This was a cute and a unique story. I liked both the main characters and their chemistry together. It was quite a slow-burn romance, it took a while before something happened between Liana and Kade. It's okey with me, tho I like books that build up the chemistry between two characters during the storyline.
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I thought that this book would be more a light rom-com, but unfortunately it had a lot of heavy subjects coming up like family conflicts that I wasn't ready for. And the spice in this book? Oh my, it made me blush. I'm definitely an old granny-pantie when it comes to romance books, not to much spice. I have a hard time reading those scenes... Otherwise a very cute and interesting story.
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Read if you like:
💘 Spicy/Steamy romance 🌶️🌶️🌶️
💬 Slow-burn romance
💘 Family dramas
💬 Witty characters
💘 Emotional scenes

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @xpressobooktours for the advanced ARC.

This was such a good book. I'm a huge fan of rom-coms and this book fit everything I'm looking for when reading this genre. I loved the slow build and spiciness, but I also loved all of the emotional aspects of both Kade and Liana's characters. Kade's journey through such a terrible childhood and finding his way through into a place where he could accept being loved was one of my favorite things about this book. This book is definitely worth the read!

I started reading this book with high expectations but from the first page there is an excess of detail. That was the first red flag. The story moves agonizingly SLOW. I love slow burns. but in this story there is no spark between the characters until we're 60-70% in. Not to mention, I didn't really like Liana. She's very bland. Kade is too much of an ass and it makes him almost unredeemable. The childhood is tragic and Liana's family is just a big mess. Most of the characters are unlikeable and it made it hard to stay interested. I am not one to DNF so I kept on reading.

I began to be more interesting when Liana and Kade actually began their relationship but THEN THEY BREAK UP IN A PREDICTABLE FINAL ACT MOVE. SO. SAD. I had to roll my eyes. The ending was rushed and predictable and I don't think enough time was devoted to their characters and relationships because literally everyone else in the book was the focus.

Anyways. The writing was okay, way too descriptive and the story was predictable. I don't consider it a true rom-com because the romance is one sub plot out of twenty sub plots.

I'm giving it a 1.5 because the writing is okay, the headers are cute but the story left me feeling more frustrated than anything.

1.5/5

This book was easily one of the ones I was super excited to get into, purely for the concept and plot of it. She's a romance advice writer and he's a cocky alphahole who makes her question everything she believes about love. It's sweet and a serious slow burn but it progressed so well that you can't help but love Kade and Liana. They have this energy to them that makes you as the reader question love too, but also deep down hope that they're going to end up together by the end of the book.

If you're a fan of the Ugly Truth movie like I am, you're going to love this novel! It's got all the rom-com feels you need to curl up in your favourite reading space and dive into this book!

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC of this novel.

This was a good story! It was a bit different than a typical romance where the romance seemed to be a sub plot instead of the main portion of the book. I enjoyed the relationship between Liana and Kade and found those moments were my favorite part!

I really wanted to enjoy this book, from the blurb I thought it sounded like a fun rom-com. Instead, the romance was a very slow burn, and surprisingly, was almost a subplot instead of the main focus. Had I known this upfront the rating would have been different, but I was expecting a romance and I didn't get it.

Please check the trigger warnings before reading.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

"The problem with Liana was that she threw out the book on everything I thought I knew. Or, rather, she made me want to throw it out.

Liana Dawson runs a romantic advice blog and she's doing everything she can to make sure it thrives. Including abruptly agreeing to start writing a sex advice portion in her blog. Liana's expertise is love, definitely not sex advice. With a short deadline for launch, she reaches out to the man who wrote into the blog who is more or less a self proclaimed manw**re looking for advice on how to love. It really is the perfect exchange, sex advice for love advice.

This was a fun and quick book! The concept of a love advice columnist needing help and then falling in love with that person definitely hooked me. Liana is easy to like, she is funny, hard working, and strong. With never ending family drama and the struggles of building her career from the ground up, you really do want to see her thrive and even find her own love.

Mr. Endless One-Night-Stands, Kade Jennings, opened his mouth and I think my eyes bulged and my jaw dropped. What an assssss. I knew that Allie Doherty would need to deliver a hail mary to give him the redemption he needed, and thank goodness she delivered. His backstory was TRAGIC, and we can definitely see how he is flawed because of it. I really really did appreciate that he was trying to make a change, but mostly I loved his affection toward his best friend, Stephanie. For a man who doesn't think he knows how to love, he knows how to show it to those that are important to him.

