Cocktail

By: Lauren Smith

Narrated by: Stella Hunter, Shane East

Length: 1 hr and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

She’s the queen of crash and burn dating.… He’s the sexy bartender, who wants to save her.

For Aubree Cole, finding love while building a lucrative career seems to be just out of her reach. The Meet Cute dating app sounded like a great idea. But a series of epically terrible dates at her favorite bar, Aubree is rethinking dating, until she meets him...the sexy Aussie behind the bar serving drinks.

Matthew comes to her rescue after her latest awful date bails on her. He gives her a much-needed cocktail and some great advice…along with inspiring a few naughty daydreams. It’s just enough to make her take a chance on love again.

When a secret admirer challenge lands in her dating app inbox to French kiss a stranger, she knows just where to start. Throwing caution to the wind, she accepts the dare. Maybe she needs to get out of her comfort zone a bit to uncover something…more. One supposedly-harmless challenge turns into multiple romantic encounters with Matthew, and she’s left more confused than ever about which man she wants more, the friendly neighborhood bartender or the sexy secret challenger from the dating app. Aubree is ready to find the one. But which one is he?

©2020 Lauren Smith (P)2021 Lauren Smith

Cute Story

This was a novella packed with the challenges of dating. I love Shane East and Emma Wilder’s narration of romance books; they are top notch.

Perfect Reset Romance!

When you are looking for a pick me up after tough, deep feeling romance, this is the book for you! Lauren Smith gave us just the right amount of drama to see how Aubree and Matthew can fall in love quickly, with moments of thought and reflection, and the very much needed spicy, open-door bedroom scenes. Putting a cherry on top is narration brilliantly performed by Shane East and Stella Hunter. Not only does Mr. East dial in a fab Aussie accent to compliment his English accented narrative, but Ms. Hunter shocks with a matching male Aussie when in her POV chapters. Cannot rave enough about the audio just filling my ears with happiness bring this feel good story to life.

Swoony and sweet!

Having another unsuccessful Meet Cute dating app pairing, Aubree's slips out of the bar and leaves her with the tab. Matthew, the bartender, witnessed the bad behavior, and took care of Aubree's tab. She strikes up a conversation with Matthew, he buys her a drink, and it turns out they have pretty good chemistry.

Meanwhile, Aubree gets a few dating challenges from the Meet Cute app, and she decides to work on those challenges with Matthew. The more time they spend together, they start falling for each other. Having been burned by the app, Aubree is confused as to whether to go out with the person sending her the challenges, or continue the great time she's having with Matthew.

Although a quick listen, I really enjoyed the story, and it flowed quite nicely. There was plenty going on in the story, but it didn't feel rushed or crowded. I listened to the audiobook, and Shane East and Stella Hunter narrated Matthew and Aubree beautifully.

Sweet and Spicy novella perfection

Black is the wrong choice for the cover art. This was easy breezy novella perfection with minimum angst, maximum awwww, and just enough spice to bring the heat and still be able to call this a romance instead of erotica.

Short & Sweet, with a little Heat

An adorable story by Lauren Smith.
I loved the chemistry between Aubree and Matthew. There was no angst or drama.
Just a happy, feel good, HEA listen, with fabulous narration by Shane East and Stella Hunter.
I give this 5 well deserved stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cute and swoony!

I loved every minute of this! The story was cute and sexy and the characters so good! The fun, the flirting and great dialog kept me playing this book.
The narrators, Stella & Shane did a fabulous job bringing this cute short story to life. This will definitely be on my repeat listen list!

Sweet and fun listen!

This was a cute and fun novella! Aubrey is unlucky in love and meets Matthew a bartender after a bad date. These two have an immediate connection and strike up a friendship. Matthew helps push her out of her comfort zone and their story is sweet and steamy. Shane East and Stella Hunter are one of my favorite duos and they did a great job telling this story. Definitely pick this one up if need something quick and low on the angst.