Thank you to Forever - Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for the advanced reading copy. Review contains my own thoughts and opinions.

Athena and Thorne gave me so many feels. Blame it On the Brontës had a great small town atmosphere with lots of charming side characters. It was a little slow in the middle but picked up and then I couldn’t put it down! For all you spice fans, this is mostly fade-to-black.

✅ Small town Illinois
✅ Thorne: lawyer turned bakery/cafe owner
✅ Athena: Assistant Professor on sabbatical to write about an erotic novelist who writes under a pseudonym
✅ Second chance
✅ So! many! secrets!

And now, for my favorite quote: “Ever since ‘War and a Piece of Ass,’ I’ve been hooked on Tolstoy.”

Thank you Netgalley and Forever Publishing for this arc. Blame It on the Brontes is a small town second chance romance that incorporates classic books like Wuthering Heights very well.

Professor Athena Murphy is brought back to her hometown of Laurel, IL trying to save her career. Her mission is to find a bestselling author C.L. Garland who is thought to live there and write a book on them. But gets a surprise when the diner she was going to work part time for had been sold and now owned by her ex boyfriend Throne Kent. Throne ex lawyer now diner owner is keeping a few secrets from the women he always loved. Can their little town bring them together.

This book certainly had it charms. I honestly really liked the town and towns people that where in the book. The author made it similar to the vibe I got watchIng Gilmore Girls in the past. Also really like Athena and Throne individually and as a couple. Although their miscommunications in this was something I wasn’t a fan of.. Really like Athena especially when she was charming and connecting with the towns people and Throne. When not fighting or big lies harboring their relationship I thought Athena and Throne had a cute romance. For me I thought this book had one to many subplots. Although most tied together in the end it flight like the subplots took away from the romance of Throne and Athena and her finding the author.

Overall a solid read for me at three stars. Someone more of a fan of Wuthering Heights or small town romance would probably enjoy this more.

Rating: 3.5⭐/5

This book had me almost throw my kindle at the wall at 2am. It's a fade to black/closed door romance and I was ✨not✨ expecting that fun little feature. I was hoping for cute illustrated cover in the streets and spice in the sheets. ON PAGE SPICE in the sheets.

Now that my grievance has been aired, I can mention that the romance was cute. It's a second chance, small town romance, with MCs in their 30s. Without spoiling anything, I will say this book had a huge missed opportunity to represent for mental health and sadly missed the mark IMO. The writing was clever and the comedy bits were good. The climax of the story felt a little rushed and I would have preferred to see it paced a bit slower there.

I'd been in a bit of a reading slump where nothing had really pulled me in and engaged me. UNTIL this book bamboozled me with what gave the illusion of some very nice spice on the horizon and then the door slammed in my face. I'm just really salty about that. 😂

Give it a go if you prefer fade to black/closed door romance.

This was an extremely witty story about a second chance romance for Athena and Thorne. Their slow burn was sweet and fun to read. They had great banter, lots of history to unpack, and some secrets that could tear them apart for good. I enjoyed reading this small town romance and loved all the writing and literary references. The entire cast of characters was interesting and engaging and the HEA was just perfect. Athena and Thorn had lots of baggage and history that was filled with love and hurt so watching how they slowly deconstructed their old relationship and found something new was super entertaining as was watching them each continue to try to balance half truths and outright lies while maintaining composure.

I love how the author explored different types of relationships at different stages as well as the idea of finding oneself in both love and in live. There were so many different characters that the story was always fresh and the dynamic of a small town added a layer complexity on top of the budding romance.

BLAME IT ON THE BRONTES by Annie Sereno seemed a natural joy to a Bronte fan, writer, and avid reader. The reality was an interesting plot stretched too far for what could have been a tight, enjoyable novella or short story. The idea of a young woman on the hunt for a reclusive author mixed in with an impending BIG birthday, lost and found romances sounded wonderful -- I was disappointed in how the story unfolded, getting tangled up in characters, timing, and what was going on. I received an advance reader copy of the book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

I saw this title at the store and realized I didn't submit my review for it! I really did like this though. I am a huge Bronte fan and the worlds they built so this modern day romcom is a blessing. As a book nerd Athena is my spirt animal. She quite literally is who I want to be. I also Ate Thorne up!!! I loved their banter together and the tension they shared. Overall, a really fun read.

This book was highly entertaining. It starts off with the reading meeting Athena Murphy, an English professor at a small college in San Francisco arriving in her home town of Laurel where she plans to write a book and uncover the identity of famous writer CL Garland. There was something published that Garland, who writes who writes spicy (read erotic) retellings of classic literature, is from Laurel, and in order to save her job, Athena is bound and determined to figure out who she is. What Athena doesn't expect, however, is to run into her former flame Thorne. Thorne is a former lawyer, turned cafe owner. The same cafe that Athena is planning to work as a waitress as while she is busy searching for Garland. Things don't go the way Athena planned, chaos ensues and working with Thorne presents its own set of challenges, Can Athena and Thorne get back to where they used to be, or are they doomed forever?

