This book is hilarious, complex, very wholesome, rounded, and steamy! The two heroines reuniting after hooking up as previous roommates was a specific trope I did not know I was interested in, yet alas, I am! Margot and Olivia's chemistry is palpable and I was fully invested in their HEA with one another. Alexandria Bellefleur has cemented herself as an auto-buy author as her books seem to be getting better and better!

Entertaining read with engaging characters. Margot Cooper, turned off of relationships, sticks with casual hook-ups, and the last thing she needs is a person from her past. Olivia Grant, divorced, maybe kinda looking for a relationship if the right person comes along. Olivia is a wedding planner and when she walks into the venue to meet with her latest clients, the last person she expects to see is Margot. As the read unfolds, it is interesting to watch the interaction among not only Olivia and Margot but the friend group. While reading, I thought about how group dynamics change or can change when individuals partner up/get married. Change is inevitable.

here’s the deal— sometimes things just don’t go to plan

for instance, my ✨plan✨ was to do a very fun lil themed #BookLewk for Count Your Lucky Stars bc it rocked my fuckin socks off🙌🏼 Unfortunately i didn’t think about how smiling would ruin the lines of said eye look, making some very cute stars morph into an odd, comic book-esque “Bang" 🤦🏼‍♀️ check out my IG for pics lol

likewise, Olivia Grant didn’t ✨plan✨on running into her childhood best friend/first love/the-one-that-got-away while touring a wedding venue with clients👀 She also didn’t plan on 1) her apartment flooding or 2) Margot offering her spare room. But y’know, best laid plans & all🙃 After 11 years and so many words left unsaid, Margot & Olivia are back in each other’s orbit, and to quote a great thinker of our time, “it’s all coming back, it’s all coming back to [them] now”

I utterly adored this book!! its angsty, horny, generously sprinkled with fabulous tropes, and FULL of queer yearning🥰 Margot has been one of my faves since WITS so I was really looking forward to her book, and this one is probably my favorite of the series. The tension between her and Olivia was just 👩🏼‍🍳😘👌🏻 chefs kiss!!! and I loved that we got to see the previous couples so much, it really made it feel like the perfect ending to the series💖

some things to look forward to when u read CYLS:
🤍a sarcastic grump who’s allergic to feelings
🤍the sunshine who cajoles smiles out of said grump
🤍PRIME dirty talk + also sexting
🤍”oh my god, they were roommates
🤍long-term pining🌲
🤍a cat!!
🤍second chance

moral of my story (and also this book??) sometimes the stars in ur eyes turn into red-hot bangs, and thats perfectly fine😂 many thanks to Avon and Netgalley for the digital ARC

Maybe it's because I'm also an Aries, but I love Margot. I'm so glad she finally got her chance at romance.

Count Your Lucky Stars is a childhood best friends to lovers to estranged to forced proximity back to lovers. A lot, I know, and definitely rife with miscommunication. But I couldn't get enough of Margot and Olivia. While this was definitely a swoony romance, there were some very real conversations and themes addressed. From Margot's fears of commitment and abandonment to Olivia's people-pleasing tendencies, it felt like the miscommunication here wasn't just for the sake of the "mandatory" third-act breakup, it felt real. And while they definitely could've used more time for growth, the foundation of this story is one I think will resonate with many readers.

Just what I needed — Alexandria Bellefleur always delivers, and this might be her sexiest book yet? I really loved both characters her, and related to both of them, which is unusual for me. I love that Bellefleur still gives us lot from her other characters we’ve come to know and love, instead of just glimpses. And I thought it was really smart of her to tackle Margo’s feelings of being left out once everyone else pairs up. The conflict is a little miscommunicationy, but Bellefleur gives a not to that, which I appreciated!

I loved Margot in this book. She became so much more likeable. Olivia is a great addition to this group as well. This was such a cute story with quite a few "spicy" scenes. I enjoyed it!

