It's official: I have a new book boyfriend! I loved Dax, he made a really nice change from the typical Alpha male romantic hero. Hollyn was relatable and funny, and I loved the supporting characters too - they felt well fleshed-out and interesting, rather than just being there to make up the background.

The story itself was sweet. Yes, we know how it's going to end, but getting there is half the fun! I thought the flower contest was an interesting and original idea too.

All in all a perfect romcom, just be aware that you will be judging all other men (real and fictional) against Dax for a while afterwards...

Okay, this was so adorable!

Dax's life is flowers. When his late father's flower shop goes on the market, he has to have it. Except he can't afford it. The reality competition Battle of the Blossoms is the best opportunity to earn the money fast enough before someone else snatches up the shop.

A horrible, blindsiding breakup forces Hollyn to move home. Having no job and no place of her own left her with no other choice. Not being in good terms with her folks, she ends up asking her brother for help. He offers her his room, to stay with him and his roommate. His roommate and best friend, Dax. Dax whose had a life-long crush on Hollyn that everyone but her knows about.

Hollyn hasn't been back in eight years. Coming home means facing her parents, her friends, all the hurt she left behind, and all the insecurities she still carries.

Sweet, caring Dax does all he can to make Hollyn happy again...it's all he's ever wanted for her. Since he needs help with the competition, he enlists Hollyn as his assistant. Wanting to pay Dax back for his kindness, and also needing something to do, she agrees. Will this forced proximity and partnership finally help Hollyn see Dax as more than her little brother's best friend?

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩:
💐 She is his best friend's older sister
🌷 His first crush slash unrequited love, but really, also...
🌸 One of each other's closest (childhood) friends.
🌼 Boy next door
⚘️ Forced proximity
🌺 Reality competition (teammates)
💮 Dual POV

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙:
🌻 Dax. I thought he was so cute!
💐 The flower puns shirts
🌷 The banter! Adorable are-they-trying-to-flirt banter, and yup-they-definitely-are banter ☺️😂
🌹And of course, the rekindling of Dax and Hollyn's friendship and the development of their love story 🧡

Pick this up if you're looking for a cute, lighthearted, feel-good book! ✨️

When Holland Matthews gets broken up with on the night she’s expecting a proposal she’s devastated and when he tells her he’s sold their apartment it gives her a plane ticket home she sees no other option then to talk tail and leave. She doesn’t want to see her parents because she hasn’t in 10 years and thinks it may be awkward so she calls her little brother river asking if she could stay with him and of course he says yes but first he must ask his roommate Dax. Dax grew up as Rivers best friend and Holland‘s secret crush but he’s over her now right? DAX has a lot going on he’s trying to get the money to buy his dad‘s old floral building where he spent many memorable childhood moments and though yes he’s about to go on a reality show on YouTube so he really doesn’t have time for romance. Since they will be living together and River will be staying with his girlfriend summer that can’t help but to spend time together in the more they do the more he knows he isn’t over her but is he enough for Holland or will they always be “just friends.“ I didn’t want to put anything in the review that I didn’t know before reading this book what I will say is I really didn’t like Holland at first but as the book goes along you do tend to Ruth for her I thought it was weird that she didn’t see her parents in 10 years… I mean who does that? Either way though by then you want them to get together and everything they want you want so it turned out to be pretty OK I just didn’t like Hollyn all that much so found it hard to get into the book at first but keep reading you’ll be happy you did. I received this book from NetGalleyShelf and a publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Dax, will you marry ME?!
(shhh don't tell my husband 😉)
Seriously one of the best book boyfriends I've EVER read!

After being dumped while expecting a proposal, Hollyn Matthews moves home, staying in her brother's room and live with his roommate & childhood best friend, Dax.
Dax Hartley, the Flower Boy, wants to buy his late father's old flower shop. An opportunity comes up to be on a floral reality show and win the money he needs. He needs an assistant, and Hollyn (his forever crush and the only girl he’s ever been in love with) is the perfect fit.

