A really adorable read! Secret identity writer meets enemies to lovers! Our main female lead is a teacher who comes from a long line of literature family members. She doesn't want them to know that she secretly a steamy romance author and very famous! Our main male character finds this out and tries to get to know her!! He is definitely a true gentleman a bit cocky but I love it! Lol this book was definitely like a fluffy light dessert with a few sweetened flakes! I gobbled it all up! 🍾

Bravo! 💗

Cute but not my favorite by Lindsey Kelk. I loved Love Me Do and I was hoping for more of those vibes but the characters in this one didn’t work for me. I get that Sophie had to hide that she wrote the book because of the possible backlash from her family but this caused so much anxiety for me that it was difficult to really get into the story. There was plenty of humor, though, which helped to create a fun setting but ultimately, this, for me, was just an OK read.

I believe this is my first Lindsey Kelk book I’ve read and she did not disappoint. I want to thank NetGalley for my advanced copy.

When two meet and automatically hate each other, it’s fun to watch them out the pieces of the puzzle together and realize they really can’t live without each other. Kelk does a great job of showing this off and doing it in a way that is enduring on both sides.

There were a few iffy spots in the middle that could have been left out, the scene with Joe and Sophie’s aunt and the entire fight scene. I felt like I was reading about one of those comedy movies with a play fight scene.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book and I can’t wait to get my hands on other Lindsey Kelk novels!

Love story is a super cute rom-com, which was so much fun to read! The only thing i didn't like was the amount of pop culture references (at some point it was just too much)

Love Story by Lindsey Kelk follows Sophie Taylor, a small town schoolteacher with quite the big secret: she has written a super spicy, mega-bestselling romance novel under the pseudonym Este Cox. She thinks she's got everything under wraps until Joe Walsh, Sophie's uncle's publishing colleague who she can't stand, figures it out. Suddenly, Joe shows up to Sophie's dad's 60th birthday bash and it's up to Sophie to make sure Joe doesn't give away her secret identity... and that she doesn't give away that she's fighting feelings for Joe.

This was my first novel by Lindsey Kelk and I enjoyed it! A fun, lighthearted read that had just one too many romance tropes for my personal liking. But Kelk makes up for it with a cast of very charming and super funny characters. And then there's Joe Walsh. He is the book boyfriend to end all book boyfriends. I need a sequel just so I can swoon more about Joe.

There was also overarching commentary around the romance genre - why we read it, should we read it, can you compare it to the more "serious" genres. It was interesting to read and to have the characters discuss its merits and its downfalls, but it felt a little defensive at times. As if the author was trying to prove its worth through the dialogue.

Overall, it was a cute rom-com that I wanted to love more than I did. Thank you to Harper 360 for the advanced digital copy via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is such a cute quick romance. It's perfect to read in between heavier books.

I loved being taking on this journey. Sophie had major growth in this book. I enjoyed that she's a teacher. It was nice seeing her finally confess that she is Este Cox to her family.

Joe Walsh: ladies man, handsome and he knows it. When we are first introduced to him my impression of him wasn't the best. I thought he was so full of himself, which is a big turn off in real life for me. However as the story unfolds I ended up loving him. He is loving, protective and handsome.

Sophie, a small-town teacher, writes a bestselling romance under a pseudonym because her parents are literary critics and won’t approve of such a “fluffy” genre. Joe is her marketing director who also doesn’t approve of romance novels, but accidentally finds out her identity on a trip to her parents’ house for her dad’s birthday. This whole book is hilarious, and I loved Joe and Sophie! And when I tell you there is a PLOT TWIST?!?! This was such a fun read, and super quick to fly through.

There were a couple things I didn’t love: for one, the third act breakup and literal last-minute reconciliation. If you’re going to do a breakup, at least give us some time for the characters to actually work out their issues before getting back together. Another thing was how many references there were to actual romance books and authors. Like I understand this book is about romance books, but do we really need multiple name drops per chapter of popular authors and books? It really pulled me out of the story every time.

But in conclusion, this was cute and funny, and if you’re not bothered by a third act breakup, you’ll love this one!

Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read before pub day! ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. LOVE STORY is out now!

💭My thoughts: The cover is what drew me into this book. I have been loving books with author main characters. This one had great pace and great dialogue. I just couldn’t love the characters, especially the fmc Sophie. Sometimes the banter had me smiling, but then the author would mention tiktok and instagram and then name drop authors and titles of other books and it just felt like it was trying a bit too hard. I really liked Sophie’s sister, it would be a dream to open up my own bookstore! I really liked how confident she was and sticking up for herself when it came to her mom. I wish Sophie learned from her from the beginning. Personally this book wasn’t for me but I will always recommend trying something to know for yourself!

This book is really hard for me to review, because there were some things I really liked - like the humor - but some things I really disliked - like the stereotypical personalities of the main characters. They seemed more like charicatures than fleshed out heroine/hero material.

