For Samuel Grayson, everything is black or white. As a funeral director, there’s no room for in-between. He’s accustomed to dealing with life and death, though he’s definitely more comfortable with the latter. Especially when it comes to a chaotic, petite, feisty ball of energy. Freedom Rayne. Samuel’s pretty sure her goal is to make his life hell, or so it appears. When Samuel boards a flight to … to Las Vegas for his sister’s wedding, the last thing he expects is to share it with the one woman who drives him crazy.
Freedom is eccentric and completely content with it. Floating around from job to job, she finds peace and tranquility in everything she does, including tormenting poor, uptight Samuel Grayson. When she finds herself on the same flight as him for her best friend’s wedding, she sees this as the perfect opportunity to get under his skin, something she tries to do every chance she gets. The problem is the more time she spends with him, the more she likes him.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? Not for Samuel and Freedom. Will they be able to forget about their trip when they return to Rockland Falls? What if one mistake turns out to be the best thing ever?
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Love and Neckties is the fourth book in Lacey Black’s Rockland Falls series, a spin-off of her Summer Sisters series, but you don’t have to read that series to enjoy this one. An opposites-attract, best friend’s brother romance between Samuel Grayson, the oldest of the Grayson clan and a funeral director, and Freedom Rayne, the free-spirited, vegetarian best-friend of his sister, Harper, and honorary member of the Grayson family.
Samuel is a little…different. The suit-wearing funeral director is very set in his ways. He’s anally retentive in an almost OCD sort of way, and he sees everything in black and white. Freedom is a whirl of color in a flowy bohemian skirt; she’s loud, she’s filterlessly outspoken and blindingly vibrant—basically everything that Samuel is not. But the back and forth bantering that has been simmering between them for years was its own kind of foreplay and due to boil over. While in Vegas for his sister and her best friend’s wedding, Freedom and Samuel, the only unpaired couple, get into some seriously out-of-character for Samuel, Vegas-style mischief, and they wake up the next morning with more than just a hangover.
The chemistry sizzled between Freedom and Samuel, desperately at times. I loved how she pushed his boundaries and opened up his neatly ordered world to color, to new experiences and to love. I loved how Samuel saw more than just chaos in her. On paper, this couple couldn’t be more wrong for each other, but it was their differences that perfectly illustrated just how right they truly were for each other. I’ve been waiting for Samuel’s story since Lacey introduced her readers to this family, and it was worth every second of the wait. Full of all the humor, heart and heat I’ve come to love about Black’s big-family, small town romances, she gave her readers one heck of an amusing, sexy and sweet love story here. Five smooches from me for Love and Neckties by Lacey Black!
~Danielle Palumbo, Red Cheeks Reads
OMG!!! OPPOSITES DO ATTRACT!!! I loved this story!!! Samuel and Freedom are two people that I couldn’t see together until I read this story. Samuel is uptight and very straightforward, whereas Freedom is a fly by the seat of your pants, whatever happens happens type of person. Their story was perfect and not at all how I imagined it to be. Great story!!!
I LOVE LACEY BLACK! Why is this series over? I love the Rockland Falls Series! I was so happy with Samuel’s story! I was everything I wanted it to be! Freedom was everything he needed! I absolutely love this book! FIVE STARS!!
Of all of the books I have read, I think Freedom is up there as one of my favourite heroines ever written!
True to her name, she speaks freely, acts freely, and lives her life to the fullest.
Samual is her polar opposite in every way. He is so straight laced, plain, almost boring.
Freedom pushes him to his limits, tests his patience and upends his whole world. She is absolutely hilarious and has an answer for everything he has to say! She swoops in and takes over his world.
Together they are exactly what I imagine our favourite grandparents Emma and Orvie would have been like in there younger years!
Im so sad to see the end of this series, I have enjoyed every single book. Hopefully Lacey Black will revisit them all one day.
This is the 4th book in the Rockland Falls series and is Samuel and Freedom’s story. Dual point of view. No cliffy.
Samuel, or Sammy as Freedom likes to call him, is a funeral director who likes to have order in his world. Everything is black and white…no in between and no color.
And then you have –
Freedom, and yep her name says it all. She is a free spirit and her world is full of color with jobs from being a masseuse to a Reiki healer to lending a hand at Kiss Me Goodnight.
