Call Me Maybe was adorable and wonderful and just flipping amazing, and then Cara Bastone goes and writes Sweet Talk, and I am just done for. Preface: the Love Lines series was written purposefully as audiobooks; however, I have real trouble listening to books because of my dyslexia, so I read the kindle versions instead. I imagine that listening to these books is even more perfect than reading them.

Sweet Talk follows Eliot Hoffman, brother to Vera from the first book. Eliot is the softest of soft boys; he's genuinely dreamy, cute, polite, charming and dorky; he is the opposite of Jessica, our other MC. Jessica is a badass, a hot biker chick with tattoos, piercings, and a boxer. Can she be any cooler? Um, yes, she's fiercely loyal, totally independent and a DIY-handyman-boss-babe. These two. *chef's kiss*.

The book starts with a classic case of mistaken identity, Eliot, meaning to text someone else, accidentally sends a message to Jess and thus begins their insomnia-driven-friendship. One of my favourite things about both Love Lines books is the phone calls. I adore them. It's such a unique and quirky way to write a book, and it's just perfect. I loved being a part of their conversations and seeing their friendship (and relationship) develop. Eliot doesn't know Jessica's identity until about 70% of the way through, but being the genuine guy he is, just makes the whole relationship that much cuter! I would 10/10 recommend both Call Me Maybe and Sweet Talk. You will not be disappointed.

I hate to use the word but this was very sweet. I really liked the concept and most of the plots it got a little bit hard to fathom towards the end , however.

This was an enjoyable, fast paced and sweet romcom/book.
The concept was one that I hadn't read before, which was nice.
I also liked that this was a light read and had many adorable moments.
If you're a hopeless romantic or a fan of the Hallmark-style movie romances, I've got a feeling that you will definitely enjoy this.
I'll definitely be going back and reading Call Me Maybe next.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book but could kind of predict where it was going. I still really enjoyed it though and liked that Elliott’s character got what he deserved.

Eliot cannot sleep and is looking for someone to talk to, and accidentally texts Jessie. He doesnt know who she is but she knows him, and given events she doesnt want him to ever know. The back and forth texts and eventually phone calls are great, so much character building and true friendship forms between the characters before anything actually happens. They are more than what they seem, and nothing about their relationship felt forced or rushed. A sweet book with real emotions.

Oh my god! I LOOOOVED this!!!! It was so cute! and Eliot was swoonworthy, oh my. It was original, sweet, and definitely something I would recommend to my friends!

Enjoyed it as an audiobook before and now as a textual novel. Adorable interplay between the two leads and the people in their lives. Snappy dialogue and a great heart.

📖Summary: Your crush hits you with a “you up” voice message by complete accident. So what do you do? You obviously text back. Now, you and your crush are hardcore flirting, only thing is: he has no idea who you are. Not a single clue. But you know EXACTLY who he is. And you have to keep it that way, because if he finds out who you are, who your brother is, you know that he will never speak to you again. So you develop this game between the two of you. He’ll try and guess who you are, while you do everything in your power to make sure he can’t figure it out. Can you build a relationship with someone who doesn’t even know your name?
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✨Rating & Review✨: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book got me y’all. I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. Even though it was made for Audible, I didn’t get to experience the narration. I actually read the book as an ARC through NetGalley (thanks!). So I’m sure it is a literal experience to hear about these characters and how they interact with each other. I’m a big fan of the mystery component of this romance novel. I wanna figure out who she is just like Elliot did. This novel is sweet and cute and shows that there is more than one way for a man to attract a woman. Really appreciated the different take on how an adult adapts their surroundings to help them with learning disabilities. Thank you @netgalley and @carabastone for giving me this opportunity to read and review this book. It was an absolute joy
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#books #bookrecommendation #blackgirlsreadbookstoo #blackgirlsread #bookstagram #blackbookstagram #yabookstagrammer #booksareagirlsbestfriend #queerreadersofinatagram #readersofinstagram #booklover #bookworm #booklover #bookcommunity #readmorebooks #avidreader #bibliophile #bookishgirl #bookreview #NetGalley #SweetTalk

This is the perfect example of a very unbelievable plot. But also a very good one. This was adorable in every way and I ate it up!

I recommend going into this without knowing too much about the plot. I loved every little turn!

Disclaimer: I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, but it doesn’t influence my opinion of the book nor the contents of this review in any way.

SWEET TALK was my first audiobook experience in awhile. It's the second book in the Love Lines series, but can be read as a standalone, which was what I did. I posted that I was reading this on Instagram, and immediately had 7 DMs from people who were reading it at the same time! However, I will be returning to read book one eminently, as every person I chatted with about the book also recommended book one!

Sweet Talk was a book that I couldn't stop talking about all weekend to my friends, even those who don't really enjoy reading. The audiobook experience was top-notch, with sound effects and voices that kept me engaged. Almost in a Podcast-quality, it told the tale of a wrong-number romance through voice messages and phone calls (perfect for an audiobook), where the two kept each other company in their insomnia. It was hilarious and friendly and I was completely obsessed with their friendship. For a night spent alone in my apartment, I feel like I was spent the night in conversations with friends.

I loved the dorky, adorable hero and the heroine with the weight of the world on her shoulders. In this "wrong-number" romance, she knew who he was, but he had no idea who she was, and she refused to tell him. I think this secret was kept just a ~smidge~ too long from the reader, by the time the secret came out I was like DUH, but still very much enjoyed this sweet ride.

