Monroe’s life is not turning out the way she envisioned. Instead of being happily married and pursuing her dreams for the future she finds herself betrayed by those she thought she could trust and working at the diner. The most exciting thing to happen in town and in her life is when a sexy stranger comes into her diner and from there an arrangement is formed that will help both of them out.

Ethan’s life has been turned upside down and his search for the birth father he never knew has led him to Forever Falls. He certainly isn’t looking for a relationship so the arrangement suits both their purposes as it will help make the diner viable and it may just give him the information he needs to move forward with his life.

This is a heartwarming story about two people who are trying to overcome the challenges that life has thrown at them. It may have been chance that brought them together but there is no denying that they give each other exactly what they were missing in their lives.

Thank you, Net Galley for the ARC of this book

Description:
"What happens when two people who’ve given up on forever find it in each other…?

Single men are as scarce in Forever Falls as a vegetarian at a barbecue. That is, until Ethan Hammersmith moves in. After his fiancée gave him an ultimatum, he left Australia and never looked back. He isn’t in America to find a new girlfriend, though. He’s searching for the father he never knew. But now it’s like he has a flashing sign above his head that says “available.” Thankfully, the manager of the local diner is willing to give him cover—if only she weren’t so distractingly adorable.

Monroe Roberts, town misanthrope and divorcée, knocked “forever” permanently off her wish list ever since the love of her life skipped town with the cliché yoga instructor. And good riddance. She’s got this struggling diner to keep her busy, trying anything to boost sales…until a hot Australian strolls in and changes everything. Monroe’s restaurant is packed full of women who aren’t there to order food, unless Ethan is on the menu. This could sink her business faster than ever. So—light bulb—what if they pretend to be together?

It sounded like the perfect plan. It hilariously was not..."

Absolutely a must read for a lazy day. Entertaining, hilarious, sad, introspective, all in a single book. The look into the human mind and psyche, while being able to say it with a smile and take away any biting part of the observation takes a talented writer. Stefanie London is definitely that writer for me.

This is my first book by Stefanie London and I hope it's not my last!

Carina M

I enjoyed this book so much! I usually go more for historical romance rather than contemporary, but this was a great mix of funny and sweet and dramatic. The dynamic between Monroe and Ethan was just wonderful to see develop. I enjoyed the pace and growth of the story and their relationship.

I will say, I don't understand the cover imagery after reading this? Nothing at all in the story about rain boots or umbrellas, so that was odd.

I couldn’t help but give a bit of a squeal when I opened up this Bookmail! Just look at that gorgeous cover and of course, a Stefanie London novel is for sure going to be a heartfelt and uplifting read. I was not wrong! This book was amazing and I just adored it so much!

Forever Starts Now is about Ethan and Monroe from small town Forever Falls. Ethan is single and hot but not quite ready to mingle - he is in search for the father he never knew. Monroe local diner owner and divorcée has other plans to help the diner stay afloat works up a plan to fake date helping her cause and Ethan’s too. What happens next were never in the plans, especially for these two whose HEA is the last thing on their minds.

Stefanie London writes the best romance set in an idyllic small town, with adorable characters, that are the best summer time escape reads. I really enjoyed this one a lot - it just had the perfect amount of fun, funny and swoon.

This book was so delightful! The MC Monroe Roberts named after Marilyn is a very dedicated restaurant manager trying to keep the business she works for afloat. 

Ethan is a newcomer to town from Australia who happens to look like Thor, Chris Hemsworth and is causing havoc at the restaurant she works at since everyone wants to get a photo or autograph lol. He has some secrets as to why he is there as well.

This was a sweet romance about new love after bad breakups, trying to find your place with your passion in life when you feel stuck where you are. 

Thank you entangled publishing and net galley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

Ethan and Monroe’s love story in Forever Starts Now by Stefanie London, was an amazing, sizzling, emotional and humorous tale. Ms. London created a small town, with quirky residents, as background for two people who have given up on finding forever. These two are in need of a major shake-up, rediscovering their dreams, confidence, love, and a place to call home.

A dying confession from his mother has Ethan Hammersmith leaving Australia to search America for a father he never knew. He has landed in Forever Falls, a small town with a shortage of single men. What Ethan didn’t count on, is his slight resemblance to Chris Hemsworth, the actor who played Thor, and the determined women chasing after him. Ethan is in luck, making a deal with the manager of the local diner, Monroe Roberts, with them both entering into a fake relationship. Then the magnetic attraction and chemistry affect Ethan and Monroe, causing them to forget that this is a fake relationship; especially when it starts to feel real. As the clues start suggesting that Ethan has finally found his birth father, he will have some difficult decisions to make.

