4.5/5-

I LOVED THIS BOOK! Silas is such a cinnamon roll, and my #1 book boyfriend, especially when he is MUCH different in the spicy scenes 🥵. I loved all of the secondary characters that added humor and just an amazing cozy small town romance! It felt a little slow at times, but that was when Silas wasn’t in the scene 😅 and the secondary storyline of a treasure hunt.

Brief Plot: Maggie hosts a renovation YouTube channel, buying an old Estate in Idaho. She hires Silas for landscaping work, and he’s immediately drawn to her not taking no for an answering, claiming they are DESTINED for each other But Maggie doesn’t want to be sucked into this small town, living a life of movement and little attachment. Until she does grow attached: to Silas, the towns history, all the people, and a special 18 year old she related to. Add in a mystery treasure, a pit bull, 2 kittens, and SO MUCH HUMOR, and you get another classic L.S. Romantic Comedy with a dash of spice!

Thank you NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing)for an eARC copy of Maggie Moves On, by Lucy Score. This is my honest review in exchange!

I just started reading Lucy Score and I am hooked! I saw somebody refer to this as Reno-Romance (a perfect description of this book) and a new favorite trope of mine! Maggie and Silas are couple goals from the moment they meet each other. I love Lucy Score’s style of writing, it feels like your inside the friendship group with her. As a reader, I was laughing alongside the characters and felt present in the moment with them.

Once again Lucy Score builds the world that I want to live in and be a part of. I’m rooting for all of them characters and I want them all to have their own story and live happily ever after. Her families, friends, siblings and partners all seem like people I would want in my life.

Thank you #Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fun and Steamy Romance is a Winner

Maggie Nichols is a YouTube home renovator with almost a million followers. She travels the U.S. flipping homes and moving on. Her latest acquisition is a huge rundown Victorian Queen Anne home that sits majestically on a bluff in Kinship, Idaho.

Written in the third person with dual perspectives, Maggie Moves On is Lucy Score’s first traditionally published book. I've been a Lucy fan for several years and it’s great to see her becoming more widely known with the TikTok success of her indie published, Things We Never Got Over and By a Thread. The home improvement aspect of this book is reminiscent of her book, The Christmas Fix, and Score even gives a shout out to the heroine of that book. The underlying mystery also reminded me of her Bootleg Springs series with Claire Kingsley. (Whiskey Chaser)

Silas Wright is a native of Kinship and the owner of Bitterroot Landscapes. He’s got a pit bull named Kevin who he has conversations with and who apparently named himself. Silas has a big family with two Moms and two Dads. I so loved all of the Wright family. Silas pretty much falls for Maggie at first sight. A smitten hero is my catnip! Silas is calling Maggie his “future wife” in his head shortly after their first meeting and saying things like, “I’d hate for us to hit a deal-breaker this early in our relationship.”

Silas is a charmer and reading his and Maggie’s flirtatious banter is just plain FUN. As are the shenanigans Silas gets into with Kevin.

The only problem with their burgeoning romance is that Maggie’s life is one big road trip with stops for house flips for a few months and then she’s on to the next one.

“What man in his right mind would decide that following her from state to state and house to house would be his kind of happily ever after?”

“I’m not the settle-down type, Sy. And you’re not the pick-up-and-go type.”

Maggie is at a crossroads to find out what actually makes her happy and that provides the tension of the story.

Lucy Score is a next level goddess when it comes to writing small town romance. Every single Score-created town I’ve read has made me wish it was real. Add Kinship, Idaho to that list. The crew, family and found family created in Maggie Moves On are perfect. They are hard working, quirky and loving; maybe down on their luck but swinging for the fences.

“Kinship wasn’t just the name of his home, it was their way of life.”

Every piece of Maggie Moves On fits together to give us one hell of a romance. Maggie herself is sympathetic but also a bit of a workaholic who has had a trying past which has made her put up some walls around her heart. Silas is the perfect person to knock those walls down.

Maggie Moves On also has some trademark deliciously steamy scenes that Score readers will be happy to know are in this trad pubbed book. The romance, the characters, Maggie’s past, the mystery and the added tension of the YouTube series being filmed makes this a five star read for me.

I received an advance copy of this book and this is my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this one. It had so many components that I love in my romances. Small town. Fun characters. Good connection between the H/h. Steam. Great characters. A dog. It was well written with good conflict. Loved this one! A super fun summer read!

This was my first Lucy Score Novel and for the most part I enjoyed it! There were a few things that fell flat for me, or didn’t really fit.

