The Jennifer I’d been missing! Loved the author’s return to romance. The tone was fresh and the plot was innovative - brownie t-shirt shop scene made me lol. Thank you NetGalley for the chance. Without giving spoilers, can’t wait for the plot of book 2 and those characters’ love story as book 2 in this new series (?).

The plot was entertaining and enjoyable. The pacing felt good and the approach to the fake dating felt a little different. I like the idea of the town's “bad boy” dating an author. While I didn’t mind reading the book, there wasn’t anything that stood out to me, which means I don’t have much to say about it. The characters were a little lackluster and the writing style wasn’t the right fit for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I loved the premise of the story about an author trying to find her muse again and write another bestseller. I love books about books, but I wish I had also loved the relationship in this one.

Separately, Aspen and Brick had beautiful stories that would have made great general fiction books, but together, the romance sometimes fell flat. For about half the book, I couldn't fully believe that Brick was actually attracted to Aspen, given the numerous mentions of her "not being his type."

Once I got past the "not my type" comments, the middle part of their relationship was cute, and I loved the way they supported each other.

Then we reached the third-act breakup... The reason for it was well-developed and believable, but the resolution felt a bit rushed. One of the characters did a seemingly sudden 180 after confronting another character about the issue at hand and then all wrapped up in a perfect bow, without actual forgiveness seeming to happening.

I enjoyed this one! The heroine is believable; the love interest is (minor spoiler, here) a genuinely great guy and not some controlling jerk; the side characters are great; and the love story hits several fun tropes along the way. It doesn't hurt that the Outer Banks is one of my favorite places on earth and home to more than a few important memories, along a whole spectrum of emotion.

It always feels a bit uncomfortable reading a romance book about an author, though, because it makes it harder to really bury yourself in the fiction--or maybe that's just me. I waste brain cycles wondering what's autobiographical, in a way I don't if the book is about a scientist or a teacher or a real estate agent. Which is probably unfair. Still, this one made me extra uncomfortable because the whole premise is that the author needs to Go Through It in order to write her book, which is a love story. I feel like I'm seeing something I shouldn't, even when it's lampshaded for me like it is here.

If that's not a problem for you, and you like f/m romances that share both characters' perspectives (one chapter from hers, one from his, all in third person), this is a fun read that offers several laughs, written with love for a beautiful place and the creatures who share it.

I went into this book unsure about the premise. I’m usually not a fan of fake dating, and then the added layer of giving someone money in turn was kind of off-putting. However, I really enjoyed the characters. Their chemistry was strong, although the sex scenes made me cringe a bit. I find the terminology used by authors to describe male and female body parts so odd (ex. In just one page she uses mound to describe her vulva and then her breasts). In the end, the story was predictable, as I expected.

This one took me a wee bit to get into. In the beginning, I kind of didn't like the lead female too much. She seemed a little desperate to recreate her success and in doing so really lost focus. Once I got into the book more I began to like the character more.

As for our lead man, he was gruff, gorgeous, and nursing some deep anger issues. However, he was a teddy bear at heart. I also felt he brought some good qualities out in our lead female.

My favorite part of the book was the description of the Carolinas. Having never been I felt the author took me there. I could picture it all in my head.

Overall for me, this book was a slow burn. It wasn't one I had to read several times I put it down and forgot about but I did finish it and it was good. I would like to read more by this author to see if this is a one-off for me.

First of all, Thank You Netgalley for the ARC granted one more time. I have to start saying that I admire with lots of praises authors who can deal with stories about books wirtten insed its books, because its' being created two stories at the same time, and just for that reason the narrative becomes complex. But good writers can develop stories making them seem it was pretty easy and this one is exactly like that. The characters were well built and with layers of scrutiny so the reader can relate with their believable existence (in the story, of course haha) the grumpy x sunshine and small town romance were super delightful to follow up and I have appreciated the journey all along between the pages. I have to mention that this contains spicy scenes and a lit bit of drama that is happily solved in the end.

Book of the Month by Jennifer Probst ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A wonderful read about an author with writers block willing to do anything (or anyone) to get some inspiration. Aspen Lourdes writing is not going so well., her debut novel was an instant best seller but her 2 latest book sales are struggling. She decides to take a trip to her sisters house by the beach hoping to gain some inspiration when she spots the towns bad boy with a history of breaking hearts. There's even a support group for his pas conquests. Aspen is convinced this man can break her heart and inspire her to write her next great novel.

I adored this book so much! The magical p**** trop was hilarious and I cannot wait to read the next story....Sierra and Kane ❤️

Thank you Jennifer Probst, NetGalley and Blue Box Press for the ARC.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading “Book of the Month” by Jennifer Probst. It is a romantic story with lots of “meat and potatoes”. The book encompasses love, loss, friendship and family. The characters have a way of worming themselves into your heart, as well as your head. It’s about new beginnings, and taking a leap of faith toward your goals in life. Although it’s an easy read there are lots of thought provoking issues. I give this book a big thumbs up! I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I did. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel.
Irene G.