I really liked that the side characters had story lines as well, but they felt like they maybe overshadowed the two main characters at times. Liana's family could ROT. We really did not get a proper resolution/explanation for the drama with her sister(s). Despite forgiving her, I could not get on board and couldn't help but roll my eyes. I adored Stephanie, but I think her relationship with Kade almost outshone the story between him and Liana at times. I wanted to know more about them growing up together and being friends.

The emotions in this book were all over the place. There were some low lows and high highs. The ending felt pretty rushed with them getting together late and then the inevitable wall they hit. It felt like 10 steps forward, 1,000 steps back.

A decent read! I highly recommend looking into all trigger warning for this book as there is heavy content that is discussed.

Thank you Netgalley, Allie Doherty, and Lake County Press & Review for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

↠ 3.75 Stars

3.5/5 ⭐
3.0/5 🌶️

Love, Liana.... Sincerly, Kade did not start off great for me. Kade was an arrogant áss and not in a good, séxÿ kind of way.... I wish we would have gotten more of his story from the start, I had a hard time coming back from his attitude in the beginning. But overall I really enjoyed this book. The ending was especially sweet and really made up for the beginning to me.

I liked the storyline a lot, it was really cute and fun, but also darker than I expected. Kade and his best friend, Stephanie, have a very sad past and Stephanie's present is just as bad. Watching Kade struggle with his feelings for Liana having never experienced love before was equally heartwarming and heartbreaking.

I'm really hoping we get more books in this little world. I'd really love to get Kit, Luka and Stephanie's full stories, maybe even Zoe's too. I really want to see Kit's side of things especially since I felt that part of Liana's story was left unsettled. We got the HEA in the epilogue, but really missed how they got there.

Wow, I loved this book.

I’m not going to lie, I was having doubts the first few chapters. It started off a little slow for me, but I’m glad I stuck with it!

This book feels like a Hallmark movie and a Lifetime movie all wrapped up in one. I just so happen to love both of those things.

The only thing I didn’t love about this book was Liana’s sisters. I could’ve done without those characters, but I understand why they were added for an extra side story.

I loved the dynamic between Liana and Kade, and I really enjoyed how their relationship developed throughout the book.

I was provided an ARC by NetGalley and HQ publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Such a great feel-good novel. I don't tend to enjoy books that flip-flop between narrators because it feels like you keep re-reading the same thing over and over. Although this book changes between Liana and Kade narrating, the story continually flowed forward. It was nice to see what each was thinking and what they did away from each other. The main characters were complex but not so much that you weren't following what was going on with them or getting lost in the sauce. And the SPICE! A novel with a plot AND spice! What more can a girl want? What a great debut! I can't wait to see what else Allie Doherty has in store for us!

Liana Dawson is an advice blogger with a focus on romance whose romantic life seems to be not so great. One day, she is befuddled by an email sent by a cad named Kade which causes her to break her guarantee of a one-day turnaround for questions asked. When she puts her foot in her mouth at a meet-and-greet about starting a sextion on her blog, she emails Kade a proposition to become partners: she'll teach Kade about feelings and emotions and he'll help her with sex. From there, the story takes off, and the reader is in for an adventure of getting to know the two characters and all of the crazies that encompass their world. This book will make you feel all the feels: laughter, sadness, and, most importantly, love.

The story follows Liana, a woman in New York who is the writer of a love advice blog, and Kade, a guy who essentially sleeps around with all of New York and is starting to feel empty in the search for love – hence he reaches out to the love Liana blog. Here we have our story.
For me this is a 3-star read – Very easy to read, quick to the point and fast-moving plot that meant I was able to read it practically in a day, however I started to develop strong negative feelings towards the main 2 characters of this book towards the end that ruined the experience for me. Don’t get me wrong, there were some amazing parts, and I was physically laughing out loud to some elements especially the banter between all the characters. This made them feel real, and connected me to them as they talked about my favourite shows and hobbies etc. I just couldn’t get past – at least for me, how toxic the characters felt towards the end. I honestly would have been happy if this story ended before the third act conflict resolved itself.

