Thank you, Netgalley, the author, and Kensington Books for the gifted e-book! ❤️ #gifted. My review is comprised of my honest thoughts.

Read this book if you like: Friends to lovers, LGBTQ representation, dysfunctional families, cooking shows, mental health representation

It's so cute. It's angsty and sweet. I can't believe it took me so long to get to it. I flew through it as soon as I picked it up. It's a bit over the top in many parts, but I mean... it's a romance. Very well done!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for an e-arc in exchange for a review*

Everything about this book was lukewarm.

“In the Case of Heartbreak” follows our main character, Ben who’s a baker and is planning on going on a reality tv baking show, until everything goes to shit, including making a fool of himself in front of his lifelong crush Adam. Thankfully, he’s leaving for his Grandma’s 80th birthday party, away from all the drama. Until his deadbeat music director dad stirs up drama.

This book was very okay. The relationship between Ben and Adam was cute, but felt rushed. Ben basically had a life long crush on this dude and thought he didn’t like him back but honestly the second we meet Adam he seems VERY interested. Overall, the characters were very two dimensional. Don’t even get me started on the grandmother, who was literally only used as a plot device. This novel didn’t really feel planned out which is my biggest gripe. It definitely felt like a bad Hallmark movie where everything gets solved 10 minutes from the end. Additionally, why was there like a 20 page baking foreplay scene??? It was actually so terrible I had to skim through it because it made my entire body cringe. Ewe.

While this book did nothing offensive or wrong, it simply just was not good. I will definitely be forgetting everything about this book in 2 weeks.

What a delight! Sweet yet angsty and deeply heartfelt. A timely queer escapist romance. Cozy, funny, and emotional.

Unfortunately, this book was a huge disappointment for me.

Almost everything is over the top, the plot is rather silly and I found myself really bored for large parts of the books. The two protagonists have several sweet scenes but that's about it.

I unfortunately didn't get to read/review this book, as I was hospitalized for the Spring of 2023. Cleaning it up now to remove it from my feedback loop. I apologize for the lack of review! I did read and review the first book in this series, and love Courtney Kae's writing.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

A cute queer Hallmark movie in a book. Low angst, friends to lovers, in a small town setting. Didn't love the reality tv plot, but thats just me.
Thanks netgalley for the review copy.

I was very torn throughout the whole book.
I really enjoyed the beginning, getting to know the characters and I loved it but then a whole lot of miscommunication happened and especially the typical always getting interrupted thing, which I hate.
It was a bit weird to me that with Ben‘s anxiety that he just went along with it, my anxiety could never. No matter what interrupted us, as soon as I can I‘d have to ask what he wanted to say.. but well

Towards the end of the book when the romance was in full swing (also in between sometimes) there were the cutest scenes and moments which saved the book in my eyes.

Random little fact: the 'darling' comments KILLED me!!

Thanks to NetGalley for the earc

It’s not a cinnamon roll (iykyk) 😉 but cake will do.

If you haven’t read @court_kae yet what's stopping you?

I love these characters and their feelings and their stories and all the characters in Fern Falls and can't wait to read more from this series.

Courtney is an auto-buy author for me and you need to read these books. ❤️


P.S. these books go really good with cake or any kind of baked good, really. ☺️


Special thanks to @kensingtonbooks for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book! Ben and Adam were very cute, their story was very sweet and comforting, and this was just a very simple, fun, easy holiday read. I really enjoy Courtney Kae's writing style, and her books never fail to make me smile. I recommend this one if you're looking for a quick, cute, light romance!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh man, it was so nice to be back in Fern Falls! I was able to read an advanced copy of Kae's first book and this one was just as anticipated for me. I absolutely LOVED Ben. He's everything that I look for in a character and his voice and personality just leapt off the page. His character contrast alongside Adam was great. The anxiety rep spoke to my soul and honestly, this is a book that I've gone back to reread.

I can't wait to see what comes next from this author because both of the books I've read from her have been outstanding!

This was actually really cute. I didn't expect to like this the way that I did. I loved the tension between the two characters and the character development. Would recommend to everyone

A friends to lovers MM romance set in a small town is exactly what I was looking for! This book was sweet, charming, and easy to want to keep reading. very hallmark vibes but in a good way, it works for our two MMCs. Another great book by Courtney Kae!

This was not for me. It did not feel like it was told from an authentic voice. It’s a cute concept, just not engaging.

YESSSS!!! The perfect sweet and easy romance for summer!
Can't wait to see what the author comes out with next!

In The Case of Heartbreak is the follow up to In The Event of Love, built in the beautifully open and queer world of Fern Falls. Ben and Adam's story is funny and sweet, as sweet as Ben's cinnamon rolls.

I was entertained the whole way through. - lots of funny scenes and lots of family drama too. Courtney Kae's writing live in a world I wish I lived in too.

I wanted to love this one. I really enjoyed the first Fern Falls book, In the Event of Love, and was excited to see what a second book, a m/m friends-to-lovers romance, could bring to the table. Unfortunately, this just wasn't the book for me. At least for the first quarter of the book (the part I read) there is an extremely implausible legal narrative driving the plot that as a lawyer I just couldn't stomach. Combine that with the overly emotional romance arc, and it just wasn't my cup of tea. I, sadly, ended up DNFing this one. Several of my friends really enjoyed this one, and many of my hang-ups were personal, so I'd still suggest giving it a try, and I plan to continue trying books in this series/by this author.

Thanks to Kensington for my ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3 stars - 6/10

This was such a sweet, romantic follow-up to Kae's first book, following some of our favorite characters, in our favorite town. A delight!

A great follow up to the original story and especially if you enjoyed the first book and wanted to know where the other character’s stories went from there. Missing the holiday vibes of the first book since it’s set during the summer which I think takes away from the novelty of the book but still a good read with lots of laughs.

This was a cosy, emotional and funny escape from reality.

Ben, owner of the café in the quaint mountain town of Fern Falls, is taking part in a national competition on live TV. During the filming, the crew captures an embarrassing moment between Ben and his long-time crush Adam, a musician. To make matters even worse, Ben's estranged father suddenly pops up again to claim Ben's cinnamon roll recipe is actually his, endangering Ben's place in the competition. Luckily Ben can run away to his grandmother's beach-side property for weeks of birthday celebrations for grandma's 80th. Unfortunately, grandma loves to meddle, so guess which musician will be performing at all of her birthday celebrations and sharing a house with Ben?

I adored the setting of Fern Falls in the first book, but it makes absolute sense for Ben and Adam to leave the small town and have their romance set at the beach. That said, a lot of the story felt very contrived and over-the-top. The "older woman is a party animal" caricature has been done to death. Grandma is seemingly dealing with some financial troubles, but Ben and his mother still don't intervene when her birthday parties only get bigger and bigger.

But, putting reality aside for just a minute, the book does what it promised: it delivers a sappy and sweet romance that'll make you forget about the real world for just a bit.