LOVE STORY is a sweet and highly entertaining love story. I enjoyed the humor and writing. Sophie Taylor, a teacher (and also a highly successful anonymous romance writer) crosses path with Joe Walsh, a very short path much to Sophie's liking, thinking she will never have to set eyes on Joe again. Days later, Sophie finds herself having to share a cottage with said Joe Walsh, who also finds out Sophie's secret of being the famous author Este Cox. Now Sophie can do nothing but trust and hope Joe will keep her secret. Chaos and hilarity (and dare Sophie say, feelings?!) ensue.

Thank you to Harper 360 and NetGalley for the arc in exchange or my honest review.

This was so much fun to read!
It felt like a good classic romcom
I did skip some steamy bits, but I didn’t feel like I missed anything significant to the story by skipping them.

Having trouble sleeping (falling asleep at an earlier hour than 4 am, hot flashes waking me mostly) thanks to perimenopause has been giving me headaches during the day, to the point where this particular day’s headache made me vomit and feel generally like garbage.

This was the day that I began Lindsey Kelk’s newest novel Love Story.

So I started this one because I knew if anything would make me feel better on this day, it was this new book (it did help).

*instalove
*enemies to lovers
*a capital ‘B’ for banter
*forced proximity
*third act issues/breakup

What I didn’t love -
*secondary characters - many of them were such jerks that I was aggravated because Sophie didn’t put some boundaries in place
*the ever consistent TikTok / social media mentions
*instalove (sort of)
*the ending - this really needed an epilogue as it just felt so abrupt after the buildup of the story

Ms Kelk is an autoread author for me but this one wasn’t my favorite. Absolutely looking forward to reading more in the future.



Thank you to Harper360 and NetGalley for the DRC

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper360 for a digital ARC of Love Story.

This one was tough to get through, and tough to review. The writing was well done (undecided if there were too many PopCulture references), the premise was good, and I was interested enough to keep going, but there were so many problems and eye roll moments.

I've never read an instalove book, and I hope never to again. It was too rushed for me, and even so, I didn't feel it between them. There was tension, at times, but no real "love".

I was confused many times when the FMC was angry, because I didn't think what was going on in the book was that bad?

The sister was so annoying I could not stand any scenes with her. She just stole her $4,000 purse and the FMC was okay with it? As were the parents? I know the author was going for spoiled teenager, but she took it a bit too far.

The arguments with other characters, the slamming the mug down and it breaking, her holding it so tight she cut her hand and didn't know it, the brother pulling over on the side of the road because the little sister gasped. So many things. I think it would have been better with another round of edits to have more realistic responses and chemistry between the characters.

My number one pet peeve in any book: overuse of pop culture references.
My number two pet peeve in any book: overuse of modern technology and/or social media.

And sadly, this book had both! If you aren’t bothered by the above, you will likely enjoy this book. But for me, it takes me out of the story in a really negative way. For me, a romance novel it’s a way to escape into a new world, so when a book is plagued with social media and online culture that we are inundated with on the daily... I just hate it.

All that being said, if I take away those two negatives, the love story portion of this is cute. I liked both the main characters,

Overall, the romance itself didn’t save it from what I didn’t like. This could totally just be a me thing though, so I’m hesitant to go lower than a 2.5 because I actually think the writing style is cute and so were the characters. So 2.5 stars it is

****Publishing September 17, 2024****

Sophia Taylor wrote a book that was a sensational hit under the pen name Este Cox. Her publisher is chomping at the bit to get the sequel published, but Sophia is not in any rush! Also, he wants her to do interviews, but Sophia is not ready to reveal her true identity due to her job and her parents would not approve of the steamy romance she wrote. Sophia finds herself in many predicaments, including losing her bag with her laptop and the printout of the unfurnished sequel. Will her secret identity be revealed? Sophia’s sister is determined to reveal who Este Cox is through her new bookstore. Will she figure it out? Can Sophia keep her secret identity a secret?

A fast-paced book that is entertaining, funny, and will have you shaking your head at times. The premise of the book is clever! I loved how Sophia had to grapple with people from her past, while trying to figure out how to handle the current pressures and issues she faced. A great book to take on vacation as it will keep you turning the pages!

Thanks to Harper360, I was provided an ARC of Love Story by Lindsey Kelk in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Sophie and Joe were everything. The family dynamics were crazy. It was such a fun and entertaining book to read and I didn’t want to put it down. It made me laugh while also making me feel punchy at times. It was great!

