Before Jamaica Lane

Written by Samantha Young

Narrated by Angelica Lee

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Samantha Young's Before Jamaica Lane, the latest novel from the bestselling author of On Dublin Street. Read by the actress Angelica Lee.

Edinburgh was going to be a fresh start for Olivia Holloway. Crippled by shyness around the opposite sex, Olivia nevertheless meets gorgeous postgraduate Nate Sawyer and decides it is time to push her fears aside.

Before long, Olivia and Nate form a close friendship and she finds herself confessing her deepest secrets, and Nate, being her best friend, offers to teach her the art of flirting. As Olivia and Nate's friendship turns intense it soon blossoms into a passionate love affair.

For the first time Olivia opens her heart but what she doesn't realise is that Nate has his own fears and just when she finds herself hopelessly falling for him, Nate's past returns to haunt him.

Will Nate have the courage to confide in Olivia, or will he cut and run? And can Olivia face up to her own fears and keep him?

Before Jamaica Lane charts the love trials of characters introduced in Samantha Young's bestselling prequel, On Dublin Street, and Down London Road.

Praise for Samantha Young:

'Scotland's answer to E.L. James' Sunday Post

'This steamy romance is mysterious, all-consuming and pretty damn good' Closer

'This extraordinary debut combines a true gift for storytelling with a liberal dose of racy encounters. But what really sets it apart is exquisite characterisation, so vivid that the cast seeps into the reader's psyche' Daily Record

Samantha Young is a 27-year-old Scottish book addict who graduated from the University of Edinburgh. She currently lives in Scotland. Her previous novels, On Dublin Street, Down London Road and the novella, Until Fountain Bridge, are also published by Penguin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin UK Audio
• Release date: Jan 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781405918176

Samantha Young

Samantha Young is a New York Times bestselling author who resides in Scotland. Her novels have been published in thirty countries. When Samantha's not writing books she's reading them. Or she's shoe shopping.

Reviews for Before Jamaica Lane

[addictofromance · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Summary Olivia feels uncomfortable around the opposite sex. She was always painfully shy when she was a teenager. But when her mother had cancer, Olivia stayed by her side and took care of her up until her college years. She has never been able to get past her lack of confidence. But then she has a crush on a post grad that she encounters at the library where she works. Olivia goes to her closest friend, Nate Sawyer, a virtual player and bad boy who takes a different woman home almost every night. They make a pact, Nate will show her to be confident and how to flirt and get over her shyness including sex lessons. Olivia isn't a virgin, but has only had sex one time and it was horrible. She has very little sexual experience and it's awkward for her. So best friends turn into lovers. Our hero, Nate lost his childhood sweetheart to cancer when they were only seventeen and only has casual sex and refuses to have any serious relationship with anyone until Olivia. There is powerful chemistry between Nate and Olivia inside and out of the bedroom. Can Nate and Olivia hold onto the love they both have for each other?Plot and Story Line Before Jamaica Lane is the third book in the series and what a story this turned out to be!! I truly adored every moment this story has to offer. I do enjoy the friends to lovers trope and Samantha Young did a great job with this one. This is a story that slowly builds and it definitely will tie you up in emotional turmoil at times. Olivia and Nate have been friends for a year and spend alot of time together. “What would you prefer? Life in a maximum-security prison or trapped in Jurassic Park?" "Do I have a social standing in this prison?" "No. You're just an average Joe." "Then I guess I have to go with Jurassic Park." "Why?" "Well, I'll have constant fresh air, for a start, and also if I'm going to be anyone's prey, I'm going to be the prey of an animal that's acting out of instinct rather than psychopathy... You?" "If you're in Jurassic Park, I'm in Jurassic Park.” However their relationship takes a turn, when Olivia reveals some truths while drunk. Truths that no one would really see about it, things that she keeps hidden and hides away. To her group of friends, they see her as self-assured and confident but Olivia has never seen herself that way. She craves something more than just being the "friend" to the guys. She wants to get numbers from strange men she flirts with but it never happens. The story really gets interesting when Olivia and Nate begin "sex lessons". hehe oh boy was that different and when it comes to the bedroom, these two are very explosive to each other. However when spending so much time together in and out of the bedroom, when Nate wants Olivia to meet his parents, their relationship is taken to the next level without either of them realizing it before its too late and love has gotten tangled up in the mix. (view spoiler) “You're not ready to hear this yet," he concluded. "But I do need you to know that I'm going to fight for you. I'm not making the mistake of walking away from you again. The only man in you future is me, Liv. The only kids in your future are mine.” This story was quite spectacular from beginning to end, and I had some fun times with this group of friends and excited for the next book in the series.Narration I truly liked this narrator and she did a brilliant job with this book. She does great with the setting and the Scottish accents were so real and I loved the inflections and how she brought the story to life.The Cover Not my favorite of the series, but I do like the closeup of the pair here.Overall View Before Jamaica Lane is a well written story that takes friends to lovers to a whole new level. Its stimulating, provoking, and dramatic.

