FMR Book Grind: Claiming Serenity by Eden Butler

Title: Claiming Serenity (Seeking Serenity, #3)

Author: Eden Butler

Genre: NA | Contemporary Romance

Release Date: December 22, 2014

Synopsis:

She left glitter in his AC vents. He put green dye in her conditioner.

She buttered his bathroom floor, and he kidnapped her precious puppy.

Layla Mullens hates Donovan Donley. His crude language, his wide shoulders, his crystal blue eyes...she hates that she can’t stop herself...from kissing him or landing in his bed.

And Donovan Donley wants nothing more than to knock Layla off her princess pedestal. He hates her stuck up attitude and her soft, tempting lips. He especially hates that her father is his coach.

But he’s fine with their arrangement—act horrible to each other during the day, attack each other naked at night. It works.

But one night changes everything. When Layla doesn’t show, and Donovan’s cold bed stays empty, the lies he tells himself to keep Layla out of his mind aren’t enough to keep him from missing her. And needing her. Something he promised himself would never happen.

The white flags in their prank war have been lowered but their high stakes battle has just begun.

Review by: Fidah

Claiming Serenity is the third book in the Seeking Serenity series. The book can be read as a standalone but you will be spoiled for the previous books. Personally, I read this book without reading the others in the series and it wasn’t hard or confusing to follow.

The book follows Layla Mullens and Donovan Donley whom knew each other since they were young due to their fathers. However, they don’t get along with each other. They’ve disliked and pranked each other for years. It wasn’t until one incident which sparked their intimate relationship.

I wasn’t expecting myself to be connected to the characters as much as I did. It surprised me, honestly. I was so engaged and enraptured by the writing, the story as well as the characters. I was hooked right from the beginning. Not only was the plot interesting, it had great development as well. I literally couldn’t put the book down.

Needless to say, the book was heavy on romance, which I did not mind one bit. It also tackled family problems as well. The chemistry between our two main characters was very intense, not only sexually but out of the bedroom as well. Their attitudes and the way they behaved.

In short, this was one of the best new adult novels I’ve read this year. It has its faults, like every other book but I enjoyed the whole book from beginning to end. I was in a minor reading slump but this book got me out of it almost immediately. I’m definitely reading more books written by Eden Butler.

5 Stars

Review by: Leeann

This is about 2 young single people who honestly think the world revolves around them.

Donovan and Layla hate each other. They go out of their way to antagonize, taunt and torment each other. Unfortunately they have the same group of friends and go to the same school so they can't avoid each other. They are often in the same place at the same time.

Then one night everything changes. They find themselves in a situation neither of them wanted or ever thought would happen.

They become friends with benefits. They agree to keep it a secret. They tell no one, not friends or family.

But then things change and they find themselves having to make life altering decisions and neither of them know what they want or what to do.

They find themselves thrown into a situation getting to know each other better than ever before. This brings about a lot of realizations and revelations that add to their confusion.

This is one of those books that I think should be circulated into senior high schools and into college and universities. It shares a valuable lesson in how one spur of the moment decision can change your life and how sometimes you find yourself having to make huge decisions that can change your future forever.

It also tells a story But how life doesn't always revolve around you, there are other things going on in people's lives that are bigger than what is going on in your world sometimes.

This is a good read, I really enjoyed it.

4 Stars

“You’re disgusting,” she told him, but her voice carried no venom.

“And you’re a complete and utter bitch.”

She wanted to hit him. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted Donovan to do something, anything but glare at her the way he was. And then, before she could think which she wanted more, Layla got her wish.

His mouth was controlling, consuming, teeth against her bottom lip, opening her up to the invasion of his tongue. It was warm, thick and she felt it all over her body, with every thrust of his mouth on hers, with how tight his fingers pulled and squeezed her ass. Donovan wasn’t gentle, wasn’t sweet. This wasn’t a kiss that was meant to be tender. This was a full bodied, take control kiss and Layla had no idea why she wasn’t resisting, why she liked it so much. But she didn’t resist, and she did like it, so much. Too damn much.

She moved her hand, curling her fingers into his t-shirt, let a low, soft moan work up her throat and she didn’t think about how much she hated him, how surely, kissing Donovan should repulse her, that the idea of Donovan doing anything remotely sexual had always repulsed her—hadn’t it? —but his tongue battled against hers, obliterating her thought. Caught in the fray, Donovan pushed his hands into Layla’s ass and that deliciously hard erection pressed against her. Layla was lost.

For a moment.

Her thoughts were warring, scattered telling her how stupid she was being, reminding her that she had a backbone, that she hated, hated Donovan and no matter how incredible his mouth and hands felt, she could pull away from him. Any minute now.

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Eden Butler is an editor and writer of New Adult Romance and SciFi and Fantasy novels and the nine-times great-granddaughter of an honest-to-God English pirate. This could explain her affinity for rule breaking and rum. Her debut novel, a New Adult, Contemporary (no cliffie) Romance, “Chasing Serenity” launched in October 2013 and quickly became an Amazon bestseller.

When she’s not writing or wondering about her possibly Jack Sparrowesque ancestor, Eden edits, reads and spends way too much time watching rugby, Doctor Who and New Orleans Saints football.

She is currently living under teenage rule alongside her husband in southeast Louisiana. Please send help.