Lauren Kate does a fantastic job of sucking you in to a story. I didn’t want the tale of Noah and Lanie to stop. The character development was on point, as was the pacing. Even though some parts were a bit predictable (as in all romance books), it didn’t detract from the story. A well done effort from Lauren Kate.

By Any Other Name by Lauren Kate is a contemporary romance. With a successful career as a romance editor, and an engagement to a man who checks off all ninety-nine boxes on her carefully curated list, Lanie's more than good. She's killing it. Then she’s given the opportunity of a lifetime: to work with world-renowned author and her biggest inspiration in love and life—the Noa Callaway. All Lanie has to do is cure Noa's writer's block and she'll get the promotion she's always dreamed of. Simple, right? But there's a reason no one has ever seen or spoken to the mysterious Noa Calloway. And that reason will rock Lanie’s world. It will call into question everything she thought she knew. When she finally tosses her ninety-nine expectations to the wind, Lanie may just discover that love By Any Other Name can still be as sweet.

By Any Other Name has a fun premise, and I liked a great deal of the set up and Lainie's character. I liked that she had a full background and significant character growth through out the story, even if I thought many of her decisions and reactions were less than ideal. I thought some of the secondary characters had great moments, but could have used more fleshing out. I would have liked more from Noah as well, sometimes it felt like he was more of a prop or plot device in the story moving things along than a character. Many of the big reveals, conflicts, and important moments were more than a little predicable beyond the 'this is a romance things will come together' way. I greatly enjoyed some moments, and had some smiles and sentimental moments along the way. However, while the book is also a bit of a celebration of romance I felt it got a little too corny for me on occasion. I am all for the awww moment, but Lainie's inner dialogue felt a bit much, and while I understand a romance book editor to often think about and dwell on the subject of her work, she could have diversified a bit. I did enjoy the read, and I think many readers will enjoy it more than me, but I just never connected with the story and characters.

By Any Other Name is a solid contemporary romance, and I think fans of the author will enjoy it.

I love books that take place in the romance book world, so I grabbed By Any Other Name by Lauren Kate as soon as I saw it. I recommend you don’t read the blurb on this one, and I’m going to keep the review very short (for me) so as not to spoil the major plot point.

Lanie just got promoted to editor for her favorite big-time author, the author that has inspired her outlook on life and love. The author is, unfortunately, having writer’s block right when Lani takes over the account. She has dealt with Noa Callaway via email for years as an editorial assistant, but she has never met the reclusive author.

By Any Other Name isn’t just a love story. There is so much personal growth in Lanie as she realizes that her outlook on life is based on fantasy. It’s also a bit of a love letter to New York City as there are many locations visited to help inspire Noa Calloway.

The romance was very slow-burn with a bit of an enemies-to-lovers feel, complete with banter. There was no on-page sex, and the book felt more like a cross between women’s fiction and romance.

Likes:
•Takes place in Romancelandia.
•I LOVED the central theme of the story.
•I really liked all the characters, especially BD.
•Lots of character growth.
•Some nice banter.
•The book within a book…I WANT THAT BOOK!
•Discovering secret spots in NY.

Dislikes:
•The pacing seemed off. The beginning was a bit too slow, and then it wrapped up too fast.
•I wanted a little more intimacy and romance.
•There weren’t any stand-out moments or quotes.

The Down & Dirty:
If you love reading books that take place in publishing, especially romance publishing, By Any Other Name by Lauren Kate will be right up your alley. While it wasn’t an epic, memorable read, I did enjoy reading it as a nice, light, easy read.

