ARC Review: Plain Jayne by Laura Drewry

Plain Jayne 
by Laura Drewry
Release Date:  April 8th 2014 by Loveswept
Pages: ebook, 336 
View/Purchase: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, iBooks

In Laura Drewry’s funny, heartwarming Loveswept debut, a man and a woman learn the hard way that a little bit of love makes staying friends a whole lot harder.
 
Worn out from the long drive back home, Jayne Morgan can only smirk at the irony: Of course the first person she sees from her old life is Nick Scott. Once best friends, they lost touch when Jayne left town at eighteen, but nothing could keep them apart forever. Jayne has returned to take over her grandmother’s bookstore, determined to put all her bittersweet memories and secret disappointments strictly in the past—until, that is, Nick insists she bunk at his place.
 
Nick never did care what people thought about having a girl for a best friend—or the “scandal” she caused by showing up to his wife’s funeral four years earlier—so he’s got no problem with the gossips now. Jayne was always the one person he could count on in his life. Now Nick is starting to realize that he never wants her to leave again . . . and that being “just friends” isn’t going to be enough anymore.
(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)
My Review:

Plain Jayne is a heartwarming story of two friends struggling to accept that their relationship is far beyond a friendship one and that they might just belong together after all. 

After leaving town to start a new life for herself, Jayne Morgan has returned to take over her grandmother's bookstore. She is determined to move past her childhood struggles and start over again where she once grew up. But Jayne wasn't expecting to see Nick, her childhood best-friend so soon, especially after he chased her out of town four years earlier. Coming back home also means that the town will be talking about her and her relationship with Nick, after being criticized for their friendship and the scandal that she caused by showing up to his wife's funeral couldn't have helped with how the town now sees her as.

Now finding out that her grandmother, the women who practically ignored her as a child has left her the bookstore (the place that Jayne has always loved) comes as a surprised. She finds out that repairing it will take some time, and Nick has offered her to stay with him while they fix the bookstore. Having no other choice, Jayne accepts but at the biggest risk of all. The more time they spend together, she knows that she is risking her heart and that one of them will end up getting hurt. 

Nick isn't one to care about what other people think of him and his friendship with Jayne, but after what he did to her, he feels the need to help her in hopes that she forgives him for not treating her well when she came to his wife's funeral. The problem now is that, the more he spends time with her, the more he realizes just how much he wants her to stay with him and that being “just friends” isn’t going to be enough anymore. 

I absolutely loved reading Plain Jayne, the author did a good job with the pacing of the story and it was also very well-written. The chapters themselves have quotes of various movies, that completely fit with the chapter. The character development is also one of the things that I really liked, it did took the characters a bit more to realize their feelings towards each other, but the various obstacles that they had to go through to get to that point tied the story very well. I found myself liking Nick's character the most, he is a genuine friend that anyone would love to have. He is also overprotective at times, which gave the story more excitement. Overall, the characters had great chemistry and it works out in the end. I highly recommend it. 

*ARC provided by NetGalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review*

My Rating: