Friends to lovers with beer!

Best friends Fi and Max live on different continents, but meet up through travel when they can. On the cusp of planning for a promotion and potential move to New York, he reunites with Max and old friends from their study abroad program. Max is starting up a new brewery and together they all meet up for Oktoberfest.

As a craft beer lover, I was excited to read a room com around a beer fest, and as a women I liked the representation and call out of what it is sometimes like for women - both in the industry and as consumers. I like reading about people in their mid- late 30s struggling with life in general and how everyone previously united is on their own path figuring out their own lives. No the competition aspect kept the plot moving and it was both sweet and funny. I really enjoyed this, and practically devoured it in a day.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

4/5 Stars
Thank you NetGalley for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I was originally drawn to the book due to where it takes place, Germany during Oktoberfest. I have family friends who are German and have spoken fondly about the annual tradition, so finding a rom-com set there was definitely a draw for me!

Fiona and Max are best friends since university, and haven’t let the long distance (him in Germany and her in Australia) deter their close friendship. Seeing each other for the first time in a few years, it feels different to them. Fiona can’t quite figure out what’s changed, other than suddenly wanting to kiss Max. When they are thrust into a multi-day social media beer contest, the two are forced to not only tackle the challenges but also their new feelings for each other.

I’ll admit, it took me a little bit to get into this book. I liked the characters fine, but didn’t feel myself drawn to them. Maybe it’s because I felt the chemistry and they didn’t? Or I felt the ending coming? For most of this read, I thought I would rank it 3.5 stars, but then I got to the last 100 pages. This is where the story shines and really finds it’s footing. I won’t spoil it, but the ending did help boost this to a 4 star rating. I would recommend this book to someone with a love of beer, friends to lovers trope, and steamy reads!

This is a fun friends-to-lovers romance set at the Oktoberfest in München, with a cast of 30-something friends who met as international students in Germany in their early 20s.
I loved all the characters, and Fi + Max friendship was wonderful. And even as a German who doesn't like beer or parties with many people, (and has been to Oktoberfest once and decided never to return 😂) I did have lots of fun with the story! Just beware there is lots of consummation of alcohol (if the title hasn't given that away already) and explicit sexuak content. I liked that the love interest was a queer character who was secure in his identity.

One thing that I think could have been handled better were all the negative things about events like Oktoberfest. There is tons of misogyny, sexism, sexual harassment happening. Also how the (beer) industry is so sexistic that a woman isn't respected for her actual work (at least here in Fi's case). And Fi addresses all of that! When people sexualise her when she's wearing a Dirndl and touch her without her consent, and all the time her boss treats her horrible. But most of the time, she (and her friends) don't do anything about it! Of course not everyone is brave enough to act, and Fi is scared about losing her job. But still, this is a fictional story, so I would have wished for at least one scene where it is shown that behavior like this has consequences. (More spoilery details in my storygraph review).

It's not a perfect book, for my taste the progression of the story was a bit slow at some points, but still if you look for a fun romance with a chaotic friend group, I'd recommend you to read it!

Wow!!! What a wild ride! I loved this!! It was so refreshing to read a book about a group of people in their late thirties who haven't got it all figured out, who don't know what they want from their lives.

Meeting at Oktoberfest for a reunion, Fiona and her friends navigate the wild Wiesn challenge, while all dealing with the issues from their pasts. Fiona and Max's friendship was beautiful and the way that they seemed to know each other so well, yet not know how the other felt about them kept me hooked.

This is a very spicy open door romance with some very explicit scenes, which were so well written and always felt very natural.

The ending was just perfect, not just for Fiona and Max but for all of the friends.

I read Beer Fest in a day and loved it!
Years after college, a group of international exchange students get together for a reunion. Not a typical college reunion, that would be too dry for this crowd. No, they gather at Oktoberfest.
I connected with MC Fiona, Fi, early on with her worries concerning work/life balance. Throw in her confession to her best friend Max (whom I loved from the beginning) of struggling to achieve the big o for years with a partner, and the story was set the moment these issues combined. After an outburst goes viral, her vacation plans shift from fun and o-fests to a challenge she must fulfill to keep her the job.
Her boss instructs her to join the Weisn-challenge to help smooth over the bad publicity of the viral video. Her friends join her for group challenges and Fi pairs up with Max for partner challenges.
Max is a hardworking cinnamon roll of a man with his own brewery that is struggling. Fi’s goal transitions from an attempt to keep her job, to truly win the competition for Max to have the money for his brewery. I ADORE the inside jokes they share from their years of friendship and traveling and envy their bond.
Although this book is written from Fi’s point-of-view, it’s clear other things are going on in Max’s life that become clearer as the challenge progresses and leave Fi second guessing some of her life choices and how well she really knows the man she has always considered her bestie.
All this occurs during and between the hilarity of the Weisn-challenges and Fi’s quest for an o-fest. No spoilers here, but I laughed at most of the challenges, melted during with bedroom scenes (that did I not all occur in the bedroom) and had my heartstrings tugged in all directions as Fi and Max work through everything.
Hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.
Many thanks to NetGalley and LM Books for the arc.

