New edited version with bonus epilogue! Arrogant womanizer, Kyle Manchester hates blind dates but when best friend, Brad calls in a favor, insisting Kyle take out his girlfriend’s sister, Kyle reluctantly agrees. Attorney Lanie Carmichael’s appearance is no surprise. She is dowdy, awkward, and dressed in so many layers she resembles a wedding cake…and not in an edible way. Her brazen attitude … attitude though, astonishes him, especially when she explains she has no interest in gorgeous Kyle. Lanie Carmichael is in love with Brad, and wants Kyle’s assistance in winning his best friend’s heart.
Kyle gradually accepts, justifying that the mystery of Lanie has sparked his natural, thirsty curiosity. As an ambitious journalist, he also can’t resist the Pulitzer worthy scoop she offers him. However, as Lanie sheds more layers, both emotionally and physically, Kyle begins to examine his life choices, and his true feelings for this enigmatic girl. With Kyle’s support, Lanie begins to unravel the secrets of her past, and the deep pain that has quietly defined her life. As they each learn more about themselves and each other, both question how a relationship built on fraudulent lies between two broken people could ever survive.
Originally published in 2014. New edited version with bonus epilogue!
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I loved this book so much!! The Do-over is the story of the Player and the Mousy Lawyer…and their “arrangement”; to make her over so she can win the love of his best friend. Or at least be a more likely candidate to win the love of the best friend. Kyle is the player…he’s never had a relationship, he’;s the king of the one night stand. Lanie is the brilliant lawyer and she’s lived in the shadow of her beautiful sister her whole life and never had a relationship OR a one night stand. Initially, you think Lanie is the one that needs the makeover…but gradually you realize Kyle is the one who is changing. I’ve read so many romances where the hero goes from player to committed lover instantly and it’s always bothered me because it’s not believable–that’s not the case here…I loved this book because the author doesn’t pretend that Kyle is a prince in disguise–she shows us Kyle and all his strengths and faults. But she also shows us his evolution. You can actually watch Kyle grow as a person as the story goes along. At one point, I honestly felt that whether he got the girl in the end or not, he came out of this situation a much better person. I initially didn’t like him at all, but by the end, I really loved him and believed in his growth. And Lanie–well, she’s just wonderful. I liked her humor and her brains. She grew over the course of the book as well, but I really think the Do-Over is more Kyle’s story than Lanie’s. There’s some very steamy love scenes and Lanie and Kyle have some very hot chemistry…I liked the slow build between them–again, it felt very real to me. Reading the first couple chapters, I couldn’t imagine how we’d get there–but the journey was really enjoyable and this one is going on my comfort shelf–to be read again! REALLY good!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
A fantastic fuunny, sweet, enjoyable and sexy read. The sexy scenes are mildly steamy but definitely worth it. It is told in third person alternating between Kyle and Lanie’s POV’S. Lanie is a successful confident lawyer who is clueless about interpersonal relationships with men. Kyle a man whore who agrees to her plan to make her more attractive to her colleague and sister’s boyfriend who she secretly has a crush on. Lanie has a horrible family and they are both harboring some issues involving their families. A great hilarious story that will not dissappoint as you get to an unexpected HEA.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I really loved reading this book about ugly duckling Lanie and hot womanizer Kyle who wind up on a charity date of sorts after Kyle’s friend Brad asked him to go out with his girlfriend’s sister. Kyle reluctantly agrees and is blown away when Lanie shows up dressed like a hobo and tells Kyle that she’s in love with Brad and wants his help getting him. I thought this part of the story was a bit unbelievable, but as I continued to read the book, I became more involved with it. I loved how Kyle and Lanie started out as almost-friends in the beginning and then their relationship slowly developed into so much more. Will Kyle continue to help Lanie win Brad over or will he wake up and realize that he wants Lanie more than anything else? I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Kyle loves women and is not ashamed of it. He does not do commitment. His friend Brad needs a favor. He wants Kyle to take his girlfriends plain Jane sister out as a favor. Lanie is a lawyer. She is confident about her work but not about anything outside of work. She is in love with Brad. She enlists Kyles help in getting him. What follows is a romantic tale filled with fun dialogue, laughs, sexy times and a hero who finds things getting away from his control. Kyle with his big ego and sexy bad boy vibes and Lanie with her social awkwardness will make you fall in love with them. Great stand alone story with a HEA.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The good storyline and the well defined characters pulled me right in from the turn of the very first page and I remained totally hooked until the turn of the very last page!
