1000000/10 🦋🦋🦋

⚠ search for tws

✨ swipe next for the blurb and some of my favorite quotes ✨

This book makes me giddy!!!! Reading this made my heart hurt not because It'll hurt you but because you'll realize you're single and will never be treated the way River takes care of Indigo 🥲 I want the found family in here. Her relationship with her bestfriend UGH I WANT IT.

This book taught me to trust the process. We may do things AGAINST our will thinking it will help the other person but bro talking it out and deciding for the both of you will solve ALMOST ALL problems. Lol coming from me who will shut the whole world when I'm hurting 🤡

Thank you @netgalley and @d.j.murphywrites for letting me read this book in advance. Will be out tomorrow 2/1/24! Make sure to grab the copy because this book WILL NOT bore you 🥰

.
.
💄 Bestfriends brother
💄 Childhood bestfriend
💄 Forced proximity

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of this book!

If you are looking for a love triangle, childhood love interest, and like the show The Bachelor: this book is for you! Indigo goes on a dating show in hopes to help promote her makeup artist skills. The love interest for the show is an actor who has been given a bad rep. And the childhood best friend? Oh yeah, he’s a producer for the show.

This book has been a fun read full of drama. This also has LGBTQIA+ representation with supporting characters!

Reality show, found family and betrayal, all packed into the super cute romance!! I was absolutely enthralled by this book and could not put it down. It combined some of my favourite things and if you are a fan of reality dating shows, then this is a must read for you!!! I can’t wait to read more by this author! Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this read. Well, this was not what I was expecting at all. This was written very well and it had a strong storyline and plot that kept me reading. I read it quite fast which was my second book out of a slump. This was well done and I would read more from this author.

3.5 stars
Overall, I had a good time reading this! It was fast-paced, funny and intriguing. I liked the reality tv setting, I thought it was a really cool idea. I'm not really a fan of love triangles because I always end up feeling bad for the other person not chose which also happenned in this book. I sometimes felt like the fmc unnecessarily dragged along the other love interest when it was pretty clear as a reader who she would end up with at the end.

Another thing that bothered me is how confusing the drama in the last 20% of the book was. It may be a me problem but I got confused about what was going on so that disconnected me from the plot.

I thought the epilogue was really cute and wholesome!

I gave this one extra points for hooking me in so quickly because I really did fly through the first 40% and I was really invested in knowing what was going to happen with everyone but I will admit, it really lost momentum towards the end.
I think this author’s writing style is fantastic, there was just enough drama to keep me interested but not so much that I thought it was over the top and I thought the whole premise of the reality show was great - there were just a few minor things that let it down.

I wanted the characters to be a little more fleshed out and developed. Both of the love interests felt a little two dimensional and the supporting characters were missing something. I also think there were just some strange miscommunication issues and the plot felt a bit jumbled towards the end. The spice however was fantastic, I was quite literally having to fan myself.

I would recommend it if you love a love triangle, friends to lovers or a large cast of diverse characters and a bunch of fun drama.

Thanks to NetGalley & Victory Editing for kindly sending me an ARC

My first official review for an arc!!
I'm so excited :)

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review :) I'm very grateful

Let's start:
This book is fast-paced and fun and i was hooked from the beginning! Though there is a lot more drama and many more plot twists than i initially thought ;)

The protagonist, Indigo aka Indie, is in a love triangle with her childhood best friend, River, who also works as a producer on the reality tv show in which she has just been accepted. The other guy, Kade, is the bachelor, who the girls have to convince to fall in love with them.

It doesn't happen often that i actually like both of the men, so that was a good thing. At the beginning, I wasn't sure if the characters have a real personality but they do ;) (there's also a lot of jealousy involved)
We've also got a lot of nice representation in this book, like a black main character and bi representation as well as mental health discussions.

Another point is the miscommuicaton and the love triangle. Normally I'm not the biggest fan of those two tropes. But in this book, it was well done. Even though I can't understand some choices of the main character in the last third of the book.


