An author who can enchant a reader with her rom com stories as well as keep you on the edge of their seat with crazy thrillers?! Look no further than Ashley Winstead!

One thing I've enjoyed with Ashley's take on romance between The Boyfriend Candidate and Fool Me Once is the opening scenes of the story. In The Boyfriend Candidate, Alexis Stone is in character as a badass woman looking for a one night stand in a bar. She stumbles on the perfect guy to spend the night with, but a freak lightning strike results in her being lifted out of the hotel with the dude who scrambles away quickly due to what she assumed was random paparazzi. Come to find out she was about to hook up with the leading Democratic Candidate running for the governor of Texas. This throws her into the chaotic motion of politics and elections when all Alexis wanted was a one night stand.

As the story transpires, the reader gets to know Logan and I must say, between him and Ben from Fool Me Once... Logan is the perfect boyfriend candidate! Even in the midst of running for governor he has such a sweet side to him and you can see how he attempts to balance that alongside falling for Alexis. And the weather nerd in me had so much fun seeing all the weather references used throughout the story between the lightning at the beginning and the tornado that happens later on in the book. According to Ashley, the title of this one was originally Natural Disasters because of all the freak weather phenomena that occurs throughout Alexis and Logan's relationship!

I think Ashley is on the verge of a 5 star rom com in our near future. She came super close for me with The Boyfriend Candidate, but I think I could have gone without the love triangle that sets up in the second half of the book. And this scenario reminded me why I wasn't a big fan of Lee Stone, Alexis's older sister, featured in Fool Me One.

This was such a cute and fun read. This was easily bingable and made me laugh several times. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

I would read anything Ashley Winstead writes! What a great book! Absolutely loved this one and am eagerly awaiting her next release.

I absolutely adore everything Ashley Winstead writes - from romance to thriller - and I eagerly await her new books with the excitement of a kid in a candy store. The Boyfriend Candidate was one of my most anticipated books for 2023 and I was not disappointed. It was nice to check back in with characters I loved from Fool Me Once (it is not necessary to read this one first) but also to meet new characters and follow their relationship. I can't wait for more from Winstead in the future.

This book is a totally binge-able, unique and fun romance - and should be next up on your TBR!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/Graydon House for the advanced readers copy!

Synopsis:
As a shy school librarian, Alexis Stone is comfortable keeping out of the spotlight. But when she’s dumped for being too meek—in bed!—the humiliation is a wake-up call. She decides she needs to change, and what better way to kick-start her new more adventurous life than with her first one-night stand?
Enter Logan, the gorgeous, foul-mouthed stranger she meets at a hotel bar. Logan is audacious and filter-less, making him Alexis’s opposite—and boy, do opposites attract! Just as she’s about to fulfill her hookup wish, the hotel catches fire in a freak lightning storm—and in their rush to escape, Logan is discovered carrying her into the street, where people are waiting with cameras. Cameras Logan promptly—and shockingly—flees.
Alexis is bewildered until breaking news hits: pictures of her and Logan escaping the fire are all over the internet. It turns out Logan is none other than Logan Arthur, the hotshot politician challenging the Texas governor’s seat. The salacious images are poised to sink his career—and jeopardize Alexis’s job—until a solution is proposed: to squash the scandal, he and Alexis could pretend to be in a relationship until election day…in two months. What could possibly go wrong?

Thoughts:
This book is everything I want in a rom-com. It is totally binge-able as its easy to read, fun characters and plot, and plenty of laugh out loud moments.

Likes:
The main character is so relatable, which always makes for a better read in my opinion. If you have read 'Fool Me Once' by this author, you will see some fun character cameos and crossovers, which I always love too. It is so much deeper than just a 'fake dating trope' book and I really enjoyed it.

Dislikes:
The story is a bit of a slow burn which is sometimes not bad, but it was also just full of misunderstandings and lack of communication. This is sooo accurate to the real world but also can be frustrating for me to read because I get easily mad at the characters for this,

Overall it was a really enjoyable read. I am really enjoying Ashley Winstead's books! I am about halfway through 'Fool Me Once', so a review for that will be coming soon as well.

I really enjoyed Fool Me Once and was looking forward to reading this book. Sadly the book didn’t work in my favor. Alexis was irritating and such a doormat. I liked Logan, but they didn’t have enough chemistry for me as a couple. I also felt that this book was heavier on the political side compared to the other book. I have read and enjoyed other books by this author so I won’t write her off since this book didn’t work in my favor.

I dropped everything to read this one when I got approved for the ARC. If you've read Fool Me Once, The Boyfriend Candidate is all about Lee's sister Alexis. Alexis is shy, an introvert, a school librarian and following her breakup is looking to change things up. But her attempt at having a one night stands ends up putting her in the spotlight when she starts fake dating the young gubernatorial candidate, Logan Arthur.

I usually don't react too much when reading books but the situations Winstead put the characters in, had me laughing out loud. I really found the MC to be relatable and once again enjoyed the political side of the story. A lot of romcoms in the same -verse usually just mention the previous characters here and there, but Lee was still a decent part of Alexis' life. While this can definitely be enjoyed if you haven't read Fool Me Once, I think having read it made me appreciate the contrast between the two sisters' personalities even more.

Thank you so much to Graydon House for the ARC and Ashley Winstead for making me laugh so much!