Rating: 4 Stars

This story was so sweet, and I absolutely loved everything about it. I loved Lanie and Noah’s characters and even though you could see how their story ended a million miles away, I still felt like their slow burn romance, was magical and had all the fluffy love stuff that just warms your heart. 😍

So I’ve definitely been on a romance kick lately but this plot line was so absolutely unique it stood out to me as a favorite read so far this year. Lanie and Noah’s chemistry was so well written and I absolutely could not predict which way the plot would go. I loved falling head over heels in this book and felt that the author did an amazing job with Lanie’s character development throughout this plot. Lanie was such a relatable character to me because I, to, am a perfectionist striving to meet deadlines and goals in my everyday life. I really enjoyed the “rivalry” between these two and thought it was well written.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!
I'm so happy to get this book and I definitely can't put this book down. Please read it!
Rating : 4 out of 5

Blurbs :
What she doesn't know about love could fill a book. With a successful career as a romance editor, and an engagement to a man who checks off all ninety-nine boxes on her carefully curated list, Lanie's more than good. She's killing it. Then she’s given the opportunity of a lifetime: to work with world-renowned author and her biggest inspiration in love and life—the Noa Callaway. All Lanie has to do is cure Noa's writer's block and she'll get the promotion she's always dreamed of. Simple, right? But there's a reason no one has ever seen or spoken to the mysterious Noa Calloway. And that reason will rock Lanie’s world. It will call into question everything she thought she knew. When she finally tosses her ninety-nine expectations to the wind, Lanie may just discover that love By Any Other Name can still be as sweet.

If you haven’t heard of this book, I highly recommend adding it to your list. Haven’t seen much about it on bookstagram, but it was such a pleasant surprise.

This was such a cute story and I love reading about the publishing world. Definitely reminded me a bit of Beach Read with trying to cure writer’s block. The twist was good (and comes in the beginning so you’ll understand more of what it’s about once you get to it) and by the end I was so engrossed in the characters.

Don’t want to give too much away, but I really enjoyed this one and want to see more reviews of it!

This was such a fun read! The story was able to pull me in so much so that my sudden happy tears were a complete surprise! When I thought I had this book figured out, it would completely blow through my expectations and drag me along for the ride. Not sure if this checks the box for slow burn but I personally enjoy those more than ‘all action all the time’ plots. Also it was such an easy read to get into if you need to pull yourself out of a reading slump.

Thank you to Net Galley and GP Putnam for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a cute work by Lauren Kate. My first book by this author, I will definitely be picking up another one by her sometime in the future! It was a quick read for me, which is not a bad thing!

I loved this book! Once I started reading it, I finished it in less than a day! It’s a super quick read with a great storyline, and the characters actually keep you intrigued!

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and the publisher. This is my honest and personal review.

I loved this book! I was drawn to it first of all because I love reading books about books, and secondly because I also like romance stories. So I was excited to start reading this one. I couldn't put it down once I started reading it.

It was fun and entertaining. The book was totally predictable, but that made for a light and easy read, which was exactly what I needed. Laney's character is great, but my favorite is Alice, the tortoise! She's so cute!

It left me with happy, feel-good vibes after reading it.

This was an average romance that once I closed the book I completely forgot all about it. I had to re-read the synopsis to remember what the book was about. I remember feeling the romance aspect felt a little lackluster, although I did appreciate how the characters got to know one another vs. instantly falling in love. But overall it was just OK.

CAN I GET AN AMEN FOR A BOOKISH ROMANCE THAT CHECKED ALL MY BOXES?! Especially enemies to lovers that is actually enemies to lovers and not just toxic with spice.

The slow burn between Lanie and Noa is pure magic. This book about love and books doesn't have what I have found a lot of the contemporary romances I've been reading to be leaning on too heavily: smut. spice.

By Any Other Name is a delicious, delectable, slow burn that will leave you wanting more.

3.5 Stars

“Just because I can write love stories, doesn’t mean I can live them.”

Lanie Bloom’s life changed the day she discovered the romance novels of Noa Callaway. Lanie’s dreams went from becoming a doctor to becoming an editor. She even found the love of her life due to one of Noa’s earlier novels. The last decade of her life has been spent working towards the moment she would become Noa’s editor at Peony Press. And now that the moment is finally here, Lanie’s life is falling apart. Her picture-perfect engagement is starting to show its flaws and the author she has idolized since she was a teenager is definitely not the person she always imagined looking up to. But with the pressures of an author behind on their next deadline building, Lanie is about to discover a real-life plot twist that even the best-selling Noa Callaway couldn’t see coming.