4/5 Stars

** I received this as an E-ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review, Thank you!**

I adored this book. I've come to love Alexandria Bellefleur as an author. I've enjoyed every book that I've read from them. The Romance is always well writen and full of chemistry. I loved that we essentially had a second change romance going on here. The tension between Olivia and Margot was fantastic. I would highly recommend giving this a read.

Second Chance Romance At It’s Best!

Margot and Olivia were best friends from childhood through high school but a memorable Spring Break combined with some lack of communication led to a ten year separation for these two. Now Olivia is planning the wedding of one of Margot’s best friends and also kind of needs a place to stay.

Margot is such a relatable character that you can’t help but feel her excitement, anxiety/fear, pain, and hope. She comes off as the ultimate grump but she’s also so caring and giving and she deserves an HEA as wonderful as she is…enter Olivia!

I loved watching these two fight their attraction and past and then finally realize they were meant for each other. They see each other so clearly that, while it hurts, then are able to help each other recognize their greatest flaws and fight to overcome them.

Just like with Written in the Stars and Hang the Moon, Count Your Lucky Stars has the perfect amount of chemistry, dirty talk, or text as the case may be, and intimacy while also bringing the funny…I mean Cat and the toy and Margot telling the story to Darcy, Elle, and Annie is just as amazing as Margot and Olivia’s texts to one another.

I can’t wait for whatever Alexandria Bellefleur has in store for us next!

Having loved the first two books from Bellefleur, I was over the moon (see what I did there) excited for Margot's story and Bellefleur did not disappoint. Margot and Olivia are childhood best friends who had a fling once years ago but their timing (and communication) did not work out, now, they have a second chance to find love.

I love Bellefleur's writing and her characters and Count Your Lucky Stars was no different. I loved getting glimpses of Darcy and Elle and Brendon and Annie and finding out what they are each up to now and Bellefleur truly masters the steamy scene like no other - this one is full open door, so if that is not your thing, here's your warning (clearly, if you've read my reviews or followed me, it's my thing...

If you haven't read any of her books, you can read any of them stand-alone, but they are all so awesome, I highly recommend reading them all!

Thank you so much to Avon and Netgalley for providing an e-arc! All thoughts and opinions are still my own.

This was such an amazing addition to this series! I've loved Margot since book 1 and I'm so glad we got to see her get her HEA. This romance was swoony and fun and so dang steamy. I loved the chemistry between the characters all while getting to spend more time with the characters we already love.

While this could be read on its own, there are a lot of references to the previous books and you spend a lot of time with those characters. So I'd highly recommend reading the previous 2 before going into this one as you'll miss a lot of references and back story.

My one hangup with this story was the amount of miscommunication. It got to be a little frustrating at times. There were many moments where I wanted to shake these 2 for not just speaking to each other about things.

But overall I loved their romance and I'm so glad Alexandria Belleflueur is gracing us with spicy WLW romances. Y'all - Margot is a dirty talker. You've been warned 🖤🖤

Nothing makes my heart sing more than a second chance romance so I couldn’t resist requesting Alexandria Bellefleur’s latest novel, Count Your Lucky Stars, as soon as I saw that it’s a contemporary romance about two former best friends who might be the key to each other’s second chance at love. I’m so glad I did too! To sum it up in 3 words, this book was sweet, swoony, and steamy!

Margot Cooper has sworn off relationships. Casual hookups are great, but no thanks to anything that involves love and a commitment. Margot has been fine with that for a while, but now that everyone in her friend group seems to have found their special someone, she feels more and more like she’s on the outside looking in. Those feelings intensify as the wedding plans for her friends Brendan and Annie are in full swing and love and romance are in the air 24/7.

When Margot comes face to face with Brendan’s wedding planner, however, her world gets turned upside down. The wedding planner is none other than Olivia Grant, Margot’s childhood best friend and first love. They haven’t seen each other in a decade, but the moment their eyes meet, it’s clear the feelings and the chemistry are still there. The only question is whether Margot will be brave enough to give love another chance.

