I liked it, it was really entertaining in some parts, but I didn't love it. The book's fundamental message is heartfelt and meaningful. In the end, the messiness of self-love and discovery is well worth it. I think it would have been more accurate to describe this book as a contemporary rather than a romance in its marketing. In spite of this, I was unable to sympathize with the main character's immaturity. She blows her entire life up for some guy she met for twenty minutes? That seems a bit much for me, but they wrote a whole series called Felicity in the late 90s/early 2000s, so there's that.

Thanks so much to Netgalley for an advanced copy.

LOVE BUZZ was such a delightful read! I loved pairing the book with the audio, and thought the narration was great.

WHAT TO EXPECT
-bachelorette party in New Orleans
-well paced
-girl meets boy/lose touch

*many thanks to Harper Perennial, Harper Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

This book is darling. The audio is fantastic. I love a New Orleans based book and I love a book where a character is trying to find her place in the world. 30 marks a big moment in your life and it was interesting to see this main character navigate through this milestone.

Enjoyed it!

Thank you so much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily listened and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

I think the major thing going against this book is the blurb leads the reader to believe its going to be a rom/com and be more romance and connection between Serena and Julian. If I didn't have the expectation in my head going in, I think I would have liked it more. I do think the message was valuable and Serena's journey of finding herself was important. I also thing the narrator did a great job bringing Serena to life. I enjoyed the audio narration.

I just couldn't relate to this one. Serena meets a mystery man during a debaucherous weekend in New Orleans and becomes obsessed with finding him when she returns to her home in Seattle, based on very few details.

I was at work a couple of nights ago browsing my @netgalley shelf and Love Buzz just called to me. Thanks to @harperaudio I listened to this on a crazy night at work and it made my shift fly by.
Serena is on a bachelorette trip to New Orleans when she meets a handsome guy in a bar named Julian. Sparks fly immediately and after a short conversation, they discover they’re both visiting from Seattle. Their encounter is cut short and Julian has to leave, and with him goes much hope of seeing him again. She knows the neighborhood where he lives, a vague description of his job, that he loves Nirvana and Lil Wayne, and that’s it.
If you know me, you know I’m not really a romance reader, but I loved this one. It’s so much about Serena and where she is in life. She’s nearly thirty, has a great job but doesn’t feel any passion for it, but works hard because she knows that’s what her late mother would want. She’s going to be a bridesmaid for her cousin, but there’s been a falling out (and we eventually find out why). There is one super 🔥🔥 scene, I know a lot of you love them. I blushed. But what a great springtime read!
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What are the chances of meeting your perfect match in a New Orleans bar while on a bachelorette trip from Seattle and they too also live in Seattle? Like 1 in a billion. Well that is exactly what happens in this book. Serena had her life all planned out and was so calm and unwavering then she met Julian and everything changed. Suddenly she is second guessing all of her decisions and starts taking some leaps of faith in her life and finding her joy. There is a happy ending and it was such a well written end to this story. The audio was *chefs kiss* perfect. Please if you want a great romance pick up this book or audiobook and you will not be disappointed.

I ended up not loving this one! I didn’t finish the audio because I lost interest overall in the story and the characters.

this story started off so strong for me, but i didn't love that it was almost misleading to the genre of the book. what begins with romance is not really a romance book so much as a self-discovery book, and now that there's anything wrong with that, i think i just had a little whiplash as to where the story was going!

as a late-20 something, i definitely related to the journey of finding yourself and being unsure of your choices, your relationships and your job, and yourself. watching serena ask herself those hard-hitting questions and work through the challenges of finding what makes her happy was great to watch and really inspirational.

what I didn't love was that the blurb is largely about julian, it starts out with julian, and then julian is heavily mentioned throughout the book because serena can't stop thinking about him, but the end didn't focus much on their relationship, leaving the romance aspect lacking for me.

recommend this book for the right reader!! this is a women's fiction book focused largely on self-discovery with a side of romance, and going in with that knowledge and mindset will do the reader well!

I’m gonna be honest, this one started out strong but I kept losing interest because it just took too long to find him.

3.5 stars!
Audiobook Version of Love Buzz
By Neely Tubati Alexander
Narrated by Deepa Samuel

Since this was a audiobook version let’s start with the most important question….How is the narrator? Deepa was a phenomenal narrator. Loved the excitement, the energy and tone of her voice. Amazing. This is a debut novel by Neely Tubati Alexander, and it’s such a fun read. I’d say that if you like contemporary women’s fiction, romance, and stories of discovering oneself, you’d enjoy this book.

Serena is on the cusp of her 30th birthday, has a great man, great job and is convinced else she is on the path to living her best life. All of this is turned upside during a bachelorette party to New Orleans where she meets a guy who makes her question everything. Not only does she believe that he might be her soulmate, she being to really wonder if her life chooses have led her to where she wants to be at 30 years old.

I thought the pacing was great, the character development was good and overall a fun read. I think we have all felt like this at one point in our lives so I believe the internal dialogue and struggle Serena faces is something we can all relate to. It reads like a great rom-com that make you feel all the usual feels of a rom-com. I like books like this for when I need something light hearted and fun. Overall a fun read and would suggest for a vacay, beach read, or the audiobook version is great while running errands or working around the house!