I enjoyed this classic ugly duckling story told in dual POV (although Kyle’s POV gets major billing). Lanie is a frumpy and awkward but successful attorney. She is in love with a co-worker, Brad, who is unfortunately in love with Lanie’s sister. In order to try to win Brad’s affection, she accepts a pity date with Brad’s best friend and handsome man whore, Kyle, so she can learn more about Brad’s likes and dislikes. From there, Kyle’s and Lanie’s relationship evolves but can two such diametrically different people get their HEA? The two things that bothered me about this story is for Lanie’s transformation to a swan, the author arranges the elimination of her glasses and scar. What? Lanie can’t be gorgeous and loveable wearing glasses and having a scar? Also, the scar is never fully explained. However, these issues will not stop me from reading more from this author!
The Do-Over was the first book I read from author MK Schiller and I am so glad I did. It won’t be my last. This book hit everything on my checklist for a great romance. One reason is that the heroine, Lanie Carmichael, was someone I really admired. She was a Harvard educated lawyer, smart, giving, selfless, witty, generous, and kind. Sometimes too kind as she tried to see the best in people and accept them for who they are including her mean-spirited sister and mother. She may have seemed like a pushover, but she was not at all. The author carefully guided the reader to see things from her point of view and her reasons were very sound. Lanie was so well spoken and I give the author a lot of credit because she obviously did her homework. In other books I sometimes find statements that just aren’t true from a professional standpoint, or seem unrealistic, and in this case, it all rang very true to me which helped me get very engrossed in the story.
Lanie is a lawyer and Kyle Manchester, the hero, is a well-regarded journalist. I loved their banter from their very first blind date. Lanie was true to her self and knew what she wanted. She was a planner and had realistic expectations. She didn’t feel beautiful on the outside and therefore didn’t try very hard to enhance her many positive attributes. Kyle was so funny when he met her and she propositioned him, but not for what you would expect…she wanted him to help his best friend, Brad, a fellow attorney, fall in love with her. Kyle of course was taken back because women usually dropped at their feet for him and they had a very funny exchange in dialogue. He was intrigued by her candor, trusted her for some reason, and eventually agreed to the proposition because there was also something in it for him.
One of the reasons I gave this book five stars is because I really loved their journey together. They started off as friends, then became best friends, then friends with benefits, then real lovers. This was the first time he ever had a woman as a friend and he was often confused by his developing feelings. When he wasn’t dishing out zingers, he was very complimentary, encouraging, and supportive of her. Once they got to know each other better, he was very proud and protective of her. I loved how he repeatedly defended her, something that no one else had every done before. I loved how they shared so many special times together including meals and ice cream, trips to his cabin, work joys and sorrows, and eventually very emotional parts of their pasts. The author did a wonderful job describing every scene in great detail so that you felt as if you were there.
Of course there is lots of angst in addition to lots of sexy times! As the reader, you know they are made for each other, but the book would have been over in one chapter if they came to realize that too soon. Kyle held back thinking Lanie really loved his best friend, and she held back thinking he was just helping her and would never want to be in a committed relationship. They both were so wrong and it was really beautiful to see how they came together and how they each made each other a better person.
The last chapter and epilogue were my favorite because I love a happy ending. Everything that I wanted to happen did and I hope to read more of their story in a future book, perhaps with Brad as the leading man, or extended epilogue that takes place a few years down the road.
I loved this contemporary Ugly Duckling-ish romance!! While Kyle starts off as a shallow womanizing player, his journey of growth after meeting Lanie was a definite treat! He agrees to take her out on a pity date as a favor to his best friend Brad. Brad is Lanie’s co-worker and is dating her beautiful sister Cassie.
As Cassie points out cruelly to Lanie, she’s a two out of ten, and Kyle is a ten plus. The surprising twist is that Lanie isn’t interested in a Kyle at all, she’s secretly in love with Brad.
I loved the way the author created such a strong, smart, snarky heroine in Lanie and at the same time have her vulnerability, sweetness, and naïveté show through to capture Kyle’s playboy heart.
Her slow transformation where Kyle tries to identify her best feature was a great way in showing us how he incrementally develops true feelings for her. I loved the way the author slowly reveals her loveliness both physically (which was fun) and internally (which was sweet).
This was my first time reading anything from this author and I’m so happy to find this well written interesting keeper of a book! I will definitely be following this author in hopes of reading more!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.