Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I think this book will suit the type of reader who loves a slower pace, and full
immersion in the detail of a book’s world. The writing is rich and the imagery is strong.

It didn’t work for me personally as I struggled with the pacing - I found the progress slow and the miscommunications challenging. Perhaps speeding up the first few chapters would help the pacing. This is obviously a personal preference, I love snappy paces and straight talking leads.

As a paper nerd, I loved the detail in this book! I’m definitely in the market for ink and a fountain pen now ;)

Grab this book if you like a leisurely slow burn.

This was such a dreamy and heartwarming read! I felt like I was watching a hallmark movie😋 . Major 'You've got Mail' vibes!

The main theme explored is about finding ourselves and letting go of the past demons .
The story revolves around Zuri, an American girl stuck in a deadend job with limited dreams and a passion for paper and Nico , an Italian paper fortune heir dealing with his family issues. Their letter exchange through the pen pal program drives them to become close friends over a period of 9months and even closer when Zuri finally comes to Italy on her trip.
Zuri and Nico's chemistry is so amazing throughout the novel. They seem very much in tune with each other. Zuri's travel through Europe is written in a very joyous manner which will give you major #FOMO 😛 feels. Nico is exactly the kind of vacation romance we all didn't know we needed🤩.(swipe to find Nico on 3rd slide)

✨What I liked :
❤️The story is purely driven by their characters and not through mindless spice scenes which seems to be the trend these days, which earned another plus for me.
❤️The semi epistolary approach to forwarding the story through the seasons was another thing that kept me hooked.
❤️A thing that I liked was there is an appreciation of enjoying the slowness of moments and not rushing through everything (#iykyk)

✨What I didn't like
🫥Takes a while to buildup.

This is a must read for all who are into:
💙Letter writing - Epistolary novels
💙Travel romance
💙lovers of stationary

#getbookishwithus Rating : ⭐⭐⭐.5

The story was cute I really loved learning about the making of paper you can tell the author did the research. The couple was cute, there were some very cute moments but I would have like to see more chemistry between the characters.

This one just wasn't for me. I had a hard time getting into the story or connecting to the characters. Cute plot but not the best execution imo. Much thanks to NetGalley and the author for a chance to read an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. I DNF this one at about 25%.

This book read like a fairytale to me in the best possible way. We have Zuri, a woman in her late 20s working her awful job that pays her well enough to keep from deflecting. Then we have Alessandro and Nico (yeah with those names we know they’re hotties), Italian royalty (let me have this) both struggling with choosing duty and family over their passions.

Readers get to have a peek at Zuri’s everyday life. We learn the things that make her tick: gardening, letters, most notably, paper, and the things that make her upset: her boss stealing all her great ideas. We also get a chance to see how Nico and Alessandro live, and it sounds like a great albeit sometimes complicated life. I really liked all the characters in this story. They were people I liked (and didn’t like) and their actions made sense throughout. They were pretty fleshed out, and I think that comes as a result of this book toeing the line between Romance and Women’s Fiction. It’s definitely romantic and it fulfilled my romance cravings, but everyone might not think so.

There is a nice escapist element to this book too. About a third of the way into the book, Zuri takes a chance on herself and decides to take a vacation through Europe. It’s really fun living vicariously through and of course seeing her get wined and dined in Italy. I think this part and the adventures that occur as a result have a magical feel to them, hence the fairytale comparison.

The only thing that took me out of it a little was that at points they really leaned into the liking paper thing. A couple of times I thought, calm down, but it also made me want to go out and buy some handmade high quality paper.

I’m finding it difficult to articulate why I loved this book so much. I just did okay! We love to see a Black woman work her way through tough relationships, break free from capitalism’s clutches, and be treated like the queen she is!

I’m so excited this author has another book, and I can’t wait to read it!

Falling in love with her pen pal!

Zuri Robinson fell in love with writing letters when she started to write letters to her grandmother and now she has a really nice paper collection and the perfect inks to write the letter with. One of her favorite paper companies is Emporio and she was paired with a pen pal through a program with Alessandro Fabricare. Alessandro is the CEO of the Emporio running the pen pal program but Alessandro has his brother Niccolo answer the letters for him as Alessandro. Nico loves everything about making paper and becoming friends with Zuri so he invited her to visit when she planned a trip to Europe.

