Finished before archive date. A very enjoyable read.

The MC’s chemistry was through the roof! They were both great. I love the way this book was written and I absolutely love the tropes as well. I would 100% recommend this one!

Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books.

For the most part, this was an OK read for me. I enjoyed the cheeky and adorable family members, the banters, and the sexy moments. It was endearing how both MCs loved their families deeply – one of the best things in this novel. Both Skye and Bailey also held their own charm and were quite likable once the walls they built around themselves lowered… until they became too frustrating. :(

As with other reviews, I do think the drama was a bit too much at the end. Bailey obviously needs to work through her issues and it was crazy how she had it “easy” in the end. She just spewed a bunch of could-be-empty-promises as compared to what Skye was willing to do and was slowly making steps towards doing to make things right with Bailey and to better herself as an individual. Honestly, if the story wrapped up at 80% with HEA I’d have given it a higher rating. The last 20% was quite difficult to read.

Overall, an OK book but the drama could have been handled better in my opinion.

ARC received via NetGalley one exchange for an honest review.

I haven’t read Rivers before, and found this to be an ok read, but wasn’t blown away.

This features the old enemies to lovers trope, about MCs Skye, a real estate broker and Bailey, who owns a contraction company. The two meet on a job but don’t get along from the start. Bailey thinks Skye is self-absorbed and pushy, and Skye doesn’t think much of Bailey either. They spend the first third of the book irritating each other, while also being attracted to each other.

They also have links through their families (some of the entertaining side characters) and Bailey also owns Patsy the mini pit bull, who was the best character. They two see each other at work and through their families and eventually begin a relationship, but it’s marred by Bailey’s past issues with being cheated on by her partner and her incredibly low opinion of Skye.

The way this is written, I think the reader is supposed to somewhat side with Bailey and find her sympathetic, but I found her judgemental and grating. At the two thirds mark there’s the typical lesfic breakup and I felt really bad for Skye at that point, but I felt worse when she was forced to go grovelling back to Bailey. Just no. I’m not a fan of the contrived breakups that are pretty much always shoehorned into lesfic, and this one sort of had two of them. I’d have kept walking and not looked back after the first one, so the second was too much for me. Skye deserved better than Bailey and Bailey was so insecure that I didn’t buy that the issues were so easily resolved, or the resulting HEA 3 stars.

The book's main characters are Bailey and Skye. Bailey is a very busy contractor and Skye is a very busy commercial real estate broker, Both are too busy for love lives.
When these two women have to work together on a construction project, everyone except the women see how perfect they are for one another. This is despite the two bickering and trying to deny what is happening between them.
I would recommend.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sometimes an author does the enemies part of an enemies to lovers trope romance a bit too well. The early clashes between Bailey, the owner of a construction/design firm and Skye, a high flying commercial real estate broker make it clear these two women have a long way to go to becoming friends much less lovers.

Their ongoing clashes get in the way of an entertaining cast of secondary characters and each woman’s aspirations to be the best in their chosen career. Fear of coming out professionally and assumptions about mixing work with a relationship feel insurmountable for this couple.

A copy of this book was received from the publisher via NetGalley for review.

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲.

The storyline isn't new but I still found this novel pretty enjoyable purely because the main characters have good chemistry. This story revolves around commercial real estate agent, Skye, and the owner of a construction company, Bailey and how they navigate their feelings for each other and the ups and downs of their budding romance.

The story begins with Skye and Bailey meeting in a professional setting and not liking each other very much but they change their opinion after getting to know the other on a more personal level. They find themselves attracted to each other but there are obstacles to their budding romance as Skye prefers to keep her sexuality a secret in the workplace as she thinks lesbians would be discriminated against in the real estate world while Bailey has trust issues after having been hurt in a previous relationship.

I wish they could have trashed out their issues earlier but that's a small matter as the book is still generally pretty good to read. What makes this book enjoyable, as I mentioned, the chemistry between the characters. I like the interactions between Skye and Bailey even while they were still trying to figure out and were changing their minds about whether they want to be in a relationship and particularly enjoyed the intimacy between them. It's not just the sex but also the small intimate exchanges like a lingering touch or interwining hands.

I recommend this good read with a happy ending.

I very enjoyable read. The main characters were great and had chemistry I would recommend.



Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books.

