I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis held so much promise, but the book failed to deliver as much as I hoped for from it. I enjoyed it well enough, but with a few tweaks it could have been an even more enjoyable read.

Thank you netgalley for the arc in exchange for a review.
This book was definitely a bit of me. Who doesn’t like some romance?
A bit short at only 200 pages or so but easy to read and follow. The first in a series of books to come,
I would read more about the others in the ladies group in future.
It ended a bit strangely and quickly for me I feel like it could have gone longer or further but I enjoyed the book non the less.

Time for a new author! Although Grace Parks has already written over ten books, I hadn’t read any of them. But the blurb caught my eye, so I decided to request it.

Willow is a fun and cute read. Willow, somewhat quirky, but an absolute marketing and social media guru, doesn’t have a great social life. As a workaholic, she doesn’t have a lot of friends.

So, she decides to start The Pepper Lane club, a monthly meeting with five of her friends (meaning: her sister and four co-workers) at the Pepper Lane cafe. The owner of the cafe: Thomas Greer, is totally frustrating, however. He is a technofobe, with an adversity to social media and marketing.

Willow is convinced she can help Thomas to expand his business, but Thomas is not convinced. Can one bubbly marketeer win over this cafe-owner?

Cute, funny and totally loveable. Four out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley.

I need my MCs to have redeeming characteristics for me to believe in their romance and Willow didn't have any for me. And the romance felt forced.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book received from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I hoped for some cheesy cute rom-com type of book. But i ended up feeling that the characters were trying too hard, trying too hard to be funny, interesting wich ended up just being cringy and annoying. Hard Pass.

Willow by Grace Parks was a surprising read. I loved all the sass and sarcasm. That’s me to a T!! The flirty bantering between Willow and Thomas was enjoyable! I’m looking forward to more from this author. Can’t wait for the next Pepper Lane Club book.

Really enjoyed this heartwarming, fun and highly entertaining journey that is the start of a series about Six women that I look forward to reading about each adventure. An emotionally thrilling roller coaster adventure from beginning to end filled with lots of witty banter and heart racing twists.

Title: Willow
Author: Grace Parks
Pages: 139

Sunshine/Grumpy tope. Willow Lawson has the sunshine, but needs to find her spark. As such she starts the Pepper Lane Club, which meets at the Pepper Lane Café.
Thomas Greer is the grumpy owner of the Pepper Lane Café.
The first book in a six book (spin off) series.

I love - love. This book reminded me why my favourite genre is Romance and why it will continue to be my favourite genre for the foreseeable future. There is almost no stress involved, because you know that there will be a Happily Ever After, while taking you on a journey to get there, So the angst of slow burn is never as intense and the pain of the 70% conflict never that much - all because you know they will work through all of that.

Further I adore spin off series and this series has me hooked; on the main characters, but also on the side characters and their love stories. I cannot wait to get my hands on the 5 other books in this series and get the other 5 girl's love stories.

Willow is "quirky" and bubbly without it feeling too forced or over the top. This makes her a very enjoyable character to read about and to follow in the story.
Thomas, while grumpy, never truly moves over into the territory of being Willow's bully. I

The chemistry between the two had me fanning myself. This is a definite reread for me and I will not be afraid to recommend this to any Romance lover.

This was the first in a series of books about a group of women who form a supper club. They range in age from the 20s-40s. Most are single but at least one is married. This book is about Willow, a social media maven, who works in advertising. Though not a lot happens, it is a quick, pleasant and easy read. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Willow is an amazing romantic and a fun start to a brand new series. I really liked following Willow and her friends around on their adventures. It's easy to read and very relaxing. Will definitely read the next book in the series

I don't know why it took me so long to read this, it was adorable.

To fully appreciate this, you have to have the patience for the love story to unfold and be satisfied with a cheeky chick lit. In its genre it's really a lovely book, easy to read, sprinkled with cute moments. It also takes the time to introduce the other characters in the series, so you start getting invested :)

Both main characters are very nice and the drama is very low. It's just that kind of book that leaves you with a good feeling.

I received a copy of this in order to offer my honest opinion.

The plot of the book was such a great page turner. The plot of the book was very well written. I truly cannot wait to read another wonderful book from this author.

