Blush is the first in what I hope to be a very long series. Helen Hardt never lets her readers down, and this spicy treat lives up to its name. If you don’t blush, well, have you ever really read HH then?

Mandy has been in love with Jackson for most of her life, but he has her placed firmly in the “friend zone.” Knowing that Jackson is never going to see her as more than a friend, Mandy decides she’s going to try a dating app and gain herself some experience. This action was the push that Jackson needed to finally open his eyes.

Jackson is a dominant and a long time member of a sex club. When he hears what Mandy has planned he takes her to the club in the hopes that it will scare her back into her bedroom. It does not. In fact, it opens a world of wonder for her and she wants Jackson to show it to her.
Mandy is curious and open about what she wants, Jackson not so much. You can tell that they have chemistry, and after being friends for so long, you would think Jackson would know the type of person Mandy is, however it feels like he just wants to control her. That may just be the dom/bestie in him though. Throughout the entire story, their back and forth was slightly frustrating, Jackson couldn’t make up his mind on what he was feeling, and at one point it just felt like he was leading poor Mandy around. When it finally happens, it’s a fabulous scene!

Thankfully HH is one heck of a writer and knows how to weave a really good friends to lovers romance. Overall Blush is a really good read, similar to some of her other work, but non the less a really spicy adventure. Happy reading friends!

4 ⭐️
2.5 🌶️

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced reader copy. I'm not a huge fan of Helen Hardt, but this was a good read. I'll read the rest of this series for sure.

Love love love her and her storytelling style. If I could rate this ten stars I would! Sexy, steamy and just wow. If you haven’t read her yet, do yourself a favour a pick this one up. Does not disappoint!!!!

Normally, I leave positive feedback when it comes to romance, because I am a simp for romance. But Blush was an exception.
I don’t mind friends to lovers trope, not at all, when it is done correctly, but boy did this book make me mad. From page one, the nicknames and the constant I want her right now put me off.

Characters felt one dimensional and no growth whatsoever. Good for readers who love just spice in their books and no plot or character growth.

Thank you to the author Helen Hardt, publishers Entangle: Amara Press, and TLC Book Tours, for an advance digital copy of BLUSH. All views are mine.

𝘈𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘕𝘰𝘸!

When I was invited to read BLOOM, Helen Hardt's follow up to BLUSH, I said absolutely, yes, I mean, have you seen these covers? They are gorgeous! I asked to read BLUSH first, so I could see where the story started and I went in completely blind. I like surprises.

And wow was I surprised. BLUSH is a deeply personal story of Amanda, a successful but lonely young woman, who discovers her place among an underground S&M community, and falls in love with the perfect partner for her. I was impressed with the beauty of the prose here, and how sensuous the spicy scenes are. I think this book is an example of how fine smut can be: a good story and perfect spice.

BLOOM was not such a surprise, of course, and I don't think I enjoyed it as much for that. I love that the main protagonist is an old friend from BLUSH-- Amanda's sister, Francesca, recently broken up from her fiance, just before their wedding. It creates wonderful tension in the story. Again, I think the story in BLOOM is great, which elevates this piece in its genre. Very spicy again, although I didn't connect as much with the kink in this book.

I'm so excited to read the last book in the series, BLOSSOM, due out January 24. Honestly, I'm totally sold on the series. And I'm not typically a series girl! But this is really good work!

Blush:
Cover: 5
Character Work: 4.5
Story: 4
Settings / World Work: 3.5
Ending: 4
Steam: 5
Rating: 4.33

Bloom:
Cover: 5
Character Work: 4
Story: 3.8
Settings / World Work: 3.5
Ending: 4
Steam: 4.3
Rating: 4.26

Recommend? Definitely!
Dates finished: July 27 (Blush) and 28 (Bloom)
Format: Advance Digital Copy (NetGalley and TLC Book Tours)

This isnt my favorite of the Helen Hardt books. It is a standalone series in the midst of a series. This starts off quite interesting and funny with a friends to lovers desire. It turns into a BDSM for dummies workshop? then friends to lovers.. then just lover.. then just friends.. then friends to lovers.. its a strange set up. I wanted to love this book and the narrators were amazing.. It just felt off

While this book is part of a series, it also works as a standalone.

I am pretty sure this is the spiciest friends-to-lovers book I have ever read. MCs Amanda (Mandy) and Jackson (Jack) have been friends their entire lives. Mandy has always had a crush on Jack, but he has never allowed himself to think of her as anything other than his best friend. She's an introvert, he's been a player- very much opposites attract type situation.

Mandy decides she wants to branch out and gain more sexual knowledge and experience. Jackson is a member of a secret, underground, members-only sex club. Let's just say he ends up giving her quite the education 🔥🔥🔥

While there were times where it seems like things drug on a bit, overall this was a book I didn't want to put down. I look forward to reading the next in the series!

Mandy and Jackson were quite the couple. I read this BDSM romance pretty quickly. This is definitely a friends to lovers with a good amount of spice sprinkled in. I loved watching Mandy grow and become more confident. It was also fun to read Jackson's internal struggle when it came to his wants and his shifting view of his best friend. I gotta say the Zorro scene was definitely bookmarked as that was really funny.