They are total opposites!! They are like night and day, oil and water….and both attracted to each other. All it takes is one trip to Vegas to shake up both their worlds. Does everything that happens in Vegas stay in Vegas?? Not with Sammy and Free! I totally loved their story and found myself laughing many times with the antics of these two!
This whole series needs a novella (or another book) so we can get a glimpse into what is happening say 10 years down the road. I would love a few chapters on Mary Ann’s HEA!!
I highly recommend this book – heck the whole series!
A rompaliscious delightful laught out loud rom com.
I totally love Lacey and Black and all of her books. Most of the time, I give her books 5 stars. The only reason that I gave 4 stars to this book was that I had a really hard time relating to Freedom. Honestly, I cringed when she did things to irritate Samuel (Sammy). This is a story about total opposites who are very much attracted to each other. We all need someone who is a bit different than us, but Samuel and Freedom have some major differences. Dual point of view. No cliffhanger.
Love and Neckties by Lacey Black is book 4 in the Rockland Falls Series. This is the story of Samuel Grayson and Freedom Rayne. I have read the previous books (Loved them!) which added to my enjoyment of this one, but I did feel you could make it a standalone book if you wish to do so. If you have been reading the previous books, then like me you have been wanting Samuel’s story. Samuel had to step up at a early age to help his mom to take care of his younger siblings. So he became a very serious and responsible person. Samuel never relaxed and always wore a suit pretty much everywhere. Freedom is Samuel’s sister best friend but she never had a good family life so she drifted into the Grayson family so she has known Samuel since she was young and always had a crush on him. From a early start she always did things to drive him crazy one thing is calling him ‘Sammy’ when he hates for anyone to do that. When she has problems with her living arrangements Samuel steps up to give her a place to stay…with him. This of course opens the door for her to drive him crazy but more importantly makes him unable to stop his feelings. Loved this book! It might even be my favorite of the series…which is saying something because I loved them all.
4.5 Stars
Love and Neckties features Samuel Grayson, the last Grayson sibling of Rockland Falls to find his happy ever after. Samuel is a little odd, and more than a little anal, and as much as I’ve been intrigued by his character I wasn’t sure what to expect from his story, but it didn’t disappoint.
When Samuel and Freedom are thrown together for Harper and Latham’s wedding, the sparks fly.
Samuel is a funeral director, who loves the routine of his work and life. He’s set in his ways and his life is very black and white. He’s a perfectionist and likes everything to be neat, tidy and to have it’s place. He’s a lot more multifaceted than I expected and there were a few surprises when it came to his character.
Freedom is Samuel’s opposite in every way. She’s free spirited, fun, colorful and feisty. Freedom is honest, loud and proud, and likes nothing more than to push Samuel’s boundaries to see if she can get a reaction, from this aloof hero.
This pair of characters are fun, and endearing, their story is a sweet, heartwarming and flirtatious read. Their banter is antagonistic, but also fun, flirtatious and witty.
I’m sad to see the end of the Rockland Falls series, but can’t wait to see what Lacey Black writes next.
This is the final book in the series and one I have been waiting for. Samuel and Freedom couldn’t be more opposite. I love how she always gets a rise out of Samuel. I couldn’t wait for Freedom to ruffle put together Samuel. Samuel surprised me. It comes off as a very grumpy guy, but once you truly get to know him there is more than meets the eye. This book was hard to put down.I just love this family. I’m so happy Orval and Emma make appearances. You know I can’t get enough of them. They always have me in stitches. More so when Samuel is involved. This book met and exceeded my expectations.This book left me a very happy satisfied reader. I loved the epilogue. It’s definitely a must read!
Opposites attract!
This was a great, quirky story. A funeral director/mortician and a free-spirited masseuse and Reiki healer should not find true love, but somehow they do.
Samuel is way too uptight and Freedom wants to belong. They both head to Vegas to attend his sister’s/her bestie’s wedding. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas unless it doesn’t.
This was an enjoyable read and it was fun to see Samuel loosen up and Freedom was just awesome!
The dessert scene is divine! “I’m going to go smoke after that.” lol
The chemistry is aflame and communication or lack thereof does get in the way, but true love conquers all.
I voluntarily requested and read an advance reader copy.
