I loved this book! It has all of the best tropes, and the banter made it such a quick read! It’s a great summer day, sitting on the porch and relaxing book. Perfect romcom with some spice. The FMC was written incredibly well!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.


I literally ate up every word in this book. I wish I hadn't read it so quickly because I'd give anything to read it again for the first time. I cannot believe this was a debut novel the way the author hooked me from the very beginning. She wrote a realistic love story, including all tropes from neighbors to lovers and fake dating. Reading it made me miss living in the city when I was in grad school, and the writing made me feel like I was back in the city. The characters had significant chemistry, and the grand gestures were certainly gesturing; the ending wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't a distraction.

Read if you like:
- Neighbors to lovers
- Fake dating
- Billionaire Romance
- Slow burn
- Single POV

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK! I haven’t read anything by this author yet, and I know it was her first romance- I hope she writes more! I loved the FMC and MMC- their love story and personal growth was perfection! NY setting, and exploring the city, just gave me all the feels that I need to visit and do my own exploring. I cried a few times, and the sense of family, and also new friendships was beautiful. I do highly recommend this book!

I really loved this romcom! Elle was so resistant to love and Parker was so sweet. 5 stars!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

LOVED! I've read Alex Aster's YA fantasy series and enjoyed that, but I feel like this is her genre! Was thoroughly entertained on the whole ride, and loved Elle and Parker and every side character. It's funny because I was feeling a bit skeptical about this because I typically don't love a billionaire trope, and I typically don't love anything too cliche New York, and somehow I found myself eating this up! I hope she continues writing more contemporary romances.

I really enjoyed this romance book. The main couple are so cute together and the spice level was perfect. And it did not take over the story!

Summer in the City by Alex Aster was good. The first third of the book was enjoyable and I found myself having a good time reading it. The middle of the book was my favorite part. Everything was going along well, with minimal bumps. You know the usual of any book plot. At this point in the story I was thinking this is a four-star book, I liked everything enough to keep reading. The ending ruined that rating for me. I gave the book three stars. I would recommend this book if you're looking for a summer romance, that is fun to read.

This book was SO, SO good! I absolutely adored it. The writing was very good and captivating. The plot was intriguing. And the chemistry between these two was amazing! I loved the complexity of the characters and the romance that grew so beautifully.

The spice was pretty good, despite being very brief and mild. I really loved the emotional depth of the story and the growth of the main characters as individuals. This book was so good, and I'll definitely be preordering the beautiful first edition!

Where do I even start? This book was sooooo good.

I generally do not like time jumps in books, especially when they are years long. But how the relationship between Elle and Parker flourish makes it all worth it. There's tension immediately. He never stopped thinking about her. And technically, she couldn't stop thinking about him either even if it was out of hatred. But when they come together to rewrite bad memories with good ones... UGH!

The emotional journey towards the end of the book was also surprising but in a very good way. The story could have ended at a certain point but after Elle's journey alone and learning some new information, you realize that it couldn't have just been a HEA before. That little piece was very much needed to really close one door and open another (and her heart).

I reeaaaaaallly enjoyed this book and will be making sure to purchase it when it comes out!

**Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.**

This book took me by surprise in the very best way! Such a fun and cute story, didn't want to put it down!

This was such a cute story and I absolutely loved it! I was so glad that I got the chance to read this one and I’m looking forward to reading more rom coms from Alex Aster in the future. Parker and Elle were so great together and even with all their ups and downs this was just such a fun enemies to lovers story that I sold highly, highly recommend.

Billionaire, rememberable meet-cute, grand gestures, fake dating rom-com.

I’ve had Alex Aster on my TBR radar for quite some time. Honestly, I was stoked at the opportunity to read an ARC of her newest release, a romance. However, now when I have to form my thoughts into a coherent review, I am battling on my true feelings towards Summer in the City. When it comes to romance books featuring a billionaire, you have to suspend some belief; but our king of grand gestures Mr. Parker Warren had me thinking “lol ok” one too many times. This, coupled with the depth and growth we see from Elle, and the amount of high highs and low lows in their relationship left me wondering if I just liked or loved this romance.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced copy of Summer in the City in exchange for my honest review

An enemies to lovers romance featuring Elle, a screenwriter, and Parker, a billionaire CEO. The two are forced to be neighbors after a run in a few years prior that left Elle absolutely hating Parker. Elle has a strict deadline for her next screenplay, but will Parker Warren help or hurt her creative process?