I really loved watching Margot and Olivia rediscover each other. They’ve been out of touch for so long, and Olivia is recently divorced so, like Margot, she’s feeling vulnerable when it comes to love. The progression of their relationship felt very natural as we learn about their history together and watch them get reacquainted. I especially loved the change in Margot, who we meet in the earlier books in the series. She typically comes across as snarky, blunt, and downright hilarious so it was fun to finally see her softer side come out with Olivia.

While Count Your Lucky Stars could probably be read as a standalone, I highly recommend reading the first two books in the series before diving into this latest installment as those books introduce everyone in Margot’s friend group and how each of them ended up with their special someone. Reading the books in order had me completely invested in every character in the friend group, which made Count Your Lucky Stars all the more special for me. The writing is wonderful, the characters are lovable and their romances are all so moving. I flew through all three books in less than a week. I don’t know if there will be more books in the Written in the Stars series, but if not, I think Count Your Lucky Stars is a very satisfying conclusion.

I’ve so enjoyed Alexandria Belleflleur’s Written in the Stars trilogy. Getting to know this Seattle friend group has been a delight.

If you’ve read any of these, you know that BFFs Elle and Margot run an astrological Twitter account.

Do you pay any attention to your zodiac sign? Do you feel like the traits fit you?

I’m a Virgo and mostly here for the memes. They’re not…totally wrong. 😂😂😂

Bellefleur brings readers another queer #OwnVoices rom-com with Count Your Lucky Stars.

Margot is the last uncoupled one in her friend group, and she’s fine with that…really. Casual is her MO until her first love and childhood best friend Olivia comes crashing back into her life as her friends’ wedding planner.

Will they recapture their friendship? More?

Many thanks to the author, narrator, and publisher for sharing this book with me. Thoughts are my own.

if you know me at all you prooooobably know i was NOT a fan of written in the stars, the first book in this installment. now: this book was definitely more enjoyable for me—i’m not sure if this is because my millennial tolerance has grown or because this book is generally less intolerable than written in the stars was. that said… this is still sitting at a strong 3 stars for me.

i love a good best friends to strangers to lovers, so i was definitely predisposed to loving this. while i loved that aspect, as well as the general characterizations of the two main characters, i did think that the characters didn’t have enough chemistry. their relationship made sense to me, but i didn’t feel the electricity of their relationship which was a bummer.

i also think the author generally isn’t the best at prose. it reads basic at best, annoying at worst. lots of over explaining things that were self explanatory.

that said i still had a good time reading this. it’s a 3 star but a very strong 3 star! fun little beach read but doesn’t ~especially~ stand out. it was also disappointing that this is the third installment in this trilogy and still no racial diversity, which is unfortunately still pretty common in the romance genre 😐

Review posted on GoodReads (February 6, 2022)
Review linked.

4/5 stars!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Avon for sending me an E-ARC of this book for an honest review!

This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022, and it did not disappoint. I loved the first two books in this series, and I loved Margot’s character, so I was super excited to read this book.

I liked this book! I loved both Margot and Olivia’s characters and I loved seeing them reunite and fall in love all over again. I think that the pacing in this book was really good and fast and fun. I loved seeing all of the other couples from the last two books thrive and be in love and overall, this book was an enjoyable read.

I will say that this is not a five star read just because the two main characters did annoy me a bit at times. One of my biggest pet peeves in life is when people won’t be honest/won’t communicate, and that is something that Margot is really struggling with in this book. I thought it was really realistic, but at the same time, I did feel like sometimes she was really mean to her friends and was being a bad friend and then complaining about them a lot? I didn’t really feel like this was resolved at all so that is an issue I did have. I feel like there was more time spent on working through Olivia’s stuff and drama more than Margot's and I just felt like the book needed a bit more space—maybe even 100 more pages.

Outside of that, I did love this book a lot. I really cannot wait to read more from Alexandria Bellefleur!

