Netgalley Review:

This was a fun read. I liked the two mains and I liked the setting. This is a good book if you are looking for something fluffy and fun.

3 stars

Im Ready for My Close Up!

All Skyler has ever wanted to do was be a reporter. Shes stuck in a small town market dreaming of the big time. Shes shocked when she is chosen to work in San Diego, alongside her hero Caroline! While things don’t go smoothly at first, its not long before love is in the air…but the writing is on the wall…..

THis is such a sweet tale. I ADORE Ms Brayden’s sense of humor. She lets her characters have flaws and lets them poke fun at themselves, never taking themselves too seriously. Sometimes you think you know whats going to happen, someone is going to get hurt and someone will do something to tear them apart but just when you think you know who is going to do what, Ms Brayden will throw her famous twists at you and you’re left standing there scratching your head going “HUH! How and why did that happen?” You know that Caroline is going to lose her job and that Skyler will get it (The angsty bits) BUT just when you think all is lost, its not… and that’s all the spoilers you get. But I will say you wont see what happens coming! I loved the affection Skyler had with her camera man, Ty. They were the perfect duo, having fun and being silly while still getting the job done. I loved how they basically became siblings and really counted on each other. I loved how the book wrapped up and left me with HUGE smiles and happy sighs!

Melissa Brayden is one of my go-to authors and that didn't change with this book. One thing about her, she knows how to write good chemistry and this book is no exception.
I love the newsroom plot, i've never read any book about it so that was great, i also really liked the slight age gap the characters have.
The main conflict was a bit controversial, i do think having double POV's would've helped fill in the blanks of what was going on in Carrie's mind but that aside, i loved the Tangle Valley references and i thoroughly enjoyed the book, definitely recommend!!

Too easy to read this one, in a good way. A pretty easy-going romance with a few curves thrown in.

I won't recount the actual story, you can read the blurb for that, I'll let you know how I felt about it.

Initially, I thought it was fast. The pace was fast and that's good, but the relationship was fast and perhaps a bit underdeveloped. The plan took off before all the passengers (maybe the readers) were on board. Once I got over that, I was happy with the service. The characters and bumps were agreeable and I appreciated the balance taken for each character rather than one being more of everything.

I would certainly have liked more development around the characters but this probably wasn't designed to be a slow burn.

You'll enjoy it if you like Melissa Brayden generally and I'm sure you'll enjoy it overall.

3.5 stars

Melissa Brayden is as always an above-average author of romance novels. The love story between the protagonists is always at the centre of the novel but it is never too sappy. There are all the predictable clichés one expects from this type of book but they are always well mixed to leave a bit of a twist.
And I was (pleasantly) surprised that the book was narrated only from Skylar's point of view. For once not knowing exactly the motivations of her counterpart was realistic and made me get closer to the narrating character.
The love story between Skylar and Carolyn starts fairly quickly and develops steadily for most of the novel. What is going to happen is guessed fairly early on and the classic drama point at 80% of the book is rather inevitable.

The reason I don't give the book 5 stars is the resolution of this conflict. Unfortunately, for the kind of conflict it is, the resolution is not at all easy and it is one of those classic situations where either both of them lose or only one of them does and I inevitably perceive this as unfair. Everyone wants a happy ending so I'm not here to say that Skylar and Caroyln shouldn't have been endgame but I can't say that the conclusion fully satisfied me either.

Special mention to the many references to the Brayden-verse that Melissa has managed to build with all her novels. Each of her stories takes place in this one big world where all the characters coexist and intertwine and I have always loved the little references left for us faithful readers to other characters from other novels.

Melissa did a good job on this one. The angst that came into play towards the end of the book wasn’t contrived or forced. It felt real in that situation. I loved the characters and the story. Another Brayden winner!

Melissa Brayden books are great, and this one didn't disappoint! Great characters, storyline, and chemistry, as you come to expect from a Melissa Brayden book. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book

This was, on balance, a charming workplace romance with a really interesting setting (TV journalism!), but a few plot elements significantly compromised my enjoyment of the story. 3.5 stars.

There was plenty good about this book, so I'll start there. The main characters were both really compelling and interesting, and Skyler especially was really well fleshed-out. The supporting cast was great as well, and even the characters who weren't given as much screen time seemed very human. (I loved Grace especially!) The setting was SO interesting, and I thought it added a lot of color and interest to the book. The romance itself was great, especially its earlier stages.

