⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🔥🔥🔥

Quick Breakdown

Grumpy x Sunshine
Workplace Rivals
Single Mom
Widowed Heroine
He Falls First
Single POV
Open Door - Moderate

Juliana first meets Ben on her first day back in the workforce after her husband unexpectedly passed away months prior. Then she accidentally hears him venting about her inexperience & scheduling conflicts with her kids. For the next two years the pair butt heads, constantly needling each other. But now she’s up for a well deserved and much needed promotion & a large joint project with Ben is her ticket to showing the higher ups that she’s ready for the responsibility. Can they come to a truce?

Overall, this was a really solid debut. The rivals to lovers aspect was done very well. All the playground vibes I love. The banter and sparing as föreplay worked for me. While this is written in a single POV, you can easily tell that it’s Ben who falls first & I was 100% here for it. Given her recent tragedy & continual work to keep her head above water it makes sense that she was hesitant to starting over again romantically. It was almost like he was romancing / dating her on the sly. The kids in this one were written incredibly realistic and helped our MCs with their growth throughout the story. I just loved their blended family so much.

Then, the conflict hit. I understood it. I understood the logic, but then it felt like too much of a downer with all the grief already suffered in the beginning. I was forced to face my emotions too much & for too long. If you are prepared going in & can appreciate some sad, you’re going to love this one.

I am really excited for what comes next from Amy! Thank you to @smpromance for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The way I DEVOURED this book. Not only am I a sucker for enemies to lovers but the office tension and forced proximity were ✨delicious✨. Throw in a single parent trying to prove herself while balancing a career and loving her children with all she has. Juliana had my heart from the very beginning, from her loss/grief to her finding herself again in work. I was rooting for her to find happiness again because if anyone deserved it, she did! Then you have the snarky coworker who due to a not-so-nice comment he made that she wasn't supposed to hear is now on the top of her sh*t list. Their banter and flirting had me blushing and kicking my feet because obviously they had a connection that was meant to happen. Despite their truce at work feelings become known and decisions must be made for their future. After discovering more about Ben's home life that brings them closer than ever, his past comes to haunt their current happiness. I was holding on my kindle with a white knuckle grip to see how these two came out of it together. Make sure to add to your TBR to find out for yourself!

I LOVED this book!! Amy Buchanan does such a great job weaving an intriguing story that readers will fall in love with like I did!! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves romance books!!

The premise is okay, but the execution is a bit underwhelming.

I'll be honest, I'm not always a fan of enemies-to-lovers in contemporary romance, since authors too often default to quick resolution OR make the enemies aspect so outrageous that you think the two characters should end up in jail, not together. There are aspects of Let's Call a Truce that lean a little too heavily into the outrageous category, as the main FMC is an HR professional, so I'm shocked she gets away with two years of passive-aggressive battles with the head of another department at her company.

I also had some issues with pacing and character development. We jump into the story 9 months after Juliana has lost her husband, and that grief is an important part of the story. However, we immediately get a two-year time jump, and we don't learn a lot about what happened in those two years. As a result, we are fully launched into the enemies aspect of the story AND we don't see the work that Juliana puts into getting past the loss of her husband. On top of that, both main characters exhibit incredibly frustrating behavior, which ends up leading to, essentially, major conflicts in both halves of the book. There is just too much going on, which doesn't give space for the story to unfold.

It was, however, a very quick read that wasn't uninteresting. Despite my frustrations with the characters, I didn't feel like DNFing at any point, and there are some good moments that show Buchanan can craft a great story.

Amy Buchanan’s Let’s Call a Truce is a heartwarming and addictive debut, skillfully blending humor, tension, and emotional depth. This second-chance romance delivers a perfect mix of workplace drama, personal growth, and undeniable chemistry that keeps you rooting for Juliana and Ben until the very end.

Juliana Ryan is a relatable and resilient protagonist whose journey from grieving widow and struggling single mom to confident career woman is both inspiring and deeply moving. Her fiery dynamic with Ben Thomas, her annoyingly attractive nemesis-turned-love-interest, crackles with witty banter and undeniable sexual tension. Their love story unfolds naturally, moving from antagonism to truce to something much more heartfelt and genuine.

Buchanan excels in crafting characters that feel real and flawed. Juliana’s struggles with balancing her career, motherhood, and grief are portrayed with authenticity, and Ben’s transformation from dismissive colleague to supportive partner is believable and satisfying. Their chemistry leaps off the page, with plenty of swoon-worthy moments that will have romance fans grinning from ear to ear.

The humor and lighthearted moments keep the story from feeling too heavy, even as it touches on themes like loss, insecurity, and the courage to open yourself to love again. The supporting characters, particularly Juliana’s kids, add depth and charm to the narrative, making the stakes feel even more personal.

