I was so excited about In the Event of Love - sign me UP for the a queer, Hallmark movie-level-cheese romance! It was unfortunately a bit of a letdown that I just didn’t feel the magic with this one.

To start with the positives: the setting was adorable. I would kill to visit Fern Falls! The community seemed vibrant and alive, if not a bit predictable given the genre. And I love the “high powered businesswoman gets forced back home” trope - the premise is fantastic and exactly what I was looking for in a holiday read.

Unfortunately, when it came to the execution I found it hard to connect with the characters and the storyline. While I expected some degree of formulaic plot devices, it was so predictable that I felt no stake in anything going on, and the characters’ personalities didn’t shine enough to get me invested in their love story.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately, this book was a miss for me. I had a hard time connecting with Morgan and found her to be too immature. I think it was more of it just not being a fit for me, definitely think others will love this book.

If I’ll be honest I couldn’t really get into this book. I wanted to so bad but I just struggled. It had all the tropes I love but it was just missing something

OKAY BUT A SAPPHIC BOOK THAT’S SET IN MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE YEAR???
will forever be a special book to me because it’s my first arc and what a beautiful book this is.
Congratulations to @court_kae for creating such a beautiful and heartwarming masterpiece, i laughed, blushed, cried, no words can describe this book.
it’s definitely one of those books that when you read you see the whole thing in your head.
i wish there was a movie because i would be the first in like to buy the tickets, this was such a cute book and i’m DEFINITELY rereading this around the holidays.
god i love sapphic books, found family trope and christmas time!

thank you @netgalley for allowing me to read this book! and happy pub day to this wonderful book! if you like rom-coms i definitely recommend In the Event of Love <3

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

*Thank you NetGalley for the ARC*
This is such a good holiday read.
Not only is it sapphic but there’s diversity among the side characters. I enjoyed the small, cozy town vibes and found family.
Add this to your holiday tbr!

Queer, rom-com, snow, HEA! I am here and I want more! This was an absolutely adorable book that I finished in one sitting because it was impossible to stop reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books, Kensington for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae is a second chance, holiday romance. I went into this book with zero expectations and I was so pleasantly surprised!

Morgan Ross is an event planner in Los Angeles and her career is on the upswing. She’s great at her job and is in line for a huge promotion until she makes a possibly career ending mistake.

Rachel Reed is Morgan’s Former best friend and the owner and operator of a tree farm in Fern Falls.

After her catastrophic career blunder, Morgan heads home to Fern Falls to head up a fundraiser and to get her career back on track with some good publicity for helping her little home town.

Morgan literally smashes into Rachel’s farm and the ex-best friends are pushed back into one another’s orbit.

This is such a cute, funny, sexy, romance! I will definitely read this again come holiday season. It’s like an adorable queer, Hallmark movie with two funny, sexy, bi women.

I whole heartedly recommend this book to warm your cold holiday heart!

Queer hallmark Christmas story, need I say more?

I knew exactly what I was getting into when starting this book, and, for the most part, it did live up to my expectations; big city girl forced to return to her small hometown and reconnect with a past love interest and family. It had just the right amount of cheesy romance that I can't help but fall for every time.

However, I do wish it was a bit more slow burn, which is interesting cause I'm not usually one for it. But it feels like they got together too quickly so the ending climax didn't feel as big as it could have been, It was missing more of the slow reconnect with building chemestry and 'will they' / 'won't they' moments.

Overall, it was a fun holiday read that's just making me excited for the season.

Event planner Morgan Ross is returning home for the holidays not because she wants to, but because she needs a tabloid story to blow up before she can go back to her life. So now she is going back to her hometown, home to her younger-crush and first-kiss failure Rachel Reed. Who she will obviously will try to avoid at all costs. Rachel Reed's farm is struggling and to save it Morgan decides to organize the best fundraiser the town has seen. While, of course, keeping it nothing but professional with Rachel.

This book was well written and both characters were cute and interesting. It was a great romance that was both a sweet quick read, but also cute, romantic, and funny.

If you are looking for a light and sweet holiday reading, this is the one!

