This book was a fun time. It was a first from LaQuette for me. Its so rare to find a love story where the main characters is my age and in her 40s. I loved that element

I've never read one of LaQuette's books before and I do think this is a good introduction - she has a great cast of characters, Michael and Vanessa sound very hot, and it's steamy! Still, I was far more interested in everyone else *around* Michael and Vanessa than in their relationship. I'd like to read more about their friend group, but this book was just so so for me.

I also didn't love the narrator - they didn't have a very different voice for Michael vs. Vanessa, which I found odd, especially given the range of masculine voices they used for other characters!

This was my first read by LaQuette and let me tell you, I am a total fan. Vanessa Jared’s got a man was a great listen and it instantly gave me vibes from Sex In The City!

I thought this was a cute book, and I really enjoyed how the main character was in her 40s and figuring life out. It felt very realistic. The chemistry wasn’t too believable for me. But overall, I did enjoy the story!

This was really enjoyable and love a later in life (not a second chance romance). Loved both lead characters.

3.5
This was such a fun and unique plot line. I did like the elements of small town scenery and an underlying suspense of what's to come when they arrive.
It did feel rushed in the last 1/3.

I started reading this book thinking it was going to be about a woman rediscovering herself after being in an abusive marriage for 20 years, but then the story kept shifting and growing deeper, and it ended up also being about friendship, recovery, growth, and small-town romance with a super hot sheriff.

Vanessa Jared is in her 40s and in a bid to let go of some anger she takes herself to a divorce support group. The group ends up being a bust, but she meets two other women who are destined to become her life-long friends.

Two years later a man shows up on her doorstep begging for her help in convincing his sister not to marry her abusive ex-husband. While Vanessa doesn't want anything to do with her ex she agrees to help. When she gets to the small town, destiny seems set on keeping her there so she can get to know the sheriff a little...ok a LOT better.

The characters in this book were wonderful and I could easily read more about Vanessa and her friend group, so I'm (not so) secretly hoping this turns into a series. The story was delightful, and steamy, and certainly had enough twists to keep me guessing and turning the pages with abandon.

I switched between the physical and audiobook versions, and loved the narration by Denise Wallace. She was a new-to-me narrator and I really loved her performance. The audio comes in at 8 hours and 12 minutes.

Vanessa Jared’s Got a Man by LaQuette is a book about a woman who finds herself again two years after a divorce. After all this time, she finds herself helping a sexy sheriff prevent his little sister from marrying her ex husband. As Vanessa finds herself stuck in this small town, she finds herself growing closer to the sheriff. Is she ready to go down that road with another man?

I will say that if you are looking to read a book with a compelling plot and super dynamic characters, this is not the book for you. However, if you are looking for a book with lots of tension and good spicy scenes, then this is the book for you!

I didn't necessarily find this set up a total turn off. It was a good palate cleanser between some heavier books I had been reading at the time. And the plot was engaging enough; I thought the set up between the two leads was quite creative. But I didn’t stick around for the plot, if you know what I mean.

But books like this have their place too. In a world where Black women’s sexuality is heavily policed, it is a freeing experience to have a Black woman writing about sexuality and desire in open ways, free of judgment. And while I love Black love, this interracial relationship between an Asian man and a Black woman, two of the statistically most undesirable demographics in America, creates a world where people like them can be seen as irresistible.

Overall, I gave the story 3 stars (the spicy carried the team). Perfect for fans of smut!

really enjoyed this as an audiobook. the narrator was engaging and created such a pleasant listening experience. thanks netgalley & the publisher for the oppty to listen to the ARC.

VANESSA JARED'S GOT A MAN tells the story of a woman getting her groove back and getting a second chance at love.

I enjoyed this story so much, and love a second chance theme! I also really appreciated the strong female friendships that were featured in the story, as Vanessa needed to lean on them during a hard time in her life as her marriage was ending.

I listened to this as an audiobook, and thought it was a good choice for narrator.

*many thanks to OrangeSky Audio for the gifted copy for review

LOVED the story as a whole, but had a very difficult time getting into the audiobook! I ended up checking this one out as a physical copy and fell for it.

The audiobook was executed well, I just couldn’t get into the voice!

A for effort, but it fell flat for me. Rating 5/5 for the storyline, though!

Thanks for the opportunity!

I listened to an audiobook arc copy of this book and it was such a fun time! It really made the experience that much better and the narrator did a fantastic job. Highly recommend!

As for the book, woow this was steamier than I had expected to be! In the best way possible, I loved the instant connection between Vanessa and Michael! They definitely were the highlight of the story for me as the actual plot setup took way too long for me. I probably wouldn't have finished this but Vanessa and Michael were just captivating enough to keep me reading. I wasn't a huge fan of the third act breakup though.

The female friendships in here were a great aspect too! Seeing them come together, especially when Vanessa needed them most after divorcing her abusive husband, was so sweet.

If you like steamy romances with "oh no there's no hotels you should stay at my house" and ruining your abusive ex husbands life.. Check this one out!

