“After a certain point, wanting became pointless when having remained hopeless -- But now… All in.”

“Count Your Lucky Stars" is the third book in the series by Alexandria Bellefleur. I didn’t read the first two books before reading this ARC, but it stands on its own perfectly. The characters and their relationships with each other are so well written that I didn’t feel like I was missing out on any back story. However, I enjoyed this book so much, I’m planning on going back and reading the first two books.
Olivia and Margot were best friends growing up; they did everything together for years, until a fear of ruining their friendship kept both girls from expressing their growing romantic feelings for the other. 
Fast forward eleven years and you’ll find Olivia newly divorced and working in Seattle as an event planner, and Margot perpetually single and running the astrological compatibility portion of a popular dating app, OTP.
They haven’t spoken in over a decade, but a collection of coincidences piled into a single evening brings Olivia back into Margot’s life—and ironically, into her apartment.
Over the course of two weeks, Olivia and Margot must work through their feelings for each other and decide what they really want, without ruining their rekindled friendship, or the wedding that Olivia is planning for one of Margot’s best friends.
“Count Your Lucky Stars” is the perfect friends (who drifted apart for awhile) to lovers story. I loved Margot and Olivia from the start and the progression of their relationship felt natural and fun, and most importantly, free of unnecessary angst and drama. Every part of their relationship felt intentional and I loved the way it progressed. The heat and chemistry between the two women is undeniable and written so perfectly—it’s sensual and steamy, and there’s just the right amount of smut that it doesn’t overpower the plot of the story. 
I thoroughly enjoyed “Count Your Lucky Stars”, and I can’t wait to read more by Alexandria Bellefleur.
4.5 stars

**ARC provided by Netgalley**

Very sad this is the last book in this particular series... I'm gonna miss these characters so much.

I loved that we finally got a Margot romance and I loved her struggle of feeling left out now that her friends were all coupled up. Olivia was a great addition too and I loved the pining between them. Also? The sex was really hot. I know I am not the first one to bring this up but it can be kind of hard to find sapphic romances that balance cute and fluffy with hot and sexy (I think it's getting better but it can still be hard to find) but Bellefleur really nailed it.

I will say that the pacing was a little weird because how MUCH Bellefleur was trying to fit into here. The wedding planning and Olivia's divorce kind of got sidelined and the whole roommates thing happened VERY quickly.

Also, the characters kept doing this thing where Olivia would say some innocuous thing and then someone would say "There is gotta be a story behind that..." I know it's very picky but once I noticed it I couldn't STOP noticing it.

While I think Written in the Stars is still my favorite of the bunch, I still like this installment all the same and I look forward to more of Alexandria's work!!
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So apparently this is a third book in series so there is a lot of returning characters who I did not know but it does not derail you from the story. As with everyone else, this book is worth raving over. It is a beautiful queer love story about second chances and battling life's struggles. THIS BOOK IS SO STEAMY. I was NOT expecting that but was so pumped for every scene. There is so much personality in the spice, it is NOT bland AT ALL. Def a book I'll remember for a long time :)

I absolutely LOVED this steamy, second chance at love queer romance between two high school best friends. There is just so much to love about this new book in the Seattle series!!

- A returning cast of wonderful, supportive friends
- A Cat with PERSONALITY (the vibrator scene had me rolling on the floor laughing!)
- Open door, steamy and oh so intimate love scenes! (I don't care what your sexual orientation is, having a caring partner that wants to please and who touches tenderly with love is always going to win in my books!)
- Vulnerable and honest discussions about love

If you haven't yet had the pleasure of reading a book by this author you are missing out! I really hope there are more books in store set in this universe because I just can't get enough!!

Highly, highly recommended, especially for fans of books like Satisfaction guaranteed, Love & other disasters or Delilah Green doesn't care. Much thanks to NetGalley and AvonRomance for my advance review copy. This book releases Feb 1st and you should add it to your #tbr ASAP!

4.5 — fantastic! It always irks me in books when the major conflict is a miscommunication because of immaturity, but I liked that this was addressed by the characters as such. Loooooooved the sex scenes. My favorite of Bellefleur’s yet!

