Ben is a fantastic main character. I hadn’t read the book before this one (In the Event of Love) but I was able to jump right in and learn about the characters. Ben’s baking skills sound amazing, and learning about the relationship between Ben, Adam, and their group of friends was a great way to spend a weekend. Ben and Adam made me immediately pick up In the Event of Love, and I didn’t feel like I missed anything reading them out of order!

**Thank you for the ARC. All opinions are completely my own.**

2.5 stars.

This book was so meh and teetered on the edge of “not good.” I was very disappointed by the lack of cozy vibes that were promised.

There is little to no chemistry between the main character and his love interest. The villain is one dimensional. Even the grandma, who is supposed to be a quirky and fun character, turns out to be super boring and stereotypical of every other whimsical maternal figure in modern romance novels.

TLDR; You can skip this. Not enough smolder and chemistry.

My 2nd book by Courtney Kae and it was so great! I was rooting for this two in the previous books and I am so glad they got their own love story. So cute and funny! This was wonderful.

This was a lovely second instalment in the Fern Falls series!

A perfect read for summer, made me very hungry🤣

I don’t usually like friends to lovers but thought it was done really well in this book & it was really cute seeing the relationship blossom! Ben’s G’Ma is my hero tbh and was easily one of my favourite characters.

Courtney Kae is the reigning monarch of steamy queer Hallmark romance! Just as she did with her debut novel, In the Event of Love, she brings the softest, sweetest, most hilarious small-town romance vibes to her sophomore novel, In the Case of Heartbreak. Struggling cinnamon roll baker Ben has the chance of a lifetime to showcase his mountain-town bakery on a televised baking competition. He’s even managing to keep his anxiety under control – until longtime crush Adam walks away from him, right in front of the cameras. His eclectic grandmother’s multi-day blow out birthday bash seems like the perfect place to hide while his wounds heal, but wouldn’t you know it, Adam is the last-minute replacement in the live band. What happens next is the purest combination of hot and healing I’ve ever read. If you’d like to see two people who are damaged but still hopeful, hurting but always kind, afraid but unable to help themselves from falling in love – then this is the book for you. Courtney Kae handles sensitive topics with deep compassion and gentle care, and the beating heart of this book is the idea that we all deserve a happy ending, no matter where we start from.

This was such a gentle, sweet book. It does deal with some childhood trauma, which can be intense, so be warned about that. Filled with a zany grandma I fell in love with, a bakery, a musician, and a two week birthday bash, this book was a lot of fun.

I was super excited for this book as I really loved Adam and Ben’s story line in Courtney Kae’s first book In the Event of Love. I think Kae did a wonderful job handling the issue of mental health but that’s about all I can really say positively about this book. I feel like it was missing all of the charm and the heat her first book. The closed door spicy scenes differed from the first book in a way that felt incongruous as well and I really don’t know why? All in all after reading In the Event of Heartbreak I was left feeling wanting, which is weird because the book definitely dragged.

CW: child neglect, mental/emotional abuse, depression, anxiety, alcoholism, parental abandonment, divorce, stroke, parent with narcissistic personality disorder

I would like to thank NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing me with a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

After getting sort of rejected by his long-time crush on national TV, Ben travels to Maywell Bay to hide and celebrate his grandma’s 80th birthday celebration. Yet, when Ben’s crush, Adam, arrives as part of the musical entertainment for the celebration, Ben navigates his relationship with Adam while also dealing with his absent father threatening to ruin Ben’s shot of making his bakery a success.

In the Case of Heartbreak is the rom-com filled with fluff and pining you’ve been looking for!

Kae really provides a cozy, small town setting for In the Case of Heartbreak and their writing reflects that setting. In the Case of Heartbreak felt like a nice hug after a long day and it was easy to get right into the plot. I also really liked the cast of characters that Kae created for In the Case of Heartbreak and I feel that the cast dynamics worked well for this book.

I liked Ben as soon as the first page and I really related to him as a character. Ben goes through a lot of growth in the book and I think Kae did a great job with addressing Ben’s mental health struggles throughout In the Case of Heartbreak . Ben is such a likable character and you simply can’t help but root for him throughout the book.