This was such a delightful story about romance, friendships, and bonds. It was a light read and made a wonderful afternoon escape.
Many thanks to Author Collective 20 and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is the first book of The Pepper Lane Club series and also my first time reading something by Ms. Parks. It was a very entertaining and delightful contemporary read. Willow is a social media expert, but despite her outgoing personality, she's not very social herself and has a small circle of friends. She decides to start a dinner club with her sister and friends and they meet at the Pepper Lane Cafe. The cafe is not on social media and Willow wants to bring the owner, Thomas, on as a client. The two butt heads because she is trying to convince him to give the cafe an online presence, but Thomas hates internet and technology. It was fun to see the willful and witty banter between the two. I also enjoyed the friendships displayed among the members of the club. I'm looking forward to reading their stories in the coming books.
This was a delightful, fun, lighthearted story and I had a great time reading it. Can't wait to read the next book!

I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Overall rating 3.5 stars.

The start of a Contemporary fiction series focusing on a group of women. This is the first installment and follows Willow, who decides to institute a monthly girls night out dinner with her twin sister and a few other women.

Honestly at first I was annoyed with Willow’s character as she touts herself as a professional social media marketer - and yet she’s consistently late to meetings, which is unprofessional behavior. So yes, initially that was a hurdle for me. However, once I really thought about my feelings on that, I realized that I actually could appreciate that the author wrote the female MC as authentically human. We all have flaws & faults and oftentimes the characters in books are lacking that dimension.

The romance plot is mostly predictable and follows the standard “he’s not my type” line (instead of the “he’s perfect” line).

And while I enjoyed the story and may continue with the series in the future, I can’t give it a higher rating just because a good portion of the story was so highly predictable.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this one in exchange for my honest opinion.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Thank you to both Author Collective 20 and NetGalley for an e-book copy of this book! All contents in this review are my honest opinion/thoughts.

This book follows Willow, a proclaimed social media expert who decides to start a monthly club with her twin sister and a few other casual acquaintances to make new friends and bond over wonderful memories. At their decided club location, she discovers the owner Thomas is a complete technophobe and is desperate need of social media advertising. Will she be over to win him over?

I was drawn to this book because I wanted to venture into New Adult, and it was nice to read a book where the main character is around my own age! I did not relate to the main character at all, but I adored her twin sister Riley and I thought the love interest was entertaining. The characters definitely have potential, but I have no idea how Willow is so ‘successful’ when she is also a self proclaimed lazy slob and shows up to everything hours late…

Although I did really enjoy some of the characters, and I had a few laugh-out-loud or “aww!!” moments, this felt like more of a comedy than a romance. The logic is not very sound in most of the plots, such as immediately claiming a stray dog with a collar and the boss scene at the end.

I don’t think I will continue this series, but I am still glad I read this one! I would recommend to people who enjoy quick rom-coms!

Simple and straight-forward story line where you wouldn’t really need to expect a lot of twists. The plot explores romance, friendship, family, politics and betrayal.

A light, funny, and entertaining novel and a good start to a new series.

I wanted to like this book more, unfortunately it left me unfulfilled. This story provides the groundwork for the series, introducing Willow, her twin sister Riley and the other four ladies who will soon comprise
The Pepper Lane Club.
Willow was not an endearing character, instead I found her to be annoying and inconsiderate for the most part. Thomas must have seen something I did not. Perhaps if there had been more time, depth and growth depicted between Willow and Thomas. I would have liked the story more.
The next book will feature Riley, which I might give a chance in hopes of improvement.

The first in a new series of entertaining rom/coms. Grace Parks introduces us to THE PEPPER LANE CLUB. Six women, sisters and friends, will meet one evening a month to connect and share their lives. First we meet Willow, a young woman who makes her living by building web sites for companies, and shes very good at it. When she offers help to a restrauant owner, and is refused, she takes it as a challenge. Of course, this is where the rom/com comes in.
This was a very entertaining, quick read for me. The characters were fun, easily believable as a group of friends with enough history to joke with each others lives while still supporting them. Id like to have a group of friends just like them. Each of the five remaining friends will have their own story and Im looking forward to reading them.