Another delightful "Enemies to lovers" book about a book club and saving community garden lady versus CEO whose Company wants to destroy it and build something urbanic. That cliche conflict We use to see in other stories, but with a touch of intimacy and originality from the author. The narrative is easy to follow up, the plot and setting is well built, and the most important thing to me was the development of the main characters. Altough Lily and Rupert starts with the wrong foot in their first meeting, as the story goes, the reader can see maturity and honesty from both partners despite of the complex situation they're in. I liked a lot the way the writer did an adult relationship. This was exactly the kind of book that gives all that promises and I loved every page!

Cute closed door romance. The story feels a tad rushed and I wish I got more of the romance building as the story went on - the character fell in love very fast in my opinion and I was wanting more from their relationship and friendship. The characters and storyline were both very lovable and it felt as cozy as a Hallmark movie.

🪴ARC Review🪴

Rupert is a property developer and Lily is a librarian that is very involved in her community. Lily spends her free time working and planning events at the Oasis community garden. The Garden is under threat of being demolished by Ruperts company to add affordable housing.

This was an easy read and a good story overall. However, I found myself wanting more connection from Lily and Rupert. There was very little romance for a romance book. A lot of the book felt like it was two stories that occaonially overlapped but when it overlapped it was a cute and sweet connection. Overall I feel like something was missing and I wanted to see more of Lily and Rupert relationship.

Thank you to Net Galley and StrawBundle for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fun and breezy romance! I enjoyed it.

Hats off to the writer for a well researched book- I feel like I learnt a lot about community gardens, the role of public libraries and the conflicts involving real estate developers & the legal ramifications! Overall, the whole story arc is well thought out and feels quite mature.

Kudos to the writer for including a rich cast of diverse characters, which didn't feel like thrown in the book just for the sake of it, however these were well researched and presented too.

It was fun to read the meet-cute between Lily and Rupert and their overall journey throughout the story, including how they resolved their conflicts. I'd give it a 4.5/5! Here's my only gripe - I felt like the setting was ripe for more tension and banter between the MCs, than what was presented.

Overall this was a great read!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. What a divine romance book that encompasses such a range of important topics.

This novel follows the lives of Lily and Rupert and how their narratives intertwined.

From the first moment we met Lily, we were provided with an honest, 'normal' library worker and this made me root for her even more. It was refreshing to be presented with a female romance protagonist that worked a normal job and lived a normal life. She had real drive and passion in her areas of interest and this was wonderful to see.

Rupert was a fantastic male protagonist, showcasing his gentle nature from his very first interaction with Lily. He, additionally, was passionate about his line of work and the battle in his head between his career and Lily was really interesting to witness.

Their loves and passion for their careers, Rupert fighting to become co-CEO and Lily to save the garden, played a vital role in the narrative and this is what made this book so enjoyable. They were both stubborn and willing to fight anything and anyone to protect/get their desired outcome and it was so refreshing that they were both such strong individuals.

Genuinely, a totally delightful romance read.

Such a quick easy cute read. Lily and Rupert are supposed to be enemies because of their conflicting plans on the community garden. Their connection is immediate and gives you all the best feels. They’re shared love of books is one of their biggest connections and it’s so darn cute! I would have loved to see less of some characters(Lily’s neighbor) and more of her friends. Luckily Love is an Art will be out soon.

I haven't read a warm, fuzzy book in a while but I am so glad I decided to read this one. It is a short, sweet read with lots of love and feel good vibes. Perfect beach read.

The New York setting in this book is described so well and I loved the dual POV.

Lily was a tough, yet vulnerable character and the way that she fought to save her beloved gardens was admirable!

Rupert was a complex character with believable flaws who was split between wanting to please his family and save the gardens (and his relationship with Lily)

There were a couple of plot points that didn't add up for me but overall this was a great, easy read with swoon worthy chemistry, a hunky MMC and a FMC who wasnt looking for someone to save her or complete her, just someone she could share her life with.

My Book Boyfriend
This was such a cute fun read. If I could find me a man like Rupert i would be one very happy girl, cause any man that reads like him is definitely a catch.

I loved this book the slight enemies to lovers was done really well and I liked that even with the conflict of the garden being in trouble Rupert and Lily didn't give up on their feelings for one another.

I would definitely recommend giving this book a read.

I received a free advanced copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review

I kinda loved this book. It was a fast and easy read. I was craving more at the end. I love the whole enemies to lovers theme. I also love a male character that reads and enjoys it. I can't wait to read more from this author.

This was a short and sweet little romance! I enjoyed reading it! I was so thrilled that both the main characters didn’t have a stupid miscommunication style break up like I had originally anticipated. I thought I smelled it coming but was pleasantly surprised. Sometimes I will DNF a book as soon as adults start acting like middle school teenagers who don’t communicate any better than animals lol. Didn’t have that problem at all with this book! It’s a quick read that will get you out of a reading slump!

I wanted so badly to love this book. A rom-com in NYC about people who love books. But honestly from the first page I just couldn't get into the premise. All I could think the whole time was that the garden people were totally in the wrong using land that didn't belong to them. There was no small loving community against the big corporation. They owned the land and got to do what they wanted with it, even if the garden people wished it belonged to them. Also- no way this guy walks into a bookstore the day a book comes out and when they don't have it goes down to the nearest library that he somehow doesn't have a card for. He definitely would have had it pre-ordered. His next choice if it wasn't in the store would have been to go to one of the other million bookstores. And no way someone who loves books that much and grew up in NYC doesn't already have a library card. I could go on with all the things I felt like were too unrealistic to make the story enjoyable.