I do like the fact that this sheld some light on the concept of book snobbery, as Sophie (a secret spicy romance author) is from a family of literary snobs who believe that romance is (essentially) for peasants.

I don't really love instalove, and so I didn't really buy the relationship between the main characters. It happened FAST, and there wasn't any perceivable chemistry/commonality between them. It makes it hard to believe.

I am, though, absolutely in love with this gorgeous cover.

**Features:**

- Enemies-to-lovers and forced proximity romance with a little bit of insta-love thrown in
- Book about book and writing
- Examines different attitudes towards the romance genre and its role in the literary world
- Pop culture references both new and old

**Summary**

When the book Butterflies takes the world by storm, everyone is dying to discover who author Este Cox really is. However, Sophie Taylor knows that revealing herself would not only end her teaching career, but it might also put her at odds with her parents who are opinionated and powerful within the literary world. Sophie knows she can handle the pressure of keeping her identity a secret, but when the manuscript of her next book along with her laptop go missing, it threatens the delicate balance Sophie has worked so hard to maintain. While her brother William tries to help track down the missing items, Sophie has to put on a smile and pretend everything is normal during her dad’s big birthday celebration. Unfortunately, everything about this ‘celebration’ seems to be a plan to make Sophie as miserable as possible. The worst part will be having to share a cottage with the handsome but aggravating Joe Walsh; the last person she was with before everything went wrong.

**Thoughts**

This book has a lot of charm and manages to be both a solid romance and an interesting story examining the various attitudes towards romance books and their authors. Kelk cleverly incorporates characters from different areas of the publishing/literary world and creates a discourse between them that allows Kelk’s message to develop without feeling like you’re being hit over the head with it. Though the characters felt a little like caricatures, they worked for this story and I could appreciate even the ones I didn’t necessarily ‘like’ as people. The drama and quirkiness of the characters gives this book a great sense of humor that helps the pages fly by. Though I am not sure how I feel about the chemistry between Sophie and Joe, there are plenty of lust-filled moments between them that will satisfy most readers who are in it for the romance. However, I would say that this is predominantly ‘closed door’ with maybe a few peeks through the keyhole, so it doesn’t rank high on the ‘spicy’ scale.

Though I loved this book as a whole, the opening scenes with Joe threw me for a bit of a loop. Not only does it not really make sense, it also feels awkwardly stilted and unnatural. I think enemies-to-lovers is a hard trope to pull off without making one person seem irredeemably unlikeable and the other extremely petty or over reactive. Though things improve as the story progresses, this book is no exception in the earlier parts. Because the story itself takes place over only 3 days, there is little opportunity to see this relationship develop to something deeper than lust or grow to redeem some of their earlier behavior. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I think the ending feels almost rushed because we never get to see that development.

I’m a sucker for rom coms that are a love letter to the genre. Sophie is secretly the author of everyone’s fave smutty romance book, but only known as such to her brother/agent and her godfather/publisher. Until Joe Walsh with his perfect blue eyes and strapping thighs enters the picture. My favorite quotes come then as Sophie finds herself the defender of romance books, while trying to not let on that she is a romance author herself.

“How come when a woman writes about sexual frustration she’s the butt of a joke, but when a man writes about his sexual frustration, he gets an Oscar?”

“If there were a few more men who tried a bit harder, perhaps there would be a few less books like this.”

Kelk is also so good at banter that reads like an actual conversation. I found myself multiple times laughing out loud and rereading the funny bits. Four and half stars only because I wanted a bit more yearning, but this is a v personal preference, not something that detracts from the book at all.

Thank you to Net Galley and Harper Collins for a free e-book in exchange for this review!

4.5 stars rounded up.

I was surprised by the depth that this book had, while still being a light romcom. Romance is often not taken seriously as a genre and looked down upon, for reasons often steeped, in my opinion, in misogyny. This book explores these viewpoints on the romance genre as a whole, as well as exploring various romance tropes. It is incredibly well thought out. The only reason I give 4.5 and not 5 stars is the ending felt rushed - an epilogue would be perfect.

Sophie Turner is hiding a big secret. She is Este Cox, the extremely popular romance author. Coming from a family of literature professors and critics, this is a secret she holds very closely. Somehow she finds herself at her Dad’s birthday party sharing a room with Joe Walsh, her avowed enemy and one of the very few people who know her secret.

Sophie is the daughter of two editors who hate romance novels. So naturally when she wrote one, she did so under a pseudonym, Este Cox. The book became a huge hit and she was signed for two more. When she goes home for her dad's birthday party, she finds out that her sister is opening a bookstore and is obsessed with Este Cox and doing everything in her power to unveil her. On her way home, she misplaces her bag with her laptop and her draft of Book #2. Who should show up to her door with the book but Joe Walsh, the son of her dad's arch-rival. Over the course of the weekend, the two have a love-hate relationship. Can they overcome their differences and be together?

Not going to lie this book was hard for me to get through because of the writing style. I wanted to like it a little more than I did.

