Darker Water (Once and Forever Book 1) by Lauren Stewart
Genre: A standalone contemporary romance inspired by The Frog Prince
After another painful breakup, Laney Temple finally understands that love is a fairytale and sex rarely comes with a happy ending. She’s too busy for it right now anyway—she has a business to run, art to create, and candy to crush. Sure, eventually she’ll be ready to switch from her plastic-or-silicon lover to a flesh-and-blood one. But before that happens, she needs to be sure she won’t feel any of those annoying emotions that make her heart do things it wasn’t meant to do...
Like break
Carson Bennett is completely upfront about what he wants, and it has nothing to do with Laney’s heart. Her lips? Hell yeah. Other parts of her body? You better f*cking believe it. But her heart? Nope, not even a little. Until it does…a lot. But having feelings for someone isn’t allowed. It’s the kind of thing you’re supposed to push down deep and cover up with one-night stands, sarcasm, and booze...
Like secrets
Two people want the same thing—a commitment to nothing more than great sex in a bunch of different positions. Simple. Enjoyable. A win-win. Problem is, those two people have families and fears and pain that spill into every moment of their lives, control what they do and who they are. And if either Carson or Laney can’t free themselves from the past, they’ll both be pulled under by it.
Review:
I finished the book exactly ten minutes ago and I am still grinning. I absolutely enjoy contemporary romances, I mean who doesn’t? But this book was far more than that. It was absolutely hilarious, it was quick-witted, funny and simply beautiful. I had no expectations of this book and the author was completely new to me so I went in blind and it was an amazing read. Full five stars from me, I can tell you that in advance.
I fell in love with both of the characters. Laney (23) at the beginning of the book gets dumped by her boyfriend Kevin who cheated on her. From that point onwards Laney decides not to believe in relationships or princes anymore and stays a happy single. She is an artist who loves her job and lives with her roommate Hilary. Five months later she meets a gorgeous cocky Carson (25) in a café and he makes clear he doesn’t want a relationship nor love from her and she agrees because as stated earlier, she is over the whole love dilemma. And that’s how it all starts…
‘Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m about to do this. I stood grabbed my bag, and pushed past him on my way to the door. Then I turned around. “I think that was exceptionally efficient way to get me into your bed.” “Wow, great. Can you remind me what I said?”’ (LOL)
Their conversation to his apartment is so witty, their speedy answers and casual honesty had me grinning for like 70% of the book.
Laney might not be quite as ready for casual sex as she thinks once they arrive at his apartment, so she and Carson become friends. She needs to make sure she has absolutely no feelings for him before she’ll let herself get intimate. Their banter and talks of their feelings cracked me up - I was literally laughing so many times, I loved both of their personalities.
‘I spun my head towards Carson when I heard him yell “Don’t let her pay for that”, to the barista.
“If you buy a woman a coffee,” I said as soon as I didn’t have yell, “she might think it’s a date.”
“I take it back!” He pulled back, hands at two and ten. “That was a close one. Thanks.”’ (tehee)
Carson is the best type of hero. He’s smart, charitable, tattooed, sexy but he does have a slight troubled past which the reader learns more about in the second half of the book. He was incredible in how he handled Laney and freed her to simply be herself. They were fabulous together. Laney was one of those heroines you can’t help but love, she was smart, independent, witty, emotional (loved the frog references throughout the book) yet down to earth but not unbreakable.
‘You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince.’ My mother’s favorite expression was completely wrong. If you kiss a lot of frogs, all you end up with is sore lips and a bunch of frogs.’
The first half of this story was funny, light and full of the best kind of sexual tension. I swear these two people meet and you start laughing really, the book completely pulled me in and I could completely relate to Laney and what was going on in her head. The book is written in dual viewpoints so one can also see what is going on in Carson’s head and his thoughts which I thought was great and necessary.
‘Since his place was between the restaurant and mine, he made me walk him home.
“I get a little nervous walking home alone in the daylight,” he said, getting up and tossing some cash on the table.
“At – what are you – six-foot-one, I can see why you’re so weak and frail. Don’t worry – if anything happens, just hide behind me.”
Thankfully nothing bad happened, and I delivered him to his building without a scratch’ (LANEY :’D)
The first half of the book is just about both of them becoming friends, having hilarious conversations, teasing each other, a relationship with complete honesty, no walls, no fronts, no subterfuge, they simply spend a great few months together as friends. The last half was a little different. We got to see more of Carson’s past. It was much more emotional and way steamier once Laney decides she is ready, it gets so much more intense and a little dramatic as well.
Can two people who have become best friends really have a relationship where no feelings are involved? And once those lines are crossed, is there any coming back from that? The book did remind me of the movie Friends with benefits but I thought it was funnier and there was a lot more build up to their relationship. This is what struck me the most – the whole build-up of the relationship was the best part. There was no instar-love or cheesy moments, it was honest and it may as well happened in real life – the main and supportive characters were THAT real.
Everything about this book was just perfect, the pace, their conversations, the jokes, the drama, the laughter, the heat, the angst, the romance – it never got boring at all and it was funny as heck. Lauren Stewart managed to write an engaging, flawlessly, heart-warming, successful romantic comedy – hands down to her.
This might be one if not the best contemporary romance book I have read. Pick it up and read it. You can thank me later! And for the record, I am still grinning. :-)
P.S: A big shout out to Lauren Stewart who briefly covered the theme domestic abuse in the book. At the end of the book she tells people who are in an abusive relationship that they are not alone and encourages them to ask for help or to call the National Domestic Violence hotline– I thought this was a great gesture and an important message.
5 solid stars. ✮✮✮✮✮
Memorable quote: ‘You never walk away from someone just once. Sure, the big dramatic one is important, but it's all the little ones before and after that really matter. Walking out a door and slamming it behind you is easy. Getting someone out of your mind and your soul... That's the hard part.’