To be brutally honest, I will say that I wasn’t really anticipating Samuel’s book. Throughout the entity of this series, he came off as really weird to me, and his unusual job choice had me super nervous. I can honestly say, I have never read a romance book that deals with the Hero being a funeral director. In my head, it takes an unusual person to face death everyday and I couldn’t see how I would relate to him in anyway. It wasn’t necessarily that I didn’t trust this author’s ability to make me see things differently, but again the personality of a funeral director had my head going a million different ways. With that said, I can’t see why I didn’t take what I already know about this author and combine the two. So without further ado, LOVE AND NECKTIES is the BEST book in this series.
I have no clue where to begin, because Love and Neckties is nothing but pure greatness. This best friends brother romance had a little bit of everything in it. But this book grew and grew and grew on me. The development was on POINT, and I mean on point. The depth and magnitude that Samuel and Free’s story produced had me high in the sky. The dialogue and witty banter was astronomical. The chemistry was something that I have not seen this author do before, and I say that with a HUGE smile on my face. Samuel and Free were so different and that held in their favor when it came to their connection.
SAMUEL!! After reading Love and Neckties, I can not fathom why I held such a high disregard towards him. Yes he is weird. Yes he is unusual, but those things are truly what makes him the great character he is. His love of neckties and perfection was comical, but to see his growth and to see him come out of his shell throughout this book was one of the best things in the book world that I have ever seen take place.
Freedom is the definition if freedom. She is carefree with an aura that completely captivates everyone. This free spirited woman is loud and proud, open and honest and I couldn’t envy her more than I do now.
I am so sad to see this series end, but I can honestly say that Black went out with a bang that is going to be hard to surpass in the future. I look forward to more of this authors incredible talent.
* I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK
A solid 4.5 book!!
Samual is the most uptight of the siblings & I was completely on the fence with his book. It wasn’t that I wasn’t excited, but I just didn’t expect it to be so fun. Freedom has a way of bringing Samual out of his shell. These two are some of the most opposites of any two characters I’ve read, but they are also some of the most perfect ones too! The crazy antics that people tend to get into while in Vegas never seem to stay there & these two have been inducted into this group. It seems like no matter what, they keep getting thrown together. Samual begins to learn that he has to be amendable, but the ride we take as he finds his way is to relax & be a bit amendable is by far the best part of this book!! This couple definitely needs a novella so we can see a glimpse into what is to come after their hea. I want to see how Samual deals with his world no longer being under his control!! A twist I didn’t expect, but absolutely loved left me wanting more from their fun, captivating story!
I recommend this book. Told in dual POV.
I received a free ARC copy of this book from the author prior to release and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is a part of the a series and maybe the last one in the series. It features the oldest brother Samuel and the bestfriend of his sister who always irritates him, Freedom. In this story we attend a wedding in Vegas and two couples end up hitched.
Its a best friends older brother romance but also a mistaken wedding storyline between two characters that love to irritate each other.
Samuel is a very different kind of hero and he truly inrigued me just like he intrigues Freedom. Samuel manages a funeral parlour and he takes his job VERY seriously. I loved how awesome Freedom was in that regard, in that she doesn’t find it gross but rather realises what a special job it really is. He also is afraid of flying in planes and I loved how he is very honest about his fears.
This was an awesome end of the series and had some really great laugh out loud moments.
Love and Neckties is the fourth book in Rockland Falls Series, and it can be read as a standalone. I thought the story was a delightful best friends older brother love story. Simon is always serious, I mean always. He has high expectation for himself, whether it’s his job, or his being protector to his family. Free is a fly by night gypsy, and she likes to push Simon’s buttons. I adored Free and Simon. Add in the distant cousins from the Summer Sister’s Series, and Emma and Orvy, who cracked me up, I mean I was laughing out loud, you have yourself a fun entertaining read.
Oh how I love me a Lacey Black book! For me this book was written a little weird. I feel like it was split in 2 sections, Vegas and after Vegas. The beginning of the book going to and when they are in Vegas was fantastic. The story was amazing, the characters had great development and I was super invested in the story. My issues with the book came after Vegas. I know Free has a mind of her own but the end of the story made her seem like she was walking all over Samuel and it was extremely frustrating to read. Samuel at the end of the story was the exact opposite, he stood up for himself in the beginning but then got walked all over at the end of the story. It wasn’t as cohesive and it didn’t flow as well as I thought it should. However, the story itself was a fun heartwarming read and I would definitely recommend as well as read it again.