All in all, I really liked the book and i'm happy that i got to read this one. I giggled a lot and was swooning over too many characters. I was feeling sympathetic with many characters so that my emotions got all mixed up at the end.

I can only say you're in for a ride.



-------------
but what about Hanna and Sabrina??

This book very much gave me ‘the bachelor’ vibes, but I did enjoy it. It was a friends to lovers… but throw in a slight undeveloped love triangle in there.

My only problem was, because of the amount of girls in the mansion, I kept getting mixed up with names and then they’d be repeated like 3 times in a sentence.

However, I did enjoy reading it. Thankyou NetGalley for an ARC

Quick Summary: After a messy breakup with her "influencer" boyfriend, Indigo finds herself battling against a tarnished reputation and trying to find ways to change the narrative of her breakup to keep her business as a makeup artist going. Her best friend Ryan encourages her to apply for a reality tv dating show. Ryan's brother River is a producer on the show and used to be one of Indie's best friends. Kade is the grumpy bachelor Indie gets to date. What happens when someone you've always cared for and someone you can't help but be drawn to are grappling for your mental and physical attention? Read this one to find out.

My Thoughts: I came to this book for a romantic love triangle and stuck around for all the drama and nuance and badassery! The reality TV show angle of this was so unique and brought options for so many different characters and story lines that don't feel old and overdone. I am a complete sucker for well-developed side characters and side characters with purpose in the store and this book gave me SO MUCH of that. The characters were complex enough to be interesting but easy enough to love (or hate #Noah) and the representation of bipoc characters, interracial relationships, and lgbtq+ people and relationships was such a breath of fresh air in an often stagnant genre. The only thing that I struggled with was the loose end of Sabrina and Hanna.. Would have loved to know where that ended up between the last chapter and the epilogue.

Some things I loved:
Kade! There's so much more there to explore
Ryan! We should all be lucky enough to have a friend like her
Javi! - don't hate me for this but his presence at different parts of the story added drama and it was perfect.


**My Instagram post with review and graphics will go out on 1/30 and stories for pub day will be on 1/31 and 2/1.
** Goodreads it posted as o f 1/29

I love this book so much!!! I read it within a day and it was not a book I wanted to put down! The writing is so smooth I barely felt like I was reading! The story was like a wild adventure and I needed to know what was gonna happen next! I love all the characters so much, everything felt so realistic! The emotional range in this book is extraordinarily! I’m so excited to read more!

No because I absolutely loved this book! Completely ate it up! Indie is literally every girl post break up, finding out who she is and what she wants to be. The found family aspect made the book even better. There’s so much representation in this book it’s unbelievable. Absolutely loved and will be buying!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS SO MUCH🥰
This was an absolute cute and fun read. As someone who is black, I love that the FMC is also black. A bonus is that this book has all my favorite tropes (fake dating, reality dating show, forced proximity, and a love triangle).
The plot and characters actually have depth to them and are interesting. I read this in one sitting. I will definitely be reading more by this author in the future🥰

I thought this was a sweet, sexy, entertaining read. Loved the MC Indigo and how well written her inner dialogue was. The flow and pace of the plot never got boring and the characters were all well written. Really great dialogue here. Looking forward to Kade's story too!

3.5

If you like a diverse (LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC) best friends to lovers, forced proximity, love triangles, and DRAMA. This book is for you.

After a messy break up, Indigo finds herself living with her childhood best friends, River and Ryan. River is the producer of a new reality tv show The Love Meltdown. Ryan encourages Indigo to apply. She ends up on the show and then drama ensues.

I’m rating this book a 3.5 because it was a little over the top for me. There was no one of drama, but it was coming from everywhere. The romance was a slow burn, which was fine. I just felt much of the romantic chemistry and emotion was missed out on because everything else going on. I needed something more that would pull on my emotions. I also think the writing was a little rough. Things didn’t transition as smoothly as expected. There were also a few typos as well.

