Reckless Kisses by Layla Hagen

Reckless Kisses by Layla Hagen
The Sterling Brothers #5
Contemporary Romance
July 31, 2026

🩷 Best Friends to Lovers
🩷 Billionaire Romance
🩷 He Falls First
🩷 One Hotel Room
🩷 Forced Proximity
🩷 Slow Burn with Plenty of Steam

I‘m Knox Sterling. Self-made billionaire. Playboy.

My whole life, I’ve chased women, thrills, and anything that keeps things uncomplicated.

Commitment? Not my style.

Except for Amy. My best friend is the only woman who’s ever been completely off-limits. She’s the one person who’s kept me grounded since the days when my bank account barely covered rent.

The one woman I’ve secretly wanted for years… but never touched.

But after a minor car crash reminds me how quickly life can change, waiting suddenly feels like the worst mistake.

So when Amy asks me to chaperone a school field trip and inspire her students with stories from my career, I say yes without hesitation. Any excuse to spend more time with her.

But the trip doesn’t go as planned. A freak accident leaves us stranded in a small town overnight.

Just the two of us.

One hotel room.

Years of tension finally snapping.

One reckless kiss turns into an unforgettable night.

Falling for my best friend might be the most dangerous move I’ve ever made…

But once I have her in my bed, there’s no way I’m letting her walk away.

Grab it today: https://laylahagen.com/recklesskisses

Reckless Kisses by Layla Hagen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

ALC/ARC Review

One of my favorite tropes is friends-to-more and Knox (MMC) and Amy (MFC) did not disappoint!

Knox and Amy have been friends for a long time but haven’t really “seen” each other in a while but then there’s the accident and of course Amy is going to rush to him and things evolve from there. I say of course because you know that saying that goes something like “it doesn’t matter if you “see” your friend every year or every ten years, if they are true, you’ll see them when it counts”. I think that sentiment (however it goes) is truer as we get older. People move thru life and changes happen, but true friendships never sever. No matter where you are in life, a true friend will always find you when you need them most or when scary things happen. Knox’s accident was that scary thing and Amy came running. And so it goes from there …

I was thoroughly entertained by Reckless Kisses from the very beginning and 🎤Stella Hunter & JF Harding🎤 were an absolute dream team as Amy & Knox! So much so that I didn’t want to pause my audio, so I didn’t! LOL I listened thru my commute to work, my workday and my commute home and was done before I knew it. The entertainment factor in this story was top notch and Stella & JF made it even better! I don’t really have the “words” to describe the feeling of a story when it is narrated by the perfect narrators but it happened with this story. I’ll be putting this audio in the re-listen collum because of it! Well done to both of them!

This is one of those stories that just flows thru the lives of two people with very little outside forces to overly dramatize the story or to segue way away from the romance journey. Which, coincidentally, is my very #happyplace when it comes to romance fiction. Sometimes, I just want to read a story of two people that journey to a HEA. That’s it. LOL Well, Layla Hagen delivered! That’s not to say that there were no hiccups or twists along the way, because there were, but they moved the story and relationship forward rather than dramatize it. Feel me?

I did more of a listen rather than read with this story but how could I not with Stella & JF at the helm? However, even though I don’t know the exact feeling the story would provoke in me had I read it, I do know the story is very good so either way you enjoy your stories, you will be very happy with Reckless Kisses!

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Reckless Kisses by Layla Hagen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Knox and Amy have been friends since collage. She had a crush on him then but never acted on it because she thought he saw her as friend only. But when he had his concussion and she drop by, he starts to see her more clearly. And staying away is starting to become impossible.

Amy want the house, white picked fence and 3 kids! She’s on the hunt to find her dream man and getting involved with Knox is against her better judgment but the man is impossible to resist and soon they’re spending every minute together. But can he change his mind about his future or will he let her go?

This part had seriously pissed me off. What do you mean she can go out with another man??? The urge to hop into a book to slap someone was never this strong, I tell you :)
God for him for quickly seeing that would never work for him and claiming her as his own.

***Review copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads Blog***

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