I’m currently binging my NetGalley’s trying to catch up and even though I might go cross-eyed from all the fictional romance, this one hooked me. I loved the premise, the realistic timeline of the relationship, and the challenges that we would all face while trying to absorb the sudden and swift change to a person’s lifestyle when overnight stardom finds them. The supporting cast of characters were wonderful (even Madison at the end…). I especially loved the visit to Georgia and the small-town southern touch that Jake gives us. I don’t feel like I have clear picture of the full cast of characters though, so I’d like to have seen a few more physical descriptors there as we were introduced. Also, all the “eye darkening” was so redundant it was distracting and the third act miscommunication breakup was predictable. But, the story itself is good, so I pushed through and I’m glad I did. The book was enjoyable and heartwarming, Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Till There Was You was a perfect quick weekend read, with solid plot and a lovely NYC setting. There were for sure some gaps in character and plot development, but as a debut novel, checked many of my boxes for a contemporary romance! I would have liked to seen a more genuine connection between the MCs, which would have made me more likely to really root for them.

This was a good adult contemporary romance novel, and I love the cover of it!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

This book was sooo cute! I honestly didn’t expect to like it so much. I enjoy a celebrity romance, and this one hit all the right notes. Lexi and Jake gave me Wade and Zoe vibes from Hart of Dixie which I loved! Such a fun and sweet couple. Both MCs were such likable characters, and I loved that they both had their own lives going on and didn’t sacrifice that for a relationship. The side characters were so fun too! I loved Lexi’s friends! Overall such a cute romance and I would def recommend.

Unfortunately, this didn't work for me. It was cute enough but I found it overly repetitive, and I never really rooted for the couple. It was a bit too insta-love for me as well.

Beautifully sweet, and wonderfully addicting. I couldn't put this book down. Page after page I wanted more and more. I truly loved it, and reading a romcom after so much fantasy recently was so refreshing. Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book.

Till There Was You has a lovely premise, a few of my favorite tropes, and some genuinely hilarious moments, but at the end of the day it read like a debut novel.

Synopsis:

A chef named Lexi and a musician named Jake meet and fall for one another quickly. Jake leaves to record some songs. She had not heard back from him for a long while. He rises to fame using a song he wrote about her. He comes back into her life and tries to win her back.

My Thoughts:

After reading this book, I immediately added blueberry pancakes to my breakfast menu. I cannot wait to try out the secret ingredient mentioned in the book by the FMC Lexi. I loved Lexi's character for her ambition, passion for food, and kindness to others. Jake is laid-back and charismatic. I loved Jake's character for his charm and his ability to push Lexi outside of her comfort zone.

Lexi and Jake's chemistry was off the charts. The intimate scenes were enough to keep me interested but not too spicy. I liked how they were portrayed as loyal and accepting of one another for who they were. Most importantly, they respected one another's career paths.

I adored the bond between Lexi and her two best friends. They supported one another one hundred percent, no matter what. I hope her two friends will get a book of their own one day. I would love to read about how their lives unfold. There were hints of them meeting someone, but I wonder how it turns out for them.

Lindsay Hameroff did a great job ensuring all characters' career paths were understood. I understood their jobs' realities and the conflicts separating work life from personal relationships. It was evident that sometimes we can't always separate the two and must figure it out. I learned that sometimes, what we think we want for ourselves, we can grow out of it. Go after what makes you truly happy in life.

This book is for you if you like:
Instant love, Musician + Foodie (chef), Second Chances, Serenades, Blueberry Pancakes 😉, New York Life, Career vs. Love, and low spice.

Love Always, Catherine

ALERT: Don't read this book when you're hungry!!

I absolutely adored this perfect romance. I love reading about musicians and food, so this one was right up my alley! I thought these characters were so well-rounded, their relationship was so full of love and chemistry, and the pacing of the story was perfect.

