I love this book, I couldn't put it down. Between the main characters, the supporting characters, the narrator and the flow of the book, I couldn't decide what I loved the most.

It was love at first sight for Presley and Beckett, but they just had no clue about it. Both stuck at a crossroads in their life, similar but so different.

They are just young and trying to find themselves, but also trying to figure out life and what they want to do vs. what they feel they need to do out of duty. The crossroads that lead them in similar paths, but then detours for them to find out who they really are and who they were meant to be at the end.

The supporting characters were amazing, I could visualize the story in my head from start to finish and loved the little family touches, the connection all of the characters had. Hopefully a series in the making?!?

Thank you so much NetGalley for the ARC!

*3.5 stars*

This was very sweet and cute but also super cheesy which isn't really a bad thing. I'm not sure if it's because I did the audio for this but sometimes I felt like it was missing something. The connection just wasn't quite grabbing me. It almost felt too instant and a little over the top. It's very predictable which is to be expected but it was sweet. Nothing super different but if you're looking for something charming and sweet this will be great! I would have loved a bit more depth. But I did love the little town and characters! By the end tho I was ready for it to wrap up. Just not something that will really stick with me.

First off, thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

OUTLIER ALERT!! 🎶It's me🎶 The synopsis for this book sounded incredible and I was super excited to read it. I mean who doesn't like a fun small town romance with an opposites attract trope?! Unfortunately, this one did not meet my expectations because I struggled to connect with the characters, repetitive story, extremely slow pacing and the insta-love made me wince! Honestly, it was hard to get through and I never thought the story would end. I did enjoy the charming side characters and the found family.

I know many people will love this book so please do not base your decision to read this book solely on my review.

Thank you for sharing this with me! I appreciate that.

I think there is going to be a huge audience for this novel - the chemistry is there between these two and it's hard not to root for them (Beckett especially.) It's charming and cute.

For me, I felt the narrator was mediocre - perhaps the book would've been better suited to have a male narrator for Beckett just to make it feel more natural and help the reader get lost more in the story. Overall, enjoyable read.

This was a sweet small town romance. Presley ends up vacationing alone after breaking up with her boyfriend and not taking him on the trip she planned for him. It ended up being everything she needed instead. I’m not generally a fan of instalove but she and Beckett were quickly drawn together and I really liked them together. I was secretly rooting for Presley to want to move to Beckett’s town/family resort and share her skills with them instead of her ungrateful boss. I really enjoyed Ollie and Beckett’s whole family. I really enjoyed the narration but would’ve loved a male narrator for Beckett’s chapters. Overall this was an enjoyable read from Sophie Sullivan and I’ll continue to look forward to more books from Sullivan.

Beckett and Presley
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tropes:
•Opposite Attract
•Found Family
•Personal Growth

This book was an absolute delight! Beckett and Presley are both at a crossroads in their lives when they meet unexpectedly on a trip. Presley books a vacation and Beckett’s family owns the lodge. This book has all the good things: warmth, humor and heart! It’s sure to be a romcom favorite this year!

(Dual POV and Fades to Black)
*Spicer end of Fades to Black*
*Language*

Thanks to #netgalley and #sophiesullivan for the #loveactually book!

I received this audiobook for free for an honest review from netgalley.

The cover is fabulous. And the story was smooth and fresh with great chemistry between the main characters.

I read the paperback of this book and didn't connect with it as much as I'd like to but I was curious to see if the audio would be better for me and it definitely was. This is very It Happened One Summer by TB like. It has some similarities and is an easy quick read.

Title: Love, Naturally
Author: Sophie Sullivan
Genre: Romance
Rating: 4.00
Pub Date: January 16, 2024

I received complimentary eARC and ALC copies from St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted #Ad

T H R E E • W O R D S

Endearing • Fluffy • Adventurous

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Presley Ayers is not the woman you bring on a camping trip. An accomplished concierge at an exclusive hotel in Great Falls, MI, she knows more about the top ten places for champagne and caviar than she does about the best hiking boots to go stomping around near Lake Michigan. But when she surprises her boyfriend of eight months with a vacation to the Get Lost Lodge and he dumps her instead, Presley decides to rough it solo and take the trip herself.

