This isn’t a super dramatic romance story. It was cute and a pretty quick read. I like that the characters knew each other in HS but we’re too awkward to act on their feelings. Tension doesn’t last very long. One spicy scene that isn’t super explicit but descriptive. 18+

I enjoyed this. I had the time to read it. Plus I also got it for free.

Easy to follow. Good character growth and background. Predictable romance. I still had a good time reading this.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Tuskan Publishing LLC for this digital ARC.

I thank Netgalley and Tuskan Publishing for an ARC of this book and I am voluntarily leaving a review. This book is for fans of grumpy-sunshine and slow-burn romance. That being said,Aiden does not come off as a great guy by any means. The story is told through Claire and Aiden's point of view. After a surprise encounter at a bar the two former classmates wind up going on a long train ride together. Both have not had the greatest childhoods so they had that shared trauma in common. Will they decide to give things a try? I read this book in two sittings. I like that the chapters aren't long. There was a touch of spice which was perfectly fine. Even though there is a breakup(argh Aiden!),there may be hope for these two yet. Aiden would definitely not be my book boyfriend,no way!

One night of broken spirits, a chance encounter, and some uncharacteristic spontaneity land Claire and Aiden with some sticky feelings, and lines will be crossed. Haven’t you heard, running away to Florida on the overnight train with the elusive grump from high school will do that to ya! 😉

Riddled with fresh and past betrayals and a brief history, their relationship met its challenges from the start. No stranger to the childhood trauma and rocky relationships that fuelled their inner conflicts, both brought a vulnerability and authenticity to their relationship and experiences. Garvin has done well to capture the friendship turned whirlwind romance between these two weary souls, and I appreciated the growth and insights that were executed.

Claire and Aiden were fun in their differences and honest in their similarities as they blurred, and erased, all the lines. Theirs was a slow burning flame captured in the briefest flash of time, with all that will they-won’t they energy, and a splash of classy spice to keep that blaze burning. I loved the banter and game play woven throughout, and the tenderness and gently concealed concern that lurked beneath Aiden’s grumpy exterior certainly won him some points. At first, it was a little touch and go with him and his attitude, but the warranted time spent growing his character enhanced his narrative and saw him grow on me in turn. While I wasn’t overly chuffed to see the miscommunication trope rear it’s ugly head, I will concede that in this instance the trope, and it’s execution, did make sense for the characters involved. Both were nursing hurts and in a vulnerable place, weighted by the wounds of a broken trust, and I was especially glad for Em in these moments and the communication gaps she helped to fill while they navigated their way through the other side.

A riveting ride of ups and downs this was a wholesome and lighthearted read about finding your happiness, and a night of spontaneity that changed everything. With its short, bingeable chapters, Crossing the Line is perfect on the go reading for busy lives seeking a brief reprieve and will be available Dec 6.

⚡️ Grumpy Sunshine
⚡️ Second Chance
⚡️ Forced Proximity
⚡️ Fast Paced and easy to binge

Thank you to NetGalley and Tuskan Publishing for the advanced copy. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review.

Ahh. Aiden & Claire. I really wanted to love this book and kept pulling for at least one of the MCs to have some redeeming qualities but i just didn’t get there. I loved the shorter chapters because it did allow for a quick and easy read. There wasn’t a lot of unnecessary fluff at the beginning you are immediately thrown into their meet cute. While i did like the fast pace i also don’t think it helped the reader like the characters. Both Aiden and Claire had very poor character development and we’re not likeable. I also felt very bored throughout alot of the book. I felt like the majority of the plot “meat” was in the last 40ish pages and didn’t feel believable to me.

You’ll find:
-Miscommunication Trope
-Cheating
-Second Chance Romance
-Cross Country Trip

Thank you Netgalley & the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

💌 ARC REVIEW //
★★★★/5

♡ "Happiness is a delusion. You feel it when you're distracted by something, but when you are left alone with your thoughts, you're just as miserable as everyone."

This was literally so wholesome, so cute. A lighthearted book, exactly what i needed. I am so glad that Claire and Aiden found each other. The miscommunication trope did frustrate me though.

Both Claire and Aiden were trying to move on from their past, and they just found each other, started opening up to each other, it was so cute.

💌:
- grumpy x sunshine
- forced proximity
- dual pov
- slow burn
- second chance romance
- guy falls first
- miscommunication trope

The chapters are short & simple. Fast-paced book that is easy to read.

—THANK YOU NETGALLEY FOR THE ARC—

[ARC Review]

Who would have known that going back home from university and trying to surprise your boyfriend of 2 years would suddenly turn into a breakup… Claire caught her boyfriend with another girl and if her evening couldn‘t get worse, she met one of her school mate - Aiden Lewis. After a couple drinks she came up with the idea of going to Florida - but drunk. At that point both of them had no clue how their little trip will turn out to be…

Eventhough the story started pretty quick, I had no trouble getting into this story at all. It felt pretty natural to read and get more into the story. At some point I did realize that the story was kind of fast paced but it never annoyed me - on the contrary I enjoyed it a lot.
Claire was a very reasonable person in my opinion. She is so likable and I like her maturity a lot.
Aiden might be your typical „I don‘t want anything serious“ type of guy but at the end, he‘d do anything for the person he loves. Their relationship evolved pretty quick but they are both really made for each other. They both have trust issues after what happened to both of them, but they both knew they‘d do anything for each other and that they could heal each other. It definitely was a cute love story.