What I really enjoyed about this book was the writing style. The book itself wasn't fast paced, but the style in which it was written made it feel more fast paced than it actually was. I also (for the most part) enjoyed the banter between Athena and Thorne. It reminded me of how some of us react to situations with an ex: sometimes we forget our tongue and get sassy while other times we go completely blank. There also wasn't a ton of deep stuff within the book, it was kept relatively light hearted and I enjoy that in a simple rom com.
What I wasn't a huge fan of, that knocked my rating down, were two things. One, I thought the chapters were way too long. I would have preferred shorter chapters. Given that the actual plot moved at a relatively slow pace, I think this would have helped make things feel like they moved a bit quicker. I also felt that the tone was off a bit. Some of the things that were brought up in the first half of the book didn't necessarily make sense with the second half and the latter half of the book felt a bit all over the place.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you are looking for an entertaining rom com that is a light read,

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are, as always, my own.

When a struggling literature professor returns to her hometown on sabbatical to write a book, she reconnects with the former love-of-her-life while working at a small town cafe.

This book is a light, quick read with just enough of an undercurrent of secret-driven suspense to keep you turning pages without getting bogged down in drama. The characters' mutual immaturity and reluctance to trust make them a well-suited (and entertaining) pair, and after reading about the cafe's signature sandwiches, you will be dying for a trip to the bakery. A charming debut, this will be a perfect title to bring to the beach this summer!

I loved the premise of this book but overall many parts fell flat for me. This book was definitely a slow burn which in parts it was hard for me to keep going. The romance definitely felt forced, but other character descriptions and development were well done I think. Overall was a decent story! Thanks, NetGalley for a copy of this e-arc in exchange for my review.

This was cute. A small town comes together to help Athena who has flown back home to gather her wits about her. Her job is going nowhere and she’s planning a last ditch effort to win it back by exposing a secret. There’s lots of interesting characters and plenty of romance, like a more erotic hallmark movie.

Athena is back in her hometown after running into some issues at the college she works at. She wants to write a book on the secret author, CL Garland in hopes of regaining the respect of her collegues so she sets off back to her hometown in search of her story.
When she gets there, she has a job set up at Ricki's Cafe, but when she arrives, she learns that the job Ricki promised her is now in the hands of her Ex boyfriend Thorne, who has swooped in and bought the cafe. All she has to do is survive the next few weeks, get her story and she can be back on her way to San Fransisco.
Thorne isn't keen on having Athena work for him after their rocky past, but he hopes they can at least mend fences and become friends. Athena has always been under his skin, but he knows she's better off without him and he just has to rememeber that.
What I loved about the book were all of the literary references and the times where Thorne pines for Athena. What didn't work for me was the fact that people with the past they had (soulmates who both thought they would marry each other at one point) they thought they could just move past things and be friends with benefits. I didn't like that Thorne didn't tell any of his secrets either and hid so much for the entirety of the book. I could tell that is what the conflict would be at the end, but it still made me a bit sad that nothing came out at all and Athena was left to feel stupid.
I really did enjoy the ending and the reasoning for the pen name of the author. I like hidden gems like that.
Thank you to Forever, Annie Sereno and Netgalley for an early copy.

I found that the characters were incredibly immature, especially given how old they were meant to be. The romance was also forced and I did not feel chemistry between the two of them.

This one is a unexpected 4 star review for me. This one started slow but by 30% I loved it. I adored Athena! She was such a fun and smart protagonist. All the people of the town were hilarious and it was such a fun journey watching the main mystery unfold. This was a book that I wasn't sure what it was about but it was worth it going in blind.
* Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC*

Athena is an English professor who has reached a point in her career where she needs to publish or lose her job. She decides to write a biography on the elusive author CL Garland and uncovering her secret identity. This means she needs to return to her hometown, which means seeing her ex almost every single day.

This was a sweet slow burn, closed door, second chance romance with a lot of literary references. This had a lot of potential to be a really cute book, but it was almost too much of a slow burn for me, and didn’t always hold my attention when reading.

I switched between ebook and audiobook for this one and enjoyed Katie Schorr as a narrator. For me, the audiobook actually held my attention better in this case and I believe that was thanks to Katie’s narration.

Thank you to Forever Publishing, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Okay, I’ll admit it took me a little bit to get into this one but Thorne (our leading man) is so swoon-worthy.. just add him to my list of amazingly unrealistic expectations. Especially the sections from his POV. Warning: would not recommend this if you’re going through a break up because you might just get other ideas 😂 that’s how you know a second chance romance is good right? You start questioning all your previous relationships.