What I loved:
- the small town feel; I want to visit Kinship, such a cozy town!
- Found family and blended family
- The witty banter and the overall humor. I found my self grinning like an idiot so many times.
-The Spice!

What I didn’t love so much: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
-Too many plots! The mystery with her family was interesting until it wasn’t. It all came to a head and all tied up in like 2 pages. Now, I love a good child/parent reconciliation, but I would have preferred that to be explored more. It was such a big part of Maggie’s raising, it would have been nice to see her build a relationship with her dad, or include him in the renovation some how. Then there was the treasure hunt and mystery of the Campbell family. It just felt like a lot and I tended to get lost in it all.

-Silas. I thought I liked him at first. I liked his straight forward flirty attitude, but then he turned into a possessive a**hole super fast. I didn’t like that he just shoved the relationship on Maggie. It didn’t feel like she had a choice in being his girl friend.

-Maggie giving up her career. She just gives up her career and everything she has worked for, it didn’t feel right for her character.


With all that to say, overall I have positive feelings about the book and I’m sure any fans of Lucy Score won’t be disappointed in this book!

A cute romantic comedy set in a small town with a social media/home renovation angle. This is not my usual preference of romance; it was a little too sweet and lacked the angst I’m keen to. However, I found both Silas and Maggie likable and I did enjoy the descriptions of how the historic home was being renovated. If you like sweet romance and find yourself watching HGTV or TikTok DIY renovation videos, this is the book for you.

4.5 Stars

This is my first book by Lucy Score, and I’m not sure how I’ve let that happen! I’ve had The Dead Guy Next Door and Things We Never Got Over on my kindle forever and I’ve just never read them. If all of Lucy Score’s books are this good, then I’m about to do a deep dive into her backlist and become a superfan.

I loved this opposites attract, HGTV inspired rom com! Maggie has a show on YouTube where she renovates old houses and flips them. When she takes on a big job in Idaho to renovate a historical mansion, she hires Silas, the handsome, half dressed landscaper with the big smile and the cute dog to help her get the house ready to sell.

This book is everything I love in a rom com. I laughed, I cried, and I definitely swooned. Silas gives off laid back, positive vibes that help to sooth Maggie’s high strung, constantly on the go soul. One of my favorite tropes is when the guy falls first and Silas falls HARD. Like immediately starts referring to Maggie as his future wife and refers to himself as her boyfriend after three “dates”. We see a lot of character growth from Maggie, who never stays in one place for long and has convinced herself she deserves to be alone. Silas quietly, but persistently inserts himself into her life and it’s heartwarming to watch him try to convince her to stick around.

I loved Kevin the dog, the found family trope, and the local mystery surrounding the house Maggie is renovating. The supporting characters brought a lot to the story, too, and I really enjoyed Silas’ family dynamic and their amazing representation of a blended family.

The only thing keeping this from being five stars is that Silas is literally perfect. He doesn’t get flustered, he always says and does the exact right thing, he’s tall and gorgeous…there wasn’t anywhere for him to grow as a character, and I think making him a little less perfect would have made him more relatable.

Other than that minor detail, I loved the sharp writing, witty banter, swoonworthy moments and kindle melting steam! There’s a waterfall scene that is just too hot. And that epilogue! *Swoon!*

If you like a small town romance where the guy falls first, then you are going to love this one.
Thank you to NetGalley, Lucy Score and Forever for the ARC to read and review.

Give me a small town romance any day and I’m a happy girl. Maggie Moves On was utterly charming and made me laugh several times. Score is a new to me author but I will for sure be adding her to my tbr.

This was hands down my favorite Lucy Score yet! Maggie is a boss queen who is not looking for a relationship. She was super relatable and did not come across as frigid at all. When landscaper Silas arrives for his first day of work he falls into instant love. His flirt mode is full court press this whole book and his easy charm makes you fall into instant love too. Unfortunately for him Maggie needs a bit more convincing that he’s her dream man. This whole story is about Maggie finding herself, finding a family and finding a home in Kinship, Iowa. There’s also a fun Wild West hidden treasure subplot. I really loved Maggie’s character development throughout this story. I also loved how real the side characters felt and what they added to the plot. By the end of this book you’ll wish you had joined Maggie’s crew and were setting up shop in the newly renovated Old Campbell House with Kevin the pit bull by your side. You’ll feel the warm fuzzies, fan yourself at the steamy scenes, and smile often while reading this one!!

I enjoyed this small town romance with a mansion being flipped while filmed for YouTube, the MC guy (Silas) slowly pulling MC girl (Maggie) into his town life and his love. The town's people and their quirks. Silas's family. The house and it's mystery of the originally owners. Kevin the dog really stole the show for me. He's such a funny dog with such a big personality!