Another fun political romcom from Winstead! I really enjoyed her last romance, Fool Me Once, and this one was even better!! Fake dating is always a fave trope for me and it is done so well here - Alexis and Logan had seriously great chemistry together!! I will say, it’s a bit heavy on the political topics, so just take that into consideration.

What to expect::
•Great meet cute
•Fake dating
•Opposites attract
•Political campaign
•Sloooooow burn (too slow imo)
•Great friends, fam, and coworkers
🔥open door/light details

Swoony and unputdownable, it reminded me of She's All That a bit with a political spin. Alexis was way more confident and feisty than I originally expected with the "shy librarian" description. Logan was hot!

A romantic rendezvous turned scandal turned… fake relationship? This is my cup of tea, and I absolutely ate this one up! Normally a politician hero is NOT my thing but this quirky new romcom had those negative feelings floating away. Alexis and Logan were not two peas in a pod and couldn’t have been more different from each other BUT it worked. Opposites can attract and the differences between the two filled up the missing pieces to their own puzzles. I thought this one was really cute and think many readers will agree! This is a romcom that should be on everyone’s TBR this spring!

𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗙𝗔𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗙
❥ Opposites Attract
❥ Fake Dating Romcoms

The Boyfriend Candidate by Ashley Winstead was such a fun read. I think I'm in the minority that enjoy Winstead's romances over her thrillers. I was so pleased to find out that this book takes place in the same world as Fool Me Once. I like how The Boyfriend Candidate incorporates politics into its story and enjoyed it overall. It's not groundbreaking but it's an overall enjoyable read.

This was a fun and cute read however it didn't blow me away like I was hoping. I found both main characters to be very surface level and I never found myself drawn into their relationship. I also found the focus on politics to overwhelm any character building. I do recommend for a fun summer read and maybe others will adore Alexis and Logan more than I did!

I love Ashley’s thriller books so I took a dip into the romance side and I wasn’t disappointed. Love on the campaign trail might be my new favorite romance triangle. This book checked all the boxes for my politics loving self. A one night stand turned political scandal between a governor prospect and a school librarian made me swoon.

I read about 20% and the female MC just wasn't working for me - they made her a little too "woe is me, I have no friends and my older sister is way cooler and I'm a loser" - she had zero self confidence so it's hard to understand why the male MC would like her if she's truly as "lame" as she makes herself sound. I'm not trying to sound harsh, but she just portrayed herself in such a negative light.... I love this author's thrillers but I don't think her romance books are for me.

This book was unputdownable for me. I really enjoyed it and sort of binged it on accident.⁣
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Alexis is a children’s librarian, bookish, shy, introverted and absolutely brilliant. She has a heart of gold and fights for things that matter to her. She’s loyal to those she cares for to a fault.⁣
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Logan is broody, openly opinionated and gruff except for when it comes to telling a woman how he feels, when she’s making him lose his mind.⁣
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This was an entertaining fake dating trope, with some really great side characters as well. The plot was fun to follow and different from other rom coms Ive read which I enjoyed.⁣
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The only reason I’m giving it 4 stars is because I hate talking about politics in general and watching debates because it’s always such negative energy and I try to avoid that in my life and escape in books to live an alternative reality, so reading about politics wasn’t exactly an escape for me but it was well written so I tried to just put that aside and enjoy it.⁣
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I don't know how Ashley does it. How can she write amazing romance books and amazing thriller books. This book was great. I love the political aspect. It had me feeling like I was back home in DC. She has such amazing talent. Highly recommend this one.

This book is all the tropes in the best way possible. One of the few books that I had in audio and ebook form and genuinely used them both because I didn't want to put down the story. It made me happy gooey. Also politics are so stupid and the behind the scenes points out so much ridiculousness.

#arc
#netgalley
#theboyfriendcandidate

I enjoyed Ashley Winstead's Fool Me Once, so I was hoping for another entertaining, witty read with this one. I was not disappointed. There's even some crossover from Fool Me Once in this book, and I always enjoy visiting characters I like from previous books. That said, The Boyfriend Candidate is a standalone, so you won't be lost or confused by those crossover characters. You may be enticed to read Fool Me Once after you meet the characters, though, but I don't consider that a bad thing. The Boyfriend Candidate is witty and often hilarious, which is just what I've needed lately. It's well written, the characters are easy to root for, and I laughed a lot as I read this one. It's everything a fake relationship romance should be, and I'd definitely recommend it.

Well, I just absolutely adored this one y'all. This is the story of a school librarian and a gubernatorial candidate. What is supposed to be a fling evolves into a sham romance in the name of a campaign. What I loved most about this is that this premise evolved into much more than just trying to keep their secret and pretending to be in love. This was also about Alexis (the librarian) finding her voice and figuring out what she really wanted, and it was about Logan (the candidate) figuring his out, too. There were some good twists and turns as Logan and Alexis worked to keep their "romance" in tact until Election Day, and it was just a delight of an ending. I've been reading a lot more romance as of late, and this was just one of the very best. Thanks to NetGalley for the look at this recent release!

For me to have been so excited about this book, I did not enjoy it. I felt like the writing was juvenile. Additionally, as someone who has her MSLS and is in the library field, the blatant misrepresentation and lack of research into the industry astounded me and put me off from the very beginning. I will still read Winstead's thrillers, but I am extremely disappointed in her romances.