"In that fragile, hazy space before sleep, there's a whispered, I love you. And I can't tell if it's Rachel's voice or mine."

3.75/5 - Out August 20th!

Cosy vibes are on point, sapphic romance vibes are on point, small-town community vibes are on point – this book is a pretty good time all ‘round. Everyone should definitely add this read to their tbr for the wintery holiday months.

This is a second-chance romance with a sprinkling of enemies-to-lovers. I really liked the whole story with all the plot points and twists – the main relationship is so sweet, and I’d be really interested in reading more about the other couples in the town (hint hint Courtney Kae).

It took a good 50% to really get into the story – the scene changes are pretty chaotic, and some of the metaphors/quips get lost in translation. Personally, I don’t like first-person books, particularly when they’re romance (are you sick of me talking about third-person dual POV yet?), but the storyline and characters did redeem it by the end.

Thanks to Netgalley, Kensington Books, and Courtney Kae for an eARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

*I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

This was an incredibly sweet and easy read. The perfect read for the holidays. It's literally a Hallmark movie that hasbFINALLY featured a wlw romance. I throughouly enjoyed all of it. Was it the most ground breaking? No, but it doesn't have to be. Sure there's lots of tropes and the ending is very easy to predict but that's what I want in a romance story like this.

Overall I enjoyed all of the characters and I'm happy to see that this is only book one, there are a couple of people who can be the sequel but I'm hoping for one pairing in particular.

I will be picking this up once it comes out to add it to my holiday reads, I look forward to reading it during winter for the perfect ~vibe~.

In the Event of Love: 3.75/5 stars

I thought this book was a good debut, with a flawed main character, fun side characters, and a cute small town. Morgan Ross is involved in a work scandal and goes back to her hometown to a) get away from Los Angeles b) run an event that will prove that she's ready for a promotion. I really appreciated that after the work scandal, Morgan's boss believed her side of things, because I've read similar books where the boss doesn't believe the employee/blames them/etc. Morgan returns to her hometown and starts helping her old friends and loved ones try to save their businesses and runs into her old love and best friend Rachel.

The romance made me smile a lot and the sex scenes were great, but my one qualm with this book was that Rachel was a little too perfect. I'm more used to dual perspective narratives, which I think helps either character from feeling too flawless, and with only Morgan's side of things Rachel just seemed a little too good to be true. However, I think this is something Kae will be able to smooth out in her next works, and I'm excited for her next book.

Cuteeeeeeee! So cute! Filled with wonderful sapphic love!
I loved the romance and the holiday feels and humor. I want to re-read this in the winter when I can get more into the season but it was still a fun read.
Rachel and Morgan had amazing chemistry and passion and the steam was SO NICEEE! This was a pretty great book that will make you all giddy and happy!

This book is exactly what it says on the tin - a sapphic Christmas Hallmark movie with a flannel-wearing heroine and a Christmas-tree farm. Really charming, really festive, really sweet!

Thanks to Kensington and NetGalley for this ARC.

I love reading LGBTQ romcoms and hope that there will be so many more published in the near future! This is a sweet, fun, and steamy holiday romance and I'm already looking forward to the next one in the series! Highly recommended!

"The world needs more queer holiday romances, don't you think?" Yes, I do think. And In the Event of Love is a perfect addition!

Courtney Kae had my heart so, so full from the very beginning! There were so many moments in this book that I actually shouted out loud as I was reading because it was just so!! good!!

I was immediately swept away in the magic of Fern Falls and the chemistry between Morgan and Rachel is absolutely electric. This book has a full cast of complex characters, too, so it really feels like you've just stepped foot into a real-world small town. There are so many emotional highs and gut punches (a good thing!) in this book, and the emotional payoff at the end was immense! I'm so in love with this book and I'm so, so glad that the world now has one more incredible queer holiday romance.

IN THE EVENT OF LOVE was so Hallmark-movie, I largely skimmed the last third, knowing exactly how things would pan out. Those who appreciate this type of content will enjoy, but it was ultimately just not for me.

“Flirting with Rachel Reed is on the list of forbidden things.”

The perfect cozy winter romance to read in front of a fire with a warm cup of cocoa!

