Member Reviews
Me gustó la dinámica entre Hannah y Teddy. Disfruté que antes de que hubiera romance pudiera conocerlos, sobretodo a ella, como personas con aspiraciones, sueños, trabajos, miedos, anhelos…
El único pero que le pongo es que Teddy no tuviera povs, me hubiera gustado saber más de él en sus propias palabras.
No es necesario leer el libro anterior.
Gracias NetGalley y a la editorial por el ARC a cambio de mi honesta opinión.
I'm a fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope, so I was excited when I read the synopsis of Lucy Chalice's new book, "Fundamentals in Flirting." This book is about Hannah, a veterinarian who loves animals but humans, not so much. When her bristly bedside manner gets her in trouble with her boss one too many times, she has to learn how to be a more friendly person. Enter Teddy, a man with whom she has quite the history -- he was her best kiss back in high school, but she never did take him seriously. Hannah always liked Teddy's twin much more, and still thinks he has his life together better than Teddy. But one thing Teddy excels at is making friends wherever he goes, so he decides to help Hannah out by teaching her how to be more friendly.
While I really wanted to like this book, I just really found Hannah to be an unpleasant person and hard to root for. I didn't understand why Teddy was so obsessed with her and I didn't find their chemistry believable. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
At the beginning what I liked more compared to Henry and Clara's story was that Teddy and Hannah seemed to have more chemistry and good banter. The premise was fun and had a lot of potential but there were some things that took from the story. Hannah was very insecure abut her physical appearance due to bullying when she was in school and I don't think that gets addressed more in depth or resolved. A lot of the plot was driven by the fact that she came across as prickly or insensitive and needed to remedy that by order of her boss, that's why she made a deal with Teddy for him to teach her how to be more personable and "nice", but he worded it as flirting and gave her maybe two "lessons". There were communication issues and when they were having more serious conversations Teddy always tried to make a joke. With all that said it was an ok read I guess. but personally didn't find the characters very likable.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for this ARC, all opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read Fundamentals in Flirting by Lucy Chalice. While I only made it to chapter five, I appreciated the playful tone of the book. However, the main character felt a bit immature to me, and the dialogue didn’t quite hold my interest. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the right fit for me, but I’m sure others will enjoy it.
This was a wonderful book! I really enjoyed reading this book. The plot is very well written and interesting, and the characters were well developed. I would definitely recommend this to other readers!
I was a bit slow at the start of this book to pick up my pace, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I went back and looked at my review for The Hot Henry Effect, and my overall thoughts are very similar to the Fundamentals in Flirting.
Once again, I think Lucy Chalice is a very British writer. There are a lot of words that make these characters your cliché Brits and seem very posh. Well, at least that is what my little American brain is thinking while reading this book. I have to admit, there were a lot of words that I had to look up while reading. Thank goodness for the installed dictionary with Kindle. I have to admit, I felt a little dumb at certain parts for my lack of vocabulary.
Hannah has a lot of similarities to Clara (from The Hot Henry Effect). She has a lot of insecurities, although maybe for different reasons, but in the end the outcome is the same. Both do not see themselves as attractive and, therefore, are unworthy of any affection from the Fraser guys, which is just absurd. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I'm not surprised these two ladies hit it off so well when they first met and I'm sure they will be wonderful sister-in-laws to each other. Hannah is passionate about her line of work with animal care, and while her original passion was not primary care and face-to-face interaction with her patients or their owners, she soon starts to get the hang of the "sociable" aspect of her job. She is much more comfortable with the research and cutting-edge medical advances in animal care, which motivates her and makes her love her career.
Teddy is different from his twin brother, but despite all his huffing and puffing, you can tell that there is real brotherly love. While Henry is oblivious to his attractiveness and the effect he has on women around him, Teddy knows he is hot and that he has women swooning at his feet. Well, all the women except for the one that he actually wants. There is no real mention of what Teddy had been doing or where he was living for the past 15 years, although I assume it was not in his little town of Cotswold by the Sea or whatever the place is called. I'm curious to know what his personal story is.
