Success. Willpower. Ruthless negotiations. Those are three things that have defined my name – Ryker Winchester. It’s what I’m good at. I always get what I want.
I was completely unprepared for Heather.
She challenges me and melts under my touch. She’s a feisty single mom, and I can’t get enough of her. The way she gives in to me is intoxicating, but I need more than hot nights and sexy dates.
… dates.
When she introduces me to her daughter, I fall for that little girl hook, line and sinker. No one has ever played me for a fool like that kid can do with a single dimpled grin.
I want to keep them both. I want them to be mine to love and to protect.
Heather doesn’t trust easily, but I’ll prove to her that we’ll have an incredible future together.
I’m Ryker Winchester and I’m relentless when I go after what I want.
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4.50 Stars
I haven’t read a lot of this authors books, but I know that everyone I have read or listened to I really enjoyed.
Ryker and Heather were just too cute together. After Ryker sort of saved Heather from her douchebag ex, he kind of wanted to know who she was or just find out if she was okay.
Heather wanted to check up on the hot guy who saved her from her ex and contacted the bar she was at. When they met they couldn’t deny that they had something between them. From there the story was so good. Ryker did everything he could to prove to Heather and her daughter Avery that he was the one for them.
Being a single mother isn’t easy and even harder when your heart get broken and you have not only your own heart to protect but also your daughters. So when she started seeing Ryker it was hard to let him into her life, but she can’t deny that he did everything to prove to her that he was the one for her.
I loved that Ryker never gave up on Heather, even though she had major trust issues he always made sure to romance her and take care of her and make her feel like she was the only one for him. There was no OW drama, it was just a lot to make Heather see that none all men are like her previous boyfriends. The Winchester family was awesome too, loved the interactions with them and so looking forward to the next book in this series.
I just loved Heather and Ryker’s story! Ryker is this amazing brother and man. But now he falls in love with a woman who has a daughter. And they fall for him right back. Just when Heather swears to her daughter Avery that it will just be the two of them after a bad breakup, here comes Ryker. He sweeps Heather off her feet. And Avery falls for him too. Just One Kiss is a wonderful story of finally falling in love with the right person and how wonderful it all can be!
This romance made me feel good and invigorated.
It’s got explosive chemistry and a wonderful couple.
The male character is a charmer, a family man and a hard-working suit, yet he has never been serious about relationships. That’s why his sisters are happy to tease Ryker for his unwavering intensity in his wooing of Heather.
On the other hand, she is guarding her heart after it’s been recently mistreated, and she has to think of her little daughter before jumping into an affair that could have no real commitment. But, oh my, the all-consuming seduction she is experiencing at the hands, smile, thoughtful plans and loving techniques of this man is powerful stuff.
I loved the way they meet, their playful banter, the amazing private event where so many tantalizing things happen. I enjoyed her job as well and how she conducts herself. Also, I liked how she thinks about what’s best for her life with all the problems and outcomes she has to juggle. That’s realistic and relatable on a character level.
The family scenes were really good in this novel about the Winchesters. Full of sibling support and good-natured teasing, they offer an insight of other characters and how they all interact with Ryker, what makes him so ambitious and reliable. I liked the tender and funny moments with the child, too.
The couple can’t fight their very hot attraction, and soon they are falling in love and holding tight to each other. I enjoyed everything and how their jobs and individual situations enhanced the tension at the end when it seemed their problems would affect their new bond. Luckily, it’s a whirlwind of romance and happiness that feels really good to reach. I never want to miss a book by this author.
I knew when ‘The Flirt’ fell it would be hard and fast.
Ryker and Heather are the sweetest.
And Avery….. my heart broke for that little girl.
This story was just what I needed today – Low drama, high heat and so much swoon
Ryker went from flirt to swoony the moment he met Heather and I adored him all the more for it. As soon as he realized what he wanted he went all out and wasn’t going to let anything stand in his way.
Heather had all the reasons in the world to guard her heart and Avery’s but even the most guarded wouldn’t have been able to resist Ryker’s next level swoon factor. His interactions with Avery melted my heart every time and made me love him even more.
As always with Layla Hagan’s books there’s no over the top drama and an extremely close knit family that has you falling for them as much as the main couple.
Just when I think Layla Hagen can’t come up with a sweeter romance she hits me right in the feels with her latest novel, Just One Kiss. Ultra sweet, swoony af, and with a hero totally worth melting for, this is the kind of feel-good romance I needed right now. Seriously! And to top it off this story has a hero that will steal your heart, keep you blushing and leave you with a smile. GET THIS! 5 stars.