After having so much fun reading Berlin Calling, I again had a great time reading Beer Fest. I was drawn in and immediately hooked on Fiona and Max's friendship when starting the book, because it starts with an amazing description of them hugging when reuniting. I always think there aren't enough hugs in books, so I was immediately a fan. And this book was another great reminder of why I love the friends to lovers trope so much, their friendship absolutely stole my heart.

Omg I loved everything about this book.
I don't drink but the beer festival
Sounds fun.
Max was my absolute favourite and his and fionas friendship and relationship were beautiful. It was so realistic and beautiful. I absolutely love this book and recommend to everyone

If you want a not-super-serious, but still heartfelt, friends-to-lovers contemporary, then this book will 100% be a winner.

I will open with the not so great part: I don't think the beer-fest challenge was necessary. I understand that it is the literal premise of the book, but the narrative of "university friends get together for nostalgi hijinks" would have worked fine without the forced fun of the challenge. Almost all of the events could have happened without the ever-looming competition and the constant truth-or-dare interludes existed purely to push the plot along when the narrative had lost its way. With some tweaking this could have been an elegantly written book about what happens when everyone grows up and learns what they really want. With the competition, it all feels a little forced and out-of-character for everyone. This may be because I personally find the idea of a live streamed challenge whose only point is embarrassing its participants to be my actual worst nightmare, so others may enjoy that aspect more.

That is however, my only gripe. As for the rest: brilliant. The characters were well developed, a situation helped by the way that existing friendship let our protagonists short hand the work of falling in love on page. The setting is lovingly described and absolutely drops the reader right into the heart of the festival. Millennial readers will relate so hard to all these characters and the crossroads they are facing. In this aspect the book is a kind and compassionate examination of what happens when you do everything "right" yet the results feel all wrong. The spice is delightful and well written. Getting to the good stuff at about the halfway point really makes the book shine because the intimacy is a good foil for how the relationship is growing and changing without being gratuitous (whatever that means, smut for smuts sake is also OK by me!).

Overall, this was a fun, fast, spicy and emotional read that should be on contemporary romance fan's TBR lists for sure.

If you want a quick spicy romcom read, this is definitely one to jump on!
Fi is travelling to Germany to the Oktoberfest and to see her best friend, Max, as well as some of the other friends she made fifteen years ago when she was studying abroad.
She's working for a promotion, but she feels stagnant in her love life.
Then when she sees Max, after four years, feelings she never expected rise to the surface.
The story sees the group of friends accept a challenge to do a series of silly activities and dares in a group, as well as in partners, and the knock-on effect of these things creates a fantastic build-up for a perfect friends-to-lovers story.
And yes, there is a bit of graphic naughtiness!
Many thanks to NetGalley and LM Books for an ARC.

I loved it. End of story…but wait, there’s more! Honestly the friendship between Fi and Max made me root for them from the first pages. The descriptions took me right to Germany with ease and comfort, making me feel like I was part of that friendship group coming back together.

I loved Berlin Calling, but if possible, the author has got even better.

Thank you for the ARC copy in return for an honest review

What a great read!! This story is about Fiona and Max, two best friends from college separated by a few continents. They reunite for a trip to Octoberfest and suddenly Fiona is able to see her friend for what he really is: the love of her life.

With their old college group of friends, they enter an Amazing Race-type of challenge, which was a romp through Munich and beer festival activities. I've never been to Octoberfest, but it was vividly described and I totally got all the right vibes.

Max and Fiona were so lovely together, and you could really feel their history. And the chemistry?? WOW!! Max is a great book boyfriend. There's heat and sweetness and longing and all the best things I love about friends to lovers here. If you liked People We Meet on Vacation, you'll love this!!

