This was a really fun read. I think it could have been more tightly edited because at some points it went on a little too much. I loved Everly and Chris and Everly's bff Stacey. The backdrop of the radio station was a lot of fun too.

Honestly, this is... fine. Not amazing, but not terrible either. I would recommend for fans of SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE because of the radio premise.

This is a really cute book. It's really different than most romances because it concentrates on Everly, her lists and her social anxiety. So many romances are just he said/she said and sex scenes. I liked the actual story and the fun friendship between Everly and Stacey. It is every girls dream to have a bff as kind as Stacey. I am looking forward to reading other books from Sophie Sullivan!

Bachelor Nation assemble! (don't mind me as I wait on the sidelines because I don't actually watch the Bachelor/Bachelorette 👀 )

We have Everly, radio show producer, taking part in a Bachelorette-style dating competition to boost up her radio show ratings. She will narrow down her contestants to one lucky man by 5 weeks. Only things is, she has the hots for Chris, her boss.

➽ Forbidden love (boss/employee)
➽ Radio show setting
➽ Bachelorette style dating
➽ Slow burn
➽ Social anxiety

➽ Great banter! Who doesn't love some good banter?
➽ There was a back and forth "I like you but wait I can't like you" between Everly and Chris. Another case where communication could've solved everything 🤷🏻‍♀️
➽ A LOT of angst mixed in with a slow burn. To be honest, I couldn't handle the pace. It was a sloooow slowww burn. It was killing me! And yes, I got frustrated lol.

➽ Everly's parents. Too much emphasis on the drama between her parents. Pretty unnecessary and I began to skim the pages.
➽ Clean romance. The farthest they get is kissing. (whomp whomp)
➽ Overall, it felt more like YA than adult romance? Because of the angst and clean romance which were unexpected. Still an adorable read with great humor!
➽ I'm sensing a book two? Hmmm 🤔🤔

It's cute and lighthearted. The main characters definitely had chemistry and the romance is a slow burn. The problem is that it's way too much of a slow burn. About halfway through I was thinking....ok they're so close to finally kissing and admitting feelings where else is there to go? But go on it did. The plot really got stretched here. I also had a problem with how Everly has some pretty severe anxiety to the point where it interferes with her life. Only once it was mentioned to her that she should get some help (and that's never explicitly stated as help from a therapist), but she never does and it's never mentioned again. I did like how her anxiety isn't treated as a turn off or something to be annoyed about, but she really should have seen a therapist.

Along with being a slow burn, this definitely is not an explicit sort of book. It's probably the most tame romance book I've read in a long time.

I really liked the premise of this book, and I was very much into the Bachelor like dating game aspect of it. I thought the concept and set up was really fun. I also really liked all of the characters. Stacey was a perfect sidekick and Chris was a great hero. But I did find the pacing to be a little slow. The book felt a lot longer than it needed to be. So while a lot of the aspects of the book worked, the whole thing felt kind of dragged down.

This was the sweetest book. The ending was really something to behold and smile about. It was a pretty rushed ending but the plot was sweet, the writing was neat, and the story uncomplicated even though it was all over the place. I can't wait to see the excitement over this book once published.