This book is for you if you love:
⭐️ Childhood friends to lovers
⭐️ Brother's best friend
⭐️ He falls first/crush
⭐️ Dual POV/written in first person (my fav to read!)
⭐️ Forced proximity
⭐️ Slow burn

I absolutely adored this book!

This was so cute 😭 we love a good trope, and this has them aplenty (and all used perfectly). I loved watching the two of them re-fit into their old friendship, and then watch as that friendship strengthened and grew naturally. Dax is so genuine, and Hollyn is earnest with him in a way she isn’t with most other people in her life. I also loved how intertwined their friendships and families were - it made meddling so much easier and yet so much less needed! This was a good heartwarming read and I loved every second.

this book was so sweet, i absolutely loved dax and hollyn!!

love a brother's best friend trope so might be a little biased but there was nothing not to like about this book. it was cute as hell, flower pun t-shirts were adorable, and i loved the families as well.

its the first aimee brown book i've read but will definitely read more now that i've started.

thank you to netgalley for the opportunity to love this book!!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

“He loves me, he loves me not” is a cute romance about childhood loves, small twon and brother’s best friend. I liked the characters and the plot and that there wasn’t a real plot twist that took one hundred pages to find its solution.

I’m giving 3,75⭐️ because I didn’t get to bond with the characters and their personal stories but that’s only my problem and I can easily say it’s worth it if you are looking for a light read.

I was excited when I saw this was brothers best friend, but it took awhile to kind of get into the swing of this trope.

Dax has been in love with Hollyn practically their whole lives. When she comes back into his life after a heart break he just wants to help her pick her life back up and search for happiness.

I liked their friendship it was a bit hard for me to see the chemistry build and then once it did it didn’t really show the chemistry develop. They oversold the playboy image of Dax as well and I didn’t really see that being necessary.

One thing I didn’t love was the location descriptors at the start of every chapter it felt a bit like they didn’t think I could decipher the passing of time based on context and it got a tad annoying once I realized it would be at the start of every chapter.

I did enjoy the side characters and wish they showed up some more! I also didn’t see the purpose of Hollyn being a pop star’s daughter until late into the book I wish this was addressed more initially at the front end of the story to establish more about her character and the growth she needs to get through.

Overall this was still cute despite. Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for the e-arc.

Contemporary Romance - M/F - Spice 1/5

Thank you to NetGalley and the Boldwood Books for granting me an ARC for my honest opinion.

I really loved this story. I was smiling a lot while reading and had a hard time to put the book down. It is flirty, fun and super cute. I think it had just the right amount of drama and heartache.

Dax is charming and has moments of awkwardness that just make you love him more. Written in dual point of view Hollyn is great too, but for me Dax stole the show in a good way.

The friends and family characters are great and mix well together and everyone needs a BFF like Mercy.

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC of this book.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not is a cute love story that covers some favourite romance tropes like second chances, friends-to-lovers, small age gap, and close proximity.

Hollyn, after getting dumped from her long-term and older boyfriend, goes back to her hometown after eight years. Since she messed up her relationship with her parents, she asks her younger brother for help. Her brother offers her his room, and there enters Dax. Dax is her brother's best friend and roommate and she has known him since they were children; what she doesn't know is Dax's longstanding crush on her.

Dax is a florist and needs to buy his late dad's flower shop. In order to do that, he enters a reality competition, and asks Hollyn to be his assistant. This combined with their close proximity at home speeds things up for their relationship.

Dax is a great book boyfriend; cute, romantic, and true to himself and his feelings. I really liked that, because it was something different than the usual 'alpha' male characters we see on romance books. Nevertheless, I really didn't like how Hollyn was written. It is perfectly acceptable to make mistakes and have flaws, but not communicating with her family for so long, and staying with a man for so long really disappointed me. Instead of taking things in her hands and take her life back, others do it for her. The secondary characters are much strongly written than the main female character.

The story has many cute and romantic moments, but it felt quite flat at times. The secondary characters are greatly written and very funny. I would love to read their story next; River's or Mercy's.

