Julie Greene had built a career out of falling in love. Staying in love? Not so much.

After the Kiss

Julie Greene loves flings. Loves steamy first dates, sizzling first kisses, and every now and then, that first sexy romp between the sheets. Comfy pants, sleepy Sundays, movie nights on the couch? Shudder. But when Julie gets assigned the hardest story of her career—a first-person account of that magical shift between dating and “I do”—she’ll need a man brave enough to give a total commitment-phobe a chance at more.

Normally, Mitchell Forbes would be exactly that man. A devastatingly hot workaholic who tends to stay in relationships for far too long, he should be the perfect subject for Julie’s “research.” But what Julie doesn’t know is that Mitchell is looking to cut loose for once in his life. And the leggy journalist notorious for avoiding love is exactly the type of no-strings fling he’s looking for. In other words, Mitchell is the polar opposite of what Julie needs right now. And, at the same time, he’s exactly what she wants.

It’s time for my first re-read review! While I am a frequent comfort re-reader of books, especially ones from my childhood, lately, I’ve been trying to commit myself to finally making some progress with my TBR by reading new books. However, a few months ago, the Stiletto ladies and the Oxford boys popped back into my head and lived there long enough that I finally just had to go, “Okay, fine! You win, I’ll do a re-read!” 

And now, here we are!

After the Kiss is the first of the series and follows the story of Julie and Mitchell. Julie is a columnist for Stiletto magazine whose bread and butter is writing about the process of falling in love—the first date, the first kiss, the “fun” stuff as she calls it—but not staying in love. Mitchell is a Wall Street workaholic who only knows how to be in love not do all of the fun, casual stuff. So when Julie needs to write an article about how to move from casually dating to fully committed, she thinks Mitchell is the perfect research target. The problem? Mitchell made a bet with a co-worker to have a casual fling that won’t end in him proposing. 

It has total How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days vibes. Some people may say that’s a bad thing, but that movie is fantastic, and so is this reimagined version. Yes, the plot is a little bit predictable, but it’s still funny and overall a delightful read. I thoroughly enjoyed it the first time I read it, but I have to say, I enjoyed it even more on a re-read. I fell in love all over again with Julie’s bubbly personality and Mitchell’s no-nonsense attitude. They’re total opposites, but for some reason, they work. They have steamy chemistry and an instant comfortability with each other. But most of all, they complement each other. Mitchell grounds Julie, and Julie forces Mitchell to loosen up. 

Reading their whirl-wind romance, I fell back in love with their banter, but I also fell more in love with the rest of the characters. Going back and reading it after reading Grace and Riley’s stories, I had a new appreciation for the book. Lauren Layne does such a good job at making sure the other characters are as equally developed as her main characters are. It’s what made me go out and buy the rest of the books in the Stiletto (And Oxford) series the first time I read it, and it’s what spurred me to binge read through the other books this second time around.