This is a second chance romance. I loved the literary references in the book - and the quotes from the Bronte novels at the beginning of each chapter. Not only is the book a second chance romance, but it is also suggestive of a second chance career. An enjoyable read that is perfect to pick up over a weekend.

I would rank this as a 2.5.
This story was interesting. Not my favorite, but I didn’t hate it. It was a nice touch to have the classics referenced a bit. Overall, there was just a disconnect in the story line with the way it was written and there was a lot of unnecessary back and forth.

Some parts of the story felt thrown in and then never really talked about -like her mom cheating- and thoughts and actions for characters in general. These characters are making quick changes in their lives that don’t line up with what they’ve been doing for years or their previous actions. One of my main issues with the story is that the main characters behave as if in their early 20s instead of 30s.
I don’t understand why Thorne was in Laurel at all. Out of all the places he could have gone, why there? If he was so insistent on them not getting back together based on his father, then why? Also the FWB arrangement made zero sense and wasn’t an actual thing in the story. They could barely stand to look at each other in the beginning and constantly made jabs about Seattle and yet this develops.

Blame It on the Brontes
by Annie Sereno
Pub Date: 03 May 2022
3/5 Stars

If you enjoy Classic Romance this book is for you. Athena is an English Professor who needs to publish. Thorne is the love of her life, the one she’ll never get over. They both end up in their hometown chasing their dreams and reigniting their love. There is much witty banter and lack of honesty between the two. Many quirky characters filled out the story. I enjoyed this book.I know many will enjoy this witty, at times over-the-top tribute to the Bronte’s.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) in exchange for an honest review.

English professor Dr. Athena Murphy is up for tenure at a small college in San Francisco. Since she hasn’t published anything since her dissertation, she is in danger of perishing in the academic setting. She takes a 6-month unpaid leave to return to her Illinois hometown to research an anonymous author who is said to also be a native of the same town. This author, CL Garland, writes the bestselling LitWit novellas, which describe the imagined sex lives of literary couples.

When Athena tries to find her promised part-time waitressing job, she discovers that the café has been sold to her ex-boyfriend, Hawthorne Kent. Thorne has relocated the café and renamed it The As You Like It Café. However he does offer “Thena” 3 4-hour shifts per week so that she can conduct her research and write her article.

Thena and Thorne met in freshman Literature class and began their romance. They planned to go to Harvard to earn their PhD’s in Literature. However when it came time to enroll, Thorne decided to follow family tradition and attend law school in Seattle. That was 12 years ago and Thena is still upset with him and suffers from a broken heart. 3 years ago Thorne moved to Chicago to start baking part-time, which he augments with his intellectual property law career. Then a few months ago, he purchased the bakery business in Laurel, Illinois, Thena’s hometown.

Then and Thorne have to settle their past and decide if they want to re-establish their romance. At the same time, Thena is busy trying to discover the identity of the anonymous author and deciding if she wants to continue her academic career in California.

This story is a fun read, especially for literature lovers and English majors. The small-town drama and university politics add to the romantic elements. I appreciate the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Will it be a second or third chance romance for Thorne and Thena? They both have secrets but some will hurt more than others.
I liked both characters, but would have liked more of an epilogue.

While I found the characters annoying I did think this book was cute and fun. I felt it embodies the Brontë sisters quite well. Not a usual read for me but I’m glad I picked it up and gave it a try.

I enjoyed the saga of Thorne and Athena alot. Athena was great as a protagonist and I found myself rooting for her. That being said, I must say that its the romance aspect of the book that kept me reading, I was on pins and needles as I was reading to see if Athena and Thorne ended up back in each other's arms. Accordingly, the search for who "Garland" was fell a little flat for me. It felt like it took tome away from Athena and Thorne and by the end of the book, I wanted more.

You don't need to have read Wuthering Heights, or any of the Bronte sister's books, to enjoy this one, but it does add a little extra enjoyment if you are at least a little bit familiar! Athena and Thorne were college sweethearts, very much in love, but things just didn't work out for them -- a fact neither of them has gotten over. Athena is a college English professor in San Francisco. She is on the verge of losing her job and comes home on an unpaid sabbatical. To save her job, she has just a few months to write a book. She decides that the perfect subject is C.L. Garland, a wildly successful, bestselling, but anonymous author who writes very sexy versions of classic novels. Turns out that C.L. Garland is from Athena's home town of Laurel, IL. She makes it her mission to discover Garland's true identity and write a book about it. Thorne, meanwhile, has returned to Laurel as well, opening a cafe. When Athena applies to be a waitress there, she is very surprised to see him. Lots of secrets, lots of longing unrequited love here, but ultimately things turn out exactly the way a reader would want them to! I loved this title and look forward to recommending it to romance readers who enjoy a contemporary story with sophisticated, witty humor without an overload of sex scenes. Emily Henry fans will particularly like this.

This book is so adorable. I love the references to the classics! I love the characters. This is a great HEA where EVERYONE gets a second chance at romance.

A few gripes: the fashion and pop culture references are all over the place. Athena isn’t believable as a young 30 something. The fashion feels dated while the tech feels early 2000s.

