Violet Townsend has always been a people pleaser. Raised in the privileged world of Upper East Side Manhattan, she always says the right things, wears the right clothes, and never rocks the boat. Violet would do anything for the people closest to her, especially her beloved grandmother. So when she asks Violet to teach the newly-discovered grandson of her friend how to fit in with New York City’s elite, Violet immediately agrees. Her goal? To get Cain Stone ready to take his place as heir to his family company…but to say he’s not exactly an eager student is an understatement.

Born and raised in rural Louisiana and now making his own way in New Orleans, Cain Stone is only playing along for the paycheck at the end. He has no use for the grandmother he didn’t know existed and no patience for the uppity Violet’s attempts to turn him into a suit-wearing, museum-attending gentleman.

But somewhere amidst antagonistic dinner parties and tortured tux fittings, Cain and Violet come to a begrudging understanding—and the uptight Violet realizes she’s not the only one doing the teaching. As she and Cain begin to find mutual respect for one another (and maybe even something more), Violet learns that blindly following society’s rules doesn’t lead to happiness…and that sometimes the best things in life come from the most unexpected places. -

Made in Manhattan felt a little different than the past Lauren Layne books that I had read. this one didn’t quite feel like a romantic comedy, and it took me a little bit longer to get into this one than the others. However, towards the end, I grew to love it.

Like most of her books, it’s told in third person. But only in the sole POV of Violet. I think it was described best in the book when it was mentioned that people tended to reference her as Blair Waldorf, Charlotte York, and Holly Golightly. It felt. She was prim, proper, and rich. On the same hand, she is selfless and caring. And all and all, I really loved her character. Cain is the complete opposite of it. He’s a brooding, loner, who has just met his long-lost grandmother, who wants him to take over the family company. And Violet is tasked with making sure he’s ready to.

Cain wasn’t the nicest person to Violet at times. And he veered almost too close to the unlikable side sometimes. I would have loved to have his POV to see what he was thinking. I think that would have helped.

Despite being complete opposites of each, they had an interesting dynamic. And they both were able to learn so much from each other. Violet was content with every being “fine”. And Cain taught her that maybe she could want more than “fine”. Violet taught Cain that maybe he does want to be a part of the family business and be elsewhere.

This was a slow burn romance. And it worked well for them. I liked watching them slowly realize that maybe the other person wasn’t the worst.

Final Thoughts

Made in Manhattan isn’t my favorite book by Layne and despite that and it struggling at the beginning, it does have a solid story and good romance.

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