I enjoyed this early reader copy from NetGalley--it's a cute seaside romance with a beautiful Outer Banks setting. I enjoyed the descriptions of the beach, wild horses, and being on sea-turtle watch! Aspen is a sweet character who sees past the stories everyone tells about Brick. It seems a little far-fetched that she "needs" a heartbreak in order to write a decent book, but it works for the story. Definitely on the spicier side, so avoid that if it's not your cup of tea.

Thanks to NetGalley and Blue Box Press for the advanced reader copy.

I thought it would be the premise that would be hard for me to go along with but it ended up being the main character who was tough to connect to and made me dislike this book. A disappointing read.

3.5 STARS!!

I have to say I had a bit of love-hate going on with this one. I have never had that with a Probst book before this one. I started thinking that the author was writing her own story in a manner of speaking.

Desperation reeked out of the pages and that caused the female lead to her panicky situation and actions. I felt the beginning was really rocky for me. I was not sure about the FMC at first with her scattered idea but she warmed up to me quite a bit.

The male lead was a gruff hottie who was hiding a lot of anger but underneath was a sweetheart. He made this story believable and enjoyable.

The author brought us amazing descriptions and details of the Carolina shore which had the ocean calling my name. I loved the community engagement which brought excitement and fun into what could have been a heavy story. The secondary characters were fun and also brought levity.

The ending made this book along with the MMC, Brick. He was such an awesome character in comparison to Aspen. Towards the end, she became a jerk – selfish and self-serving. Brick made it all worth it.

Overall, I enjoyed Book of the Month! Probst takes a tough dive into desperation and brings us an emotional, steamy story that gives us the happily ever after they deserve!

Book review 📖

📜Book Of The Month
✍️Jennifer Probst
📠Blue Box Press
📚Romance/Women’s Fiction
🗓️Pub date: October 22, 2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️

✨Thank you @NetGalley and @1001darknights_blueboxpress for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

✨Author Aspen Lourde needs another best-seller, yet she’s out of ideas. Her last best-selling book was based on her own disastrous love life and the heartbreak that ensued when her relationship ended.

✨Taking a breather and in the hopes of finding fresh ideas, she decides to take a couple months off and visit her sister in North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

✨Enter Brick, business owner, local heartthrob and heartbreaker. Rumor around these parts has it that he makes women fall head over heels for him and then lets them go.

✨When Aspen sets her sights on him as a potential muse for her new book, she wonders if she can make him break her heart and she can help him with his failing business. It’s a win-win, right?

✨This was a fun end of summer read! I love the backdrop of the Outer Banks, the subplot of the wild horses, and just overall feel-good summer beach vibes!

#netgalley #bookofthemonth #jenniferprobst #blueboxpress #romancefiction #advancedreadercopy #arc #bookreview #bookstagrammer #fallreleases

I loved this story so much. It was a page turner that had me falling in love with Brick and Aspen. I really enjoyed the growth each of them had to go through to get to their HEA. The side characters were a wonderful addition to the story and I’m looking forward to seeing more of them in future stories. I definitely see this become a “Book of the Month” book club book. Thank you for bringing us a heartwarming story!

I liked the premise of this book, unlikely as it sounded when I first read the blurb. I enjoy books that have anything to do with authors, writing and how tough it is to make bestseller status. The steamy romance was the topping, although I felt some of the romantic bits were over the top. One example:

“She blinked and tried to fight through the sensual brain fog. The pheromones drifting from his male aura were off the charts.”

However, the book delivers if you’re looking for a fun read with a heroine who dares to take a chance and a hero who’s trying to do the right thing despite an undeserved reputation and a too-pretty face.

Thanks to Netgalley for my ARC copy.

When I first read the description for this book, the premise seemed interesting—a writer with a bad case of writer’s block, Aspen, pays a notorious womanizer, Brick, to break her heart so she can write about it. This book was a pretty middle-of-the-road summer romcom. It's something you can read by the pool with a drink in hand and enjoy the spicy scenes (and there are many spicy scenes, though many of them are outright extremely pretty cringey) and the relative lack of conflict. It’s pretty easy-breezy to get through. That said, it fell a little flat for me overall.

The pacing felt a bit uneven—there were repetitive interactions that would drag on for pages and pages, and then all of a sudden a month would pass in a single paragraph in a way that was disorienting. The final act and resolution also felt very rushed compared to the rest of the book and I think it could've been drawn out more. I also wish there was a little more time spent into character building beyond just saying a million times that Aspen is completely average looking and not pretty in any way and Brick is super sexy. Also, was this author paid to include promo for the Gallup Strengths Finder test? Because it was mentioned by name several times in a way that literally felt like product placement, lol. Same with the “Write Better, Write Faster” course by Becca Syme? They just felt like unnatural callouts and strange to have real-world stuff mentioned in that way. And I do wonder how difficult SEO is for a book titled “Book of the Month,” though…and I feel like that title doesn’t even really connect with the story.