Perhaps I need to be more adventurous and read more audiobooks! Specifically from these narrators, who were excellent.

The only word I can think of to describe this book is: adorable. Eliot and Jessie make late night contact after a wrong number mistake. Their relationship is so cute, and the book is perfectly paced. A really sweet quick read, ideal for lovers of a good romance!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so adorable! It was a cute rom com but it didn’t have toxic stereotypes in it. It also had the wrong number trope which is literally my favorite and the author wrote it so well.

A fun, quick, sweet read. I enjoyed seeing the characters from book 1 too. I read the ebook but also listened to some of the audiobook on audible (it’s included in the membership) and there was something added by having the two narrators play out the audio messages between the two main characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline Eternal for the opportunity to read an ARC of the print version of Sweet Talk. I’m sharing my review voluntarily. This was a fast read with a lot of dialogue. Chapters alternate between POV and between dialogue filled phone conversations and background/plot points. I liked the format but felt there was some lost in translation from the audio format it was originally distributed in to print. In print, the dialogue reads kind of flat, there is no insertion of laughter or other reactions/emotions. It left me as a reader doing the heavy lifting to put the characters in time and place. I also felt like there was very little happening and the character development and growth was minimal. This was sweet and fun to read but didn’t leave me with a lot of feeling or reflection opportunity.

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Well, this is a completely charming rom-com, with the two characters starting as modern-day pen pals. There is a lot of mutual pining, and it’s a supreme grumpy-sunshine pairing with a tough, tattooed female main character, and a cinnamon roll of a male main character. What’s not to love?

Jessie is shocked when her crush texts her in the middle of the night, before quickly realizing that Eliot has no idea who she is. It becomes a game - him trying to guess her identity - and turns into a flirtatious relationship. Jessie is hiding some secrets, and is convinced that Eliot would run screaming if he found out who he had been chatting with late into most evenings.

This is overall a charming book, with low angst - perfect for reading on a cozy night. Jessie is a bad ass, intimidating character, but she has a heart of gold. Eliot is a lovable goofball, a total golden retriever of a hero, who just wants to help people.

This is the second in a series, but could be read as a stand-alone… but why would you? The first book, featuring Eliot’s sister and best friend, also features two people falling in love through a series of customer service phone calls, and is equally charming.

I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking a fun, heartwarming, closed door rom-com. Some of Cara Bastone’s other works have more angst and heavier topics, but these are light, and I read this entire book with a huge smile on my face. Thanks to @netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book I read by this author and it definitely won’t be the last!

The tropes were one of the main reasons why I really wanted to read this book and in result I ended up enjoying it. This book is a cute and easy read!! The characters are intriguing and I loved them so much.

4 stars! This one was sweet and fun and I really enjoyed reading it!

Definitely for you if you enjoy:
- Stangers to lovers
- Anonymous phone calls/catfish sorta?
- Gentle giant person A and intimidating tattooed person B

While Jessie’s eating chocolate cake at 2AM when she receives a “you up?” booty call type voice note from her sweet, dippled smile having crush. She nearly chokes and responds back and quickly finds out that she is not who he meant to text.

Eliot is embarrassed is when he realizes he didn’t text the person he meant to but is intrigued when he hears this voice he remembers but can’t place with a face of a person in his life. Even though she won’t tell him who she is, he likes talking to her and continues for the next few days.

With their time on the phone, they’re happy to have one another with their insomnia, their daily problems at work and their family issues. But when it comes time to reveal Jessie’s identity, she has to decide whether they could work with all the baggage she carries.

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This one was such a fun and quick read! I was immediately interested and although she hid her identity, she didn’t lie about being a whole other person. I don’t know it got kind of muddy and I’m still having confusing feelings about the secret identity situation but I think it was handled pretty okay!

I love conversation in books so I enjoyed reading all the dialogue here and saw that it was an Audible original and am half tempted to listen to it but we’ll see…

I love a gentle giant and Eliot fulfilled all my needs. He was cute and very sweet and I afored him lots. Jessie was fun too and their banter was nice to read.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in return for an honest review.

I DNF'ed this one. I was intrigued by the mystery identity premise, and enjoyed the first couple chapters. But when I wasn't captivated by the couple at the 20% mark, I closed the book.

I received this book via NetGalley for my honest reviews. After receiving it I realized it was part of my audible membership so I chose to listen to it instead of read it.

This story is just too cute, and the audible was one of the best I’ve listened to. It truly brought this story to life! I enjoyed this love story and the little bit of mystery it had. Some pieces I think I figured out pretty quickly while other pieces took me a lot longer. I loved that there was just the right amount of angst. In fact it was fairly light on angst and that’s exactly what I was looking for.

Overall I’d give this 4 stars.

I’m getting an error when linking this review to Goodreads so I will manually add it over there!

Sweet Talk by Cara Bastone Is the second book in her Love Lines series, just like the first book in the series, and I enjoyed it. It was a sweet romantic comedy about Elliott, who is Vera’s brother from the first book. Elliot accidentally texts a wrong number, and that number belongs who Jessica, who knows exactly who Elliott is!

What follows is an adorable romance that develops over text messages and phone calls about two people who were on the one hand opposite to each other, yet on the other hand, as you get to know their characters. As their story progresses, you can see they were also entirely well suited for each other.

I read this one; however, just like the first book in the series, Call Me Maybe Sweet Talk, was initially made for audible and has received positive reviews.

Overall a funny and heartwarming read! (