I overall enjoyed this. It wasn’t perfect and it was very emotionally heavy but a great example of finding love after loss.

Juliana and Ben are coworkers with a terrible meet cute and spend the following months arguing and hating each other (he’s been simping since day 1, she just doesn’t know it).

The back-and-forth became a little too much for me. And the third act conflict made me irrationally angry. But that being said, I lost sleep over these characters. They became so real in my head. I was very invested in their story and very happy with the ending.

A solid debut and I’m looking forward to Buchanan’s future books!

Read if you like:
Workplace romance
Enemies to lovers
Slow burn
Love after loss
Spice
Single dad

The enemies to lovers trope is a sure way to win me over every single time. This was fun! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was fortunate enough to read Let’s Call a Truce by Amy Buchanan via ebook through #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Juliana is a recent widow with two young children. She has spent seven years as a stay-at-home mom and I wish I could add some of her relatable quotes on that job! Maybe after it publishes I will come back here and make some additions.

She needs to get a job and is hired by her past boss who is wonderful. Juliana immediately makes a nemesis, and we know how that goes in romance novels! After two years of hate, the love interest (I won’t tell you his name) becomes Mr. Perfect who fluently speaks all the love languages- words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, gifts, and physical touch. He will be considered primo book boyfriend material with how vocal he is with his strong and unrelenting feelings towards her. She is a little more up and down which may be understandable with her situation. I didn’t bond with the main character, and while she was so wise with her career and as a mother, some of her inner thoughts seemed immature to me. I enjoyed the side characters, the side storylines, and Buchanan’s writing style.

This book publishes January 14, 2025 and I look forward to reading more books from this debut author in the future!

3.5 /5 stars
Open door
Locations: Orlando, Florida and Boston, Massachusetts

UGH!!! BEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And JULIANA!!!!!!!!! This was the best way to end the year with a really good Enemies to Lovers. Ben and Juliana met at their current job, and Juliana is a recent widow at the time and she’s trying to manage her life as a single mom, and Ben hasn’t been too nice. Then we fast forward to 2 years later and the chemistry between them is literally steamy. Her friends are so funny and they encourage her to go for it, but they are rivals for some crazy reason. But little does she know, they have so much in common. And when they FINALLY gave into their urges, or better yet, whenever Juliana was ready to move forward, it was STEAMY!!!!! Add some drama, and their kids??!!!! I loved them all…

[ARC review]
LET'S CALL A TRUCE by Amy Buchanan starts out as a workplace antagonists-to-lovers, but it gets a lil angsty on our way to happy ever after.

Juliana is a widowed mom, obliged to go back into the workforce after being a stay at home mom for several years. On her first day at her new job she runs into a tall, handsome man...only to overhear him badmouthing her to a coworker later that day.

People sometimes complain that romance has become all vibes, no plot, but there is plenty of plot here. So much happens! The drama!!There's lots of grief and big feelings (death of spouse in an accident, parental abandonment, manchild crying "reverse racism" about a diversity initiative) but also lots of longing and logistics (kids, man).

The reason behind the third act break up kind of took me by surprise, but the reasoning made sense. You don't have to like it, but people make bad decisions for good reasons!

#NetGalley #ARCreview #LetsCallATruce

Let’s Call a Truce by Amy Buchanan is a great debut novel. The book has a number of tropes including second chance, single parents, enemies to lovers and workplace romance. Ben and Juliana meet at work and their relationship quickly sours, leading to some excellent banter. The book deals with some difficult topics including death of a spouse (off-page), divorce and single parenthood and while I felt they were included in a sensitive manner, they might not be right for all readers. The book also has a great focus on female friendships, which is always a nice addition and the side characters were well-developed.

