Review: “The Surprise Seduction” by Amy Alves

Series: Landry Love #5

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Release Date: January 6th, 2022

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GARRETT
Aria is young. Too young.

My little sister’s best friend is a shameless flirt—a free-spirited whirlwind of emotions. She shouldn’t appeal to me in the least.

I’m looking to settle down with a suitable woman—someone mature, put-together, and not clingy, needy or emotionally dependent.

Aria Davenport definitely does not fit this list.
Yet the painfully beautiful minx is impossible to ignore.

For one night, I give into temptation and let my need for her take over.

ARIA
After years of secretly pining and not-so-secretly flirting, the grumpy yet mysteriously alluring Garrett Caldwell finally looks my way.

Maybe it was only once, and maybe that was exactly what we agreed to, but that one scorching night ties us together for the rest of our lives.

An unexpected pregnancy with the town’s hot doctor—a man I’ve never been able to keep my heart in check around—certainly has this small town talking.

Suddenly he claims to want more, and I can’t help the doubt from creeping in. Knowing our relationship would be built on feelings of responsibility and obligation would break me.
So I guard my heart against the one man who has the power to destroy it.

 

I should have known that Garrett Caldwell would replace Taylor Shaw (from The Denial Game) as my favourite Landry hero, but I ignored all the signs. Since we met him briefly in The Experiment (book one of the Landry Love series), I have been lowkey obsessed with finding out more about this handsome doctor. And when Amy announced The Surprise Seduction, I was salivating at the thought of an age gap and a sibling’s best friend romance that featured everyone’s favourite doctor. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into with this book, but I’d like to say that I am wholly and completely unprepared to write this review, because this book did so much for me, I am speechless. However, I will do my best to articulate my feelings. 😂

Aria Davenport has spent a good portion of her life crushing on Garrett Caldwell and doing whatever it takes to make him squirm when she’s around. As the older brother of her best friend, Garrett is everything Aria knows she wants in a man. Even though Chloe (you’ll recognise her from The Love Words) isn’t stopping them from being together, Aria knows she can’t cross that line. But when everything in her life is spinning out of control and she needs somewhere to land, Aria returns to Landry to make sense of her life and that includes finding a job while trying to rebuild her photography business. And it just so happens that the one place that’s got a vacancy to hire her is the clinic Garrett owns and runs. For Garrett, romance is complicated. He’s not a fan of the casual thing and he’s looking for the perfect woman—yes, he’s got a list of what he’s looking for in a partner—but when the dates the League sets him on start to get tiresome and monotonous, he’s ready to give up. Just as Aria returns to town and starts popping everywhere he is and now Garrett can’t avoid the signs. Being around this tempting woman is taking a lot out of him, but he can’t walk away. Not matter how much of a bad idea he knows it is, Garrett can’t take his eyes off of Aria.

My obsession with Garrett Caldwell is well founded. The man is stoic and gruff, he’s a little grumpy and very particular. He doesn’t have patience for most people and those closest to him understand the way he works. He’s also incredibly sexy and half the single women in Landry want a piece of him, but Garrett is not interested in anyone that way. Well….except for Aria, obviously. I loved how fiercely he loved his family and looked out for them, and how he was quick to take responsibility where it was needed, stepping up to the plate every single time. I really liked the way Amy wrote him—smart and intelligent as a doctor, but not so much in matters of the heart—because he felt like someone you might know in real life. After having met and read about Jess and Chloe, to see this completely different Caldwell was refreshing. I love this family so much, guys! Aria is an absolute treat. I don’t think I have enough words that can express just how amazing she is. She’s feisty and sassy, she is sunshine personified. Aria’s also really strong and independent, pushing herself to be more and do more, to experience more and have fun. For Aria, life is not just about doing everything on a checklist, she wants to live her best life while doing all the things that are laid out in front of her. I admired that about her. Plus, she brought some much needed excitement and joy into Garrett’s life and who can pretend like that wasn’t what we all wanted?

“I want you, Aria, not these women, not anyone else. It really always has been you. At the same time, it could never be you. I’ve had that stuck in my mind for too long.”

Their relationship is insanely hot. All that sexual tension and that constant desire and lust for each other has to go somewhere, right? Garrett is a tightly wound man and the minute Aria gives him even an inch, he takes it all and I loved how he came unravelled. Their friendship helps build on their relationship and I seriously enjoyed every minute of how they made it work. I mean, the number of times Garrett denies he wants Aria would make you want to smack him, but boy, when the man finally realises that he needs her, things get really interesting. I think this might be the hottest of the five books—and I thought Taylor and Lauren were on fire!—and Amy does such a good job of painting the perfect steamy picture of these two. Garrett’s dirty talk was A+ too, so definitely look out for that!

I was heavily invested in their relationship and watching them learn about each other as time goes by. I like that even though Garrett approached it all wrong at first, he turned to the right people to get help and really make something happen with Aria. He was so supportive and positive when it came to Aria and what she wanted, in terms of her career and otherwise, and I loved that he was always willing to learn and accept his mistakes and grow from that. Aria was the heart of this relationship and I loved the way she gave into Garrett wholly and how by doing that, she put herself out there so much. Their relationship isn’t easy and it’s not as cut and dry as the others in the series, but I think that’s what I loved about it so much—it’s not perfect, they make tons of mistakes, but they both learn and grow from it together.

I’m sad that there’s only ONE more book in the Landry Love series, because I have loved watching these small town folk find happiness. But I’m really excited to see what else Amy Alves has coming!

Thanks to Amy Alves for generously providing me with an advance copy. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.