LONDON BOUND – THE LONDON LOVERS SERIES by AMY DAWS

“Leslie, don’t you know anything, I’ll never run from you. I’ll fight for you….forever.”

This was our first book by Amy Daws and after being swathed in the humour, warmth and fun of her characters, ‘tits’ fair to say, we’ll be checking out more from this witty, talented author!

London Bound was a mixture of humour, painful pasts and beneath the romance, at the heart of the story was a wonderfully threaded theme of true friendships that stand the test of time.

This can be read as a standalone but we kind of wish we’d read the first two books to further explore the history on Leslie, Finley, Frank and Brody whose relationship we really warmed to. Family Flick Night….we’d love to be parked on that couch cuddling up with them in our onesies!

“You shine and you sparkle and you make me feel again.”

Leslie could be a bit frustrating at times. Her continual rejection of Theo began to wear a bit thin with us. Fair play to Theo for being so persistent because Leslie certainly didn’t give off many encouraging vibes. There was one scene in particular where her behaviour really annoyed us. We found her actions at this particular time to be insensitive and immature which didn’t correlate to the maturity of a young woman confident enough to travel to the other side of the world and start a new life on her own. Though we were later to discover the reasons behind the shields Leslie put up, it still didn’t completely excuse some of her behaviour in our eyes.

Theo was such a sweetheart.  Boy did this guy have a BIG heart! Hot, suave, vulnerable and very sexy oh and let’s not forget patient…..wow! This man certainly had patience in spades where Leslie was concerned. Theo was also masking a painful tragedy that wore on him and his daily life, this guy was so sweet and romantic.

“You finally brought light back into my life, Leslie. The last thing I want to do is drag you into this fucking darkness.” – Theo
“Darkness is life. We can’t avoid it forever.” – Leslie

Frank, Leslie’s hilarious gay friend was a HOOT! We adored him and he added so much light hearted relief to the story and helped us see beneath the outgoing, gregarious façade Leslie presented.  These two were definitely kindred spirits and their relationship was so much fun!

‘Maybe it truly is destiny that we found each other in that porn shop. We are kindred spirits.’

We certainly commend the author for scoping the British vernacular for her setting of this book and some gave us a good giggle, however there were instances where the vernacular/slang would be incorrectly used in relation to the emotion the author was expressing through her characters. This was especially so in certain emotional scenes where the words used did not correlate to the feelings of the characters. Some were terms a man of Theo’s age wouldn’t use, which could at times take us out of the story.

Despite those misgivings, this was a sweet and sexy story of opening up your heart. Of putting your past behind you and giving love a chance because you never know….that person who is right in front of you might just be Mr Right instead of Mr Right Now!  Warm, funny and entertaining. A sweet escape we think readers will love.

**Reviewed from an ARC copy provided by the author via RockStar PR & Literary Consulting, with thanks**