When Beckett Keller helps the gorgeous woman off the rickety boat and onto Lodge territory, it’s clear she’s made a mistake. She doesn’t like hiking, fishing, or nature in general, so why did she go on this trip?—but he’s got other things on his mind. A crumbling lodge, and his own plans and dreams that are forever deferred—so he doesn’t have time for Ms. Fish-Out-of-Water. But neither Beckett or Presley can help that inexplicable draw they feel towards each other. He’s all rough stubble and plaid shirts, while she’s all high heels and brand-name athleisurewear.

But you know what they say about opposites...

💭 T H O U G H T S

I don't recall how Sophie's Sullivan upcoming 2024 release came onto my radar, but after reading the synopsis it sounded like something I would enjoy, and cover picks have been a recent trend for me. Even though insta-love is a trope I have struggled with in the past, as are rom-coms involving social media influencers, I was still willing to give this one a try because there were other little things I love.

What I like:
• the setting. I wanted to be able to visit this adventurous, small town hotel resort so badly. The townsfolk. The quiet pace. The activities. The lush forest. All of it sounded like the perfect getaway to me.
• solo travelling. I commend Presley for stepping out of her comfort zone and embarking on a solo trip. It was ballsy and a reminder of taking a chance on things that may not fit with what we'd normally do. She was willing to fish, hike, etc. and I loved it.
• the likeable characters. Both MCs were interesting to me and I was rooting for them both. Yet it is the secondary characters that really enhance the story. I loved them all.
• the narration. There is good pacing and emotion in the narration. While it was fine, it could have been made better with a male narrator for Beckett's POV.

What I didn't like:
• the forced proximity. Accepting to stay in a cabin with a hotel employee felt a little over the top and improbable.

It's quite possible Love, Naturally was a case of the right book at the right time. I adored this opposites attract, small-town romance more than expected. Did I have to suspend some belief? Absolutely! Did that bother me? No. It definitely made me wish I could visit this fictional hotel and get to know the characters. I will be interested to see if some of the side characters may get their own stories in the future.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of the forced proximity trope
• readers in need of a cozy romantic escape
• anyone who loves small town vibes

⚠️ CW: divorce

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Sometimes what people think is nothing can be everything to someone else."

"These sites, they're a way for people to perform. You lose who you are to become someone followers want to see."

Let me start by thanking St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for granting me advanced access to this title. I have been a fan of Sophie Sullivan's for years and am terribly smitten with the Jansen Brothers - They all make for great Book Boyfriends. All of them have their own baggage and are sweethearts to their cores no matter how they might try to mask it.

Love, Naturally follows a different family and I fell in love with them too.

Presley is the last person who would voluntarily go into the wilderness. However, in an effort to charm her boyfriend's socks off, Presley plans a surprise getaway to the Get Lost Lodge. Sadly, when Presley reveals her plans, instead of enthusiasm, she's met with a breakup speech. Presley's job as a concierge at an exclusive hotel has kept her busy and truth be told, she's realizing her efforts are no longer fulfilling her. She decides to take the trip herself and she finds herself more lost than ever and not geographically. As she gets to know the lovely Keller family, Presley is forced to reckon with herself and the direction she's headed in professionally and personally. The Keller family is warm, inviting, and bonded in a way that Presley instantly warms too and the handsome Beckett Keller is an added bonus, but Presley has to wonder, is it too soon?

I read/ listened this right before the holidays and it put me in the holiday spirit after reading this heartwarming novel by Sophie Sullivan. Her novels feel like a hug and always include found family and themes of community. I can't wait for the next Sophie!

If you are a fan of Hallmark Movies this book is for you! Presley is a big town hotel concierge who books a outdoorsy resort in the middle of nowhere for her then boyfriend who of course dumps here right before the trip. Not wanting to waste the trip, Presley heads to Get Lost Lodge and runs into Beckett and its love at first sight!