But what would happen when they met in person when he wrote about his life and not his brother’s.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

In this modern take on Cyrano de Bergerac, Zuri and Nico are pen pals but Zuri doesn't know she is talking to Nico. Nico Fabicare is CEO of a paper company in Italy and just wanted to help his brother with his English when he agrees to translate letters for this new pen pal program. Well, Nico decides to write his own letter's under his brother, Alessandro's, name and now Zuri is on her way to Italy to meet Alessandro and Nico is running out of time.

This cute pen pal trope hits all the cliche boxes made for swoony romantics. The two build a beautiful connection over shared interests - paper and gardening - and even touch on heavier topics like step-dads in jail, messy divorces, uncertainty in careers, and early death of parents. Blades builds the tension through the story by giving tidbits of the letters the two write to each other. Easily, the highlight of this book is the letters. We see Zuri struggle with repairing family relationships and Nico open up to love for the first time in his life.

Overall, there is nothing inherently bad about this book. I was just bored the entire time. I was expecting a grand romance where the two couldn't stand to be apart because they were like magnets, always coming back to one another and they developed a beautiful, life-changing relationship that Blades delivered. The personal development both characters go through is realistic and well-executed. I think I was just tired of the predictability of it all. Don't go into this book expecting it to have an out-there approach to the classic Cyrano story, it is exactly what it says it is.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This is a sweet short story of two pen pals. I read this in a single seating. It’s a very slow burn. Both the MCs were great. They both have good character development throughout the story but I felt that their chemistry was little off. Except for that a great story and good writing!

2 Stars! Eh. This book ‘looked good on paper’ but for such a short book, I had to force myself to finish reading it and it took me over a week when a longer book usually takes me 2-3 days! I felt there was no chemistry between the main characters, Nico and Zuri, and who gets this obsessed over paper?! I mean I like paper as much as the next person but these two took it to a new level and I just couldn’t get into it. The book is well written though, with no choppy bits and flowed together seamlessly.
*I received this at no charge & I voluntarily left this review.*

genre: contemporary romance
tropes & themes: pen pals, mistaken identity, dating apps, family ties, traveling, finding yourself, gardening
rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
release date: September 12th, 2022


Is there anything more perfect than connecting with someone through shared passion?

That is what happens when Zuri and Nico become pen pals. Sure he is writing instead of his brother but their love of paper and stationery is unparalleled. There is something so special about romance novels based on writing letters. Zuri. a California girl working a tedious job at the dating app agency goes on a sabbatical in Europe. Of course, she there wants to meet her pen pal Nico. Nico and the Italian men who are dealing with the consequences of his divorce find a friend in Zuri and want to meet her too.

This was a sweet and delightful story that put a smile on my face. It is also a book that makes me want to go to Italy again.

I would recommend it to all contemporary readers looking for a feel-good romance novel.

* Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy of the book in exchange for an honest opinion.

A great read.
Zuri has a penpal, something unusual.in the modern world. What she doesn't know is who she is really writing to and what he does for a living. When they finally get chance to meet will the secrets emerge?
I loved this book and it's characters, hoping that there are more books set in this world of paper.

Zuri and Nico’s story was incredibly interesting. The traveling, the paper making, the details… I really felt like the author knows what she was writing about. The story felt authentic and sincere. I definitely do not think it’s a romcom, but it was a beautiful romance filled with intense emotions, and I’m struggling to focus on anything else since finishing the story.

I was thrilled to learn that this was an epistolary romance. I just think there is something special about getting to know someone from the inside out and falling in love before you see their face.

I also appreciate good research, even in a fiction/romance book. But I’m going to admit that I learned way too much about paper making in this book.

This story is so well written and the descriptions are captivating in a way that makes you feel as if you are there. I loved Zuri and Nico and genuinely cared about their relationship and the individual journeys. For as drawn out as the beginning of the story is, the ending was very abrupt and almost too easy. It left me wanting more.

