Thanks to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I found this story to be okay but less enjoyable than the last for me. For one the girls were just really just mean girls and unpleasant. It made me not want to keep reading about the characters or care about what happened.

This is book 2 following the Coffee Girl and i loved this book so much
This book follows Lex and Sarah and although i was a bit annoyed by the two of them, i still had good laughs that earned me looks from my siblings, is there anywhere i can get a TJ and Kiki, those two are just hilarious.
I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for something cheesy to remind you how love is then these books are for you

Coffee Girl was always going to be hard to follow up but I was so on board with Sarah's story and now actually can't decide which book I like better!! I read this book in one sitting and absolutely loved it!

I received an 'advanced' copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review. This book was a Read Now and I was intrigued by the description. Unfortunately I did not enjoy the last half of the book as much as the first half. Even though I hadn't read Coffee Girl, and probably won't I didn't need an introduction. Maybe I wanted Lex to be like Kellan Kyle, but he was not. Also he was burnt out on love and trust because of his ex Alana, a conniving manipulative woman. Sarah caught his eye but 2 years go by with her working as a stylist for the band and starting a business with her best friends Kiki and TJ. Once Sarah and Lex finally got together, there were too many recycled tropes for me to enjoy the book. I didn't really feel like I knew the characters or could picture them beyond superficial details. I just hurried to finish it so I could go on to something else. I knew they'd get their HEA and wedding / babies.

I have purchased and read Coffee Girl, the first book in this series (a 5 star read), and was very excited in anticipation of this follow up book, The Makeup Artist. I already knew that I liked Sarah who is our heroine, but I wasn’t so sure that I was actually going to like the Lex. I did read several reviews about this book prior to reading in via Net Galley and many of them said it was even better then Coffee Girl, so my expectations were set high and I was happy we got to see more of the relationship between Tatum and Kiki in this book. Sarah Sinclair certainly delivers an extremely likable main character in Sarah-although she is pretty childish sometimes, but I didn't think that Lex was as strong a hero as Tatum was from Coffee Girl. I saw the drama that would unfold coming from a long way out, and I was kind of hoping I was going to be wrong, but unfortunately I wasn't. I don’t want to give away any spoilers because the book really is good, just a bit predictable and the reason for 4 1/4 stars instead of 5. I can still really highly recommend this book, especially if you like Coffee Girl and I would certainly purchase a third book if there is another one in the series.

3 1/2 stars - in this book we get the story of Sarah, make up artist to the stars, and Lex, lead guitarist in one of the country’s hottest bands. The story is a touching one of how an early betrayal shakes Lex’s ability to form relationships
with women.

I really loved this book until about the 3/4 point. And then the immature behavior of the heroine’s best friends really disappointed me. I think it was supposed to be funny. Instead, for me, it really felt like mean girl behavior.

Loved loved loved this story by Sophie Sinclair. This is one story that I could read over and over again.

I couldn't wait for book two in this series! The Makeup Artist is book two in the Coffee Book series. It follows Sarah and Lex. Sarah has been pinning for Lex for years and after years of watching him with other girls, she feels like it's her turn. She doesn't care that it may ruin everything she's ever worked for.

I really, really loved the first book in this series. I recommend reading book one as there are recurring characters. I couldn't put this book down and stayed up way past my bedtime to finish it - and it was well worth it! The secondary characters are also a nice addition without taking away from the main characters. Overall, this was a rockstar romance that does not disappoint!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sophie Sinclair for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

Knock knock
Whose there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange you glad you read this book!

This book was so good! Usually in the second book in a series, I’m not as in love with the couple as in the 1st but that didn’t ring true for this book. I loved Lex and Sarah. And I actually think the “villain”, aka Alana is better in this book than in “Coffee Girl”. I am going totes (love Tammy Jean!) going to read the next one but I am not crazy that it’s Cam. Was hoping it would be TJ but he, well I guess you’ll have to read to find out why it’s not his story!

"Have you ever wanted something so bad, but it's just out of reach? Do you ever just go for it?"

Lex and Sarah's friends to lovers story was everything I wanted it to be. We got a bit of them in Coffee Girl and I was happy to see their story continue here.

The chemistry between these two characters was incredible. The steamy scenes were amazing, but there were moments that I found much sexier when they were just talking or interacting - the scene where they sing in Conner's bar was electric. When Lex sang the first line of the song at the music festival, I got goosebumps and I may or may not have cried!

Lex (who makes my top 5 list of book boyfriends, by the way) jumped off the page for me. From his tattoos to his brooding and his accent (which I heard in my head again) he was perfect. I loved his little names for Sarah, whether he said them in English or Irish.

Sarah, (aka Sunshine) was his perfect match. A little insecure at times, which frustrated me...I just wanted her to dig her heels in...she was also strong and believed in love (and Lex,) even when she didn't want to.

Again, the secondary characters were wonderful! Conner and Mrs. Ryan were great! Kiki and TJ were hysterical once again. The ups and downs were written so well that you didn't even mind the emotional roller coaster that you're riding. I can't wait to read what she writes next!

