This was a cute debut romance! The chemistry between the characters was off the page and I loved the mixing of music and the culinary arts. I mean, a song about blueberry pancakes? Yes please!

I coincidentally started reading Till There Was You by Lindsay Hameroff on a day when I ate blueberry pancakes. Considering there are blueberry pancakes on the cover and there’s a whole plot line about it, I think it was a good sign that this book was going to be a good one!

I binge read this book in one day and I do not regret it!

Not only were the food descriptions in this book making me hungry, but I loved the references to actual NYC landmarks and spots. I also loved the Broadway/musical references sprinkled throughout the plot. This book was super descriptive overall while not taking away from the actual romance.

Both Lexi and Jake have to learn how to adapt and change their dreams to fit their dream careers and it was so nice to see both of them grow throughout the novel. Seeing an inside look at what it’s like being in culinary school and working in a kitchen juxtaposed with what it’s like to be famous and in the public eye at all times really showcased how similar and different these high-pressure careers are and how the characters cope with it.

Additionally, we see these characters grapple with grief, finding a home, and learning to trust each other after a span of time away from each other. Seeing these real life emotions play out made these characters that much more relatable and the love story that much sweeter!
If you like rockstar romances, insta-love/second chance romances, or books that highlight iconic geography, definitely check this debut novel!!

*I received an ARC from St. Martin’s Press in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to the author, publisher and @NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! And happy publication day!

I was lucky enough to meet Lindsay in a signing line at Steamy Lit and even more lucky that I was able to snag a copy of her debut novel on @netgalley

If you love a NYC setting, second chances, and grand gestures, please please PLEASE pick this up. Our musician MMC and chef FMC are fantastically written (just don’t read this hungry 😋 as the food descriptions will make you raid your pantry or fridge) and I enjoyed how well we got to know the characters over time.

Thank you @smpromance for the advance copy of this book in exchange for my opinion. I loved it! A second chance romance set in NYC, which is one of my favorite story settings!! Alexa and Jake meet in a small bar, end up going back to her place for what looks like will be a one night stand. That turns into a lovely weekend together that turns into a ghosting?!
Lexi is following her career path post culinary school and trying to become the head chef in a restaurant. I loved the behind the scenes look at the restaurant scene. Jake goes to LA, scores a record deal and skyrockets to stardom.
I loved following the relationship between Lexi and Jake. Especially the tender moments they shared outside of the spotlight.
What a sweet story! Definitely recommend this fantastic debut novel from @LindsayHameroff

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing the ARC.

I really wanted to like this book, but I don't think that is the book for me.

One, I cannot stand how naive Lexi reads on the page. I understand that she's in her early 20s and has a lot to learn, but the number of times I wanted to scream at her for reacting the way she did around Jake was infuriating. All he had to do was show up after dropping her a year and a half prior, give her a flimsy excuse for his terrible behavior, and she's ready to jump his bones. It makes her seem desperate and incapable of standing up for herself and what she wants.

And Jake - I don't know if I believe any of what he says. Sorry, you make time for the people that matter. And if Lexi had been so important to him, he would have done literally anything other than ghost her. And just when she's having a good life, he throws a grenade right in the middle of it. I don't like him or trust him as a character, and the immature way he handles things is such a huge turn off that I can't even root for his character growth.

I'm sure plenty of people will eat this up. I am not one of them and I really wish there had been some more development to hopefully get these two back to a healthy place with each other.

First off, thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this eArc!

This started off a little rough for me, but j ended up really enjoying it. The premise for this one is fun: girl meets musician boy, spends a romantic weekend with him, and next thing she knows she has inspired the ne billboard hit that catapults said musician boy to the top. Lexi’s dream is being a head chef, and it’s hard to reconcile this with her budding celebrity romance. I sometimes struggle with the celebrity scene in fiction, but this remained nicely grounded and charming, and so did the celebrity himself.

I really liked both Lexi and Jake, and found their romance to believable and sweet. It didn’t quite have the *tension* that I normally enjoy, but it did still have chemistry. Jake is incredibly charming as a character, and Lexi is very relatable. I had a hard time imagining how the two could reconcile their career differences at first, but I ended up incredibly satisfied with where everything lands. For this same reason, I actually really bought the third act break up and found that it didn’t feel forced at all.

