This was a cute gay Christmas romcom! I loved the atmosphere of the small town with a close-knit group of people, and I'm looking forward to more in this series. This really just felt like a Hallmark movie and had lots of holiday elements that made it feel cozy and seasonal.
The romance was predictable but still cute- I wanted them to end up together. I liked the love interest more than the main character, but neither was annoying. My only minor complaint is that it felt like they got together unrealistically fast. But again, that is part of the charm of this holiday romance genre.
I would recommend this for someone looking for an adult romance book with Hallmark vibes!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

In the Event of Love is essentially an 18+ sapphic Hallmark Christmas movie as a book, and it has everything your cheesy festive film heart could desire; quirky small-town characters, a magical Christmas tree farm, and a tragic family backstory (obviously).

Our city-dwelling protagonist Morgan returns to the small town she grew up in, where she’s in charge of running a fundraiser to save the community from a soulless corporation that wants to destroy the town’s individuality. In the meantime, she reconnects with her high-school sweetheart. Will their second-chance romance work out this time, and will she save the town? If only we could guess. 👀

Honestly, I didn’t love Morgan as a character (Rachel deserved her full honesty from the start IMO) and found it pretty infuriating seeing how wrongly she perceived her past. However, I grew to like her more as the story went on and she reevaluated her priorities, and I really enjoyed seeing the pair’s relationship come back together. Also, just like the many (many) hot beverages the characters consume throughout the story, the steam definitely heated ALL THE WAY up. ☕️🔥

Tons of good LGBTQ+ rep, maybe some slightly clumsy attempts at racial diversity (not the WORST thing but one of my writing qualms is when skin colour is only mentioned in descriptions of POC and never/rarely for the white characters) but overall it’s clear that the intention for it to be a pretty inclusive, diverse read has paid off.

It’s warm, cheesy and spicy (sorry, am I talking about a plate of nachos?) and perfect for what it was. Now I want to find my own Fern Falls and spend my winter drinking coffee, sitting by a fire and falling in love with a Christmas tree farm owner. Is that too much to ask? 🎄

Thank you NetGalley for the complimentary eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was super duper cute!

But woof was it hard to root for Morgan at times, knowing her future plans. Rachel deserved better, and I’m glad that she realized that too.

Also the nod at the end of Morgan’s dad maybe having interest in another character 👀

I can’t wait to find out how the rest of Fern Falls falls in love 🥰

Dear Hallmark or Netflix,
Please produce this as a movie.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington for the ARC.

3.5*

In the Event of Love would make for a fun holiday movie- on the adult version of the Hallmark Channel!

This was a sweet, and quite sexy, second chance romance. I really enjoyed the plot, with Morgan returning to her small hometown after a professional disaster, with the hopes of saving the town, while at the same time kind of reinventing herself.
I loved everything to do with the town- the setting, the townspeople, the businesses, the mountains and the snow. It made me wish I lived in a town like that! I liked how they all came together to keep things the same.

The rekindling of the romance between Morgan and Rachel, after the hesitant start when she first got back in town, moved a little fast for me, considering they hadn't spoken a word in 7 years. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they found their way back to each other- I do love a second chance romance! But the fact that they weren't quite a couple when things ended between them, it went from 0 to 60 in a heartbeat. But I guess when you've never really gotten over someone and finally have that chance, you take it. Things didn't go as easily or as smoothly as I'm sure Rache hoped-there was still quite a bit they, Morgan at least, needed to work through. I'm glad it didn't take her long, though, to realize where her priorities lay!
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I'm glad to see this is the first in the Fern Falls series- I cannot wait for Ben and Adam's book!

Very cute queer holiday romance! It was a fun quick read, but it never had me truly rooting for the characters or become invested in their story.

Look. This is the perfect holiday Hallmark queer love story your heart wants. It’s like AS SEEN ON TV but infinitely better because it’s two girls kissing and one of them is a lumberjack. Lumberjane? It’s heartwarming, sappy-sweet, and why did this come out in August? It’s because you need to buy it ahead of time and start reading it as soon as the snow starts falling. Cozy romance, tropey romcom, exactly my kind of jam. Four stars.

I have to admit that I usually don't like reading Christmas or holiday books too early, I know I'm weird. But I'm so glad I read this book! It was such a delightful LGBTQIA romance!

If you're a fan of the Hallmark/Netflix holiday movies, you'll love this! It's charming and cozy with lots of steam! I loved the big city girl goes back to her roots and gets a second chance with her first love.

I loved the representation and I'm looking forward to the next book with Ben and Adam's love story :).

