Thank you, Gallery Books, for an advanced digital copy of this book!

Pick-Up is a quick, fun, and romantic read that blends humor with heartfelt moments. The story revolves around Sasha and Ethan, two divorced single parents who frequently cross paths at their children's school. As their initial attraction deepens, they begin to connect outside of school-related events, especially when Ethan offers Sasha a job that takes her to a remote island.

As a fan of the enemies-to-lovers tropes, I enjoyed watching their chemistry unfold. What sets this story apart is the unique perspective of a third single mother, which adds an exciting twist to the traditional romance formula. While it's categorized as a romance, the narrative feels more like women's fiction, with a focus on the complexities of relationships and the internal struggles of the characters. There were moments when I found myself laughing out loud due to the witty humor and sharp dialogue.

One other aspect that left me a bit unsatisfied was Ethan's character development. His chapters felt short and sparse, which made it hard to get to know him honestly. Sasha, on the other hand, took up the majority of the narrative, which was fine since I enjoyed her character, but I would've liked to see more depth from Ethan.

Overall, Pick-Up is an enjoyable read with a great mix of romance, humor, and emotional depth. While it may not be the most traditional romance, its exploration of single parenthood, friendship, and personal growth adds richness to the story.

3.75 Stars

I’m really loving all the books coming out that focus on romances that occur later in life, after a divorce, and/or between parents (who aren’t single billionaire 30 year old dads). It feels so refreshing and real to get a glimpse into these fictional characters lives who could very well be us or a friend.

Sasha and Ethan are both divorced and both have kids, making this enemies-to-lovers relationship even more complicated yet intriguing. I liked that Sasha didn’t have it all together all the time, that even though she was 40 ish, she still had doubts and insecurities when it came to relationships and her place in this world.

This is a slow burn romance with plenty of chemistry and Ethan doing most of the pursuing, although he does respect Sasha’s boundaries and let her set the pace once they begin. Both Sasha’s indecisiveness and Ethan’s lack of proactive communication bothered me at times, but it also made sense to their characters and honestly how many people are in real life.

I enjoyed seeing the side characters and how even though not all played a huge role, they were all three dimensional and very human (instead of just being a caricature of a friend/colleague/child).

What kept this from being a 5-star read for me was the added POV of Kaitlin. I figured out right away who she was and what her role was. When I saw her first chapter, I got so confused by the tone, I actually went back to reread the synopsis thinking I picked up a different book. Her commentary about Sasha comes off stalkerish and obsessed like, better suited for a thriller than a romance. I think we could have gotten those details about Sasha in some other way, and still had Kaitlin play the role she needed to without getting into her head.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing the ARC.

This was an interesting look into dating after divorce, especially with kids. Sasha was a delightful hot mess of a human, just barely holding it together with her ex living it up in LA and taking on the role of the absentee father. Ethan is also on the newly divorced struggle bus, learning how to take on more of the parenting duties now that his ex wife is no longer around as much. And while this is a dual POV story, the author adds a third POV from another parent observing their interactions from the pick up line at their children's school.

While I really enjoyed this story, I do feel like it had a lot of fits and starts where things either didn't mesh well together and came across as disjointed. I felt like Sasha was a bit too oblivious and Ethan a bit too stoic, but the author made it work in a way that it didn't detract too much from the story. I really enjoyed the animosity between the two at the beginning, despite the fact that Ethan was already harboring a pretty serious crush. I loved seeing how Sasha was able to get out of her head long enough to give Ethan a chance.

Overall, a great book. It was a lot of messy post divorced fun that you rarely get to see in books, but it was highly enjoyable.

Sasha feels like a real hot mess of a single mom. She's divorced, somehow regularly missing important school announcements even though she swears she signed up for the alerts, and *just* scraping by as a freelance producer. When she beings regularly finding herself in predicaments with a fellow parent at school, she assigns him the moniker "Demon Dad." Demon Dad--errr---Ethan has had a crush on Sasha since the first time he met her at a play date, and he is beside himself that she doesn't appear to remember the interaction he has held on to for years even a little bit. He just cannot seem to shake this woman out of his brain. Sasha scores a once in a lifetime gig producing footage for a magazine in Turks and Caicos...and then finds out her new "boss" is actually Ethan, a/k/a Demon Dad, or alternatively the brand new editor in chief of the very same magazine. But she refuses to panic and insists that they can absolutely maintain a professional acquaintanceship for the duration of this shoot...

