After the Kiss
Julie & Mitchell’s Love Story
Stiletto Series
Book One
About
Dedicated journalist Julie temporarily ditches her flirty bachelorette lifestyle to play the the part of doting girlfriend to an uptight Wall Street broker for the sake of story research, only to learn that the brooding Mitchell has some secrets of his own.
This book is only available in ebook and audiobook because Penguin Random House controls all rights and has declined to make a print version available or revert my rights back to me.
Stiletto
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Julie & Mitchell
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Stiletto · Julie & Mitchell ·
Some Details
Vibe
The Stiletto series is very glam. Think men in suits, women in high-heels, with an upscale New York City lifestyle with a splash of 90s rom-com energy.
Heat Level
This is a steamy romance novel with explicit sex scenes and spicy language.
POV
This book is written in alternating third person POV.
Tone
My books are very banter/dialog driven. This one has plenty of Sex and the City friendship vibes, but the romance is core of the book, and it dips into some deep emotional aches.
Author Note
After the Kiss is not the first book I wrote, but it is the first one published, so it’s how many of my readers first discovered me. It’s my shortest book, and also one of my most beloved.
It’s often compared to How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which in hindsight I totally see. But I was actually inspired by another 90s classic: Sex & the City … except with guaranteed happily-ever-afters and more of a focus on old-fashioned romance. :)
“Funny, intelligent, and touching, Lauren Layne’s After the Kiss is a delightful debut.”
—Ruthie Knox, USA Today bestselling author of Flirting with Disaster
Taylor Swift Song Pairing
Blank Space
Tropes & Vibes
Opposites Attract · Grumpy Sunshine · NYC · Quiet Alpha Hero · Angsty Dark Moment · Flirty Heroine · Found-Family
A Little Excerpt
Mitchell’s cocky grin slipped. Stodgy? He wasn’t stodgy. Was he? Surely she was just getting back at him for his rejection last night. Then again, she did strike him as a woman who knew exactly what she was doing.
Was he being played more adeptly than he realized?
He cleared his throat. “So you’re telling me the only reason I’m not falling wildly in love with you right now is because you don’t want me to?”
“Exactly,” she said. “If I wanted you to fall in love with me, I would’ve never let you see me without makeup this early in the game. Seeing a woman without her armor should be a gift saved until at least the seventh date. And I wouldn’t have shown you my lack of cooking skills. If I thought you’d dig the domestic thing, I would have ordered in and then transferred it all into my own cookware. And I most certainly wouldn’t have let you see me in the ratty shorts that I save for PMS and cleaning days.”
Mitchell couldn’t decide whether to laugh or strangle the outrageous ego out of her.
So he did the only other he could think of that would catch her off guard.
He kissed her.
on Book Covers
I’ve made the unusual decision not to show the official book covers on my official author website for a variety of reasons:
Most of my books have multiple cover versions depending on language/country; the US English version is only one of many.
Several of my cover designs were spot-on when they released, but are now quite dated even though the love stories within are timeless.
I have an unwavering love for neutral colors, and elegantly minimalist design. The current rom-com cover trend towards candy colored cartoons is not my jam.
My website is my chance to present my work my way.
Buy the Book
After the Kiss
This book is only available in ebook and audiobook because Penguin Random House controls all rights and has declined to make a print version available or revert my rights back to me.