovers romance.

Three and a half stars.

Carter Ramsay is about to be splashed all over Citizen magazine as its Man of The Year, unfortunately he's also broken his arm and got some serious damage to his shoulder which may mean an end to his career as a professional baseball player. Bribed to return to his hometown by his twin sister with the lure of his high-school sweetheart, who herself is returning after her divorce from a Hollywood film director, Carter is feeling a bit sorry for himself.

Enter Olive Dunn, who lives in the house next door to the place Carter has rented for a few months while he recuperates. Olive has always marched to the beat of her own drum and she doesn't let other people define who she is. When she and Carter get roped into organising their school's ten year reunion they have a friendly bet to see who has the harder job, organising a party or playing a game for a living.

Olive isn't the ethereal, petite, model-type that Carter has dated in the past, she's brash, interfering, organising and strong. But as thy spend time together friendship turns into something else. But when Carter's first love returns to town will a decade's-old promise change everything.

Who doesn't love a small-town high school reunion romance? Especially when this time its the Prom King and the high school nerd. This was a break from Lauren Layne's more typical stylish New Yorker romances and I loved the slower pace, the gossipy town, the interfering family, the minutiae of small town life. And yet … I can't help feeling it lacked a bit of oomph, it was cute like a Hallmark movie but maybe (whispers) Carter and Olive were just too nice?

Overall, a cute slice of small town romance, makes you feel good and fun to read.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Lauren Layne’s second book, Yours to Keep, in her Man of the Year series is a departure in her typical lead male character...I believe this is her first foray into professional sports as her male character’s active profession. Nonetheless, Carter possesses what I’ve come to expect from Ms Layne in her main characters...a depth of personality and a generous heart. In Olive, as in all her female characters, you have a strong, yet identifiable woman, whose won your heart over after only a few pages...with Olive it was nearly from page one and the green glitter debacle. You can’t help but fall in love with this couple and even up until the extremely satisfying ending, you’re rooting for them to overcome any obstacles in their path to a HEA.

This ARC book was complimentary, provided by the Publisher and NetGalley. I am voluntarily providing my honest review.