Without spoilers, I will say that the last 25%-ish of the book felt rushed, and there was one major plot beat (a character death) which felt very breezed-through, and like it wasn't given the time or space to have any major impact on the story or the characters. It really jarred me out of my enjoyment of the story at the end, which was a bummer, because otherwise I was having a great time. Additionally – and less importantly – while the final romantic conflict itself didn't feel rushed or out of character, its resolution didn't sit quite right with me.

Even though I had a couple of reservations on this one, I'll definitely look for more Melissa Brayden in the future; I loved her writing, and 75% of this book. Thanks to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for the e-ARC of this title!

3.5 Stars

Melissa Brayden has been on my auto-buy list for a while now. I don’t even read the blurb; I just get it and I’m usually happy with that choice. With “Exclusive” I was happy with it for about the first 80% but then the dark moment came about and Brayden lost me and never got me back.

Skylar Ruiz is the newest reporter for a news channel in San Diego when she meets Carolyn (Carrie) McNamara. Carrie has been Skylar’s longtime crush and idol and she’s thrilled to get to work with her. Carrie, on the other hand, is more guarded. She’s been a long-time anchor and she knows she’s getting to be too old for the executives. She doesn’t automatically warm up to this newbie reporter who could potentially steal her job.

Once again, Brayden was able to surprise me with her choices. Every time I thought I knew what she would do she would go a different direction. Such as, I thought Carrie was going to be an “ice queen” character but nope, she was just cautious. She turned into a sweetheart as soon as we really got to know her. For some reason I also went into this thinking it’d be a slow burn but it’s not that either. Their relationship takes off pretty quickly. It happened a few other times and I thought it was neat how she’s able to flip things around to make it stand out a little more.

This still has all of Brayden’s hallmark writing. There’s witty banter, funny and lovely friends and family. Their chemistry is pretty instantaneous as well. I think most of my issues with my feelings on this is two things. First, this is told in Skylar’s POV only and Carrie remains not unknown exactly, but I just didn’t have a good handle on her and her feelings. When the dark moment happens, I would’ve really liked more from Carrie because I didn’t understand a few of her choices.

Speaking of the dark moment, that is my second issue. It wasn’t so much the moment itself. I actually thought it made sense and seemed realistic. My issue was how it was resolved. I absolutely hated it and thought one of the characters had to give up way too much while the other got everything her way. It just frustrated me and unfortunately, that’s how I was left feeling with this book.

I received an ARC from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Want to read a great book this summer? You may want to pick up Ms. Brayden’s newest book, Exclusive. It is a romance which will certainly make you smile.

The two main characters are Skylar Ruiz and Carolyn McNamara. Both women are in the news business – one at the beginning stages of her career and the other at the very top. Skylar has just been hired as a reporter for a San Diego news station. It just so happens it is the same station where Carolyn works as their star anchorwoman.

Skylar has had a crush on Carolyn since forever. When she was growing up, Skylar dreamed of working at the station where Carolyn was employed. Unfortunately, when her dream comes true, she realizes that her “idol” is not as nice as she thought she would be. Carolyn doesn’t have time for newbie reporters who only last less than 6 months on the job. However, this does change when Skylar’s work starts to become recognized as top level reporting. And, of course, their attraction begins.

I really enjoy Ms. Brayden’s storytelling. She does a wonderful job of developing the storyline and her characters. This is an age-gap romance. As far as I can tell, this book is a standalone and not part of a series. However, I do love Ms. Brayden’s series!

I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a great romance. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

I received this ARC from Bold Strokes Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The main characters in this book are Skylar and Caroline.
Skylar just landed her dream job at a large network working as a reporter. When she realizes she will be working at the same network as her idol, Caroline, she makes sure to do the best job she can. However, Caroline is not very welcoming to her and she tries to make an impression so that she will be recognized. It works better than she imagined. She realizes that Caroline is very impressed with Skylar's work to date. The two women begin to spend more time with each other and everything is progressive very well. That is until the network drops a bombshell on both women that could change everything.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend.

Do you ever read something and just completely relate to it? That is how I felt during the conflict of this book. It isn't reasonable or mature. But it is REAL. There isn't anything I love more than gritty, vulnerable emotion.

Speaking of relating. My name is Carrie and my wife's name is Shyla. The main characters in this book are Carrie and Skyler. Also, Skyler has a doggy that is described exactly like one of our fur babies. Very relatable!

A young reporter on a small network gets a prime-time opportunity. It is too bad the veteran news anchor is a total you-know-what. Never meet your heroes and all of that. Impossible situations arise.

It is my opinion that Melissa Brayden could never write a bad book. She always delivers and is the only must-read author for me.

