I loved this book, it gave me vibes from Lucy Score's The Christmas Fix and also How To Love Ypur Neighbor vibes by Sophie Sullivan. This super adorable, childhood sweethearts, second chance book caught my heart and never let go! Shelby and Cameron had great chemistry, and I enjoyed their individual character arcs!

A couple things I didn't like- I hate the miscommunication. It bothers me when grown adults aren't able to open their mouths and express their needs!

Next, I didn't particularly like how passive Cameron was. He wasn't passionate about anything, and I had a hard time connecting with him as a person. He was so blah that at times I wanted to just skip the things he was saying and move onto the next scene. He needed to grow a backbone and say what he wanted and ask Shelby out!!

Overall though it was delightful,and I would recommend it to my friends!

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I tried to both read and listen to this book but found the characters unappealing and not interesting.

Second chance romance with childhood friends to lovers was made for me. And a slow burn to boot?! I’m in heaven.

I ate this up so quick and it was delicious! I’m really hoping she writes more adult book cause I need them!

3/5 Stars

I'm starting to think Erin Hahn just isn't the author for me. I feel like I just don't jive with her writing. I found my self a little annoyed with the jumping back and forth to past and present. I thought the romance itself was cute. I always enjoy a second chance romance. I also enjoyed the banter and the HGTV aspect. Overall it was a cute second romance, not my favorite but still enjoyable.

Predictible, cliche, and cute - if that is what you like in a RomCom, this book is for you! Especially if you like super quick reads. I'm giving it four stars because I think that it is fitting of the (cheesy) RomCom genre, even though it wasn't my favorite.

Thank you to Netgalley & Publishers for access to an arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A cute, quick read. Not my favorite, as I felt the characters weren’t very well developed. They fell a bit flat for me, and I just would have loved to see more from them. Otherwise a cute read if you need a quick pick-me-up.

Reality TV meets HGTV in this second chance rom com. Right off the bat this story just goes full force. We meet Shelby who is trying to overcome her past trauma and Cameron who is a sap when it comes to Shelby but just can't stop running away to chase new stories. What happens when they get another chance? Fireworks!

This is very NA, sweet but spicy and touches base on a few traumas. I thought it was very cute and an easy read. One of those reads that takes you mind off things and you don't have to think about it to much, I felt like the characters where relatable in their thoughts, feelings and emotions, Its not just surface level issues but things people can really relate to and understand.

I enjoyed all the characters, not just the main ones but the side characters too! Im definitely interested to see what future books she has for these side characters.

I would definitely recommend if you are looking for a fast pace, easy, sweet second chance romcom!

If you love stories about childhood friends getting another chance at love, you’ll enjoy this story and will enjoy this sweet take on a fun trope.

Thank you, NetGalley, and Griffin, for the ARC of Built to Last. This was a cute rom com, perfect for people who enjoy HGTV!

This book just wasn't for me. The characters were boring. There was nothing that made me want to turn the page and find out what was going to happen next.

Built to Last is Erin Hahn's first adult romance, and it is sizzling. It has all the characteristics of a Hahn novel - realistic characters, chemistry, music, and a cast of friends you just know you'll see again in a future sequel. She writes about people readers care about - even the old college roommate who already has his happily ever after.

Hahn's books are always delightful; now she's added sexual innuendo and sex. Swoon.

In this debut adult romance novel, Hahn stokes the fire with hot, sexy chemistry. This shift into the world of consenting adults allowed her to bring the sex, and she did just that. In fact, she brought it so hard that after her next YA novel, Even If It Breaks Your Heart scheduled for publication in 2024, Hahn has hinted that she'll keep playing with fire and stick to adult novels.

Built To Last is about two former co-stars who have left the acting world and grown up. They hooked up once as teens, and both consider the other as "the one who got away." When Shelby Springfield is asked to film a pilot for a tv show that involves her new career of home renovation, she is (predictably) blindsided by her surprise co-star, Cameron Riggs.

The chemistry is still there, and they both struggle to work together again, on camera. It's a beautiful tension, stoked on both sides by wonderful friends. Shelby's ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend team up to try sabotaging the show and the potential relationship with Cameron.

The book is sweet, funny, and very romantic. With lines like,
“I'm three hundred and seventeen pounds of pure sex, Riggs. I can’t be contained by a mere belt.” Hahn made me laugh out loud.

She also made me cry.

“You are the best part of me,“ Shelby's father says. “I don't tell you that enough, but it's the truth.“

Shelby and Cameron both have one crappy parent on one amazing one. They also have incredible friends.

Shelby's best friend writes a song called, "What They Have," and she tells Shelby it's inspired by "you and Cam and how gross you are," and asks them to "act out your side of the story in a video." Cam takes over the conceptualization of the music video, and everything that unfolds afterwards is absolutely wonderful.

The description of the subsequent music video is lovely - I could picture it vividly - and I want to see this book made into a movie just for the chance to see this music video.