This book really completed the authors trilogy so well. Loved seeing characters from the other books and where they ended up. The two main characters in this novel were great. Margot was funny and quick witted, and Olivia is someone who puts everyone before herself and cares a lot about her family and friends. Chemistry was steamy between these two. More so than in the other two books which I enjoyed. Will definitely seek out more books from this author. I love an author that writes about and includes queer voices.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

Olivia is dying for her chance to prove herself at the event planning firm where she works. She manages to talk her boss into giving her a last-minute booking. At the first meeting, she realizes one of the wedding party is her former best-friend, Margot, with whom she had a week fling in high school which killed their friendship. Margot agrees to let Olivia stay in her spare bedroom after Olivia’s floods and the chemistry reignites. Both want more than just another fling, but have baggage that keeps them from being honest. Can Olivia manage to pull off an awesome event and hold on to her new-found happiness?

A very steamy contemporary romance with heart.

Count Your Lucky Stars Review
I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefluer has made its way to the very top of the list of my favorite queer books. This book contains fun, witty characters and lots of sexual tension. The novel is written in third person, which I usually do not like, but Bellefluer does it spectacularly well still drawing me into the minds and worlds of the characters. It is written in dual perspective between the two main female characters, Margot and Olivia allowing me to see both sides of the story.

Margot is the co-founder of popular astrology app Oh My Stars with her best friend, Elle. With all her friends coupled off except her and a looming wedding, Margot fears the loss of her friends. Everything changes when she runs into her childhood best friend, and long-time crush, Olivia. Olivia is a wedding planner who just got out of a ten-year marriage with her on-again/off-again high school boyfriend and moved to Seattle. When her boss becomes double booked, Olivia is tasked with a big wedding for an important client. Margot’s best friend, Brendon.

Olivia and Margot have not seen each other since their senior year of high school, eleven years ago. After their shocking re-connection when Olivia becomes Brendon’s wedding planner, Olivia gets a call that there was a plumbing issue at her apartment leaving her with nowhere to stay. Because Margot is without a roommate at her two-bedroom apartment, it is suggested that Olivia stay with her.

Olivia and Margot’s friendship ended slightly bumpy eleven years ago, but Margot could never say no to Olivia. So, they move her into Margot’s apartment. The sexual tension between the two women builds from the moment they enter the same scene. There are many comedic moments (including one with a cat and a vibrator) as they try to juggle this re-kindling of their friendship while individually dealing with their past and present feelings for one another. The novel follows them on this journey leading up to Brendon’s wedding.

It is a fast-paced novel that is easy to read. I didn’t want to put it down! While predictable, as all rom-coms are, I was captivated by the characters. This, I believe, is the goal of any good rom-com. The characters need to be strong enough that the readers want to stick around, even when they know what will happen, and Bellefleur did just this.

My only complaint was that it was unclear what Olivia’s sexuality was. Because of the long-term marriage with Brad and the crush she had on Margot in high school, we are led to believe she is bisexual, but it is unclear. I’m not sure how that could have been naturally incorporated, but it was something I wondered while I was reading the novel.

Overall, I am obsessed with this book. It is a strong, queer romantic-comedy that we don’t often get to see. The girls being queer is not the plot of this book and I appreciated that. While those books have their place, I am glad this was not one of them. I got to read a book about people like me. It felt real and relatable. Just a fun romantic comedy about queer women.

I sing only praise to Alexandria Bellefleur for this incredible book.

5/5

Olivia and Margot were best friends in high school and had a steamy romantic week during spring break their senior year. Miscommunication between them made them go their separate ways despite both having strong feelings for one another.  When their paths cross again 11 years later sparks seem to fly and old feelings come back.

This is my first novel by Alexandria Bellefluer.  Her other books have been on my tbr for a long time and I just haven't gotten around to reading them.  They've definitely moved up my list.  

This super steamy romance was cute, funny, fast paced and adorable.  It's a story about second chances, loving yourself, acceptance, friendship and love. I loved these characters so much.  I found them to be witty, brave, determined, loyal, sincere.  I love the queer rep too.  I just loved the whole thing.  Looking forward to getting to know the other characters in the other books.