On Everly’s thirtieth birthday, she thought that she’d surprise her boyfriend with coffee and bagel on her way to work. Well she was the one that was surprised when she found her boyfriend and his assistant in bed together. After dropping the food on the floor, she left to work.
When she walks into the radio station studio where she works, the morning DJ who also happens to be her best friend, decides to surprise her by singing Happy Birthday. When Everly goes off about what happened, not only does Stacey’s jaw drop, but so do all the listeners. You see, Stacey left the mike on so that it would be broadcast. Yup, all the morning listeners got to hear about what Everly discovered on her birthday. You wouldn’t think that would be a big thing, but Everly suffers from severe anxiety. It’s dictated how she lives her life, and she was fine with it. But no more. When station manager Chris Jansen hears Everly’s meltdown on air, he gets an idea that will help boost both ratings and ad revenue. With Everly’s blessing the station launches a Bachelorette style segment. Everly will go through all the applications from the men who wish to go out on a date with her. She will choose the ones that matches up to her expectations and she will go out on a date with them. Two a week, then cut down each week until one is left. There’s no guarantee of marriage or anything like that, the winner is simply the one that Everly would like to get to know better and maybe see herself in a relationship with.
But Chris has a hidden agenda. He’s been attracted to Everly since the day he met her, but he knows that he can’t be with her for two reasons. First of all is the pesky no fraternization rule the station has, and secondly is the fact that he’s not at the station long term. He’s had 18 months to turn the station around at his father’s behest. Yup, his father actually owns the station, something no one knows. If he makes the station profitable, this will be the last step for his father to let him take over a vp level position with their family’s company. A company that Chris’ grandfather built from scratch many years ago. But Chris’ father is a horrible boss. None of his three sons likes him, and he blows through fiancees like it’s his job. He’s currently on fiancée number six and has been married three times already.
As Everly works with Chris on this project, she realizes that she actually likes Chris, but doesn’t think he’d be interested in a woman like her. Even when he recognizes her anxiety and buys her the perfect present (wait until you read about the party her parents throw and the pinata, you’ll laugh until you cry), she still doesn’t think he’d be interested in her.
Everly is a warrior. Not only does she get cheated on on her birthday, she decides to change her life. She makes a list of things to do and sets out to actually do them. Even with her anxiety, she’s trying. That’s why she’s a warrior. As someone who has severe anxiety, I recognized myself in Everly. I understood the pain, the shakiness, the fear. The author did an amazing job describing what it’s like, without either overstating it, or downplaying it. Thank you for that.
Yes, there’s a Happily Ever After. No, there’s no cliffhanger. It’s just a really great book. The writing, the characters, the plot. It’s all great. If I could give more than 5 stars I would. This book has made it to my Top 10 Books of 2020 list. Thank you for allowing me to read this story.
**I was provided an ARC of this story and this is my honest and voluntary review.

The Bachelorette Radio Style!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: ❤️💙💜💛💚
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📔
World building: 🌎🌏🌍🌎🌏
Character development: 👤👤👤👤👤

The setting: California

The Hero(s): Chris – His father owns the radio station and Chris is the station manager, only working there sort of as a proving ground before he can before he can work as the head of communications for his fathers companies in New York.

The heroine: Everly – She is a radio producer and she has social anxiety which is a big part of the story and is handled very well. Everly hates birthdays and on her 30th, she finds her boyfriend in bed with his assistant. She mistakenly blurts it out on the air and ends up getting a lot of offers from guys that say they will treat her better than her ex.

The Love Story: Chris has always had a thing for Everly, but knowing he is a short-timer at the station and in California, he tried his best too keep her at arms length. Once the unfortunate incident occurs on her birthday, he comes up with an idea for the station and it means working more closely with her.

I liked Everly, especially since she is doing more to put herself out there. She is fighting her anxiety and her fears to try new things because she wants better for herself. I know how it is to be more comfortable staying home and watching Veronica Mars than to go out in public on a date or to a party. I really liked how the author portrayed Everly.

The romance between Chris and Everly at times seemed way too timid. Chris is sometimes almost as unsure of himself as Everly which doesn’t really fit with a station manager who lived in New York and comes from a wealthy family. I would think he would be more sure of himself with women. I hate in books when people keep denying their feelings over and over. Though I did like the book overall. I liked the setting, the world building was great and the supporting characters were terrific.

I voluntarily read & reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

this novel was cute and sweet, but not something I would read again. I appreciated that we got first person narrative from both main characters.

I was really excited for this one, the synopsis and cover were both so cute. Unfortunately I did not feel invested in the characters or plot. Their behaviors felt really young and didn’t match their ages. DNF at 38%

I was really excited for this, I love a work place romance and how they deal with it. It also started out strong out of the gate, fun, interesting.

But then the main part of the plot, it got a bit slow. Just a bit repetitive with how Everly was judgy but had her own troubles she wouldn't consider that others might have. And how Chris was SOOOOOOOOOOOO into her without really knowing her, suppressing it all.. and why was he the only one to understand her? Her friend? nothing? Just dragged from then, and lost my interest. And the power imbalance was a bit on his mind, but then it was never really addressed? Hm.

I was excited for this title! The premise was fun, and it started off strongly with the main character's birthday outburst being inadvertently broadcasted on the radio. I loved the friendship between Everly and Stacey, too. Beyond that, it was a tough one to finish.

Everly and Chris were meant to be in their 30s, but their actions felt juvenile. I also felt that the book spent too much "telling" instead of "showing," which meant the chemistry between the two main characters felt forced. It may have been better if we only saw Everly's perspective, and Chris's thoughts were left more of a mystery.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.