3.8/𝟱

🌱THE EXCELLENT
~ Strong, life-changing friendships
~ Diverse group of friends, challenges & backgrounds
~ Blossoming attraction & love story
~ Overcoming abuse & dissatisfaction in relationships
~ Small town romance

A middle-aged woman, shell-shocked by the effects of her divorce to an azzhole, finds friends who act as a compass in her life & lead her to love & drama in a very small town.

🦖
A story about overcoming abuse in marriage, finding friends & family, self-empowerment & self-love, this book was a comfortable listen that had me rolling my eyes & smiling at times. The scene-setting was well done, but I wasn’t able to really S I N K into any of the characters as I would have liked, this may require a 2nd book. Overall a peaceful listen/read for those who enjoy contemporary romance & life-changing friendships.

✨𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱.

🌱THE MEH
~ The ‘love’ happens pretty quickly (💁 but this also can happen in real life… so, humm)
~ 🤔 I didn’t think Carl was as well fleshed out as he could be (then again the story wasn’t really about him… humm)

♡🌱 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲 ;)

Vanessa Jared’s Got a Man is a sizzling delight. I devoured this audiobook!

I loved Vanessa’s journey to love, and more importantly self-love. She was a strong and tender heroine that I just loved cheering on as she took down her toxic ex.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This cover got me! I had to read this book.

Vanessa is moving on after divorcing her abusive husband of 20 years. Enter Michael - whose sister is about to marry Vanessa’s ex and will stop at nothing to keep his sister away from the jerk.

If you are looking for a quick, steamy romance - this book is for you! I love the diversity of this love story with a Korean MMC and a Black FMC plus they are both older. I love how confident Vanessa is in her journey and how caring/supportive Michael is. I’m also a sucker for a friend group who is not afraid to tell it how it really is.

I hope we get more books focused on the other friends’ stories.

Recommended if you like:
-small town settings
-older MCs
-love after divorce
-open-door romance
-insta-love
-supportive friend group

If you liked The Boyfriend Project series by Farrah Rochon - you’d enjoy this book too!

TW: gaslighting, emotional abuse, toxic relationship, death of parent(s)

A sexy, spicy romance where the MC is over 40?! Omg YES PLEASE.

First, I love the friends in this book. Like, as much as the romance - the Savvy Sexy Singles Club was so fun - you just wanted to be friends with all of them.

But mainly, the relationship built between Vanessa and Michael, it’s so well done and believable.

TW - This deals heavily in emotional abuse, but is done in such a accurate and well thought out way.

Denise Wallace narrates Vanessa Jared’s Got a Man by LaQuette. Rebuilding her life after divorcing her toxic, emotionally abusive, cheating ex-husband, 40-something divorcee Vanessa Jared becomes BFFs with two amazing Black women also recovering from divorce. Together they form the Savvy, Sexy, Singles Club to embrace life after divorce. Two years later, on her divorce anniversary, sheriff Michael Park asks Vanessa to help him stop his little sister from marrying Vanessa’s no-good ex. Because the last thing she wants is to see the man she’s finally free from, Vanessa refuses to help. After Michael shows Vanessa a photo of his sister wearing Vanessa’s grandmother’s ring, which now belongs to her, she changes her mind, agreeing to help him if he recovers and returns it to her. The last thing Vanessa expects is to fall in love with Michael.

Complementing LaQuette’s steamy and emotional narrative style, Wallace’s lively narration brings LaQuette’s entertaining romance to life with sparkle. Her voices for Vanessa and Michael’s narration, their circles of friends, and his sister perfectly match their characters. She narrates Vanessa and Michael as serious, cautious, and less lively, then portrays them as flirtier, snarkier, and affectionate after spending time together. Wallace uses pacing, tone, intonation, and emotion to give Michael, Vanessa, and the secondary characters distinct voices, revealing their personalities, feelings, quirks, and state of mind. I love her narration for Vanessa’s friends, which delightfully portrays their charming, audacious, colorful, funny, sarcastic, and sweet personalities. She also captures the deep, life-long friendship, love, closeness, and snark between Michael and his friends.

Her narration brilliantly expresses Vanessa and Michael’s loneliness, yearning, and passion for each other, Vanessa’s fear of being hurt and trapped in another controlling relationship, and Michael’s consuming need to protect his loved ones. Michael and Vanessa’s smoldering attraction transitions into an intensely sexual relationship. Using her full vocal range, Wallace skillfully portrays this transition and the intimacy, sensations, and passion flowing through LaQuette’s wonderfully written, intimate scenes. In addition, Wallace doesn’t affect the novel’s quick pacing by deftly shifting between angsty, humorous, and steamy tones.

LaQuette’s vibrant writing style, vivid description, lively and authentic dialogue, humor, wit, and emotional narrative draw you in instantly, making the pages fly by. She deftly develops her cast of diverse and relatable characters in this interracial/multicultural romance, with interactions and conversations between the characters that feel natural and genuine. I love that despite the diversity in race/ethnicity among characters and interracial romantic relationships—Vanessa is African American, and Michael is Korean American—the characters’ races are not at issue or a focal point of the story.

