Love Redesigned (Lakefront Billionaires, 1)

This book really punches you right in the feels. I am always on the hunt for books that bring so many emotions out of me. I truly felt exactly how our main characters were feeling with the way that Lauren Asher was able to describe them and bring them to life for me.

I absolutely fell in love with Dahlia and Julian. I loved their relationship from beginning to end. Julian is so broody, grumpy, and misunderstood. But at his core he is honestly just the biggest sweetheart the only wants best for his family/friends. Dahlia is basically crumbling from a terrible heart break and a lot more issues that she is trying to work through. She was really relatable and I felt for her tremendously. Even though there are some heavy topics our two characters are working through. The banter and tension between Julian and Dahlia were unmatched. I loved the pranks they pulled on each other. They teased each other relentlessly and you can't help but rooting for them.

This was honestly one of th best second chance romances I have read in a long time and I loved every single second of it

Este libro!!!!!!

Lauren Asher knocks it out of the park every time. If you were a fan of her Dreamland Billionaires series, you’ll enjoy this book and it’s many mentions of the Kane brothers. If you were one of those rare people that didn’t enjoy that series, why are you still here, Hater?!?? Begone!!!!!

Love Redesigned centers around main character Dahlia Muñoz, and interior designer who has finally returned hometown after a bad breakup with her fiancé. She runs to the safety of Lake Wisteria where she hopes to recuperate from some terrible news, but a fender bender throws a past mistake by the name of Julian Lopez right back into her face. Time has treated him well and he’s looking more handsome than ever, but she’s done trusting men with her heart—especially when he’s broken it once before. She’s determined to stay away from the striking billionaire, but reality has a different plan.

Julian can’t stand to be in the same room as the girl who got away all those years ago. His fondest memories all trace back to his childhood rivalry with Dahlia, but he’s locked all that away. She’s back in town fresh from a break up with his former friend and ex-roommate Oliver, and old feelings are already starting to resurface. How can he avoid the only girl he’s ever really loved?

Julian and Dahlia have always been at odds, even when they were kids. Now they’re all grown up and their meddling mothers won’t let go of the idea that they’re perfect for each other. Julian’s mother somehow swindles him into a joint project with Dahlia and sits back to watch the fireworks explode.

This was such a good progression from rivals to lovers. They pushed each other to be better and I liked the even though they “hated” each other they still admired each other’s accomplishments. I giggled so much throughout this book reading their insane banter. The stuff they say to each other is a stones throw away from unhinged, but I was kicking my feet with each threat of murder. It’s all in good fun though, and definitely made me crack up at the ridiculousness of it all. I might be a little unhinged myself because I feel like this was the best kind of relationship. They had mean nicknames for each other, inside jokes, and sooooo much tension. When they finally gave in, I was dancing with joy. There’s so much going on in this book. Between their meddling families and Dahlia’s hateful ex, I was hooked. Sure it was all predictable, but it didn’t take away from the satisfaction.

I’m in love with this world Lauren Asher has created. With each new character I find myself being pulled in more and more. Plus there was the added joy of these characters being Latinx. It was such a fun difference from the Dreamland Billionaires and it was entertaining to embrace their culture. They reminded me so much of my own Hispanic family. The translations in book were so helpful, and made for a smooth reading experience.

Haters will hate, but I’m fully invested in this family and I’m already looking forward to seeing all the ways the nanny makes Rafa lose his mind in book two.

ARC Review

I 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

⭐️: 5/5 🌶️: 3.5/5

Dahlia returns to Lake Wisteria after a broken engagement and the one person she wants to steer clear of is Julian, her childhood rival and family frenemy. The feeling is mutual for Julian where Dahlia is concerned, he wants to avoid her as much as possible. Julian’s mother is a fixer, she wants Julian to help Dahlia out and give her something to do during her visit and hoping it will heal her broken heart. Julian and Dahlia decide to work together and renovate a historic house. But the more they work together the more they find it hard to deny their attraction and emotions for one another.

OH MY GOSH!!! Julian Lopez, you are one of the best book boyfriends. And Love Redesigned is going down as my top 5 favorite of 2023!! This book was absolutely beautiful and I swooned the whole time 😍😍. Literally didn’t want this book to end. Julian was so thoughtful and caring of Dahlia. I enjoyed the many pranks they pulled on each other. I loved the family dynamic between their families it was so beautiful to see how they each loved on each other and took care of one another. This book touches on mental health such as anxiety, depression and grief. This book also touches on infertility. It was so good to see the character growth and development throughout and how Dahlia and Julian navigates through it. Especially Dahlia, deciding to choose herself and to be happy. Julian not giving up on their relationship and fighting for them even if Dahlia couldn’t. It was something about this book that kept you wanting more. Even the side characters were great. I can’t wait for the next book!