I loved Monroe. She was strong, independent, but lacked confidence in herself and her ability to leave the diner to open a bakery. Her sisters and father were her support, keeping her sane. Ethan’s quest to find his birth father led him on a wild-goose chase, but he had his reasons for doing so. His support and belief in Monroe was so romantic as was when he dressed as Thor to help her out.

Ms. London wrote a fun, emotional, and sizzling romance that should not be missed. She provided a tale rich with emotions, sizzling chemistry, humor, wonderful dialogue, and charming characters giving Ethan and Monroe a chance at love and forever. I highly recommend Forever Starts Now to other readers.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

A fun and heartwarming story. I loved this witty small town story. I loved the characters and the chemistry and I enjoyed reading their journey as they overcome their insecurities. It’s an entertaining read.

Monroe Roberts has lived in Forever Falls her entire life. Her family is the single most important thing to her. When she's betrayed by her husband three years prior, Monroe becomes a shell of herself and vows to never give her heart to anyone ever again. Besides, she's the manager of the local diner and it's in jeopardy of being closed down for good. She can't allow that to happen to her employees or the owner, who Monroe has known her whole life. When a new guy comes into town, though, her whole life changes.

Ethan Hammersmith is only in Forever Falls temporarily. He's on a quest to find his birth father after his world comes crashing down in Australia. Ethan isn't looking for a happily-ever-after or even a happily-for-now, until he walks into The Sunshine Diner. As the object of the town's female population's desire, he just wants to remain under the radar while he searches out the next location where his birth father may have resided. When Ethan catches a glimpse of the diner's manager, he knows his heart is going to be in trouble.

Forever Starts Now is a sweet and steamy romance that had me devouring the book. Monroe and Ethan have so much baggage it's no wonder neither want to look for a partner. Sometimes, though, attraction, connection, and feelings don't care. The chemistry between Monroe and Ethan was off the charts and the author did a fantastic job making the reader aware of and feel it waft off the pages. The emotions, romance, and conflict in this supposed fake relationship story were impeccably written, completely believable, and filled with so much realism I felt like I was there in the story with the characters.

Stefanie London just climbed to the top of my must-read romance authors list, where she is in good company with my other favorites.

4.5🌟
Forever Starts Now is a heartwarming, quirky contemporary small town romance.
Loved the chemistry between Monroe and Ethan.
Both have past issues they are trying to overcome.
Can they help each other heal?
Humor, romance and emotional moments will have you reading straight through to the end.
Author Stefanie London’s writing will have you smiling as you read.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is a sweet and cute romance. I really enjoyed Monroe and Ethan's story. Both of them are likeable characters and there are lots of funny moments between them. I don't think you can go wrong with this one.

Sweet, sometimes funny romance. Loved the plot and writing. The characters were well written
4 stars

Stefani London takes us to Forever Falls with this fun, hilariously snarky, and sometimes emotional book. When life hands you lemons, do you make lemonade or lemon cake? Monroe prefers lemon cake. But she’s forgotten how much baking is a part of her. That part of her life fell apart along with her marriage. And Ethan’s life fell apart when the one person who was supposed to love and support him didn’t. So what do two people who have given up on love do? Have a fake relationship, of course, giving the old adage, “Fake it ‘til you make it,” an entirely new meaning.

I really enjoyed this book. I felt it had just the right combination of comedy and romance, along with a great storyline about starting over when you’re trying to figure out who you are when it all falls apart, and you’re trying to pick up the pieces of a shattered picture-perfect future. It reminded me of Goldilocks and the Three Bears when she declares each thing “just right.”

NICUnurse’s Rating: I give Forever Starts Now by Stefani London 4 out of 5 stars!

I have loved everything I've read from Stefanie London and Forever Starts Now is one of my favorite books this year.

It is a sweet and engaging story that hooked me from the very beginning when Monroe and the restaurant are introduced. I really liked Monroe and felt for the struggles she faced due to her husband's infidelity and trying to keep the restaurant open.

There is more to Ethan than a resemblance to the actor who plays Thor. He's a good guy who is searching for his birth father. That search has brought him to Forever Falls and into Monroe's life.

This story hit all the right notes for me. It had the emotional moments, humor, and small town charm I have come to expect in Stefanie's books. If you love small town romance or the fake dating trope this is a must read!

I love a good Chris Hemsworth look a like and this book fit the bill terrifically. I could even hear is Australian accent when he would speak in the book. That isn’t all the book is about, Stefanie actually asks some hard questions and answers them satisfactorily, in my opinion. Her life questions are, what do you do when your marriage breaks up and you have no plan “B”? What do you do when you find out your lost parent wasn’t that impressive after all? What do you do when you are too afraid to foot one foot in front of the other on the road of life? Finally, I think the best one, what do you do when you realize your fake relationship might just be the one?

