Book Review: "Friends Don't Fall in Love" by Erin Hahn

Lorelai Jones was a country music star, filling stadiums with her fans. Her engagement to another country music superstar had captured media attention all over the world. Then one night, Lorelai, a former elementary school teacher, sang a classic protest song during a concert, and in the blink of an eye, her career imploded and her relationship ended, and she was suddenly a total pariah. She returned home to Michigan to lick her wounds and restart her teaching career.

The only person from her music days who continued to stand behind her was Craig "Huckleberry" Boseman, her ex-fiancé's former bandmate and a very close friend. They've always been attracted to each other, and Craig longed for more than friendship from Lorelai, but never wanted to jeopardize their relationship, even after her engagement fell apart.

Five years after Lorelai left Nashville, she reaches back out to Craig, who is now an indie record producer with his own studio, to get his opinion on some songs she's written. He encourages her to come back to town so they can work on a comeback album. When she returns, Craig finds that his feelings for Lorelai are even stronger than before, and her talent is even more polished. And as Lorelai gets more excited about the possibility of a comeback, she also realizes that her attraction to Craig hasn't lessened either, but rather become more intense.

Meanwhile, Lorelai has to try and navigate the mercurial world of country music, which hasn't quite forgiven her for speaking her mind about gun control. Should she apologize for her views in order to get a second chance, or should she risk everything to be true to herself? And can she and Craig figure out if they can be together for real, without jeopardizing everything they have?

This was a fun, sweet, and pretty steamy read. Erin Hahn is an auto-buy author for me; I've read both her YA books and her adult fiction, and Friends Don't Fall in Love features characters from all of her other books. I definitely enjoyed this look at the tug-of-war that exists in the country music world between traditional conservative views and more liberal ones, and what cancel culture looks like first-hand. Lorelai and Craig are great characters with terrific chemistry.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. It will publish 10/17.

Book Review: "Talk Bookish to Me" by Kate Bromley

A sweet, sexy rom-com in which the main character is a Bookstagrammer? Yes, please! That's what you get with Kate Bromley's debut rom-com, Talk Bookish to Me.

Kara is a romance writer and Bookstagrammer who is under significant pressure to finish her next book. Then she discovers that one of the groomsmen at her best friend’s wedding will be Ryan. Ryan, her college boyfriend and perhaps one true love. The breakup of their relationship was one of the most hurtful and angry that either had ever known, and happened in the midst of a terrible time in Kara’s life.

It’s been 10 years. Why does he look so good? Why is their banter so much fun but he is still so infuriating? But more importantly, why does her writer’s block disappear whenever she spends time with him?

In order not to ruin her best friend’s wedding festivities and hopefully get her book done before the rapidly encroaching deadline her publisher has set, she decides to spend time with Ryan. Of course, she still has feelings for him, but is she actually willing to open her heart up to the possibility of being hurt so badly again? Can they overcome the things they said and deal with the things that happened when their relationship ended?

I loved Talk Bookish to Me so much! It was a great mashup of second chance love and enemies-to-lovers, and the characters were all fun and appealing, but what I loved most was the discussions about reading, romance tropes, and, of course, Bookstagram.

Cheers to Bromley for giving us a sexy, sweet, fun rom-com for the book lovers and the lovers of love!!