The epilogue is presented as an interview of the characters, which is not only brilliant, but a great way to end the book.

Built To Last is another captivating book with songs threaded throughout that readers can practically hear… only this time there’s adult sexiness.

Labeled as a "second chance romance" novel, Hahn's latest book is so good it already has a sequel (of sorts) coming out later this year, featuring the singer best-friend. While I love her YA novels, I hope she keeps making these sexy adult ones because she's good at it.

Let's face it - I'll read anything Hahn writes, but I absolutely love a series that makes sure the friends and family also get happily ever afters, and I hope to see more of Shelby and Cam in Friends Don't Fall In Love later this year.

Everything between Cameron Riggs and me has always felt at once insignificant and extraordinary. We were kids. It was only a crush. It was just sex. I swallow thickly, knowing none of it was that simple.

Were you invested in the Justin/Britney relationship of the late 90s? This book is for you!
First loves are complicated. There always seems to be more questions than answers. Is this love? Is this going to last forever? Are they “the one?” Erin Hahn takes these questions and rolls with them through “Built to Last”, adding a little bit of drama to the plot to make for one very compelling and engaging story about first loves and second chances.

Child stars Cameron and Shelby were each other’s first loves. Life happens. The two actors go their separate ways and grow into their adult selves, but just as in the real world, you can never forget your first love. After a bad public breakup, Shelby calls for Cameron begging him to come be with her. He gets on a very small, very scary airplane, to fly home from Alaska to California to make sure she’s okay. She’s not, as it turns out, but he’s not the one that can help her. She has to help herself.


I’m a simple woman. Give me a bearded man and a sun-soaked early-century Craftsman reading nook and I will love you forever.

Shelby
Cut to a few years later and Shelby is offered a starring role on a reality TV show, but it’s messy. The network will only give her the show if she works with Cameron, and the show is produced by her cheating ex, Lyle. What could possibly go wrong with this scenario?

I would watch the hell out of this show.


Erin Hahn’s “Built to Last” Playlist
I couldn’t put this book down.

Aww Factor
“Built to Last” is teeming with what seems to be unrequited love. There are dual POV chapters alternating between Shelby and Cameron, and each one is layered with lingering feelings, both past and present. For those that have been following me, I don’t usually love a dual POV novel, Erin Hahn makes it work. Chapter by chapter, Shelby and Cameron delve further into their feelings from the past in order to process their feelings in the present.

Cameron seems determined to break down my defenses one mallet swing at a time and he’s doing one hell of a job. He still doesn’t seem to realize how much he doesn’t need to convince me. I’m there, man. I’ve been there. I practically live there. RIP my sanity, send your regards to 1234 Shelby Is Pathetic for Cameron Street.

Shelby
Shelby, we’ve all been there, babe. Love makes you crazy, and makes you do crazy things.

Don’t let my Shelby quotes fool you, though. Cameron has it just as bad for his girl.

Not that she needs me. She’s not the same hurting Shelby who drunk-texted me five years ago. The Shelby sitting here is a far cry from that girl. This Shelby is fierce and endlessly patient and elegant in the face of Lyle’s bullsh*t. I fell hard for the Old Shelby, but this new version will absolutely destroy me.

Cameron
Come for the second chance romance and HGTV-themed reality TV show plot, and stay put for the yearning, tension, and desire between rekindled first loves that ripples across the pages. You will not be disappointed.

What’s next from Erin Hahn?
Hahn has confirmed that Maren and Lorelai will be getting their own books, and while I am over the moon excited about this, I would take this one step further and beg St. Martin’s Griffin to offer another multi-book deal to expand this world featuring all of the side characters I’ve come to love: Maren, Lorelai, Beth and Kevin the Viking. Especially Kevin. This lumberjack of a man definitely has some stories to tell.

Final Thoughts

Built to Last is Hahn’s first foray into adult romance, but it feels like she’s been writing in this lane forever. Probably because even though her previous novels are billed as young adult, her characters are well-rounded, mature, and independent thinkers who navigate conflict just as well, if not better, than the adults surrounding them.

Hahn proves one novel after another that she’s no slouch when it comes to writing. Each new book seems to be a love letter to her craft. They are filled with beautifully balanced prose and dialogue, and layered with creativity. Each of her published novels has something original: song lyrics, playlists, letters, and in “Built to Last” we see a faux news article so authentic it could have come right from People Magazine.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what I hope is a very long and prosperous career for Erin Hahn, and I can’t wait to read what comes next.

I just realized I never sat down and wrote out a review for what ended up being one of my favorite books that month! This was the perfect blend of friendship, emotional baggage, growth, healing and steam. I flew through it, completely pulled in by the tension that simmered between the two main characters as they weighed their past against their future. I went on to buy a paperback and will be doing a re-read, soon!

I wasn't expecting F bombs right off the bat and for it to be so spicy right away, so I DNFed it. Also just didn't connect to the characters. I should've done my research before requesting, and I will from here out. Thanks.

