This is the first book I’ve dnf’d… I don’t know why, but I really struggled to get into it and I wish that wasn’t the case.

'Crush in the Cascades' by Lisa S. Gayle is the story of Amity Rose and Easton Cooper, two contestants in an adventure reality show who fall in love all the while trying desperately no to. This enemies-to-lovers romance is beautifully written & had a unique setting, the making of a reality T.V. show up in the Oregon Cascade Mountains.

Amity joins the first season of 'The Race for Riches or Romance' as a contestant as she had promised her father that she would be adventurous in life, but Easton has agreed to compete in a reality game show for the winning prize money and nothing else. I couldn't put the book down. The way these Amity and Cooper fell in love hopelessly despite being so different, was absolutely amazing.

This story was subtle, sweet and easy. For those who love a good enemies-to-lovers/grumpy sunshine romance, this book is definitely for you.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC, I loved the book and waiting for the next book based on season 2 of The Race for Riches or Romance!!

I DNF'd at 60%. I just couldn't continue on. This book is in major need of a heavy heavy edit.

The good things:
Super fresh idea of competing on a reality show

Bad things:
Characters are inconsistent as hell and unlikeable. Their motivations change to suit the plot. All the men in the book seem misogynistic but Cooper, the male mc takes the cake. He's stubborn and it's little wonder he's single and lives alone. There is nothing redeeming about him. Amity female mc seems like a real push over and I just couldn't get on board with her at all. Characters are stereotypes and it's painful.
The "relationship" is sudden and comes from no where. I got blue balls at 49% so I can't comment on spice.

I feel sorry for stopping but life is too short to read a book that is destroying your soul.

Crush in the Cascades – 4.25 stars ⭐️

I was lucky enough to receive this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!!

I really enjoyed this book and I think you will too if you are a fan of the shows like The Amazing Race or Survivor. It has aspects from both shows that I really enjoyed like the racing part is hinted you can see some of the inspiration is from The Amazing Race and the tasks and skills challenges remind me of Survivor. I have always been a major fan of these shows so I couldn’t wait to read this book and it did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the two MC’s Amity and Cooper (Easton) The side charters were really good for me, and I think that a big reason for me to give it the rating I did. In parts there were some little bits and things that were said that I didn’t enjoy but there were parts that were excellent and made up for anything that I didn’t really like. I was happy with the ending and read the whole book in 1 and a bit days. I am extremely excited that they hinted at another book and will be looking forward to that! I gave this book 4.25 stars and would totally recommend this book to anyone who loves Survivor or The Amazing Race. Extremely blessed I was able to receive the ARC because this book was highly creative and had things that I had not ever read about!! Head out to grab your own copy and give this fantastic book a shot.

I will be posting a photo and review on my Bookstagram @readswithlily on the 20th of May and will be tagging Net Galley and Lisa S. Gayle. Then in the beginning of June I will be posting some aesthetics from the book and will tag everyone. I will also be posting my Goodreads review on the books Pub Day.

A cute and quick romance with fun characters, all contestants in a televised race. None of the characters are deeply developed, and our main couple has a frustrating lack of communication, but if you just need an entertaining escape, this would be a good way to do it.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book. #CrushInTheCascades

Easton and Amity (both have such strange names) are on a reality TV show set in the wilderness of the Cascades. Fun banter and lots of playing on and with each other made for a quick and easy read. Would be a fun summer read. Highly recommend.

Crush in the Crusades was a book that I enjoyed. I didn’t love it, but it was an entertaining read. I didn’t care for the characters - I felt like I didn’t get to know them enough. I’m a sucker for an enemies to lovers trope, but this just fell a little flat for me. There just didn’t seem like there was any chemistry between Amity and Easton. Overall, a quick fun read.

Crush in the Cascades by Lisa S. Gayle is the first in the new The Race for Riches or Romance series. In this romance, contestants are set up in the wilderness and expected to complete different tasks and challenges with their partner of the day in a race for two million dollars. From the start Amity and Easton Cooper are like oil and water rubbing each other the wrong way and clashing, but as the saying goes, there is a thin line between love and hate. As they race, Amity and Easton build a relationship, will it last beyond the games or not?

Crush in the Cascades reminds me very much of a combination of Survivor and Amazing Race and I enjoyed the element of the book. The plot was good and the race was intriguing, but I found the characters and romance to be a little lacking. I just couldn’t connect with the characters that much, I felt like there was a lot of jumping to conclusions and stereotyping without actually getting to know each other. The romance itself was your stereotypical romance book romance, full of cliches and paranoia. I would have liked to see Amity and Easton not jump to as many conclusions and give in to as many stereotypes as they did, but I did like them as a couple.

Overall, I liked the premise of this book but for me the romance was a little lacking or too expected. It was a fun read and I will definitely consider checking out the next romance in the series though.

I love game shows like <i>The Amazing Race</i>, so I was really excited by the concept of this book, but the execution wasn’t for me. The characters felt one-dimensional and childish. They didn’t have any chemistry, and I couldn’t get myself to root for them.

<i>Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for an arc in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review!

I was looking forward to this read, especially since it was an enemies-to-lovers vibe on a reality tv show. Stories set on reality tv shows have been kind of hit or miss for me, but I had high hopes for this one. I ended up dnfing (did-not-finish) this book at about 25%. From the jump, Easton rubbed me the WRONG way. He was basically a misogynistic a**hole who just stereotyped the heck out of Amity. I couldn’t connect to either main character & the plot wasn’t grabbing my attention whatsoever.

