I would give this read a solid 4/5 stars. It was the perfect read for the holidays and to snuggle in to that feeling of falling in love. It had the best tropes - enemies to lovers, found family, and small town romance. I am so thankful to have gotten my hands on a copy of this early!

Everything you want in a cosy, sapphic, Christmas, second chance romance.

Is this book full of tropes? - Yes. Did I care? - No. This book was like a warm hug. I liked that it was from just one perspective, Morgan. The small town girl who fled to the city after high school and never looked back. After being forced by her boss to take a sabbatical from her role as an event planner to celebrities after a PR disaster, Morgan reluctantly accepts an invite home to help plan a fundraiser. But with how she left 7 years ago, how will everyone from her old life react to her coming home.

I really enjoyed watching the relationship between Morgan and Rachel take off. It was subtle to start with and I liked that they talked through most of the issues from the first time like mature adults and the miss-communication trope only came into play with a recent event.

It had the best bits of a Christmas novel, small town, snow, warm drinks, cold days and Christmas trees.

We check off many many tropes in this book
The slightly comically evil corporation trying to take over a small town trope.
A second chance romance trope.
A miss-communication trope.
A friends to lovers trope.

Whilst this novel trends a fairly well worn path in terms of tropes, I loved that it was sapphic and it was just fun.

Is there anything purer than saving a Christmas tree farm from corporate greed? Event planner Morgan Ross retreats to the small town of Fern Falls just in time to help her childhood crush, Rachel Reed, save her family’s Christmas tree farm from being destroyed.

I was really excited to dive into Courtney Kae's debut novel. The world is overdue for queer holiday romances, and I'm so thrilled to see publishers acquiring more of them. I really enjoyed the community and friendships that Kae centered in this story, and the entire setup of saving not just the farm but also the town which is being threatened.

I love second chance romances, though there were times with this one where it felt as though so much of their connection was based on their past and not on who they've evolved into. I wanted to see a bit more of that growth and falling in love with the adults they've become. That said this is this author's first book, and I'm definitely curious to see what she'll write next!

Very cute story! This was such a cozy read. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing, it felt a little Hallmark-y to me, but still cute.

In The Event of Love, a young woman returns to her home town after becoming involved in a scandal, and gets emotionally tangled up in not only her town, but her feelings for her childhood best friend. I thought this romcom was very cute, and I loved the setting. This is a great book for anyone who likes f/f/ and wants to read a holiday romance! I can totally understand the 3rd act conflict, which definitely didn't come out of nowhere, and I loved the resolution and the ending. I can't wait for Courtney Kae's next book! 4 stars!

A lesbian Hallmark-esque book. Small town romance, friends, family, and the holidays...all of my favorite things! As a lesbian that goes to the local Christmas tree farm, thank you for bringing this to life!

Representation: Bisexual MC and love interest, several queer and a couple BIPOC supporting characters

Morgan Ross has a very successful career as an event planner in Los Angeles, working with many big names and celebrities. But it all implodes when she accidentally does something that gets her in the tabloids, so she does a strategic retreat back to Fern Falls. Her hometown is a tiny mountain town full of charm, quirky townsfolk, and a lot of past heartbreak. Rachel Reed is one of them, her doomed first kiss, and of course Morgan would crash into Rachel’s tree farm sign on her first day back. There’s a lot of past pain, but as Morgan spends more time in Fern Falls, she discovers that the town is on the verge of toppling into corporate greed snapping up all the properties, including Rachel’s tree farm. Morgan decides she can put aside the heartbreak and save the farm, and the town, by running her best fundraiser yet. She’ll be able to save the town and help Rachel, and get out without any more sadness. A happy ending is pretty unlikely anyway, right?

Rating: 4/5 I grew up in a small farm town in Washington, so I can relate a lot to all the small-town experiences. Knowing many of the business owners personally (or by face anyway), the charm and quirk that comes with being so small, everything’s crammed into one main street, and so much past history in one area. I enjoyed that aspect, and feel like Kae nailed that! I also really enjoyed all of the characters in this, Morgan included. I definitely was annoyed with Morgan in the beginning, because she’s so in her own head, can’t see past herself to the people who care about or try to care for her. She does go through some trials before finally getting it, and making moves to change. All the supporting characters felt like their own people, had distinct personalities and quirks, and absolutely felt like small-town people. I want to make it clear that I don’t mean that in a bad way! Just saying that people from small towns have a very different outlook and personalities compared to those who grow up in the big city or suburbs. I really enjoyed this sapphic romance, , and the suggestion of an achillean attraction. I also want to add that both Morgan and Rachel are bisexual!

Thanks to netgalley for an eARC in exchange for (a very late) honest review!

It’s a bit like reading a queer Hallmark christmas movie, featuring two bi best friends and their found family. There’s a christmas festival and shenanigans and saving a town and the local inn. A bit slow at times, but it hits for the holiday season

Such a cute romance for the holidays! Was a fun light read for Christmas and couldn’t put it down a great cosy read

Super cute, sapphic winter read with all the makings of hallmark movie. Lack of communication was the main issue with couple, nothing too serious or overly emotional (though CW: alcoholism). A good, light read.

Thoroughly enjoyed this queer romp through a Christmas wonderland. The characters were relatable and the love story believable. Add this to your holiday romance reads list!