By Any Other Name was just an all around cute story; even when Lanie’s life felt like it was falling apart, there were plenty of little things to enjoy about her story. My previous experience with reading Lauren Kate comes from her YA paranormal Fallen series, and a lot of the low-level flirting/no sex from her YA writing transfers over to her adult fiction.

This novel was described as enemies-to-lovers, but I think both the “enemies” and the “lovers” part is a bit of an exaggeration. At most, Lanie is shocked at the revelations thrown her way at the beginning of the story, but to say she is enemies with anyone invokes more anger than Lanie ever demonstrated on the page. And, as previously mentioned, there is no sex (either on page or off) so calling the story enemies-to-lovers is a bit of a stretch for me. It’s more strangers-to-coworkers-to-heading towards being lovers, if you want a more accurate description.

There was quite a bit to love about this sweet romance. As someone who loves books and the publishing world in general, I loved that this story featured an editor and her author and the stress of getting books on shelves in time, especially when those book sales can make or break a publishing house. Lanie’s story might be fictional, but it was still fun to see behind the scenes a bit when it comes to book publishing.

Lanie has a pretty big revelation fairly early on in the story; it does shape everything Lanie thought she knew and alters the course of her life. While it isn’t exactly hard to figure out what the big revelation is and why the mysterious Noa Callaway remains so mysterious, most of my favorite parts of this book can’t be discussed without giving away major plot spoilers. Without giving too much away, I can say that I ended up really enjoying Lanie’s love interest in this book. They were a bit opposites attract, at least at first, but I loved watching them grow closer with each interaction. It was all very low steam, so much so that I would even hesitate to firmly put this one in the romance genre. With so much emphasis on Lanie’s career and personal happiness, By Any Other Name is much more women’s lit that just happens to have a touch of romance.

I enjoyed Lanie’s story, and found it to be a pretty quick read. I didn’t personally think there was anything earth-shattering about Noa Callaway’s big revelation, but I thought Lanie’s journey, friendships, and hint of romance more than made up for any unpredictability.

I am actually really sad I didn’t enjoy this book because I really thought I would. There wasn’t very much enemies to lovers at all and I felt like I was always inside Lanie’s diary… I thought the characters were a bit bland and that their development and romance wasnt there

Whoa! What a ride. It was very fast-paced. The writing style kept me hooked and I didn't find myself losing any interest. I enjoyed getting to know each of the characters and how real the story felt. The author did a great job painting the setting, so it was easy for me to visualize the scene played out before me. I recommend giving this one a chance!

Torture... AKA a slow burn romance with none of the smexy reward.

That being said, By Any Other Name was a cute book that I enjoyed.

I loved the male romance author and how the MC was a little sexist about it at first, but she evolved. It was pretty refreshing to see the stereotypical thinking on the female MC's part. Either way, it was cute and anyone who doesn't mind the lack of steam should definitely give this a go.


Thank you, NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for my ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I absolutely loved this book. While I found a lot of it very predictable, I don't think that's a bad thing in this case. I loved seeing Lanie's development as she learns to let go of her youthful expectations of love and others and enjoyed feeling like I was behind the scenes of a book editing process (although I wish we got to see a little more of that). I did feel like it wrapped up very quickly without actually confronting the aftermath of the decisions made in the last few pages and wanted to see more of that.

This took me a little bit to get into. A quarter of the way in I wasn’t sure how I was feeling. The writing was ok but nothing was really keeping me interested. I powered through the next 25 percent and not gonna lie I started to like what was happening. I really loved Noah and Lanie. Honestly everything was kinda slow going for me but in the end it was all worth it. And the slow pace seemed perfect for the characters.

This book was such a delightful read! Perfect for the summertime! Based in the editing/publishing world, it's perfect for book lovers and writers alike. Highly recommend reading.