The only reason this isn’t a full 5-star read is that Ben’s past conflict, while adding drama, feels a bit rushed in its resolution. The buildup is strong, but the payoff could have been more impactful. That said, it doesn’t detract too much from the overall enjoyment of the book.

Let’s Call a Truce is a delightful, sexy, and heartfelt romance that proves Amy Buchanan is a talent to watch. If you love second-chance stories with strong heroines, charming heroes, and plenty of emotional payoff, this is a must-read.

An enemies to lovers romance, the story of Juliana and Ben. They are workplace enemies but will they become more when they actually too know each other? I felt she forgave him a bit too easily though.

Let’s Call a Truce was a great debut romance! It includes one of my favourite trope combos of enemies to lovers and workplace romance. This one follows Juliana, a single parent who is looking to rejuvenate her career after the loss of her husband. I enjoyed Juliana as the main character, her strength and determination, and following her along on her journey full of second chances, including a second chance at love. This one is filled with banter, lots of tension and some steam as well. I loved the side characters in this one, including the kids, Asia and Quinn that I thought added a great dynamic to the book. I didn’t enjoy the last third of the book as much as the rest as I felt it was filled with drama that took me out of the story for a bit and I didn’t necessarily love how it went.

Overall, I enjoyed this one and rated it 3.5 to 4 stars! If you are looking for a steamy workplace romance with the enemies to lovers, forced proximity and second chance at love tropes, check out Let’s Call a Truce, out January 14!

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress of the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! I was shocked by how good this book was. I’m not usually a fan of single parent but something about this one was such a hit to me. It might have been that both parents were single and for very different reasons. I did not like the third act breakup reason, it just felt out of character for Ben after he was so forthcoming and assertive earlier in the book. It didn’t make sense for him to just let it all go and pretend he didn’t care. I liked Juliana and her growth. Her friend group is literal goals! I did like how the families blended together. I also enjoyed the tension between the characters at the beginning and the romance. There was some actual laugh out loud lines in this book for me!

This was my first Amy Buchanan book, and that being said, this is not my last. I enjoyed this book quite a lot. There are a bunch of fun tropes in here that I personally really enjoy. The book was very well written, fun to read, and kept me engaged. Also... Perfect amount of spice.

I want to personally thank NetGalley, as well as the author, publisher, and anyone else involved in providing copies, for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I laughed, I cried, I swooned and I fell in love with Amy Buchanan’s debut. While dealing beautifully with heavier topics like grief and unpacking what it means to date in the modern world, Amy still managed to make a fun and sweet and giggle-inducing workplace romance. Ben and Juliana had perfect tension and banter and a delicious workplace rivals to lovers dynamic. I’m so excited for more from Amy - her voice is one to watch!

Recent widow Juliana Ryan, has to re-enter the work force in order to provide for her children. Ben Thomas is her irritating co-worker who she overhears complaining about her inexperience. Two years later and the feud between them continues, but when an important assignment forces them to work together, they are forced to call a truce.

A super cute enemies to lovers rom-com with some serious moment thrown in for good measure, Let’s Call a Truce is one you’ll fly right through. With a slight reminiscence of The Hating Game, the tension between Juliana and Ben is fierce! While of course the enemies have to at some point become lovers, I enjoyed how these two had moments when their truce was back off. The humorous nature of their feud was the perfect segue into more once Juliana gets to know the real Ben.

🎧 The audio is a great way to go. Charlotte North was a terrific narrator who amped up the fun in this one. Highly recommend.

Read if you like:
▪️single parent
▪️enemies to lovers
▪️workplace
▪️forced proximity
▪️open door romance
▪️The Hating Game

Thank you SMP Romance and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copies.

This was a sweet workplace romance about second chances at love after Juliana, our MC, is tragically widowed and left to support two young girls alone. She goes back into the workforce and still is suffering panic attacks and grieving when she meets Ben, her new coworker. There's a fun meet-cute and instant attraction, but Juliana is no place to move on after her loss. Things take a turn when she overhears him saying she lacks experience in her role, and her being a single parent will be a problem for her fulfilling her obligations at the company, confirming the fears she already has. For the following two years, they are arch-nemesis, playing pranks and exchanging quips until they need to work together and they call a truce, that leads to much more. This workplace romance trope was fun, and I enjoyed learning about her actual job as an HR manager. They share a fiercely loyal friend too which I loved and I enjoyed hearing about their workplace battles, like their diversity policy or setting up new intern programs. Overall, the romance grows, and it gets spicy. I love their dynamic and their relationship. I didn't love the on-again off-again once they officially got together, particularly when it came to Ben's plot twist. Or their first official hookup. I don't think it as a good start to what it become. I was happy there was emphasis on the grief, and her reluctance to move on. Ben's support for her past was really great and I thought the dynamic of their blended family was perfection. That I completely understood. It was the final 25% I struggled a bit with, I didn't expect that from Ben after getting to know him even the parts I did understand, like supporting his daughter. Overall, enjoyable contemporary romance and I was happy with the ending. There's more serious content and heartfelt emotion than humor, the friendships and their banter/pranking definitely carried the comedy aspect of this one. But I liked that balance regarding their situations.