I want to be in a long term relationship but my work life takes up so much of my time that the relationship will suffer. Also, I am in a profession where being an out lesbian will hinder my success. With the support of family, the main characters need to take a deep breath and process what they perceive as important in life...work life or personal life. More importantly, who will be there for you/with you at the end.

Skye Kohl, high-powered commercial real estate broker, striving to be the best in her field with the need for relationships on the back burner. Bailey Kaczmarek, successful construction company owner and kinda sorta looking for a relationship but was burnt by her previous relationship and is afraid to put herself back out there.

What I really appreciated and enjoyed was the growth of both characters as they self-reflected and made changes as they saw fit. Although redundant at times, I could understand what the author was doing because the type of changes that needed to be made where not to be taken lightly. Day-to-day life is not easy especially when you are in a relationship.

I really enjoyed ‘Last New Beginning’ and I’m looking forward to future realises by Krystina Rivers. The storyline, even tho not relatively new and has been ‘done’ before has powerful strong and interesting characters. I love how the family have been introduced in the storyline, there’s always something so ‘warm’ to have the older generations with their words of wisdom brought into the story. Even though I did enjoy the story, there is a lot of ‘to-ing and fro-ing between the pair, and you just want to bang their heads together and tell them to crack on with it.
All in all, Last new beginning is worthy of a read.

3.7 out of 5

Skye and Bailey are two independent women who take their jobs very seriously. At first, they do not get along, but the chemistry was there.
I enjoyed the fact that their families got involved in the narrative.
This is a fun read.

Bailey and Skye are both very passionate about their job. Bailey as the owner of a construction company and Skye as a high end broker. They end up at the same site and clash immediately due to their strong opinions on how things should go.

I enjoyed the banter between these two and the pull that kept drawing them back together. They don't want to date but they also can't stay away from each other and try to low-key 'hang out' as they call it.

It takes them both too many tries to let go of their baggage from past relationships and ideas on how they should live their life as the roots were planted so deep by our MC's. I like how they deal with it even though it takes them a little while.

I received an ARC via Netgalley in return of an honest review.

𝕋ℍ𝔼𝕄𝔼𝕊: ℂ𝕆ℕ𝕋𝔼𝕄ℙ𝕆ℝ𝔸ℝ𝕐. 𝕎𝕆ℝ𝕂ℙ𝕃𝔸ℂ𝔼. ℝ𝕆𝕄𝔸ℕℂ𝔼. 𝔼ℕ𝔼𝕄𝕀𝔼𝕊 𝕋𝕆 𝕃𝕆𝕍𝔼ℝ𝕊.

📚ᴀʀᴄ📖⁠

𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘:⁠
The book cover is really pretty. I kind of liked Bailey. I am not sure about Skye. The story was ok. The dynamics between Skye and Bailey were not fun. The start was shaky and the way they kept being presumptuous about each other was really frustrating. Bailey was a little goody-goody and her ways were rather hurtful. Why they even started hating each other was really ridiculous, but hey, we all have our moments.

I was really curious when I saw "meddling mothers", those are usually fun because then you know they are not homophobes. The way Bailey turned down Skye, now that was just nasty business and the reconciliation was not that heartfelt to be worth of pain these two caused each other.

𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝘼𝙍𝘾 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙫𝙞𝙖 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬.

I really liked the first half of the novel, where Bailey and Skye are sussing each other out. Both have particular opinions on the other, but their chemistry jumps from the page and they finally give in to the pull towards each other. However, there is a 'push' element to this story too, where they are in a constant back and forth on what they mean to each other and where to next. In the last quarter of the novel, I did find myself exhausted by this push/pull aspect, and I had to take some time out from the novel for a few days. When I came back to it, I liked the conclusion but wasn't as invested in their relationship.

I really liked the characterisation within this novel, from the two main protagonists to the secondary characters. This novel was packed full of well-rounded characters who all added their own bits to the story.