The things I struggled with most, especially at the beginning, was the way the relationship was written. We get somewhat dry descriptions of the first weekend the two spend together, without very much dialogue. It’s a lot of “we spent all morning talking” but nothing about what they said. By the end of that period, I felt unsure what I was supposed to feel attached to about this pair. This improved later, but did persist off and on in ways that pulled me out of the story.

Regardless of this, I think Hameroff is a talented writer and that the growing pains will probably disappear in future publications. I enjoyed the charm of this, and thought the side characters were endearing, and the humor grabbing. I look forward to seeing what she does next!

LOVED! Read in one sitting and stayed up way too late to finish it!

Legit and Jake… the one long weekend together had all of my rom-com dreams come true… the blueberry pancakes.. swoon!

The fight for them to get back together. Lexi’s struggle to find her place after school and figure out what she wants.. and the struggle between love and work.. It was very “this is what your 20s are for” and I loved every minute of it.

Til There Was You (ARC)
Lindsay Hameroff
3.5⭐️

Pub Date: 2/20/2024

I had high hopes for this one. I've been itching to read a good and light romance book lately and I really wanted to love this. This book is one of those classic cliche plots, career vs love, which I like when done well. But unfortunately, I found this a little lacking. Within the first meeting, the characters have already done the deed. I'm not a huge fan of insta-love to begin with so that's on me. But the more I read about that first meeting, I admit, that weekend was really special (I actually loved this part). Now both FMC and MMC actually sounded like reasonable characters, until they weren't. More so the FMC. Lex was so out of touch especially when Jake was trying to protect her from the scandals. It's not even miscommunication! Lex even recognized how ridiculous she was being.

What I like about this book though is that it gave me a glimpse of the hectic lives of chefs and celebrities. The conflict of love and career was realistic. The family relationship on each side was also very likable and heartwarming.

It's a quick and easy read, finished it in almost 1 sitting. The writing style itself is not bad and actually easy to digest. But unfortunately the plot and characters were not my cup of tea. No butterflies in my belly this time.

Till There Was You by Lindsay Hameroff sings the delicious tune of

▫️Second chance romance
▫️Love at first bumchicawawa
▫️Rockstar romance
▫️Southern style
▫️Chef life

Overall this was a cute little novel. There areomenrs where it does feel like a debut too. I enjoyed the few good laugh out loud moments, the family aspects and the supportive friend structure. Even the pursuit of what you love doing and pursuing those goals was well intertwined in the narrative. I noticed I found it difficult to believe the romance aspect with how fast things went and struggled with the filler feel of some of the chapters.

Though this had a few bumpy areas I still adored so much of the writing style and the swoon worthy moments between our MCs. I highly recommend checking out the synopsis and other reviews if you're a lover of second chance romances.

Thank you smpromance for the gifted digital copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Cute and occasionally frustrating. Lexi meets Jake while she is still in culinary school. They share a passionate weekend fling and then Jake ghosts her. He goes on to become an overnight sensation with a hit song about her pancakes. He shows up a year later at her new job wanting a second chance. But it would interfere with her career to become involved with him again. I like the idea of trying to find balances in life. But I don’t like that she is mainly the one being asked to sacrifice. The characters and the drama makes them come off younger than their mid-twenties. While I love second chance romances there is usually more of a base than a weekend fling. To me it ended with a happy for now and I wish there was an epilogue to let me believe they were really together forever.

Thank you to Lindsay Hameroff, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I couldn't really connect with any of the characters.

Lexi and her two best friends seemed childish. I did not like the time jumps. It felt like there was no resolution to conflicts and the time jumps were just there to avoid that.

Till there was you had an interesting plot line, but it ended up not being my cup of tea. I wasn't a fan of the instant romance and I wasn't interested in the rest of the book after all. I did want to like it.

I did think the cover was very cute! This just wasn't my cup of tea.