These and so many other questions get the full treatment in this laugh out loud rom com. There are some sad moments and of course one character that has no brain to mouth filter making conversations “awkward” 🙂 There is a myriad of emotions from both parties that make you want to just hug him. Although he’s pretty secretive and stoic through most of the novel, but he does realize early on she might be the more important end to his journey to find his father. Surprisingly, he isn’t too upset when he realizes his dad wasn’t as great of a person as he’d thought he might be and realizes his Mom may have had the better end of the bargain with his step-father all those years.

When Ethan starts to give her her groove back, she digs into her baking and realizes she’s one short jump from a baking career. When all else fails, rely on what you know and she knew baking so she went with it and it gave her the ability to get over her ex, realize family wasn’t always blood and give her a new zest for life and maybe a little sugar. Ethan learned how important the people are around you and the support they give is often done from the heart and not from love. For him being happy was purely about accepting he was who he was even if he wasn’t from the beginnings he believed he was.

Anyway, I loved the story and got my happily ever after without too much drama so I’m giving this a 4 of 5 rating and think it’s a good read to start off the summer with.

There’s a lot going on in both Monroe and Ethan’s lives already, but they throw a little fake relationship action into the mix to distract all the hot and bothered women in town…coming into the diner to see the Thor look-alike. This plot point got a bit old after a while, possibly because I’m not Chris Hemsworth crazy, but I know I’m in the minority.
Monroe needed to do a bit less for others and more for herself. She’s a great friend/daughter/sister, but she needed to make changes so she could be happy with her life, not merely content. Ethan was great, and I definitely felt for him in his search for his bio dad. But I never really felt the spark of their relationship. Yes, there’s steam, I just wanted more connection…between the characters and myself maybe?
I enjoy Stephanie London’s writing; her stories and characters are always interesting. So while I enjoyed this book, I’m not sure it’ll stand out among not just her other reads, but those of other well loved authors.

What happens when a Chris Hemsworth doppelgänger enters a local diner? Chaos ensues.

For Ethan he is just trying to find his birth father. After a year of searching he thinks he might have found some solid clues. However getting mobbed outside a local diner doesn’t let him stay under the radar.

Monroe is just trying to keep the diner afloat, as the manager she is given one more month to see if she can save it or else the owner is considering selling. It doesn’t help when customers come pouring in only to buy the least expensive item and sit for hours waiting for Chris Hemsworth to show.

After a few less than stellar meetings Monroe and Chris (ahem, Ethan) strike up a deal to fake date. This gives him a chance to find clues without causing a scene, and for Monroe to deal with her supposed to be ex-husband. A few errors in the paperwork aren’t going to keep her from getting officially divorced. However this faking dating starts to feel a little too real.

With Ethan planning on returning to Australia when he is done here, will they have a chance to decide if Forever Starts Now?

This was such a lovely light read, with fun characters, a sense of community and also some hard truths of people who make mistakes, people who don’t deserve a second chance, family and love in the most unlikely of places.

I received an ARC for review, all opinions are my own and given freely.

This would be a great read while sitting on the beach dreaming about Thor! Or at least that's what the citizens of Forever Falls thinks when a Chris Hemsworth look alike shows up in town and stirs up all kinds of craziness especially for Monroe who is trying to save the Sunshine Diner, that has been her whole life. This is such a cute tale of fake relationships, fake movie stars but real life feelings and dreams. Monroe isn't the only one looking for a secret. She needs the secret to making the Diner a success and Ethan is looking for the secret his mom keep from him. So while trying to help each other with their problems they might have a new problem with keeping their hearts in one piece.

Ethan and Monroe have both given up on love, and they also both have some fairly heavy family/life stuff going on as well. Forever Falls, the town the book is set in, is cute,. I felt like the story spent more time on Ethan's hunt for his father and Monroe trying to get out of her funk and figure out what to do with her life than it did on their budding romance. There were some sweet moments, but I didn't find the book particularly humourous. This was just ok.

I absolutely LOVED this book!! I loved the characters, the storyline and storytelling. I found myself losing time as I read it because I didn't put it down. It wasn't your typical romance and had no real smutty parts. It was a good book from start to finish.

Forever Starts Now is another well-written book from Stefanie London, but was not one of my favorite books written by her. For some reason, I had a hard time connecting with the main characters – Monroe and Ethan. I enjoyed their snappy back-and-forth dialogue and their blossoming romance, but I struggled with their emotions regarding their pasts.

I received a free, advance copy of this book from the publisher. This is my unbiased and voluntary review.