The story is about Teddy and Hannah, who went to school together and ended up kissing, or snogging as the Brits say, at Teddy's 18th birthday party. Hannah didn't think it actually meant anything, and stomped off. 15 years later, Teddy and Hannah (literally) run into each other and Teddy takes this opportunity to try to pursue Hannah now that he has more experience. Hannah has a lot of confidence issues, and to protect herself and her feelings, she uses a verbal shield and a very sharp tongue. While the banter between Clara and Henry is lighthearted and funny, the banter between Hannah and Teddy is almost sparing. It's good and funny but you can tell that Teddy tries to keep it lighthearted while Hannah tries to keep her feelings and her vulnerability protected.
I highlighted the full speech that Teddy gives Hannah when he confesses his feelings to her and how he sees her. It was *swoon* panty-dropping. I may need my husband to read it to me out loud so I can fantasize about those sentences. Oh, and when Teddy and Hannah finally do get together...prepare yourself. The "foreplay" is hilarious. I kept imagining some late 90's or early 2000's rom-com with a lot of physical exertion.
While this isn't a book I would devour in a matter of hours, I am glad I had the opportunity to read it. It was so cute and sweet and Agnes is adorable. Oh, it has my heart in a little puddle.
Thank you NetGally, HarperCollins UK and Lucy Chalice for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
This book had me laughing and smiling throughout. So many mishaps and funny banter. I really liked Hannah and Teddy together. There was a good amount of angst and Teddy was so swoon worthy at times. This is a really good read. I also enjoyed The Hot Henry Effect by the same author. I will be watching for future books!
Lucy Chalice has done it again. This book was just as brilliant, funny, and entertaining as the first one. Chalice has a way of using the English language that is both entertaining and stimulating for the mind and far above any other book in the same genre. It was a fresh breeze to read a book where the FMC is the grump instead of the stereotypical male. It was a quick and cute read and I recommend it to everyone!
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.
This was my first foray into the reverse grumpy sunshine trope—the FMC was prickly, and the MMC was a charming golden retriever. I really enjoyed that aspect and actually related a lot to the FMC! Agnes was the only redemptive side character; everyone else was absolutely insufferable, and I wish we could’ve seen them get their comeuppance more. I also wanted to see an Agnes epilogue! I hope she is spending time with her grandkids.
10/10 recommend! Thank you to Harper Collins and author Lucy Chalice for this ARC!
This is as cute as can be, A kiss of two eighteen year olds manages to stay etched in each other’s minds even though they both shy away from the memory. This is lovely with Teddy falling for Hannah and chasing her, or wooing her as he likes to call it. Vet Hannah is prickly, and needs to become less so to keep her job as the local vet. The wooing is funny, the neighbours are half barking mad and half sad in their senility and Hannah’s ex is as unpleasant as can be. Shake all this up, add the parents, and this is a great romance with a lot of madness and cuteness thrown in.
I'm so sorry, but I did not like this book at all. The characters seemed boring and unrelatable, several parts of this book felt way too childish, and it just felt like something was missing from the book. I really liked the premise, but it just did not live up to my expectations. I think Lucy Chalice is a phenomenal author and it's breaking my heart that I could not get into this book.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for the opportunity to read & review this arc!
This is such a fun, bubbly, miscommunication in abundance read. I loved the leads and hope there’s more in this series. Five stars.
Cute and quick read. Love the romcom vibes in this. Pretty typical romance story. Love the cover on this. Full review on goodreads
I had so much fun with this book! Hannah is a vet who recently moved back to her hometown to leave her cheating ex. Teddy is an architect and lives next door. After a brief “fling” in high school, these two have not kept in touch and now find themselves together all the time.
Teddy is clearly smitten with Hannah from the start but Hannah has things going on she needs to work on to be in a space to be with Teddy. Heartbroken, she has been told all her life she needs to be nicer and smile more. Teddy and Hannah enter into a mutually beneficial relationship where Hannah help Teddy renovate his house and Teddy teaches Hannah the “fundamentals of flirting” so she doesn’t get fired. Naturally, antics ensue, romance grows, and tension builds. This book has plenty of animals and a fun elderly neighbor!
There were times this book was eh for me but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the characters! I felt like Teddy accepted and loved Hannah for who she was, even all of her prickly bit that so many people have tried to change about her. Where I wish we could have delved into further is Teddy's character arc. I felt that we were making progress with him opening up to Hannah about his struggles and insecurities, but we didn’t see how he was working on that or how he grew from that very much. I would have also loved some resolution with Agnes’ storyline as well. I thought her ending was cute but would have loved a little more.
This is definitely worth a read if you’ve read the previous book or love a good slow burn grumpy x sunshine romance!