I loved Written in the Stars. I was disappointed with Hang the Moon - I think Brendan makes a good side character but as a protagonist he was just too goofy for my taste. And Count Your Lucky Stars for me was good but not great. I liked the characters - still pretty two dimensional but they felt more developed than in HTM. The chemistry was fantastic between the characters and the steam was, I mean, OOF 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 all of my yes. I liked most of the tropes (friends to lovers, second chance, roommates, secret romance) but what kept bothering me - and this is a problem in many romcoms - literally the only plot in this entire book was a miscommunication that could have been resolved with a single conversation. I feel like if a miscommunication is going to be a significant plot point there needs to be something (anything!) else also going on, or at least a good reason why communication isn’t happening other than feelings are hard. I’m frustrated because with a bit more depth, this story could’ve been a 4.5 even 5 star read but instead it was more of a 3.5 that I’m rounding up to 4 because I’m not kidding about the steam y’all. 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 I still enjoy Bellefleur’s books but I think she underestimates her characters’ potential.

Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This might be my favorite of the series but I’m a sucker for friends to lovers especially childhood best friends to lovers. And of course second chance romance. Plus Margot is a hilarious protagonist and yay for the pansexual rep. I also didn’t hate the third act conflict, both sides were valid issues that come up in relationships. Lots of fun! Can’t wait to see what’s next from Alexandria!

And they were ROOMMATES?! This Sapphic second chance romance is the perfect balance of spiciness and sappiness!

While organizing the wedding of the year, wedding planner Olivia runs into to her childhood bestfriend (turned lover turned stranger) Margot. Even after 11 years, they quickly fall back into each others lives as their circumstances continue to bring them together. But old habits die hard and things get complicated when the fine lines of their relationship start to blur. Was their one week of bliss 11 years ago the beginning of something more? Or was it the end to their friendship as they knew it?

Count Your Lucky Stars is the third and final book in the Written In The Stars series. This was a lovely conclusion to the series, the story focused on Margot and Olivia while giving us a glimpse at the couples from past books as they were still a major component to the plot. Margot is hard headed and spunky, but turns to a pile of mush when Olivia is involved. Olivia is generous and giving to a fault, but she is selfish with Margot. I like that this book moved fast and was very character driven, making it a quick and easy read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for an honest review.

I was looking forward to this book, as I had enjoyed the others in this series. However, I found Margot and Olivia's chemistry lacking. They seemed more like strangers rather than old friends who once had a "thing." There was a lot of unnecessary emphasis on Brad. I felt like we didn't really get to see Margot as a whole character.

When Olivia Grant manages to land the wedding planning gig that could make her career she never expected to come face to face with Margot Cooper, the best friend she has not spoken to or seen in eleven years and a life long since gone off plan. But between working closely planning the wedding and suddenly finding herself needing a new place to live and Margot offering a spare room, Olivia wonders if she has a chance at something with the one who got away. Margot had her heart broken the last time she thought she had a chance with Olivia and has abandoned the idea of romance since but eleven years later she still feels sparks each time the two of them are close. With the close quarters of her, their, apartment and her friends seemingly having decided to adopt Olivia, Margot finds herself wondering if she’s willing to take another chance on love. She could have another chance at everything she’s ever wanted if she’s willing to let go of her fear of losing Olivia all over again.

Alexandria Bellefleur’s Count Your Lucky Stars was very much both a book that I enjoyed but also one that kept throwing me off at the beginning. Here is this book featuring a group of friends in their late twenties and they are solidly adults with businesses and careers, but they are also solidly and specifically written as millennials and read very much like people I know and hang out with. I am not used to the adult characters sounding like me and mine. It was nice but a little odd at the start.

That bit of character voice was something that caught me early on. I feel like adult characters in books tend to come across, for lack of a better term, much more professionally than not. More like the characters are people at a job than people being people, and it was refreshing to have these characters with such familiar, relaxed voices throughout the book. This bit with the character voice felt clearer at the beginning when the characters were being established, the early batting about dialogue about Ao3 and PwP and that the dating site is named OTP, but I feel like it never really went away so much as I got used to it. It felt good and I enjoyed it greatly.