While Kae writes this book with several darker content regarding to both Ben’s and Adam’s backgrounds, I ultimately think Kae leaves the reader with a sense of hope after reading In the Case of Heartbreak and handles this content with care (they even include an author’s note that explicitly talks about the content warnings and I also listed those content warnings in my review as well).

Now, the real highlight of the book was Ben and Adam’s relationship. I could write so many paragraphs about how cute their relationship is and how they were meant to be together and how Adam is one of the best book boyfriends I’ve ever read. You could tell very early on that there was something special about their relationship and time after time you can see that they were perfect for each other. You also get to see their relationship grow and I loved all the pining there was In the Case of Heartbreak .

If you are looking for a cozy, summer rom-com that makes you believe in soulmates, you will absolutely want to read In the Case of Heartbreak.

Ben Parrish, a pastry chef, has big dreams of moving his bakery to San Francisco. He entered a competition to show off his own recipes. While on camera, an embarrassing moment happens between him and the man he has been in love with his whole life - Adam Reed. Adam is a musician, a mechanic, and Ben’s neighbor. After being embarrassed and thinking Adam will never reciprocate feelings, he took off to his grandmother’s 80th birthday party on the beach. Thinking he will have time alone to deal with his heartbreak, he finds out his grandmother hired Adam to play at her party. Can Ben fix the issues caused from the disaster on camera? Will he tell Adam how he feels, finally? Will Adam ever feel the same way?

This is the second book in a series, the first one called In the Event of Love. I love the first book and the characters in the book, which made me want to read this one. I usually mostly read sapphic fiction, but I loved the writing style of the author, Courtney Kae, so I decided to read this one.

I loved the relationship/friendship between Ben and Adam. They’re very different in certain ways but I feel they compliment each other very well. I know some people don’t like the best friends to lovers trope, but I do and I love Ben and Adam together, any scenes with them together made me smile while reading.

There aren’t a lot of sex scenes, but the one with Ben and Adam baking? I loved it. You can tell they have a very sensual relationship and I love that. I feel that a lot of authors don’t delve deep enough emotionally with male characters. But I loved that Courtney Kae wasn’t afraid to have her characters show their emotion and talk about their feelings.

Ben’s mom and grandmother (G-ma) are supporting characters and I love them. Ben’s grandmother loves meddling in his sex life (and even gives him sex toys). She is so funny and probably one of my favorite characters. Ben could be an annoying character to me at times, but I also understand that the trauma he went through when he was younger affected him a lot.

Like I said before, I usually read mostly sapphic fiction, but I loved this book. It made me want to try reading more books like this. This is also the type of series where you don’t NEED to read the first book before this one. They have a lot of the same characters (Morgan and Rachel from the first book are talked about a lot in this one) but anything you NEED to know about the first one is explained in this one.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for sending me a free early copy in exchange for an honest review!

I liked the premise, but this dragged on a bit. The characters were alright. It was a closed door romance for the most part...I think maybe one scene where what they were doing was spelled out. It wasn't my favorite book, but I may try to read something else by this author in the future.

"My feelings for you are not fragile" is just living in my head rent-free now. Courtney Kae has done it again with a beautiful story in a beautiful setting with beautiful (and interesting) characters. It's a world that I want to live in even after I finish the book. A place where all kinds of people and all kinds of love are accepted without question or challenge. I loved Ben and Adam, as well as Badam. G-Ma definitely stole the scenes she was in though, good for her! She gave a great counterpoint to the heavy issues and trauma the characters needed to work through. Thanks for this gem, Courtney. I'll be sharing this with pleasure.

I couldn't wait to read Ben's story after reading In the Event of Love.

This time instead of going back to Fern Falls we get to head to Maywell Bay. This friends to lover story is full of angst and emotion and is sure to make you laugh with all of the funny characters and hilarity that ensues.

