This is my second Kate Robb novel and it’s just as much fun as her first book! In Prime Time Romance, the main character, Brynn, wishes that her life could be as carefree and predictable as her favorite teen drama, and thanks to a magical birthday cake, gets a chance to experience that life for herself. I don’t typically seek out books involving any sort of magic or suspension of disbelief, but Kate Robb manages to draw me in every time with her whimsical alternate dimension stories.

Prime Time Romance really captured the essence of life in a teen drama, as intended, with lots of fun Easter eggs and references to classic TV tropes and characters thrown in. The story is told in dual POV, so while it feels like most of the storyline focuses on Brynn, we still get to see plenty of the MMC, Josh, as well. I only wish we’d gotten to see a little more of the two main characters together along the way. It felt a bit more like a journey about finding oneself than a romance at times. Nonetheless, it was still a quick, fun, easy read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC of this book!

I really enjoyed this! I loved the movie Pleasantville growing up, and this was a mix of that and Gilmore Girls. Kate Robb writes great alternate universe romances, and this is a good sophomore book. I do however wish it was slightly longer! I normally think books could do with maybe 30 fewer pages, but the alternative is true here. Having more on "Sloan's" relationship with Poppy would have been good, and maybe a few more scenes with Josh in the middle could have really pushed this over the edge towards a five for me. I still tore through it however, and can't believe I now have to wait maybe upwards of a year for her next book.

"I am okay to wake up every morning and know that there aren't guarantees in life, but that there is adventure. That there are new beginnings. That I need to love hard for whatever time I'm given because life can throw curveballs at any moment, and sometimes those curveballs are wild."

I am a huge fan of Kate Robb from her debut novel, This Spells Love. That was an easy 5 star read for me and this book was exactly the same! There is something about her writing that just grips me right from the start. I binged this book all in one day as it just pulled me right in and never let me go!!

Kate Robb delivers such clever, witty dialogue that was so incredibly enjoyable to read. As a fellow Canadian, and also fellow Ontarian, I continue to love her niche references, as I rarely get to spot these in books written by American authors!

Readers meet Brynn, newly divorced and newly 30, she is feeling very lost in her life. Her life was not at all where she thought it would be at this point in her life and as a hopeless romantic, she is struggling with her new-found reality that "true love" wasn't all it was cracked up to be. However, she can always rely on her all-time favourite show, Carson's Cove, to keep her company. I think almost everyone can relate to this, we all have that one show (or multiple) that we keep going back to time after time, it's our safe happy place, we know what will happen in the plot lines, the characters feel like personal friends at this point and there is something just so comforting and safe about that.

Brynn is currently living with her roommate Josh, a friend of her brother's who, at this point, she hasn't gotten to know so well. He works as a bartender and is going through a bit of a lost time himself. When his father passed away, Josh tried to save the family bar, however due to the pandemic, the business unfortunately had to be sold, but is recently back up for auction. Josh is trying to decide if he can work up the courage to try again, after he feels like he failed his late father the first time.

When on the eve of her 30th birthday, she makes a wish on a magical cake, her and her roommate Josh are transported the world of Carson's Cove, and given the task to "complete" the series with the perfect ending that Brynn had always believed it deserved. The show was unexpectedly cancelled before some main storylines were wrapped up, and now Brynn and Josh, playing characters within the show, have to finish the plot in order to get home. Brynn has always dreamed of living in a world like Carson's Cove, where everything magically works out, there are no "real world" stressors and it's seemingly perfect and care free.

Through Kate Robb's incredible writing, readers follow along as Brynn and Josh get to know each other on a deeper level, and discover that living the "perfect" reality is now all it's cracked up to me. Real life is messy and bumpy, there are mistakes and surprises along the way, but all the bad makes the good so much more worth it. I already know this book will forever live in my head and every reader is going to be able to find a way to relate to it! In an ironic twist, while Brynn get's to live within her comfort show that makes her feel so safe and cozy, this book gave me the exact same feeling!!

This book was SO fun! A beautiful tribute to the teen dramas that made up our youth.

I was approved for this today on NetGalley and I sat down and DEVOURED the entire thing. I also have a cold and was going to spend the day on the couch anyway but still!

Kate Robb has made her way to my automatic add to TBR list for all her future releases!