Thanks to Netgalley and LM Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beer Fest is my first read by author, Lilo Moore. It’s a friends to lovers story about Fiona and Max. Longtime best friends, who met as international students when they were young, their most recent meet up at Oktoberfest in Germany was a long time coming after the lockdowns during the pandemic.

Fiona is a self described relationship disaster area whose long distance best friend, Max, who now lives in Germany. When they finally get to meet up again, they and their friends are thrown into a competition at Oktoberfest stretching over several weeks. What’s at stake is prize money that could keep Max’s small micro brewery afloat.

This sweet reunion story turns spicy when Fi realizes her feelings for Max aren’t just platonic anymore.

If you like spicy friends to lovers books, this may be for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.
This was a great book and I'll be purchasing it for the library.

On no. No no no no. This was bland boring forgettable and one dimensional. The plot was riddled with bad dialogue and holes.

This was juste laugh out-loud funny! Hilarious! The setting was a choice I'll give you that, but as someone who has studied German for now 7 years and is a German major in college, it was just so entertaining and really refreshing as well as a good representation of German culture. I truly love the friends-to-lovers trope and I absolutely rooted for our two main characters.

I really wanted to like this. It has all the things I love, best friends to lovers, beer, a ragtag cast of characters, but it just didn’t go down as easily as it should have.

This seemed really cute. But I didn’t connect with the characters and some of the Oktoberfest details didn’t seem right to me.

A really fun Oktoberfest book with MCs in their 30s, a great cast of characters, and plenty of beer! I look forward to more from Lilo Moore.

I loved the diversity. The setting really took me to Germany and Europe. Loved the banter and description of the MC's. I loved it so much I recommended it to my book group!

I wanted to love this one because of the premise because I mean what's not to love about a rom com set during Oktoberfest. But i also fell flat because it didn't seem like the author truly understood what Oktoberfest is suppose to be.

I was not a fan of this book. It was a DNF for me. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for me honest review.

I really enjoyed this latest book from Lilo Moore, set to a backdrop of Oktoberfest.

Now I've never read anything set at Oktoberfest before, nor do I drink beer, or know anything about this annual beer festival, so have no idea how accurate anything is, but if you like doing loads of wacky things in and amongst increasingly drunk people then it could be the festival for you.

Fi hasn't seen best friend Max in a few years in the flesh, and the rest of their group in many years, but its like a reunion for them all.

And they get suckered into taking part in a team contest over the fest that takes in truth or dares in addition to assorted challenges.

And Fi and Max are rather competitive and so we get to see a whole lot of fun and funny activities as they attempt to win.

But in that they grow closer and there is clear chemistry between them, even though they are allegedly just good friends.

Max was easily my favourite character and I would love to see more of him in he future.

And the raunchy scenes were fabulous.

This was a greatly enjoyable romp through Oktoberfest, featuring friends, sex and more!

Thank you to LM Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. It just wasn’t for me.

Such a fun romance! I loved the setting. But more important the character development was strong and they each came into their own as they fell in love. Now I want a good beer! Thanks for the arc

Octoberfest, friends, a kiss..... But there is more to this story than just that. But having said that it wasn't what I expected and I found it a bit slow and not really all that interesting. It did pick up a bit the further you got into it but it was still somewhat long-winded and I must say I skipped so much of it just to get to the end.

Sorry to say it wasn't a book for me but I can see why others might like it.

Thank you NetGalley and LM Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

It took me a while to get into this story. It wasn’t until I was a third of the way in did it start to actually appeal to me. I will admit part of it came from some of the references for Oktoberfest which I was unfamiliar with. I do love the friends to lovers trope and it was nice how after some initial awkwardness were able to still maintain their 15 year friendship.

I absolutely loved this Rom-Com and the spice! I loved every word of this. The characters were great and believable and I adored the setting! 5 stars!
I just reviewed Beer Fest by Lilo Moore. #BeerFest #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Fi and her best friend Max reunite at Oktoberfest with their study abroad friends. A drunken dare leads them to kiss, sparking romantic feelings. Fi grapples with their changing relationship, navigating challenges and truths. As they face dares and emotional revelations, Fi must confront her feelings for Max and the impact on their friendship and her career.

.Best friends to lovers
.One bed
.It’s always been you
.Found family

I thought about DNFing this book around the 20% mark, but I'm glad I didn’t. I actually ended up enjoying this book a lot. I struggled at first with the punctuation, especially the blending of dialogues with internal monologues, which occasionally made it challenging to follow. The inclusion of numerous German words without contextualization makes it a bit hard to understand at times. However, once you push past these initial barriers, the story unfolds as an amusing and engaging narrative.

The Oktoberfest setting adds a delightful layer of fun to the tale, featuring copious amounts of drinking and peculiar challenges. Most importantly, it brims with heartwarming moments shared between two close friends. The vivid descriptions of various locations in Munich lend an authentic backdrop to the story. For me, the premise of the characters meeting during their international exchange at university struck a personal chord, bringing back fond memories and cementing my connection with the characters.

Plus, Max is such a cinnamon roll that I wished he were a real person. On the other hand, I could not find one redeeming quality to Florian’s character.

The post-COVID theme of feeling adrift and far from loved ones hit hard. After reading several reviews of this book, I've come to the conclusion that it's crafted with a more international audience in mind, it seems written for those of us who have found a home far from our roots.

The spice is good and incorporates one of my favourite micro-tropes rarely found in books: The MMC offering to “help” the FMC out when she’s horny, even before they officially become an item. That particular scene? 🔥

To sum it up, this was a super fun read!

(This review will be posted on Instagram @Beco_books)

Unfortunately this one was not for me, I DNF'd at about 36%. I wasn't connecting with it. I wish Ididn't have to rate this as I would never intentionally want to tank a review or rating. But one star is what I ahve here.

This book is not for me. I struggled so much to finish it. I don't DNF a book easily but everytime I tried, couldn't read more than 2-3 chapters, took me almost a month to finish. The MCs don't have any chemistry. Forget about chemistry, even their friendship of years seemed fake to me. I couldn't connect to any of the characters, not even the side ones. And for God's sake, why was the FMC so horny from the 1st chapter? I like a little spice but that was too extreme. The game/competition wasn't interesting at all. But I liked some parts of it like the truth and dare, proposing the person at your side etc. Overall it's a disappointment to me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange of an honest review.