There were so many cute elements in this book. I really enjoyed that Ben and Juliana were both older and had age appropriate conflicts. I also really enjoyed how they had to balance their children, professional life and their relationship. My only major complaint is that the hostility went on for to long and got to a point where I was just like enough!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this. I always love workplace and enemies together! Juliana is back to work after being a stay at home mom for years. Her husband passed away, so she and her two kids are grieving as they adjust to their new normal. Juliana and Ben get off on the wrong foot, and begins a workplace rivalry.

They’re forced to work closely together, so Juliana has to put her dislike to the side. Once she starts getting to know Ben, she realizes maybe she was wrong about him all along.

There’s a slight little twist about halfway that I loved! It added some depth and more emotion to the story.

Didn’t love the third act conflict. I do think it recovered a little with his gesture.

Overall, an enjoyable read filled with banter!

Workplace romance
Enemies to lovers
Single mom
Widow
Banter
Found family
He falls first

What to expect in Let’s Call a Truce:
🏢Workplace romance
❤️‍🔥Enemies to lovers
🧑‍🧒‍🧒FMC is a widowed, single mom
☝️Single POV

I’ve got mixed feelings about this one… The book started off strong for me, a solid 4🌟 read, but the ending lost me. I also found some of their office pranks and banter immature, but it didn’t stop me from rooting for Juliana and her happy ending after the tragic loss of her husband.

Things I liked:
👩‍💼Very relatable as a FT working mom to 2 girls- my daughters happen to be the same ages as Juliana’s children
💙watching Ben patiently, but consistently fight and pine for Juliana

Things I didn’t like:
🤬The conflict- Juliana was so deserving of a happily ever after. She’s gone through so much and it takes so long for her to trust Ben and work up the courage to risk her heart again. But then Ben had to go and ruin it. That 3rd act was not ok- it felt so angsty and Juliana needed happiness, not heartbreak. I am torn because as a parent I would do anything for my kids… but I wouldn’t do that. 🙄

While I didn’t like the ending, I still think it was a strong debut (the writing was good) and I would definitely try another book from Amy Buchanan.

Overall rating: 3🌟

Let’s Call a Truce is out now (pub date 1/14/25)! Thank you to SMP romance for the advanced copy; all thoughts are my own.

Thank you to @netgalley & @stmartinspress for the gifted copy of this book in exchange for my honest review! Happy Pub week!

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Let’s Call A Truce
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: Amy Buchanan
𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬: 336
𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: Florida & Boston

𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬: Juliana's life is turned upside down when her husband unexpectedly died. She was left alone with two small daughters and after 7 years as a stay- at-home mom, she had to get a job and downsize their life. She reconnects with a past employer to get a HR position with KMG. Ben is a department head, they started off on the wrong foot and it has snowballed over the years. They are put together on a project where they not only get to know each other better, some misunderstandings are cleared up but secrets come out too.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐡𝐚𝐬:
• Enemies to Lovers
• Single Parents
• Second Chance at Love
• Workplace Romance
• Found Family
• Forced Proximity

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: I am so on the fence with this book - it has some of my favorite tropes! I absolutely loved this book in the beginning. The banter/tension between Juliana and Ben was fire! I loved that Juliana put her kids' happiness first and how she really persevered after such a tragedy. But somewhere along the way, the miscommunication, back and forth with the feelings just got to be too much for me. The third act break- up almost pushed me over the edge. It was a complicated situation but it was too much for this story, in my opinion.

I loved the side characters, especially Asia but I would personally have to question the friendship if my bestie kept all the things from me that she did. There were great qualities between both characters but after the situation with Ben's ex, I just couldn't root for this couple.

I adored the book cover. I look forward to reading more by this author.

𝐂𝐖: Death of Spouse, Abandonment

Let's Call a Truce by Amy Buchanan is an adult contemporary romance that follows Juliana who is a widow and single mom trying to live with her grief and take care of her family, and Ben who is a single dad with different pain of his own. It's an office dislike-to-love romance where they get off on the wrong foot but slowly find out they're a lot more alike than they thought.

I loved the themes of healing and Juliana's journey with loss and finding love again. It was realistic and meaningful, and beautiful to see her find herself again. The romance is quite angsty and slow-burn; they have an instant attraction but Juliana isn't ready for a relationship and Ben also says multiple stupid things about her. But after working in the same office for over two years, they start feeling the pull to each other, and things go on from there. It's sweet, steamy, and really easy to read. I felt like the story had a really strong start where I felt immediately invested and wanted to keep reading. It slowed down a bit around the middle, and I felt like the plot was a bit stagnant and repetitive, but then it picked up again. It also had a type of conflict I really don't like but it made sense for the story.