I absolutely adore this series!

If you've read Coffee Girl, this is a continuation and the story of Sarah, the makeup artist. She has had a crush on band member Lex since the day she met him two years ago. But every night she watches Lex leave with another random girl and it seems her dreams just keep being shattered.

But Lex begins to open up to Sarah when the band has a 10 day tour around the UK, which happens to take them to his parent's house in Ireland for three days. Lex and Sarah seem to be opening up to each other (after-all, Lex is the king of Mr. Non Commitment), but then Lex's past storms in and just might ruin their HEA chances.

This book was really good - I just want to be friends with all of them. TJ makes me laugh out loud with all his crazy antics. Book 3 is coming out in August and will be about KiKi's brother, Cam. I know I will be first in line to read it.

I was provided this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions stated above are mine without biases.

A fun story with a meet cute beginning. The main characters were interesting, the supporting characters were delightful. The pace was good, it dragged a bit in the middle, and I felt that there was unnecessary drama thrown in towards the end.

Sarah is the touring makeup artist for a hot country band, pining after lead guitarist, Lex Ryan. Lex doesn't do relationships but Sarah might just be relationship material.

The first 3/4 of this book was stacking up to be a 5 star romance but at that point it started hitting all the cliche check-marks that I just don't care for. Conflict is over without any real resolution, gets married, has twins. The biggest problem I had with this book was the bullying by some of the 'good' characters. The Lex's mom/Alana steak incident. The Kiki/Alana hair assault. The verbal bullying of Sandy and his friends. Yes, they weren't the greatest people but at a certain point I was no longer rooting for Sarah and her friends.

E-book provided by NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

I really loved both of this artist's books and look forward to reading more from her. I didn't want to put them down.

What a great follow up to Coffee Girl. We met sexy Lexy and Sunshine Sarah in Kiki and Tate’s story and I immediately fell in love with Sarah. You want her as your best friend. She’s filled with love, humor and so much more! I was so excited for her and Lex’s story. This one didn’t disappoint!

I love the good sunshine filled girl falling for the bad womanizer guy. Sophie wrote the story beautifully, full of fun characters, sexy & sweet scenes and just all around perfect! The music references were perfect for the scenes they were in. Can we also mention Lex’s Irish accent?!? YES PLEASE 🔥🔥🔥

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
3/3 🔥🔥🔥

Oh man, what a roller coaster this was. I laughed out loud at times and even cried a little bit. I loved this story so much.

The friendship between Sarah, Kiki, and TJ is hilarious and so entertaining. I really loved getting more back story on Lex and the added Irish phrases were awesome! It definitely added an authentic part to his character.

This book was exactly what I needed and didn’t disappoint. I am so excited for the next book coming that tells more about TJ and Cameron.

The Makeup Artist is the second book in the Coffee series by Sophie Sinclar. It can be read as a stand alone, but returning readers will be glad to see characters that they know and will have a better understanding of the characters going in.

Sarah Bowen’s life is nothing like she thought it’d be ten years ago. She runs a successful lifestyle boutique with her two best friends, she’s the makeup artist to one of country’s hottest bands, and she’s in love with a womanizing heartthrob who doesn’t give her the time of day. After years of pining after Lex Ryan, she decides it’s finally her turn, even if it might ruin everything she’s worked for. Lex Ryan is the sexy Irish lead guitarist for the hottest country band in the States. He’s known as a serial dater, a commitment-phobe, a player who prefers one-night stands. His wild heart has zero plans of settling down—not even with the band’s makeup artist, Sarah Bowen. He’s vowed to keep his heart from falling for her. Until the band travels to Ireland where his past suddenly crashes into his present. They say wild hearts can’t be tamed. They never said they can’t be broken.

The Makeup Artist is a well written romance, and a perfect follow up to Coffee Girl. Sarah is such an honestly nice character, with more strength than anyone gives her credit for. I enjoyed getting to know her, and her history, as she finds her footing with Lex. I do think that new comers to the series will see less depth in the relationship between Sarah and Lex than returning readers who have seen the time they have spent on tour together and some of their interactions. I thought that the obstacles that both Lex and Sarah have dealt with in the past, and their fears about the future are well done, and come together with their new conflict well. I like that respect for each other and their feelings runs so strong trough this series. Even when they do something based on fear, or simply foolish, concern for each other is part of the process. There are a few laughs, a few moments when I shook my head and mourned the choices being made, but I was fully engaged and invested in the journey.

The Makeup Artist is another romance with a good balance of sweet, heat, and feels.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I have to say that this was more a case of 'It's not you, it's me.' I prefer stories with not too much drama. This one had tears, reckless behaviour and annoying characters who wouldn't leave.
Having said that, if the two main characters had been stronger within themselves then it may have turned out differently.
It was pretty fast paced and it was fun to be with the side characters within this world again. I wish I could give it more than 3 stars.