Weeks (or maybe months) ago I saw Sarah MacLean post about how much she enjoyed this book and immediately requested the ARC. Sarah MacLean has never lead me astray. Pick-Up is a witty rom-com from three points of view set at school pick-up and drop-off in New York City. It dives head first into how utterly messy being adult and parent can be in such an honest way--especially the ways in which other so-called adults and parents perceive their peers through their limited interactions with each other. There was the added realness of Sasha's parents and her inner dialogue about them aging and what that means. Which reminds me to mention that the main characters are in their 40s! A breath of fresh air! More books about elder millennials and their troubles please.

I have seen a few reviews about the writing style (some chapters are just little blurbs, some are full blown Chapters with a capital "c") but I personally enjoyed how the chapter titles and and POVs changed depending on the characters' moods. The addition of the third POV didn't make a ton of sense at the beginning, but once you pick up on why its there I think it adds a great dynamic to the story.

It's giving ~3.75 stars rounded up to 4/5 stars

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this eARC via NetGalley. As always, all opinions are honest and my own.

I'm always here for a good enemies-to-lovers romance, and this one featuring two single parents has a unique twist: a third perspective from another single mother. It becomes clearer throughout the book why her narration is part of the story, and adds a fun/bizarro extra plot line. Sasha and Ethan are both struggling with single parenthood in their own ways, and this story manages to take the reader from the streets of NYC to a lush Caribbean island while building in lots of misunderstandings and some funny mishaps. I think the book does a decent job addressing gender inequities in parenting within the confines of a rom-com, and I look forward to what Dahlia writes next. Thank you to Gallery Books for a digital review copy.

A witty and delightful rom-com that I thoroughly enjoyed. Sasha and Ethan are divorced parents navigating a the complications of falling for each other. Covers real and relevant topics with humor and levity and such an engaging way. Loved the multiple POV chapters and writing style. Highly recommend and would love to read more by Nora!

Thanks to Gallery Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. All views and opinions are my own.

Sasha is a single mother in the thick of it and always seems to have runs ins with another single parent, Ethan aka Demon Dad, at the absolute worst times. Sasha plans to ignore him when they end up working together on a remote private island.

This story is a rom com told from 3 perspectives, all representing different single parent styles. The concept was intriguing to me, but the story itself fell flat. While the blurb said for readers who enjoy Christina Lauren and Kate Clayborn, I didn't get those vibes.

I could predict most of the twists coming, especially with how unhinged one of the characters seemed from the start. I never really connected with any of the characters and got frustrated with their lack of communication about everything. They did address that in the story, but I'm not a fan of the miscommunication trope. At the end, everything wrapped itself in a little too neatly of a bow. It didn't quite seem believable to me.

Overall, it was a well written book, it just did not meet my expectations based on the blurb. If a friend asked if they should read it, I'd say yes, but I wouldn't come out and recommend it.

This book was funny and had a charming premise but did strike hard for those of us deep in the parenting trenches—which made me laugh and cringe.

I was intrigued by the premise of Pick-Up - a single mom and a single dad have several debacles at school drop off, then end up working together on an editorial shoot on a private island, where their easy chemistry and banter combusts into something more.

I loved that this felt like a grown-up romance. Sasha and Ethan are fully functioning adults with responsibilities to juggle, from jobs to kid duties to family obligations. Sasha struggles with the mental load of moms everywhere, having to remember all the tiny things like crazy sock day and all the big things like costumes for trick or treating, while Ethan seems to get a participation award simply for dropping his daughter off at school and letting his ex deal with the rest. That hit home pretty well for this mama!

The enemies to lovers vibes were there, but maybe more antagonists to lovers than true enemies? Either way, plenty of chemistry pulses between the pair, and we do get some open door spice along their journey. I liked the way a change of scenery opened up so many questions for Sasha, from how to balance freedom and responsibility, and what can be brought back to her daily life from this getaway.

Thank you to Gallery for the arc. All opinions are my own.

This modern day romantic comedy feels movie worthy, as well as completely relatable in the day to do of city life. Sasha has a lot going on, trying to keep her life and single mom duties in check. Meeting Demon-Dad nonstop at school, feels like life is messing with her on purpose. The cast of characters are delightful, supportive and make Sasha's choices go so much smoother. Why shouldn't we all take the leap and end up with our happily ever after? Loved this book!