This book made me laugh and it made me swoon at the romance. The second to last chapter had me wiping away tears from laughing and the last chapter made me cry with all the wrap ups of everyone. This book made me believe in signs.

There's a lot to like about this romance novel. The heroine - a renovation genius with her own YouTube show - is talented and successful, the secondary characters provide a variety of side plots, and the mystery thread is compelling without stealing the show. Even though the book is on the long side, it's never boring.

But I couldn't bring myself to get invented in the main romance, which is kind of the point of a book like this one, and that's because of the male lead. Silas is a landscaper who decides the first moment he sees Maggie that they are meant to be together - and that any disagreement on her part is pure bullheadedness. He pursues her despite her repeated rejections, and after they begin what she clearly states is a casual relationship, he frequently and self-righteously violate her physical autonomy and emotional boundaries.

Of course, romance novels often glorify actions that wouldn't be acceptable or appealing in real life, and I can usually look past it. But in this case, Silas's possessive and controlling behavior is really his only contribution (other than sex) to the relationship, so there wasn't anything to look past it to.

I enjoyed a lot of this book - the sections about Maggie's friends and Silas's family and the renovation and the mystery. I would have rated this romance novel higher if the romance had been left out. 3.5 stars.

Lucy Score is quickly becoming one of my new favorite authors! I was smiling so big only three chapters in that my face hurt! Not to mention the many times that I laughed out loud and everyone in the room with me gave me funny looks LOL

This is an ADORABLE rom-com that has all the great tropes:
-guy falls first
-meddling dog
-found family
-loud meddling family
-small town
-strong female MC

And honestly there are probably more but I think that should be enough to tell you that you should read this book as soon as it comes out!

Thanks to NetGalley for sending me this ARC it ended up being one of my favorite recent romances!

Once again Lucy Score provides us with a fun, thoughtful rom-com with a strong heroine and a swoony hero. Her characters are interesting and the storyline makes you want to move where these people live. I just want to hang out and be friends with these people.! Throw in a hilarious dog and the book is perfect! Lucy Score has quickly become an instant click of an author for me. I really enjoyed this book. Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. I have bought a hard copy and prepurchased an e-copy as well. A fun, summer read!

This was my first book by Lucy Score and now I can't wait to go and read her backlist! This one follows Maggie who has a youtube channel were she buys fixer uppers and then documents the entire remodel. Maggie's newest purchase is in Kinship Idaho and it is a historic crumbling mansion and a property this size needs a great landscaper and in enters constantly flirting Silas. I loved Silas and Maggie's relationship from the beginning, Maggie knows she isn't staying long term but Silas is going to do everything he can to convince her to stay. Along the way Maggie not only starts to open herself up to Silas but she also makes friends and tries to help out a boy who is basically abandoned by his family by giving him a job with her crew but also fixing up a room for him in the house so he has somewhere to sleep at night! By the time it's time for her to leave she has made so many new connections and even started to rebuild one with her own sister. I loved all the relationships in this book, it gave me so many feels and I didn't want it to end. I highly recommend checking this one out when it is released June 21st of this year! Thank you so much Forever for my gifted copy for review!!!

5 STARS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
genre: romance, women's fiction
tropes: found family, workplace romance, small town romance
steam: Rated-R (open door romance)

This was my first Lucy Score novel, and based on my experience reading this, it won't be my last!
Now, I will say, when I first picked this up and I saw it was over 400 pages, my inner romance reader was like, 'Ugh, why?" But while reading it, nothing felt like it was dragging or being put in just to fluff up for length.

Once you add in the found family aspect, the romance, and a bit of a treasure hunt - all of the pages make sense! And you're riveted to every aspect!

THINGS I LIKED:
✨ I am pretty much obsessed with all things found family. Things like the Single Parents TV show or the movie Instant Family, or even more recently when I read THE GODPARENT TRAP - I love it when people who are unrelated find each other make a home & a family. Here you have Wallace, Cody, Dean, and Maggie all living in the same house, and somehow (even though some of them have a tough past or are overly crotchety) they are there for each other & strive to make everyone feel loved.
✨ The sibling text message exchanges! DEAD. Absolutely love seeing siblings ruthlessly make fun of each other & then end it with, "Love you, byyyyyeee."
✨ Small towns are always a good time. They give kind of "Gilmore Girls" vibes where everyone knows everyone and news travels very, very fast.
✨ I really liked that Silas pushed Maggie's boundaries. And even though some of the things he did were kind of icky & possessive, for the most part he was doing the right thing and making Maggie rediscover parts of herself that she had hidden away.
✨ Maggie's sister. Classic.
✨ Dual POV! As all romances should be.

