Review: “Say You’re Mine” by Layla Hagen

Series: The Gallaghers Series, #1

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Steam: 🔥🔥🔥

Release Date: April 6th, 20201

Brayden Clarke has learned the hard way that love and fame don’t mix. As the lead singer of one of the world’s most popular bands, he’s constantly under the scrutiny of the press. It makes relationships impossible…not that Brayden has any interest in that.

Until his manager hires Isabelle Gallagher to advise the band in their communication with fans. Isabelle a breath of fresh air. She’s not at all impressed by his fame or reputation. But she’s just as attracted to him as he is to her, and she can’t fight it. Brayden is willing to do anything to meet up with her for a few hours, days, a long weekend. No matter the cost. No matter the effort. But his life is carefully planned, and security detail follows his every step. His lifestyle threatens to drive away the only woman he’s ever wanted. But Brayden won’t allow that to happen.

Isabelle Gallagher is starting over. Now a New York resident, she’s managing her own practice and doing quite well. She’s overjoyed by the opportunity to work with Brayden and the band. If only she could ignore the way Brayden makes her pulse race with one word, her entire body come alive with one touch. The problem is, her heart isn’t listening and she’s falling head over heels for a man every woman wants.

I enjoy Layla Hagen’s brand of romance, it’s light and it’s fun and it’s sexy as all get out. And in the new series, a spin off from the Very Irresistible Bachelors series, we meet the Gallaghers. These names will be very familiar to you if you’ve read any of the books in the Very Irresistible Bachelors series. But even if you haven’t, that’s totally fine, because with Say You’re Mine, you’re basically meeting all of them for the first time anyway!

Say You’re Mine follows Isabelle Gallagher and Brayden Clarke as they navigate romance in the face of fame. Brayden is the lead singer and frontman for a steadily rising band and his management hires Isabelle to come on board to help the band create more of a social media presence to connect with the fans. It’s lust, desire and attraction at first sight and neither of them are pretending that what is happening isn’t going to go all the way. They have saucy and sexy banter, which is always a good thing for me. I love characters that can talk about everything from the weather to making dirty talk sound casual while they banter – it adds a little something to their relationship.

I’m a huge fan of celebrity romances, because I always love watching someone famous fall in love with someone less famous and seeing how their relationship navigates that world only one of them lives in. And Isabelle and Brayden go through that constantly. Which is hard for a while and then complicated, but they both know what it’s what they want and need and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to make the relationship work.

I also loved Isabelle’s relationship with Brayden’s band (I hope we get more of them soon!) and obviously her relationship with her family. From the earlier series, it’s clear that the Gallagher siblings are incredibly close and tight and to see that first hand here was really great. I look forward to more Gallagher sibling interactions! Isabelle is your quintessential good girl and America’s sweetheart. There’s not a bad bone in her body and she’s always going out of her way to make people happy and put a smile on everyone’s face. Brayden, while a good guy, sometimes comes across as less than because he’s not a big fan of parties and large gatherings and sometimes being anti-social makes people think you’re a moody a-hole, which he is not.

While I enjoy instalust as much as anyone else, I’m not necessarily a fan of insta love. Isabelle and Brayden’s relationship rises really fast and it evolves into something bigger before you even know it. They’re putting a lot of things aside for each other, which felt a little rushed to me. Is it weird to say that I wished for more conflict? Because I was hoping for a little more push and pull before we got over the hump.

But at the end of the day Say You’re Mine is a sweet, sexy and cute read and it’s got a hot rockstar who writes a love song for his lady.

Thanks to Layla Hagen and Wildfire Marketing Solutions for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.