This was such a super cute romance.
It really brings the whole idea of needing a muse to achieve your art into light.
For Aspen her inspiration came at the loss of her muses.
It was so fun to watch her hatch her plan and then have decide if she will follow through when it was time.
The outer banks is such a fun location for this story.
If you want a fun romance this is a good one!

Author facing writer’s block convinces herself, she needs to create the same drama in her life that was present when she wrote her first successful hit, but manages to fall in love instead.

Successful author spends the summer in a small town in hopes of finding a man to break her heart so she can write a sequel to her semi-autographical best seller debut.

Despite not loving this book around the 20% mark, I found enough redeeming qualities to keep going. Aspen pursuing a closed off Brick (what are these names) was fun. The wild horses were cool. The stoners next door were charming. I could look past the word “crappy” being used a dozen times, mediocre writing, surface level character development, and scenes that didn’t add anything to the overall plot or just…general vibes of the book. What I could not get past was the language used in the sex scenes. Mounds? Channel? Weeping slit? Something’s gotta be done about this trend in contemporary romance where the authors are using the most insane words to describe sex and bodies. I pushed through and groaned for the remainder of the book. Not in the “sexy” way Jennifer uses, like a lot, but in the way of why is this happening to me. There is a scene between Aspen’s sister and Brick’s best friend that is never explained. I only now understand a bit of it because I read the teaser chapter for their story at the end of the book. Also does Jennifer own a stake in Duck Donuts?

Jennifer seems like a lovely person and I am positive she’s written better books than this, but if you’re considering this one, I would skip it. Thank you NetGalley for a chance to read this early in exchange for, perhaps, a too honest review.

Aspen is a best selling author who is struggling to match the success of her first book. She goes to OBX to visit her sister and figure things out. Brick it's the talk of the town with gossip flying all over about him being a heartbreaker. But really, he's a little lonely and trying to save his grandfather's struggling tour company. Aspen is trying to recreate the circumstances of when she wrote her first book, heartbreak. She comes up with a plan to have Brick break her heart so she can write her book. She offers to help with financially with the business in exchange for then dating and him breaking her heart. In any good fake dating story, they fall in love. Their story was endearing and sweet. Both characters got beyond their hang ups and figured it out. Eventually. I look forward to Sierra and Kane's story. I also want more Marco!.

Who doesn't love a small town filled with gossip, enemies/rivalries, big dreams, and deals that are bound to go wrong. Book of the Month has it all! It's a total rollercoaster, especially when true love pops up where you least expect it. A great summer read with a bunch of fun characters to keep you entertained, laughing and smiling throughout.

A romance that makes you second guess all your life choices? Where do I sign?!

I loved this one. And maybe I’m turning into a romance reader because this one checked a lot of boxes for me. Not too spicy (but um, spicy), great main characters, left on a cliffhanger and just second chance at love tropes all over.

A few things I didn’t love:

1. Brick? It must be a family name….but anyway, he’s so masculine. Literally everything he does is masculine. He breathes in a masculine way, his masculine gaze settles on Aspen, the way he pours water into a glass (I made that one up but you get it). I feel like there are so many ways to describe men and we can do better with the adjectives. ALSO along that note, the many times their gazes slammed into each other was funny. Listen, its happened to me in real life and I totally get the sentiment but it was something was was, imo, a little overused.

2. ASPENS SISTER NEEDS MORE AND I NEED TO READ THAT BOOK. THE END.

3. The ending of the feud with Maleficent was a little far-fetched. In a small town like that, there would have at least been one f-bomb thrown.


Thats it. Thats all I had beef with. I loved the writing style, the plot, the whole thing. Ugh. I’m a romance reader. Don’t tell.

Book of the Month is a romance involving Aspen, an author struggling to write her next book, and Brick, a tour guide dealing with his failing business. The two decide to make a fake-dating arrangement for the summer.