On the whole, it was enjoyable, but I expected more.

A quick, easy and cute read that I finished in one sitting. The stroy was adorable and I fwell in love with the characters. I couldn't put it down.

When Hollyn flees heartbreak and ends up back at home, her brothers best friend, Dax, is the one to offer her comfort and support. In return she agrees to assist him on the reality show he is entering in order to win the money to buy the building for his florist shop. As they spend time together and renew the closeness they once shared as children Hollyn sees that the disastrous turn her life took might just be the second chance she isn't sure she deserves.

Hollyn is an interesting character. She refers to herself as selfish but really she is someone who made a some bad mistakes when she was younger and was severely punished for them again and again. Her parents all but cut her out of their lives at a time when she needed to know that she they were there for her the most, leaving her even more vulnerable to the older man preying on her. Her brother treats her pretty terribly. One of her best friends betrays her cruelly. I had a hard time seeing her as anything but the victim. I also had a hard time believing that what she needed was a new relationship but I can't really blame her when literally one person was treating her well in the entire book. So much of this book was over the top. Her ex couldn't just cheat on her or be controlling he had to be ridiculously mean and really bad at being a villain. Her ex best friend couldn't just betray her, she also had to leave really cruel social media bread crumbs. It was all too much and took away from the reality show component of the plot which often seemed like a convenient afterthought than a vital part of the plot. If it had all been scaled back a bit I would have this book more enjoyable and not spent the pages wanting every character to find a good therapist.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Delightful, romantic, heartfelt. I was completely charmed by Dax and Hollyn’s story, and by the characters themselves. My heart swooped along with theirs, tears fell at the tender, poignant moments, and many times I chuckled out loud! I’m looking forward to River’s and Mercy’s stories!!

Love me love me not by Aimee Brown
Earc:NetGalley
Publisher:
Publication Date: 08 Dec 2022
Genre :General Fiction, Romance

After years of a relationship with an older man, Hollyn is devastated when he proposed to another woman and broke up with her after 8 long years. On top of that Tristan and she bought a condo and he's stolen a big chunk of money from her.

What's Hollyn to do now she's got to move back to her hometown not speaking to her parents because of the age gap between her and her previous boyfriend she phones her brother River.

River has a roommate called Dax who was the kid next door. Dax is Rivers's roommate.

Dax picks up Hollyn off the plane as River is busy with work.
Dax is working on a YouTube show to help get his dad's flower shop back he needs an assistant with no floral knowledge so he asks Hollyn who's been staying at Dax and Rivers's apartment.

As time goes on we see developments between these two characters. It flows so smoothly on top of this I read this book in one sitting.

I like the additional characters we meet as well as the added substance to the story. Mercy is so fun. Penny and Dr James are parents I hope we get to see more off as is Dax's mam.

I'd recommend picking this book up to read when you are feeling low.

Come in a romantic trope I didn't
know I wanted. I had a good laugh also at the pop culture references
This will be a series to
follow for romance 😊

#NetGalley #bookstagram #bookreview #goodreads @bookandtonic #romance #generalfiction @Aimee Brown

I was attracted to He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not by the title (of course) and by the cover so when I received my review copy I couldn't wait to start reading. The story jumps back and forth between the main characters with each one giving their version of events going on in their life (or past). At first I was confused by this as MMC Dax is a florist working a wedding where he is coerced into becoming some kind of a dancing flower boy. I had to go back and reread because I couldn't tell if this was a male or female character here. While Dax is cavorting down the aisle at someone else's wedding, our FMC Hollyn is dressed up to the nines and believing she is on her way to a marriage proposal from her longtime partner of eight years. What happens to Hollyn is definitely one of the best and most heart-rending written scenes I have read in a long time. I felt traumatized for her.
So, I am NOT a fan of the brother's best friend trope in romance, especially when they wait in the wings for years. However, Hollyn has estranged herself from friends and family and now she's begging on the doorstep with no place to go but home. Skank boyfriend has broken her heart, stolen her money and apparently kicked her out of her own apartment with a plane ticket and her suitcase. Dax does the honors and meets her at the airport because ... he is her brother's best friend. You know where it goes from here and I recommend it anyway.
Thank you Aimee Brown, NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC in exchange for a review.