[hanneri_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book has a lot of emotion, from laugh out loud funny to needing the tissue box heat breaking, that made it impossible to put down. I think having all of the other couples so involved in this story was a lot of fun too. I really felt strongly for Liv, how tortured she was by her insecurities and how hard that was for her when she was such a strong person otherwise. I have to admit I wanted to shake Nate for a good portion of the book, all in all he won me over.

[dubaireader · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Pornography!!!Something has happened to the Romance genre since I last read it; maybe it's the effect of Fifty Shades, but I was really not expecting to listen to pornographic sex while peeling the potatoes or doing the ironing. Thank goodness it wasn't playing in the car while I was driving children about! Shouldn't this sort of thing have a warning on it!?There are loads of great reviews of this book on-line and I was looking forward to my Audible version. Unfortunately I was very disappointed on many counts. The plot was thin (*whiny voice*: 'Nate, teach me how to have sex'!!), the descriptions were repetitive (lots of deep eyes and heavy breathing) and the ending was painfully predictable. Oh dear, what can I say in its praise? Well, I didn't enjoy the narrator's strange Scottish accent, but I thought she did a good job with Olivia, the lead character.I have sent the book back to Audible for refund, now that's a clever move on their part - customer is happy that they didn't have to pay for a book they didn't enjoy, and Audible doesn't get a negative review on their site!! I really must be more choosy about my audiobook selections in future.

[heelgirl77-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

AWESOME! I loved this book! I love this author. Her books never miss! I love Nate, he is so hot! This book is a CAN'T miss!

[msralways · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh, my. This may probably be my series favorite so far. Liv and Nate had so many great moments together, with their friendship which was so freaking awesome to see and then to see them blooming into this thing that they totally made it work and just made everything even more interesting to read. This was also an incredible emotional rollercoaster, though on the low moments, I feared for the welfare of my dear Kindle. Nate was such a guy and Liv was this great girl, who has some insecurities but manages to overcome then and turn into this very brave, very head strong woman, fact that made her and Nate's getting together much more exciting and flammable and scorchingly hot. Amazing!

[darkfaerietales_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: Olivia has very little experience with men and has no confidence in herself, which makes for trouble when it comes to finding a boyfriend. Wanting to change all that, Olivia turns to her best friend Nate, for help in the arts of seduction. Neither of them was prepared for the consequences of the lessons though.Opening Sentence: Every time we turned a corner the icy cold wind hammered into us, almost spitefully, like it was mad when a building buffered us.The Review:Olivia and Nate have been friends from the moment they met but that is as far as it was ever supposed to go. Nate was the commitment shy type and Olivia was too shy around men. That all changes though when Olivia asks Nate to help her become the confident and sexy woman she has always wanted to be. What first starts out as lessons starts to turn into more until Nate’s commitment problems tears them apart.I have to say Olivia reminds me of me a little bit. She is a successful woman, with friends and family who love her, but despite all that she is not very confident when it comes to herself and her ability with guys. I’m sure most of us ladies can agree when we look in the mirror there are things we feel like “if only I could change that.” I know I do. This is why I like Olivia because she is not the toothpick heroine from many novels. Instead she is a normal woman with issues with herself. Even so, she is not whiney and annoying. She is smart, funny and has no problem admitting that she is a geek. Also, she is willing to do whatever she needs to make herself feel better about herself and actually be able to be confident around men. Then when Nate tries to get back with her after crushing her feelings, she does not just give in to his sexy Scottish self, instead she stands up for herself and for the fact that she wants a once in a lifetime love that will always last.I had mixed feelings about Nate. I have a thing for Scottish men. Who doesn’t, just listen to that accent. Also, he was supposed to be the type of man that women drool over and men want to be. The best part about him is that he is loyal to his friends and only wants to see them be happy. So much so that he is willing to sleep with his best friend to boost her self esteem and to become more confident. Then there are the parts I didn’t like about him. I have a dislike for playboys. A guy who will sleep with a different woman every night is usually a disgusting pig who only cares about himself. I understand Nate did this to protect himself, but what about all the women he hurt along the way? Of course the worst thing he ever did was hurt Olivia, who had always cared for him and who was supposed to be his best friend.I have to admit this is the first book I have read in this series but after reading it I want to go back and read the other three in the series. I enjoyed all the characters in this book and want to read about how they all fell in love. The only thing I didn’t really enjoy about this book was all the sex. I understand it is a romance and it needs to have some sex and I went into this knowing it would happen just by the description. I just personally prefer a book with less sex and more content. That was the one nice thing about Samantha Young’s writing, there is a lot of sex but there is some good content in here also. If there wasn’t, I would never have finished the book or want to read the others. If you don’t like more than one sex scene in a book you may not like this book because the book is probably a quarter sex, whether they are actually doing it or are talking about it. I recommend this book though to those who can handle sex and look past it to the wonderful story in this book.Notable Scene:The Only Man in your future is me, Liv. The only kids in your future are mine.” Nate opened my front door, dug into his pocket and produced my key. He held it out to me and I took it tentatively, confused by the action. “I don’t need to break into your life. You’ve put up a locked door between us and I understand why. But I’m going to stand outside it, bugging the absolute shit out of you.” He smiled wryly. “Until you let me back in.”FTC Advisory: NAL/Penguin provided me with a copy of Before Jamaica Lane. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.