2.5⭐️
I was excited to dive into this one. But by the end, I was just relieved to be done with it. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t much enjoy it or feel invested in the characters or far fetched story.

Alexander Cendese and Mia Hutchinson-Shaw did a fine job narrating the audiobook.

Thank you Jennifer Probst, Blue Box Press, Brilliance Audio, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was a cute little love story and I enjoyed reading it. The characters were very likable, and I liked the overall plot. This was a good refreshing read. I listen to the audiobook, and I enjoyed the two narrators.

This book started out so strong and while i loved the concept and the characters; the plot itself got really weird and I ended up having to DNf

Thank you so much, NetGalley and Blue Box Press, for the early copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book had so many sweet parts, meaningful moments, and cute quotes, but some parts were a little cringey. Overall, I enjoyed it a lot. It felt more like a summer read than the cozy read I was expecting.

The audiobook was great as well, the narrators did an excellent job bringing the characters to life and made it easy to imagine everything happening. They were funny and felt so real. I loved it so much!

I’m giving this 4⭐️ because I loved the audiobook a lot.

My new favorite Jennifer Probst book by far!

Aspen is a struggling NYC writer who finds her latest book flopping and needs to deliver on a new book that her publisher will want to buy. Hoping for inspiration, she travels to a small North Carolina town on the Outer Banks to stay with her sister where she meets the supposed town playboy, Brick.

The two strike up a fake relationship contract where Aspen will help Brick with his struggling tour business and he'll help Aspen find the emotional inspiration for her next book. Of course real feelings develop and things come to a head when its time for Aspen to return to New York City.

Will Aspen be able to take a chance on real love or will her desire to write the next best-seller stand in her way?? Good on audio with a great cast of secondary characters (I can't wait for Sierra's story next!) and a memorable setting. I loved misunderstood Brick and how much he cares for the Wild Stallions and sea turtles! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Steam level: some open door scenes

𝐃𝐍𝐅

I am not huge on DNF-ing books. I like to give them a fair shot and I feel like I did that for this one. I was hesitant after only listening to 5% of the audio ARC.

𝑮𝒆𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 👇🏼

𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕀 𝕕𝕚𝕕𝕟’𝕥 𝕖𝕟𝕛𝕠𝕪
• it was very lusty, so many lusty thoughts that were almost as bad as spice in my opinion.
• the FMC kept kind of forcing herself to the MMC after he used his words to express that he was not interested, he made it very clear yet she kept pushing her way into his life because she wants him to make her fall in love with him and then crush her heart so that she can write another masterpiece from the heartbreak again, yeah she’s a writer.
• the MMC seemed super lusty and I didn’t feel any connection between the characters other than lusty thoughts.

𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕀 𝕖𝕟𝕛𝕠𝕪𝕖𝕕

• I loved the cover
• I loved that the MMC talks about some of the struggles authors go through. And I would have loved to see more of that character development.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

You might like this book if you are into the lusty vibes. It was not for me.

👉🏼what was the last book you DNF-ed?
👉🏼do you DNF?

#bookreview

What a great escape read! It featured two of my favorite tropes: books about books and fake dating.

Aspen is a writer pressured by her agent for another bestseller. But her last hit was all thanks to Aspen’s own heartache. She heads to the Outer Banks to visit her sister, looking for inspiration or a much-needed heartbreak.

There, she meets Brick Babel. He’s gorgeous and has a reputation for breaking hearts. But he needs money for his tour company, and Aspen needs a heartache, so she offers him a deal.

Aspen is pretty forward with Brick because she needs this book written, but when things get hot between them, feelings and emotions get all tangled up with the words she needs to write on the page. Suddenly, she realizes this isn’t fiction anymore; this is their love story.

This was so much fun, with a beautiful setting and delightful secondary characters - and it was spicy, too!

Thank you @getredprbooks @1001darknights_blueboxpress and @authorjenniferprobst for a gifted book.

Thank you @brilliance.audio for the gifted audiobook.

Thank you to Blue Box Press and Brilliance Audio for the review copies.

Unfortunately, this book didn't work for me. I went in expecting a fun romcom, but it fell short. One issue I had was the sexualization of the male main character. In a time when we're moving away from objectifying women, it feels off to accept or normalize the same treatment of men. While it's natural to appreciate and talk about attractive people, the way Brick was portrayed felt dehumanizing, especially considering the female main character’s own past experiences with mistreatment.