This was a room that had just enough enemies to lovers tension. I enjoyed the plot and the characters a lot. The author created a unique world in a realistic setting. And I also just enjoyed all the plot lines that converge in the story to give us the happily ever after at the end.

Pick-Up is an intensely dramatic story about the complications of single-parenting, of figuring out how to navigate the world and all it throws at you on your own and learning to lean on the people around you all while finding love again. In other words, this is a story that will be easily relatable for so many readers because this is actually their reality.
Sasha is a hot mess but easy to love and understand. Ethan is trying so hard to be a good guy AND omg could there even be a better "dream guy" in a cozy romcom?!? And Kaitlyn is....unhinged, yes, but wow I wouldn't mind a follow-up novel where she finds her self-worth and channels all of that energy into something good.
I love, love, love this book and I can't wait to recommend it to my fellow romcom junkies at the library!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was such an interesting romance book! It was third person dual POV, but with a third POV sprinkled in - an interesting outside character who knew the MC in their past, and observes a lot of the MCs interactions, from the pickup line.

As alluded to in the title and premise, this is a heavy single parent book. I usually don’t love reading books that revolve around being a parent as a central plot point, but it’s so well done and the rest of the book is so interesting, that I found I didn’t mind, deplore being unrelatable for me.

I definitely recommend picking this one up!

The pacing felt off, so I put this one down. I might return to it. But I marked it as "to read" on goodreads with no star rating.

I am obsessed with this book.

The banter, the chemistry, the characters. Ugh.

Dahlia structures this book with chapters from three characters. We meet them all in the school pick-up window. It's not so much a meet cute as it is a meet hate with our two leads and some biting observation from our third narrator.

What I love about this structure is that Dahlia plays with it. Some chapters are actual chapters, and some are one sentence. The chapter labels change depending on how one character feels about another. It's a simple change, but it makes me giggle every time.

Beyond the structure, the characters represent different types of parents we see or try to be. From the single mom who does it all to the career woman with a supportive husband to the two working parents, we see all types and the way they lose their identities in their roles.

The book is a romance, but it's also a journey to knowing what you want (or deserve) and what you're willing to do for yourself.

Plus it's hilarious and a little spicy.

I didn't care for the writing style, but the story was cute. I think we've all dealt with the chaos at the school pickup line, so I loved that part.

I had an inkling I would like this book, based on the plot synopsis. Wrong. I LOVED it.

Truly, this appealed to me on multiple levels. The subject matter, the writing style, the fact that I have LIVED that cotton candy scene (and am still completely traumatized by the experience).

As a forty-something with (albeit, now older) children, I found myself relating to so much in this book: PTA politics and the trials of raising young kids. Grappling with the differences between the life you have vs. the life you envisioned for yourself. The loss of autonomy that comes with marriage and parenthood. The gap in the mental and physical load that most households experience.

As many other reviewers have mentioned, I was initially skeptical of the narrative structure. I found the payoff to be completely worth it. I don’t think it would have been the same book with the Kaitlin chapters, even if all of that information had been folded into Ethan and Sasha’s POV. I was not at all surprised to find that this author also writes upmarket commercial fiction - her capability as a writer shines in this book.

I can’t wait until this comes out. I love re-“reading” my favorite books by listening to the audiobook version, and I’m excited to buy this one.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Gallery books for this advanced reader copy, provided in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Pick-Up, by Nora Dahlia, is a light-hearted read dealing with the difficulties of being a single or divorced parent in the workforce and personal life. It includes both laughable and appalling moments, keeping things mixed up and interesting.
I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC ebook that I read and reviewed. All opinions in the review are my own.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced reader's copy of the book.

DNF @ 20%

The author’s writing is not working for me. The humor irritates me and I don’t find it funny at all. There is a weird and totally unnecessary third person pov that adds nothing to the story and disrupts the flow of the book. The main characters act like they’re teens instead of grown adults who have children and are just plainly unlikable. I just don’t see the comparisons to Christina Lauren and Kate Clayborn (authors whose works I have enjoyed).

Pick-Up was a quick, fun, and romantic read. I flew through this and I really liked the characters and the writing. This book is definitely unique in that there are three points-of-view...perhaps it took me longer than it should've to realize why exactly there was a third point-of-view, but I do think it was unnecessary. Still, I'm looking forward to more from this author!