Member Reviews
I love a good enemies to lovers trope. While these two did not feel very antagonistic towards each other, they did not exactly love each other at first either. The mistaken identity of a friend you have been writing is a favorite of mine too. Lanie thinks she is writing to her all time favorite female romance author only to find out she is really a he. I just love how their relationship grows throughout the book. It is also great when bookish things are in books. Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Group for the ARC in exchange of my honest review.
I was a bit hesitant going into this book but I ended up actually really enjoying it. I thought Lanie was a really fun main character. I liked following her a lot. In the beginning of this book she's engaged to someone that isn't our main love interest (don't worry there's 0 cheating in this book) and I thought it was interesting to see how she felt in that relationship. I thought it was really interesting and not something I have seen much in romances. Usually when romances start with the protagonist in a relationship already the significant other ends up being a piece of shit and that's why they break up, but I liked that that wasn't really the case in this book. I also really liked that Lanie was an editor. We got to see quite a bit of her job and thought that was pretty interesting. I also really liked her friend group and grandmother, who play a big part in this book as well. So let's talk romance. I really liked Noah as love interest. He and Lanie had a great dynamic together and I loved seeing their friendship and later relationship develop throughout this book. The actual romantic stuff doesn't really happen until halfway through and I've seen a lot of reviews say that they wish the romance stuff would have started earlier, I don't agree with that. I think the pacing of this book was fantastic and it taking a bit longer helped me get really invested in the romance (it's not a slow burn though, be aware of that). I just think this book should have been a bit longer, which is also why I docked a star. The ending was very abrupt and I feel like there were so many unresolved things in this book. I just think this book could have been better with a couple of extra chapters or even an epilogue.
I really wanted to love this book, but Lanie just talks and talks about her job. I kept waiting for when the “hero” would be introduced. It just seemed to go on and on about Lanie’s job that it made the story a bit exasperating.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC I just inhaled. Nobody tell my boss I read a whole book at work today.
What a lovely book! Characters were great, plot was great, the pacing was really good. And I loved the last few chapters. The Amalfi coast bumped it from a 4 to 5 star from me.
Thank you Netgalley, Lauren Kate, and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for this E-ARC and opportunity to review.
in this book we are introduced to Lanie, assistant editor at Peony press. Her main focus for the last so many years has been Noa Calloway, World famous author who has been releasing a new book every year for the last decade. Lanie's life is seemingly perfect, she has the perfect job, the perfect boyfriend, everything is going right. After a release party for Noa's newest book Lanie gets the news of a life time, A Promotion to Editorial Director BUT only if she can get the manuscript for Noa's book that is 4 months late.
Noa has been always know as a recluse in the author world, only communicating through email or his assistances.
When Lanie accepts the promotion, she must work closer to Noa than ever before, Which could be problematic.
Can Lanie overcome the secrets in order to secure her promotion?
This was such a fun story! I loved it from the beginning. Lanie's character is so raw and real, its hard not to get immersed in her life. She seems to have it all, great job, perfect fiancée, cute little apartment. but after she is offered a trial promotion to be made permanent, everything seems to go askew. Once Lanie meets the infamous Noa Calloway everything changed for her. The "don't judge a book by its cover" lesson was extremely prominent in this story but not in a conventional way. I loved the growth and development of Lanies character as she learns to accept not everything is as it seems. This story also had a perfect ending. No cliffhangers. I love that i do not have to wait for a second book, but i"m also disappointed as i would love to see what Lanies next chapter of life and love would bring her.
This was a super quick, super cute read. Very cozy, a bit cheesy, majorly comforting. I don't know that I would necessarily call it enemies to lovers; if anything, it's more the opposite. Noah and Lanie have been communicating and friendly for the better part of a decade--she just doesn't know exactly who it is she's been communicating with, as she thinks the author she's been writing to for years is actually a middle-aged woman.
It's rare that non-dual POVs in romance work for me, because it always feels like the other viewpoint is underdeveloped. I think this one pulls it off, if only just. I might have changed the framing slightly, since I don't think we actually needed to see her break up with her fiance. To me, that could have happened "off stage" before the start of this book, it just takes up so much valuable time and I think we can see/experience Lanie having the realization about her list not being the most important thing anymore without that. I also would've maybe started the book earlier in time a bit so we get to see some of the development of Lanie's friendship with Noa/Noah before they meet, rather than being told after the fact.