This book is everything I wanted a queer rom-com holiday romance to be. It’s funny, cute, romantic, and filled with ridiculous tropes that somehow feel much more original once they’re turned gay.

Business-obsessed, hometown leaving Morgan and her ex-best-friend who stayed behind in their hometown when Morgan fled it after school to pursue her dreams of event planning. Is it something never heard of before? No, I could probably find three books with a very similar plot in a few minutes, but it doesn’t need to be "never done before", it just needed to be cute. Which it is!

Both Rachel and Morgan are well-rounded characters that snowed perfectly into the cute small town of Fern Falls. They have just the right chemistry for friends-to almost lovers- to strangers and enough tension to fill an entire house.
Their story that has led them to this point in time seems realistic enough, without too much unnecessary drama that could complicate things to a level I didn’t want to read in a cute romance without putting too much thought into it.

A big plus this book brings to the table is the fact that it doesn’t use homophobia as a trope, which I was wary of, especially because it's playing in a small mountain town, but thankfully it wasn’t mentioned once. There can be other conflicts in queer books, conflicts that are often far more interesting I can say confidentially after reading this book.
No one is ever homophobic towards any of the characters, but the antagonist is still wholly unlikable.

Sadly, the writing felt a little flat in parts, flashbacks seemed to be inserted randomly, sometimes without apparent reason and the unnecessary third act conflict aka miscommunication (as always) took away from the story. Can we please normalize romance books without the dragging break up thirty pages before the book is over? Thank you.


I might still consider rereading it this winter, to experience it on a cold afternoon instead of a warm May day…

This was a super solid romance! While I wouldn't say there was anything particularly outstanding about this book, it was well-written with a pretty compelling relationship, well fleshed setting, and an interesting, if somewhat stereotypical plot. I can 1000% see this becoming a Hallmark movie, and would actually give anything to see that happen. I especially enjoyed the plot with Christie, the step-mother, though I would've liked ore development from Rachel's backstory in the second half of the novel. I also would've liked a bit more from Ben and Adam!! Overall, however, I enjoyed the story, and will definitely be talking about it on my Tik Tok.

When I read the description for In the Event of Love I couldn’t wait to read this story of two old friends reconnecting a few years later in a wintery mountain setting. Although I generally enjoyed the story, I initially had a hard time connecting with the main characters, especially Morgan. There wasn’t too much initially that made me want to learn more and invest in this character. The story did have redeeming qualities in a Hallmark movie sort of way, but overall the writing seemed flat. 3 stars

I received an ARC from Kensington Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book had its charm. As former sweethearts, Morgan and Rachel have a rocky start when they reconnect. Still they can't stop caring for one another. I thought some events happened a bit too quickly, but enjoyed the story overall. Morgan makes mistakes, but she changes for the better. 3.5/5

Content Warnings: Loss of parent due to cancer and an alcoholic family member.

Formula wise this book has a lot of tropes, and themes, that I love, we have childhood BFFs with a second chance at romance, set in a small town at Christmas…and yet I didn’t love this book like I thought I would.

This book is set entirely from the perspective of Morgan Ross…who I found to be really unlikeable and narcissistic. Understandably when Morgan originally left home she was young and immature but it felt like she didn’t really do any emotional growth during the seven years she was away. If we’d gotten Rachel’s POV, as well, maybe I could have connected to her perspective, and it would have helped me understand why everyone so readily forgave Morgan’s behavior.

I wish more time would have been spent on Morgan self-reflecting and perhaps getting therapy to help her work through the trauma she still let’s affect her relationships…instead of so much time having Morgan blame everyone else for the problems she’s faced. With the lack of time spent on self-reflection, although this book ends with a seemingly HEA, it really just feels like an HFN. I don’t feel like the story showed growth in Morgan, in a way that would lead me to believe she won’t self-sabotage again…and that makes me so sad.

When I originally read the summary of this book I was so excited to read a sapphic romance, between two estranged childhood best friends, and watch a second chance romance occur in a small town during the holiday season…sadly this book just didn’t hit me in the feels like I thought it would. The flashbacks and stories told to Morgan, by her father and old boss, gave me the warm fuzzy feelings I was looking for but the overall story just fell flat for me.