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would considering this is a series and I didn't know it. Looks like I will have the pleasure of re-reading this after reading Coffee Girl. It is nice to know from other review that Lex, Kiki and Tatum and mention of Lex's twin continue from book one to this one. Sarah is the makeup artist for a super popular country group and has had feelings for Lex, the brooding, closed off Irish lead guitarist. He has secret feelings for her too, I just loved their story even though it was a slow burn but it was satisfying as hell by the end. Yes, numerous people and other feelings block these two from being together and honesty with each other. Does it work out? Or do they part ways?

Cannot wait for book three after I read Coffee Girl and then re-read this. Sophie Sinclair has characters that are fun but complex and a great writing style. Highly recommended for a rom-com series!

Thanks to Netgalley, Sophie Sinclair and Books GO Social for a copy even though this has already been published. I appreciate and look forward to other books and authors from this publisher, would be nice to be auto-approved.

Available: 5/1/20

First, fair warning: I'm not a big fan of the standard romance book formula. That said, I think my criticisms of "The Makeup Artist" are justified.

The book follows a fairly cliched plot: Woman in orbit of a rockstar falls in love with him, Something Bad happens, then comes reunion. That fairly standard plot, however, is something one might expect in the romance genre (and others, to be fair), so I can't say the book wasn't trying to stay in its lane. This is the kind of book read for mental comfort and enjoyment, vs. challenging artistic statements.

That said, the characters just irritated me. First, the title character, Sarah, is allegedly a makeup artist. She isn't. While she mentions graduating cosmetology school in the beginning of the book, the only makeup skills she uses in the book are covering a hickey and doing eyeliner on a friend. She's hired to do the hair/makeup of men in a country band while they are on tour; her job would then be referred to as a groomer (doing men's hair/makeup), not a makeup artist, but the book doesn't say that. In addition, setting aside the fact that million dollar tours do not hire randoms off the street to do highly personal, highly important work for a band's image/"look," we have zero sense at all of Sarah's job actually being an important factor in the book. It's otherwise just a plot vehicle to keep her in close contact with the band. Given that this is explicitly the title of the book, Sarah's job as a makeup artist (in reality, a groomer) should be more than a forgettable detail.

In addition to the absence of the title as anything relevant in the text, the book is set back by very obvious stereotypes straight from central casting of 1980s TV shows. We have the Boring Guy (who, because he is boring, apparently deserves to be insulted regularly, and naturally he ultimately does something rude to justify him being Bad.) We have the Evil Skanky Ex. (Naturally, she's a cheating liar and there's no discussion at all of how deeply the male lead actually fell in love with a Scooby Doo villain. Strike that--Scooby Doo villains are less obvious.) We have the Bitchy Snobs. We also have the Gay Friend. (Fortunately, that character is not a complete stereotype, but the text flirts with that.)

The book also features ridiculously overblown reactions (a character crashes to the floor in tears, devastated, at one point), and has one of the most strangely specific and out of place conversations I've seen in a text: Our hero and heroine sing "True Colors" together. One character enthusiastically gushes, “You guys sounded like Justin and Anna in "Trolls." It was awesome!” and it is revealed that our hero loves the movie "Trolls."

My mind screeched to a halt at this point. First, the only people who associate "True Colors" with the "Trolls" movie are people who lack the age or basic musical knowledge to know about Cyndi Lauper. The "Trolls" movie, while very popular amongst the munchkin set, is insufficiently popular that a random adult would instantly call out the use of a song in the movie. This is not "Frozen," where it is reasonable that someone would yell out, "Elsa!" after a person performed, "Let It Go" (a song which actually did become famous because of its use in that film, as opposed to the case with "True Colors.")

Second, if we set aside the absurdity of grown, childless adults instantly associating "True Colors" with the homage in "Trolls," we have the whammy of "Trolls" being a movie much-loved (or at least liked) by the lead character. This is revealed by teasing from a side character, but we know it isn't an entire joke because the male lead actually refers to a character from the film by name. Again, a reality pause:

This is the "Trolls" movie, a franchise that is very much aimed at and beloved by small children. (Dreamworks Animation, I've just read, actually submitted themselves for an award for a social marketing campaign aimed at children and young teenagers.)

At the same time:
*Nobody in the adult characters in the book is in proximity to children regularly, which would give some rationale as to how this character came upon, and liked, the film.
*Our male lead is never shown to have any tastes that might make him interested in the film (maybe being a movie fan, a general animation film, etc.)
*He's not shown even really watching TV at all, that I can tell, in a way that might explain how he'd stumble upon and watch (let alone like) "Trolls."

I realize I have spent way too long analyzing the appearance of rainbow-haired animated characters in this book. That said, in short, of all the ridiculous things that happen in this fluffy little romcom, this moment in the text is probably the worst offender, as it's clearly some kind of in-joke for the author imposed upon the text.

The good: The book does have some genuinely funny moments.

"The Makeup Artist" was provided to me by Netgalley as a free ARC. If you want a book where you really don't want to think, if you like the romance genre, if cliches and stereotypes are okay for you so long as the plot is simple, this is a book for you. If cliches, stereotypes, and inexplicable writer decisions irritate you, move on.