Underneath It All by Kate Canterbary – REVIEW and Giveaway

This book was originally published on October 19, 2014 and I am reviewing it again (this time on the blog) for the 1 year Pub-iversary.

One hot architect. One naughty schoolteacher. One crazy night that changes everything.

If I had known I’d have a hot architect balls deep inside of me before the end of the weekend, I’d have made time for a pedicure. Also, a little chat about not losing my shit at all the wrong moments. Hindsight was a bitch, and karma…well, I didn’t know her story yet.

Meet Lauren Halsted. 

It’s all the little things–the action plans, the long-kept promises–that started falling apart when my life slipped into controlled chaos.

After I fell ass-over-elbow into Matthew Walsh’s arms.

I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to run screaming or rip his pants off, and most days I wanted a little of both. If I was being honest with myself, it was rip his pants off, ride him like a workhorse, and then run screaming.

Meet Matthew Walsh.

A rebellious streak ran through Lauren Halsted. It was fierce and unrelentingly beautiful, and woven through too many good girl layers to count, and she wasn’t letting anyone tell her what to do.

Unless, of course, she was naked.

She wasn’t looking for me and I sure as shit wasn’t looking for her, but we found each other anyway and now we were locked in a battle of wills, waiting for the other to blink.

Sometimes the universe conspires to bring people together. Other times, it throws them down a flight of stairs and leaves them in a bruised and bloodied heap.

My Review

I was hooked from the first line of this book and could not put it down. It combines two of my favorite things… Architecture and romance. I know that doesn’t sound amazing but trust me it works.

My Thoughts

I heard about this book and was immediately drawn to it. I am always a sucker for books where one of the characters are architects, because once upon a time that was my career field. Most stories gloss over anything to do with architecture and just use the job title as a minor plot point, or a prestigious job and that is truly disappointing to me.

But not in this series. This series takes architecture from being a background element and thrusts it right to the forefront it a way that can make anyone appreciate all the little nuances and intricacies that all buildings have and that is not an easy task. The writing is superb and the characters are so well-developed that you feel like you have known them your entire life.

The story is full of so much heart and passion both for each other and the projects they work on that it makes this book a joy to read, and has had this reader reading this book over and over again. I was drawn to the book because of the original cover:

I knew right away that with the skyline of Boston in the background it was important to the author to get the passion for architecture that this family shares right. And I was right Kate was able to convey so much in her writing that I was instantly hooked on her writing and for the first time in all my reading history I reached out to the author to let her know how much I loved this book and these characters.

Notable Quotes

“Sometimes you met someone and immediately thought, “Wow. Let me take off your pants. And yeah, the shirt too.”
Or, in my case, “Let me throw myself down some stairs and rub up against your chest.”

---

“Oh my God,” she gasped, her hands seizing my hair.
I leaned back and aimed a hard gaze at her. “God has nothing to do with this. You want to thank someone, I’ll be right here, worshiping you and your outrageous body for the foreseeable future. God isn’t involved.”

---

“You’re such a caveman,” she hissed. “Why do I like that so fucking much?”
“It doesn’t have to make sense, sweetness. Just enjoy it.”

---

“And though I probably couldn’t spell my own name, I knew with absolute certainty this wasn’t straight-up p-in-the-v sex. This was a spiritual event, and I, for one, wouldn’t have been surprised if some druids started chanting behind us.”

---

“Before you say no,” he said, holding up a hand. “Just say yes instead.”

---

“I’m willing to compromise on just about anything. I’m not willing to compromise on you.”

---

I wanted this place we created. Where she stopped caring about everything else, where the only thing that mattered was how we fit together. Where we could get lost in each other.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Reading Order and Buy Links

Underneath It All : Amazon 

 

About the Author

Kate Canterbary doesn’t have it all figured out, but this is what she knows for sure: spicy-ass salsa and tequila solve most problems, living on the ocean–Pacific or Atlantic–is the closest place to perfection, and writing smart, smutty stories is a better than any amount of chocolate. She started out reporting for an indie arts and entertainment newspaper back when people still read newspapers, and she has been writing and surreptitiously interviewing people–be careful sitting down next to her on an airplane–ever since. Kate lives on the water in New England with Mr. Canterbary and the Little Baby Canterbary, and when she isn’t writing sexy architects, she’s scheduling her days around the region’s best food trucks.

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