Thank you to the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley and the author for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

✨ 𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 ✨ of 𝙻𝚎𝚝’𝚜 𝙲𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚊 𝚃𝚛𝚞𝚌𝚎 by Amy Buchanan (@amybuchananbooks)

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 5⭐️
𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 01.14.25

📝workplace romance
📝single mom
📝enemies to lovers
👏yearning

After her husband passes away, Juliana has to return to work after several years of being a stay at home mom. On her first day, she runs into Ben classic meet-cute style, but it quickly goes south after Juliana hears him berating her to a coworker for having to leave work early due to a family emergency. What follows is two years of animosity (at least on Juliana’s part) that borders the line of attraction. When Juliana learns that she’s up for a promotion, the caveat being that she works together with Ben on a project, the two are forced to get to know each other on a deeper level👀

A ✨shining✨ debut!!! I loved this so much!!! 🩷 This one has tons of banter, YEARNING!!! slow burn and wit. But more than that, the depiction of grief and fear that Juliana faces was well written.

Also?? If you’re a Floridian in the Orlando and/or Gainesville area, this has so many nods to our charming lil cities and I absolutely loved that. Seeing my town & certain local places named was so neat!!

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Props to Amy Buchanan on this fun and exciting debut workplace romance story between widower Julianna and Ben. The banter and tension between Julianna and Ben was great lead up to the tipping point between them when they finally kissed. It was worth it! Julianna’s mom guilt was running full force on top of being a widower and having to go back to work and from her first run in with Ben she knew she would be at war. What kind of war was definitely up in the air until he made a common about her rescheduling a meeting and they became office nemesis.

Two years of being nemesis and then finally being forced to work together on a big project made it harder for them to keep each other at arms length. Slowly, they began to realize they wanted to be in each other’s orbit without the animosity and that lead way to new and scary feelings. I really liked how they navigated everything even if I wanted to grab Ben by the shoulders and shake him a few times.

If you love a good enemies to lovers workplace romance story then definitely check out this debut from Amy Buchanan!



Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback

Juliana and Ben’s love story and blending of families after Juliana tragically lost her husband was so beautiful. The ending of this book was one of my favorites, and it made it worth the read!

Juliana was not my favorite female main character, though. I felt like she was immature for a 30+ year old professional woman and mother, and she really did NOT want to let anything go ever. There were definitely moments where I didn’t hate her, but I had a really hard time connecting to her. Ben was a phenomenal male lead, and his character was written so well!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book.

“Let’s Call a Truce” by Amy Buchanan
2 single parents & One Spicy Story
For the most part I really enjoyed this story. The trauma of loss was a major player for two of the characters which in turn had an impact on other characters with head vs heart choices to be made. There were a few times I thought the story dragged just a bit; I am glad I persevered! There were a few scenes that shared descriptions that I would rather not see, although I guess that is what sell stories. It is a good story, a rather long story redeemed with a happy ending.

Let’s Call A Truce is a wonderful, well written, contemporary romance for the author’s debut book. This is enemies to lovers delight! I loved Juliana & Ben, watching them both overcome anxiety and grief and learn to lean on each other was so heartwarming. The banter between the two had me giggling and kicking my feet. The development of their relationship was so pure and beautiful written.

This book deals heavily with grief of losing a spouse. You could feel the pain Juliana and her kids were going through. I’ve read many single mother/widow stories but this is the first one that made me feel like I was there with the characters experiencing their feelings.

i devoured this book!

i don’t have kids, but reading juliana’s struggles with being enough for her children will resonate with anyone. she was relatable and easy to love. ben thomas? SO HOT. the office banter and forbidden romance aspect just added so much tension to the plot.

this was a fun enemies to lovers book and i had such a great time!!

thank you st. martin’s for an e-arc!

Thank you NetGalley for my ebook arc

The first half of this book, the FMC frustrated me to no end but damn the tension between the two of them kept me going. I love this second chance romance and a second chance at love. I even cried a little bit. This was such a cute and funny read

I went into this book blind & it did not disappoint! A story about overcoming grief, forgiveness & a little hate to love workplace romance.

Such a sweet book. I felt so many different emotions while reading this. I giggled, I teared up, I got annoyed, and I felt joy. I also really enjoyed Amy Buchanan's writing style.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
🌶🌶

📖: Let's Call a Truce-standalone

✍️ By: Amy Buchanan-debut author

📃 Page Count: 335 eBook

🎧 Narrator: Charlotte North voices all the characters with standouts from characters: Juliana, Ben, and Asia. The reading style brought the text to life, and the author and narrator worked together perfectly. The pacing and flow allowed me to get lost in the story. The narrator paused and announced new chapters and there was a table of contents which helped me follow along.