The setting and premise are what initially interested me in the book. However, I struggled a bit to connect with the characters and understand their decision-making. Even though Brick was painted as this desirable and attractive heartbreaker in their small town, I just did not find his character to be very likable. Also, some things in the book just seemed to be overly sexualized, including some of the interactions and conversations between the two main characters. For these reasons, I found it difficult to get into the story and didn't end up finishing it.

However, while it wasn't my cup of tea, I do recommend this book for readers who enjoy summer romances with the fake-dating trope.
recommended for readers who like

Thank you to NetGalley and Blue Box Press for the ARC!

Aspen a New York Times Bestselling author has been having a tough go. Her first book was a huge hit, but her next two books didn’t sell as well. She is in need of some inspiration to help her write the next best book, but she feels that she needs heartbreak in order to write it. Aspen decides to spend the summer with her sister in the Outer Banks, NC (OBX), with hopes of finding what she needs to write this next “Book of the Month”, and she believes she’s found it with the towns heartbreaker. She offers to help Brick a local business owner for Wild Horse tours in Corolla, as the tour business he inherited from his grandfather is failing, in exchange for him helping her. Aspen asks Brick to “fake date” her, to essentially get her to fall in love with him and for him to break her heart, so that she would feel all the raw emotion she did when she wrote her first book. With Brick’s agreement, they begin to date and he gets to fix up his business with financial help from Aspen. Who knew they might actually like one another.

This book was an easy read, but some of the intimate scenes just seemed unrealistic and forced. Two people possibly falling for one another for more than just the sex, made it seem like that’s all they did was have sex when they were together and that’s all they thought about.

I wish Brick’s story had come out sooner in the book and we didn’t have to hear over and over again that he wasn’t a good person, he just breaks girls hearts, and he uses them for his own fun. Making him look like a bad person, instead of just misunderstood.

Overall, this book was a good read.

Thank you Net Galley and Blue Box Press for this eARC for my honest review.

I could not put this addictive modern romance down! I loved the hilarious banter between the characters and the sweet little things Brick does for Aspen. I loved the level of spice - it was tasteful but still heated.

“Book of the Month” is by Jennifer Probst. I thought from the publisher’s summary that this book would be right up my alley - a frustrated writer looking for inspiration decides to find inspiration with the hot bachelor. Of course there’s a twist - he doesn’t want a relationship and keeps brushing her off - until she gives him a proposition … and things start going in unplanned directions. I thought this would be a quick and easy mindless read. Instead I found that I became rather bored with some aspects of the main female character - which was sad because I did like the insights into being a writer. I did like the main male character - but maybe I just like blunt sarcastic tossed in with grumpy? I wasn’t too pleased with some of the author’s descriptions (I get it, the main male character is hot and sexy … and the main female one “average looking”) and the pacing was odd (repeated information along with uneven pacing). I think this book could be read poolside (or at the beach), but for me this wasn’t the book I had hoped it would be. But while I would pass on reading it again, it was an interesting idea and I did finish the book.

My first book from this author and I loved it! I will 100% be reading the next one when it comes out next year to see what happens with Aspens sister.

This book was refreshing, fun, cozy and enjoyable from start to finish! I was eating it up and didn’t want to stop reading it.

Everyone that was in this book made it better and more wholesome, heartfelt and interesting. I always love a dog or pet in a book but Dug was different and brought an extra spunk to the story. As well as Marco, the weed smoking business owner who’s actually really intelligent snd super kind. I adored his character a lot.

I think my only negative comment would be some of the names like Brick Babel…yeah I’m not a fan at all but I am 100% a fan of him! He’s the type of guy you wanna read about and fall in love with. No dark sides for him just pure perfect golden retriever who knows how to please a woman and has sexy confidence.

Thank you NetGalley and Blue Box Press for my E-ARC.

To me, Aspen felt like June Hayward before she became Juniper Song (Yellowface) -- just mediocre. And blaming her mediocre-ness on everyone around her. She was not enjoyable to read at all.

