It took me a little bit to get into Prime Time Romance, but I enjoyed it! It felt very nostalgic for the soapy shows I loved as a teenager. The turns it took were predictable, but overall this was a fun, easy read.

Prime Time Romance by Kate Robb
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Kate Robb's Prime Time Romance is a delightful blend of magical realism, humor, and romance. The premise is clever and engaging, imagining a beloved prime-time television show transformed into a book. Robb's writing is skillful and engaging, and her characters are well-developed and relatable. The magical realism elements add a touch of whimsy and enchantment to the story, while the humor provides a lighthearted counterbalance to the romantic elements. Overall, Prime Time Romance is a thoroughly enjoyable read that is sure to appeal to fans of romantic fiction and magical realism alike.

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for this early copy 🙏 🙌

This is a delightful blend of nostalgia and magic. Fresh off a divorce, Brynn finds comfort in binge-watching her favorite 90s teen drama, "Carson’s Cove!. But after making a birthday wish, she and her roommate Josh wake up inside the show, living as the characters Sloan and Fletch. As they navigate this alternate reality, Brynn discovers that real love might be better than the scripted version. This book is a charming tribute to early 2000s TV dramas, filled with humor, heart, and magical realism. Fans of nostalgic romance with a whimsical twist will adore this journey into an alternate universe where second chances are possible.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book so much that I plan on buying the physical copy so I can read it again!

Kate Robb’s Prime Time Romance is a romcom for millennials told in a dual POV. The main characters, Brynn and Josh, are roomies who are curiously unattracted to each other at first, but a magical birthday cake changes their reality. They find themselves in Carson’s Cove, the setting for Brynn’s favorite, but canceled, prime time show. She has a terrific crush on the lead character and finds herself starring in her favorite soap opera, opposite her dream leading man.

Much about Prime Time is reminiscent of The Good Place esp in the way they are unable to forking swear but this is not a squeaky clean book either. I found the middle of this book long and the characters stereotypical, but I am not the demographic for it. Fans of friends to lovers millennial romance will enjoy this book as well as those who like touches of magical realism. Robb is able to bring it home when Brynn realizes that fantasy and reality don’t match her expectations. Thank you to Random House/Dial Press and NetGalley for making this eARC available for my honest review.

Is love on the small screen better than the real thing? This contemporary romance has a dash of magical realism.

f you had the chance to get sucked into your comfort TV Show and live life amongst your favourite characters, which one would you chose? One Tree Hill or The OC would be high up on my list! When I first started watching The OC, I always swore to myself I would make it to Newport Beach one day and find my own Ryan Atwood. Last year we actually did make it to Redondo Beach, where The OC is actually filmed (I was surprised too, that it was not Newport Beach, but alas) and walking the pier and the beach was unreal.

Things are a bit different for Brynn though. Four years after her divorce, she finds herself in Toronto with no real friends and no real prospects on the night before her 30th birthday. She finds herself watching her comfort show Carson’s Cove, when she receives a cake from a mystery sender and makes a wish. The next morning, Brynn and her handsome roommate Josh find themselves in the midst of Carson’s Cove. The two of them need to navigate the seemingly perfect town and try to find their way back home.

I had the best time reading this book. It may be because I am the true target audience, having grown up with all of the teen dramas and truly soaking them up. Or it could be because the book is just really great!
I loved Kate Robb’s debut novel This Spells Love, which came out last year and had high hopes for her second one. It did not disappoint and I am truly looking forward to what she will write next!

Thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press for the advanced ARC

There is nothing Kate Robb does better than magical realism. Truly, this is her calling. I've read Kate's debut book, which was another book from this genre and just like Prime Time Romance, it was absolutely amazing.

Prime Time Romance follows a newly divorced Brynn and her roommate as Brynn makes a birthday wish while blowing the candles on a cake that mysteriously showed up on their doorstep. To their surprise, her wish becomes reality--or so she thinks. Brynn and Josh wake up in Carson's Cove (Brynn's favorite tv show).

What I absolutely loved about this book was its creativity. Yes, getting stuck in a tv show isn't that uncommon in fiction, but Brynn and Josh weren't casted as the main "couple" of the show, leaving Brynn with a dilemma. Does she want to follow the script or does she want to follow her heart? I also really enjoyed the way the book revealed Brynn's rose-colored glasses when it comes to her favorite tv show. I too have my comfort tv shows but in reality, if I was stuck in them, I too probably would not like what I'd eventually learn.

I absolutely loved Brynn and Josh's dynamic throughout the book, but I enjoyed reading about them both as separate characters. I liked how Josh's backstory matched the character he was casted as, and how the fictional character helped him solve his unresolves issues.