This was fine. And cute. But a little unbelievable. If Jake was so smitten after one weekend, why was he such a jerk? I didn’t really follow that part. If he really cared he could’ve found the time to at least call or text. Instead of just popping back in months later.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy on exchange for an honest review

Jake Taylor is an aspiring music star and Lexi Berman is an aspiring executive chef, both living in New York City. They meet in a dive bar where Jake performs and have an instant connection. After spending the weekend together, Jake writes a song inspired by Lexi, "Blueberry," that rockets him to stardom. But the star life is wild and overwhelming and Jake doesn't get in touch with Lexi for a while until he's back visiting NYC months later. They spend more time together, with Jake staying at her apartment. He meets her friends and she meets his family in Georgia. But the pressures of both their careers beg the question, can this relationship work when they both have other dreams?
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This one-weekend stand book got me! 💗

Normally, insta-love isn't my favorite trope, but I adored the easy chemistry between Lexi and Jake. I also liked how we got windows into both their careers and what they might be up against to stay together. This book held a lot of sweetness for me and there were elements that reminded me of certain romcoms. It was a perfect comfort read.

And I'm not joking; this may be one of my favorite contemporary romance covers EVER!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the ARC e-book.

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Griffin, St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was cute but the main characters seem about 20 and not towards their mid-twenties, you wouldn't think that would make that much of a difference but the references and word choices they use will quickly become outdated. With that being said I think this is a great debut novel from Lindsay and I see great things continuing in her writing career and I will check them out.

I really liked this book! The banter between the love interests was fun and I found myself smiling several times while reading it. Great chemistry, just a really enjoyable book all around.

I just finished Till There Was You by Lindsay Hameroff and here are my musings.


Lexi has aspirations. To become an executive chef with a michelin star. Getting into a relationship isn’t in her plan. That is, until one night she meets Jake. An aspiring musician and after a weekend together, they know this is something special. Jake promises to call her while he is recording his demo in LA…. Trouble is… He doesn’t. Jake’s dreams come to fruition but Lexi slips from his mind… Or has she? Her blueberry pancakes inspired his first hit single and Lexi has no idea he has made it big until she sees his face on the side of a bus.

Still smarting from being ghosted, she gets an entry level job at a restaurant and plans to climb the ladder in the culinary world. What she isn’t expecting is Jake to show up on her doorstep in the middle of the night…. Has Lexi wondering just what kind of a life a chef and a rockstar can have.

The book was super cute. I am a real sucker for love and I believe soul mates can conquer all and watching Jake and Lexi navigate their relationship with all the hurdles in the way, felt so realistic. My husband used to work in a kitchen so I know the author did her research on what it is like working in a kitchen and the politics within it. It can be terribly sexist as well so the author nailed that too.

It was beautifully written and I loved the laughter and the unwavering love between the two of them. I also loved Lexi’s friends. They were hilarious!

This second chance romance hit all the markers for me for a solid romance read with a touch of spicy spice to appease any smut reader.

I know some people hate insta love but I believe in it so I will take all the hate for loving this book for that.

4.5 stars! This book is my kind of perfect romance read

This was a very cute, enjoyable romance. I especially loved the side characters—the doorman, Mia, Chloe and Ali. Chad was hilariously done!

Lexi is trying to become a chef, and Jake is trying to make it as a musician. After a whirlwind weekend, they part ways and both end up further down their career paths.
Jake reappears sometime later, and Lexi has so many doubts and keeps him at arms length. She's also still struggling with her mom's death, her father suddenly moving away afterwards, and not wanting to admit that she doesn't actually enjoy working in a restaurant.
Lexi doesn't seem to take her job very seriously, always asking for time off, and I didn't like how a potential other love interest for her was handled.
The book was heavier than I expected, and I didn't love how awful Jake's manager was. Also, during a fight, Jake said some things to Lexi that I don't know that I could personally forgive.

Chef fmc + famous musician = drammmmaaa
I loved loved this book! It was super sweet and it had all the tension.
The way the author wrote their beginning meeting each other before their careers began, it really added to the tension and possible drama. It really drove me crazy. When will the next foot drop?
Another thing, im fond of was the background drama slowly conjuring up for the big blow. I could see it coming, and I loved it. Just eating way to my nails, when will they get together and when will they face the drama starter peeps!

Downside, there was some things that were repeated to end a chapter or a scene, that could've easily been left out. But, i didn't let that stop me though. The drama and tension was too good to let it get to me!

8/10 recommend it if you looking for a sappy, warm, hot, romantic, and drama filled novel to spend your free time!