🏃🏾‍➡️ Run Time: 10:03

🗓️ Publication Date: 1-14-25 | Read 12-27-24

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and Amy Buchanan for this ARC and ALC! I voluntarily give my honest review, and all opinions expressed are my own.

🌎Setting: Orlando, FL to Boston, MA

Genre: Adult Fic, Contemporary Romance

Tropes: enemies to lovers, workplace romance, rivals, single parents

☝🏾POV: 1st person, single

⚠️TW: grief-death of spouse, bullying, parental abandonment, therapy

💭Summary: Juliana has her first day back to work at Keller, Munoz, and Griffin Architecture and Interior Design company since her husband's passing nine months ago. The stay-at-home mother of two is still grieving and trying to balance home life when she runs into Ben. She overhears him talking badly about her inexperience and having children, so they become each other's work nemeses. Two years pass and they are still at each other but when both are up for promotion, they must work together on an internship project with Billings College.

🚺Heroine: Juliana Ryan-35

🚹 Hero: Ben Thomas-39

🎭Side cast:

• Sophie and Clara-Juliana's daughters 7 and 9

• Eduardo Munoz-Juliana's boss, CEO of KMG

• Jason-Juliana's deceased husband

• Asia Taylor-Juliana's BFF, co worker

• Christina-Juliana's boss, VP of KMG


🤔My Thoughts: Juliana and Ben unknowingly had a lot in common, but their egos got in the way. Both were career driven and tried to sabotage each other with quips and witty banter. I felt for their mutual friend Asia who knew about their tragedies, but didn't want to be in the middle. There was a 3rd act breakup but ended with a blended family HEA.

Range of emotions: 😬🤔🙄
🌶️: Spice 4/5
😭: Emotion 5/5
❤️: Couple 5/5
⭐️: Rating 4.5/5

This was a fun contemporary romance but I don’t think it was for me. I’m not a huge fan of the tropes in this book and truly believe third act breakups should be outlawed. However, I really enjoyed the writing and the depth of this story. The grief of our FMC is incredibly well written and palpable. I appreciate the inclusion of her storyline and enjoyed the aspect it lent to her new romance. So, while I don’t think I’m the target audience, I do think this is worth the read!

I loved everything about this gorgeous, gorgeous book! Between the heartfelt tear-jerker moments and the giggle-while-kicking-my-feet moments, this one had everything I could have hoped for. I was treated to lovely conversations between family members, YEARNING, and scenes that came with a side of extra-hot chili peppers. The FMC took her time to think about her choices and I appreciated being brought along in that process. The MMC, my oh my, I swear my knees were in a constant jelly-like state every time he hit the page. Highly recommended, can't wait for my signed pre-ordered copy to arrive!

Unexpectedly widowed, Juliana Ryan must reenter the workforce after many years away as a stay at home mom. Her prior mentor helps her land a new job, where she starts as a bundle of nerves. So much so, she literally crashes into a coworker dumping coffee over them all. What a way to make a first impression!

Things only go downhill when she overhears the same colleague, Ben Thomas, groaning about her lack of experience and demands of being a single parent, and the discord begins! It doesn't help that she's already dealing with a heavy dose of self-doubt, but adding fuel to the fire is that Ben is one gorgeous specimen.

As time marches on, Juliana has proven her value and also found herself some new best friends after all her prior "friends" distanced themselves when she returned to the workforce. But the war is still raging against Ben. They trade barbs and argue at every chance. When potential promotions arise, they agree to call a truce and attempt to get along.

Well written and a fast read, this was enjoyable! I loved how the mutual best friend remained neutral and supportive (everyone needs someone like this) and the humor of another in the women's group was outstanding - could have used a little more from Dani! But best of all was the parents always putting the children first.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Amy Buchanan for the eARC.

Pub Date Jan 14 2025

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC!

I thought this was very sweet and a fun read! I really have been into enemies to lovers and this one exceeded my expectations! I loved the depth of the characters- Juliana’s character was so true and well developed- I felt like I really knew her and what she was feeling! I really loved this one.