Personally, I love when a character goes on a self-discovery journey in a romance book. Our relationships in real life help us find out more about ourselves, and I love when books reflect that! This MC went on such a cathartic journey - it was so moving to see her come to terms with the way her trauma had affected her and the way she related to the people close to her. I loved that Jake was so unwavering in his love and support of Lexi, knowing that she needed to find her own way to him.

I also loved the casual Jewish representation in this book! I love when a book doesn't have to be JEWISH with capital letters to still feel representative of Jews. As a mostly secular NYC Jew myself, I felt really seen by this book.

OBSESSED!! I can't wait to see what this author does next.

Thank you NetGalley & St. Martins Press for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

I had a lot of fun with this book! The NYC setting was an instant grab for me! I am such a sucker for anything in this setting! Paired with a FMC who is a chef & a MMC who is a newly found rock star! It was such a promising book!

Right off the bat I was hooked! The writing was bingeable and I ate it up! The chemistry between our MC’s was off the charts! I was rooting for the two of them immediately and loved how they just had that instant connection. For me, I love the kitchen scenes. having worked in the food industry for years as a bartender, bar manager, and server, I laughed so hard at the line about crying in the walk-in cooler! We’ve all been there! Haha

At times the book felt a bit juvenile with our FMC Lexi would be overly upset about not being a head chef yet. Like girl, you just graduated culinary school and are working in a highly renowned restaurant! You’re going to be in that position for a while sweetie!! I understood the underlying message of misogyny within the work place and loved how Lexi and Mia bonded over their shared experiences. Her grief over the loss of her mother felt so powerful and I loved how she connected cooking to love. Her friendships were interesting between her two best friends and at times I was cracking up with their conversations. It felt like true conversations between friends despite sometimes being overly silly.

Jake Taylor, our male MC felt like a guy wise beyond his years. After meeting Lexi in a dive bar where he performs on stage, their instant connection flourishes and they spend one night together. He tells her he wants to become a music star and takes off for Hollywood the next day after their passionate and sizzling night together. After a few short days, he drops off the face of the earth and stops communicating with Lexi. Next thing we know, he is a huge star and has a hit song on the radio called “Blueberry” based on Lexi!

A year goes by and Jake only gets more famous while Lexi is working her kitchen job and questioning her life choices. He turns up at her door one day and their connection is back as if nothing has changed in their time apart. Jake whisks Lexi off her feet by bringing her to her favorite Play and on trips with him back home to meet his family. She even becomes part of the tabloids as his secret girlfriend while they’re trying to figure out where they stand since Jake is only back in NY to record his second album before going on tour. Lexi is stubborn and refusing to see their obvious chemistry. On top of all of this, Jake’s manager Vinny is scheming behind the scenes and trying to boost Jake’s celebrity status even further by pairing him with the hottest female artist and causing tensions to rise.

While there was a lot of potential with this book, it felt very formulaic as times and the third act break up just made me so mad! I also won’t get over this one part where Lexi is trying to get to Times Square with her 3 other friends and the guard tells her he can only take 3, not 4 people. Like.,.. why? Haha made no sense!

You’ll love this if you like:
-Celebrity Romance
-Second Chance Romance
-Cooking/Restuarant Life
-Hilarious Banter
-Opposites Attract
-NYC backdrop

I absolutely adored this book!! It had some of my favorite tropes and nothing better than the banter between our FMC and MMC. The fact that she wants to be an outstanding chef and he runs a dive bar, it had me kicking my feet in the middle of the night and giggling like I was in my early 20s again!

Jake was an absolute jerk and I love that for him. Seriously, I love that this main character had personality and flaws! It made the story so interesting!

Lexi and Jake hook up and have a great connection. Then he gets famous overnight and any relationship they could have had seems impossible.

Lexi has a real job, real money woes (although she is, admittedly, pretty privileged, her dad did gift her a New York Apartment). She's trying to keep her stressful job as a chef while trying to make a new relationship work with a celebrity.

I'm impressed that this is Hameroff's debut! Great contemporary romance. I had a great time reading it and was quite engaged the whole time.

There are sex scenes in the book but they're mostly fade-to-black, not detailed at all.