Hot & steamy with an enjoyable storyline! I liked this book & Amanda’s development in her new world of sex & bdsm… A great book to any smut reader who needs an “easy read” with some great spice.

Will definitely be picking up the next book in the series!

HARD NO. I found content in the first 35 pages incredibly offensive - Mandy can eat nachos but not her sister who gains weight easily! Or her toxic friends! Good thing Mandy's got mom's cute lil body! No wonder Jackson is Mandy's only friend. She's a terrible person surrounded by even more terrible people. The NYC setting is so inauthentic (says Mandy lives in the Village and Jackson lives in Manhattan in the same paragraph, as if the Village isn't in Manhattan). Gigi wearing leggings and a tunic to the bar - is this historical fiction?? IDK, maybe this gets better, but I can't get behind an unlikeable character whom the author clearly doesn't intend to be unlikeable. I couldn't even get to the BDSM part to tell you if that feels authentic or healthy because the beginning was just so disgustingly toxic and reductive.

This book leaned on too many troupes that I don't like and are somewhat triggering for me. From Jackson's manipulation when he first finds out Mandy is on a dating app and catfishing her in an attempt to scare her. The constant repetition of how "sweet and innocent" Mandy is and how he doesn't want to "ruin" or "taint" her by introducing her to his sexual world - which is a virgin-saint/slut binary I never thought I would find in a book about BDSM. There was also little to no character development in the book. Jackson is controlling in all aspects of his life and his relationship with Mandy, even before it becomes sexual. And his refusal to accept his feelings for her, while also refusing to let her explore other partners is truly reprehensible.

The perfect friends to lovers steamy romance. Throw in a bit of BDSM and I'm sold! I really liked how Mandy's introduction to the BDSM was handled - just because she is inexperienced it doesn't mean she doesn't know what she wants. Mandy's character development was great to witness and although Jackson's was a bit of a slower development, we go there in the end with understanding his motives. The dual POV helped with seeing both sides of the story and is one of my favourite ways to read - there is something about reading the male POV (as a woman) to get that extra bit of insight.

Overall, I thoroughyl enjoyed this story and would recommend to those who love to read romance. If you are new to reading about BDSM, this would be a good place to start as it is fairly mild. I would read another book by this author without hesititation!

Okay so I’ve tried to give this author a couple of tries with different books and her writing is just not good.

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to receive this book for a positive review.

The characters Mandy and Jackson are best friends, but they are both in love with each other.
It did make me wonder if their friendship can stay the stay with the different situations that they endur.
I will have to wait and see.

I have to start by saying I expected a lot more spice from this book than it delivered.
The synopsis was pretty intriguing but I have to say that it fell a bit flat for me about halfway trough. There was so much miscommunication happening that it just annoyed me. It's to really my trope to begin with, but this was really way too much for my liking. Due to that the story seemed a bit repetitive at parts. I did enjoy some parts of the book but overall was just really annoyed by it most of the time.

This author consistently brings the 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 steam rating and this book is no different.

Childhood friends to lover can be a tricky trope to navigate but the author skilfully moves us through the friendzone to hotzone via an intruiging storyline that keeps you interested to the last page.

A potentially cringe storyline (using an old friend to learn how to be a seductress and burn the sheets up) instead this story is full of love and care between characters who fall deeper in more than lust by the end

It was a quick steamy read.. but just ok. Not one that I would necessarily recommend.

Left me wanting more..

No one does deliciously hot like Helen Hardt. Blush is an erotic friends to lovers romance that will make you blush for sure!
"What he wants from you will make you…Blush"

Holy hotness batman! This book is decadent in its sinful ways!

Blush is a kinky twist on the childhood friends to lovers trope. Our heroine, Amanda, has limited experience and an unrequited crush on her childhood best friend, Jackson, who is secretly (from her) very experienced and a member of a private BDSM sex club. In a bid to get over her crush, Amanda asks for Jackson’s help setting up a dating app that attracts attention. Jackson doesn’t want his innocent friend to attract the wrong kind of attention, but that’s what she thinks she needs to get over him (but of course she keeps that part to herself.) When Jackson secretly makes a profile on the app and reaches out to Amanda, his goal is to scare her off of this path so she won’t get hurt by untrustworthy strangers. The scariest place he can think of bringing her? The BDSM sex club that he’s a member of. But of course, things won’t go according to this plan, and the two friends go down a path together that neither of them were anticipating, with plenty of bumps and angst along the way. Fans of genre-typical BDSM-driven scorching-hot novels will find this novel on-brand and entertaining. It was especially refreshing to see a work address essential aspects of safe, consensual, and discreet BDSM practices seamlessly into the story. Some other aspects that I haven’t seen often in other similar novels that were touched on in Blush include, but are not limited to: rimming, spider gags, first-aid kit access, and Dom drop. It’ll be great to see more of those aspects explored in future novels as well.

I couldn’t get enough of Jackson & Mandy. They had great chemistry. Loved, loved, loved it. And am voluntarily leaving my review.