A quick fun read. Reminds me of Sarah Adams’ writing style.
Closed door spicy scenes so that’s a bummer for me but I know some people don’t need details like that lol!

If you like instalove and found family you might enjoy this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 rounded up.

‘Love, Naturally’ is a lovely romance set out at a nature resort (of course).

Premise - Presley is a city girl stuck in a life where no one puts her first: not her lame f*ckboi boyfriend, Emmett, and not even her own parents. She gifts Emmett a romantic loverscation in the wilderness (his interest, not at all hers) but when he asks to take someone else instead, saying he couldn’t bear to spend a whole vacation stuck together with her, she breaks up with him and goes on the trip herself.

The trip starts… badly. She’s really not an outdoorsy type. There’s a dreamy lumbersexual MMC there, Grant, and they quickly fall for each other (a sweet, straightforward progression from strangers to lovers). She’s a microinfluencer and helps him turn the resort around, making the resort successful (and gaining him and his brothers a fan club of women who think they’re hot.

There’s no real conflict in their relationship, so that’s good for someone looking for an easy palate cleaner, and the third act breakup is tolerable and reasonable. She had to return to her real life, so they were on borrowed time from the get-go. They’re both immediately sad about the separation, however, so the question becomes who’s going to give? Will Presley have to accommodate someone else again, or will someone finally put her first?

The greatest strength of this story is definitely the maturity of the protagonists. They’re middle aged and they actually act like it - they communicate, they fall in love for personality reasons (not just instalusting for each other’s hot bodies), and they compromise.

I was initially going to give this three stars, because the prose was distracting at times and the dialogue clunky, but in writing this review I realized there’s a lot for genre lovers to enjoy here. So it’s a 3.5 star read, which rounds up to 4!

Thanks, NetGalley and Griffin, for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A cute read. Best for a young audience. It's sweet but lacks depth and any really conflict. The FMC is a social media influence--not what I was expecting from the blurb--and the MMC is trying to find himself. They're good together, and their story is sweet.

3 stars.

"Love, Naturally" by Sophie Sullivan will cleanse your palate so good. It's essentially the book equivalent of a Hallmark movie, a saccharine-sweet, warm hug of a story about finding yourself, putting yourself back together, not settling, and trying new things. It's a small-town insta-love opposites attract fake dating story that features Presley, a hotel concierge/mid-level budget travel influencer who, after trying to surprise her boyfriend of 8 months with his dream vacation, promptly gets dumped. She decides to go on her planned vacation alone and meets Beckett, who works at the Get Lost lodge, which is owned by his brother. He *~doesn't do social media,*~ he loves and adores his family, he's a golden retriever, and he has big dreams of following a career other than helping at his brother's crumbling lodge. Their attraction to each other starts and grows quickly. Where Presley loves being and thriving online, Beckett doesn't use Instagram, has never heard of Christian Grey, and doesn't know what FML means. I found this to be, frankly, ridiculous. Even if you don't use social media, you'd likely know common abbreviations used online, and you'd likely know the main character of one of the most talked about books of all time, even if you hadn't read it. Unfortunately, I found this book to be so poorly and slowly paced that I almost stopped reading it a few times. 60% into the book and barely anything had happened up to that point. The prose is very repetitive. This book takes place over a very short time span, so it really shouldn't be as slow as it is. It feels like it drags and drags and drags, and then it's over. This story is not badly written, but it's pretty dull. Despite Presley and Beckett's insta-love, there's no chemistry or fire or spark between them. Their coupling felt forced based on their proximity (both physically and because she just broke up with her ex-boyfriend...rebound much?). The best part about this book is the family/found family aspect. Beckett and his family are super close. I loved his brother and their family, especially Ollie, who was absolutely adorable. I also appreciated how his family essentially adopted Presley as one of their own, no questions asked. It was fun to see Presley move out of her city-loving comfort zone and embrace nature and small-town life in an antithetical move to her true self. While Julie Rogers' narration is fine for Presley's character, I found her voiceover work for the other characters lacking. It was often hard to distinguish between the characters speaking (unless it was Ollie, who had a high-pitched, childlike voice). Overall, I wanted to love this book, but I didn't. It's very forgettable. If you're a person who *only* wants to read sappy, light books full of levity and low stakes, this one is for you. While I do like that kind of book, this one was too slow and too repetitive for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sophie Sullivan, and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary ALC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for my review.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this audio ARC.

I absolutely devoured this book!! I loved it!! Such a cute romcom. I loved the storyline and such a cute love story. Characters are great!

This is definitely my new fave from Sophie Sullivan. I was talking to a friend about this book and we both agreed that the best kind of romance is the kind where you are so invested that you don't even realize that it's closed door.

When Presley plans a vacation surprise for her boyfriend and everything goes as wrong as possible, she ends up at a fishing resort alone. She fully expects to wallow in netflix and chocolate, but finds that the family and guests at the resort are the true gift. Her romance with Beckett is sweet and swoony and moves at just the right pace. The side characters are perfection. The town is so much fun. The setting is the perfect balance of providing background and texture without being overwhelming to the story. Please tell me that we are going to get Jill and Greyson's stories, too!

Rounded up from 4.5
Presley is stuck going on a camping trip she bought as a surprise for her boyfriend's birthday because he dumped her. Camping is not really her thing, but how bad can it be? Beckett, whose family owns the lodge, sees right through her act: that woman does not belong there. And yet, he can't help being drawn to her...
This is an opposites attract, forced proximity, insta love, fade to black romance with small town vibes. Since I really loved other Sophie Sullivan's books (the Jansen's Brothers series: How to Love Your Neighbor, A Guide to Being Just Friends and Ten Rules for Faking It), I wanted to give this one a try, and I was not disappointed! I would even love to see more of this family (Jill and Ollie, Grayson, and Rylee) in a series. Ollie is adorable and I loved all of the side characters. I didn't even mind the third act break up, since I think in one of the rare instances, it needed to be part of the plot and you do see it coming from the beginning since Presley is only at the lodge for ten days. Could Beckett have handled it better? Yes. But I loved his grand gesture to get her back, it was so fitting in today's world (and hers). The story is told in dual POVs, but both are third person and I did not really feel any true distinction between the two. I liked that Presley challenged herself to do these things even if she didn't have to "impress" Emmett anymore. Beckett is really a lot more than a hot mountain man, and I liked that Presley was annoyed and felt guilty for that image, and that she was defending him. I would totally see this as a Hallmark movie! The narration was great in the audio book.
I received an advance review copy of this book for free, and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.