I recommend it to those who love to read about romance, celebrities, age gap, news, and unsuspecting cabinets.

While a decent story, there was a lot that felt disjointed. It's a bit heavy in parts, and while the characters are engaging, at some point int he story i wanted them with other people than each other. they both made some pretty terrible choices that didn't feel like they should have come back from.

The chemistry in this read is wonderful. In my opinion, that is one of the author's strengths. This newsroom romance was insightful, informative as well as entertaining. Skyler Ruiz, news reporter looking for a challenge and she finds it in San Diego. Caroline McNamara, current on air reporter, concerned about a younger face taking her place. It just does not seem to matter with on air reporter men. Go figure. I like how a connection formed between Caroline and Skylar. Both women are likeable and supportive of each other. I also enjoyed characters from previous reads (Sarah, Emory and Grace). I really enjoyed the twist and turns the story took as Caroline and Skylar self-reflected and made decisions.

The book takes place in sunny San Diego, California. Skyler Ruiz is trying to work her way up the journalistic ladder when she gets a huge break in her career and she is hired to be a roving reporter by the local station in San Diego for the 5:00 and 10:00 PM news programs. Not only is this a big jump in her career, the news anchor she will be working with is Caroline McNamara, a woman she has been looking up to and secretly crushing on for years. She is not prepared for the backstabbing and smiling faces that are not friendly until she proves herself. Her world changes when she runs into Carolyn (Carrie) at a party and finds the attraction goes both ways. Their chemistry is off the charts . This is an age gap story, but Carrie is just hot. Everything is going great until Carrie is fired as anchor and Skyler takes her place. Read the book people. It’s fantastic

4.5 stars Another Brayden hit. Clever dialog, rich characters, and unexpected twists that may make you gasp. Great romance. My only partial negative is the entire story is written in first person so we get the story from only one point of view. But it works. Loved the main characters and Micky, the little dog. I also found the workings of the newsroom interesting. A good story that will have you staying up late to find out how can they fix this.
I was given this ARC in exchange for an honest review

Whey Hay.....Melissa Brayden has gone and done it again. She just can't stop writing a great books, and this one is up there again

Set in the world of the newsrooms, this book has it all, great story, challenges, age gaps and careers with the added bonus of fun sexy characters

Would I recommend: Oh Yes

[SPOILERS]

I liked this book! It was a 3.5 star read for me - cozy, easy, light, interesting enough for me to finish to the end but not necessarily one I’ll think about for a long time.

The pros: I loved the plot, especially when Skyler and Carrie became competing anchors. An admittedly expected twist, but still fun and unique compared to other romances I’ve read! There were a few random subplots, but I actually enjoyed them more than expected - and weirdly got into some of Skyler’s stories she was reporting on (I’m a mystery girl at heart!).

The cons: The writing is very “tell, tell, tell,” which for me meant that even though I liked reading this, I didn’t find myself very emotionally attached to the characters. Everything was laid out a bit too plainly, so there wasn’t much to think about as the story played out.

I also had some major questions about the last quarter of the book. WHY was Ty randomly killed off?? His death, the funeral and the aftermath seemed to all go by in about 5 minutes, never to be addressed again. There were definitely ways to bring Carrie and Skyler back together that didn’t involve LITERALLY KILLING SKYLER’S BEST FRIEND!

I’ll also admit that after Skyler ghosted Carrie, I stopped rooting for them to get back together, and felt like there wasn’t nearly enough healing between them to justify them moving past it at the end. I would NOT have given up my dream job to come back for my ex if she had ghosted me like Skyler did. Granted, she had a right to be hurt, but I just can’t get on board with her dipping like that!!!

Overall, even with my gripes about the ending, I had still a fun time reading this.

I was having a bit of trouble reviewing this one and needed a second to turn it over a few times. Here’s what I came up with.

The story and setting are solid. The backdrop of the news and television world is interesting. The age gap with a little hero envy turned romantic was intriguing but the chemistry and character choices didn’t resonate with me this time out. I liked them independently. I found their independent journey interesting. I just couldn’t make sense of Sklyler ghosting Carrie and Carrie eventually doing 90% of the work to put them back together.

In fairness, I think it’s still a 4 star because it’s well written and a good story.

(Also, I’m a fan of how Melissa Brayden subtly brings her universes together in her stories.)

A sweet and steamy workplace romance set in a news room. There was ample tension and the romance between the two characters was believable. I enjoyed the work setting and I appreciated the conversation about women aging in the media. Overall, I would read more by Melissa Brayden.