seriously romantic: to love and to cherish by lauren layne

the final book in the wedding belles series, to love and to cherish, brings us the story of logan and alexis. these two have been slow-burning the whole series. that flame has been so obvious since we were first introduced to them in the first book. but it's a banked flame.

logan has held his true feelings back from alexis for eight long years. it's not like he's kept his feelings a secret, everyone else around them knows he loves her. but for some reason this woman doesn't let herself see it. she doesn't let herself feel it. she has her reasons. alexis was betrayed by not just one person she loved, but two, her ex-boyfriend and sister fell in love with each other in front of her eyes. and that hurt. actually that devastated her. it taught her not to trust in feelings. it taught her to fear the hurt that could come from opening yourself up to someone else.

but lately she realizes something is missing. and logan realizes that it is now or never. if he doesn't make his play for her now, if he doesn't move things beyond friendship, he has other obligations in his life that he's been ignoring for far too long. the push and pull between these characters is so halting and frustrating and so hot. they obviously love each other so deeply. it's more than they can even express, especially given their need for control. logan has that stiff upper lip and alexis has taught herself to remain cool and collected.

this makes them a bit hard to get to know. there's so much that happens beneath the surface with them. when they go all in, they are all in. but it's interesting because there's still always that level of reserve. these characters hold themselves apart. sometimes from each other, but also from the reader. it's a bit strange. i predicted that the second book in this series, for better or worse, would remain my favorite, and that is true. and i think it's because heather and josh are so open, you get to feel everything they feel. the highs and the lows. and even though alexis and logan have some pretty good highs and lows, even though there is this huge well of emotion between them, because of who they are, it tends to stay bottled up. and that's totally okay. i enjoyed reading this series. this is a lovely conclusion to it. i just liked book 2 best.

**to love and to cherish will publish october 18, 2016. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/pocket books in exchange for my honest review.