"It was easier to say I don't believe in love, rather than admitting to myself that I was afraid that I wouldn't be loved back"

“Practice Makes Perfect” made me feel all the feels. Will and Annie’s banter made me laugh and put a goofy smile on my face. Their vulnerability when the both talked about their childhood made me tear up. I loved the maturity from both characters. It was refreshing to read about characters that owned up to their insecurities and feelings, and then actually talked about them. Also, I love a man that isn’t afraid to read a romance book and admit that he likes it! This is the perfect romance to get you in the spring/summer mood. I highly recommend if you love friends-to-lovers, fake dating and small town romances!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️

Going in I already knew I was going to love this book because I love anything Sarah Adams writes.
Did this book made me feel so happy? Yes, it did!! I completely swooned for Annie and Will! I’m so happy I got my hands on a physical copy now I can annotate all my favorite parts of this book!!
If you love sweet rom coms this one is for you!

A book for all of us introverted readers!

Annie is a small town flower shop owner who loves escaping into her pirate romance novels. But when it comes to dating and finding her leading man, she’s been unlucky. In comes Will, the bodyguard of her future sister-in-law, who agrees to give her “dating lessons” before lines start blurring.

Loved both MCs (whose viewpoints we get with alternating chapters). Annie is very relatable for the quiet introverted gals who prefer to escape into a good book, while Will is that dream guy who knows how to communicate and is supportive, not wanting Annie to change anything about herself.

This was a heartwarming read that I couldn’t put down and loved every second of it. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC. Happy pub day!

This was such a great romcom. Will and Annie are just so perfect for one another. I love the practice dating trope because it’s always almost guaranteed that they fall in love. Will and Annie complement each other perfectly. Bad boy and good girl perfection. I highly recommend this book.

Quick Breakdown:

Small Town
Bodyguard Romance
Good Girl / Bad Boy
Opposites Attract
Teach Me to Date
Virgin Heroine
Stern Brunch Daddy
He Takes Care of Her
Dual POV
Closed Door Romance

Sarah once again proves herself a romance queen.

I fell in love HARD & I’m not surprised. Practice Makes Perfect, along with just about any Sarah Adams book, is a love letter to the hopeless romantics out there. It mixes the perfect amount of humor, sexual tension & swoony moments.

Will & Annie. These two & their perfect pairing had me in a chokehold from the very beginning. She’s the sweet yet misunderstood small town heroine, too shy to break out of the “good girl” image she’s been stuck with. He’s the tattooed commitment phobic bodyguard who’s made out to be a playboy. Add in the teach me to date trope & it JUST WORKS!

I love how Annie went into the arrangement with her eyes open, knowing Will wasn’t a possibility to date & he was leaving soon. I loved watching Will fight his obvious attraction to Annie, the first woman to make him consider settling down.

Now, let’s talk spice.

I will say that PMP features the virgin trope, which isn’t always a favorite of mine. Given Sarah is a notorious closed door author, I was very curious to see how she’s handle it. I was not disappointed 🙌🏻🙌🏻 She has a way of writing this palpable sexual tension that lets you share the intimacy between the MC’s without it being explicit. I was left smiling & satisfied. So much so, I felt the need to read the book again but this time on audio.

I highly recommend the audio. Will Peters & Jorjeana Marie gave amazing performances. Jorjeana’s voice has this soft innocence that felt like the perfect fit for Annie.

Thank you so much @randomhouse & @prhaudio for the gifted eARC & ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Easily my favorite romcom of the year so far and maybe top 3 of all time.

This book is so cute and heartwarming- i smiled, i laughed out loud and i cried.

I saw so much of myself in both Will and Annie. Their bickering and banter is unmatched as well as their jokes with each other that span the entire book.

I loved Mabel's character, she was so warm and there for Will and Annie at the exact moment they both needed her.

I loved that Annie is a book reader herself and the way Will connects with her through her books.

Will refers to Annie as sunshine more than once and that's one of my favorite things that an author can write.

I’ve never met a Sarah Adams’ book I didn’t love, and Practice Makes Perfect was no exception!! The chemistry 🔥 between Will and Annie was NEXT LEVEL. I also saw a lot of myself in Annie and loved the glimpses we got of Amelia + Noah too! I’d give this one six stars if I could!

"𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑."

𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝑺𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒉 𝑨𝒅𝒂𝒎𝒔

I am capitally O - Obsessed with Sarah Adams, and Practice Makes Perfect! This might be my favorite SA book yet! 🫶It's tender, sweet, emotional, & insightful, wrapped in that witty banter we all adore & love from Sarah. Just be ready to be squealing with excitement while you read this one!

Annie Walker & Will Griffin! 💗
Sweet Annabell! Our tender-hearted softie. Our introvert who was afraid to shine! I cherished her & her journey through this story. There is so much more to her than just the small-town sweetie, but she is afraid to show it. That is until Will comes along. Will, or should I say William. Wilson. Willington is mouth-watering delicious … is that fair to say? He is a cinnamon roll covered in tattoos! But what really got me is who Will is to Annie. He's her safe space. Someone she trusts enough to open up & voice what's in her heart. “𝑌𝑜𝑢’𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑒”

The raw moments & honesty these two share gripped my heart. The playfulness & tension-filled moments melted my heart. And the witty banter & meddling town had me giggling continuously.