I loved the character Amity. At first she was a character that I thought was a brat, but I grown to love her character all the way throughout the novel. She was extremely relatable when it came to finances and with her relationships with her family. It took me about seventy percent of the novel to become liking the character Easton. He seemed very selfish throughout the novel, but then when I came to realize that he was doing all of this for his dying best friend, my heart grew for him. Some of the other characters where a bit too dramatic for me and other characters were too in love with each other. I felt Amity and Easton's love was a little too unrealistic, but it was a cute story overall. I did like looking at the reality tv show aspect from two characters that really did not want to be there. I would read another one, just because I would love to see what this author can do with stories like these.

4stars for Amity, 3 for Easton. I loved the concept of this book but had some difficulty connecting to the characters. Overall a fun romcom read!

This book was absolutely amazing, and i loved it. One of my best reads in a while! I loved the characters and the setting and just everything about it. It was perfect!

I had a hard time with this book from the beginning because I did not see any chemistry between the main characters. I kept reading over and over that they were really interested in each other, and that they wanted to date, but couldn't seem to find the proof anywhere. I even went back to read some chapters again, but still couldn't find the chemistry that I thought would be there. The main characters didn't feel organic at all because I couldn't see them ever being attracted to each other and being *so into each other* so early on.
The actual TV show plot I was able to easily forgive because I knew what I was getting into, and there are so many shows that have race elements, and puzzles and strategies that it was very easy to believe that something like this would exist. But Amity and Easton just annoyed me so much, there didn't seem to be anything that pulled them together. After they were no longer paired up for challenges, I figured that would be the end. I would have assumed that they had seen enough of each other and were just done.
The last 20% of this book wasn't bad, which is why this gets 2 stars instead of one. I think the author was more concerned about the enemies and lovers parts and sort of skipped out on that crucial *to* section where we see them really go from one to the other.

This book is based around a reality tv show called The Race for Riches or Romance. It follows Easton - an unlikeable character who is extremely judgemental and Amity - a wild card who is trying to prove herself to everyone. The reality show setting was a great way to set up the romance between Easton and Amity but it felt forced and seemed to move way to quickly. Overall it was a quick and easy read. I just wish that more focus was given to the reality show part of the book. Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I cannot really tell even now if I liked Crush in the Cascades or if I liked the idea of the book. Enemies to lovers on a Love Island/Amazing Race reality show? Sign me up! This pitch sounds amazing, but do Amity and Easton really brings justice to the premise?

Crush in the Cascades starts on the first day of filming for The Race for Riches or Romance, a reality tv show that partners men and women together to complete outdoorsy challenges against the backdrop of the Cascade mountains in Oregon. Easton Cooper is a rough around the edges Rocky Mountains tour guide who signed up on the show for its prize money— not to keep, mind you, but to help his best friend and business partner get a needed heart surgery. Amity Rose is a wild card contestant who joins to live out her father’s dying wish to go on adventures, presenting herself as a spoiled princess when she’s anything but. The two are partnered in round 1 to a disastrous start but start to catch feelings as they let their guards down over the course of filming.

Amity and Easton are presented as immediately having intense dislike for one another that undergoes transformations into insta-lust and the insta-love between them. The rapid changing of feelings was the first of several things that made me struggle to enjoy the story. As I wanted to like the book so bad, I looked to side personalities in the other contestants in the hopes that I’d like someone but no dice. With all the emphasis placed on Amity and Easton not being who they appear to be, Hannah, Justin, Liam, Becky, and just about every other contestant are given a surface characterization and trope that they don’t get to evolve past at all. I’m unsure whether this was just weak writing or Amity and Easton being so preoccupied with one another that they tuned out all of the cast bonding, but it wasn’t complimentary to the story.

Since I couldn’t root for the characters much, I turned to the plot of the game show. Reality television is one of my favorite things to study so The Race for Riches or Romance caught my attention. I wish I hadn’t cared so much as it was fleshed out as that would have saved me so much energy. I don’t know if this is on the author or the editor, but several times a “rule” or challenge or strategy is described, only for the characters to do something different. It was like the story forgot how it was supposed to play out and logistics got messed up. Then, at the finale reunion show, Amity and Easton are told of a “twist” that should not have shocked them or really anyone ever.

I don’t know what more there is to say about this book. I don’t regret reading it, as it was a way to pass the time, but I do think there are much better, stronger tellings of this trope I could have picked up instead.

Rating: ⭐️.75/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: .25/🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 (One vague sex scene)

**I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

To start off, this was a fairy quick and enjoyable read. I found that aspect was the best part of it… I did not get terrible invested in the characters, but the race was more compelling. Amity and Easton’s romance was also okay….

On that note, I felt it was good for a debut novel, I would like to see the next story and would recommend if someone wanted a good beach or better yet book to read while camping. As a PNW resident, the location was on par.

Overall, solid. Glad I got to read the NetGalley eARC.

an enemies to lovers story set in the cascades, during the filming a reailty show, I thought the book was good for a debut.

(This review contains a spoiler)

Considering this was a debut, I absolutely loved this book! It’s a story full of Drama, competition and fun. It honestly felt like I was watching a reality show on tv. The characters were easy to connect with especially Amity. The author’s writing style really sucked me in, I never knew how to stop reading this and carry on with my day.
The only thing I didn’t like was the ending as I wished Amity chose herself however it still worked out in the end so I cannot complain.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

While I am usually the first to admit I love reality shows and I would more than likely have watched the show that took place in this book, this book fell short for me.

I found it to be incredibly cheesy in the worst way. There was absolutely no depth to any of the characters. While I enjoyed reading about the race taking part in the book any interactions between characters I glazed over. I understand in intense situations feelings developing faster than normal but to go from hating someone to being head of heels in love in a matter of a few days was completely unrealistic.

That being said I would probably read Hannah Cooper’s story in the next book because I really did like the race aspect of the book.