Love Redesigned (Lakefront Billionaires, 1)

ARC ReviewI swear I feel like it's been so long since I've read a book by Lauren Asher and now that I've read Love Redesigned, I feel so content with my life right now. Coming back to her world of new billionaires has me so excited since just with the first book, there was so many great characters. From Julian and Dahlia, I can't even express how much I love them and, honestly, they might be my favorite Lauren Asher couple. Also, the side characters, OMG, I simply can't wait for the next books of this series since I just know that the couples are going to be mind blowingly phenomenal. I kind of have a feeling about who will be the other couples but I'll keep that to myself and just hope that I'm right. I've read a good majority of Lauren Asher's books now and I have to say something about Love Redesigned is just so different, I feel like her writing has improved, not saying that her past work is bad, but this book just had a completely different element from her past ones.I think one of the most important parts that I loved was the constant culture and spanish speaking in the book. It's no secret that I'm Latine and growing up, having main characters that were BIPOC wasn't really seen and even now with a spike in Latino characters, the authors have not grown that much. Based on a study from Wordsrated, Latino authors have increased by 2.96% since 2010 which totals the Latino representation to 7.62% in the publishing industry. I have to appreciate the work that Lauren Asher is doing because not only is she breaking a barrier in the publishing industry but she's having her characters be represented in the best way I've seen. I honestly can't express how much I appreciate Lauren for this book because for some, this might not seem like a big deal, but to little me that was expected to be a minor character in a story, she made us front and center with the best representation that I could've asked her.Now to the book, the banter between Julian and Dahlia was truly addicting and something that I just eat up when I'm reading books. There's just something about it that left me wanting more and I just felt like I was a part of their lives. The chemistry between all the characters was just very comforting since you can tell that there's love within each other and that at the end of the day, when one of them feels alone in reality they're not since their family will always be there to support them. The meaning of family is really strong in this book and I'm just a complete sucker for that since my family has a big impact on me.Julian was a very interesting Hero and I honestly didn't expect him to be the way that he was. Is he a possessive jealous alpha? Yes, but there's just something about him that doesn't leave a weird taste in your mouth if he was real. I just feel like he was a gentleman with some jealous tendencies for his heroine which is completely valid. He was just such an interesting Hero that I haven't read in a while, he was just the perfect man and I can see why Dahlia was intrigued with him. Although we don't get to see his growth on paper, we can see that from the incident to now that Julian isn't the same person and has improved himself. I love that he's able to admit that and still acknowledge that he still has work to do which makes me love him more since he doesn't see his vulnerability as something weak.Dahlia, she was just baby girl and after everything she went through with you know who, I just wanted to give her a big hug. The way her character was written, I just felt like she was a friend that was telling us the chisme about her life and that of Lake Wisteria. There were so many great moments that we get with her and I just loved seeing how the story went through her eyes since it was definitely different from Julian. She has honestly been my favorite character of the year and I just hope that we get to see more of her in the future books.Overall, I genuinely can't recommend this book enough since there's just nothing that you won't like from this book. The characters, the plot, and the setting just leaves you craving more from this world and the characters. I just love this book so much and I genuinely think it's one of the best books of 2023.Trigger Warnings:-Mentions of Infertility Issues-Mentions of Death of Parents-Panic/Anxiety Attacks

Julian and Dahlia. Where do I start? Julian, our MMC, definitely has a grumpy attitude but is sweet, thoughtful and a heart of gold. That hard exterior crumbles when it comes to Dahlia whom he is absolutely in love with and would do anything for. Dahlia, our FMC, unfortunately has lost her way and herself however we see her as loving, kind and down-to-earth. They both have some healing to go through and its wonderful to see the growth. Also, instead of running away from their fears, they are both forced to face them and choose to overcome them both individually and together.Julian and Dahlia grew up together and have been rivals since practically they were born. Their pranks, their banter their heartache and romance made for a great story. I tend to annotate and use book tabs for my emotions felt through a book and this book made me laugh from start to finish. Julian and Dahlias talents and passions gave me major HGTV vibes.Another thing I enjoyed about the book is the family dynamic. Julian and Dahlia grew up together due to their mothers being close from childhood. And due to the fact of their mothers being close, both families spend a great deal of time together for dinners and holidays.Love Redesigned is a great beginning to Lauren Asher’s new series. Julian and Dahlia are a great couple and I found myself cheering them on. Their love story was an emotional rollercoaster built on second chances and enemies-to-lovers. The supporting characters all played a beautiful role and there a few surprise character from Lauren Asher’s other series that pop up.⭐️4/5🌶 2/5Tropes:BillionaireEnemies-to-loversSmall town romance

This book just missed the mark for me. I really really wanted to love it, but I felt like the story was very stagnant for about 90% of the book.The FMC, Dahlia is struggling with depression after a recent breakup and getting some test results. She decides to return to her hometown to be closer to her family. She is quickly reacquainted with her old childhood rival and pushes down all feelings towards him. This is a fine story line to go with, but it seriously didn’t progress past that until the last like 6 chapters of the book. It was just a constant fighting of feelings and refusing to discuss them with one another.The MMC Julian carried the entire plot on his back and he was willing to speak to Dahlia and wanted to give everything a try with her, but she just refused for so much of the book.I really wanted to love this one, but the only reason I didn’t DNF was because I bought the audiobook and the narrators were fantastic in duet.I liked that both characters were hispanic and actually spoke Spanish throughout the book instead of it just saying “they said in Spanish.” Translations were provided as well in the footnotes of each chapter, so even if you don’t speak Spanish, you know what they are saying without looking it up.I feel like these characters had a lot of potential, but the FMC specifically lacked character growth. She did have moments of growth, but not enough to make the plot feel like it was going anywhere. Her stubbornness and lack of willingness to communicate effectively were extremely frustrating to me.*mild spoilers* There is no third act breakup, which I like as well, but that comes from the characters not getting together until the end of the third act.*end of mild spoilers*Tropes:Childhood rivals to loversSecond chanceBillionaire (MMC)Reality interior design show star (FMC)TW:InfertilityMiscarriage (not by the FMC, but mentioned frequently)Loss of a parent/grief (before the start of the book)Anxiety/depression (FMC)