✨Honestly, this is a top contender for my favorite Romance of the Year!

𝓐𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼 ~
𝓜𝔂 𝓗𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓡𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓨𝓸𝓾

💭𝓟.𝓢. ~ 💐Things I adored 💐
•Dual pov
•Body guard & florist
•Opposites attract
• She's a homebody | He's adventurous
•Fake dating *he's her dating coach*
•He’s a serial dater | She wants to get married
•Bad boy x good girl
• Small-town romance with busybodies
•He is flirtatious & has tattoos 😮‍💨
•Jaw flex | hand flex moments - IYKYK
•He cares for her when she's sick
•She loves romance novels (specifically, ones with pirates)
•Banana pjs
•Sweet nicknames "lets get you off the floor sunshine"

Song: butterflies y Max & Ali Gatie
Song I Guess I’m in Love

I absolutely adored When In Rome, so I was super excited to go back to Rome, Kentucky to experience Annie and Will's story and the fun, quirky characters of the town! I liked how there was more than meets the eye with both of them. Annie's secret love of romance books and adventure was fun to see and Will being a secret softie for Annie was amazing. They felt like real people to me, they were so well developed. Every emotion and every action they took tied into their backstories so well and I found myself tearing up in spots, because their experiences made such an impact.

I also laughed a lot. The town and side characters gave such Gilmore Girls vibes and added the perfect amount of humor.

In terms of the romance - chefs kiss! The romance is closed door and there were some fade to black scenes, but they weren't any less steamy than some open door I have read! Her books are perfect for both closed door and open door readers. I like both, so it was perfect!

I also really liked how much Amelia and Noah were in the story! Rather than just making a cameo, they were an integral part of the story as well. I actually reread When In Rome before reading this, so it was cool to have that continuation of their story right away.

Overall, five stars for sure! Thanks Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Pub day review: practice makes perfect by @authorsarahadams

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review: first off thank you to random house for sending me an e-arc of this book. I absolutely adored this book. The story and characters were relatable to me. Which is always a plus for me. I absolutely love the relationship between will and Annie. It was super cute and genuine. My favorite character by far was will. I mean how could you not like a former bodyguard with tattoos. I hope one day I can find my will. This book definitely took me by surprise with how much I loved it. This has definitely become one of my favorite books of the year easily. Once I started reading it I devoured it. I can’t think of a more perfect spring romance. I will definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes romance books or Sarah Adams. I might even go as far to say this might be in my top ten favorite romance books of all time. Happy pub day. I hope people love this book as much as I do.

This book was just DELIGHTFUL!
I loved the witty dialogue between the characters- it was funny and believable.
The chemistry between the main characters was top notch.
The plot was wonderful it had no frustrating moments with crappy misunderstandings.
There were a few places where I laughed out loud (my husband gave me weird looks 😂).
There were characters from previous books and it made me want to re-read them all again. The ending was satisfying (although I wanted another 100 pages 😉).

⭐️⭐️💫
Practice Makes Perfect
Author: Sarah Adams
Source: NetGalley & Random House ARC
Publication: May 2, 2023

Full disclosure, I am not going to make everyone happy. This book is centered around a previous book (I did not read) about a “perfect” couple, Amelia & Noah. This story takes place during their wedding week. These two love birds have chemistry, and the groom is Annie’s brother.

Practice Makes Perfect centers on the local floral shop owner, Annie, who has decided that in her late twenties, she needs to get her a man and pronto. But after she works up the courage to ask a local banker on a date, she freezes, spills her drink on his lap, and later overhears him asking a friend to get him out of the date with the most boring girl he has ever met. Obviously, he’s not Annie’s dream dude. Enter Will, a personal bodyguard in town for the brother’s wedding, and he takes on the challenge to school Annie in becoming more desirable via some steamy pirate romance books. This story is so syrupy-sweet that it made my teeth hurt. Golly gee, the guy sweeps Annie off her feet by playfully pretending to be a pirate and then asks her to put on her banana footie pj’s for some fun between the sheets. It’s Hallmark with so much sugar that it will make your teeth hurt. I know there is a market for this shiver-me-timbers kind of romance, and I hope you will enjoy it. #Arghhh  #romance #pirates #florists #smalltown #weddingweek #MrRight #privatelessons #notHistoricalFiction #PracticeMakesPerfect @Randomhouse #beautifulCover @netgalley
🌸

I received a complimentary copy of this ARC. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Thank you to Random House and the author for the opportunity to read this book. Pub. Date: May 2, 2023.
🌸

#book #books #bookaddict #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #bookstagramer #bookshelf #booksbooksbooks #readersofinstagram #reader #booklove #bookreader #reader

From the moment i say this book, i was hooked. I just knew it was going to be one of my favorite reads and it was. Will is such an amazing book bf AND he can communicate. Him and Annie hold this special place in my heart. Pmp made me laugh, cover my eyes in embarrassment, and kick my feet in delight. It was the perfect little romance book that i was looking for!

