Thanks to Forever Publishing for the free book.
This book was fun. Athena was such a memorable character - I loved her voice and wit. Also, her interactions with the patrons she served were so heartwarming. This is the part of small town life that I can get behind. Also being a St. Louisan, I could easily picture the setting, as I go into small Illinois towns across the river frequently. The book did feel too long for me. I felt the middle dragged a bit. I'm also not a fan of conflict/reveals in the last 5% of a book, I need more time devoted to the resolution. This book is a homage to the Brontes, and I think if you're a fan of their work, then this book is for you. I'm sure I would've understood the references had I read more than Jane Eyre, though now I want to go get some classics off my shelf and give them a go.

This was a delightful read. I will admit it the beginning I was a bit frustrated that I didn't know what the history was that caused Athena and Thorne to break up since they seemed so perfect, but I'm glad that author let it slow burn. I loved all of the reference to the literary classics throughout the book. Especially Jane Eyre since that is a favorite of mine. I hope that the LitWit series gets published as a follow up because I would love to read them.

Who doesn’t love a second chance romance? Okay it may actually be more of a third times the charm romance, but either way it was such a great read!!

Thena and Thorne met and fell in love in school, but he decided to follow the family into law, she disagreed and they went their separate ways. Only to find each again 7 years later in Seattle, but after having a night filled with passion they went their separate ways again. Obviously love finds a way and they end up back in each other’s lives for a third time and despite trying to remain friends things heat up anyway.

I loved the way this book followed their current journey of love while also telling us about their past, it was a perfect blend.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for a copy of this book. This is my honest voluntary review!

Unfortunately this book didn’t work for me the way I was hoping, for various reasons. Some of these might just be ‘me’ issues, so your mileage may vary. Here are the things that I found to be at least a little bit ‘icky’:
1. The heroine intends to write a book based on discovering the true identity of an author who only uses a pseudo name
2. The heroine’s brother is gay and is living with his boyfriend who has proposed, but their mother doesn’t acknowledge or accept this until the very end of the book
3. There’s some not great comments about weight through the book (heroine’s mom tells her a moment on the lips, forever on the hips when eating a cookie, etc)
4. The brother and his partner didn’t seem to have a great relationship - they seemed to be very mean to each other and didn’t communicate well

On top of all that, there were really strange wording choices and turns of phrases throughout the entire book - the main characters were in their early thirties, but I don’t know anyone that age who speaks they way these people did.

This book gave me all of the happy feelings. It kept me entertained and I finished it in a few sittings. I would recommend it to my high school stuents if they were looking for a cute romance that's fairly light. It was not too overly sexual, so I considered that a plus. The character development was pleasant and felt relatable.

The first retelling of a classic, and I did love it.

The banter between Athena and Thorne was fun to see, especially when they're college sweethearts.

Athena is back in town to write a piece on the mysterious C L Garland, and she got a job at the bakery owned by Thorne. These two try to avoid the past, but it comes back knocking.

Thanks to Forever Pub for this arc.

I didn't hate this one but I also didn't love it either. While I'm not huge Bronte fan I prefer Villette to Jane Eyre and hate Wuthering Heights and haven't read anything of Anne's. I still go the Bronte references, though to me there seemed to be more Shakespeare references than anything else. I loved Throne from the beginning. But Athena got on my nerves from the start and I didn't really warm up to her until chapter 15, Four or so chapters till the end. But it was indeed a rom com and kept me laughing. And even though I didn't like Athena she did keep me entertained enough to hope that she would indeed change.

I'm glad that I got a chance to read this one! I think it's overall a decent story but the writing would trip me up at times. I would still be interested to see what this author comes up with next as I think there's a lot of potential there. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this title!

Second Chance somewhat enemies to loves as they are no longer friends, lots of tension between Athena and Thorne.
Athena is sent back home - her small, non-interesting, couldn't escape fast midwestern town. Somehow her mother and father failed to mention her ex moved recently - and acquired the much loved café. Where Athena secured a job from her mother's long time bestie - except she's on hiatus. And also failed to mention Thorne purchased the café from her before ditching town. Seriously. Someone could have told her.
But no fear - Athena straps on her mom's sensible shoes, waitresses the crap out of the café and not so subtly pumps the patrons for local gossip. Specifically about the hottest new best seller - a hidden identity of a hugely successful erotica author. Living in the town. But no one knows nothing.
Working with Thorne brings back the utter humiliation of their horrible breakup - while stoking the fire they have for each other. The long literary conversations. Their acting, reading poetry college days.
And of course the dog.
Very enjoyable book. Loved it!