A cute, cheesy little romcom. The setting was fun, but honestly I had a bit of trouble getting into the characters. It felt a bit stiff and predictable. But if you're looking for a light, predictable romance I think you'll enjoy this!

My Book Boyfriend is a feel-good, enemies-to-lovers romance. Highly recommend if you like romance with a strong-willed, passionate heroine, a sweet book boyfriend, and HEA.

I enjoyed both characters POV and how there was more endearment towards each other over hostility throughout the story. It was a nice change that Rupert wasn't moody and rude to Lily like in most romantic billionaire books. I also liked the aspect of creating your own family with those in your community. It was emphasized how much the community garden helps people of all ages and backgrounds as well as how it creates strong bonds and lifelong friendships. Where I live we don't have things like community gardens so this was a new world to me and I enjoyed learning about this. I will definitely be checking out more of Kathy Strobos' books.

Thank you NetGalley and Strawbundle Publishing for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

First that caught my attention was the ✨TITLE✨

It got me thinking: Are we in for another fictional man of a bookworm’s dream?

The story took off pretty well. Librarian meets ✨bookish✨ business man who’s about to tear down the garden they have established.

Again, it took off pretty well. There was the spark. I just didn’t find the middle part as enticing. Perhaps, the beginning was too good that the next ones weren’t able to catch up.

It started getting interesting once again, towards the end though. Will they or will they not end up together?

I love both the leads’ circle but sometimes they tend to say a lot that doesn’t add flavor to the plot. I appreciate Rupert’s granpa’s advice of keeping Lily but somewhere along those same lines, my focus decreased.

Another reason I don’t put this book close to my heart is that there were decisions that the leads made that I think were borderline red flags. Like breaking up when they may have been closer to resolving their problem together than apart.

t's a very short and sweet story.
It dives right into the life of Lily and Rupert, who are on opposite sides of a deal to remove Lily's beloved community garden.
It's an enemies-to-lovers story, but to me they didn't feel like enemies.
The only thing I felt was love and sweetness.
Did I mention they both love books?
Although it sometimes felt a little rushed, it left me with fuzzy feelings.

I’ve read and enjoyed all of Kathy Strobos’ novels, and was pleasantly surprised to learn she has her newest out this month. My Book Boyfriend was a fun romance/women’s fiction novel, set in New York City, with great characters and snappy dialogue.

Lily is a New York librarian who is passionate about her job, reading, and making a difference in her community. This community focus follows her post-work, as she works to build a community garden that brings young and old together and offers cultural activities for local families.

Unfortunately, the future of the community garden is at risk, and Rupert is set to bulldoze the unofficial community garden to complete his newest building project for the family firm. After all, his grandfather, who detests any sign of weakness, hasn’t yet named him CEO. And this project can make or break him.

Lily has been spectacularly unlucky in love and Rupert is handsome, smart and loves reading, but is this nascent love story destined to fail as Lily and Rupert square up to fight one another? You’ll enjoy this romantic, fast-paced, feel-good story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy - all thoughts are my own.

My Book Boyfriend was such a cute and easy romance novel that I read it in one sitting.
It had everything that I could want in a romance novel and more. The story was cute and the main characters chemistry was sweet. A really enjoyable read that I highly recommend.
❤️ Thank you to netgalley and the author/publisher for my arc ebook copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

I wasn't a huge fan of the way the story was constructed. The concept was great but the execution could have been better. Overall, the characters were likable and this was a cute read with funny and emotional elements.

I am not too shy to admit that I was drawn to this book by the title, and I’m also not too proud in saying that I’ve got many many book boyfriends, if you can add a book boyfriend to my list I know you’re an automatic purchase author for me, however I will add Kathy Strobos is already long on that list. The next thing on the list that made me definitely want to read it was the mention of New York, I’m an addict, I’ve been several times, so if you write romance and set it in New York I’m going to buy it !

So we were already on a sure thing for me in knowing I’d enjoy this book, but in case these things aren’t ticking your boxes, I shall add that Kathy’s writing is wonderful, its engaging, the kind of writing where you forget your reading and two hours later you swear it was only 5 minutes ago you opened the book. She writes fantastic characters, ones I love or fall in love with, never perfect, always realistic, relatable and flawed people you really connect with.

This book included some of my favourite tropes too, enemies-to-lovers and found family to name just two of them. Then there’s the fantastic girlfriends Lily has, the wonderful community, so much humour, Lily is a great independent, fierce and sassy woman, the fact she’s a librarian just made her even better. A modern day Evie from the Mummy minus the supernatural although Rupert is more Tom Hanks in You’ve got Mail than Rock Conall, not that Tom Hanks isn’t absolutely perfect himself!

I really enjoyed this and it definitely gave me a gorgeous nostalgia, 90s romcom book/movie vibe and I’m completely here for that. Kathy Strobos has proved to me again why she’s one of my go to authors, for HEA, for feeling happy and warm and making the world feel a better place.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.