I absolutely loved Lucy’s debut, The Hot Henry Effect and so Foundations of Flirting went on my wish list as soon as I found out it was releasing.
Fundamentals in Flirting follows Hannah, a veterinary researcher who moves back to her small hometown (ahem village) in the Cotswolds to escape her cheating ex who tried to ruin her career. Of course her crush from school has just bought the house next door to renovate and we’re set up for a small town, grumpy (her) x sunshine (him), second chance romance.
This book is a lot of fun, with a main character who ends up in mortifying situations and a slow burn romance. I love the humour and found myself laughing out loud regularly. The interweaving of romance and serious topics (bullying, power imbalances in work/romantic relationships, self esteem, aging) is well done, taking you on multiple journeys during the course of the book.
Highlights include: the absolute joy of Agnes and her goats (I cried okay), a mischievous cat, the party and the banter between Hannah and Teddy.
A lot of the conflict comes from miscommunication which gets more frustrating as the book continues and I wish we could have had more than a couple of chapters of them being happy together. Hannah is a clumsy, not immediately-likeable character who goes from 0-60 in 5 seconds but it’s realistic and you can really see the character progression as the story continues. The ex-boyfriend seems like a caricature but he really isn’t. I was confused about the characters Clara and Henry and couldn’t get my head around why they were so present but hardly described but eventually realised (at the very end) that they were the two lead characters The Hot Henry Effect. All of a sudden everything made a LOT more sense.
Overall, I really enjoyed Fundamentals in Flirting. I really love having a STEM romance set in England and the novelty of it being so British. It was funny, flirty and spicy (in more ways than one). I’d certainly recommend it, there are so many cute animals
I really enjoyed this as a romance comedy novel, it had that concept that I was looking for from the description. The characters had that overall feel that I was looking for and were written well and enjoyed the feel of this. Lucy Chalice has a strong writing style and thought it was realistic and was glad I got to read this.
Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for allowing me access to this ebook in exchange for my honest opinion! Fundamentals in Flirting will be released on Nov 1st, it's a cute romcom where Dr. Hannah Havens, successful but prickly, returns to her hometown and crosses paths with Teddy Fraser, an irresistible flirt she once kissed when she was younger. Despite wanting to avoid him, he keeps appearing, testing her patience. As her boss pressures her to improve her people skills, Hannah struggles to resist Teddy's undeniable charm. It was super cute, I loved Teddy, he's such a sweetheart, the perfect golden retriever boyfriend!
Unfortunately, this book just wasn't for me.
I just couldn't connect with the characters for some reason. I was trying really hard to enjoy this book but I just couldn't.
The premise sounded really fun and like something I would enjoy reading (had tropes that I usually love) but I just didn't find the characters likable, especially the FMC Hannah. I understand that she's supposed to be an “ice queen” but she just comes off as rude; no to mention she never really “changes”, there's no character development. And Ted, the MMC, just felt a little too childish for me, didn't feel like a man in his 30s.
Hopefully other people will get to enjoy this one more than I did!
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC.
I had to DNF this one at 50%.
I tried so hard to get into the book and like the main characters more but it was just not for me.
I hated both the MMC and FMC from the beginning. Hannah was always described as prickly when it reality she was just a bitch (sorry not sorry). I was waiting holding my breath for her character development that never came. She was always thinking the worst of people and such a negative nancy. Ted was bubbly and fun but not in an enjoyable way. I felt like I was reading about a 15 year old boy discovering his first crush not someone in their 30s. His constant dirty comments were just too much.
I really loved the authors first book, The Hot Henry Effect, and was SO excited when this was put on NetGalley but it really just fell so flat for me. The only saving grace was the neighbor and her cute little funny comments.
This was a cozy romance set in a charming small English town. Hannah, a brilliant and attractive veterinarian, returns to her hometown after a rough breakup with her jerk of an ex. Now working at the local animal surgical center, she’s known for her more clinical, no-nonsense approach which doesn’t exactly fit the warm vibes of a small town. Enter her old grade school crush/“nemesis,” Teddy, whose flirty personality drives her nuts (or maybe not?). He’s there to help her shed her social pariah status 🤣.
This was such a cute, cozy read, but man, I really couldn’t stand Hannah’s mom, haha. There’s also a bit of a miscommunication trope, but nothing so intense that it ruined the story. It’s definitely a slow burn, but totally worth the wait!