My biggest qualm may be a small thing, but it really stood out to me. I think the focus of anatomy and genitalia to emphasize that Noah has been using a feminized pseudonym, which may feel deceptive to his readers, was unnecessary. There was a comment that sticks in my mind specifically about him having an Adam's apple, and like...there are women with Adam's apples. So I didn't love that kind of biological gender essentialism.
My fave character was BD, Lanie's grandmother. I'm obsessed with her, I want to be her. Someday, maybe.
There is no steam, but it's very reminiscent of movie romcoms with similar plot beats, so it was definitely a delicious little treat for me. I would certainly recommend this one, especially for folks who are looking for no sex.
I got emotionally attached to this book, like I'm not joking. I felt too many emotions and that's weird for me in RomComs but this book was so good, it had everything i need in life.
What i need in life:
• A good fc ✅
• The best mc ✅
• Sad tears (don't ask why I need this in life) ✅
• Funny/banter ✅
• Books mentioned ✅
• Chemistry between the characters ✅
• Something that hits close to home ✅
Now let me get more into detail with everything in my list cuz i have a lot to say about this book...
Lanie I liked, she was definitely a vibe. A really nice character and has her thoughts clear. I also really appreciated how she didn't cheat on anyone, it was handled very well. Overall she was a really good protagonist :)
THE MALE LOVE INTEREST, bro Noah won me so fast it was embarrassing. First of all he writes romance (which is the way books are included in this book)... I mean if he hasn't won you yet something is wrong with you. He has a plant obsession, a poetry book stack, has a rabbit and he loves sushi, he was definitely written for me. He was so nice and cute and I loved his humor <3 PLEASE JUST MARRY ME NOW.
The chemistry was so good between Lanie and Noah, it was definitely there from the beginning and i loved how their relationship developed throughout the book.
The tears... Lmao i didn't expect to cry with this book but man did i cry I related so much with Noah's situation with his mom, that hit to close to home not gonna lie. Spoiler in
1...
2...
3...
The Alzheimer mentioned in the book was something I wasn't expecting but I appreciated how it was incorporated.
End of spoiler zone....
The only thing that i didn't like from the book was how it didn't have an epilogue (maybe it's just in the arc) but i needed it for the full closure. The ending felt too rushed so I didn't enjoy that which made me give the book 4 stars, which is still a really good rating!
Now I'm gonna go and save some money cause I really need to own the physical format of this book. That's all, bye!
I read this book in one sitting, partially because I couldn't sleep, but partially because it was very addicting and I kept wanting to see what would happen. I thought the characters were written very well, both Ross and Lanie were really fun to watch grow and I enjoyed their banter a lot. The premise was also really fantastic, it's always really fun to read books about writers and I haven't seen many set in the publishing industry. That being said I do wish that it was 50 pages longer because I think the novel could've really benefited from a little bit more interaction between Lanie and Ross. While I did feel the chemistry build, I think that we needed just a couple more moments of the two of them together to really make the romance believable. They really only hung out for five times. But overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, and I will definitely be picking up Lauren Kate's next book!
I was actually surprised to realize that I read this entire book in almost one sitting. An enjoyable read, and as soon as I post this I'm going to see if the author has published anything else.
This book was an easy and quick read that I really enjoyed and loved, the everything about this book was enjoyable.
What a cute and sweet bookish read. If you love books about book with one of my favorite tropes enemies to lovers you will love this book. By Any Other Name follows Lainie and Noa, Laine is an editor and Noa is an author with writers block. All Laine has to do is cure Noa's writers block and her career dreams come true. Like any good enemies to lovers there is a reason why Noa is the way he is. Is this book breaking new ground, no, but the banter and romance were so fun that I would recommend for fans of Beach Read or the Hating Game.
Thanks to Putnam and NetGalley for my ARC for my honest review
This is a book about books and writing books and writing love stories and how we, as readers, connect to books and love stories in particular. At 274 pages, this is a fast read.
I would have been happy to keep reading and go a little deeper into the characters. I loved the dialogue, Lanie's friends, the connections between the characters, the slow build romance and the NYC setting. I definitely recommend!
4.5 stars rounded up to 5.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Lanie Bloom has just been promoted to editorial director at Peony Press. One of their biggest clients is the famous and prolific author Noa Calloway. They are currently promoting her latest book entitled “Two Hundred and Sixty-Six Vows.” Lanie and everyone at Peony Press communicates only via email with Noa Calloway who is rather like a recluse in her 5th Avenue home in New York. However, Noa is late in getting her upcoming book to Lanie and she has been tasked with pushing Noa to get moving on it.