This book was just perfect in every way. If you love a little magic in your life, pick up this book.

This romance novel revolves around the adage “Be careful what you wish for.”

When a down on her luck divorcee, Brynn, blows out her birthday candles wishing for a HEA, she never expected to wake up on her favorite prime-time show, Carson’s Cove. A show that was canceled after the 5th season on a cliffhanger.

Brynn finds herself playing the role of Sloan, the girl next door, 15 years after the show ended. Only to find that with time and personal growth, a person’s perspectives and dreams change.

So… does the girl next door get her happily ever after with her crush Spencer, or does the down on her luck Brynn find true love with a person that’s been in her life unnoticed for months? After all, “You can’t start the next episode of your life if you keep rewatching the old ones.”

This was a fun, light read that kept me turning the pages. It shines a light on the progression of life and television over the past decade. There is just enough substance to the character growth and depth to keep this from feeling like a rom-com.

If you like a wholesome small-town vibe, or if you have ever been madly in love with a TV show heartthrob, I think you will enjoy this charming read.

Besides reading, one of my favorite things to do is watch TV shows. Dawson's Creek, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, and Supernatural are a few of my favorites, so when I heard about Prime Time Romance I knew I needed to read it. Being pulled into the world of your favorite TV show seems like a lot of fun, but also a nightmare.After reading this, I'll definitely choose to just keep on watching my shows instead of living in them. Today I want to talk about five reasons why I loved Prime Time Romance.

1. TV show references
As someone who watches quite a few TV shows, I definitely picked up on the hints to other shows while reading Prime Time Romance. Some characters have names that are definitely hinting at actors and characters. Also, some of the things that supposedly happen on Carson's Cove come close to things I've seen on other shows. This really made my TV show loving heart very happy. I loved that the author talked about some of these references and her love for some TV shows.

2. Dual POV
I think Prime Time Romance worked really well for me, because we got to read from Brynn's and Josh's POV. I feel like this made the story more complete and definitely made me get to know and love these characters more. Both of our characters haven't had the easiest time in life recently and are trying to figure out what they want.

3. The Romance
So Brynn was supposed to give her favorite main character her happily ever after with the star of Carson's Cove, but Josh (the bad boy in the show) keeps catching her attention. I loved the chemistry between Brynn and Josh. Being together in this whole adventure brings them closer together and they really started opening up to each other. The scenes with these two together had me smiling.

4. Character Development
Even though Brynn and Josh are stuck in a TV show and are technically somebody else, they definitely start figuring out stuff about their actual lives. Both kind of get confident boosts and start dreaming about what could be. The lessons these shows try and give people were definitely affecting these two. I also loved Brynn near the end and when she took her moment to shine, she really took it!

5. The Side Characters
Because Prime Time Romance takes place in a TV show, we get quite the cast of characters. I loved meeting them all and loved some more than others, but they really helped this story be what it is. I feel like we got the typical best friend and rivals, and the crush where there's a will they, won't they plot. These characters made this book come to life and I loved it.

My review will be posted on https://thebookdutchesses.com on September 12th!

I loved the idea behind this book. The second chance aspect, small town 90s TV shows vibes, fixing the cancel show to return, not knowing what you've got until you try to play them out differently add in all the nostalgia & toss in magical realism and you've got such a fun story.

I think the magical twist Kate puts in makes her books so enjoyable and fun to read! (I LOVED This Spells Love.) I just feel like, and I don't even know what reasoning to give as to why, but, I did not connect to this as much as her previous novel and couldn't rate it higher than a 3.

I do feel, with all the tropes in it, it is going to be a well loved book. Thank you to so much NetGalley, the Publisher & Author. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
While I wasn’t a fan of Kate Robb’s debut, that did not surprise me in retrospect, as the “13 Going on 30” ripoff romcoms have frustrated me no matter who writes them. But her new book, Prime Time Romance, sounded promising, so I decided to give it a chance. And it was just the balm I needed after yet another string of disappointing reads. While a lot of the teen drama references went over my head, as that’s not really my genre of television, and I did have some frame of reference for them, having grown up during the 90s and 2000s. And Carson’s Cove in and of itself is a fun homage to both the cozy small-town with a lot of drama and the now-ubiquitous concept of remakes and revivals, albeit with a magical twist.
Brynn is fairly easy to resonate with, given her nostalgia for this old show, as it’s something I can connect with even without that specific medium meaning anything to me. Her investment in the storylines and the characters feels infectious, and given the shambles of her real life, it’s hard not to relate to her wanting to escape to something more predictable and simple.
Josh is not a fan of the show, so he’s harder to really feel invested in at times, but I like that he was along for the ride as a bit of a “fish-out-of-water.” And the jokes about him being a bartender in real life, and then being shunted off to be one in the Carson’s Cove universe were gold. And I’ll take some minimal development of the love interest in a consequential way over things “resetting” by the end so nothing matters but the female protagonist’s personal development.
While Brynn in particular did sometimes get a little “lost” in the character, on top of Josh not having a ton of personality, I did root for Brynn and Josh throughout, and their romance grew organically. It’s a bit cheesy and even predictable, and Brynn is the one who has to figure out what happily-ever-after looks like, but I had a big smile on my face as it came together nonetheless.
I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to readers looking for a slightly magical homage to teen dramas.

