I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Accidentally in Love is an aggressively average romance, and if I had not been offered a chance to read an early copy by the publisher, I’d have passed on it, especially as while I do own a copy of the first book (won in a giveaway), I haven’t read it, due to hearing about some problematic elements from friends and reviewers I trust. Fortunately (?) this book was inoffensive, but also rather boring.
There are some pros that kept me reading, mainly related to the characters as individuals. Sam has Graves’ disease and had her thyroid removed, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that on-page in a romance before. I enjoyed reading about how someone who is invested in her career also navigates the related burnout of all the things going on in her life.
Russ is also pretty interesting. He’s a bit of a wastrel, and I liked how the narrative focused on his journey toward finding some stability in his life.
The friend group is also great, and it includes the couple from the prior book (Russ’ brother and Sam’s boss). I enjoyed the dynamics between them, and how they help to support the leads. Russ and Reid in particular have a great arc of growing closer as brothers that really stood out.
One thing I wish had been more present was Sam’s parents’ relationship. They’ve had their problems over the years, including being separated for a while, but now they’re back together, and I loved seeing Sam’s relationship with them and how she’s trying to support them in their new chapter. I’d love a book about them as they navigate their second-chance love.
By contrast, I found the main romance between Sam and Russ so bland. Part of it is likely my burnout with “just a fling” romances, especially when they impose a time limit on it, as these books rarely convince me that there’s anything more between them or that they should be together long-term. I guess they’re ok together, but worth swooning over? Not so much.
While I didn’t care for this book, I didn;t go in with super high expectations to begin with. However, it might work for you if you’re looking for a lighthearted contemporary romance, and you’re not bothered by the same things.

Read if you like:
👙Body Positivity
🍸Bartender MMCs
🙌🏼 Redemption Stories
📸 Insta Love
💋 Diverse Love Stories

This one was such a great follow up to The Accidental Pin-up and I loved being back with these characters and seeing the redemption story for Russell and Sam’s leading lady moment!

There was most definitely insta attraction for Russell as he was gonna knock Sam’s walls down if it was the last thing he did in this steamy romance!

I loved the inclusion of so many different minorities that are marginalized to include LGBTQ, Chronically Ill, BiPOC, and the inclusion of body positivity!

Overall this was such an enjoyable romance and I hope others love it as much as I did!
Thanks so much Berkley Romance for my ARC if this one!

This was a cute, fun read. It was fun to be back in this place with a few known characters again. Overall, it was good.

I was so excited to read this book and dove all the way in.

The book just lost me somewhere and I’m not really sure where that place was. I did enjoy the story but also couldn’t tell you much about it aside from that.

I know for a fact that this is a 5 star read for someone but for me it is a 3.

I couldn't wait for this book to come out and then I just stalled while reading it. I love this main character but the story just felt off to me. I plan to try and read it again in a few months. Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy. #NetGalley #AccidentallyinLove #didntfinish

Samantha Sawyer is curvy, has Graves disease (w/thyroid removed) and is busy working as an office manager for her best friend at Buxom Boudoir. She takes on the added responsibility of a vintage bus mobile photo booth with plans on it hitting the various festivals near Chicago. Russell Montgomery is working as lead bartender at an upscale restaurant. After years of being a wastrel he finally is getting his act together with the help of his brother. He just finished his associates degree and plans to go to culinary school. His boss at the restaurant wants him to man a food truck for the festival season.

I read as a stand alone but this is a sequel to The Accidental Pinup (July 2022). The MCs from that book are Sam’s boss and Reid who is Russell's brother. They appear often in this story. Sam and Russell are pushed together by their friends. Russ has been asking Sam out again and again with her say no many times. This is supposed to be endearing but I found it crossing boundaries and not appealing. Of course they are going to get friendly and light some sparks. But she doesn’t know he’s leaving soon.

There is a good bit of information dump so you don’t need to read the first book. And from how I read this neither Reid or Russ having the greatest backgrounds. I’m talking their actions in the previous book not how they were brought up. If the author wasn’t a person of color I might think the writer was using stereotypes. I’m not sure how being a great bar tender qualifies a person to set up menus for a food truck either but I went with it for the story’s sake. I love the cover and but the didn’t find the writing great. It is a typical story with a good friend group but nothing made me laugh or made this stand out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC and I leaving a voluntary review.

The day is here my sappy little love bugs !

We also might have a little snowstorm in July because this Ice Queen is fan girling out over Accidentally in Love .

 I pulled an all-nighter last night, and woke up without an alcohol hangover, but a BOOK HANGOVER. I set myself up for a little date (with myself). I needed to set the mood and channel my inner romantic. I haven’t read a romance novel since I was stealing my grandmother’s cowboy riding paperbacks. Anyway, I poured myself a glass of wine, lit some candles, and jumped in the tub. Danielle Jackson , my girl, you have knocked my stinky little socks off and rocked my world. This is not your typical romance novel. This is also highly comedic. I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more. I was completely consumed and addicted to this novel. My tub water got cold, my skin pruned, but I just couldn’t get out. I needed to finish.