It could definitely have been a little steamier 😉

Thank you so much @netgalley for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. Unfortunately after the first few chapters, my enthusiasm waned. The book felt overly long, the miscommunications became frustrating, and the story seemed to get bogged down in the many side characters, family members and too many plot points. The ending felt oddly rushed with a lot of loose ends and unanswered questions. The romance felt secondary a lot of the time with the MCs careers, family and town drama, and mystery aspect feeling more front and center. #readersofinstagram #bookclubvip #netgalleyreads

I probably won't post about this title. I think it was me, rather than the actual book.
I knew right away who the mystery author was; as will most people, and while it didn't make me like it less, a few other things were predictable too, like Athena's mother.
The writing was punchy, but I also felt there were a few too many characters to keep track of at times. Like I said, it was probably just me and bad timing.

I wanted to like this one but it fell flat. I wanted more chemistry between our characters.
I liked the bookish setting, I just wanted more from the characters.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

I have mixed feelings about this book. Athena could be very annoying at times, but charming at others. I loved her relationships with the regulars at the cafe. All of her family drama could have been avoided if folks just talked it out. That got really old really quick. Thorne wasn't anything for me to write home about. I wound up skimming the last 10% of the book. I just had high hopes for this book and it didn't pan out for me.

Athena must publish or perish if she wants to be tenured as an English professor. To save her job she needs to write an expose about an erotic literature author, who is rumored to live in her hometown. Athena takes a position as a server in the local cafe. It will be the perfect way to snoop & find the author. Only downside is that she in forced proximity with her ex, Thorne, the love of her life. With many twists and turns this book made my head spin. The main character was overly dramatic to a fault, which made it hard to root for her. This book had a crazy cast of characters & would be enjoyed by those who are sonnet and Jane Eyre obsessed.

Fine, but kind of weak in all the places where attention should have been paid. It just kind of...flopped, for me, I guess. Also most characters were pretty one-dimensional.

This book is adorable and fun! I thoroughly enjoy all of the different love stories going on around the main couple and how they learned from their own choices to help others. The setting of a small midwestern down throughout fall and the early part of winter is charming, and I loved the quirky Cafe which is run by Thorne, the male lead.

I will say this was a little slow to get started, and it did feel like some of the big reveals were a little slow to be revealed. Also, this book is about a young English professor seeking tenure by tracking down an elusive erotica author, yet every potentially erotic scene was actually "fade to black." I don't need erotica to be interested in a storyline, but I was kind of expecting it with this novel.

Overall, this is a very cute, uplifting story and I would certainly recommend it!

I have not read many Second chance romances, so one with a bookish theme had me very interested, I did enjoy myself, and I really liked the characters, the side characters storylines, the small town setting, and the overall theme of better communication, not keeping secrets, doing things that make you happy and not following only your parents expectations. Things that took away from my enjoyment were a few logic issues, the chemistry between the characters was a little off and not as strong, the 3rd act conflict was solved a bit too fast and it was not talked though well enough. I also would have loved to have maybe some excerpts of the litwit novels.

This book fell a bit flat for me, unfortunately. I wanted to love it because the premise was so awesome and it sounded like the perfect book for book lovers. However, all of the characters read as very over-the-top almost caricatures. That made it hard for me to connect.
Additionally, I've never been a fan of second-chance-romance. However, in the case of Thena and Thorne, it felt at the beginning of the book like they were just falling for each other because they thought they had to in a weird way. But then by the end, I wasn't a fan of how hot and cold they were with each other. In the second to last chapter, they had a ridiculous fight... I just didn't like it.
I do love the spoiler of who the author is-- I mean, it was extremely, extremely obvious throughout, but I did love it!
Ultimately, I think this was an okay book, but not right for me.

I had high hopes for Blame It On The Brontes, but overall this book was a miss. The premise of literature obsessed English professor Athena returning to her small town to ferret out the secret identity of an infamous erotica author to save her career and running into and having to work with past flame lawyer-turned-café-owner, Thorne, had me mightily intrigued! Throw in a cute cover and I'm in.

Unfortunately after the first few chapters, my enthusiasm waned. The book felt overly long, the miscommunications became frustrating, and the story seemed to get bogged down in the many side characters, family members and too many plot points. The ending felt oddly rushed with a lot of loose ends and unanswered questions. The romance felt secondary a lot of the time with the MCs careers, family and town drama, and mystery aspect feeling more front and center.

Also to note - there is no spice in this book. Any scenes between Athena and Thorne are very fade to black. There is also a fair amount of off-putting diet culture/weight and weight-loss/body talk sprinkled throughout that bordered on fat-phobic to me and seemed unnecessary to the plot.

I'm sure there are readers who will enjoy this book, but I am unfortunately not one of them.

This was a fun, modern story for fans of classic literature, and the first time that I have read anything by this author.

Athena is an English Professor that is on the hunt to determine the identity of the updated classics LitWit series, partially in hopes of saving her teaching post. While getting settled in her hometown to begin the search, she runs into Thorne, her college boyfriend. While the chemistry between the two is undeniable, they have a difficult time being honest about certain aspects of their lives.

If your enjoy reimagined classics, second chance romance, this book may be up your alley! There isn’t a cliffhanger, which made it a nice change from other current releases.

I received an ARC from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.