This book is so adorable and includes so many romance tropes; small town romance, fake dating, love at first sight, and found family. I did enjoy that both Presley and Beckett's POVs were in this book and enjoyed the predictable of the plot. I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narration by Julie Rogers who did a really nice job and didn't let the book get stale.

This was a wonderful small town and opposites attract romance. We meet Presley who is on what was supposed to be a romantic getaway with her boyfriend at a fishing resort, alone and broken-hearted. She wants to lie low and grieve, after all she's a city girl and not into outdoorsy things. Enter Beckett whose family owns the struggling resort that is under renovation. Beckett needs to work on Presley's cabin, so offers her to use his. They fall for each other pretty quickly, but it reads like a slow burn romance.
Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced listener copy. Julie Rogers does a great job narrating this audiobook and is a pleasure to listen to.

I completely loved Sophie’s Jansen Brothers series, from start to finish (still waiting for the sister’s book), but this one? Wow, even better than the others! I loved it that much more!

Presley is all of us - trying very hard to be a perfect employee and girlfriend to a job and boyfriend (and daughter to a family) that just don’t appreciate her. She heads off on the fishing vacation she booked for the boyfriend’s birthday on her own when he blows her and the trip off to go out with his boys. She is not an outdoorsy girl, but decides to show everyone.

From the moment she steps on the plane she knows she made a mistake, but meeting the lodge staff, the other guests and the niece of the owner, she starts to do the activities and try everything and help out and lend her work experience and expertise and everything just falls into place - not to mention the social media posts she makes that actually help the lodge increase visibility, much to the dismay of one of the lodge family members who gets an interesting hashtag, and needs her help to keep the interested ladies away.

It’s an opposites attract, sort of workplace, love at first sight, vacation fling to more romance that I couldn’t put down (except when I had to go to work), and highly recommend, especially if you loved her Jansen series! Get the audio - narrated by Julie Rogers who did a fantastic job of the single POV. She’s new to me but I really liked her voice, and she suited Presley very well.

I received an advance read and listen copy from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press (St. Martin's Griffin), and Macmillan Audio, and this is my honest feedback.

Love, Naturally by Sophie Sullivan
Contemporary romance. Dual POV. Closed door.
After dumping her boyfriend of eight months, Presley Ayers decides to take the vacation she set up anyway. She doesn’t know the first think about fishing or hiking but she’ll make it work. Sadly she gets sick on the ferry to the Lodge and then the heat in her room doesn’t work and it’s winter! The resort is a bit run down but the family is nice and working hard to run and update it. Presley ends up staying in Beckett Keller’s cabin, who is part of the family. He’s gorgeous enough to be in magazines. It’s probably not a good idea, but she asks him to stay in the cabin with her. Everything is so different from her city life and she is just a little uneasy with all those outdoor sounds.

🎧 I listened to an audiobook version which was narrated by Julie Rogers. The performance is well done with distinct voices for Presley and Beckett and additional secondary characters. Presley’s anxiety is clearly heard on her first night as well as her wonder at catching a fish.
I did find the narration a little slow and listened at 1.5 which is my preferred to match a conversational speed.

A charming and quick falling in love for the couple, plus a wonderful family working together for a combined benefit. A feel good romance where Presley realizes that settling for convenient isn’t always the only option.

I received this from NetGalley and the publisher Macmillan Audio.

This was a comedy that was truly heartwarming. I laughed hard, I awwed and it was all that a reader wants in a rom/com. Living nearby the fictional setting, I really want to drop everything and go to a hotel like the one in the book. That said, the feeling of a lot of the small towns near the area referenced feels incredibly authentic and accurate.

#arc
#netgalley
#lovenaturally

A cute love story that at times felt rushed and then dragged out. A little more balance would have gone a long way. The setting and side characters were great, but the spark just wasn’t there as much for me. The narrator was good and her voice for the niece Olly was endearing without being grating!