I received an arc of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Morgan Ross is a popular event planner. But one mistake in a club one night while she is blowing off some steam results in media backlash. To get a break and let the media storm die down she returns to her hometown of Fern Falls determined to help with an event there and get her career back on steady ground. What she doesn't anticipate is the feeling that seeing her former best friend turned crush Rachel Reed. After a falling out and a failed first kiss, Morgan left town and never looked back. Now she is back in town working with Rachel to help her save her family's struggling tree farm. Rachel and Morgan and quickly reminded of their chemistry and strong connection and start to rekindle old flames, but will Morgan uproot her life and career to be with Rachel in Fern Falls?

This is such a fun small town, second chance romance. Morgan and Rachel are such great characters and you cannot help but root for them. I loved Rachel's brothers and her family so much and Morgan's dad added such a fun layer to this beautiful story. One of the reasons I love small town romances is that you get such a sense of the community it almost makes you wish you could transport to that magical place. Kae does that in this book and makes you want to move to Fern Falls and hang out with all of these amazing characters.

I so desperately want books for all of these side characters including Rachel's brothers and hope that Kae gives us more and more stories from Fern Falls.

I loved this book and will definitely be recommending it!

This was a solid 4.5 star read for me and I can't wait to read more from Courtney Kae.

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for an EARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Steamy romantic romcom. Loved the LGBTQ+ representation. Perfect little second chance, friends to lovers romance.

Thank you Kensington Publishing and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I will start off and say that I’m sorry that I didn’t really enjoy this as much as I thought I would when I first requested this as an ARC. I won’t lie I had waited and waited to read this until I was like okay it’s time.. and with that I felt like I was forcing myself to read it. I felt like there wasn’t much that kept me interested. I will say I’m completely on board with the fact that our main character loves woman. To me this isn’t on par of a holiday romance, even though it would seem like one cause of the time of the year it takes place in. I didn’t fall in love with the characters at all. This is a sapphic romance. All in all thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fern Falls felt like it'd be a magical place to live: snowy, quirky, and pleasantly progressive for such a small town. The charming setting was definitely my favourite part about this book.

Unfortunately, the rest of In the Event of Love was underwhelming as the one-dimensional characters and romance left much to be desired. The little chemistry Morgan and Rachel had felt more physical than romantic so I was never particularly interested in their relationship.

There are a few sad sub-plots that don’t really go anywhere and plenty of sex scenes that felt like filler. I wish some (or most, really) of that energy had gone to fleshing the characters out and creating a spark between them.

The epilogue was cute and I enjoyed it up until the unexpected twist, which I imagine will be quite divisive among fans.

While it wasn't my cup of tea, In the Event of Love was a cute and fun read that I know a lot of people are going to love this winter/holiday season. This was a debut novel so I look forward to seeing how the author improves over the length of their career, and I’ll be picking up their future books.

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ARC provided by Kensington Books.

With her career as a Los Angeles event planner imploding after a tabloid blowup, Morgan Ross is not headed home for the holidays so much as in strategic retreat. Breathtaking mountain vistas, quirky townsfolk, and charming small businesses aside, her hometown of Fern Falls is built of one heartbreak on top of another.

Take her one-time best friend turned crush, Rachel Reed. The memory of their perfect, doomed first kiss is still fresh as new-fallen snow. Way fresher than the freezing mud Morgan ends up sprawled in on her very first day back, only to be hauled out via Rachel’s sexy new lumberjane muscles acquired from running her family tree farm.

When Morgan discovers that the Reeds’ struggling tree farm is the only thing standing between Fern Falls and corporate greed destroying the whole town’s livelihood, she decides she can put heartbreak aside to save the farm by planning her best fundraiser yet. She has all the inspiration for a spectacular event: delicious vanilla lattes, acoustic guitars under majestic pines, a cozy barn surrounded by brilliant stars. But she and Rachel will not have a heartwarming holiday happy ending. That would be as unprofessional as it is unlikely. Right?

This book was really a queer Hallmark holiday movie for better or worse. I really need the Hallmark movie now. This book was perfectly wintry with a little bit of holiday magic. I loved how things unfolded in this story. Everything felt natural and believable with a little bit of that rom com magic. Kae did an amazing job at making you feel as if you were in Fern Falls, with beautiful descriptions and details as she shows you around town. The story conflict makes you root for these people, and it's fun to see them all come together to pull off the fundraiser. Another thing I really adored was the entire friendship group, and how supportive they all were. It was super cool to see some of their old traditions still being there, and how Morgan got be a part of it once again. It was also interesting to reflect on career vs relationships and what we think we want. I especially loved Ben and Adam, and I can’t wait to read more about their story (cannot wait to read their story in book two). I would definitely recommend checking this one out if you want to read a quick and sweet sapphic holiday rom com!