I received the audiobook version of Love Buzz from NetGalley and HarperAudio. Thank you for the fun read!

This book sucked me in from page one. I love how in addition to being a romance novel it explores grief, life, societal expectations, personal obligations, and just how hard it is to be an adult in this world. Serena drove me absolutely batty, some of her choices were mad names and incredibly shortsighted but her flaws were part of the journey, as are all of ours which we would do well to remember. Odette was very much my favorite character, I aspire to be like her when I grow up.

I would strongly recommend the audiobook to the regular reading experience for this book. I think the narrator made a huge difference in bringing the story to life (when it really fell flat on the page)

I'm all for reinventing yourself at 30, or at any age, but something about this didn't really resonate with me. The character was so quick to make major decisions, and while they didn't seem like bad decisions, the way she sort of recklessly through herself into them felt kind of uncomfortable. Increasingly, it felt like finding this mystery stranger was more of an obsession than a cute romance thing (e.g. the dream she has described in such detail, which felt out of proportion to their short encounter)

I also thing the marketing on this perhaps was a bit misleading -- it's less romance, and more of women's fiction / 30's coming of age. I didn't finish the book (approx 45%), but did confirm with others who read so that I could more confidently say this.

What did work for me:
- I loved the scenes in New Orleans because that feeling of being separated from the crazy party atmosphere of a place felt relatable
- I loved the relationship she built with seat neighbor on the plane - I was giggling.
-The audio narration was good - no complaints there.

Thanks to Harper Perennial, HarperAudio, and @bibliolifestyle for early copies of this book!

I enjoyed how Serena took on her own adventure in finding out who she truly was and what would make her happiest in life. The message that is shared in this story is heartwarming. This was a great book, lots of fun and I enjoyed the writing.

Thank you to @harperaudio, @netgalley and to the author for this eARC in return for my honest review

Serena is at a bachelorette party in New Orleans and has a brief encounter with Julien while at a bar. She returns home to Seattle, where Julien is also from. This brief encounter has turned her life upside down. Serena is turning 30 soon and what does she have to show? Everything she thought she wanted was no longer the case. Serena searches for happiness and in doing so, quits her job of 8 years and breaks up with her long-term boyfriend. There were parts that I really liked about this story. Finding your true self and being happy with yourself. I loved the friendships that Serena had. Odette is amazing! I didn’t love Serena’s obsession with Julien and her constant search to find him again. It felt like too much. Overall, this was a fun debut, I enjoyed this story and can’t wait to see what Alexander comes up with next.

Wow, the beginning of this book certainly starts with a bang with a New Orleans bachelorette party and a chance meeting that sparks a connection between two strangers at a Bourbon Street Bar. A connection that is so strong that upon arriving home, it leads the main character to totally upend her life!!

I’ve always loved the romantic notion of love-at-first-sight and this story delivered that in a really quick, kinda chaotic way! I was a little thrown off at first with everything that was going on, but my lovely @aotmbookclub ladies encouraged me to keep reading and I’m really glad I did. The main character, Serena, really grew on me and as we learn more of her backstory, you get a better understanding for her behavior at the beginning of the book. Her strength, ability to take chances, and pursuit in finding her passion was really admirable. Also, the healing journey we see her experience was wonderful and I was happy with the way her life came together. There was a fun twist in this one, unique characters, and some really outrageous events that really made for an interesting read!

I flipped between the print and audiobook versions of this one and I really loved the narrator for the audio! If you are looking to pick this one up, I would definitely recommend checking that version out! A huge thank you to @harperperennial for the arc copy of Love Buzz in exchange for an honest review.

I really thought this story was unique for a romance. It's girl meets boy, then they lose track of each other. But the spark between them and the thoughts of what "could be" sends the main character into a tailspin and upends her life. Everything is chaotic, including her search for the guy she met. But I loved the peace she finds amidst the chaos. I honestly think she could have never found the guy again and I would have been happy with the story. The actual happy ending was sweet, though.

I did find the narrator a little hard to listen to at times. I had to get used to the cadence and the over-pronunciarion. It didn't ruin the story at all for me though, so not a huge complaint.

I would recommend this book.

4.5 stars! This romantic comedy was adorable, humorous and chock full of interesting characters. I loved it!
Serena Khan meets a handsome stranger at her cousin's Mardi Gras bachelorette celebration. She is immediately struck by him, but in the rush of his friends getting kicked out of the bar, and Serena's bride-to-be cousin throwing up everywhere, Serena only knows 4 things about Julian and none of them are his last name! His name is Julian, he lives on Chamber Hill, he works at a tech company and he loves Nirvana and Lil Wayne.
The overwhelming urge to find this handsome stranger is not part of Serena's plan. She is supposed to be featured in her college alumni's paper for the Life at Thirty article. Instead of having it all together, Serena is falling apart and finding herself (and Julian) will take some time. Luckily, her journey is as sweet as it is entertaining.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for this audio e-arc.*