As the title hints, there’s a lot of Brontë references which I loved. I know writing spice isn’t for everyone, but this one has a lot of lead up and then fades to black which was 💔 for me

📚Read this if you like:
- second chance romance
- literary references galore!
- a sprinkle of LGBT representation
- books that make you want to move to a small town asap
- Dual POV

Blame It On the Brontes is an entertaining second-chance romance. Athena is back in her hometown on sabbatical while she researches and writes a book. She ends up working for her ex-boyfriend from college in his cafe. I liked the premise, but didn't love Athena. She seemed a bit immature and self-centered. I liked the rumination on how we grow and mature and heal past wrongs. I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Katie Schorr.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for providing this ebook/audiobook ARC. All thoughts are my own.

I think if you are an extremely big fan of the Bronte sisters' work, this would be an okay book for you to pick up! Otherwise, I found this book pretty lacking. Sometimes it felt like entire paragraphs of dialogue had been removed because the main characters' conclusions and actions just didn't match up with what was happening.

The premise of the main character just knowing she would be able to find the hidden author made no sense to me, and setting out to uncover the identity of someone who obviously wanted to stay private didn't either. The town and the coffee shop were really cute, but I think this same storyline had more potential than what was delivered.

I'm a casual Bronte fan (I've only read Jane Eyre), and that wasn't enough for me to get even remotely invested in this one.

I would give this about 2.25 stars. First of all, thank you NetGalley and Forever for providing me with an ARC. I really enjoyed the descriptions and backstories of the many minor characters who frequented the cafe. I also thought the relationship between Athena and her mother was very well written. However, there were definitely aspects of this book that I did not enjoy. I felt some of the romance was a bit forced. I also struggled to get through some of the banter between Athena and Thorne without cringing. I also found their ages and maturity levels to be a bit confusing. I kind of expected more insight and maturity related to relationships from two people in their early 30s. Some of the dynamics associated with Thorne and Athena's socioeconomic status also confused me. While I understood that Athena was raised in a lower SES household than Thorne, they did both attend a private well-renowned university and she later went on to earn a prestigious Ph.D. at Harvard. The descriptions of her family life also made me feel like they were not so bad off socioeconomically. This book was definitely a quick read and is relatively light despite the subtle air of mystery and dark themes.

Never have the Brontës been so exciting! Blame It on the Brontës is for anyone who loves a side of classic literature with their romantic comedies…. there are a lot of references to and quotes from Jane Austen, the Brontës, and Shakespeare, to name a few. It’s also a second- (or third-) chance romance between college sweethearts that reunite in her small hometown 10 years later.

Athena Murphy is an assistant college professor teaching English in the dreaded “publish or perish” phase of her career. Her department head is threatening to cut her off if she can’t publish a book, and soon, after she mouths off during a meeting to her nemesis and fellow professor. Desperate to produce something to publish that would make such a splash that they’d be forced to offer her tenure, she impulsively declares she’s going to write a book analyzing the classic literature erotica spoofs burning up the bestseller list, and revealing the identity behind the secretive author. Who, rumor has it, hails from her small midwestern hometown. Taking a sabbatical to write, she travels home and arranges with her old family friend to work part-time at her cafe, hoping it will be a hot bed of gossip, which will lead her to the mysterious author. Only it leads her straight back to her ex-fiancé, Thorne Kent, who now owns the cafe. They met as freshman in college, and immediately fell into a passionate relationship, believing they were soulmates. After he broke her heart, first when he deviated from their plans to pursue their PhDs in English together at Harvard in order to attend law school, and then later when she tried to rekindle their relationship after a night spent together, she’s sworn to never give him another chance to hurt her. But as they spend time together at the cafe, they slowly start following back into old patterns. With time ticking down until she finds the author begging the books, the pair are forced to decide one way or the other what their true feelings are, but only if they are willing to address once and for all their complicated past and bare their darkest secrets - like why Thorne ran away from their future together all those years ago (twice).

Blame It on the Brontës has complicated and flawed characters - Athena is a bit unlikable… she’s negative, a bit petty, with a sarcastic street that at time can be offensive. And yet, you can’t help but root for her to succeed. Her family is a dysfunctional mess, but are lovable each in their own way. Thorne is a coward, taking the path of least resistance when faced with hard life choices, except when the truth is slowly revealed, I found myself sympathetic to his actions - frustrated by them but I still understood why he did what he did. My chief complaint is that there is a tiny bit - just snippets really - of dual POV, but barely enough to qualify. It seemed less like the point and more of a way to present select information instead of seeing it through Athena.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

The concept of this one - and some of the themes - where more interesting to me than the actual execution of the story. For some reason, I didn't really get sucked in - the flow was kind of choppy, there were areas with maybe too much detail that wasn't relevant to the plot. I found myself drifting and bored in a few places.

I did really enjoy the idea of the erotica re-takes of classics. I actually kind of want to read those! Otherwise, there was a lot of meandering through this will they/won't they second (third) chance relationship that came to a natural conclusion as the story wrapped up.

Overall, a decent idea/story, but I didn't really enjoy it as much as I was hoping to. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher & the author for an advance copy of this book for me to read and review.