Overall, a chemistry packed, angst-filled romance. Looking forward to seeing what's next for Krystina Rivers.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Skye Kohl is a commercial real estate agent, Bailey Kaczmarek owns City Beautiful Construction. The two successful career women clash from their first meeting and it doesn't get much better as they begin working together on a project. Their clashes are nothing compared to the obvious attraction simmering beneath the surface that boils over the more time the two spend together.
I really enjoyed Krystina River's debut, Something Between Us and she continues to grow as an author with this book. She gives us two strong, relationship averse women, two sets of meddlesome families and sets it in the world of real estate, a world the author knows well. Skye and Bailey have excellent chemistry and witty banter, but their families are the stars of this story for me. I loved the way they interacted with each other and the main characters as they worked to get these two stubborn women.
Last New Beginning is a well written, fun second effort from up-and-coming author, Krystina Rivers and I look forward to what she brings us next.

An ARC was received from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley for an honest review.

A decent romance that has some fun moments, especially around the families of the two leading characters. These were my favourite bits, so I would have liked to have seen more of the mothers, grandmother and sister in the overall story. The Ukrainian and Polish food sounds well tasty too. This connection between Skye and Bailey was a nice idea and helped to cement their attraction and subsequent relationship. Skye didn’t quite pull off an ‘ice queen’ vibe, which seemed a shame as that seemed to be an interesting part of her personality. I wasn’t entirely convinced that she was flirting to succeed either or why she had to ‘reform’ for Bailey.

Skye Kohl maintains a carefully crafted persona so that she can be successful in her realtor job. Till that is, she meets Bailey who annoys her but somehow is starting to whittle away at that hard exterior.

I really liked the narrative flow of the story, it starts out a little ice queen / enemies to lovers and then a little bit of past trauma seeps in to make things interesting. Skye doesn’t start out being an immensely likable character but by the end of it all, you’re right there rooting for her. I loved the family dynamics of the two MCs and the meddling story arc was both hilarious and heartwarming at the same time.

There’s a ton of 🔥🔥 chemistry between the two and even though the angst portion makes you want to shake one of them, the end was worth the wait. I did wish there was an epilogue because after all that angst and burn the end felt a little shortened. Nevertheless this was a fun and enjoyable afternoon read.

Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After reading Rivers’ debut Something Between Us I was pretty excited to read her second book. While I enjoyed the book, I can’t say it was as enjoyable as her debut.

A book set in the real estate world of Chicago, a comfortable and very familiar world for the author. Skye and Bailey both work in real estate, Skye as realtor/ broker and Bailey in design/ construction. When they meet they butt heads immediately. Bailey has lots of preconceived ideas about Skye that she can’t let go throughout the book, it was annoying to me. I liked the character, but this just wasn’t a charming trait. Skye seems a tiny bit of an ice queen, that picture actually changes pretty quickly and I find that I like her best.

I think it takes a bit tooling for the characters to be together, also there is talks about spending lots of time together but we don’t read about it. At the same time they also say they don’t have enough time together and it’s entirely confusing to me. It almost feels like a few chapters have been removed and it results in a story where I miss a bit of the right flow and rushed, especially after the dark moment after 80% and the quick I love yous after….

Overall it wasn’t bad, but it was just lacking in certain parts.

Skye Kohl has made her mark as a commercial realtor, she fought for every step on the ladder to success. Now she finds herself working with another professional, Bailey Kaczmarek who represents the construction company working on the ‘Maxwell’, bringing it up to date, which makes it easier for Syke to lease the property.
For two women who basically work with the same goal in mind when it comes to fixing and leasing property. How they have never met is a mystery but now that they have, finding a way to work together without fighting will be the challenge. Not knowing the other's background they have a lot of catching up to make even a working relationship work. Anyone’s guess if they can manage, especially when both Skye and Bailey’s family are working hard to bring them together.
This is the second novel by Ms Rivers and I’m happy to say it’s every bit as good as the first. Great characters, both main and supporting. Fun, fast paced plot makes this another Rivers book I found hard to put down. Very, very enjoyable read.
ARC via NetGalley/Bold Stroke Books

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

This was a fun romance diving into a more experienced, more cautious relationship. As a fellow Chicagoan, I loved the environment with the both the city and the architecture making a key supporting role for these two. I also loved the families and the way they pushed their daughters to be healthier versions of themselves despite the way both Skye and Bailey pushed themselves into their work time and time again.

This was a cute enemies to lovers romance with Skye being a bit more of the traditional ice queen and Bailey having been burned in the past causing most of her insecurities about relationships. I feel like I learned a good amount about the real estate industry at the same time which was interesting. 4.5 stars ⭐️