This book is a whimsical journey into some soap opera magic! “Prime Time Romance” by Kate Robb is a love letter to teenage soap operas, a celebration of second chances, and a reminder that sometimes, the small screen holds more magic than reality ever could. Dive into this whimsical world, trust me, you won't regret it.

Meet Brynn. She is newly divorced and sharing an apartment with her roommate. No stranger to heartbreak, she has one solace: Carson’s Cove, her beloved 2000’s teenage soap opera. The show ended abruptly after five seasons, leaving fans hanging on a tantalizing cliffhanger. The two main characters were star-crossed lovers and never had the chance to declare their love for each other.

When a mysterious birthday cake appears on Brynn’s doorstep, she makes an impulsive wish for her own happily-ever-after. But she doesn't wake up in her familiar apartment. Instead, she finds herself in Carson’s Cove, a place where scripted romance reigns supreme. And her roommate is there too, transformed into the show's bad boy.

Robb masterfully weaves the allure of nostalgia into her narrative. As Brynn navigates this parallel universe, she encounters familiar faces and the soap opera tropes come alive! It’s dramatic confrontations, stolen glances, and lingering kisses. The dialogue sparkles with wit, and the chemistry between Brynn and her newfound leading man sizzles.

As Brynn grapples with her new reality, she faces a choice: stick to the script or let real love rewrite her story. The tension between scripted passion and genuine emotion is palpable. Robb deftly explores the blurred lines between fantasy and reality, reminding us that sometimes the heart does know best.

The romance is as steamy as a late-night episode, and yet is grounded in vulnerability. Brynn’s emotional journey is relatable. Her chemistry with her roommate crackles with intensity! The banter is sharp, the longing palpable, and the kisses are enough to make you swoon.

Robb's novel is a delightful escape, perfect for fans of both romance and nostalgic TV. Whether you are like me and secretly binge-watched teen soaps like The O.C., Desgrassi: The Next Generation, etc. or dreamt of your own scripted love affair, this novel will whisk you away on a whimsical adventure.

Robb is a wizard with words. She, again, brought her quirky humour and love for all things romantic to the pages. I adore her writing and L-O-V-E that we have Toronto in common. I really pray Robb continues to spin tales of love, laughter, and happily-ever-afters.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dial Press, and Random House for a temporary e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

“I don’t want to wait….” any longer to read this! If Dawson’s Creek and One Tree Hill collided, it would be this book! I devoured this in one sitting. I’d recommend to anyone who loved the 90’s and 2000’s dramas. As perfect as things can seem on TV, sometimes real life can be even better.

Thank you NetGalley and The Dial Press for an ARC of this book! It was a pleasure to read! Publication date: September 3, 2024.

Kate Robb does it again with this fun, love after heartbreak romance. When Brynn makes a birthday with to get her happily ever after, things don't go exactly as she planned. Waking up in her favorite TV show's town, Brynn has to navigate what she thought was the perfect life. When her new roommate Josh ends up there too, things get complicated. Definitely worth the read if you loved some 90s teen TV.

Wow, Kate Robb does it again! I was such a big fan of This Spells Love and was overjoyed when I got an ARC of her sophomore novel as well!

A birthday wish gone wrong sends down-on-her-luck divorcee Brynn and her roommate Josh into an alternate universe where her favorite tv show, Carson's Cove, is real, and she's the main character Sloan! the only way home is for her to fall in love with the show's main man, Spencer, to give Sloane the happily ever after that got ripped away from her when the show got canceled.

While I don't watch any of the shows Carson Creek was emulating, it didn't lessen my enjoyment of this story. Robb really knows how to write sizzling relationships with chemistry that boils off the page! The zany antics of the townspeople was so delightful, and Spencer was giving some serious Ken energy that was hilarious! I always adore how Robb doesn't make her readers dislike The Other Woman (or in this case, the 'mean girl'), and the female friendship aspect may have been my favorite part of this story. My only complaint is that I have to wait a year for her next book!

4/5 stars! This book was super unique, in a good way! I thought the idea of being transported into your favorite teen drama to finish off the series was such an original idea. We all have a tv show that ended with no true conclusion that we wish would finish with a happy ending but sometimes the happy ending is something unexpected. Every character got a happy ending but not in the way you’d expect. There’s also small town drama like you would expect from any good show. Super engaging and fun read!

