The Wrong Guy

Cold Springs

By: Lauren Landish

Narrated by: CJ Bloom, Ryan West

Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Best of friends with benefits—and more in common than they ever expected—in a funny and sexy romance by Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author Lauren Landish.

Wren Ford is the city attorney for Cold Springs—a job she takes seriously. Good thing she has a great form of stress relief: a friends-with-benefits arrangement with the well-muscled and very attentive construction worker Jesse Sullivan. Wren’s heart secretly craves more, but how can she fess up her feelings to a man who doesn’t want to get tied down?

Jesse is head over heels in love with Wren, but he can’t picture a happily ever after. What would an attorney and out-of-his-league goddess want with him? Especially when a flirty, cocky lawyer who screams money and power shows an interest in Wren.

As a scandalous high-profile split escalates from name-calling to corporate takeovers, Wren and Jesse must team up to find a way to protect the people and the town they love. And everyone in Cold Springs is rooting for them to figure out that maybe, against all odds, they’re made for each other.

©2023 Lauren Landish (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“A 'must' for the legions of dedicated rom-com fans…astutely narrated by the combined vocal storytelling skills of co-narrators CJ Boom and Ryan West…especially and unreservedly recommended to the attention of the growing legions of Lauren Landish fans.”—Midwest Book Review

“Loaded with spice, heart, and drama, this is sure to win over readers…”—Publishers Weekly

Fun read!

This was such a fun read. The characters we’re engaging and delightful, Ren and Jesse were at the center of attention and kept the story lively and vivacious.

Some unexpected surprises

I love that even after reading I don’t know how many romance novels, authors can still find ways to surprise me. The ending for me was fantastic. Thank you for giving even the side characters a little bit of growth !

loved it

I really enjoyed reading this author.  I look forward to reading more books by this author in the near future.

10/10

I absolutely love the story! If you’re thinking about it, get it, it’s worth it!

I was unsure at the start…

But this was such a good twist on the usual storyline. Great listen, and I laughed out loud quite a bit.

fun and sexy

I really enjoyed how the story did not surround too many issues in the main couple but I did enjoy and laugh through the wild and crazy a very fun and we all know this is not the way it would happen in real life because it is fiction however I really enjoyed how the town came together and I loved how the relationship continued to strengthen through the whole story another great book by Lauren landish I would absolutely recommend if you want something funny and lighthearted and of course several steamy parts I don't usually review books but I really felt called to put this review out there if you decide please enjoy and laugh a lot

Good But Too Long

This book is in the genre of contemporary romance, that means most of them are only between 6-8 hours, Not 10. This book could have been wrapped up way more quickly and I did have to skip through, because you know how a book like this ends, but I just wanted to get to the end. It was entertaining and I loved the narrators, they did an amazing job. The story was good too, just thought it could have been a couple hours shorter and still have gotten to the same conclusion, which was an HEA.

What a mess

This book focused more on the impact on a quirky town of a messy divorce than the romance. Problem is that I never cared about the story and the romance took such a secondary role that it was hard to care about that either. The icing on the cake was cringe-worthy raunchy jokes. Not your usual Lauren Landish. If you like divorce revenge stories, perhaps you would enjoy this.

I'm not a prude - Honest

I've listened to a couple of her books hoping for a cute story line, sort of like Janet Evanovich. I've been disappointed. Why all the graphic sex? If I wanted that I'd read or watch porn. I won't be purchasing any more of Lauren Landish's books.

Had to work so hard to suspend disbelief

Starting a book off with a detailed sex scene is crass and unsexy, because there’s zero emotion or emotional connection at that point. That poor start got worse when the plot jumps ahead and they’ve been estranged for a year. The idea that an entire town knows Wren and Jesse are meant to be, and yet no one talks to either of them about it for a year, is ludicrous. The idea that neither Wren nor Jesse communicated with each other for that year is also ludicrous, especially given that Wren is allegedly a smart lawyer. The idea that Jesse doesn’t think he’s good enough for her, but nonetheless tells everyone in town that she’s his, is caveman baloney.

Of course, they resolve their issues halfway through the book and the rest of the book isn’t so much a romance as a straight up legal comedy. Here too, the absurdity of Wren repeatedly breaking client confidentiality and then meeting with the opposing side’s client (without that client’s lawyer present) made it a joke of a plot.

I channeled the movies Liar Liar with Jim Carrey and Sweet Home Alabama and was somewhat able to embrace the insanity. Listening with an “only in B movies” mentality, there were occasional funny lines and scenarios. There just wasn’t enough to make me like this couple and invest in the HEA.