Lyla Dupree She’s a bubbly, sugary sweet pastry chef. Living her best life in the Big Apple. Luxury apartment. Successful patisserie. Everything is great–better than great. It’s absolutely perfect. Raleigh Jacobs He’s grumbly and growly–and so very out of his element–working on a temporary assignment in NYC. He wants to do his job and get out. Back to the clean air in the mountains near … get out. Back to the clean air in the mountains near Denver.
Throw them together.
Mix things up.
Turn up the heat and what you get is, quite simply, alarming.
After all, 425 Madison is the perfect place to fall in love.
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I love the opposites attract in this one. Lyla’s bubbly and Raleigh’s a little crabby. It’s not love at first sight and that makes it fun. The side characters in this one are great too. I love that he’s a single dad and that his son takes a shining to her. Their differences were fun, but they have some great things in common that help them to connect. This was a, pun unintended, sweet story.
I loved this next installment in the 425 Madison series and all though each book is a stand alone previous characters do appear. This book is about Raleigh who has to come to New York City to rescue a job that his company is doing. He is subletting an apartment at 425 Madison and his first introduction to Lyla is by shutting off the smoke alarm in her apartment. It seems that whenever Lyla bakes something her smoke alarm decides to go off even if there is no smoke. Raleigh soon learns that Lyla runs a bakery and that she not only makes the best chocolate croissants but her store also serves the best coffee. Raleigh really hates being in NYC and misses his son whom he flies back to see as often as he can. Then one day Raleigh’s ex calls wanting to know where he is because she is dropping off their son at 425 Madison and she has to catch a plane to go out of the country. Raleigh enlists Lyla’s help and soon the three of them are inseparable until the Matty gets lost and rescued in the building and Raleigh loses it. Raleigh packs up and heads back to Denver without a backward glance. Several months later, Raleigh must return to NYC and tries to find Lyla, but no one will tell him where she went. Read to find out if Raleigh and Lyla reconnect and make a go of a permanent relationship.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I enjoyed this new entry in this wonderful series. I thought the story was fun and it offered a great blend of emotional turmoil, drama, humor, heat and heart. I really liked Lyla. As someone else that loves to bake, has her own fire alarm issues and has more than a few regrets and mistakes that haunt me; I could really relate to, feel for and connect with her very easily. That leads me to my one issue with this book…Raleigh. I wanted to like him. I tried so hard to like him. However, aside from a small glimmer here or there I didn’t and I couldn’t. As someone who can be moody, resistant to change and has their own trust issues, I felt I should be able to use that to forge a bond with him but in the end he just seemed like a grade A, insensitive jerk. Still, overall I felt that this was a very good read and I will definitely be checking back into 425 Madison just as soon as I can. This is my sincere review that I am posting of my own accord.
I loved how sweet and carefree this book was. She is sweet and bubbly and he is reserved and cranky. But that all changes once she finds his sweet spot and can be there for him and he shows her how much he can need her no matter how much she can drive him crazy