This was a very whimsical, fantastical holiday read. I almost gave up around halfway through the book but stuck it out. This will be a hit for lovers of Hallmark, but I felt it was a bit lacking in terms of character dialogue and the fact that we casually just skipped over these two MCs sharing vulnerable information as they fell in love to just skip to more and more chapters about sex. The ending was a bit unrealistic and felt very rushed to me, but I did root for the characters and appreciated Morgan's development through the book.

Also sounds like there will be a sequel for Adam and Ben, I am VERY much looking forward to that one!

Book Synopsis:
With her career as a Los Angeles event planner imploding after a tabloid blowup, Morgan Ross isn’t headed home for the holidays so much as in strategic retreat. Breathtaking mountain vistas, quirky townsfolk, and charming small businesses aside, her hometown of Fern Falls is built of one heartbreak on top of another . . .

Take her one-time best friend turned crush, Rachel Reed. The memory of their perfect, doomed first kiss is still fresh as new-fallen snow. Way fresher than the freezing mud Morgan ends up sprawled in on her very first day back, only to be hauled out via Rachel’s sexy new lumberjane muscles acquired from running her family tree farm.

When Morgan discovers that the Reeds’ struggling tree farm is the only thing standing between Fern Falls and corporate greed destroying the whole town’s livelihood, she decides she can put heartbreak aside to save the farm by planning her best fundraiser yet. She has all the inspiration for a spectacular event: delicious vanilla lattes, acoustic guitars under majestic pines, a cozy barn surrounded by brilliant stars. But she and Rachel will ABSOLUTELY NOT have a heartwarming holiday happy ending. That would be as unprofessional as it is unlikely. Right?

gosh, this one was so cute and soft and fluffy. i love sapphics, they really are god's gift to humanity.
rachel and morgan were so cute, true soulmates! i loved the friend group in this book and I'm in desperate need of adam and ben's book!!
finally, a sapphic holiday romance with not too much angst and a lot of spice!

i’m extremely busy at the moment, so i don’t have much time to read arcs but i will come back and edit this with my actual review once i’ve read it! super excited!

Okay okay okay Courtney Kae! This is my first book by her. Loved the spicy old lovers vibe. I love a book where they go back home. Brings me all the Hallmark vibes. Holiday season on top of that. I was ready for a blanket and a cup of hot cocoa. Thanks for this ARC.

If you like Hallmark movies - you’ll like this book. It was a little slow to get started, but once I got into it, it was delightful. The relationships between the characters were heartwarming (romantic and platonic), and it was an easy, fun read.

It’s cheesy at times…but like, Hallmark cheesy. And I think that’s fun.

I received an electronic ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I would watch more holiday Hallmark movies if they included sapphic romances with open door steaminess. Courtney Kae's "In the Event of Love" got me in all my fall/winter holiday feels and I am ready for sweater weather, y'all.

Tropes:
Friends to Lovers
Second Chance
Small Town
Queer/Sapphic - bisexual female MCs
Found family

I'm sure I'm missing something but be sure that it had it a lot and it was all so delightfully done. It had some drama and conflict but really this book was about Morgan re-finding herself, what and who makes her truly happy and figuring out that she is enough, in and of herself.

Morgan heads home to her small town to weather the storm that drunk shenanigans wrought on her work life. Having avoided the drama of friends and family for years, she realizes that she won't be able to hide anymore. She figures out that she doesn't want to hide anymore. She falls in love with Fern Falls and all it's wonderful quirkiness, she connects with family again and the flames of first love are reignited.

It's a fun, completely light and easy read to help usher in the chillier weather. I'd like to book a getaway at the B&B please!!

After a major bump in her event planning career, Morgan Ross has just returned home to her small, wintery hometown of Fern Falls—the town she’s been avoiding for years. In order to save her job and try to get the promotion she’s been dreaming of, she takes on the task of saving the businesses in town—including the tree farm belonging to the girl she’s always loved and can’t seem to get over—by throwing a festival to raise money before they're replaced by an outlet mall.

But as she and her ex, Rachel, work together to plan the event, they discover the things they’d left unsaid years ago could be the key to kindling the feelings they’ve both kept buried since Morgan left. They decide to give each other—and themselves—a second chance.

This book was basically a queer Hallmark Christmas story… if Hallmark Christmas stories were steamy! It was adorable and heartwarming. Fern Falls was charming, and the side characters stole my heart. I love grand gestures with grand speeches, and this book had a great one! It was so cute—a perfect holiday (holiGay!) read!