CW: drug and alcohol abuse (including as a teenager), parental abuse of a child, mentions of cheating

Since a public meltdown, Shelby Springfield has done her best to move on from that image she had left the world with as the child star who had a documented downfall. Finding herself in refinishing vintage furniture.

Shelby finds herself back in the spotlight as one of her former co-stars brings her on board for a home renovation show - along with her childhood crush Cameron Riggs.

This sounded so cute and I was ready to buckle down with some HGTV vibes and relax. Built to Last gave me just that with some childhood romance.

The nice thing about this romance is that the drama is all external. Shelby and Cameron are solid and all that drama really brings them closer together. They talk things through and there is no build up to anything where you are expecting that late break-up before they figure things out and get back together. I truly enjoyed that.

Where I struggled with this is that they were so in love with each other the whole time that there was never that build-up for me. We didn't get enough background from them to have that sickening sweet story that make you look goofy by sitting there with a smile on your face as you read it. I would have loved a little bit more tension in the build-up to really connect with them.

If you are looking for a romance that's sweet with childhood sweethearts who never stopped loving one another, I would recommend this one!

What! I absolutely loved this book. It was so adorable and fun, while also sneaking in some more “real-life” hurt and trauma, in a way that didn’t feel too overwhelming or harmful to me as a reader. I loved the idea of teen heartthrobs moving into a home improvement reality series as a way to take care of the people they love. I don’t really watch much reality tv (scripted or not), unless I’m at the doctor’s office or the car dealership service department (why are these places always playing HGTV??), so I think I may have loved this book even more if I was into that kind of show. BUT I did grow up in the era of Disney channel teens falling into poor lifestyles (or at least being publicly perceived that way), and as an adult have seen those same celebrities shift paths, so it felt very familiar in that sense. While there were a million different shows their teen drama could have reminded me of (and even Boy Meets World was mentioned), this felt very Dawson’s Creek to me, which is sort of how I imagined it while I read.

I loved the lifetime of love Shelby and Cam had for each other, and I loved Shelby’s relationship with her father. I was immensely stressed during the scenes of unnecessary drama developed by the antagonists, but I think that’s actually because the story was so good and the emotions while reading were so raw.

The chemistry between Shelby and Cam was so unreal, and I mean that in the BEST WAY! I loved their relationship so much and thought they were so perfect and sweet together. This was such a great, heartfelt story that I just really appreciated and enjoyed.

This was a cute story with very likable characters. Overall it was well written and engaging. It had a sweet vibe to it and it felt very NA which, neither, are really my thing. It's probably a me issue, not a book issue so please check out other reviews

*ARC provided through Netgalley*

This book feels like a combination of "Maggie Moves On" by Lucy Score and "The Reunion" by Kayla Olson. Childhood co-stars and ex-lovers, who are still friends but haven't seen each other in years, are forced to reconnect. Shelby and Cameron were each others' teenaged first loves and co-stars, and now years later, they are reconnecting to film an HGTV-style home renovation pilot. Even though Cameron is the one who left Shelby (twice), he has never let her go, and this might just be the opportunity he needs to make things right. But Shelby's ex, and another of the childhood co-stars, is not making it easy, doing all he can to bring tension to the new show.

Both Shelby and Cameron were in love with the other, and if they would have just talked about things earlier, they wouldn't have had to spend years apart. And Shelby basically admits that she didn't like being with Lyle, even though she dated him anyway...that annoyed me. But overall, this childhood friends to lovers, second chance romance was sweet! I did appreciate that most of the conflict was outside of the couple/relationship!

3.5 stars

A super quick + cute rom com featuring a second-chance romance between two childhood stars who find themselves working together again on the set of a home renovation reality show. This book was very sweet (and surprisingly spicy!!). A bit heavy on the insta-love for my personal tastes, but their shared history helped bridge the gap a bit. I especially appreciated the distinct lack of a third-act breakup, which seems like a crutch for a lot of recent romances. I had so much fun listening to this story (dual narration!), and would definitely recommend for anyone who is looking for a light and happy HEA.

I really enjoyed this one. Hahn's choice to not only go with dual points of view but first person in both was interesting and made me connect easily to both Shelby and Cameron. Both characters had good character development, Cam's being more in the moment while Shelby's was more about putting what she'd learned over the previous five years into action. It felt equally strong on both sides.

On the romance end, this was a different take on the second-chance (third-chance? fourth?) trope though the friends-to-lovers is very strong. All around, it was a pretty unique relationship when I think about the dynamics of it but I really ate it up. The ending was so satisfying and, I'm happy to report, that the third act was super low on angst. (You are a romance reading veteran if you know what third act plot device I'm referring to here!)

The writing is light and casual but still well-written and the pacing (done by the POV switches) kept me engaged so that I read through the whole thing pretty quickly. All in all, a solid love story that was a joy to read and that I would certainly recommend to other fans of the genre. I look forward to more from Hahn in the future!


Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.