Julianna Keyes

Emmy is a young, burnt-out pastry baker and food truck owner. At the urging of her assistant, she goes on an extreme reality show to win money for her business. The show gives her a chance to take a break from the unhappy dumpster fire her life has become, and she surprises herself by having fun while she's there. It was hard to guess right off the bat who the love interest is but it becomes clear as the story goes on. And Emmy gets her HEA after some predictable shenanigans. I enjoyed this one, the supporting characters were believably written with enough depth to make them memorable. And the author's comedic voice was a treat, I had literal LOL moments. (Which I really needed, thanks Ms. Keyes!) This is a fun read, perfect for the summer or anytime you find yourself in need of something light and refreshing. This is a new-to-me author and I'd definitely read her again.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book, this is my honest and objective review.… (more)

3.5 stars

A story that on paper I shouldn't like, all first person pov, some stream of conscious, New Adult, and a little bit of love triangle. But I ended up really liking it!

It's new adult with the characters being sophomores in college, the female main character partied hard her freshman year, her nickname in highschool was Nora Bora so she wanted to have fun but ends up befriending a party girl and long story short, she has way too many one night stands and ends up arrested for indecent exposure. She loses half of her scholarship and has to have meetings with the Dean of the school, where he brings up her sex life????? So, it's good girl time for her second year in college, break out those cardigans!

She tells the party girl that she also works with that they can't be friends and answers an ad asking for a quiet, studious roommate. She talks with the guy who took the ad for a while and they seem like a good match, but when she shows up at the apartment to look around, popular track guy Crosbie answers the door with his bestfriend Kellan the king of campus right behind him. It turns out that Kellan wants to buckle down too. The big problem was that Kellan was one of Nora's one night stands but he doesn't remember her, which she knows will make things awkward if they room together but he offers the first month of rent free. Broke college kid and all, she takes it.

It all sounds like cliché stuff and it definitely has some of that but it gives you those beginning love feelings as Nora and Crosbie start to connect, they really are a sweet make you feel all those butterflies couple. The obvious danger looming on the horizon is that Crosbie has always felt second place to Kellan and you know it's going to come out that Luna and Kellan slept together. Without Crosbie's pov, I had some questions about what he was thinking at times but his caring about Luna still came across enough to make you gooey over him.

Some stuff, "Crosbiebabes" and bathroom sex lists, that make your eyes want to roll at times, along with Crosbie and Kellan being track stars but not really getting much on that, and Crosbie doing magic (Illusions!) that didn't feel like it fit in well to me, but this was really one of the best for the butterfly in the tummy, new love, make you grin sweet moments. I also liked how the party friend was more than that and there was a good friendship with her and Luna, along with a little secondary romance.

Recommended if you're wanting new adult sweetness with some steamy open door scenes.… (more)

This was an absolutely fun ride! The plot is simple: a down-on-her luck baker gets drunk and enters for an adventure/love reality show. Shocker! She gets chosen and the book is 85% what happens on show. I had so much fun with this. Emmy was such a sweetheart and I wanted to protect her from everything. Not because she was weak, but because I cared so much. Seeing her emerge stronger and happier was wonderful.

I appreciated so many things about this book - No insta-love between the leads, in fact there was a veryyyyy brief moment I thought I didn't have the ML correct (I did :)). The other characters! They were so fun and some of the contestants had great growth from when we first met to end of book. Even the show's host was fun. The show's twists and turns plus their wacky challenges. The final conflict/break up - Now I rarely like 3rd act breakups but this one was different, in fact if events had happened differently I would have not enjoyed the couple as much as I did.

P.S. It was when I was done with the book that I remembered that JK wrote 2 NA and the very angsty, steamy Time Served series that I also enjoyed. They are different from this book in tone but not in how well written they all were.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the Publishers for the ARC, I had a great time reading this.… (more)