RATING: 2.75/5 STARS

Cute premise, sweet characters... and also unfortunately a bit boring for me and too long. I've liked B.K. Borison's writing in the past, but this one fell into the camp of a little too saccharine.

4.5 stars

Loved this Sleepless in Seattle inspired romance! A grumpy radio show host and a hopelessly romantic mechanic make the most unusual couple but this love story will have you laughing and swooning. Added humor with the random people who called into the show, the interactions of all the staff at the station and the heroine's ex-husband. So ridiculously fun side characters. I highly recommend!

Mild 1-2 open door scenes

this was just the cutest story ever! I am obsessed and wished I could tune into the radio show! gotta go watch sleepless in seattle!! the steam is STEAMY, btw.

BK has done it again. I am completely obsessed with this book! From the very beginning I just knew that these characters would pull on my heartstrings.

I love that we got snippets of the radio show in between chapters. The characters backstories were so well developed and the dual pov was perfection.

A cute take on Sleepless in Seattle. There were fun Easter eggs throughout for fans of the movie. I enjoyed Lucie’s search for love and Aiden’s self delusions. But honestly this book was too long. The story could’ve been about 20% shorter and tighter and it would’ve still been a lovely and charming book.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

First Time Caller is a charming read that had me hooked by the end, even if it took me a little while to get there. The premise of the story was interesting from the start, and I immediately found myself invested in the characters and their journey. Each of them felt SO real!

However, I did struggle a bit at first to really get hooked into the story. It took me until about the halfway point to feel fully immersed, but once I was, I couldn't put it down. The pacing picked up, and I found myself completely invested in how everything would unfold and resolve.

The ending, though, was absolutely worth the wait! It tied everything together so beautifully and left me with a sense of fulfillment that I hadn’t expected. I'm even more excited to read more about the side characters and their stories!!

Overall, it’s a fantastic book with great characters and a strong plot—just stick with it through the slower start, and you'll be rewarded with a fantastic conclusion.

4.5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I truly believe this is B.K. Borison’s best work yet!

Aiden Valentine is the host of a romance hotline, and while he has become reluctant to love, a call from Maya, a young tween, looking for romantic advice for their mother sets off the start of what is soon to be a viral conversation with Lucie Stone. Their conversation is honest and leaves people wanting more of Lucie. As they begin to co-host the hotline, they are also working on finding Lucie a worthy romantic partner.

Aiden and Lucie are such sweethearts and while they have seemingly conflicting views on love, they both want the same thing. And we see each of them work through their “issues” with love and learn to accept each other for who they are and where they are in life. They’re both vulnerable with each other and take their respective time to open up to the other but what blossoms is pure understanding of each other. And I just love them and the found families they have cultivated.

In her acknowledgments, she mentions that this novel is a love letter to love. And when you read it, you certainly see that shine through. Not only is this a love letter to the romance movies and books we all love, but to her city and all the various forms of love one encounters.

An absolutely delightful romance between a jaded romance radio talk show host and a single mother whose 12 year old daughter calls into the radio show one night concerned for her mother’s nonexistent love life.

My favorite things about this book are all of the puzzle pieces that come together to make up their story, how they all end up connecting, and how they sneak up on you. It’s ultimately a story about learning how to accept good things, believing in love again, and that the real magic is in the small stuff.

This was my first book by @authorbkborison , and let me tell you right now - I was BLOWN away and I am now a huge fan!

This book was such a beautiful and REAL romance! Line and line was pure poetry and I was totally swept up in it!

This books follows Aiden, a romance radio show host who doesn’t believe in love, and Lucie - an automatic and single mom who is a hopeless romantic! I fell completely in love with the created family in this book, Lucie’s heartfelt hope and reservations, and Aiden’s stubborn love for Lucie.

I was swooning the entire time - this is DEFINITELY one to pick up!

𝐻𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝒫𝓊𝒷 𝒟𝒶𝓎 to @authorbkborison and First Time Caller.

I loved and constantly recommended Lovelight Farms, and First Time Caller is the first in her new steamy and sweet series Heartstrings- it is the perfect romance for Valentines or Galentines featuring a female forward, radiant and full of sunshine Lucie, a single mom mechanic, raising her daughter (her ex lives nearby and they are amicable). She has the sweet support of her ex, but her daughter stages an intervention by calling into Baltimore’s romance radio hotline Heartstrings because she thinks Lucie needs to get a life and get a date. Grumpy Aiden has the last name Valentine, but he’s just not feeling it. Soon, Lucie is joining him in the booth in a search to find her a perfect match. I can’t wait to read the next installment- there are many Easter eggs about who in the supporting cast of friends and family will be the next satsfying romance in this series.

This was the perfect romance to warm me up on a cold February day. The author called this “a love letter to love” - easy, breezy, sweet and satisfying - you’ll read it and want the next episode of Heartstrings to air immediately!

QOTD: When Harry Met Sally was featured in the Super Bowl commercials, and the author herself compared this story to Sleepless in Seattle - what’s one movie you saw that you think is a quintessential love story?

Thank you @authorbkborison @berkleyromance and @netgalley for the opportunity to read First Time Caller in exchange for my opinion.