Lanie’s fiancé, Ryan, work in politics in Washington DC and loves what he does. He and Lanie try to see one another as often as possible. While Ryan wants them to start planning their wedding, Lanie is dragging her feet because she knows she may have to quit the job she loves to join Ryan in DC.
Now, Lanie is trying to figure out ways she can get Noa moving with getting the next book to her. So, she figures out places in New York City for them to visit that will, hopefully, give Noa the inspiration needed to get the book rolling.
The first shock is when she meets Noa and then they soon form a friendship and realize they have a lot in common. I cannot give out any spoilers here.
First of all, I wasn’t surprised at the secret. The friendship formed is one of lots of cutesy verbiage that just was too much. There are some good parts of this book, but coupled with some fairly boring ones as well, I can only give it 3 stars.
What I didn’t like was what gave Lanie the right to be angry at the author when a truth is revealed. So immature of her.
Copy provided by NetGalley and Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and honest review.
*ARC kindly provided by G.P. Putnam’s Sons (Penguin Publishing Group) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I want to start by saying that this is my first time reading anything by the author, Lauren Kate, and I was very excited to get my hands on this title of hers and dig into the story that the synopsis had promised. Sadly, I had my hopes up only to be let down by the story itself. I was hoping to find a Romance book and instead got something that nears Women’s Fiction, but that’s not even the problem because I read quite a few books that can fit into the genre, and I really enjoyed them. I think that the real problem was advertising the book as Romance when it clearly isn’t, and the thing is that you only realize that while reading the story and getting to the end.
By Any Other Name tells the story of Lanie, who works in the business of publishing books and has recently been promoted to an editor position to none other than one of her favorite authors of all time, Noa Callaway. Excited to get a new manuscript out of the acclaimed author, Lanie is set on doing whatever she can to keep her new job while breaking a few rules in order to meet Noa in real life.
I really liked the beginning of the book, mainly Lanie working at the firm and her interactions with her friends and grandmother. However, I could have done without Ryan in the picture even he had a major part into Lanie’s character development. The one thing that ruined the book for me were the last chapters because I feel like the relationship that Lanie got into wasn’t developed whatsoever through the book and the feelings seemed so strong but to me felt like they were coming out of nowhere.
All in all, I want to say this for future readers that are considering this book in their to-be-read shelves, this is not at all a romance book so read at your own risk.
Thank you to Lauren Kate and Netgalley for an arc copy. All opinions are my own.
I give this a solid 3.5⭐
I loved the concept of by any other name. Books about authors, editors and books are my jam!
I loved the whole hidden author identity thing and the fact that the mc's had more than just an editor/author relationship for years over email.
I really felt there could have been some more romantic relationship development between the main characters and a little bit more steam. All in all decent but could have used a bit more development all around
Did I read this book? Yes, I did. Did I expect to fall in love with this book? No, I did not but I did anyway. And let me say that you are going to enjoy reading this book.
I love that we are incorporating more book lovers in the romance genre. Like of course I'm going to read about another book reader falling in love. How can I resist myself? It's going to be the best of both worlds.
It's a cute romance book to read. Not the typical rom-com, but a good slow burning romance read. I would say that don't expect steamy scenes in this book. It's more of a wholesome romance read.
Lanie Bloom has a successful career as Senior Editor at Peony Press. Noa Callaway, their biggest and most successful author, is the writer who taught her about love when her mom could not. Noa Callaway’s books have changed her life. As Lanie is at the height of her career and finishing the launch of Noa’s latest book “Two Hundred and Sixty-Six Vows”, the most epoch opportunity of her career has landed in her lap. She is being provisionally promoted to Editorial Director and the infamous Noa Callaway will be her direct client. The downside, Noa is suffering from writer’s block and Lanie only has three-months to get a manuscript from Noa for her next book. If not, then Peony Press will find someone who can.
Lanie has never met Noa Callaway in person and knows she can be difficult. In the 10 years Noa has been writing, the first rule of a Noa Callaway book launch is Noa Callaway will not be there. The only individuals that Lanie knows that have met Noa is her boss Alix de Rue, whom is now not coming back from maternity leave. As Lanie takes on the challenge of one of her favorite authors and client along with her new role, she is in for the ride of a lifetime. As the details, and the full picture is realized as to why no one has met Noa Callaway, Lanie’s life is about to be changed again.