Again, I like the story, I just wish I could’ve connected more with the characters and emotions of the story.

Thank you to the author for allowing me to read the ARC for an honest review. This review will be on Goodreads today, and I hope to have it on Amazon, TikTok, and Instagram by the 1st.

Lipstick & Camera Clicks by D.J. Murphy blew me away!
I absolutely loved this book!
The story was heartwarming and beautiful, with a romance sweet enough to cause you to lose yourself in your reading. I couldn’t put it down! I love how real and authentic these characters were. This book had such great characters. You could feel every single emotion.
This was one of those books that I had a hard time putting down until I'm done. I truly enjoy the story and I want more.

Thank You NetGalley and Victory Editing for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This book was a fun Bachelor Nation-esque romance novel about a love triangle between the FMC, the ‘bachelor’, and the best friend’s brother slash producer. If you enjoy the Bachelor, or like reading behind-the-scene books about reality TV shows, like The Charm Offensive, this is the book for you!

The characters were well flushed out, even the supporting cast, and the plot was fast-paced enough to keep you interested. Even though there’s a clear fan favorite, the other end of the triangle receives enough attention to build up interest and buy-in on him.

**Spoiler** One major issue that I had was during the FMC and her partner’s first time sleeping together, she was intoxicated to the point of not being able to stand upright or walk the scene before, and he was presumably very sober. This was not discussed or addressed, and I wish it wasn’t handled as cavalierly- and made it hard for me to continue rooting for them.

The biggest downsides for me was that the dialogue felt a bit clunky at times, and there were a few grammatical inconsistencies and errors throughout the book. However, I received an ARC, and it’s very possible that these will be addressed before publishing!

Thank you to NetGalley and ARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the ARC of Lipstick & Camera Clicks for an honest review.

Rating: 4/5
Spice: 4/5

Spoiler-Free Review:

"I really enjoyed reading this book. Although the cover might give the impression that it's exclusively a romance novel, the story takes you to so many other places. Yes, there are some steamy scenes, but the build-up to them is worth it. The book is clever, funny and insightful. If you're a fan of reality TV dating shows like The Bachelor, and you're curious about what goes on behind the scenes, then you'll have fun reading this book. I had a great time reading it, and even though it wasn't what I was expecting, I will be recommending it to friends who are looking for a light-hearted fiction with some romance. I hope to see this book highlighted on the shelves of my local bookstores."

I really enjoyed seeing the relationship develop throughout. I am reading more spice recently and I absolutely loved it, will definitely be reading more by the author soon!

Lipstick & Camera Clicks is a story about Indigo, Indie for short, who just got put of a toxic relationship after being cheated on She reconnects with two best friends (one was her childhood love) and signs up for a dating reality show as a form of revenge. There she meets Kade who she is also attracted to. In the end she gets together with River who just understands her and treats her right.

This is a medium burn, friends to lovers story. Loved it.

DNF at 47% - This book just isn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

After a nasty breakup, Indigo reconnects with her old friends Ryan and River. She signs up for a reality TV dating show that River is producing, where she meets the bachelor Kade. Soon, a love triangle starts to arise...

Part of the reason that I'm DNFing is that I went in with the wrong expectations. I thought this was going to be like a rom-com, but it's actually a book filled with drama, lots of emotions, and some romance. I don't like this over-the-top drama and the romance was lacking for me (I didn't feel the chemistry, especially between Indigo and River). The latter could be because I didn't connect with the characters. I thought the plot was messy, and the writing style wasn't my thing.

However, I wouldn't say that this is a bad book. There were certainly some things that I liked: The cover is beautiful! I liked the friendship between Indigo and Ryan, and the friendships that were made during the reality tv show.

If you're interested in this book, please still pick it up because there are numerous positive reviews and I realise I'm the odd one here!