Book Smart Kate

Book: 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫 Audiobook performance: 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫 Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

by Falon Ballard (September 24, 2024) – Many thanks to @prhaudio @putnambooks and @falonballard for a gifted advanced listening copy of this wonderful holiday romance. Below is my honest review.

Jessica is a romance author, and she loves crafting happily ever afters – but she’s also a barista because not all authors are on the bestseller list like her ex-turned-rival romance author Nick Matthews. He has a long list of best sellers. Just as both of their careers in the publishing world were starting and Jessica was planning their own HEA, Nick dumped her and she’s hated him ever since. Now she’s got to present him with the Romance Author of the Year award at an annual event, and it is taking all of her acting skills to disguise her total hatred of him. But when a snowstorm hits and hotel reservations get lost, they find themselves sharing a room while snowed in for days just before Christmas; they find that the intensity of their spark has inspired them both to write. Could their time trapped together not only give them a new professional opportunity but also a chance to discover what happened in the past and if they might have a future?

Oh, my. THIS. WAS. FUN. From the very first page, I was hooked! It has all the best tropes, great main characters, interesting friends and colleagues. It’s a hilarious setup and smoldering chemistry. Ballard tells the past and present story through both Jess and Nick’s POVs, and I quickly became invested in their relationship. It was clear that neither had ever moved on because of the importance of their relationship. I was worried that the cause of the past breakup would frustrate me because I like these two so much as a couple, but the complexities of why it happened and how each handled reflecting on it five years later was very satisfying to me. It is an absolute must for anyone looking for a sweet and spicy quick read (the book is just over 250 pages and 6.5 hours on audio) and a happily ever after.

Sarah Naughton and Marwan Salama narrate the audiobook – they completely bring Jess and Nick to life.