The premise was intriguing, the execution...not so much. This reads like one continuous stream of consciousness rambling from an unlikable protagonist. I'm all for characters having faults if they grow over time, but it did not appear there was any growing here. This could have been so so so good, but it just fell flat. Thank you NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley for a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to read this book based off the description, but unfortunately this book fell flat for me. I tried several times to start it and continue, but it kept losing my attention, and I DNF’d less than a quarter way through the book. I just couldn’t do it. I don’t think the main character, Athena, was very likeable from the start. Something about her turned me off to her story, and I wasn’t very interested. I also struggled with the writing. It was stilted and awkward at times, and unfortunately I think it should’ve gone through a couple more rounds of edits. That being said, that doesn’t mean others won’t enjoy this book. It just wasn’t for me.

I am so sorry but I was sadly unable to connect with this one. I appreciate the opportunity to read but this was sadly and DNF.

This books was given to me by Netgalley, but this review is fully my own opinions and thoughts!

To start off, this book is a 3.5 star. I found it in the YA section of Netgalley, but there were a lot more mature themes. Nothing of great detail, but with the main character and love interest both way older than college students, I’d market this as a new adult or adult. I loved how classic literary books were incorporated into Blame it on the Brontes. The characters were fun and Athena was super fun and witty. Thorne is smart, charming and a perfect mix of alpha and feminist. There is lgbtq representation for any curious people.

The pace was excellent and the complicated nature of humans was well shown. The romance was easygoing or first try, but shows the messiness of real love as well as real family drama.

All in all, it was a good book and I’m glad I got to read it!

I enjoyed the characters, the diversity and the cute cover. The rest of the story felt too slow paced.

Second chance romance with sprinkles of classic literature and mystery. Despite it being a little hard to get into, I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read, perfect for summer!

Read if you love:
- The Brontes
- Wuthering Heights
- Second chances
- Quirky family members
- Small town drama
- Cinnamon roll heros
- Cozy cafes
- Hidden identities

I just loooooove when two people who are so obviously meant to be together find their way back to each other. Thorne and Thena are those people. This was a heartwarming and charming read, and I really enjoyed Annie Sereno's writing style. It was so funny and cheeky! Athena was such a likeable heroine and super easy to relate to. Her inner dialogue just resonated with me. The people in her life, especially her family members, were absolutely bonkers and crazy lovable. The shenanigans that she and her brother got into together were hilarious. Thorne was just ooey gooey sweet. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders and while he didn't always handle things the best way, his actions were understandable. He was a fierce protector of those he loves and you can't help but love him in return. The things in the past that kept Athena and Thorne apart truly helped them to grow into the people they needed to be in order to make their relationship work and I thoroughly enjoyed going on that journey with them. The mystery surrounding the identity of CL Garland added a layer of fun and zaniness that made this a well-rounded story!

TW/CW: closed door, innuendo, mild language, talk of infidelity (not between MCs)

I loved the cover, but this book wasn't for me. I felt it was too drawn out, the "mystery author" was never a mystery, and the characters just didn't click for me. I did love the reference to "The Brontes" as an English major, but this book was boring and the romance wasn't there.

Unfortunately, while promising and sounding cute, this book was not for me. My favorite part was definitely the diversity in characters. We encounter some interesting personas in this book. However, I found that several of the other elements fell flat. There were things that were pretty predictable to me from the start. The interactions between the main characters seemed to be intended as witty banter but they were a miss for me. Ultimately, I forced myself to finish it but I would, sadly, not recommend it.

I am loving that we are having book nerds as the main characters. It makes the reading so much better.

I want to say that I gave this book a fair shot when I was reading it. You already know how I feel about second chance romance books. I usually don’t like to read them because betrayal is hard to forgive. The trust is already gone, so how can you fix it when it’s broken? But I’m willing to give it a shot when I started reading Blame It On The Brontes, especially since the main characters are fellow book nerds.

Unfortunately, this book was not the only one. I enjoyed the hell out of it, but the ending completely ruined it. Literally destroyed the book. Like how can you hide that big secret and yet dig yourself a bigger grave with your digs. I’m sorry, but if you could have expressed your truth when the other was then this could have been avoided. But no, the betrayal was completely forgiven. Like how?

This was honestly kinda a let down. I think there's so much room for enjoyment. There's secondhand romance, the slow burn angst to mimic Heathcliff and Catherine, the academic setting, but it's a very predictable romance that doesn't feel transformative from the original Bronte story, Wuthering Heights.

This took me a really long to finish and it felt like a lot of other romance novels I've read :/