Michael and Vanessa’s connection, interactions, sexual chemistry, intimacy, and love scenes are sexy AF and well-written. While their relationship is a bit of a slow burn, LaQuette makes the wait worth it. LaQuette wonderfully develops their relationship from uneasy allies, to friends, to lovers with flirty, sexy, sweet, and humorous banter. Vanessa and Michael don’t shy away from serious conversations but also talk about all the things, with a lot of flirting, innuendo, and fiery chemistry. I love how intensely Michael is feeling Vanessa. Despite trying to keep his cool, his attraction to her deepens, and he falls for her. Hesitant to get involved with anyone after her experience with her controlling ex, Vanessa fiercely fights their attraction despite being deeply attracted to Michael from their first meeting. Spending time with him only makes Vanessa respect, care for, and want him even more. But Vanessa can allow herself to enjoy her time with him only while in town because she’s not willing to risk her heart or independence. Michael’s relentless need to protect the people he loves, which tends to get out of control, only reinforces her skittishness about pursuing anything romantic with him.

LaQuette nicely shows her characters existing/having lives outside of each other while together. I love Vanessa’s friends and their relationship. Their conversations and interactions are insightful, honest, humorous, and so crucial to the revelation and development of Vanessa’s character and the novel. Likewise, Michael’s relationships with his friends and the townspeople are entertaining and enlightening about Michael and his sister.

It’s fantastic that LaQuette subtly speaks to the stigma of therapy in the Black community and emotionally manipulative/abusive relationships through Vanessa’s situation. And through Michael and his sister’s loss, LaQuette explores grief’s impact on surviving family members and its influence on their personalities and interactions with the people in their lives.

Jared’s Got a Man is an angsty, sexy AF, humorous, steamy, emotional, multicultural/interracial romance. I highly recommend it to audiobook fans looking for a steamy, engaging, sexy romance about diverse characters in their 40s. The novel explores self-discovery, letting go of the past, emotional healing and recovery, friendship, learning to trust and open your heart to love again, and making a fresh start after an emotionally abusive relationship.

CW: past emotional abuse/manipulation and control.

Advanced review copy provided by Macmillan Audio via Netgalley for review.

It took a long time for Vanessa to get over her divorce, and she’s still got a ways to go, if a small town sherif looking to expose her ex for the liar and cheat that he is says anything about it. Michael’s sister is that ex’s new fiancé, and he wants Vanessa to come back to his small town and tell her the truth. When a storm has Vanessa staying in town longer than expected, at the sheriff’s house to boot, undeniable sparks begin to fly.

I loved reading about a divorcee who is still working through her trauma. She’s still trying to find what she wants out of life after so much emotional abuse, and to watch her break loose of the hold that her ex’s manipulation still had on her.

Michael is the protective older brother to his core after losing his parents and gaining custody of his teenaged sister. Even though she’s grown up now, you can see how he struggles to let go of protecting her from the world.

The characters together had so much chemistry and I absolutely flew through this book. I loved her friends and the small town energy that this book had - and do I smell a sequel? Seems like we’ve gotten set up to return to this world 👀

Vanessa Jared is a divorced woman, who meets the man of her dreams. The only problem is he needs her to tell his sister, finance to her awful ex-husband, what an awful person he is. While Vanessa has tried to move on from her divorce to an emotionally abusive and controlling ex something is holding her back. She has an amazing support system and doesn't know why she can't just move forward. She goes with Michael to tell his sister the truth and becomes stranded in the town. She agrees to stay with Michael and fireworks smolder until they finally explode. This was a cute trope and it was SPICY!! If I could move to Maybery and hope to fine a sheriff of my own. There are more stories to be told with these characters, so I hope I can check back with these characters later.

Vanessa Jared’s Got a Man is a story of love’s redemption for both for Vanessa and sheriff Michael. While they come together for a mutual goal of hopefully saving Michael’s sister, Cindy from the evil and conniving hands of Vanessa’s ex-husband, an insta-attraction fills both Michael and Vanessa that becomes harder to deny.

When Vanessa’s one day stay turns into what would be a weeklong stay, she finds love and a whole lot of lust in the arms of the towns most eligible and sexiest bachelor’s, Michael. Warning: STEAM is present, and I love steam, but for readers who don’t—prepare yourself. To me, this added to the goodness of the story!

This book spoke volumes about redefining your life after tragedy for both characters, and wiping out the fear of loving and living life to the fullest.

I must say I listened via audiobook, and I do think that took some of the luster away. The selection of the narrator did not fit, and I must say the delivery was lackluster and underwhelming. This book definitely would’ve benefited from the dual narration (male & female) that it called for, or at least, a female narrator who could inflect where sexiness and sass where needed. The tone throughout sounded more like senior citizens (70+) rather than 40 year old people.

It also took a while to sink into this one as the first few chapters felt a bit redundant. But once we moved past that, the story took off. Michael and Vanessa grew in such a short time individually and as a potential couple. It left us rooting for them while also enjoying how they embraced their differences and tackled their inner demons. Their friends were a breath of fresh air adding the right amount of support and comic relief. In the end, all parties got exactly what they deserved—bad and good. There’s even a possible tease at a second book, that will leave your interests highly piqued. A well written, must read!

Thank you to OrangeSky and St. Martins Press for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.