A book about one of my favorite places? Um, you already know this is going to get a good rating for me. I loved the premise of this story. It’s honestly such a cute romance and if you’ve ever visited up north Michigan you could almost picture it playing out. Adorable and I’m so happy with how it worked out.

🌀Synopsis
Presley dumps her boyfriend. Her boyfriend who doesn’t see them getting serious but wants to stay together and can’t even stand the thought of spending a week with just her. Oh yeah, she dumped him right after she announced she’d gotten them a getaway trip for his birthday present. Since he couldn’t spend a week with her, she leaves.
Deciding to take the trip was easy but it proves difficult right away. The lodge is just opening after changing hands so a lot of the premises is under construction plus it’s very much in the wilderness which is not her style. After some complications with her lodging location she’s forced to share a space with Beckett. Even though the two know they shouldn’t be together, they can’t get over the feelings that come over them. They let themselves enter a temporary relationship until she’s got to leave to go home. Realizing his dreams don’t matter if he doesn’t have her, Beckett makes a big decision to choose the girl.

Love, Naturally by Sophie Sullivan
Narrator: Julie Rogers
Rating: 3 stars
Steam: Closed-door
Pub date: 1/16

After getting dumped by her boyfriend of eight months, Presley decides to take the camping trip she was planning to surprise him with. She’s more comfortable in heels than hiking boots but thinks that maybe the change of scenery will be just what she needs to get over the breakup. At the lodge, she meets Beckett, who is ruggedly handsome and in the middle of dealing with his own crisis. His family’s lodge is crumbling, and he needs help if he’s going to make it to another season. Despite being complete opposites, Beckett and Presley can’t help the instant chemistry they feel and immediately give in to their attraction.

There’s lots to like about this one! It’s a light-hearted and charming closed-door romance that was enjoyable to listen to on audio. Beckett and Presley are both likable and relatable. I loved the ‘fish out of water’ trope, the small-town atmosphere, and all the quirky side characters. I also loved that Presley dumped her loser boyfriend and went on the vacation she had planned for him, even though it wasn’t her idea of a good time.

Unfortunately, there were a few things that didn’t work for me. The story moves slowly, and at times, it feels like there isn’t a lot happening. Some of the dialogue is cringey, and the insta-love between the two MCs felt rushed and out of place. I wanted to feel a deeper connection between them, but their relationship felt surface-level despite the strong feelings they were experiencing.

Overall, this was still a fun read and would be perfect for someone who enjoys quick, light, closed-door, Hallmark-style romances.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my early copy and Macmillan Audio for my complimentary audiobook.

Sometimes the best things happen outside your comfort zone!

Presley Ayers is not the outdoors, roughing-it type. Beckett Keller loves nothing more than fishing, hiking, biking, and all things outdoor. Presley is high heels, designer clothes and Instagram. Beckett is work boots, plaid shirts and has no clue how to end a Live online. They couldn't be more opposite. But they also can't help being drawn together in that inexplicable way.

This is a cute opposites-attract, fish-out-of-water, contemporary romance that will give you all the warm and fuzzy feelings. I loved the back-and-forth banter between these two. The struggles and inner thoughts they had were relatable and I found I could connect with them easily.

I am not a fan of insta-love, as I find it makes the pace slower and the storyline tends to drag a bit. This was true in this case, but the banter and overall story were cute and enjoyable, so I stuck with it.

Overall, this book gets 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 because it's cute. The perfect book for anyone looking for a light, fun, closed-door, opposites-attract romance!

Thank you, NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Read if you like:
🏖️ Vacation Romances
🤳🏻 Micro Influencers
❤️ Insta-Love
💔 Finding Love after a Breakup
🔀 Opposites Attract

If you love a fast paced romance where the FMC goes from break-up to falling in love with a new guy quickly, this is a great option for that “rebound but the right guy” vibes as well as that just “instant connection” vibes.

This one also has opposites attact with an outdoorsy MMC and a city girl FMC.

If you enjoyed the Suite Spot by Trish Doller, I think this is a great book with similar vibes!

Thank you so much to the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my review!