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Morgan is headed back to her hometown to lick her wounds and restart her career. She’s agreed to help throw a Christmas festival to save the town – unwittingly signing up to work with her ex-best friend and former crush, Rachel.

While Morgan works to save the town and Rachel’s tree farm, sparks fly. I enjoyed watching Morgan gain self-awareness and learn to communicate with her old friends and family.

I really liked the setup however i was a bit more hesitant about the romance which i did find awkward and strangely paced.

The resolution felt too easy but i guess it is the point of a hallmark romance

3.5 stars for me — A pretty solid queer romance! I enjoyed the entire ensemble of characters, which I find is rare, and the story gave Gilmore Girls/Stars Hollow energy, which I loved. I found that the lead up to the actual relationship was more enticing for me than the later chapters when the characters were together, and it tied everything up a little too perfectly for my taste. All in all though, a very cute holiday romance!

This was exactly what I was expecting... A Hallmark movie but make it hella gay!

This book has lots of LGBTQIA+ representation all through it and my little pansexual heart was soaring while reading this.

Also, it was incredibly immersive and atmospheric. I could really could picture being in this little mountain town, surrounded by all the friendly, lovely people of the town. I could imagine the snow drifting down and surrounding me. I loved all of the imagery.

I really loved all of the characters in this book! From Ben and his coffee shop, to Rachel and her pine tree farm. My favorites were definitely Ben, Whit and Rachel. And especially Natasha, the town's trans mayor.

Some of my favorite quotes were"

"Drink first okay? Coffee makes everything better."

But I'm really good at breaking things before they break me.

"The world needs more queer holiday romances don't you think?"

What an incredibly sweet winter book! I love it when authors are like here have a christmas romance with a side of anti capitalism. That’s my favourite combo.

This book focuses on Morgan as she takes a sabbatical from her job after accidentally kissing her client’s fiancé (his fault not hers). But she’s a workaholic so she decides to plan a fundraiser for her hometown’s christmas tree farm so that the greedy mega corps can’t buy it out. There’s something about writing a book that somehow actually captures the emotional spirit of a family holiday while emphasising that consumerism and capitalism ISNT what makes it a celebration that does it for me. Bravo.

Morgan is emotionally distant and Very Sad but quickly breaks down as she realizes maybe she was perceiving actions wrong because she was in her own head and therefore makes an active effort to build back relationships. That made her really relatable and wonderful. Of course her emotional arc is an oscillating rollercoaster because she’s conflicted but it resolves beautifully.

I also loved how not chill she was about her crush on Rachel. Like it was a high school crush that never went away and she just Cannot Stop. It’s too cute. And funny enough despite not having Rachel’s pov you can also clearly tell Rachel is also Not Chill about being in love with Morgan. Their whole romance is too cute for words. And there were three lengthy smut scenes. Chefs kiss.

The small town vibes, close knit friends and found family, and ambience were just immensely perfect. This was the quintessential cozy winter romance. Loved it.

[3.5 stars rounded]
A sweet and spicy Christmas romcom about Morgan, an event planner who heads back after years to her home town in Fern Falls to help with a fundraiser, reconnecting with friends and acquaintances from her past. Between juggling the pressures of an impending promotion, the lack of sponsorship for the event, and the threat of privatization looming over her childhood community, Morgan must make amends and mend bridges with all the people she had cast aside for her new and glamourous life in LA- which includes the sexy, charismatic lumberjack Rachel, Morgan's former flame and biggest what-if. This is a second chance Hallmark romance at its peak.
To list the positives: firstly, I'm glad that there was no fake dating, because nowadays apparently every romance needs that awful trope to work. Morgan's POV voice is pretty strong and assertive, and her romance with Rachel is steady and mature (unlike some other Christmas sapphic novels i could name). Like they genuinely seem to care for each other beyond lust or sex. They have great chemistry! I also liked all the background characters and the queer found family of sorts (again, not naming names but some romcom authors can take tips on how to write supportive but not overbearing friends). Plus, there was a serious emphasis on familial love and community service, which is great to see in a romcom novel. Fern Falls was beautifully portrayed as this quaint mountain town with its small businesses and wintry postcard aesthetic, which made for a good reading experience.
As for the bad, there is unfortunately, the usual third act conflict caused by miscommunication, which could've been avoided completely. There is a lot of emphasis on grand gestures of love (which is not something I really warm up to, imo public proposals are very performative and put pressure upon the party). Most importantly, while there are multiple characters of colour in the novel, all of them are relegated to the background (passing references to brown skin and typical "Asian" bobs), while the main cast of friends and family who get good character work are firmly white.