The writing also felt underdeveloped. The pacing was slow—too slow for my taste—and not much seemed to happen. The characters didn’t feel relatable or well-rounded, and the overall tone skewed younger than I expected. While I don’t mind younger characters in romance, I needed more depth and engaging development to stay invested.

As for the audiobook itself, while the voice acting was fine, I struggled with the male voice actor's style. His narration was loud, jarring, and rushed, to the point where I had to lower the volume in my car when his chapters played. I also found that listening made the repetitive and less polished aspects of the writing more noticeable. While I usually enjoy dual narrators in romance, the mismatch in style and pace limited my enjoyment of this audiobook.

I was hoping the audiobook lived up to the book itself and the dual narrators did it justice! I was so happy with the way they portrayed the characters. I did imagine Brick to sound a bit different in my head which threw me off, but it didn’t take away from the story.

Pause. This book was so cute and so good!!

My first by Jennifer Probst and I found it undoubtedly the first of many I want to read. I was STOKED when I found out there would be a second book!

This was such a unique and interesting take on the fake dating trope but I couldn’t put this book down. It was so much more fun to read this take than the usual. I can admit, the same tropes can get old after awhile but Jennifer changed the game.

The romance was organic and had me giddy. The characters were so fun, especially Sierra. I loved her! Brick’s storyline and character development made the love story that much better. I think you’ll fall in love with him.. it’s hard not to.

Thanks so much NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing | Brilliance Audio for the ALC.

This was my first time reading/listening to Jennifer Probst's work, and I really enjoyed it. One of my favorite tropes is fake dating, so Aspen and Brick's love story gave me all the feels. I laughed. I swooned. I laughed some more. As a former ghostwriter and freelance writer, I also enjoyed the added details about book writing, and it brought back a lot of fond memories from my writing adventures. The narrators were fun to listen to, and I would recommend the audiobook to everyone. I look forward to reading/listening to more of Jennifer's work in the future.

Swoon! I absolutely loved this audiobook. Fake dating is always fun and I devoured Aspen and Brick’s story. Their banter was great and their chemistry was even better! I enjoyed reading about the process of writing a book and it was fun to hear about the publicity including how influencers can make a difference in a book's success. The shoutout to some awesome Bookstagrammers was an added bonus! The Outer Banks setting was perfect for this story and the narrators were spot on for Aspen and Brick.

I have some strong opinions on this one. I have to admit I was drawn in by the cover and the synopsis had promise, but I really should have DNF'd this book. Towards the end I was just hate listening it. The whole thing was just so corny.

I thought Aspen was so unlikeable. She clearly only cared about the accolades/fame of getting a popular book and not the actual love of writing. I also didn't like that the author made Aspen the fixer of the town. Like her ideas were nothing groundbreaking and yet everyone in the town had never thought to run ads or think rationally before. For example, the women in town have a support group about dating Brick and I use the term"dating" loosely because most of them either had one date or were just denied and they're all so dejected from it that they come together to rant about it, but when Aspen comes to the group she finds out none of the rumors are true and tells them to move on, Brick is a real person with real feelings, and it's just like a light switch. "Why didn't we think of this before?!" (cue sarcasm).

As for Brick...at the beginning he doesn't like Aspen. He brushes her off multiple times and even calls her looks average. It isn't until she brings this deal to him for money in turn for dates that he "sees her" Then all of a sudden he's into her and tells her he wouldn't do this if he didn't find her attractive etc. It just felt weird like the math wasn't adding up.

As for the romance aspect of it, I found the author's descriptions a bit icky. She calls women's lady bits "swollen tissue" 🤢 and continuously uses basic descriptors like "ocean blue eyes" and "coffee colored eyes." Its just so cliche and repetitive.

Lastly, I listened to this on audio and I didn't enjoy it. The male actor's voice had a weird gravel or vocal fry that I didn't care for and his "lady voice" was SO BAD! Cringe central. You hire a female an male actor to voice them, just have them speak the women parts people!

Read if you like fake dating, small-town romance. Thanks to the audio publisher for the ALC in return for an honest review.