I had a great time reading this story and adored Parker the grand gesture king. Suddenly I want to spend my next summer in NYC.

The last few chapters left me a little frustrated and I would have loved to see the end of the story go a bit further.

Overall I think this a quick, cute romance that will make a fun summer read. I hope Alex writes more contemporary romance in the future.

SUMMER IN THE CITY is a fun billionaire romance, but it does require you to suspend your disbelief (unless you're a billionaire, I guess. Which I am nooooot). This was my first Alex Aster book but I am interested in picking up her other books after this. I've been in a rough reading slump and this was a great book to help pull me out of it but I can't say it was the best romance ever. To me, it lacked a lot of details; we knew the basics about the main character and love interest, but they both felt very surface-level and so did their relationship. Because of that, I didn't *love* this one, but it was a pretty quick and entertaining read.

I knew I was going to love anything Alex Aster wrote. I’ve always been a huge fan of her Lightlark series, but I truly don’t know how much I’d fall in love with this book. Elle is such a phenomenal character and honestly so relatable. I love seeing the world through her eyes. The growth you see from her slowly but surely with Parker’s help is truly wonderful to watch. I loved how this book was such a love letter movies and writing, but I also felt like it was such a love letter to New York. The city felt like the third character the whole time and I felt like their little fake dating adventures were made even more fun by having the back drop of the city behind them! What a truly terrific read! I read this in one sitting and it was an automatic 5 stars!

Did I just ruin my entire day by staying up way too late finishing this book? Yes, yes I did. So worth it though. Summer in the City was everything I wanted it to be and more! I fell deeply in love with these characters, I just couldn’t get enough.
This book made me feel all the things—what a rollercoaster of emotions! The found family and self-growth aspects of it were so well written, I loved every second of it. I could almost physically feel Elle’s pain and Parker’s genuine feelings.
I felt everything I want to feel while reading a romcom.
This was my first time reading something from this author, but now I just need to get my hands on more of her work asap!

Thank you NetGalley & publisher for this advanced digital copy, this book comes out on 03.25.2025 and I hope everyone loves it as much as I did.

All opinions are mine and mine only :)

I received an advanced reader copy of this book for my honest opinion. I was happy to start a light romance after finishing a fairly heavy book. I was hooked from the beginning and read until my eyes could not stay open. I read it while in the elliptical and throughout the day. I liked the character development and it wasn’t smutty until at least halfway in. I could have used with less graphic detail, but the story line was so good that I just got the idea of what was happening and glossed over it. I was probably 88 % finished with the book when a big ridiculous disappointing situation happened that I just basically couldn’t agree with. I felt like the main character Elle had gotten past her negative attitudes towards money and gifts when it came to this particular guy. He had proven himself time and time again that he did not believe she could be bought. Even though she tied it up in the end, I was so annoyed by Elle that the book dropped to 1.5. I rounded up because it was a solid 5 until that disastrous scenario. Good beach read. I would just rewrite the ending. It doesn’t need much just definitely not that ending.

I hope the next book doesn’t have a character who takes so long to emotionally grow.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alex Aster for this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

What a cute read!! Literally felt like I was watching a rom com in NYC. Loved every second of it.

This was such a fun summer rom-com. It was so cute and funny. I loved how it combined the fake dating and billionaire romance tropes. The billionaire romance in particular was done well. I loved the extravagant/ridiculous gifts, and how sweet they were. It was obvious Parker’s heart was ultimately in the right place.

I also really enjoyed the whole premise of the book. It was so fun seeing the characters going all over New York so Elle could visit movie locations to help her better write her screenplay. I just loved Parker, and how he slowly was able to help Elle come out of her shell. I really enjoyed seeing her grow as a person and find herself. I also loved the relationship and sweet friendship Parker and Elle developed while they were fake dating.

I got a little worried there in the last 10%, but the characters thankfully got the ending they deserved!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

listen, i'm the first person on this website to say to suspend disbelief when you pick up a romance book but this...ehhhhh...

i just felt like this was a billionaire trope that wasn't fully flushed out and our FMC had some so-called "problems" that were just so out there and honestly silly i could barely take her seriously. also, as someone who lives in NYC...there were just so many incredibly specific things that were simply not realistic, even in romance book world.

overall i just think this wasn't for me and the ending was so, so rushed i literally felt whiplash.

special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!