This was a cute, quick read with minimal angst, but not lacking depth or heart. Hollyn is back in her hometown after many years away coping with the end of a relationship, and finds herself sharing a space with her brother’s best friend. enjoy the “brother’s best friend” trope and Dax, the best friend here was also the boy next door. I liked that there were some unconventional aspects to Dax’s character in that he was a florist and younger than Hollyn. Dax was also in love with Hollyn growing up and is exactly who she needs when she’s at her lowest. I loved that he seemed to really listen to her, and he was supportive and encouraging to help her find her way. He didn’t come across as a man with a savior complex trying to rescue her, and I appreciated that. The secondary characters of Dax and Hollyn’s friends and family, particularly River and Mercy, were a good addition to the story and helped establish their relationship.

While I enjoyed the characters and their personalities, histories, and relationships, I was a little distracted by the pacing, which felt disjointed at times. The repeated timing headings of “A few moments later” or “That afternoon, at (insert setting” being used instead of setting the scene in the context of the next paragraph threw off the flow of the story for me.

Overall, this was a pleasant read and I would recommend it for anyone in the mood for a sweet romance read.

He Love Me, He Loves Me Not read like your typical Hallmark Movie and that is what made is a fan read. It did have a lot of potential for it to be more deep and have more substance. I do love a good friends to lovers slow burn romance and thats why even though I did LOVE it I would still recommend this to everyone who loves a good romance book.

I feel a bit conflicted writing this review because my complaints about the book are very, sometimes very very, personal. And I understand most people will not have a problem with this. So the disclaimer is needed.

My main issue with this novel was that it felt like it wasn't edited. There were many times when things were repeated in two paragraphs in a row, which was definitely not necessary. And as a writer, that took me off the story for a second. Also, the little annotations showing which time of the day/scene we were in felt to me like something I write on my documents to remind myself of where the story is going or that I need to add something about a particular event. It isn't really something I see in books often. It's one thing to point out that there is a bit of a time jump, and then there is specifying that it's "later in the day" or "the same night". That's something that should be shown by describing the scene. It felt very first draft to me.

I am aware that criticism is slightly harsh. And also that most readers will not be so picky. Same for the structure. I felt like the beginning was a bit slow and then at the end, we had too many events that had to be quickly sorted because we were running out of book. And that also affected how fleshed out the characters were and how their relationships were developed. Big plots were solved in two lines. All is sorted all of a sudden when the conflict has been going on since the first chapter. And that makes me feel unsatisfied with the resolutions.

All that being said, most readers won't be as picky and analytical as I am. As I have mentioned before. So I wouldn't tell people not to read this book. But for me personally, it was a miss.

This was a super fun book to read and I fell for the characters immediately and wish I could have read more it was that good!

ARC REVIEW
He Loves Me He Loves Me Not by Aimee Brown
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A sweet romcom about starting over again.

💐Hollyn heads home after getting her heart broken. Little did she suspect that the boy next door, Dex, and a flower completion were exact what she needs to heal.

This was a good, quick read. Here’s what I loved:

🌺 the dialogue. This was an amazing example of hilarious dialogue that just worked. One liners, zippy comebacks, and the ever changing nicknames for Hollyn’s ex were spot on.

🌻 The side characters. Literally every one of them was amazing. I wanted to join in on this little world and be friends with all of them. Jake and Brynn had me dying in laughter. Mercy is the bff we all deserve. River was just the right amount of annoying little brother. The parents were iconic. I just loved them all.

🌸 The love story. I adored Hollyn and Dex. His childhood crush and their developing friendship made for some good angst. I wanted them to be together! Plus Dex is such a book boyfriend. This man had it all.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the ARC book in exchange for an honest review.

Release date: 12/8