This is my first Layla Hagen read and I will be sure to pick up more. I enjoyed her sweet romance with a side of drama. Wonderful characters that pull you into the story and you feel like you are there sitting at the next table seeing it all unfold.
Ryker has always been the flirt kind of guy, it just comes naturally to him, even when he might not really mean it. He is confident in his career and loves what he does. His music and gig playing has always been a great stress reliever. Between work and his big family there hasn’t been much time for relationships but he has been fine with that. When a beautiful woman catches his eye, he never expected the feelings that seem to come at him like a barrel rolling downhill.
Heather finds herself once again picking up her pieces and trying to find a new normal for her and her young daughter Avery. Being a reporter it gives her flexibility to do her job when she can so long as she meets the deadlines and find the stories to keep her bosses happy. That gives her more time to spend with her sweet little girl. After this last heartbreak, she is more hesitant to trust men and that there is a happy ever after out there for them.
Ryker is persistent and not very good at taking NO for an answer. Will he be able to slowly break down the walls she solidly has built? Will he will the heart of a little girl scorned by people who always leave? Could this be just what they all needed?
A wonderful sweet romance to cuddle up and enjoy.
*** Advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review.***
This was a cute book, Ryker is swoon worthy. He is all flirty charm, with a dash of protective. He loves both and that’s always my favorite!
Book 2 in the Very Irresistible Bachelors series gives us the absolutely incredible Ryker Winchester aka The Flirt. We met Ryker in Hunter and Josie’s book and be seemed pretty determined to stay a bachelor yet the finance genius and sexy guitar player falls head over heals for single mom Heather and her daughter Avery. This is definitely and insta love kind of story. Not a lot a drama just a whole lot of love. I fell even more for all these Winchester’s. I hope we get to see Skye get out of her funk!
** I did receive a free advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review **
I received a complimentary ARC – early release copy of this book in Kindle format from the author for review purposes.
This was a really fun romance and I am really loving this series. Each book stands alone but also this is book 2 in the series. In this story we get to know Ryker, as he falls for single mom, Heather.
Ryker is a businessman but also he loves to play music at bars at nights. One night he sees Heather get dumped by her boyfriend and he fall pretty hard for her. Meanwhile she wants to thank him for the rescue and so they manage to meet up one night.
He is interested in her but she resists because she just ended a bad romance and she is a mom of an adorable daughter. But Ryker decides to go for friendship and he asks his company if she can interview them for an article she will write so she can make some extra money.
And that is how Ryker manages to spend more time with her and convince her to give him a shot. If you are looking for a sweet romance and you love single mom romance then you will adore this story. I loved Ryker, he is a pretty awesome guy and I loved Heather too and how honest she is with Ryker at all times.
Layla Hagen is one of my favourite authors. I know that every time I pick up one her books, I am going to finish it feeling happy with the outcome for the characters. One of the things I love about her work is that there is no real angst. The characters work together to solve the issues in their relationships, none of the breaking up and getting back together again and again and again that some books have. Another thing I love is the close family structures of her characters. The last few series have been based on one family of siblings and each make an appearance in each others’ books, and I love that with series. I feel like I can keep up to date with everyone else while reading about a new romance.
This story was no different. I loved Ryker and Heather, and we saw a whole new side of Ryker with Heather’s daughter. I can’t wait to read about the rest of the siblings.
Move over humor because the heart is cutting in. For every teardrop that threatens to fall there is a smile waiting to break though. Hagen keeps getting better with each story she writes. Heather is a dreamer with everything to lose. Ryder is a cynic with everything to gain. Just One Kiss strums a beautiful melody in a less than perfect chord. Out of tune, becomes unforgettable when emotions are allowed to show the way.
Overall Grade:
There is something special about Layla Hagen’s brand of romance. You can depend upon it to warm your soul. Since Hagen has moved into the world of the Winchester family, she shows what she does best: crafting stories with heroes and heroines that we can trust to get us to that happy ending with a little bit of strife, but a whole lot of loving. Hagen’s newest book, Just One Kiss, gifts us with all of that and more.
Using the single mother trope for this book, Hagen takes one of the Winchester family’s requisite playboys, the “flirt,” Ryker Winchester, and she places him directly in the life of her single mother heroine, Heather. As far as Ryker is concerned, it is “interest at first sight.” Heather finds herself in a bar at the end of a relationship. Her ex humiliates her publically and Ryker steps in to end it. She catches his eye, but he is unable to get her information as his new guitar becomes damaged in the altercation. Days later, Heather returns to the bar to find Ryker as a way to thank him for his help, and there are instant sparks between these two. Ryker “shoots his shot” and they embark on the journey of falling for each other. The complications of this story lie in Ryker’s day job as a financial wizard and Heather’s worry that she’s moving too quickly into a relationship, putting her daughter’s happiness at risk. This worry causes her to put up walls against Ryker, yet he is determined to win her and her daughter over.