Thank You Netgalley for the arc.
Since 2023 I realize one of my fav niche romance tropes is magical realism in romance. So I was really excited to read this book, however this book was just really weird for me to enjoy. The book follows a 30yr old divorced woman and her bartender roommate as they find themselves in the world of Carson’s Cove, a teenage slice of life drama tv show that is reminiscent of Gilmore Girls, The OC and other early 2000s teen dramas. Maybe its the fact that I never watched any of these shows or really find myself wanting to watch this genre of tv shows but I found this book so boring and the main character’s motivation and obsession with this show and characters to be…very weird I just didn’t get it. This book is for those millennials who cant get over all of their favorite media that they consumed when they were teenagers….which I am not.

So overall I just found this book to be very boring

Date of Review: March 14th, 2024
Date of Publication: September 3rd, 2024

This was my first book by Katie Robb, and I have to say that it did not disappoint! I really enjoyed this original and refreshing concept about a girl (Brynn) and a guy (Josh) getting transported into a popular TV show. I also truly loved the fact that the show was based off of a New England capeside town, as I am a Massachusetts girly at heart.

My one downside of this book would have to be the character development for Josh and Brynn. I just feel like their connection was rather expedited, and I would've loved a few more chapters to get to know about them and their budding chemistry more. Beyond that though, Prime Time Romance is a quick and fun-loving read for when you want to transport to a world other than your own!

I definitely will be reading Robb's other book and hope to read anything she publishes in the future :)

This was basically a Teen Beach Movie dupe. It was an enjoyable premise, but I felt that, like Robb's debut, there was something missing in the chemistry between the MCs. They went from strangers to immediately being in love, and there were not enough scenes that conveyed their chemistry, I think. Also, I think that there were a lot of additional plot points that were just thrown in for the sake of absolutely nothing, which bothered me sometimes. The writing is fine, but sometimes stilted. Again, like her debut, I really liked the premise, but the execution was lacking that extra oomph. Thank you Dial and NetGalley for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this sophomore release by Kate Robb, maybe even more than This Spells Love! The concept was original but also had some Turman Show qualities. Very cute story!

i was really excited to read another kate robb book after i loved her first one, this one was so delightfully good, i was intrigued from the start about the plot
i think she writes in a way that you just can help but like her characters
i was engaged throughout the book and the nod to 2000s teen dramas was so nostalgic
i wished it was longer to see a deeper connection between josh and brynn there was something a little more that was missing from this book to really rate it 5

I've never read a Kate Robb book but her writing style immediately had me book, I finished the book within a day. the fast pace, the build up and the tension of the characters makes you not want to put down the book. this book gave a very witty nostalgic vibe and I adored that. I would definitely recommend this book for any rom com lovers

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

✔️ Prime Time Magical Storyline - think Teen Beach Movie and Pleasantville but with spice.
✔️ Small town romance
✔️ Roommates
✔️ Dual POVs

I completely fell in love with Kate Robb’s first novel “This Spells Love” so when I received an opportunity to read her latest book “Prime Time Romance” I knew I had to jump at the opportunity! I’ve decided Kate Robb is an author who absolutely does not disappoint. Her books are so freaking magical and are completely entrancing…I love everything about her storytelling. I definitely recommend adding her to your auto-buy author lists because she’s definitely on mine! 🫶

I won’t lie Disney’s “Teen Beach Movie” was one of my favorites so I absolutely loved the premise of this book - who doesn’t want to get transported into their favorite tv show world? This story was so magical and really blew me away with its romance, comedy, and heart. ❤️ All of the characters played big roles in moving the story along and all brought their own voice to the story. I loved the friendships that were made for both Brynn and Josh throughout this book. I will say though I really want to know more about Luce, we got some wins for her but I want to see her fall in love. (Maybe a sequel?🤞 And yes - before you rip me I know technically this would be a made up television character but I don’t care. 🤣) Josh and Brynn were freaking adorable and I really loved both characters. 🍷🍺 I don’t want to spoil too much but I loved their bond and basic understanding of each other…even in the beginning they knew they could only each other. 🫶

Thank you SO much @kate_robb_writes , @penguinrandomhouse , and @netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this amazing book! 🫶

I read this book in one day and I absolutely was hooked. It was definitely a comfort read for me and I loved the characters. I can see my patrons at the library LOVING this book as much as I did!

This book was a really fun twist on the modern rom-com. I wanted to get to know Brynn more as a character, but of course I quickly sniffed out that she and Josh were endgame and I enjoyed how that progressed. The teen tv show aspect was new and different - definite Dawson’s Creek vibes with similar-feeling characters.

Thank you for this advanced copy!