Big congratulations to Danielle Jackson on her upcoming publication of Accidentally in Love.

Absolutely incredible, check out this teaser:

When Sam is stuck sharing the streets for Chicago’s summer festivals with a man she can’t stand, she’ll find it’s often a bumpy road that leads to love….

As office manager of the city’s leading luxury boudoir and pinup photography studio, lovable grump Samantha Sawyer has everything under control. With an eventful summer season on the horizon, Sam is balancing a hectic workload while preparing the Buxom Boudoir “Photobus,” a vintage coach bus converted into a mobile photobooth and meeting space, to make the rounds at Chicago’s bustling summer street festival roster. Sam’s busy schedule makes avoiding the difficult parts of her life much easier, but there’s one person who can see right through her to-do lists and icy façade, really see her.

A lot has changed in the last year for Russell Montgomery. Years of odd jobs and couch surfing around the country had left him scrambling, but after reconnecting with his brother, Reid (and coming as close to settling down as he’s ever been), Russ now works at a hot local restaurant. Russ has been welcomed into his newly engaged brother’s circle of friends—all except a close friend and coworker of Reid’s fiancée, an intriguingly stormy woman named Sam.

Luckily, Sam is certain that the chaos of her calendar will ensure their distance, and she won’t have to deal with Russ or his irritating, handsome smile. But when Russ is charged with the launch of a restaurant food truck for the festival circuit, the sizzling Chicago heat is no match for the fire between them….

Premise:
-contemporary romance told in third-person POV
-second book in an interconnected series of standalone romances
-office manager of Chicago's leading boudoir photography business, Samantha Sawyer, has a busy summer ahead of her!
-However, Russell Montgomery, her best friend's fiance's brother, has been in town for a year now and has become enamored with Sam
-Russ continues to ask Sam out until she finally gives him a chance and since he is leaving in the fall to attend culinary school in New York City, they decide to "let the summer play out"
-Russ has been emailing his mom (who abandoned him and his brother when they were young) for years, updating her on his life and his feelings
-Sam's absent father comes back into her mom's life and she navigates uncomfortable feelings about allowing him back into hers, and getting to know him again
-Sam was diagnosed with Graves' disease and is confront the internalized fatphobia she has about her new body now that she's gained a bit of weight
-steam: 1.5/5 (sex is described, but nothing toooooo explicit)
-tropes: grumpy x sunshine, friends-with-benefits, summer-fling
-cw: fatphobia, diet culture, tame sexual content, abandonment, neglect, familial trauma

Thoughts:
I really wanted to love this! I loved the premise of a summer fling between two people who clearly had more interest than they were letting on. However, I struggled with a few things:
-the pacing: I knew this took place over a summer but sometimes, I didn't realize that it wasn't "the next day" until I saw text saying "two weeks passed". It felt hard to follow, and hard to believe there couldn't be any text exchanges in between that time passing?
-the internalized fatphobia of Sam was rough. I totally empathize, because gaining weight in an unforgiving society that treats fat people horribly is not fun. It's a struggle and you have to unlearn a LOT when it comes to the ingrained diet culture and messaging that we all perpetuate. However, it was frustrating that Sam didn't fully challenge her internalized fatphobia. I recognize no one is perfect and that of course, even with a fat best friend who is the face of confidence, you can still have body image issues. I think it's realistic but I only wish it was more explicitly challenged and body neutrality had come into play.
-the way all of their friends and the leads made Russ' big reveal of going to culinary school in New York? Why is that Sam's business and why does she deserve to know immediately? Yes, they're friends but not all of my friends are entitled to all of my life decisions immediately.

I did enjoy the found family of this group. It's clear that this group of friends love each other more than anything and that they lift each other up and empower one another. This is the type of friends group I'd love to be a part of (I moreso have friends that I hang out with 1:1 because they're all from separate parts of my lives, which I'm grateful for, but when I see friends groups like this, I get envious haha). I think this group of friends would be fun to watch on TV and maybe that would be a better format for all of their stories to shine.

I hated the first book, and I knew I shouldn't read this one but I did it anyway. I try to do two books before I give up on an author. I had all of the same problems with this book as I did the first. The writing is decent, its the plot and characters that ruin it for me.
Thank you Berkley Romance for the eARC.

This is a book for everyone, but readers struggling with regaining confidence in their changing bodies will find this book exceptionally relatable. Romance readers will find charming characters and a romantic duo worth rooting for. Meanwhile, secondary characters round out a group of friends worth visiting.

I hoped I'd enioy this - although going by reviews of the first book(? Goodreads didn't mention it was a series aahhh) and this one, I'm not at all alone.