This is the 4th book in this series and is Samuel and Freedom’s story. Samuel is a funeral director who just sees life in black or white, and on a flight to Las Vegas for his sister’s wedding, his sisters best friend Freedom is on the same fight, and they are next door to each other in the hotel. Freedom is feisty, eccentric, and a free spirit, who makes it her mission in life to rile and irritate Samuel and to push boundaries to get him out of his comfort zone. This is a beautifully written tale which is highly entertaining, and is a fun, heart-warming and humorous with twists which all had me hooked and intrigued throughout. I look forward to reading more from this author, and I highly recommend this romantic comedy for all readers.
First off I want to just say the cover of this book is gorgeous. Now onto the review.
This book is book four in the Rockland Falls series and is about the Oldest Grayson sibling, Samuel and Harper’s best friend Freedom. Samuel is an uptight, conservative funeral home director, while Freedom is a free spirited woman of many professions whose favorite pastime is to drive Samuel crazy. This makes for some great moments in the book trust me.
While in Vegas celebrating Harper and Latham’s nuptials the two spend the night drinking which ends up with them waking up in a hotel room naked and married.
I am so in love with Freedom. She is one of my most favorite characters I have ever read and her and Samuel together…….absolute perfection even with them being complete opposites.
This book had everything you could possibly want, humor, romance, great characters, some heat and a HEA.
**I was generously provided with an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest review**
Love and Neckties is the 4th and final EPIC best-friend’s-older-brother romance in the Rockland Falls series by the incomparable Lacey Black! I am soooooo sad that this series is over….but Samuel Grayson and Freedom Rayne’s AMAZING love story is the cherry (AND the scrumptious filling!) on top of this series’ cake! It’s also my new TOP FAVE book written by this UBER-talented author that you seriously don’t want to miss out on!!!
Never have two characters been so completely opposite…the absolutely anal, emotionally UNavailable, almost colorless (personality-wise…or so it seemed) Samuel and the free-spirited, completely open, tell-it-like-it-is, spitfire Freedom (PERFECTLY suited name for her!) but somehow, they just mesh in all the right ways! Even tho “Free” drives “Sammy” absolutely CRAZY, she manages to get under his skin in much the same way a burr gets stuck in a dog’s fur….and just as impossible to get out! Let the shenanigans begin!
This addictive, steamy, HILARIOUSLY funny, sometimes sweet, banter-filled MUST READ is chock FULL of all the things I LOVE about Ms. Black’s writing! The character development is on point and the re-visit with THE world’s most inappropriate grandparents is just what I needed….Emma and Orval never disappoint! This AMAZING standalone seriously deserves much MORE than 5 stars and I can’t recommend it highly enough! I can’t WAIT to see what Lacey comes up with next! Bravo!
I have loved every book I have read by Lacey Black and Love and Neckties is no different. The Rockland Falls series is great, but Samuel’s and Free’s book is my absolute favorite. A love story years in the making, though at least one of the couple would deny any attraction but would agree the other was annoying.
Samuel is the oldest, most serious of the Grayson siblings. He lives by his black-and-white rules and fun is not in his vocabulary. His solemn demeanor is perfect for a funeral director but the man needs a life outside of work and the occasional family dinner. Enter Freedom, aka Free, his sister’s best friend, who makes it her mission to loosen up the uptight Sammy. She needles him every chance she gets and enjoys getting under his skin. While he is monochromatic, Free’s life is full of color and light.
When Harper, Samuel’s sister, and her fiancé, Latham, decide on a Vegas wedding, Samuel is less than excited. He hates crowds, airplanes, and fun but he does love his sister. When Free ends up on the same flight as Samuel, all hell breaks loose and what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas.
The story Ms. Black weaves is full of fun, laughter, family, surprises, and the inevitable visits by the world’s most inappropriate senior citizens. While Free and Samuel couldn’t be more different, they prove the old adage that opposites attract. However, the road to an HEA is full of potholes and doubt and while Ms. Black breaks her characters, she does an excellent job of mending their hearts and joining their souls.
This book is addictive. Once I started reading, I could not put the book down. Ms. Black definitely leaves this series with a bang. There is no doubt that this is my favorite Lacey Black book to date. But I know this talented author has more great stories up her sleeve and I can hardly wait