A huge thank you to Harper360 and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All opinions expressed above are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read! 4 / 5 stars.
This is such a love letter to romance novels and the publishing industry. I think in some ways this has been overdone (we know, we know, romance isn't just ding-dongs and fabios anymore) but I really enjoyed the perspective of Sophie, a daughter to major elites in the publishing industry who has written the best selling romance book of the year under a pen name. I loved seeing the family dynamic of pride and self worth play out over a very short period of time, and I particularly liked the yo-yo of her mom as she grappled with who the author was and then her feelings about the book. This felt SO real to me. Also her brother is just straight up adorable.
I've said before and I'll stick with it: I think British banter is by FAR the best,so there were points that were truly laugh out loud funny to me. Instalove is not one of my favorite tropes but I thought this was done pretty well. Its slightly open door and very chemistry heavy. I didn't love the third act break up...I knew with how quickly Joe and Sophie got together it was going to have to be a little messy, but it just didn't feel the most believable. I also really really missed an epilogue. I got to the end and thought wait...thats it?
But a wonderful read, particularly if you love romance books!

Unfortunately I'm not sure if I'm the correct audience for this particular style of contemporary romance. Lindsey Kelk's writing style is great, I love her voice, but unfortunately this story fell flat for me. The tropes used while also poking fun at the exact same tropes made the book feel self aware enough to know better, and the constant mention of tiktok, booktok, and real-life musicians worked against the argument made throughout the book that romance genre is valuable because it acts as escapism (because it just felt too realistic even though the story's actual events were not). The fact that I did make it through the story is a testament to Lindsey Kelk's quality of writing, because I would get distracted abruptly by a tiktok reference or a line about Taylor Swift, and then pulled back in by the events occurring. Overall though, the main conflict carried on a bit too long and overshadowed the romantic conflict, causing the resolution to feel rushed.

On the positive side I did enjoy the general concept - the idea that parents that work in literary fiction or traditional book reviewing industries may not approve of romance novels was a great way to discuss the ongoing discourse we see constantly online and in book spaces about their merit. I loved the inclusion of a romance-only bookstore being a "risky" but overwhelmingly successful venture, too, as we've seen them do well in real life. Charlotte was my favorite in the family, but I wish her main flaw wasn't something so agitating and almost unrealistic for someone mature enough to put together a proposal for her parents and open a business.

Overall I'm rating this a 2.75 / 5 but rounding up to 3 for Netgalley. Thank you to Harper 360 and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Okay my bookish Swifties - if you’re anything like me and Love Story was your jam back in 2009 let me introduce you to your next read!
Filled with some of our favorite artist’s Easter eggs, Love Story is all about Sophie Taylor - a grade school teacher in the UK who happens to write one of the best selling romance novels of the year….except no one knows because she wrote it under the name Este (!! Ahh I see what you did there Lindsey) Cox. That is until publishing dreamboat Joe Walsh finds out Sophie’s secret. I won’t spoil anything for you but omg I loved this book - and not just because of the Taylor Swift references. Romance novels sometimes get a bad rap - with people often implying they’re smut with no substance, not actually literature, the list goes on. Sophie is fighting all of this throughout Love Story and Lindsey does an amazing job at addressing the importance of these books, how many of these stories helped readers realize that they deserve more in their relationship, physically or otherwise and I adore how Lindsey addresses this through Sophie dealing with her secret. Not to mention Joe is definitely your golden retriever type guy hidden under a “players” skin. While Joe and Sophie’s enemies to lovers story is a part of it, the heart of this book is about owning what you love and if that includes romance novels - be HELLA proud of it. Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC! I can’t wait to add this one to my trophy shelf when it comes out!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Meh... DNF. I only made it about halfway through and then tried to skim to the end but, honestly, didn't care enough about any of the characters to find out what happened at the end of the story. It wasn't clear why the two main characters were so attracted to each other and their banter just didn't do it for me. I think part of the problem is, although I'm not looking for realistic characters in a fun rom-com, they have to be believable. The entire cast of characters felt a bit too cartoon-like for me.

Like Heather X (see her great review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6447934097), the only character I liked was Sophie's brother, William. I did enjoy the banter between them. Oh yeah, and it was cool to have a cameo appearance of the Adonis-like butcher from "A Christmas Wish", a Lindsey Kelk story that I really enjoyed.

Anyway, I recommend reading "A Christmas Wish" and "On a Night Like This" as those are my two favorites by this author.

Strong 3.5/5 that I did not put down once I started. This was a fun spin on the mistaken identity trope with a little enemies to lovers and miscommunication thrown in. It is called Love Story after all!

Two quibbles: 1) Joe Walsh as love interest name was hard for this American who follows politics, and 2) the cover does not match the Joe that I read in this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital advanced copy.

With the anticipation of the reveal of who Este Cox is, everyone thinking the author is Joe, and the drama with Sophie's parents I could not put Love Story down. I enjoyed all the modern references in the book, especially to real-life romance authors. I loved 95% of the book, but I thought the ending could be better, and less rushed. The drama with Joe's marriage of convivence was random and felt unnecessary. Overall, I enjoyed the book, I just wished we got more of Sophie and Joe being in a happy relationship.

This was a quick read and pretty engaging story. The story focuses on a teacher who is afraid to share with her well-known literary family that she’s secretly a bestselling romance author. The book explores how people view romance books as lesser than literary fiction. I thought the message was good, but I felt like the author was trying very hard to not include a lot of cliches. There were plot points that surprised me but the ending felt rushed and unoriginal. Overall it’s an entertaining romance read with some deeper themes.