I could not put this book down!!
I now have a new appreciation for the friends to lovers trope, this was written SO well and the angst, longing and comedic inner commentary just had me addicted. Lilo Moore has such a great way of writing the most relatable, messy, down to earth main characters that you can't help but fall in love with and root for.
The plot of this book was great, the two main characters have been friends for decades and have an enviable relationship, their banter and memories that they share make you feel as though you are a part of the group. I also love that the characters were older in this, they are all mid 30s ish and none of them have it all together like everyone expects, they are all getting together and just trying to figure it out. I also appreciated the spice in this haha and the really great vegan/ bi rep, there's a lot of great representation in this actually as one of the main characters has albinsim.
Overall this is a brilliant, sexy, fun and hilarious read that will make you want to grab your friends and go on a holiday and maybe look at your friends a little differently? who knows!

Beer Fest is one of the best romcoms I’ve read in a long time. It was so refreshing to read about people in their mid-30s who still haven’t figured it all out.
Best friends since their year studying abroad in Germany 15 years ago, Fiona and Max are reunited after a long 4 years due to the pandemic lockdowns and work commitments. They are joined by their other friends from their year abroad who are from all over the world for an epic adventure at Oktoberfest.
This story felt so relatable to me. The themes of friendship, change, life not turning out how you expected it to and how to navigate all the unexpected things life throws at you were refreshing and the author did a nice job of exploring them all. The writing itself was great and the characters were well crafted and introspective. I enjoyed that this was a single point of view because I loved seeing everything through Fiona’s perspective and guessing along with her what every look or comment meant from another character. This was a five star read for me because I was so excited to see what would happen next and enjoyed the plot and characters.

Loved it! A very steamy friends to lovers romcom. The spice was 10/10! I loved their friendship and the transition to love. So good!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

my first from this author and will not be my last. I really enjoyed this story and author writing. I will read more of them. Read it today. i will find more books from Lilo.

Fi and Mac have been best friends since college, although it’s been several years since they’ve seen each other in person (there was a pandemic ya know). Now reconnecting with one another and their larger friend group for their 15th anniversary of graduating from college, they get signed up for an Oktoberfest challenge and things take a turn from friendship to something more.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Watch for Beer Fest to come out September 1, 2023.

I finished it in two sittings. Beer Fest follows a group of friends, Max and Fi in particular, through a Beer Festival reunion in Munich.
The pace is quick and we’re easily transported into the festival with them, but it’s much more than that.
The setting is one I never expected to like, yet, I adored it. It’s the perfect place to carry on fun games and more importantly, the sex plan of Fi.
Everything in Beer Fest is a perfect balance of rom-com and relatable millennial angst. The characters are so real and touching. They’re grown up, but with all the flaws that make it so compelling to read.
The whole crew is amazing, but the leads are even better. Fi and Max’s relationship turns from friendship to lovers in such an organic way, their emotions and feelings exposed on paper (along with other things 🥵)

I loved seeing their romance develop.
I highly recommend !

AMAZING. I was hooked from the beginning. It’s a very sweet and steamy romcom with banter that made me giggle off my bed. The book hangover is real on this one 🙁

It's been a few days since I finished this kick-ass book, and the hangover is real! Fiona and Max have taken up residence in my head. Probably permanently.

There's just something touching about friends to lovers, I don't recall reading a true friends to lovers trope before, but I think this trope may be my new favourite.
The incredibly raw, tangible sexual tension between them kept me squirming, and once they did get together, the spice!!! Omg!! I was certainly feeling warm under my metaphorical collar!

Their friendship was something special, and the fact that they knew each other inside out and heart and soul was heart-wrenchingly beautiful.
Fi and her insecurities and not feeling enough made me want to just hug her, and when she got her 'brave', it was a stunning moment! She is the epitome of a foul-mouthed cinnamon roll!

I loved how a character that seemed to be dicks, actually redeemed themselves and underneath it all he was a decent guy.
The challenges added a hilarious competitive element to the story that I thoroughly enjoyed, and the supporting characters and their stories added a sweet, endearing layer, and I couldn't help connecting to them, too.

As always, Lilo has the best sense of humour that will keep you amused and maybe blushing, too! The swoonworthy moments are just cherries on the cake!

While this was way spicier than I usually read, I enjoyed the book because the spice was part of the core story and not just there for genre's sake. The description of 'Epic friends to lovers romance' certainly hits the nail on the head. ( innuendo intended 🥖😉)

It was a sweet, steamy rom-com. Very well written. You really get to understand Fi and Max’s internal struggles. It’s powerful and their growth is fantastic. I definitely recommend for anyone who’s looking for a funny adventure and romance.