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 🌶 2/5 Tropes: Billionaire Enemies-to-lovers Small town romance

This was a hard review for me. It took me 2 days to get through the first half of this book and 2 hours to finish the second half. It was well written and there were a lot of things I loved, but it moved extremely slowly. I ended up loving the plot and all the characters, but getting there was almost a chore. There was nothing about the plot or story I didn’t like, it just wasn’t holding my attention in the first half.

I loved Julian’s character arc. He had loved Dahlia for most of his life but never knew how to show it. I loved his banter with Dahlia, which eventually turned into pranks. I loved him getting more in touch with his feelings and giving himself a chance to feel his way through his decade of grief over losing his father. He started the book very closed off, but Dahlia being back in his life really jump started his heart.

Dahlia was the perfect match for Julian. He broke her heart and cut her out of his life ten years ago and she was coming out of a toxic relationship that followed that heartbreak. She had a lot of work on herself to do and I loved that she was doing that. She had just as big of a character arc as Julian. She had a lot of mental hurdles to overcome and a lot of secrets she needed to deal with.

I loved the Hispanic flair of this book. Both Julian and Dahlia had short tempers and burned so hot and their Hispanic heritage definitely came out in those characteristics. I loved the Spanish phrases that Lauren added and Julian and Dahlia’s over the top mothers.

As a whole I loved this book. My only complaint was the pacing in the first half of the book.

Ms.Lauren Asher can do no wrong in my eyes!!! I love her and she has the best book series out!! I looove her Dreamland series and the fact we get alittle bit of the guys from that series had me excited!!! I really loved Dahlia I could see myself in her and with what she going through. Julian was super hot but also very sweet and sentimental. The fact he spoiler alert bought her dream house from when she was younger just chiefs kiss we need more men like him. I definitely can’t wait for the next book because I need more Rafa and Nico content!! Also my fav color is purple so the fact that it was the theme for this book omg literally makes it my fav so far!!!

Sweet sweet Julian, I love him so much! While he and Dahlia have been rivals for years, I am a sucker for a second chance romance and loved their story. Both of them had so much healing to work through and I loved seeing them both find themselves and who they want to be. This book didn't shy away from showing the mental health struggles that Dahlia was experiencing, as well as some of the other characters as well - and I love seeing these real life issues work their way into books. I listened to the audio of this book, which was a duet narration and it was perfect!

What to expect: -small town -second chance -forced proximity -one bed -rivals to lovers -billionaire -slow burn

Well, first things first - there's an extended epilogue in the Audible that isn't in the Kindle version, so that was unexpected. I also looked for it on Lauren Asher's website but found the same bonus epilogue I'd already downloaded. But it's a nice addition to the story for those who listen to audiobooks.

Julian Lopez and Dahlia Muñoz grew up together in the small town of Lake Wisteria. Julian has always loved Dahlia but he's repressed those feelings because for some reason, he always felt unworthy. He lost her to his former best friend after leaving college when his father passed away.

Dahlia suffers from anxiety & depression - made worse by her ex fiancés family treating her like a commodity - one that, as it turned out, had fertility issues that made her "not the right choice"for Oliver (a real tool).

Julian & Dahlia's moms are not too pushy about their desire to have their children find a happily ever after together. Julian's resistant because he's become an expert at burying his feelings and emotions after losing Dahlia 10 years ago. But when his mother asks him to find something for Dahlia to do to keep her busy while she's recovering from her engagement ending (after dating Oliver for NINE freaking years - did I mention that Oliver was a tool? I did? Oh well) - they find their competitive streak from school is alive and well, and the sparks they tried to pretend didn't exist flare back to life again.

Cute story. Good character development with the mmc, the mfc, their family members, and even some of the supporting characters. Not sure I'd put it on my re-read list, but I enjoyed it.

This enemies to lovers is a super cute feel good story. The rivalry between Delilah and Julian is hilarious. Julian has some hurtles to climb with Delilah that were partly of his own making. There is some light Spanish words and phrases mixed into the story, all with footnotes for the translation. To be honest this was a bit frustrating and slowed down my reading as I’m not fluent.