Sophie is a school teacher who is also is a best selling author of a really smutty book but no one know she wrote the book, Joe Walsh is annoying, cocky, arrogant, no relationship kinda guy. They two meet briefly, but they Joe ends up at Sophie fathers birthday weekend where they are forced to share a small cottage and things get interesting.

Sophie family is a messed up group of people, just awful:
-charlotte is the younger sister who steals a very expensive purse from her room.
-pandora is her mom and she is a book snob that thinks romance books are beneath her when makes Sophie think she can’t tell her about the books she has written. No go mention letting Charlotte get about with everything she does.
-Aunt Carol-tries to seduce Joe by cornering him in a bedroom when she thinks he is the author of Sophie’s book.
CJ (not family but they treated him like it)-Sophie’s ex tried to get back together with her when he discovered she was the author and when she said no he started insulting her, and when Joe came to defend her his insults became about their sex life

I felt like there was a LOT of lead up to this relationship between Sophie and Joe and then it just is ended in a rush, it kinda leaves you wanting to know what happens after that, even just a flash to the future.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC of this book. So i want to start out by saying that this book took me a while to read because honestly the beginning of the book was fairly slow and did not hook me right away. I'm glad i stuck with it as once I got past the first 8% or so it took a turn for the better and I really enjoyed it. The book took several turns that I didn't expect with the story line. Honestly I thought it was going to be like most Rom com books but it had a few new and interesting ideas.

I really enjoyed this enemies to lovers book!!

Lindsey Kelk wrote this hate at first sight perfectly! The chemistry between Sophie and Joe is SO good and who can resist the one bed trope?!

Sophie Taylor is a small town schoolteacher but she has a secret - she is the mysterious romance author everyone is obsessed with! Joe is our handsome MMC who is way too confident and sure of himself. Unfortunately for Sophie she needs his help! Here is where our enemies to lovers story starts!

This book was such a fun read and feels like a rom-com! I definitely recommend reading this one!

Thank you netgalley and harper360 for this ARC!

WOW!!
What a novel. What a story. What an adventure we were just taken on. Thank you, Netgalley for giving me a copy of this ARC because this was just pure gold.
I've never heard of Lindsey Kelk before, but when I read the description for Love Story, I thought it sounded interesting and I wanted to read it immediately. I didn't have high expectations, I was just excited. But oh my goodness, this book was unbelievable. Not only was the writing spot on, but the plot line and characters were so believably written and executed that I was impressed. Fans of Emily Henry will love this book, I just know it (as a fan of Emily Henry).
Sophie and Joe had your typical we-hate-each-other-but-we'll-get-over-it vibes, but it wasn't forced like so many other novels that just want to push an enemies to lovers romance. This was just dislike and frustration at one another, but the romance developed so sweetly that the tension had me on the edge of my seat. I was just begging for them to finally become a couple. The author plot line was interesting as well, and I wasn't sure where that was going to go, but ultimately I was glad with how she and her family worked through their issues and made amends.
Another thing I adored was the humor. Sure, British writing is just so entertaining, but this author also had an uncanny dry humor that had me chuckling to myself. It was just so chaotic at times that I found myself laughing out loud. Keep that up.
And on another note, Charlotte was a brat. It made me so mad at times, so I wasn't sure if that was intended or not, but if I could change her, I would. Otherwise, this book was amazing.
5 stars, I will be reading more from this author.

I’m stuck between 3.5 or 3.75 ★. Like overall I’m conflicted on how I feel about this book. I enjoyed it, I was having fun with it but is it really a romance book? I mean up until maybe 50% this book just covers the FMC wanting to remain anonymous about a book she wrote, and then the MMC ends up falling in love with her at the speed of light. Okay, I will say, insta love? Not my favorite, now boy obsessed? I do enjoy but he was not that lol. Anyways, I LOVED William, my king, he was really funny. Charolette (I hope I’m spelling that right) I wanted to strangle her. I just felt like for a book to be called love story, the love story kind of fell flat and was overlooked by everything else that was going on. Also, don’t love that the MMC’s name is JOE.

Only Lindsey Kelk could get me to read a meta romance book! More like a 3.5 because while I didn't enjoy the premise and the over-reliance on pop culture/Book-social media references, it's still LINDSEY KELK and I love her writing!

This wasn't my favourite Kelk - unfortunately I can see her leaning more into what's trending rather than writing those amazing heartfelt and funny rom-coms I'm used to reading from her, but she'll always still be one of my favourite authors of all time. I love she's getting steamier in her writing, but not over the top smutty too!

First off, thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my copy in exchange for feedback.

I just didn’t love it?! Everything felt a little wobbly & there was wayyyyy too much monologue & details for me, so I got bored. The romance felt instant and then all of a sudden things changed with finding out who she really was & I just was not a fan hahaha. I felt like the end was abrupt and didn't even seem that believable or happy?

I am definitely disappointed because the cover is so darling & it had good bones! Just need to be edited more. I’m sure some will love it, but a miss for me!