BLOG TOUR, INTERVIEW & REVIEW - Trophy Husband by Lauren Blakely

Romance Addict-Dana: First and foremost!!! Are we getting a sequel to Trophy Husband? You see...you made us fall in love with Chris and we need more. Much, much more!!! Will begging help?

Lauren Blakely: Down on your knees, now! But seriously, probably not. I'm not a huge fan of writing sequels, or reading them. I prefer writing new characters, but you'll see Chris and McKenna make appearances in other books.

Romance Addict-Dana: McKenna's style...can we talk about her style? I love it!!! What was your inspiration for McKenna's style?

Lauren Blakely: Thank you! I love vintage shops and cute retro outfits and there are many wonderful shops out here in Northern California that I've browsed and sometimes bought in. Her style is a mix of all those cute dresses and fun tee-shirts and adorable skirts that I wish I owned.

Romance Addict-Dana: Chris...oh Chris...could he be any more perfect? Tell us one thing we don't already know about him.

Lauren Blakely: He played lacrosse in high school. (Because guys who play lacrosse are hot.) He scored the winning goal in the championship game his senior year.

Romance Addict-Dana: I love the idea of the Trophy Husband...the idea that girls can do what boys can do...and possibly do it better. Do you think that women are really wired this way? Do you think McKenna would have been successful in her mission had she not met Chris?

Lauren Blakely: Men and women are all so individual! While it's more common for the man to perhaps be a few years older, I'm increasingly meeting women who are dating younger men. Or, maybe it's just that my newly single girlfriends are having fun with hot young things when they're back on the market! But yes, I do think some women like the idea of the younger guy and all that he brings to the table - youth, fitness, an easygoing attitude, etc. I think McKenna was destined to meet Chris, though. :)

Romance Addict-Dana: Todd was miserable. Absolutely miserable! Didn't he inflict enough pain on McKenna by leaving her the night b/f their wedding? What was his motivation behind the trickery w/the dog and the sale of her business?

Lauren Blakely: He's a douchebag. Some people are like that. Anyone who leaves his ex-fiance in that kind of fashion is a dick, plain and simple. Look, I'm aware that sometimes people split right before they walk down the aisle. And sometimes that's better in the long run. But to do it by hooking up in Vegas with another gal, is an example of spectacular ass-hattery. Todd is simply wired to needle, to poke, to prod. Unfortunately, I know people like this  - who can't ever seem to move on, and who take a sick joy in being mean.

Romance Addict-Dana: I absolutely loved the retro themes in Trophy Husband...from McKenna's style to the music to the video games. Are we getting a look into Lauren's life and style with these themes?

Lauren Blakely: A bit! I am a Qbert fanatic! I wish I had an arcade-style Qbert in my house. And I love rockabilly dresses.

Romance Addict-Dana: So....about that sequel? :)

Lauren Blakely: How about a companion novel of sorts instead? Playing With My Heart - Jill's story - is slated for an August release. Chris and McKenna will appear in it!

I heard nothing but rave reviews of Trophy Husband so I quickly pushed it to the very top of my TBR list. I mean, this book came highly recommended from bloggers whose opinions I strongly value. Knowing this, you can imagine my surprise when I finished reading and was not 100% completely in love with it. What? Why? How did this happen? I couldn’t let it go either. I immediately went to the reviews posted for Trophy Husband to find the error of my ways. I mean, what am I missing? And there it was…my problem wasn’t Trophy Husband per se. My problem was me and what I was expecting this book to be! I was expecting Trophy Husband to be the story of McKenna Bell and Chris McCormick…that’s what I was expecting. But in the end, Trophy Husband is ultimately the story of McKenna's journey with a little Chris thrown in. So, with that in mind, let’s talk Trophy Husband, shall we?

McKenna seemingly has it all. She is young, beautiful, fun, stylish, successful, and she has a great group of friends. Aside from the fact that she was left at the altar by her douchey ex-fiancée, she has a great life. This betrayal left a gaping hole in McKenna’s heart and a void in her life. A year after she was ditched for a girl her fiancée met in Las Vegas the night before their wedding, McKenna is on a mission. Mission: Trophy Husband.

Did I mention that McKenna is successful? Oh yeah, that’s right. McKenna’s video show, The Fashion Hound was sold for a pretty penny leaving McKenna is a position to search for a trophy husband...a kept man. After all, men do this kind of thing all of the time. Women are constantly traded in for a younger, hotter model. With the help of her awesome friends and her successful show, McKenna is in search of the kind of boy who could love a girl forever. McKenna breaks it down like this:

My ex-fiancé left me at the altar last year for a college student he met and married in Vegas the night before our wedding. He’s thirty-four, and she’s twenty-one now, and I think it’s royally unfair that men can do that and women can’t.

As you might imagine, the search for the perfect trophy husband isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. McKenna had several dates that were complete and total failures…could it be because her perfect match was right in front of her the whole time? The perfect man who seemingly doesn’t fit her trophy husband qualifications? Per McKenna:

Chris McCormick is gorgeous, in a pure California sort of way, like sunshine and blue skies, like the ocean and it’s tides, but he’s too confident, too steady to be young enough for my project. I bet he’s, gasp, close to my age. I need to stay focused on my mission. 

At this point, as a reader, I am screaming at McKenna! I’m screaming: Abort! Abort! Abort! You see, as a reader, I know that Chris is a catch. He is perfect in so many ways and he just keeps getting better and better the more you learn about him. He is smart (he went to Stanford!), funny, kind, and oh so very sweet. I like McKenna, I do. But at this point, I’d like to throw something at her. This is where Trophy Husband kind of fell apart for me.

I get it. I do. McKenna is trying to prove a point. She is trying to prove that girls can do exactly what boys can do. I get it. But proving that point at the expense of embracing the love that is right in front of you didn’t work for me. Note: work for ME…many of you may love McKenna and her journey.

I, however, wanted more of McKenna and Chris’s story. I’m a needy reader and I wanted more, more, and more of McKenna and Chris. What we do get of McKenna and Chris’s story is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!  When McKenna first explained Mission: Trophy Husband to Chris, he said,

“Your ex-fiancé is a complete asshole for a million reasons, but most of all because he’d have to be crazy to leave you.”

See? See what I mean? Chris is complete and absolute perfection! Can you blame be for wanting more? Chris is crazy in love with McKenna and I’m crazy in love with Chris! We need more McKenna and Chris…that will make this all better for me. Can we make this happen, Ms. Blakely? Pretty please?!?!? In the end, if you think you can fall in love with Trophy Husband without needing more Chris, you are a better reader than me! More…I need more Chris.

Lauren Blakely is an unabashed fan of clever jokes, toast, and good guys in novels. Like the heroine in CAUGHT UP IN US, she thinks life should be filled with movie kisses and coffee drinks. Lauren lives in California with her husband and children, and spends her days writing both true stories and make-believe ones.

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