I really wanted to like this but just had a tough time with all the random sexual jokes and content.
I did like the writing style and hope that this book finds it reader!

I recommend all this book to my former Wattpad readers and anyone that is a fan of boybands. I got such strong One Direction vibes from this book. The book itself was good, although I wasn't the biggest fan of the fmc. It's a fan, second-chance romance between a chef and the famous singer who got famous after they met.

Thank you to the publisher for my e-copy.

In Til There was You by Lindsay Hameroff, Lexi’s has one amazing weekend with aspiring musician, Jake. The. She realizes that his first hit song is about her.

Suddenly Jake comes back into her life and she has to choose between her dream of being a chef and owning her own restaurant and Jake.

I love a celeb/normie romance, it is my favorite trope. Throw in food and I’m all in.

I loved Jake. Lexi annoyed me at times and seemed a bit whiny but I can also see how the insecurities of dating someone with fame might creep in.

This book definitely follows the typical romance tropes of miscommunication, breakup, HEA but when that predictability is just what you need, pick this one up.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this advanced reader copy.

When I tell you I read this entire book in a single day and spent the entire time craving my mother’s pancakes (spoiler alert she made them for me). That to me is a sign of a very enjoyable reading experience.

I love a good whirlwind romance and all that comes with it. My one misgiving is I felt like Lexi was FAR TOO forgiving and quick to move past Jake’s mistakes. If someone I had spent a beautiful weekend with and then slowly ghosted me and then showed up over a year later I definitely would have had a lot more yelling to do over the entire situation. Alas, that doesn’t make for a good romance so I can understand why that part of the story was expedited.

Honestly, this is a super fun romance, especially for people who love a food based story. Set in NYC, filled with rockstars, chefs, parental issues, excellent best friends, an instalove romance… like what doesn’t this book have?

Wonderful story for everyone to enjoy. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy reading!

⭐️: 5 stars

Oh that was just so sweet and special…… I loved every page of this book. Each moments with Jake and Lexi made me love them more. The side characters fell flat for me a got them mixed up a bit I think that was more me though. I love how much growth each character goes through. I love that they take responsibility for themselves instead of blaming others in the end ….

this book is a treasure that I will be rereading many times ♥️ I went a purchased this book this morning after finishing it last night.

My only complaint with the book is I wanted an epilogue to tell us what a year or so down the line looks like for these characters.

Listen part of this is on me because this is a celebrity romance which is decidedly one of my least favorite tropes. I thought the beginning 25% was pretty cute but ultimately the last 75% didn't end up working for me.

Lexi is focused on her new career as a chef and her first real job in a kitchen after graduating from culinary school. She has no intention of pursuing anything other than cooking, when she meets Jake out at a bar and they go home together and end up spending the weekend together until Jake needs to leave to go to LA to meet with a music exec. Lexi never hears from Jake again despite his assurances that she would and not long later, she hears his new hit single on the radio which is surely inspired by her/her blueberry pancake recipe. After a year of not hearing from him, Jake shows back up to Lexi's apartment.

I liked their chemistry in the beginning and thought the writing was well done!

I didn't like... a whole lot of anything else unfortunately. Basically what it ends up boiling down to for me is that I could see the third act breakup coming from several miles away. It's the breakup that happens in basically every celebrity romance. I just wanted something with a little more depth (all of the "issues" were wrapped up pretty rapidly).

I also needed way more from the sex scenes. Honestly those scenes read like the author was uncomfortable with what she was writing unfortunately. There was basically zero foreplay also which just...listen in 2024 we deserve better my gals and pals.

I thought both characters were really naiive and immature in the last half of the book - like DUH you don't get unlimited PTO with your job and DUH you hanging out with your ex is going to upset your current girlfriend. Jake also says some incredibly shitty things to her as they're breaking up that he absolutely needed to grovel for and he did not.

Thank you to Netgalley and SMP for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Very cute little romcom. It did take me a little bit to read through it. There wasn't anything too special about this one but I did appreciate the writing and thought it was a fun read.