By “Any Other Name” is a romantic comedy that will have you laughing, crying, make you think about your life, and ask yourself “Can I find love like in this story?” or make you realize this is the kind of love I have, or I deserve this kind of love.
As we follow along with Lanie and Noa, we dive into the relationship of Lanie and her fiancé Ryan, and her close relationship with her grandmother whom she calls “BD” for bubby Dora. Her grandmother survived Auschwitz, her family migrated to America, and she graduated from Yale School of Medicine as one of three women in her class. BD is one of the funniest, no-nonsense, characters I have met. She had me laughing, thinking of my own grandparents, and hoping that I touch my own children and grandchildrens heart in the same way.
As Lanie works on helping Noa meet their deadline, she also finds herself recalling her mother’s death and what her mother said right before she died, to find someone she really, really loved. She felt she had found that in her fiancé Ryan. In developing her relationship with Noa, she also starts discovering more about herself and who she is as a person. The book is a quick read with a wonderful storyline and has many great quotes that you’ll want to refer back to if you need a laugh or to read the ones that are lighthearted and may become sentimental to you. A few of my favorites are when BD is talking to Lanie and tells her that "no marriage gets it all right, but she hopes in who she chose she has found someone she can turn to when she has a problem, when you really need a steady heart”; “Love is never so easy as it is on the pages of a book”; “I know life is ephemeral, and we only get to do it once, but some true things – like this embrace, like the best love stories – live on.”
This is the first book I have read by Lauren Kate, and I am looking forward to reading many more. Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Random House, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, and Lauren Kate for an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for my honest review. #Romance #WomensFiction #RomCom #ByAnyOtherName #LaurenKate #NetGalley #PenguinGroupRandomHouse #GPPutnamsSons
**Special thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam/ G. P. Putnam’s Sons for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.**
Very excited to receive this book!
3.5 Stars
Possible Content Warnings: Death of a loved one, Alzheimer's/Dementia
Everything is going great for Lanie! She seems to have everything she would ever want. Engaged to the perfect guy that has EVERYTHING on her list. What could possibly go wrong?? Lanie is given a huge opportunity to work with a big-time author, Noa Callaway. However - Noa's book is already 4 months late, she has a short time to get the manuscript, and there's an NDA.
Noa Calloway only communicates via emails and through their assistant. They've been talking this way for years - Lanie thinking Noa was a woman around her mother's age. Imagine her surprise to find out Noa is a MAN. Definitely throws her off and causes some friction between them once they meet in person.
I'm not really a fan of characters being in a relationship at the beginning of the book - Lanie is originally engaged to the "perfect" man - and when Noa and Lanie's relationship happened it wasn't until the second half. I'm all for Slow Burn, but I felt there needed to see more of the development from friends to lovers. By Any Other Name is exclusively told through Lanie's perspective, making it a little harder to get to know Noa, I do wish it was a duel perspective.
By Any Other Name follows Lanie, a romance editor, and a bestselling anonymous romance author, Noa. They have never met in person, but have been online friends for years. When Noa is behind on a deadline Lanie gets the opportunity to meet the author. Little does she know that meeting her favorite author will have her questioning herself, her assumptions and her expectations about life.
I really liked the concept of this book. It was wonderfully entertaining with a slow burn romance, characters with flaws and a good pace. I would recommend this book for a rom-com lover looking for a New York setting. The books explores the city in a fresh and interesting way.
I want to thank NetGalley, Lauren Kate and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for the e-ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are honest, my own and left voluntarily.
Sometimes a book just hits me in the right time and mood. By Any Other Name is the most recent example. Lauren's way with words sucked me in and I binge read this as fast as I could.
Lanie's job may be on the line. Her ability to procure the newest manuscript from her publisher's top selling author will gain her a new title and healthy raise. Elusive Noa, only accessible via email or her crotchety assistant, will not stand in her way.
There's so much to love about this book besides its binge-ability. I loved Lauren's version of New York, the full cast of characters, and the snippets of Noa's works. Told in single POV, Lanie's determination and ambition shines. I know Lauren will be an auto-buy author in this genre too.
Possible spoiler warning: I have read a lot of books recently where one or both of the MCs are in a committed relationship with another person at the beginning. This book is unbelievably refreshing in the way that the two relationships are cut and separated. Cheating is something I have a hard time with and this was beyond well done.
Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.