Thanks for reading!
Caden

Thanks to the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Another really good book in Bellefleur's series, although probably my least favorite of the trio. Second-chance romance can be a tricky trope to pull off, with all of the history that has to be included and meaningfully conveyed. I thought the author did a great job with that; as soon as Margot and Olivia are reunited you could feel the tension and pining between the pair.

I think what really took this one down a notch for me was how much centered on their refusal to talk to each other. The conflict from the past boiled down to them not talking about their feelings, and in the present, they both seemed keen to repeat those mistakes. While obviously communication issues happen in real-life relationships all the time, this felt a bit ridiculous and just got really frustrating by the end.

Even so, I'm really looking forward to reading what Bellefleur writes next!

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦:
Holy steam! Honestly, I don't have much to compare it with, because I don't read a lot of romance, but in my opinion, this book was very steamy! I loved the "grump and sunshine" due type and it's definitely making want to read more of them. I loved Margot's character and how she struggled with her feelings about Olivia.

I've already added the first 2 books to my TBR because win dying to learn more about the other characters in this book!


𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦:
Honestly, there wasn't a lot that didn't work for me. The storyline was a bit predictable, but I feel that's to be expected with romance novels.

I've been reading and loving this author's work for some time now and absolutely loved this last book in the series💗. This is a second chance friends to lovers FF romance. Margot and Olivia were BFFs who took a leap at love but things didn't pan out. Years later they're in each other's orbit again thanks to fate, yea, sticking with that😍.
I love the easy notching of this rom-com. There were a few little hiccups along the way as the two lovers try to find their normal, but nothing lingered and I was more than happy to see Margot get her happy ending. After all, I've been following her since Written in the Stars 😂😂. I also loved seeing how all the previous characters were doing and knowing their own happy endings were only just their beginning. This book was a super light read, little to no angste and with some funny as hell moments. Cat and sex toy, are you curious???!!

This was a very cute and quick romance read. I am so happy to see more queer romance getting published, and it's a refreshing surprise not to see the usual "uptight lesbian and bisexual disaster end up together" trope. Instead, we have one pansexual character and one whose sexuality is never strictly defined but who reads as bi, and neither character is a textbook trope (a marked improvement from Written In the Stars, in my opinion!). It was great to see the returning characters from the previous two books and the dialogue remained snappy and fun. The only reason I am not giving this book five stars is the fact that it leaned heavily on the tired plot device wherein two seemingly reasonable adult humans won't communicate with each other and instead allow a simple misunderstanding to fester and nearly ruin their relationship.

“I’m a whole person. And the idea of needing to find someone to make you complete seems like bull**** to me. The right person shouldn’t complete you, they should love you the way you are. And it’s cool if they make you want to be better, but they should never make you feel like you’re too much or not enough exactly as you are.”

When I tell you that I devoured this book I mean I sat curled up on the couch and didn’t move until I read the last page. I was so engrossed that nothing could keep me away, honestly a stampeded of animals could’ve been coming my way and still I wouldn’t have put this book down for anything. There are a few authors that make me stop at nothing and finish a book in one sitting, and now I can add Alexandria Bellefleur to that list.

I loved this book, I wholeheartedly loved this book. I wish you could see the smile on my face as I typed that. I fell completely in love with these characters and this story and it just made me so utterly happy. I wish it had never ended, I wanted to stay immersed in this setting forever.

Margot and Olivia stole my heart. These two made me extremely giddy. I loved Margot’s say it like it is and her give no s*** attitude, she may come off a little in your face with a hard-shell, but quite honestly she’s a softie at heart. Olivia was sunshine and brought all the warm vibes. She’s so kind and selfless with a caring heart. Both brought different things to the table with their personalities, but the constant remained of the care and love they had for one another. And can I just say the sexual tension between Margot and Olivia, *bites fist* dear lord I was on pins and needles just waiting until they gave in because it was obviously apparent that it was bound to happen. Ahhhh I just loved them.

