Book Smart Kate

Book: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Audiobook: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Spice: 🌶️🌶️

by Emma Lord (August 13, 2024) Many thanks to @dilemmalord and @macmillan.audio for the #gifted audiobook of her new book! Below is my honest review.

Years ago, June and Levi were best friends in high school, but they haven’t spoken meaningfully in almost a decade. June is now in their small oceanside town attempting to keep her late sister’s tea shop afloat, while Levi is a stereotypical NYC hedge fund manager – a far cry from the writer he wanted to become in high school. Their only thing in common is that they were each in high-profile relationships, and their breakups went viral. When Levi returns to town, a picture of them on the beach is misconstrued and goes viral on social media. People start rooting for them, each virally dumped, to find a HEA together. Realizing fake dating might help June’s business and Levi, they fake date their way through a series of adorable dates and realize there might have always been a spark between them.

This is my first Emma Lord book, and I really enjoyed it! Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes, and this one added a lot of layers of complexity through a shared loss that has shaped much of the last decade for both of them. As much as fear and loss inform the story, there is also a ton of humor (dancing to Uptown Funk, drunken trivia, pop rocks, and wacky scone recipes). There were good storylines about them each getting closure with their exes, and I liked that although there was instant attraction and caring between them, they ultimately voiced their fears on their way to a HEA. This is told in a single POV, and I’d love a bonus chapter from Levi’s POV recapping the experience.

The audiobook is narrated by Natalie Naudus (One Last Stop) and I really enjoyed her performance.

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