This was a really fun read - perfect for anyone who has had a TV Crush in their teen years.

I have a hard time with things like this premise: being transported to her favorite TV series...but this worked. This was fun, light and I loved the romance that seemingly came out of nowhere. I loved our two main characters, their partnership and eventual love.

So sweet and fresh!

Thank you for the ARC.
I enjoyed the small town and magical realism aspect. I thought the plot was really fun and the romance was cute!

Imagine waking up one morning to find yourself playing the lead in your favourite soap opera, in the town you have loved to watch. This is exactly what happens to Brynn and her roommate Josh. But Josh is the bad boy in the soapie and not the one she's meant to be with...or is he?

If you know me then you know I'm not a big magical realism fan BUT this book was written so well with a cute storyline, that I couldn't help devouring it. I loved seeing the relationship grow between our two main characters while they also dealt with their soapie love interests. The ending did feel a little rushed and I would have liked a bit more build up to the grand gesture. I haven't read Kate Robb's first book, This Spells Love, so I look forward to going back to read his one next.

I loved this super fun rom com from Kate Robb! Much like her first book I loved how seamlessly she incorporated magic and a sense on whimsy into the story. Brynn is a recently divorced women who is trying to figure out who she is now that her marriage is suddenly over all while living with her bartender roommate Josh who is struggling after trying to take over his father’s bar after he suddenly passes away. On night while watching Carson’s Cove (a very Dawsons Creek esq show) together Brynn makes a wish only to awake up as two of the characters from the show living in it 15 years after the series finale. Will Brynn and Josh be able to give the characters the ending they deserve or will their growing feelings to each other end up derailing everything they thought they knew. Fun light rom com that I very much enjoyed reading!

I love a good book with magical realism! I have been waiting to read this one and can’t wait to start it soon!

small town romance
90's/00's nostalgia
dual POV

Brynn a recent divorcee is questioning if she will ever have her HEA, and her roommate Josh are catapulted into her favorite childhood teen drama. They are tasked with giving the series closure it never received. Brynn dives deep into all of the characters she grew up watching and believes she will finally get her happy ending, but it turns out she didn't need to look far.  I enjoyed the progression of the characters relationships and the eventual friendship of Brynn and her former arch nemesis, Luce. Coming from a small town myself I can relate to coming back and seeing things and people from a different perspective.

This was such a fun, cutesy rom com that threw me back into my favorite teen dramas of the 90's/00's. I am now rewatching Dawson's Creek for the 100th time! There is something so comforting about rewatching the old teen dramas even as a 40 something.

Thank you to Random House for a copy of an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

As a teen romance lover, this was so fun to read! I will say it was a bit slow at first but I thought the second half was such a fun ride that it had to be a 5 star.

I do wish Luce & Brynn got a goodbye though & there was a bit more about Brynn & Josh at the end.

This was just a good fluffy rom com with all the nostalgia—especially for us millennials. I felt Brynn was a powerful lead for this story & Josh was always so sweet to her. I was also very fond of Luce's character with her love for animals & Sherry's grumpy but loving persona.

Thank you to Random House for a copy of an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This will be in my August wrap up on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bookbrandhannah

I will also post a review next week on my Instagram and TikTok: both under @bookbrandhannah

My 90s/00s teen drama obsessed self really enjoyed this. Loved all the subtle but not so subtle nods to shows like Dawson’s creek (Pacey you will forever be the best tv boyfriend), Buffy. One tree hill et al. Josh and Brynn had lovely chemistry and as with most teen dramas you knew right away who the leading lady should really end up with. I liked how falling into this make believe world gave Josh and Brynn the opportunity to actually get to know and fall for each other. Also liked that we got both their pov’s and that they each went on heir own journey that helped them heal from their respective losses and confront their fears. Would have liked more of an explanation of the magic/Sheldon of it all but otherwise enjoyed it. 3.75 🌟rounded up to 4🌟.