This book was so cute! I loved all the references to TV shows through the early 2000's, and the ending was honestly perfect. Don't get me wrong, I was a big fan of those shows, but you do have to recognize that sometimes things don't age well. This was a love letter to those shows while also realizing that things can change for the better.

One teensy, tiny thing: I never really understand how two people can be roommates but never even talk. How did the two mc's live together so long and not even become friends? Maybe that's just a trope I can't quite understand, but it doesn't subtract from this story at all.

One day, a chick and her male roommate wake up in what is essentially Dawson’s Creek. See, it’s her Comfort Show and she made a wish on her birthday, and… yeah, just go with it. It’s a cute premise.

The show was abruptly canceled so didn’t get a true ending. She is trapped in the show’s town, as the female lead, and has to get her HEA with the male lead…. OR DOES SHE!? Maybe instead she has to find love with the broody bartender….

I was offered this on NetGalley and was intrigued enough by the synopsis to go for it. It was fine. It’s good, not great. A 5-star rom-com is one I’d read again… but that’s not this. I think it was all premise, not enough relationship.

Such a creative plot - I love the idea of going back into a favorite 90s drama to change the ending. The ending of this book was great! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Prime Time Romance is a delightful read! Brynn is an almost 30 year old divorcee who is having trouble enjoying life post divorce. Josh is Brynn's bartender roommate who has also had heartbreak with the death of his father and the loss of his father's bar during the pandemic. Josh and Brynn don't usually interact much as roommates, but after a night out at the bar Josh is tending they bond eating popcorn and watching Brynn's comfort show, Carson's Cove, the night before her 30th birthday. Brynn gets a cake delivered and makes a wish, propelling them to the world of Carson's Cove. As Brynn and Josh work together to get back to their world, they find themselves falling for each other. How can they be together if Brynn is destined to be with someone else in Carson's Cove?

I really enjoyed this book! I liked This Spells Love, but Prime Time Romance is my favorite novel of Kate Robb's. Brynn and Josh's romance felt very genuine. The way they cared for one another and respected each other was so refreshing! It was also fun to see the different viewpoints that Brynn had of Carson's Cove and how her views changed once she was there! An enjoyable read with a fun paranormal spin! Highly recommend!

As a fan of romcom and sitcom, this seems the perfect book for me. I surprisingly love this.

One, I didn't realize this got a bit of some kind of magical realism. We have a Brynn and Josh, room mate and not really friends as they transported to the world of Carson's Cove. Two, yes, I did google Carson's Cove because I thought it was a real sitcom show lol.

It's very entertaining, and fast-paced. As both main characters were forced to take on the role of Sloan (the next-door charming woman) and Fletcher (the bad boy bartender), we still saw their real personality throughout the book. I love that we have characters with so much depth and how their relationship was very organic.

Carson's Cove is this small town where everyone knew each other and seems perfect and full of sunshine but as we follow along the characters, we saw that not everything is what it seems to be. Both characters/roles are inside the box of what people thought about them, and they did break their barriers, as the characters and as a person.

It's very light-hearted and overall fun, and there's still a lesson behind it all.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed Kate Robb's first book, This Spells Love, so I was honored to be given this ARC! As with This Spells Love, there's a magical/whimsical aspect to this book. Brynn, the FMC, is a recent divorcee who is trying to find her footing in life again. Josh is Brynn's roommate who prefers noncommittal relationships and also has his own regrets/struggles in his life. After a mysterious delivery and a birthday wish, Brynn and Josh are transported into Brynn's favorite teen soap show, Carson's Cove, as characters in the show. In the beginning, it seems like this would be a cute plot, but it actually takes an unexpected creepy turn as it becomes apparent that they were placed in the show for more sinister/CREEPY reasons. So the question is, how will Josh and Brynn get back to reality? Along the way, Josh and Brynn find themselves and Brynn finds out that the place she thought was perfect is not what it seems.

The writing was hilarious - I liked Brynn's character and I loved the banter and chemistry between Josh and Brynn. There's also a nod to Dawson's Creek in this book that made me fangirl a little bit. It was interesting to see how Brynn idolized Carson's Cove, but over time, her perceptions on the town and the people in it changed. Even though for most of the book, Brynn and Josh are playing characters in a teen soap, these characters somewhat resemble who they are in real life and the struggles that they are going through, so we are still able to see a lot of personal growth for both characters.

I liked this book even better than This Spells Love. It incorporated a lot more magical aspects and I enjoyed experiencing the alternate world that the author created.