Not much to say about this one to be honest. It was a cute story just not a favorite of mine.

Dear Christina Lauren,

Girls. I can't believe this is our 25th book together. Congrats us!! But seriously ladies, bravo. You have completely taken the ability to grab me as a reader, connected me to the characters and led me through journey after journey, rapt with care, love, friendship, laughs and more. So I start this review with a thank you. Because of you I am able to escape the day in and day out of mom life, of wife duties, and of the stress of being a school manager to 300+ middle schoolers and staff that suck the life out of me (with love). I am able to unwind within the worlds you create and breathe outside of the realities I can find myself suffocating in. Bravo ladies. I owe you.

Now for this little gem of a story. Two of my loves have collided and had a little book baby, and I adored it. HGTV and romance. CHECK PLEASE. The slow burn of these two figuring out who and what they want. The sprinkled in angst that holds my heart in a vice and the absolute friendship and family that has a way of creating itself within the walls of the fiction fortress built for us in the pages. In this uncertain world we live in being able to escape for a few hours was the perfect distraction. I loved it. Per usual. Cute, easy to read with all of the aspects we have come to love from the amazing duo Christina Lauren. xo

Well, I read the whole thing, which is something. This is a rom-com about the male and female assistants to a husband-and-wife team of TV decorators (think Fixer Upper, Hometown, etc.) who are not-so-secretly on the rocks. I very much enjoyed the send up of that genre because I have watched a lot of those shows and speculated about the couples' apparently adoring relationships etc. so it was fun to see the whole thing start toppling over, much like one of their shaky buildings (ha ha). I didn't enjoy the soft-core sex scenes between the assistants which are apparently now de rigeur for this kind of romance novel. (I prefer my pornographic literature hard core and separate from romance novels, thank you very much.) The female assistant was an appealing character and had health problems that gave her depth. So it wasn't bad. My problem was with the predictable plot twists and the sappy ending that tied everything up with a pretty bow. I wouldn't read this author again.

I enjoyed this book. Some mystery to it. I couldn’t quit listening because I needed to know what happened.

I wanted a book to escape the current reality of our world. While this book did distract me from reality, this book was just lacking.

The supporting characters (Melissa and Russ), their business etc were too similar to a real life couple in the spotlight. Yes of their problems were not like the real life couple but even the goofiness of the husband was too much like the real man.

I have always found Christina Lauren's books to be well developed but this one just didn't hit the mark.

I received an ARC of this book. All thoughts & opinions are my own.