Ryker is Hagen’s usual hero. He’s stalwart, dedicated to his family, and persistent. He’s a “good guy” with no intention of hurting Heather and her daughter, Avery. For a “playboyish” kind of guy, he falls quickly for Heather. However, he really has no intention of stepping back. Instead, he works diligently to win Heather’s heart. His family is important to him too, so he tends to be the family member who worries about his sisters. He is the type of hero that Hagen manages to craft easily.
As the heroine, Heather’s concerns are valid. This is a woman who has been burned by the few men in her life, including her daughter’s father. Yet, Ryker’s magnetism is too much for her, and she falls easily under his spell. What this causes in Just One Kiss is a constant doubt and internal censure as she fears moving too quickly with Ryker. She, however, continues to fall fast. There is never any real concern that Heather and Ryker won’t end up together. Hagen wants us to think there could be an issue, but it isn’t profound enough. If I have any criticism about Just One Kiss is the sense that the inciting moment in the story is seemingly greater than it actually is. Sometimes, it reads as a bit too manufactured. I know it’s necessary for story-telling, but it should feel more organic. For example, Ryker never questions his interest in Heather. Not ever. When the inciting moment occurs and Heather and her daughter leave, it doesn’t feel natural because we know Ryker will chase her. He loves them too much. For this to be more effective, more self-doubt from Ryker throughout the story would have made it more impactful, I think.
Just One Kiss is a sweet tale of a man and woman who find each other when they aren’t expecting it. Ryker and Heather’s chemistry flies off the page, and their happily-ever-after is expected from the start. If you love romance where the characters love family and fall deeply for each other, then you’ll want to read Layla Hagen’s brand of romance, specifically Just One Kiss.
Sweet And Steamy! Ryker And Heather’s Journey Is An Intelligent Prince Charming Story With A Single Mom Twist. Another Captivating Book About The Winchester Family.
This book is the second in a New York-based series about the Winchester family. It is Ryker Winchester and Heather Prescott’s story. It is absolutely a stand-alone; however, fans will appreciate learning more about this close-knit family by reading the series in order.
In the first book, much was learned about the downfall of the Winchester family and their Caldwell cousin. That extra insight adds depth to the second book, as Ryker, like his cousin Hunter, is shaped by his past. It makes Ryker’s leap from irresistible bachelor to commitment-ready beau all the more real.
From the first book, powerful and headstrong Hunter Caldwell, thirty-two, owned one of the largest real estate development companies in country. The Caldwell name was famous in New York. While Hunter’s professional success and generous charitable efforts defined him as a powerhouse to be reckoned with, many remembered his late father’s success and subsequent failure in real estate development, quietly sneering about parallels and gleefully anticipating Hunter’s downfall. Hunter was driven by the desire to avoid the downward spiral that destroyed his family and hoped to restore the family’s good name.
Hunter’s life had changed at age fourteen when his father died and his mother returned to her native England. Hunter didn’t want to leave America – the country he called home since the tender age of four – and it worked out that he earned a scholarship at a private boarding school. Hunter’s Winchester cousins experienced a similar downfall at the same time, which resulted in their father abandoning the family and eventually remarrying, leaving the children scarred. Months after Hunter began at his boarding school, his Aunt Amelia relocated to the same area, along with his four cousins, and he felt the warmth of family again as they pulled him into their family circle. Amelia, his maternal aunt, became a second mother to him and his cousins felt like siblings. They became an important part of his life.
In this book, thirty year old Ryker Winchester is the laid back Winchester brother. He is smart, loyal, fun, and hard-working – and nicknamed the Flirt. Director at The Pearman Fund by day and playing guitar at Northern Lights by night from time to time, he is equally comfortable in a custom suit or a leather jacket and jeans. Ryker is great at compartmentalizing, which aided his meteoric rise to Director of a big venture capital firm. The outlet for all that concentration and pressure is performing on stage and collecting guitars. All his extra time goes to his family, and he is always there to help out when needed. Ryker is fiercely protective of them, and they all appreciate what their mom went through to raise four children on her own. Which is why Ryker has no tolerance for men that don’t respect women. Ryker hasn’t ever had a serious relationship himself – his relationships are casual – but he is honest and honorable. He expected that he, his brother Cole, and Hunter would be eternal bachelors, but Hunter just got married to Josie and things are changing.