This was interesting journey with Zuri and Nico, especially if you are a fan of fancy paper, pens and ink.

Sweet slow burn romance!

I’m always a fan of epistolary romances. This one has a little bait and switch, but there’s definitely fate/magic that connect Zuri and Nico. Their love of paper and the hand written letter cannot be denied. You will definitely walk away from this book having learned about how paper is made!

I really enjoyed the depth of the research the author did, not only on paper, but Zuri’s startup job.

You will have extreme wanderlust, especially for Italy by the time you finish this book. I kept putting the book aside to look up the places mentioned, and the authors description are exceptional.

This was a very cute read. I loved learning about the paper making process, and I really enjoyed Nico and Zuri’s letters. The pen pal trope really isn’t done enough, and Blades took a new spin on it with the cross-country brother mixup. However, I did feel that the story was very predictable. There wasn’t anything that surprised me, and while it was a solid read, I didn’t have any trouble putting it down and picking it up later.

Looks Good on Paper was an easy read full of epistolary goodness and some slow burn romance.

Zuri Robinson is an interesting character - she’s struggling with her day to day life but is incredibly positive and self-aware. She’s obsessed with quality paper, pens, stationary and writing letters and that passion led her to start writing to a pen pal in Italy.

Nico Fabricare’s whole life is paper making - he loves it, lives it and breathes it every day. When his brother asks him to write to his pen pal in America pretending to be him, he’s more than happy to take on the challenge.

There’s definitely ties to Cyrano here and lots of miscommunication and lack of communication that really started to irritate me. Also as someone who knows nothing about paper making or high quality papers, all of the passionate paper talk was a little lost on me. I wanted to get into it because both Zuri and Nico were so passionate about it and it shaped so much of their relationship, but it wasn’t for me.

The conflict and resolution felt a bit too manufactured for my liking - Zuri and Nico had such a good relationship and it felt like an honest conversation would have gone a long way. They were sweet together and their nerding out about paper was cute and worked so well for them. Overall, just okay for me but a super easy read and perfect for my beach vacation.

💡Disclosure: I received a free eARC of this book on NetGalley.

📖 This was super cute! I’m a huge paper person—I love writing letters and I’ve been bullet journaling, on and off, since 2016–so I could connect with Zuri in a big way as a fellow paper fan. I loved all of the technical detail about the making, marketing, and consumption of paper.

📖 Zuri and Nico were both great characters to root for. I love Zuri’s independence and competence. I appreciate Nico’s care for his work. Their romance blossoming through written correspondence was adorable, and I liked that we got full letters from each of them. Heat level here was pretty low: the physical side wasn’t a highlight for me in this read.

📖 This romance has several subplots, and I didn’t necessarily feel they were all fleshed out, or that I connected to all of them. Zuri’s challenging relationship with her mother and stepfather was interesting to read about, but lacked depth—I didn’t feel like I understood the history there before The Incident, or Zuri’s relationship with her mother outside of the difficulty with her stepfather (who raised her). Nico’s conflict with Bianca, part of the legal team, left me cold—she didn’t feel like a character so much as a caricature.

📚 Overall, I’d recommend to someone interested in paper, or looking for a European fantasy with a Black lead, but wouldn’t be a top pick for me to recommend to a general reader or someone just getting into romance.

I'm sad writing this review because I was very excited about this book but the truth is that I didn't like it.

The main idea is really good and I was very excited to see how it was going to develop, but unfortunately it bored me a lot and it took me almost a week to finish this book of only 150 pages.

This story has some sweet moments, but I felt that the main characters' relationship lacked chemistry.

P.S.: If you are interested in the creation of paper, letters, and inks, this book is perfect for you!!!


(Thank you Valentine PR and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review)

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

Never has book made me want to travel to Europe and/or find a pen pal then Looks Good on Paper.

This is a sweet and fun modern take on Cyrano de Bergerac. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the love story of Zuri and Nico as they dealt with personal and professional issues. Its great reminder that sometime joy and love come from simple things.

Sweet romance, with a little inconsistent pacing. Overall I really enjoyed this book and other than it being a bit slow in the middle I found myself needing to know how it ends
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.