Y’all this book was a literal lesbian Hallmark movie and I am here for it!! The classic romance trope of estranged best friends in a small town with a Christmas tree farm then throw in some icy accidents for fun. Morgan and Rachel’s love story will give you all the feels! It’s funny and cute as well as showing the importance of family, friends, and home. Read this book for a warm and cozy Hallmark romance while drinking a hot chocolate. Coming soon this holiday season! 

Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Reading In The Event of Love was such an experience, I felt seen because for the first time since ever I read a book with bisexual representation. This book had representation galore for LGBTQ+ and I loved that most of all. The only reason I didn’t give it a five star was just a few editorial errors here and there but nothing too major!

I particularly wanted to see how Morgan would navigate the broken relationship with her dad because I found myself relating a whole lot to that part of the book too. Not the exact situation of course, but the feelings that were there of wanting to fix the relationship but not quite knowing how.

Now let’s talk about Rachel Reed 😍❤️ the moment she was introduced in the book I was clapping and jumping in a very literal sense. If you think her holding an axe in the cover is hot just wait until you see her chopping wood! And i say see because this book made it so easy to be able to picture the story as if it were a nice and cozy Christmas movie.

One of the things I felt throughout the book in regards to the community of Fern Falls was just happy because of the support and acceptance of sexual orientation which as we know in reality it can be quite the opposite so this book just does a great job at creating a safe place for the characters to interact and it also makes it a safe place for the reader. I am definitely planning on buying the actual physical copy of the book when it comes out to be able to have it on my bookshelf :)

This book is utterly wonderful. It gave me Hallmark movie feelings of the best kind with some hot sexy times in between. The characters are nothing short but lovely and what I especially liked was the exquisite pining that practically jumps off page. Morgan and Rachel are a truly wonderful couple with so much love and feeling between them that it's impossible not to swoon.
At times, I felt like some scenes dragged a little and some of the sentiments (especially Morgan's internal monologues) were repeating themselves at times, which is why I was able to put the book down in between and not devour it in one sitting, which in turn is why I gave this four stars, but that might just be me. As I said, I thought this was wonderful, it gave me all the feelings and I wished myself into this small, quirky mountain town more than once. Treeshow? Lovely bar and coffee shop? That sounds like my kind of gig. I am already super excited for when I can re-read this come winter and for the next installment of this lovely Series.

In the Event of Love is the perfect feel-good holiday romance novel. Courtney Kae definitely delivers on the cozy hometown vibes. It’s the kind of book you want to curl up with in front of the fireplace with after you’ve eaten your weight in holiday treats.

After a drunken mistake at a bar goes viral, Morgan Ross returns to her hometown of Fern Falls to get away from the tabloids and to try to get her career back on track. However, Morgan hasn’t been back to the small mountain town in years. Not since that fateful night when her best friend and high school crush, Rachel Reed, walked out of her life. But now, thanks to old high school pal Ben, Morgan finds herself planning a fundraiser to help save the town - including Rachel’s tree farm.

Ben, bless him, he might be my fav character. I love a good meddling friend scheme 😂 I hope we get a book about him (and maybe Adam? 👀) at some point. Overall, I really enjoyed In the Event of Love! I felt like the ending was maybe a smidge rushed, but I can totally see myself coming back to this book in December. Also, inquiring minds would like to know where I sign up to get my official fairy name 🧚🏻‍♀️

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

Single POV
Second-chance, friends to lovers sapphic romance
Big city event-planner FMC
Small town lumberjane FMC
Bisexual representation

Thank you, Kensington, for allowing me to read In the Event of Love early!

I devoured this book in a matter of hours. I just couldn't stop reading because of the mighty need to know how it would end. This sapphic romantic comedy is perfection in my eyes. No negative feedback whatsoever. Head-to-toe excellence.

I really enjoyed this queer rom-com - it was so adorable to see Morgan and Rachel's romance rekindled and I also thought that the cast of supporting characters was great as well (bring on Adam and Ben's book, please!). It was a sweet and quick read!

I enjoyed this book! LGBTQ reads are always my first pick and this one was captivating and had me spending a weekend afternoon lost in its pages!