Both Margot and Olivia were their own flavors of delightful and their romance was full of delicious mutual pining as both were certain that the other did not want more. I was about the sneaky flirting. The shared past that both remembered but contextualized differently was a fantastic wedge between the two. It was one of those things that I wanted to shake them for not talking about it, but both were characterized in such a way that it made sense for them not to bring it up. I loved how readily Margot’s friends adopted Olivia despite it, perhaps, not making the most sense. It was delightfully in character for the characters involved, especially with as fast as the roommates plot point was introduced and how. Bellefleur’s character work is fun and enjoyable and I want to see more of it.

I have nothing bad to say about Count Your Lucky Stars, it’s a silly little romance with a lot of heart and characters I would love to see more of. It gets a five out of five from me. I want to see where Bellefleur’s writing goes from here and just more of it in general. Which is good for me because it looks like both Elle and Darcy’s as well as Brendon and Annie’s relationships already have books out and I think I might need to go find those.

Thank you so much Avon/ Harper Collins for letting me read an ARC of Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

This book is precisely what every romance novel should be like. Bellefleur's writing has a distinctly modern, cool, and heartwarming way to it. Following Margot and Olivia, readers are thrust into a second chance romance that is so difficult to put down,

Margot is pansexual and Olivia is a bisexual divorcee. They used to be best friends in high school and during a steamy spring break in their senior year, they realized that they definitely both thought of each other as more than just best friends. What makes this romance novel so unique is how well crafted and real these characters are. Margot is headstrong and afraid to let her heart be broken but she is willing to do to the ends of the earth for her loved ones. Olivia is kind-hearted to the point where she rarely takes the time to take care of herself.

The stars, a play on the fact that Margot owns an Astrology company, align to have Margot and Olivia cross paths 11 years after their initial fling. They've had whole and complete lives that showcases Bellefleur's strength as a writer. She can highlight their backstories in a seamless way that makes you feel like you've lived their experiences. Margot has had terrible roommates, feels confused as her peers start to get married and have children, and is finally learning to live without fear of other people's judgements. Olivia married a man who didn't appreciate her. She was unhappy, unfilled, and moved to do what she's always wanted to (event planning).

Their romance is sweet, steamy, and so real. While there are many great sexy scenes because of the amazing chemistry between Margot and Olivia, there's also so many moments of emotional exploration when it comes to second chance romances. The internal struggle of non-communication, the fear of rejection, the fear of being too intense, the fear of not being enogh is painstakingly too grounded in reality. It's difficult to not feel moved by their relationship and how it progresses.

This novel moves fast with immaculate pacing making it easy to devour in just a few sittings (it took me 3). By the time the third act rolls around, readers can experience not just affirmations of love and positivity by actual progress and growth as opposed to a standard break up and get back together seen frequently amongst the genre. Count Your Lucky Stars is amazing as a sapphic/ LGBTQ+ fiction where characters simply exist in their sexualities and relationships without any sort of pressures or judgements within their fictional world reflecting. It's so positive and reaffirming to showcase queer love without having to experience any second-hand suffering throughout the novel. Releasing on Febuary 1st, 2022, everyone should take a chance with Margot and Olivia on this delightful conclusion to Bellefleur's Written in the Stars series.

NOTE: I will edit in when my offical review is live on my publications site.

I loved this book! Margot and Olivia are former best friends who shared a steamy week in high school. As they are reunited years later, we get the perfect setup for a "will they or won't they" moment. I immediately fell in love with the characters. Such an excellent story about a second chance at love. Thank you, NetGalley

I'm not a romance reader so I don't think it's a huge surprise that I didn't like this one. I actually didn't finish it even though I wanted to love it because I enjoy a good rom-com movie. I think anyone who enjoys romance will love this book. The characters are great and the humor was well done. I imagine this will be a hit just like her others. Unfortunately I'm stuck in my mystery genre for now.

This book was everything I was hoping it would be. A sweet, steamy, second chance/friends to lovers romance. full of delicious pining and the easiest miscommunication trope I’ve ever read. I adored this Sapphic love story and Margot & Olivia so much. They are by far my favourite couple in this friend group.

Thank you to HC Canada and Avon for the advanced copy. Thoughts are my own.

I am a sucker for a second chance romance and this hit exactly what I look for with this trope. The characters also had amazing chemistry, and the buildup of the relationship felt believable.

Bellefleur outdid herself! Read it in one day, and absolutely could not put it down. She's become one of my favorite authors this year. One of the best wlw writers I've read.