If there’s one pet peeve I have in books is lack of communication. And yes, if Margot and Olivia would’ve talked and hashed everything out they wouldn’t have unresolved issues and their friendship wouldn’t have ended the way it did. Buuuuuuut in this case I found that it was necessary. Did I like it? Heck no, it saddened me just thinking about the years they missed out on but in order for them to grow and realize what they were missing, it was worth it in the end.

Count Your Lucky Stars was a childhood friends to lovers and second chance romance that had me over-the-moon and made my heart happy. This friend group was just *chef’s kiss* and every single one of them were amazing. Reading this book felt like I was wrapped in the warmest of hugs and I don’t even like hugs, but I’ll definitely take this one. I’m sad this series is over but because I’m one to read a series out of order I’m happy I can go back and read the other two books. Also, I’m extremely happy I found a new author to obsess over.

4.25 Stars. This was a very fun romance. I was a huge fan of book one, Written in the Stars. In fact, it was one of the best romances I read in 2020. I was really excited that it ended up being a series and while I skipped book two (I was not a Brendon fan) I could not wait to read Margot’s story. While Margot is not an ice queen, she is definitely prickly on the outside, but sweet on the inside, which is a character trait I love in romance. In the end, I did not enjoy this as much as Written in the Stars, but that was a tall ask anyway. This was still a very good rom-com that I expect a ton of people will enjoy.

This book had a little going against it, for my tastes, since it was a second-chance romantic comedy. Two out of those three types I can have some issues with so this book had to work a little harder to win me over. Firstly, second-chance romances are not a favorite of mine since they normally have lots of flashbacks, and we miss seeing and really experiencing the two characters falling in love for the first time. I have to give Bellefleur big points for not putting in any flashbacks (yay!) I did think the romance moved at a quicker pace than I would have liked, since they were already infatuated with each other, but it didn’t bother me as much as it could have since the chemistry was so well written.

Secondly, comedy is the other type that I can struggle with but I think that again, Bellefleur really did an excellent job here. There were some very funny and sweet moments that put a big smile on my face. In fact, there were even a few laugh-out-loud moments that were really fun. I don’t want to spoiler anything so I will just say that the ‘cat moment’ absolutely got me. If more authors could write rom-coms, like Bellefleur, I would no longer have problems with comedy in books.

While Bellefleur impressed me a lot, there were a few things I was not crazy about. Once again, the ending was too rushed. Bellefleur also did this in book one so I was bummed to see it happen again. Luckily, the epilogue that I desperately wanted, at the end of Written in the Stars, finally happened here, but unfortunately while it was cute, it was not enough to save the rushed ending. All in all the ending is fine, but with two great couples of Ella-Darcy and Margot-Olivia, the ending could have been amazing.

Quite a few other reviewers mentioned the other issue I had, so I won’t go into it much. There was hardly any communication, which being a bit annoying, and then the one fight moment just felt really odd to me. It seemed like a fight about nothing, but was it really a fight even? The whole thing just didn’t match the rest of a really great book so it was a head scratcher.

My final small issue, and it makes me feel like a bit of a prude, but I wasn’t crazy about the sex scenes. There was a ton of “dirty” talk going on and it started to distract me from the scenes. I didn’t count the amount of time the word “wet” was used but I started to think that maybe Margot needed a rain slicker.

TLDR: This was a well written rom-com that I expect people to really enjoy. It was hard for me, comparing it to a book I just love, Written in the Stars, but it was impossible not to. This wasn’t quite on that level but Bellefleur is an excellent author who proved that again with this final installment. Yes, this had a few bumps, the worst being too much miscommunication and a rushed ending, yet it didn’t ruin my enjoyment. Bellefleur, was able to make me actually laugh, which many comedy authors fail to do. And while I wanted a longer ending, I was happy to finally see Darcy and Elle’s HEA. I think Bellefleur has really found her calling with sapphic romance so I hope we get to read many more of hers to come.