The writing voice in this book was just not really to my taste, which is fine. The overuse of “masculine”/“feminine” and “male”/”female,” which a few other reviewers have mentioned, was literally impossible to get past for me. And surely there must be a way to describe brown eyes other than “cocoa-brown,” which seemed to be written on every other page? The good brown-eyed women of the world deserve more varied descriptions than that! Also, the fact that the main character’s name is Brick Babel….and his competitor is literally named Maleficent…I rolled my eyes.

“He was a walking, breathing, talking temptation, fogging any brain with a drop of estrogen.” [I am obliged to point out that men also have estrogen]

“You should come with a warning label. Dangerous to any persons with estrogen resulting in side effects such as brain fog, butterflies, and a desire to throw yourself off a cliff.”

“She blinked and tried to fight through the sensual brain fog. The pheromones drifting from his male aura were off the charts.”

“His grin held male appreciation.”

“She gave a feminine snort.” [Really?]

**SPOILERS** Anyway, you get the idea. I think one of my biggest gripes with this book, though, was the way so much of the conflict around Brick’s reputation was about women lying? I know gossip and the rumor mill can be damaging to people and their reputation, but the way it was framed was like look at all these CRAZY women who are warning each other about a MAN that did them wrong!! Look how insane they all are!! just left me feeling kind of ick. And the inclusion of a line about one of them lying about having PTSD? I don’t know. I just feel like creating this imaginary situation where a group of women all lie about a man hurting them and lie about having PTSD is probably something we didn’t really need. **END OF SPOILERS**

I know this review just sounds like me being a major hater, but it wasn’t a terrible book. Just not for me. I’m not really an Emily Henry stan, but I would definitely recommend her books instead of this if you are looking for beachy rom-com vibes but with more character development and better pacing.

This book is very slow! The synopsis gives all the details of what happens. Aspen can’t seem to write another book, goes over tropes she thinks are good and can write a story with. Then lives the small town beach front hard to get romance. Slow, and hard to keep my interest.

After her first book Fifty ways to leave your lover went viral Aspen Lourde hoped she would be riding on the trail of success with any books she rights but when her next book tanked again Aspen has no reason not to call herself a fraud.

Her readers want to the sequel to her first book but what the world doesn’t know was that Fifty ways to leave your lover was based on her real life experiences and she has no desire to go back to her pain ridden past.
After her agent encourages to try a new scenery to spark her creative juices Aspen packs to stay with her sister for a summer in outer banks.

There she meets the towns supposedly resident Heartbreaker Brick Babel and decides he is the answer to her problems. She comes up with a plan.

A whirlwind summer romance

All Brick has to do is make her fall in love with him and break her heart. After all it was how she wrote her first book but problem is Brick refuses to entertain her.

He knows his reputation in town, knows that most of the women has made it some sort of game and he refuses to further the rumours and gossip including playing Aspen’s game.

But Aspen is sure he is what he needs and she isn’t above Stalking him and showing at his business. But Brick proves much more stubborn than she is until Aspen hears his tour company is on the verge of bankruptcy, she offers him a deal: fake a whirlwind summer romance, then ditch her her, drama guaranteed. In return she would offer him the money he needs to spruce up his business.
Brick desperate to save the business he inherited from his grandpa agrees to the ridiculous plan.

It was a cute little romance that I enjoyed. I was a little intrigued by the plot and wanted to see how the author would execute it. Most of the women were not endearing to me. I was a bit disappointed with their actions. It was frustrating when I was proven right above my earlier assumptions that no one knew a thing a Brick and they didn’t apologise for ruining his reputation all over town. They were all riding on assumptions and pettiness. I was satisfied with the romance and glad Aspen finally got the healing she deserves.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I just love Jennifer Probst. Book of the Month was her latest book. As I expected, it was great! A five star book!

I was immediately drawn in by the intriguing title. After skimming the blurb, I decided to give it a try, and I’m glad I did. This novel shares a similar charm with Lucy Score's Knockemout series, but I found the storyline here to be more compelling and original. The concept of hiring someone to break your heart as a plot device for writing the next great novel was both unique and engaging.

Probst excels in developing her characters and avoids the common pitfall of dragging out misunderstandings. The central conflict is established early on: he was hired to break her heart, but the real question is whether he can follow through. This clear conflict keeps the story moving and adds depth to the romance.

I also appreciated that this book sets the stage for a series, promising more stories with characters introduced here. However, one aspect that initially disrupted my immersion was the characters' names. It took me a few chapters to get past the name choices. For example, the name "Brick" kept evoking the character from Anchorman, which made it difficult for me to take him seriously. Similarly, "Aspen" and "Sierra" felt a bit uninspired to me. Despite this minor hiccup, the overall experience was enjoyable, and I’m looking forward to the next installment in the series.