Love Story is for the romance readers, it truly is a love story to the genre. Sophie has a big secret, she has written a romance book that has become a huge hit, but struggles with wanting to keep her identity as the author anonymous. The story starts in London, where she meets Joe who works at the publishing house for her book. They spend the afternoon together before she heads home to her family for a weekend long celebration of her father’s birthday. Joe ends up at the weekend party, and the story continues from there.

As a fan of Lindsey Kelk’s books I was very excited to get to read the advanced copy of Love Story. The book had some similarities to her book, In Case You Missed It, for me. While I didn’t love it quite as much as The Christmas Wish and Love Me Do, it was a fun read and I highly recommend it to fans of the genre.

Love Story had a great central story and I really enjoyed the dialog between the main characters. Along with that we had a number of side characters and a story surrounding the weekend celebrations. I really loved some of the side characters, but others were truly awful. If you love a lot of drama in your romcom’s then this book is for you.

This book combines a lot of quick paced fun and hijinks with a really solid romance story. I recommend this for anyone who loves an exciting and heartwarming romcom!

Thank you to the publisher Harper 360 and NetGalley for the gifted digital ARC to review in exchange for my honest review.

Everyone thinks Sophie is just a schoolteacher, but she has a secret. She has also written the smash hit romance, Butterflies, under a pen name. When she meets a hot marketing executive named Joe, she can’t stand him and his self assured nature. She can’t believe her bad luck when she returns home for a birthday party to find that she’s sharing a cottage with… Joe.

I really enjoy Lindsey Kelk’s writing! She is funny and writes such relatable characters, and I was so excited to have a chance to read this book early. I loved how she incorporated so many nods to other romance authors, romance tropes, and the genre in general, while also pointing out how it is looked down upon by some people in the literary world. She also pointed out how teaching as a profession can be looked down upon by others, which I have personally experienced as a teacher, so obviously I found that very relatable! The tropes in this book were excellent: enemies to lovers, he falls first, instalove, forced proximity, and only one bed. It was fun how the characters actually discuss their own tropes too!

Thank you to Lindsey Kelk and Harper 360 for the arc and the opportunity to be an early reader and reviewer.

4.5 stars! This book was so fun! I loved the storyline and the writing. It was fast paced without getting sloppy, and also dialogue heavy without losing the plot! I also appreciated the references to Bridget Jones and Pride & Prejudice etc. Sophie, the main character, felt relatable but also unique and not a copy paste of every other female main character I’ve already read! I would recommend this book to those who love light hearted fun romances (especially set in England!) and look forward to reading more by this author in the future! Thank you to NetGalley, the Publisher, and Lindsey Kelk for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I enjoyed the writing, which was funny, bright, and set a good pace. I liked the banter and I really liked that there was banter between characters outside of the main couple; Sophie's volleys with her brother, William, for example, had me cracking a grin.

But I didn't love this one and I didn't love Sophie or Joe; she's too self-involved and he's a toolbag (i.e. maybe don't out yourself about committing fraud during a packed Q&A session for a burgeoning billionaire in the age of the Internet). I didn't always see how or why they were annoyed with one another, so their tension felt flimsy at best, non-existent at worst.. But it still somehow got them on the path to semi-open door, garage cottage sex.

I also didn't really appreciate the non-stop pop culture references. Although they were amusing at first, gradually they supplanted the narrative rather than supplemented it. Points, though, for the heart-to-heart conversation with Sophie's mom.

I really wanted to love this book. The premise was unique and intriguing, and I was genuinely excited to dive into it. However, I found myself disappointed as I read. The book’s potential was overshadowed by a few key issues. For one, the MMC came across as a condescending jerk, which made it difficult to empathize with him or root for his character. Additionally, the enemies-to-lovers trope, which I usually enjoy, didn’t resonate in this story. The dynamic between Joe and Sophie felt forced, and I struggled to see any genuine chemistry between them. This lack of connection made it hard for me to engage with their relationship and fully enjoy the narrative. Despite its promising premise, the execution just didn’t hit the mark for me.

Thank you to Harper 350 for the ARC of this one! I have never read a book by Lindsey Kelk before but I definitely will read more now. I devoured this one in an evening and I just loved it so much! The main characters seemed so real and I just love an unlikely love story!

Sophie is a primary school teacher who has written a bestselling romance novel under a secret pseudonym. She does f want to reveal her identity for fear of other people's judgement. Joe works at the publishing house where her book is published and their first meeting is anything but stellar. He comes across as judgemental of romance in general and Sophie feel judged and irritated by his presence. As she travels to the country for her dad's birthday celebration, she runs into Joe, who is there with his father who is a friend of her dad's. They spend them together and forge an unlikely connection. There's some miscommunication which isn't always my favorite but I truly loved this one. Perfect book for fans of people like Sophie Cousens, Falon Ballard, etc. Thanks for the opportunity to review it!