🌷🌷🌷🌷/5 Flower Shop Stars & Happy Release Day Sarah Adams! Practice Makes Perfect is the most adorable Kentucky-based small-town romance 🤭🤭

THOUGHTS:
- Love a good Southern rom-com with my all-time favorite ‘opposites attract’ trope 🤭

- I also love that we get to really see a guy healing from his legitimate past traumas. I think we read about women healing so much more than men; they need understanding too poor beebees!

- Definitely, some parts that made me laugh - just wait for the mustache scene! 😂😂

FAVORITE QUOTE:
"Do you have feelings for me, Will?"
I bark a laugh. "Annie. You can't just ask a person that. That's against the rules."
"Why?"
"Because... we're supposed to keep everything hidden and angsty. Keep each other guessing and miserable. That's just the way it works."
-- Nothing is more refreshing than a heroine who just comes right out and says what she needs to say!!

NOTES:
- Small-town romance
- Opposites attract
- Good girl, bad boy
- CWs: the only thing I can think of is bad parents, but... I feel like everyone has some experience with that within their families, their in-laws etc.
- Def adding Practice Makes Perfect to my romance novels master list!

**Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Dell & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

💕 Swoon💕

I’m so happy to be back in Rome, Kentucky catching up with some of my favorite characters! Sarah Adams is a insta-read author for me and never misses!
In this installment we are following Annie who is on a mission to find love on a time crunch. After a disaster of a date that leaves her defeated she decides what she needs is practice - because practice makes perfect, right? With a little help from her soon to be Sis in Law she enlists Rome’s newest (temporary) resident to help her with her dating life. Full of all of my favorite troupes - small town, fake dating, friends to lovers and an absolute swoon worthy romance “Practice Makes Perfect” is a five star read! I cannot wait to see where the series will go from here!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

I adore Sarah Adams. I have been a fan for ages and have been so happy to follow her journey from Indie to traditional publishing and to watch her grow as an author. This Rome series is the culmination of who she is, what she's learned and how confident Sarah is in what she wants to write. All of her books reflect her personality and the kind of books that we love to read.

This story of Annie and Will starts out sweet and funny and perfect from page one. Anytime she calls him a pirate, I swoon. She thinks he is so much cooler than her and he thinks she is too good and the only way to make it work is to pretend. He helps her to get over her fears about dating and in the process has to confront his own fears about relationships. It's quirky and fun and cute and sweet and so melt your heart romantic. I love Sarah and will devour anything she writes.

Sarah adams speaks straight to the sweet spot in my heart. I spent the better half of this book with tears in my eyes because I love stories about introverts. It broke me apart & made me feel exposed ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Annie & Will. They won me over immediately. She is the sweet, innocent, baby of the family & town sweetheart who is searching for her soulmate. He is the sexy, serial dating bodyguard who keeps everyone at an arm’s length & doesn’t do commitment.

Sarah does closed door romance without making you feel cheated 🤣 She turned the heat up a little on this one too. They fall for each other in a slow burn perfection.

My favorite part of a series is getting to see former MCs & Sarah did not disappoint here! Noah & Amelia from When in Rome are so present in PMP. I loved Noah as the boyfriend, but I may love him even more as Annie’s brother in PMP. He said all of the right things. And Mabel. Oh, Mabel. The scenes on the porch with Will & at the nursing home with Annie 🥰 [more tears]

I was nervous near the end because it didn’t come wrapped in a predictable happy ending bow. I was genuinely unsure how everything would end, & I loved that about this book.

Run, don’t walk, to read this book! I haven’t had a book hangover in a long time, but this one did it to my quiet introverted heart 💖 I initially rated 4.5⭐️ because of one specific thing in story, but changed it to 5⭐️ after I couldn’t quit thinking about it. When I read back through all of my highlights, it was definitely a 5⭐️ for me.

Thank you Sarah adams, netgalley & RandomHouse Publishing for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I liked the book a bit more than when in rome, the only thing I didn’t like about the book was how Will was written - esp in his POV - I felt like he was a high schooler when he’s in his early 30s.
I did like Annie’s character growth and always love Mabel!

Will and Annie are such an amazing couple! They have all the typical characteristics of a grumpy sunshine character but are so much deeper and layered! I read When In Rome as an arc and couldn’t wait to read Practice Makes Perfect! If it’s possible, Practice Makes Perfect is better! My favorite part is the way that this book captures and voiced what it feels like to be labeled as a “good girl” and all of the expectations that go with it!

sarah adams, you have absolutely done it again! five big gold stars for practice makes perfect. when i say i love this book… I LOVE THIS BOOK! i’ve been a sarah stan forever, but i think this is her best book yet. annie and will are basically the most likeable characters of all time. i mean, who wouldn’t fall in love with the cute flower shop owner and the tattooed body guard who fall head over heels for each other? i certainly did. this book had me smiling non-stop and giggling at every turn. annie walker, lover of romance novels and little perfectionist… i see you my queen. this is going on my top romcom grumpy sunshine list of books asap. rome, kentucky forever.