#heartstrings #firsttimecaller #bkborison #opendoorromancebooks #romancebooks #lovestories #lovestory #sleeplessinseattle #bookreviews #nicmedia

This book was so fun read. I love that I went into it with the idea of it being very Sleepless in Seattle-esque. I adored the dynamic between Aiden, Lucie and her daughter. We got slow burn, banter and tension? yes please. If you missed the early 90s to early 2000s romance movies, this will satiate that! Such a great and fun read AND I’m most than likely to reread this as well!

3.5 ⭐️
So now I need to go watch sleepless in Seattle! This book was super cute and the chemistry between Aiden and Lucie on the phone and then on the radio show was undeniable. Even the listeners knew it lol.

I loved Maya, Lucie’s daughter and the family dynamic that they had.

Lots of banter and humor in this book made it enjoyable! Aiden was seriously so thoughtful towards Lucie. I’m glad that he learned how to love again.

The story could have used a bit more out of the radio show time since it became a bit boring. Also, there wasn’t much time involved with Lucie and Maya her daughter which I would have loved to see more of. Aiden spent no time with Maya except on the phone.
Aiden also annoyed me at the end saying he isn’t good for her and can’t be serious..blah blah blah lol.

Read if you like—
- Sleepless in Seattle
- single mom
- fun banter
- dual POV
- spicy scenes
- radio show

As a current Baltimore resident and cheerleader, this book made me incredibly giddy. Baltimore deserves romance and this book delivers. I look forward to reading each and every book in this series and I hope there are a million.

This was such a fun read! It gave all the vibes of a 2000's romcom, with banter and chemistry and swoonworthy lines. Given how long the book is, I would've loved to see more of Lucie & Aiden outside of the booth, but their love story was still really believable (I often have a hard time believing two characters are in love, because all we see is spicy scene after spicy scene). If you're looking for a lighthearted read to get you out of your winter blues, this is the one!

Well just wow. I never wanted to part with this book. I loved it. I wish I could hold every line and the words and her descriptions it was such a gentle love. Such a beautifully story of a 90s retelling. I will be screaming for everyone to read this. Really BK Borison is a beautiful storyteller. Aiden just beneath the surface complex and such a catch! I am totally casting him as Adam Brody.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Books for providing me with a digital ARC of this book!

This book is pretty far from the genre I typically read so I did not expect to enjoy it as thoroughly as I did. When Lucie catches her preteen daughter, Maya, talking to an older man on the phone late at night, her worst fears are brought to light. She doesn't expect to be whisked into the world of late-night radio shows and dating random men, hoping to find her true love. Over time, she begins to realize that the man working alongside her, Aiden, is the one she wants to be with, but he has been struggling to trust in love.

In my mind, this is what romance is meant to be. It was the right amount of tension and angst that slowly built up throughout the story. There was never a moment I felt Lucie's and Aiden's relationship was rushed or unbelievable. And I loved how seamlessly Aiden fit into Lucie's life with her daughter, Maya. Their banter was so adorable and I felt like every other person listening into Heartstrings just so they could hear Aiden flirt with Lucie. The ending was magical and I needed to take the night to cry because I was sad that it was over.

I have been hooked on BK Borison and I must read every other book that she has written. Easy 5/5 stars.

Cute, romantic, entertaining
Due to personal issues cannot write a proper review now
A more extensive review will follow. Many thanks to the publisher

I started off liking this book a lot, but over time, that dwindled as it felt like the will they/won't they dragged on. I adored Lucy's family dynamic though; having a child at a young age and living next door to your best friend who is also the baby's father and his husband. Okay, the baby is now like 12, but still. I liked that. I also did enjoy Lucy and Aidan's interactions, but again it just dragged at a point. I kept a smile on my face for the most part.
Will I read other books in the series? Probably lol

I confess I did not get the "Sleepless in Seattle" vibes that I expected from First-Time Caller. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed this romance featuring single mom Lucie, daughter Maya, and Aiden Valentine, the radio host of Heartstrings.

The premise is fun and engaging. A radio host for a late-night romance talk show who doesn't believe in love meets a single mom thrust into the spotlight when her daughter calls the show trying to help her mom find happiness and maybe even love.

I loved Lucie, her family and her coworkers, and how they looked out for one another. Lucie's coparenting with her ex and his husband was so lovely to see. She and Aiden had good chemistry and sometimes poignant, sometimes witty banter.

But I wasn’t completely enamored of Aiden. He was emotionally unavailable and closed off for so long it became a bit annoying. This was also a bit spicier than my normal read to the point it made me question if the relationship would last or if it was more just physical attraction.

This was (surprisingly) my first B.K. Borison book. There's a lot to love here even if not everything worked for me. Round up to 3.5 stars.

3.5 ⭐️ I really liked the premise and thought this would be a cute read and it was. About halfway through though I just got ick vibes from Aiden. He was emotionally unavailable while being insecure and possessive. To me it made their chemistry from there not seem genuine or like Lucy was settling. I enjoyed the minor characters and the fact that Lucy worked in a male dominated field. She was a great FMC.