I attempted multiple times to continue to read this novel however, I had to eventually mark this one as DNF. I always want to give a book the benefit of the doubt and stay hopeful that I will feel more connected to the story but that did not happen for this read. I was interested in the description of the book however, the dialogue between the fmc and the supporting characters was not my cup of tea. The writing was overly descriptive at times where it did not need to be and I couldn’t get behind the overall plot line of the book.

I really enjoyed this book. I love the books that Jennifer Probst writes. I have read so many of them because there is never a dull moment in them. This one was steamy and romantic. The ending was better than I thought it would be. I'm grateful that netgalley and the publishers let me read this in exchange for an honest review.

Small town, gossip, rivalry, chasing dreams, and making deals that are destined to backfire in the biggest way. Quite the rollercoaster as true love sneaks in where no one expects it. Good summer read with a fun cast of characters.

I requested to read and review this book for free from Blue Bell Press. I loved this book. It was fantastic. There was romance, drama, mystery and suspense! A perfectly well rounded story and hilarious. Bonus there is a second book coming out that is looking just as promising! Aspen is an author who has had one hit and a few other good stories. She is looking to write another hit. But will she stumble upon the perfect story that she needs. Will her ideas lead to another best seller or will her idea flop. Brick has had a lot of tradegy in his life in a very short time. Can anyone help him turn it around or will he need to start over again. Love or maybe infatuation brings out some many different things and change they way we see something good and bad. Can the town of OBX help or hurt ? This book is for a mature audience and can be read anywhere!

Enjoyable romantic comedy with a struggling writer FMC, looking to recapture her 1st success and a beach town tour operator MMC, trying to keep his inherited family business afloat. When Brick's Lothario reputation, unjustly earned around town following a nuclear breakup, hatches an idea that what Aspen needs to create is heartbreak, she makes him an offer to do just that by the end of the summer so that she can write another bestseller. In return, she'll fund the plans he needs to make that can be a lifeline to his business.
The interactions between the main characters were sweet, swoony and sultry. The supporting cast were well developed, especially Aspen's sister and Marco, Brick's business neighbor. Aspen's chemically enhanced book signing was hysterical and the highlight of the book. My only quibble is that I thought the end was a bit rushed, For my first read of this author, I found it a fast, fun read and look forward to checking out some of her other titles, including the next one in this series.

Thank you to Netgalley and Blue Box Press for providing this eARC!

This is my first ARC review and I couldn't be more excited. Scrolling through available ARCs, the cover caught my eye so I immediately requested to read it. To my surprise, I was approved. Seeing that this was set in the OBX was appealing because of going there on vacation so much when growing up and now I wanna go back.

This story follows Aspen, who is a best-selling author in New York, struggling to write a new book. After a less than pleasant book signing, she decides to spend the summer in the OBX with her sister where she meets the town heart throb that everyone warned her about, Brick.

Throw in a fake romance, wild horses, sea turtles, touristy tours and more, and you get this book!

The only reason I gave this book a 4 star is because I'm not really a fan of the book title...but I digress. When this comes out in October - read it!

Thank you NetGalley and Blue Box Press for this eARC!

I really enjoyed Aspen and Brick’s story. Aspen was an incredibly relatable character who thought she was living the dream but soon finds out there’s so much more to life. She’s down on her luck and tries to turn her life around with an INSANE idea and it was a fun ride.

Brick was a great MMC - moody, broody, and sexy as hell. He complemented Aspen so well and I LOVED their banter. I also loved that we got his POV as it helped bring everything full circle.

Overall I thought this was a great read. It was fun and sweet, and packed a punch in all the right places. This is perfect for fans of Meghan Quinn and Elsie Silver. I definitely recommend!

This book scores a 10 on "could't put it down-ness". It is a great story with wonderful characters. I was rooting for Brick and Aspen as if they were my actual friends. Thanks for a great read!