I did enjoy the story a lot and it‘s definitely a good book for some light reading. 4/5 stars.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝑮𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒑𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘.

Rating: 3.75⭐️/5

Read if you like:
☀️ Grumpy x Sunshine
☀️Second chance romance
☀️Slow burn romance

We have Aiden a 21 y/o who is grumpy but actually hides his caring and soft personality until he meets Claire our cute sunshine who I got attached to from the beginning of the story!
Both have past childhood and relationship trauma that is left unresolved which makes it difficult for Aiden and Claire to overcome in the first place, but step by step the characters grow and start to get rid of it.
I dropped some stars because I hate the miscommunication trope and second chances are not my favorite, so if this two wouldn’t be in the story, the rating would be higher.
Dual POV with short chapters so you will get through this book easily and you won’t feel how time flies.
The chemistry is there with some spicy scenes, not much but it didn’t mind the lack of it. I also enjoyed the writing of the author but I think I would’ve liked for the chapters to be a little longer and maybe more of the story
Overall it was a quick and easy read with an interesting plot, good writing, and delicious slow burn, and look at that cover! Absolutely stunning, cartoonish covers are my weakness!

This was a cute and lovely book. I love Chad and will like to read more about him. I will enjoy a story about them all. Love the friendship of all of them.

Very cute read! I sped through it and enjoyed the main characters. Fun banter and quick chapters. Didn’t love the miscommunication trope in here, but I enjoyed the rest of it!

Thank you NetGalley and Heather Garvin!

This was a fun and quick read by Heather Garvin. The characters, Claire and Aiden, have a bit of a past from high school and they reconnect randomly in a bar one night, which leads to a very spontaneous trip to Florida. How does this happen? Well, Claire has just found out she was cheated on, and Aiden just couldn’t let her go to Florida by herself. Thus, train trip!

Claire is total sunshine; she wants to see the best in people and even under her current circumstances, she is still willing to trust people. She's a good girl; he's got this bad boy-ness to him. And he is the grumpiest of grumps. They're both a little lost in life, but their outlooks are completely different.

I really like that the story progresses quickly, and the characters are able to work through their own feelings individually and together. They have an intense chemistry, and can't help but exploring those feelings despite feeling like they aren't in the right place in life to do so.

I love that it's told from first person/dual POV. But what held me back in loving the novel is the very quick pace of the writing. The story dives right in, and it feels a little scattered at times. There were times where I felt like I was missing details because it moved so quickly. I think in part that could be due to the extremely short chapters. I would have preferred the chapters to be a little longer which I think could have really helped to flesh out the storyline and the character development.

Overall I did enjoy this book and would recommend you add it to your TBR!

Thank you to NetGalley and Heather Garvin for the opportunity to read and review this ARC copy of Crossing the Line!

Tags: grumpy/sunshine, good girl/bad boy, new adult romance
Spice: 2 peppers

Super cute! It’s definitely a quick light read. I didn’t love the miscommunication between Aiden and Claire and what Aiden did but overall I still really enjoyed this one. If you are looking for a dual POV, forced proximity, college age read, definitely check this one out.

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

Publication Date: December 6, 2022

This is a really great romance book featuring all the rom-com tropes I enjoy! It’s a bit of a second chance romance, told in dual POV of the two main characters Claire and Aiden. She is a “good” girl with a positive outlook on life and he is the “bad” boy from their hometown who is always a little too intense.

Claire finds herself at the end of a very bad day, having just walked in on her boyfriend of two years cheating on her. She ends up at a no name bar with only a few customers, just what she’s looking for to figure out what to do now.

Aiden can’t believe Claire has shown up at his regular watering hole. He hasn’t seen her in a few years since high school and they never really talked to each other after “that night”. She’s the last person he wants to talk to or even see tonight.

Ending up together on an unexpected trip, Aiden and Claire learn more about each other and themselves. There is an undeniable connection and attraction they can’t seem to get over and maybe they don’t want to……

This was a super quick read with small chapters which I love! The pace was great, a little bit of a slow burn but not slow enough to lose my interest. I would have liked their relationship to develop a bit more before the big “misunderstanding” but ultimately I really enjoyed this one! This is a 4 star for me!

