One-Star Romance is a five-star romance from Laura Hankin, and I loved reading the story behind the story on this one.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of One- Star Romance by Laura Hankin!

I was surprised this cute title had such an emotional and heartfelt tone, which had a great blend of romance, humor and character growth.

Natalie is a struggling writer and now she and MC Rob are grappling with how their life and career have turned out at this point.

I loved the inclusion of books, and the enemies-to-lovers and forced proximity tropes were so fun, a guaranteed page turner full of tension! I paired the audio with the book and truly enjoyed the narration.

*many thanks to Berkley romance, prh audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Author Laura Hankin tends to write books about imperfect women handling things imperfectly and this book is no exception! And I mean this in a good way. Natalie and Rob are pretty relatable, and I like the slow burn aspect of their dynamic.

If you like the slow burn, and then frenemies to lovers trope, pick this one up.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

This was a very cute read. I enjoyed the characters - they were opposites, but you could feel the attraction between them.

This was more on the women's fiction side of romance. I actually liked that part. The characters had a life outside of each other.

The whole book felt a little long to me.

I thought this was going to be WAY sillier based on the premise of a romance between an author and someone who left a one star review on their book but it turned out to be kind of deep?? I still enjoyed it a lot, surprisingly. It didn't feel like a typical romance and instead felt closer to a slice of life literary fiction book. Excellent all around.

ONE-STAR ROMANCE was such a fun will-they won't-they romance! I also love how it takes place over so many years -- it felt incredibly realistic, plus the development of the friendships was such a great touch!

A rom com that is labeled as a light romance but delivers way more. I’m in! I will not lie, while Natalie had so much growth throughout this book, there were times I was struggling to even see her point of view. Or to even like her. She reminded me of my pessimistic bestie whom sometimes I struggle to like. She could never just be happy for someone or something without throwing her two cents of bitterness in. While the book takes place over a ten-year time frame, it was nice for it to be sectioned out into seven different parts, making it not so daunting. And I will be the first to talk about tension between two main characters, because I eat that stuff up. Leave no crumbs, I want them all!

One of my favorite reads of the year! I truly could NOT PUT THIS DOWN. Natalie is so incredibly relatable and I loved seeing her growth through out the book. A beautiful book about self growth and the evolution of friendship. The tension between Rob & Natalie DELICIOUS

Genre: RomCom/Contemporary

Format: Audio/E-book

5🌟 - I loved it!

I loveeeee @laurahankin’s books!! She is also the most lovely person. Loved being able to chat with her and our #tttbuddyread!

This is such an ode to growing up and feeling left behind, shifting friendships, navigating love and relationships, and this felt just so relatable!

Laura’s wit, storytelling, and writing style is always a hit with me!

This one fell flat for me. I enjoyed the premise and it started off well, although I had some reservations about the main character, I was curious to see how she evolved. I think I stopped around the 50% mark. The main character was not improving, in fact she was getting worse and I was just really confused. I felt like she was too self-centered. Why can't she just be happy for her friend? Why does she feel the need to say her own opinion about everything! Like maybe at one point your friend said "I would never marry at 25" but why do you need to hold her to those words she randomly said during girl chat one night? Are they some how binding? Is she not allowed to change her mind without running it by you first? Also if you have come to the realization that you may have partially based your book on your friend's life life, can you not just own up to it and apologise?

I wasn't a fan of the time jumps either and the illusion to maybe have infidelity, If you want to act on your feelings for someone else, have a discussion with the person you are with first. It is not that hard.

I love when books have books (and authors or publishers or libraries) in them.

The synopsis and the cover suggest a light romance but this is about a lot more. I’m not usually a fan of this bait and switch tactic but I’ll forgive it this time because the writing is great and I connected and rooted for the main characters. There are moments that Natalie walked the line between relatable flaw and fatal flaw but her growth helped make it relatable for me.

There is witty banter balanced with some more serious issues, I found I didn’t want to put it down.

Told over 10 years and in seven parts, the two main characters run into each other in their friends’ lives and must figure out how to coexist as enemies. I was invested more in their struggles and growth than the romance. But as the years passed I grew fond of the characters and their outcome and that they finally get their act together.

I’ve love this trend of smashed genres and this one does a great job of blurring the lines between women’s fiction and rom coms without doing either one a disservice.

Huge thank you to @berkleypub @berittalksbooks @thephdivabooks @dg_reads and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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This book has my heart! This is a romance but it’s also a love story between best friends. I looked at this cover and thought adorable, rom-com, which it is at times adorable but it’s so much more than just a rom com. Yes, it tells the tale of Natalie and Rob from enemies to lovers, but it’s also is a portrait of finding your true self and how best friends grow together, apart and back together again. I loved this one!

Not sure why, but this book didn't resonate with me. It was missing something, and I think it was romance and tension. This should have been a friends to friends book. Idk, it just wasn't for me.

Super cute, slow burn romance! This one was especially fun because it really centered around two couples. I waffled back and forth between sort of loving and hating the men in the story throughout but that also kept me intrigued. A great read for a rainy day!

I will first start off by apologizing on the late review. Life happens on life's terms and these got away from me. However, that leads me into this book. I really feel like Laura just gets life, if you know what I mean. She writes with profound realness that has you relating and rooting for the characters like no other author. Laura captures the experience of feeling like you are living life wrong. Hence my first statement on being late to a review. I must forgive myself for not being perfect. This is played out in her novel as she explores the main characters desires to find her place with a job, a relationship and friends. It very much captures the dynamic of changing friendships as some people marry and have kids while others are not and maybe career oriented. However, I am a little frustrated by the reality that women can have both was not further explored. I do at times feel like women are often pitted against each other or grouped into categories of those "with kids" and those "without." Very relatable with a happy ending!

It took me a while to get into it; I usually don't go for slow burns, and this story was nice, but it is the slowest of slow burns. I did have to push myself through the story. It dragged too much for me. It honestly took me forever to read. That being said, it is enjoyable, and I would recommend this to readers who prefer slow burns

This book captures the messiness of love in all its forms, while also capturing the weird feelings of life in your twenties.

I enjoyed this one, but feel as though marketing it as a romcom is a misstep - this read more like “women’s fiction” (a term I don’t love), because at the heart of the story isn’t really the love story of Natalie and Rob, it’s the friendship and sisterhood of Natalie and Gabby. Which I actually enjoyed more than the romance, as it honestly seemed to have more substance.
In the last few sections of the book, too, the overall tone got much heavier than the average romcom. This, combined with the focus on friendship, makes me think it would’ve been better to have been marketed differently, as my expectations were far from what the novel delivered.