Triggers: Abuse, Cheating, Mental Health

*Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book for an honest review*

I'm rating this one a bit differently because I loved everything about the story's concept. I'm a sucker for childhood trauma-based growth in adulthood. I enjoyed Lee and Kades' banter and how the characters grew in the story.
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Rating at the 25th-page mark: 4/5
Rating at the 30- maybe 150-page mark: 2.5/5
Rating from 225 and up back to 4/5
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It started off great! I had super high hopes because I love the advice columnist bit, I love the idea that Kade is reaching out for help (hello, Harry.), and the whole concept is so dang good.
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I had a moment mid-book, however, where I thought about quitting because things got a little weird for me. I would classify this book as a romantic drama instead of a rom-com due to the serious nature: of childhood abuse, domestic violence, and substance abuse. Don’t get me wrong; I loved how real this book was. There were certain parts I would suggest making a bit more stand out because the flow was off in certain parts for me. After working in child services and dealing with the psychological portions, some of the more severe scenes might need some tweeting; but there is so much promise.
Some things didn’t mesh well, but then others fell into place just right.
Some phrases made me cringe; the use of quivering, red rocket, and some action descriptors when talking to each other came off as wildly over dramatic and over the top.
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Personally, I think it needs a little more tweaking, but all in all, I love where this book is going.

Dear Liana, Sincerely Kade - e-ARC Review
⭐⭐⭐/5
PUB DATE: September 27th
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QUICK LOOK: Dear Abby Style Advice Blogger, Adult Romance, Playboy Falls in Love, Backstory with Trauma, Side Character Struggling with Domestic Violence
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SYNOPSIS:
Liana writes a blog that offers love advice to her readers. She’s great at it, but her readers want a new section on her blog about specifics when it comes to physical intimacy. This is not something she has much experience with.
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Kade has had so many one night stands he has lost count. But now that he wants to settle down, he needs some help learning about love.
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Liana and Kade strike a deal. Kade will help Liana answer questions about physical intimacy on her blog. Liana will teach Kade about love and relationships.
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WHAT I LIKED:
-Overall set up was a cute and unique idea. Liana and Kade making a deal to teach each other showed a lot of promise.
-Both characters were well developed and showed growth throughout the book. Readers got lots of back-story for both of them.

WHAT I DIDN”T LIKE:

-This book had a lot of pacing issues. It felt like it took a long time to say something or get from point A to point B
-The “Will they, won’t they” in this book was over the top and exhausting. Way too many times of them almost kissing, etc and then saying “Wait! We can’t do this!”
- The drama between Liana and her sisters felt a little over the top to me. Rather petty and a bit like reality TV.
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Thank you @netgalley for my eARC copy. I was given this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Liana has a love advice blog that she runs despite ever being in love, she just loves love. One day she gets an email who stumps her from Kade. All he does is have sexual relationships and he wants to learn how to love. Liana and Kade embark on this journey to become friends while creating a sex advice section on her blog when things start to heat up between them. There's an obvious mutual attraction between them but they don't give in to it because of their business relationship.

I absolutely loved how the pop culture rom com movie references in this. I also love a man who is unaware of his emotions and seeing Kade realize he's falling for a girl. I think Kade and Lana's chemistry was written beautifully!

*Thank you to Xpresso Book Tours and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review! *

A self-diagnosed sociopath determined to find love and a woman who possesses all the answers about LOVE. Love, Liana..., a blog that will respond to all your love questions within a day, or so the site promises.

Liana was stumped by Kade's email regarding his love situation. He is a sociopath and is determined to be in love because all things good come with love. It is a concept that he can't seem to understand. And Liana finds it difficult to answer his question. However, when she announced an additional segment about sex on the whim, Liana devices a plan that can help both her client Kade and herself out. Kade will teach her about sex, since he has uncountable numbers of one-night stands. And she will help Kade out with understanding the concept of love.

It has an interesting premise but I felt that it failed to deliver. The first part focuses mainly on their family and their friends; it took a while before the two started interacting. When they did, it was good and interesting to see how they confide in one another of their problems. Until the ending of the book. It was messy to me. I can neither understand the characters nor their logic. It felt rushed and jumbled. It was closed but not quite enough. Also, some of the side characters could have been explored more. As the beginning of the book talked about these secondary characters, I thought they would have more to play in the storyline. However, the author seemed to wrap up the ending in a nice little bow, where we don't get to see much about the main or side characters.

The book still has an interesting premise but can be more detailed and expressive towards the ending.

ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

An absolutely adorable romantic comedy! Watching Liana & Kade dance their way around each other was as good as any movie romance.

Wow, just wow. I was hooked to this book by the end of the first chapter. I originally thought that it was going to be the traditional chick-lit storyline of enemies falling in love, but the writing was good so I was invested.

I'm so happy I did, this is not your average chick-lit book at all. This is a a story of friendship, lust and then love. There's also some spicy parts, but hot spicy not corny spicy.
I want to write more but I don't want to give anything away.
If you are thinking of reading this book, do it. You will not regret it

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me this eARC in exchange of an honest review.

At first this book was very fun to read, it made me physically laugh on many occasions and i genuinely enjoyed reading it. Liana and Kade were both characters with personalities and depth but i feel like they weren't used at their full potential. I felt like many aspects were brought up but ended up being brushed off. For example the situation with her dad? we just stopped hearing from him. The first half of the book felt very family centric but as we went on it felt a completely different book

when starting it i wasn't expecting the dark themes but they were well written enough, i'm glad they were brought up and not just there to simply be apart of kade's character.

all in all the reading experience was enjoyable although some parts were useless in my opinion. I really REALY loved liana and kade's chemistry which also happens to be my favorite aspect of the book

Since this is Allie Doherty's first novel, i feel like there's room for improvement but it's already an amazing start and i'm looking forward to what she'll be releasing in the future

Love Liana... Sincerely Kade follows Liana Dawson, a freelance romance advice blogger, and Kade Jennings, a literary agent. Kade is struggling to find love and meaning in relationships and Liana... is struggling period. An evil sister moves in, her father wants to buy her blog, she can't afford her rent, and she accidentally announced to her following she's opening up a "sex advice" section. The caveat? She doesn't know much about it. In exchange for Liana's help getting him to fall in love, Kade offers to help her unleash her wild side and learn to live a little. But chaos ensues as, instead of falling for other people, Kade and Liana start falling for each other.

Honestly, this was a refreshing and fun rom-com read! I was laughing almost every chapter and also cursing Kade and Liana both for being so stubborn. This book was exactly what I would expect out of a rom-com read and it didn't disappoint. I love that Liana is so relatable and empathetic and spunky. I love that Kade is her pessimistic counterpart but has the capability to be such a great and amazing guy. Their chemistry was natural and spicy, and I loved that Kade was the one infatuated first even if he was too stubborn to admit it.

I enjoyed Allie Doherty's writing style, her wit is professional level comedic, and she knows how to pack a punch with the emotional bits. You know it's going to hurt when you're 80% into a book and everything is going a little too well. Her portrayals of abusive partners and family and just abuse in general was well done without being glorifying or too graphic- it's a fine line to tread but Allie did it well.

All in all, if you want a feel good rom-com I would recommend this book!

Love, Liana…Sincerely, Kade
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5

My review of Love, Liana…Sincerely, Kade will be posted to my Instagram @chronicledbycait on Friday, September 23rd!

Thank you NetGalley and Lake County Press & Review for an eARC of Love, Liana…Sincerely, Kade in exchange for an honest review!

Liana is the blogger behind Love, Liana - focusing on advice for the love lives of her readers! The daughter of a well-known agent, Liana is constantly trying to break away from the shadow he casts everywhere she goes.

Kade is a literary agent with childhood trauma that has caused a profound inability for him to love. Living with his childhood best friend, he finds himself drinking his nights away, and in the bed of any and all women.

When Kade writes to Love, Liana asking for advice on how to fall in love, Liana is stumped.

Until she comes up with a brilliant idea: she will teach Kade to fall in love if he helps her add a (let’s just say, adult) advice column to her blog!

What could possibly go wrong?

I wanted so badly to give this four stars, but ended up choosing to do 3.5 💫

The story itself was a quick read and it had a cute rom-com vibe. However, I felt that the characters, Kade especially, needed to experience more growth over the course of the book. Both felt very stagnant to me. But I appreciated their unique personalities and witty banter.

I also think it’s worth noting that there should be some trigger warnings due to the abusive relationship, drug abuse references, and childhood trauma. I also wish we could have seen a little more discussion around these topics and possibly more therapy regarding them.

Overall, the story was so cute and I enjoyed reading it!

Love, Liana…Sincerely, Kade comes out Tuesday, September 27th!