“You played me,” he said, but he didn’t sound mad. He sounded impressed.

“It worked,” I said, pride suffusing my tone. “But the scrapes are real.”

“Yeah, I feel terrible. Shall I go hunt down a Band-Aid for you now? Oh wait. You carry them with you. You’re always prepared.”

“You never know when you might have to take a fall to be first,” I said, and rooted around in the front pocket of my backpack for a Band-Aid. I found one, peeled off the wrapping and started to press it onto my palm.

“Let me help,” he said in a soft voice, laying the ends of the Band-Aid onto my skin. He stepped closer, his body now officially in the zone of supreme nearness–the zone that would allow for hands to explore chests, and arms to be wrapped around necks, and lips to lock again. I held my breath. My hands tingled under his touch. “This is the part in the script where the reformed bad boy touches the heroine for the second time,” he whispered.

I wanted to close my eyes and linger in the moment. But I had to be stoic. I couldn’t say what I wanted to say. That this was the moment when the heroine’s skin raced from the barest touch. So I lied. “This is the part where the heroine doesn’t even notice.”

He raised an eyebrow. He held my gaze. I didn’t look away in enough time. My breath caught, and my lips were parted. “Hi,” he whispered in a voice that was getting under my skin.

“Hi,” I said against my better judgment, against my brain.

“Are we still on for the movie tomorrow?”

“You’re just asking me out because I’m the competition, right? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?”

“I’m asking because I want to go out with you. Not because you’re the enemy.”

I scoffed. “At least you admitted I’m the enemy. That’s why you’re asking me.”

He raised his hand, reaching gently for a strand of my hair. My feet felt wobbly with him so near to me. The earth was suddenly operating at a bizarre angle. I pressed my palm against the brick wall behind me to steady myself as he ran a finger along my hair. So softly. “I swear,” he whispered, pinning me with his gaze. “I truly want to see the movie with you. Say you’re still going with me.”

Trying to finance her medical school dreams without resorting to student loans, Jess Leighton has channelled her abilities to recognize celebrity faces and take quality photos quickly as a paparazzo to help her reach her dream. All her energy is focused on keeping her grades up and funding that next step in her life; she keeps her vices, guys and dessert, at a distance to maintain the control necessary to reach her goals. 

William Harrigan is in the United States on a student visa, struggling to find a way to remain in the States following his graduation. When he shows up at several of the same shoots as Jess, she feels both a competitive threat and a dangerous attraction.

I loved each of these character individually and together. I'm pretty sure I spent much of my time reading these with a grin plastered to my face. 

A Starstruck Kiss is the introduction to Stars in Their Eyes. It is sweet, short and raises many of the questions which are answered in the second book. Stars in Their Eyes takes the story and expands it, twists it, and carries it beyond the basic lines it appears to have. 

Together they made for a fun, flirty, read with a twist. Through the ups and downs I found myself making predictions about who was behind various activities and how things would shake out in the end. Because for a while things looked like smooth sailing, like they weren’t going to have a tough time finding their happy ending. And then that smooth road shatters to pieces spectacularly.

This is the first of a spin-off from Lauren’s Caught Up in Love series. The characters that are new should make for interesting stories down the line. And the ties ins to Caught Up in Us and Far Too Tempting, in particular, were fun little pieces. Brian and Matthew, as each character’s siblings pop in and out of the story more than their significant others, but even the little glimpse of Clay and Julia make for fun connections. I think I say this every time I review one of Lauren’s books but I love how she is able to bring back the characters that we love without taking the attention of the main story. These really do standalone, though the characters are woven through other books.