This book was cute. 2nd chance romance FF. This was one of those books where I wanted to slap several characters for being so dumb, but I still loved them. I’m excited to see the other love stories she clearly set up for sequels. I always love bi representation and while some of the banter/ dialogue was cringy, over all I was still swoony and desperate for some Christmas magic! 3/5 spicy, but just barely.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

I received an advanced copy of In the Event of Love through Netgalley so I could share my review with you! This book is a wonderful bisexual holiday romance, and was the perfect read to celebrate today with!

In the Event of Love is packed with wonderful elements, including:

-Two bisexual leading ladies
-A workaholic forced to return to her small town home for the holidays
-Saving the farm!
-Lumberjack love interest
-LOTS of steamy scenes
-Second-chance romance

In the Event of Love has everything I look for in a good, queer holiday story! I loved the use of the “workaholic and home-town hunk” dynamic, and how well it paired with the second-chance romance trope used in the book. This book was sweet, and just the right length to keep me enthralled the whole time.
In addition to reading a physical copy of In the Event of Love, I also enjoyed listening to an audiobook copy from Tantor Audio! Melissa Moran was the perfect choice of narrator for this steamy holiday romance novel. Her vocal cadence was just right for the pacing of this more slow-going book, and it wrapped me up in the world of Fern Falls.

My Recommendation-
If you love a classic feel-good Hallmark holiday movie story, then you won’t want to miss In the Event of Love! I would especially recommend this book to fans of Under the Christmas Tree and Christmas at the Ranch!
Content Warning: Alcoholism (of a family member), parental death (past), feelings of abandonment

Morgan left her hometown for LA as soon as she could and has been enjoying her life as an event planner on the rise. Then something goes horribly wrong and her boss makes her take time off to stay out of the spotlight for a bit. Morgan decides to go home and plan an event she got an inquiry about, even though she doesn't really look forward to seeing her dad, her town, and her ex best friend and crush Rachel. She soon finds out she and Reed will be spending a lot of time together while prepping the event and that those feelings from long ago aren't really gone after all.

This book was so good!! It made me laugh, tear up, want to visit the welcoming little mountain town, join the found family friend group, and more. Plus, queer rep and Christmas! What else could I want besides a book two about Adam and Ben?! As you can see by the release date (Aug 30/22), I am posting about this rather late BUT I fully recommend you read this now or whenever you start your holiday reading this year.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC! You can find my review in my story highlight ARC Reviews on my IG.

this was okay and I think if you're a super big fan of hallmark movies yeah it's pretty good, but it was slightly too cheesy for me and I also just didn't really connect with the characters. It took me a while to get through because I really just didn't care about the story.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing me an eARC of In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I actually really love stories when the main character is the type to put everyone at arm’s length and hide from their own feelings o ly to find themselves in an environment where they can let themselves feel closeness to others and acknowledge their own emotions. So naturally, I loved that character arc that Morgan goes through in this book.

Second chance love is always an interesting trope and I really enjoyed the way Courtney Kae utilizes it in this novel by having Morgan realize things were so much more complicated than she thought they were when she was seventeen. Without getting too far into spoiler territory, love that Morgan and Rachel have a chance to discuss their pasts as adults. I also thought the use of flashbacks throughout was clever so readers can understand young Morgan and how her seventeen year old and current selves react to things.

I was not expecting the ending, but I thought it was delightful. This book is so lovely and I highly recommend it.

Also, I love the Reading Group Discussion Guide. It’s book club ready!

5 out of 5 stars