Heather Prescott, twenty-eight, was looking forward to finally taking her relationship with Gerald to the next level and hoping that things were finally turning around for her in the relationship department. After two years, she and Gerald signed a lease together and he was about to move in with her and her seven year old daughter, Avery. Her pregnancy just just out of college had been a challenge when the father promptly dumped her, but she had proudly managed to provide for herself and Avery while building a career in journalism at a national newspaper, The New York Reports. When Gerald returned to town and asked to meet at a bar called Northern Lights, Heather hadn’t anticipated that her life was about to change.
Ryker and Heather’s insane chemistry surprises both of them as they quickly become consumed with one another. But what makes their story so special is little Avery who grew up to believe that dads go away. She reminds Ryker of himself, and they share a love story of sorts themselves. Ryker and Heather face work, competition, and family challenges which threaten their budding relationship, but the couple earns a darling but brief HEA.
Ryker and Heather’s journey is an intelligent Prince Charming story with a single mom twist. A realistic romance, there is no wild drama for shock effect. Mature characters and sincere intentions result in a steamy feel good story about the loving Winchester family. Ryker’s journey is rewarding to read as he has the opportunity to learn from his past and show the strength of his character. Heather, though perfectly independent, learns to trust and open up after an unlucky history.
Ryker and Heather’s flirty Prince Charming story is steamy and sweet. The book is very well-written. The plot is fairly simple but realistic. The characters are well-defined. There is a large cast of characters which appear in the other books of the series. The POV alternates between Ryker and Heather. I rate this book 4.5 stars.
I received a free advance copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Layla Hagen is one of the queens of romance! She creates super romantic characters with a modern twist and this new series (this is the second book) is all about romance and love.
Ryker is the confirmed bachelor and was completely unprepared for Heather and her daughter. He was living his life as a Wall Street genius and playing guitar when he felt like it. Besides, he has a demanding family that is his whole life. But, then she suddenly appears in this life with an adorable daughter and he does not know what to do with his attraction and desire for her. Heather is coming from a failure relationship and decides to stay away of trouble mainly for her young daugther and suddenly Ryker appears and rocks her world.
These two are trouble but they cannot stay away of each other and the story is super great and well written.
I just loved it!!
This is the 2nd book in this awesome series and is Ryker and Heather’s story. Ryker is a successful businessman who plays guitar in a local bar to destress. Heather is a feisty single mom whom Ryker comes to her aid in the bar when there is a disagreement with her ex. The chemistry between these two is sizzling, but no spoilers: this is a must read you will not be disappointed. This is a beautifully written story with relatable characters and is a steamy tale, which had me hooked and intrigued throughout. I highly recommend for all.
You guys. Ryker made me fall in love with him! I loved watching this powerful, no nonsense man get overwhelmed with Heather & Avery! I loved how he just melted for that little girl. It was such a great book that put a smile on my face. It was the perfect escape for this crazy time. I really loved that we got to see Hunter again! I’m ready for moreeeee!!
Ryker Winchester (LOOOVE the last name!) is a playboy. A successful Wall Street venture capitalist. A family man who loves his siblings. He is not a man who craves commitment and a relationship, until a sweetheart stumbles into his life and he’s smitten. Can he show Heather and her adorable little girl how good the 3 of them could be if Heather allowed him in?
I adored this very sweet, very sexy story. Ryker and Heather are a lethal combination of sweet, steamy and adorable, especially because her precocious daughter, Avery, is part of the package. I’m seeing another awesome family series in the works if this one is any indication.
Just One Kiss is a story that will melt your heart and have you falling head over heels in love. This might be all about an irresistible bachelor but one glance at Heather and Ryker is consumed by her. This single parent romance is emotional, sweet, heartfelt and seductive. Heather is a woman who has been let down and is now leaning towards the once bitten twice shy moto. She not only needs to protect her heart but the one of her little girl. Ryker may be named the “Flirt” but he will stop at nothing to prove to both Heather and Avery that he wants forever. A heartwarming romance that will ignite the flame in both your heart and soul.
Absolutely beautiful romance. Ryker’s chance encounter meeting Heather at the club where he played guitar was a wonderful meet-cute. He was captivated by this amazing woman and she needed to thank this man who stood up for her. Heather thought she had found the guy until he showed his true colors at the bar but having a stranger step in was completely unexpected for her. From here, this is a wonderful slow build as Ryker has to work to show Heather that they belong together even if Heather has decided to stay away from relationships. Ryker’s moments interacting with Heather’s daughter, Avery, are priceless. Having this bachelor have his world opened up where he finally knows that being a family man is what his heart desires is perfect. Of course, he comes from a strong family so it makes sense. Heather is an amazing mom as she navigates being a journalist and motherhood. This story warmed my romantic heart. I voluntarily read an ARC of this book and this is my honest review.