Overall, this is a great office romance I'd recommend if you'd like some forced proximity, a single parent romance, and meaningful themes. The family aspect in this book is really sweet as well.

Juliana Ryan, 33, is a widow with two daughters Clara, 7, and Sophie 5. She has a degree in human resources and had a good job before deciding to stay home with her children. Now, she is the sole bread-winner, she has returned to her previous job. Having been away for some years, she is quite nervous about her return.

Popping out of an office one day, she runs into a man, Ben Thomas, and leaves a lipstick stain on his shirt. She apologies and offers to have it dry-cleaned but he declines. It doesn’t take long for both of them to begin butting heads. In her new position, Juliana will be recruiting top talent for a number of hiring managers in the company, one of whom is Ben.

Two Years Later:

Juliana and Ben continue to butt heads as he is often quite rude to her with her telling him to use his manners. When they are assigned to a special project together, they realize that they must put their differences aside and call a truce for the good of the company. However, their competitive natures tend to get in the way despite their attraction to one another. Where is this relationship headed? Enemies, friends, or something else?

When I first started reading this book, I felt like it was going to be a story where some chick tries to one-up a male colleague and I rolled my eyes at that. As I read more, I was impressed at how genuine Juliana was as a mother trying her very best to make a good life for her children. As my own Mom was left a widow at a very young age with 3 little children under 4, I know first hand how difficult that can be. I loved Juliana’s friends and their closeness and diverseness which was astonishing. The honesty among the friends was so much fun. This book is delightful from start to finish. Do not miss it and enjoy!

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
sᴘɪᴄᴇ: 🌶️🌶️
ʀᴇʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ: January 14
ᴀᴠᴀɪʟᴀʙʟᴇ ɪɴ KU: No
ᴘᴀɢᴇs: 335

The story follows Juliana Ryan, a widowed mom who’s returning to work after years of staying home with her kids. Her first day back is rough when she overhears her new colleague, Ben Thomas, making a hurtful comment about her being a liability because of her kids and lack of experience. This sparks a feud between the two that lasts for two years.
When they’re forced to work together on a big project, things start to change. Their chemistry is undeniable, and as they get to know each other, Juliana starts to see there’s more to Ben than she first thought. But she’s been hurt before, and trusting him isn’t easy.
The romance is slow-burn and steamy, and there’s a good mix of humor and heartfelt moments throughout. Juliana is a character you can root for – she’s strong and doing the best she can for her kids. Ben is frustrating at times but also has his own struggles, and the banter between them adds some fun to the story.
While I really enjoyed the first part of the book, the last section felt a little too dramatic and unnecessary, taking away from the buildup. That said, I still enjoyed the overall story and the dynamic between Juliana and Ben.
If you like office romance with a bit of tension, second chances, and a dash of spice, this is a solid read. Buchanan’s debut shows a lot of promise, and I’ll be looking forward to more from her in the future.

᪥ Enemies To Lovers
᪥ Office Romance
᪥ Widow/Single Mom
᪥ Close Proximity
᪥ He Falls First
᪥ Banter
᪥ Single POV

ɴᴇᴛɢᴀʟʟᴇʏ ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ || LET’S CALL A TRUCE [thank you to @stmartinspress and @macmillan.audio for my #gifted ARC & ALC!]

Title: Let’s Call a Truce
Genre: Romance
Format: Audio
Star Rating: ★★★★☆
Narrator: Charlotte North
Narration: ★★★★☆

ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ:
Widowed and rebuilding her life, Juliana Ryan battles her dismissive coworker-turned-nemesis, Ben Thomas, until a career-defining project forces a truce. As fiery arguments evolve into undeniable chemistry, Juliana faces a choice: risk her heart for love again or protect herself from the shadows of Ben’s past.

ᴍʏ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ:
I absolutely love a good older MC, second chance at love romance story. As a mom myself, it’s always a treat to see issues and problems that I run into shown in romance novels (needing a babysitter to do anything? Check. Feeling like you’re always behind or doing it wrong? Check).

My only true complaint with this book was the third act breakup. Something about it felt kind of off and weird…but also understandable? I don’t know, I just wish it had come about a different way maybe. But I still loved it!

Can’t wait to see what Amy comes out with next!

ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ:
Widowed FMC
Second Chance at Love
Adorable Children
Catch & Keep
Workplace Romance
Enemies-to-Lovers

ᴅᴇᴛᴀɪʟꜱ:
GR: 4.00 ⭐️
# of Hours: 10 hours, 45 Minutes
Pub Date: January 14, 2025