Perhaps I might have had too high hopes for this book and that's why I ended up being slightly disappointed?
Or it might be the fact that... all of it, it was way too easy? Don't get me wrong, I love cozy books where not much happens and it's just cozy and sweet and everyone is so welcoming and understanding and accepting of each other, but it isn't an always applicable rule; it depends on the genre, on the tone of the book, its setting... so many factors have to blend in together to create that feeling, that vibe.

This book is set in a small town in the United States. A small town where the mayor is Asian and trans and beloved? I'm sorry, but that already makes it utterly unbelievable to me. It just can't happen. Fiction is made up events, sure, but those events have to make sense within that fictional world to create that sense of believability, of a story that could be real even though you perfectly know in your subconscious that, in fact, it is not real.

These two women have last seen each other in high school and they went their seperate ways - and not on good terms. They haven't spoken in 7 or 8 years, Morgan left Fern Falls angry at Rachel for not giving her a second chance after she messed things up and that anger was so strong it influenced some important life decisions, it wasn't just a random quarrel with someone she had a crush on. And now Morgan comes back, she sees Rachel and... the sparks are still there? The past is forgotten? One week and they're madly in love with each other all over and ready to send all their life plans up in the air because they want to be together?
And it goes further than that, but I'll stop here as to not give any more spoilers (even though it is so predictable that you can probably guess where it's headed, all in the span of less than a month).

It's always nice to read about a queer love story, there are other queer characters (and your token very secondary character / black friend can't miss, of course), the steamy scenes were actually pretty well written and the audiobook narrator Melissa Moran did a great job but all in all, this book was average and I hated how I couldn't stop thinking how so unbelievable everything was, how everything was just pushed too far, everything was just too much, to actually be able to relax and be swept off my feet by a lovely sapphic romance.

Bisexual hallmark Christmas movie

Second chance, small town romance, throwing a fundraiser to save a Christmas tree farm

Good times we’re had by all

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced review copy of “In the Event of Love” by Courtney Kae. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

The beginning of this book really did it no favors. I strongly disliked Morgan and unfortunately we are in her head for the whole rest of the book. I liked it slightly better once she got to her hometown but I spent the whole book wishing we were following a different protagonist. I just couldn’t root for her and I felt like everyone else in the story deserved so much better. It felt really unbelievable that Morgan didn’t recognize her own client who is also a celebrity and made out with him. There really didn’t feel like there were any high stakes with her job since she was so close to her boss and pretty much guaranteed the promotion.

Morgan goes back to her hometown to throw a fundraiser and save her job but this didn’t really make sense and just felt like an excuse to get her back to her past. A past she seems to spend most of the book sneering at and looking down on everyone even while they give her chance after chance not to be so awful. Everyone deserved better than Morgan.

An annoying dialogue tick of the characters was how many times someone would say “Yeah?” And then another character would answer their own “yeah.” I get that the author was trying to make the dialogue sound realistic but this really got on my nerves and easily could have been edited out several times.

The third act breakup showed Morgan hadn’t learned anything and was still awful. Morgan demands Rachel give up her life and then gets mad when she flips it on her and Morgan just doesn’t get what she’s asking and trashes the town she claims to love. It felt like Morgan didn’t change for the whole book but the structure of the romance novel demanded that everyone forgive her even though she was consistently awful.

The story ends with an ambush wedding which seems like a mean thing to do to someone who is an event planner for a living.

2/5 stars

I loved this adorable, small-town, sapphic romance! It warmed my tiny Grinch heart! I love the inclusion this author brought into the book with bi characters. When books are compared to authors such as Casey McQuiston, that is a hard standard to live up to, but this book preformed! This book had all the sweet elements I crave in a Christmas book- snowy weather, Christmas trees, romance, a cute love story between the MC's, and a home-for-the-holidays feel! I can't wait to read the next in the series!

This was a really fun and cute queer holiday romcom perfect for the lovers of second chance romances, big city girl goes back to small town and falls in love, and really anyone that likes anything reality-tv-esque.

A very cute holiday read.

I felt like this book had a lot of potential, but our MC wasn't very like-able and I found myself more invested in the side love story than in the main one. Half the events of this book just seemed unlikely or convenient.

DNF'd this book at about 50%, the amount of mystery that the author attempted to create around the characters pasts just felt frustrating to me, and I was annoyed with waiting for more information about Morgan's history and her relationship with her father and with Rachel from before she left Fern Falls.

I was so excited to read In the Event of Love because look at that cover. I just love those cozy, Hallmark vibes and both girls look beautiful. Also, I'm a fan of celebrity romance, so that's why I was really interested in reading this story. But unfortunately, this book just didn’t live up to my expectations.

The main disappointment in this book for me was the main character. We get to know all the events through Morgan's eyes. She works as an event planner in LA, who comes back to her hometown Fern Falls, and reunites there with her teenage best friend and crush Rachel. I loved queer representation in this book, but Morgan was annoying to me. Also, I didn't really like her interactions with Rachel, because they just acted like they were still teens.

Overall, I recommend reading this book if you are into Hallmark movies about the main character coming back to their small hometown and spending a cozy Christmas there with their first love.

A great holiday read. I enjoyed the writing, the characters, and all the queer reps in this one. The friendship group was amazing, and I loved the small town vibes. This is a queer hallmark movie in a book! Looking forward to book two!