THINGS I DIDN'T LOVE:
✨ Maybe it's just me, but the whole "Who did this to you?" and "You're mine" tropes don't quite work for me. So while 80% of Silas was swoon worthy, the other 20% was kind of ick?
✨ I wish we got a family tree? I mostly understood how Silas's family was put together, but almost not really?
✨ More treasure hunt! This was a super intriguing part of the story, and it was kind of hurried?

10/10 would recommend!

I was so excited to receive an ARC from NetGalley for Lucy Score's new release. As a fan of "Things We Never Got Over" and "Forever Never," I had high hopes for "Maggie Moves On."

This book has so many of the things I look for in a summer read: an independent heroine, small-town goodness, a romance that sizzles, and an ensemble of characters that add quirk and heart to the story. At the root of it, this is a book that celebrates the family you choose — not just the one you're born into.

My one concern going into this book, knowing a big part of Maggie's story is her love for sharing her renovation journey on her popular YouTube channel, was that the social media storyline would feel cheesy (as often tends to be the case when I read about characters in the influencer world — probably because it's a little too close to my own world, haha). That wasn't the case here!

I had such a fun time with this one. The relationships between all of the characters (beyond just Maggie and Silas' fire chemistry) is what truly makes this a memorable one for me.....a worthy addition to any book lover's beach bag this year 🎉


*Book provided by publisher, but all thoughts are my own

Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score
4/5 ⭐️

This book took me a WHILE to get into; I don’t think there’s much conflict or anything going on in the first half, but ya girl is not a DNFer cause I’ll get angina. However, I’m glad I didn’t dnf cause I ended up crying in the second half LMAO.

If you’re a HGTV independent baddie with family issues and wanderlust, then Maggie is definitely your gal. If you like flirtatious men who fall in love with you instantly cause obvi you’re irresistible, then Silas is your man.

What Its Got:
🔹One-sided insta love
🔹Small Town Romance
🔹I can fix her
🔹Dog with human name (kevin)
🔹Found family
🔹The funniest dialogue (I think this is her funniest book yet)
🔹Old house with some mystery/treasure

Anybody watch the Netflix original Falling Inn Love with Christina Milian? Cause this is it but if HGTV made it instead.

My only complaint with this book is that it’s very slow in the beginning and the conflict at the end made me a little mad because relationship intentions were made clear. Silas needs to learn some boundaries and Maggie definitely needs therapy, but in the end it worked out for them and I still cried so??

I don't know how to convey how much I loved this book! From beginning to end this book was perfection for me. Firstly I loved the cute and flirty banter between Maggie and Silas as they navigated their changing relationship. I loved that Silas fell first and although we were waiting for Maggie to fall, it didn't cause the pace of the book to suffer. The pace was absolute perfection for me.

I loved that although this book was about the romance between the two main characters, ever character brought in not only had a storyline, but a storyline that added to the overall story of not just the main characters but to themselves as well. This is how to perfectly incorporate other characters into a romance without feeling like they are thrown in to help the main characters story progress. Often times in books that add multiple side characters, I find myself wanting to get back to the main characters, but this was not the case with this book, because their storylines were so well written.

I am a huge fan of dual perspective and this book didn't disappoint with that--it would have been fun to have some chapters from the other characters- but I have my fingers crossed for this turning into a series and getting Dean's story.

This book will definitely be purchased, so I can re-read it again and again.

Thank you Netgalley and Forever Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A great feel good romance novel with a hidden depth to the characters. Maggie has tremendous growth throughout the novel and is wonderful both on her own and as part of a couple. I loved this story and can’t wait to read more from the author!!!

3.5 ✨

To be completely honest I had no time to read this completely so i just got to 47% before my e-arc expired...oops, my fault🧍🏻‍♀️

What i could read was good, not great for me but good. Pretty quick to read considering I started yesterday night... School is the problem with my time management lmao. The characters were nice, Maggie and Silas relationship went pretty fast tbh, like the chemistry was there but it was definitely an insta-love kinda vibe. I must say that i loved the fact that Silas was such a simp from the beginning of the book, it was really fun and refreshing to read so i enjoyed his personality. I needed more from Maggie but what i got was really good, such a strong woman! And DEAN I LOVE YOU 🙌

The house renovation aspect from the book was really new to me to read but i love HGTV so iykyk 🐒

Overall what I got to read was pretty good but very fast so idk why the book is so long... When it releases I'll definitely buy a copy and finish reading it! Lmfao 💌

*Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an arc in exchange of an honest review*