Saturday, January 17, 2015

Blog Tour: Claiming Serenity by Eden Butler

Title: Claiming Serenity (Seeking Serenity, #3)
Author: Eden Butler
Genre: NA | Contemporary Romance
Release Date: December 22, 2014








4 Star Review by Jen Skewes

Claiming Serenity is the third installment in the Seeking Serenity series which I love.  When we last saw Layla she was dating Warren, the rent a cop as he is sometimes referred to as. Her reasons for being with him aren’t exactly the right reasons and honestly he is just not her type.  Warren isn’t exactly the guy that she sees herself with.  The funny thing is that the guy that she actually falls for is the same guy that she has hated for a good portion of her life.  Donovan Donley is the last person on earth that she ever thought she would fall for. 

Donovan and Layla have known each other for most of their lives.  Their fathers were best friends.  Regardless of how close their families were they could not stand each other.  They constantly played pranks on each other and constantly pushed each other’s buttons.  Those pranks and the hatred that they seem to have towards each other still continues to this day in college.  It may seem immature and it probably is but they just cannot help it.   You know when you are younger and people always say that little boys are mean because deep down they really like you.  Well that may be true for young adults too.  Except these two just haven’t figured that out yet.

After one night of drinking Layla wakes up in a very unfamiliar bed and when she realizes what she may have done she is completely disgusted.  How could she end up in bed with her enemy?  Layla is quick to get out and never see him again, but Donovan cannot deny the physical connection between the two of them and he reminds Layla of that every chance he gets.  At some point they end up becoming enemies with benefits.  Yes that is correct, two enemies who enjoy sex with each other.  Now one would have to think that if you can at least stand to be in bed with someone and have hot and passionate sex then maybe you don’t really hate them as much as you think you do.  I mean even their friends see something going on there.  But Donovan and Layla seem to be clueless to their true feelings.  Or are they?  Do they really have feelings for each other but because of insecurities and the fear of rejection they keep those feelings to themeselves?

Layla may have hated Donovan but I loved him.  He really is a good guy.  He makes no promises to Layla and doesn’t do emotions but he is honest with her from the beginning.  And his reasons for not doing the whole emotional thing, WOW did not see that one coming.  Layla and Donovan are falling for each other but both are too scared to admit it.  Layla was at times a bitch and was very hard headed when it came to her and Donovan and her feelings for him.  Donovan knew what he wanted but was just too afraid to go after it.

I loved Layla and Donovan’s story.  It had drama that wasn’t over the top.  There were moments that made me feel so sad for the two of them, especially Donovan because I knew and understood what he wanted even if he had trouble admitting it.    There were moments where I wanted to bang their heads together and tell them to talk to each other, to get themselves on the same page.  They let their fears take over.  I laughed with them, I cried with them and I fell in love with these two characters.  I loved that we still get to see the other supporting characters from this series.  I will always love Declan and loved that he had a big role in this one.  I cannot wait for Sayo’s story and wondering who she will end up with, could it be Quinn or will he get his own story?  Hmmm, I wonder.  But either way I cannot wait for more. 


“And you’re a complete and utter bitch.”




For a moment.





a Rafflecopter giveaway


  1. Love the premise! Thanks for the chance.

  2. Haven't read anything by Eden Butler yet but I looked up the previous books in the series and I'm really intrigued, looking forward to reading them :) Thank you for the awesome giveaway!

  3. Thank you very much. Sounds really great.

  4. This book sounds good. I think I will start with book on, which also sounds pretty good. Thank you.

  5. Thank you for the giveaway!! :)