#NetGalley #crossingtheline #heathergarvin

Crossing the Line
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 12/6/22
Author: Heather Garvin
Publisher: Tuscan Publishing, LLC
Pages: 368
GR: 3.94

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Tuscan Publishing, LLC and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

My Thoughts: Content Warning: Cheating. The trope of this story follows grumpy v. sunshine, one of my favorite with a little of good girl v. bad boy thrown in. Since they knew each other in high school, this would also be a second chance romance. The chapters are short, which I love as it is easier to keep my attention and I can leave off at the end of a chapter. The story is narrated by both Aiden and Claire, in a dual POV, my favorite as you really get a sense of both sides of the relationship. Both Aiden and Claire have a traumatic past with complicated relationships with their parents, which could equate into trust issues into other relationships. However, to see the growth in the characters was beautiful, to overcome the trauma and grow into the roles. The witty banter was awesome, there were several times that I was laughing out loud. This was a bit of a slower burn romance, but it was necessary to build up the characters. The characters were well developed with depth, witty banter, amazing chemistry, and creatively plotted. The author’s writing style was complex, funny, swoony, a little spicy, and engaging. This book releases on Tuesday and I would recommend it, as an adorable, cute read.

Crossing the Line by Heather Garvin

A fun, short, quick and easy read. I really enjoyed the book, with its (short) dual pov chapters and very character driven plot.

It was a slowburn, but not too slow that I lost interest or anything because I was hooked from the very start. I do love the grumpy/sunshine trope and Heather delivered with the two characters, Aiden & Claire. They had me laughing with their banter, shed some tears but most of all rooting for them. Really enjoyed the book and honestly, it did get me out of a reading slump I was in

Thank you NetGalley for rhe eARC

Read: October 2022
(I have posted this review on Goodreads already and will post this review on publication day)

After an unexpected day Claire finds herself in the place she least expected, a bar, with a boy she used to go to school with. Aidan has a week vacation and nothing to do. The two begin chatting and eventually wind up on a trip to Florida together. The past is there, but, after awhile, Aidan finally starts to see his future. This was such a light hearted and quick read. I loved the relationship between Claire and Aidan. I love that there was some mystery around their past and to me, didn’t feel like the typical “know how it ends” love story. Would definitely recommend this book to my friends.

Claire hits a big bump in her life, her boyfriend was cheating on her. Aiden hadn't seen Claire since high school and even then they had only really ever talked once but he felt the need to protect her. He ended up ensuring her safe passage to Florida, the place he never thought he would return,

In this acquaintances to lovers (is this a well-known troupe? if not it should be) story, you follow the two on a journey back to the night they shared so many years ago and the impact it had on each of their lives and perspectives going forward.

Thank you to NetGalley for arc for review!

This story follows Claire and Aiden who knew each other from high school and have more of a history than they present to people. When fast forward three years, Claire stumbles into a bar back in their hometown, Aiden the last person she expected to see there and vice versa. But recovering from a terrible break-up, she's chasing a high, and she's impulsively wants to leave town and go to Florida. Aiden, despite being the grumpiest of all grumps, follows her (can't leave a half drunken girl in a dress walk take the train to an another state alone now). This is only the beginning!

I enjoyed this book! I think it's a quick read, and the chapters are super short. Their beginning felt a bit stretched out because it was a lot of back and forth and jumps of insta lust but also lack of emotions. We, as readers, didn't understand their past relationship yet, so it was a bit confusing, but once they got to Florida it flowed better. (:

ratings: 3.5 ⭐️ / 🌶️ (on the clean side!)

Thankyou so much for giving me the ARC of this book!
I enjoyed reading this book so much. I didn't want to put down this book. This book was very easy to read with its short chapters that I adored. Dual pov was the cherry on top. I loved the mc's. Aiden is our regular grumpy character who embarks on an impulsive trip with a girl he says he doesn't like at all. Claire is our sunshine who is so relatable and sweet. I loved their chemistry, their banter and the spice was just amazing.
This is my new comfort book.
If you're someone who likes the grumpy x sunshine trope, forced proximity romance then you should definitely read this book!

Thank you NetGallery for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

This book features a second chance romance between two old high school buddies Aiden and Claire. Fanning old flames with unresolved issues in the description drew me in as a reader, and I really hoped I was going to love this one.

I loved that there were short chapters, and it was such a quick pace in the beginning. I felt like the character development was a little rough due to this, and it was hard to really become invested as a reader because of this. The chemistry and grumpy/sunshine dynamic made up for this! The miscommunication between the pair lead to cheating - which is where I was lost. This is a reader issue - not necessarily an author issue. This is just a trope I personally can't get behind, and I no longer felt I could root for this couple. Others may love it so take that as you will.

My latest ARCs have been underwhelming so my expectations were low starting this book. However, I was pleasantly surprised with Crossing the Line! When the book begins we meet Aiden, who is clearly leading an unfulfilling life as he drinks away his first day of forced time off from work. His vacation takes a dramatic turn when Claire walks into the bar, fresh from discovering her boyfriend cheating on her. Aiden & Claire attended the same high school at opposite ends of the social spectrum. They weren’t friends, but did share one meaningful night together before graduation.

As the two converse, Claire decides to seize the moment and spontaneously take a train ride to Florida. Refusing to allow her to travel intoxicated, Aiden accompanies her on the trip. What ensues is a sweet second chance romance as the pair overcome hang ups from their previous relationships, as well as explore the unmentionable evening they shared in high school.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 - I enjoyed this book and I will definitely at Heather Garvin to my TBR in the future!