Everly absotuely hates having her birthday and this year is no exception when she catches her boyfriend cheating and her dirty laundry is spilled over the radio airwaves of the station where she works. When the listeners rally around her, Everly agrees to a Bacherlorette type promotion to increase profits for the radio station and secure her job despite having severe social anxiety. Everyly is able to find love in the least expected of places. This is a cute romance story that the author does an exceptional job of relating Everly's anxiety.

Oof. I wanted to like this one because the premise sounded unique and fun but this was an absolute slog for me. Points for good anxiety rep with Every but no points for anything else. Her chemistry with Chris was nonexistent, and I just couldn't bring myself to care about either of their personal outside-the-romance issues (of which there were too many, in my opinion, and none of them super compelling). Also, are we really not going to be a little more explicit about the ethics of the boss/employee thing in 2020? A couple "oh we shouldn't"s and "we have a policy against fraternizing"s don't really cut it for me these days with power imbalances.

This was a much better read than expected, I enjoyed the slow burn type love, the whole concept was entertaining. I like all the characters and their development. I´m definitely going to recommend it as an easy feel-good book.

Turning the big 3-0, what could possibly go wrong? For Everly Dean, a lot. When an accidental recording sends her boyfriend’s infidelities through the radio waves; Everly is met with an entourage of people encouraging her and interested in dating her. Her boss, Chris, develops a Bachelorette like radio show to help boost the ratings and (hopefully) to further his career. Everly, who suffers from social anxiety, doesn’t know if she can do it. To combat her fears and become a better person at thirty, she develops a list of ten rules to help her fake it and break out of her comfort zone. Little does she know… there are some people who see her and love her for just the person she is (beautiful, strong, thoughtful – inside and out).

Ten Reasons I Thoroughly Enjoyed This Book:
1) Unique radio station work setting – always fun to learn the ends and out of radio
2) Different family dynamics – how characters interact with them.
3) Many characters have many different problems, that they acknowledge and try to work though – it’s not just the main character(s).
4) Honest discussions of tough topics: marriage, divorce, social anxiety, fear of commitment, love, family issues, etc.
5) Those of us who have gone on dates with people we met online can relate.
6) A rom-com that actually had the com – several parts I couldn’t help laughing out loud.
7) Everly’s introverted personality is spot on – any introvert who suffers from anxiety can relate to her and her mental battles.
8) A label of Romance without characters having sex for there to be romance – nice that characters can fall in love with each other without it.
9) Characters were not fake. They were like real people with real problems that they had to work through – with each other’s help! (Can you tell I like the characters?)
10) Kept me reading, I didn’t want to put it down!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the ARC! This has been one of the most enjoyable books I have read lately.

Thank you to St. Martins and NetGalley for the advance review copy--all opinions are my own!

This felt sweet, light, and right in the vein of a classic RomCom. I appreicated seeing anxiety represented in Everly and truly showing how it affects every aspect of her life. This is one of those stories where lots is going on plot wise with the radio station and the Bacehlorette-style shenigans that makes the build of Chris and Everly's romance more subtle or secondary, and sometimes that can slow down my feel for a couple's chemistry, but ultimately this ended on a high note for me and I'm glad I was able to read it. I generally like a bit more zip in the pace so that's why I'd say this fell more around 4 stars than 5.

3.75 stars

This story reminded me a lot of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill with a lot of additional plot points packed in. The radio station workplace (which, I honestly don't think I've read before), the bachelorette type contest, the family issues, the friendships, the anxiety - it all blended together in a well-developed story.

I will say, however, that with the above, the main romance did seem to lose a bit of its magic. I loved Chris and Everly, don't get me wrong, but I wanted MORE of them. (This may have been more because I thought this was listed as an adult romance vs a women's fiction/chicklit, so my expectations were slightly skewed from the beginning).

Overall though, the characters were a focal point of this story and I thought the author did a great job in developing all the interconnecting stories around Everly while still making her the star of the book.

I received an ARC of this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is not a bad book but it just didn't work for me. I found the boss/employee relationship a bit hard to get by and while the characters were in their thirties they felt much younger. The concept of the whole dating/contest setup was not my favorite, either. I was expecting more from this one, but I think some people will still enjoy it.