A review by flowerchildreads
Leave The Night On by Laura Trentham

5.0

What do you do when you find out your best friend is having an affair with your fiancé? What do you do if you're born an bred to always do 'the right thing', your daddy's a prominent judge, appearances matter? What do you do when you learn this information standing in front of an extremely sexy man your family and friends may find slightly inappropriate? If you're Sutton Mize you create a diversion, a diversion in the form of steamy Whyatt Abbott.
Sutton Mize is standing in an auto restoration shop in front of Whyatt Abbott arranging for her fiancés sports car to be restored as a wedding gift when they find a pair of woman's panties under the car seat that don't belong to Sutton. Immediately she knows they belong to her best friend, a special order from Sutton's high end boutique. Humiliated and betrayed Sutton concocts an affair of her own. Whyatt has harbored a crush on Sutton since they were kids and readily agrees to 'fake date' for a short time to help her save face. Realizing she was anguished more over the loss of a friendship then your fiancé is freeing, and allows Sutton to really break free from her fiancé with no second thoughts. As Sutton moves through anger, grief, manages rumor, innuendo, her own feelings towards Whyatt, we see a young woman who for the first time seems to be considering what she wants, what she needs. It's refreshing to watch. I love that while doing so she also stays true to herself. This makes the story very relatable.
On the surface Sutton appears to choose revenge. As you read you realize there's much more to it, it's not that trite, and Sutton has chosen herself. I love a good romance, a hot and steamy one...even better! However, a story that also manages to empower a woman to walk away from an ugly, self serving relationship has me standing up and cheering! Laura Trentham does a wonderful job balancing these at the same time while sacrificing neither. These were characters I cared about, are multidimensional, we understand their motivations. I wanted to keep reading to learn more, and I'm anxious for more books in this series. I thoroughly enjoyed Leave the Light On and highly recommend. Well done!
I received an advanced reader copy (eGalley) from St Martin's Press through NetGalley. This review reflects my honest and unbiased opinions.