The immediate, glaring issues I had with this mostly concerned the writing technique rather than story. I like my representation to feel organic in a story. So when people, settings and other plot markers are announced As If In Capital Letters and checking off some sort of enlightened contemporary novel to-do list, it feels like a writer is shoe-horning it all in for tokenism.

I haven't read the first book in this series, but immediately the writing in this one is an info-dumpy exercise in boredom. If listing off that your characters are curvy, queer, BIPOC, and chronically ill right off that bat is what a reader is looking for, sure, you might like this. But when the delivery is wonky like this? Shoved in my face with clumsy paragraphs dumping it onto the page? Bleh.

There's also parts where the editor was slacking, full of repetition of things already explained to the reader.

There was some good depiction of mental health as concerning body image after chronic illness, and I really felt the friendships between characters. The romance...eh.

Thank you to Net Galley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of Accidentally in Love by Danielle Jackson

Thank you for letting me read this arc!!


Where do I start I love the writing in this book. I was gushing and this was my first book from Danielle Jackson. I thought the pacing of the book was good.

I can’t wait to gush about this.

Overall, I did enjoy this one. Despite a pretty typical storyline, Jackson highlights many aspects of life that are not highlighted as often, such as women's, specifically Black women's issues with thyroid and its effects, but also men with mommy issues.

The pacing of this book is on par which I appreciated because if it were any longer it could feel like a drag.

The constant mentioning of food did make me hungry lol.

I also loved their supportive friend group.

I did end up DNFing this one pretty early on. I am not really a fan of the trope where the MMC is all "I'm going to keep asking and one day you'll say yes" to the FMC. It just really doesn't do it for me and makes me feel a little ill, so definitely not for me in a romance book.

Let me first say that I LOVE this cover. The colors, the illustration. It's gorgeous! It definitely made me want to pick this one up.

I enjoyed this book. The push and pull between Sam and Russ was good and the steamy scenes were great. That scene on the photobus! PHEW! It was hot!!!

It fell a little short in terms of the x factor between the two of them that I look for in romance books. There was a lot of internal dialogue and a lot of scenes with Sam and Russ and their friends and family and not enough of just the two of them, in my opinion.

Overall, a good read but the Danielle Jackson's first book is my favorite between the two.

Steam level: 🔥🔥🔥
⚠️: chronic illness

Accidentally in Love is the second novel in the world of the Buxom Boudoir ladies and their community in Chicago. It follows grumpy office manager, Sam Sawyer, who is struggling with a recent thyroid surgery and the aftermath; her never married parents’ changing relationship; and a sunshine-y sweetie pie who won’t give up pursuing her. Add on top of that trying to keep up with managing all the projects at Buxom Boudoir and figuring out her life path, and well - she’s got a lot going on. MMC Russ has always been a rolling tumbleweed, never staying in one place long, but since reconnecting with his older brother Reid (The Accidental Pinup MMC), he has been in Chicago for far longer than most places. He’s almost finished his associates degree, held down a steady job, has a regular social group, and discovered his passion for cooking. If only, the extremely beguiling and beautiful Sam would give him the time of day. Set amid the Chicago festival scene, a summer love story serves as the delivery method for this story of two people figuring out who they are and what they want their future to be.
I, yet again, was completely enamored with the Buxom Boudoir ladies’ community. A group of badass creative mavens with business minds building each other up and blossoming in a non-conforming social space. A space populated with BIPOC, LGBTQ persons, and curvy queens. It’s a space that is exciting and fills me with antsy idealism craving these spaces to be mainstream and ordinary rather than exceptional. Ugh, I want to be a character in this world SO bad.
I’m really enjoying the deeper look into characters from this world I love so much, and sincerely hope more are to come!! Kit’s story next please!!!
Read it and revel in all the glory! Release date 8/8/2023.
Thank you NetGalley for the free copy!

When I read The Accidental Pinup, I fell in love with the main and side characters. And reading this book, I am just a bit disappointed that there were written the way they were. I thought this book was a bit repetitive at times, and had a bit too many time skips that I felt, as a reader, left out important parts of the characters’ development. Furthermore, the connection between Russ and Sam wasn’t as strong and sizzling as I was led to believe.

I enjoyed this book. The characters were well thought out and the plot was paced in a way that made sense. I would recommend this book to others and would enjoy reading other novels by this author.

Read an ARC of this via NetGalley
This book never quite clicked for me. In the first few chapters, some of the backstory of each character got bogged down and felt rather repetitive. Sam’s health struggles and stress were reiterated multiple times, Russ’s family history/trauma deeply delved into, but it didn’t always work to progress the story. I wanted there to be more movement towards them getting together, and instead the characters spent too much time apart.
The author does a great job of writing female friendship, and I found myself more interested in scenes with the friends/side characters. Unfortunately, in a romance novel that’s not exactly what I’m looking for.