Read this for:
- M/M romance
- Reality baking tv show and going viral couple
- Hilarious Gma that will have you cackling
- Friends to lovers
- Resolving deep emotional trauma
- Lots of fun themed party celebrations!

Ben has the chance to shoot his coffee house and bakery to stardom when he's picked for a reality tv show thinking it could help bring in the financial means he needs. Unfortunately, things do not go as planned and his reality debut leaves him scrambling to get out of town as fast as possible.

He heads to Maywell Bay for his grandmother's eightieth birthday celebration. His friend of years who he has also been pining for for all those years shows up to help be part of the band playing all the parties. As they are forced together, the truth of the feelings each has for one another starts to unravel and the relationship of Ben's dreams starts.

The author gives content warnings which is great because this book does go really deep into a lot of emotional trauma and is covered extensively throughout the book. The journey Ben is on finds him doubting so much about his life, his feelings and his abilities. He struggles to overcome the challenges that face him, but eventually he is able to heal and move forward.

I loved the addition of the characters in Ben's family we got to connect with especially G-ma. It was also great to see the friends from Fern Falls make appearances, especially getting to know Whitney more. Adam turned out to be a hopeless romantic which was perfect for Ben!

This was a sweet and emotional read, that had me chuckling at several of the antics and funny moments!

Thank you to the Author, Kensington, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the ARC for an honest review.

This book was very sweet, probably as sweet as the cinnamon rolls that Ben has made a name for himself for. All the ooey gooey middle that gets too much after so long, where the icing becomes cloying to the point where if you have another bite, you might get sick. That is not to say that there isn't a need for books such as this one. We're living in a country that continues to attack our LGBTQIA+ siblings, and this book was a massive reprieve from all of that. There is not homophobia or transphobia or anything ugly regarding gender identity and sexual orientation. Kae says so in the beginning of her book that she wanted to create a safe space for everyone, and I will say that she did a great job in that aspect.

That being said, Ben and Adam felt almost 2-dimensional despite having been fleshed out entirely. We know their motivations. We know their hopes and dreams. We're told about their traumatic childhoods. In every sense of the word characterization, these two are great. But they were almost entirely too perfect. This book felt very Gen Z in how the interactions between our characters come across. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, but it's unrealistic. I don't know if it's because I'm a Xennial and we don't know what emotional validation is outside of therapy, but I just couldn't buy it half the time. I also felt that Ben's and Adam's flourishing relationship was leaning to being one-sided. Adam did a lot of validating Ben's feelings and understanding his trauma, and I didn't feel like Ben did the same.

I also felt that the a lot of the conflicts made up for this book were just that; made up. Recipes can't be copyrighted, so for Ben to potentially be disqualified from the show was stupid. It felt like the TV show was just a plot point to launch the book, but that's it. There was also Ben wanting to expand on his recipes, but it felt like that baking scene was just for the author to live out her own baking fantasies. Everything also tied up really nicely at the end and it felt very "deus ex machina". Also, if you're looking for a steamy good time, this book isn't for you. The lead up get steamy, but when it comes to the main event, it fades to black.

All in all, this wasn't a bad book. I wanted more out of it, but Ben and Adam were very cute and very sweet. Just be sure to brush your teeth afterwards so you don't get cavities.

Oh Ben. Oh Adam.

I really enjoyed this book, even more than the first one.

Great use of tropes. The anxiety felt real. At one point I was yelling at the book “Just let the man talk” but as the interruptions continued, it just made me giggle in a fate comedy of errors.

NET GALLH ARC

First off, Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to check out this title!
I was really rooting for this book! It has a TON of Queer representation, and it seemed like an interesting story. All that said, it was an INCREDIBLY slow, overly wordy narrative. It felt like forever before we got in to the first plot point, and for me, I prefer a quicker pace. There is a TON of description to set each scene, so if that is your preference, that may be a plus for you!

And the secret ingredient is: queer joy! This book ripped my heart out, rolled it in glitter and confetti and then put it back in its place.

I will never not be in awe of Courtney Kae’s way with words, the way every single character they create feels alive and real, and I’m so grateful she invented places where it feels safe and good to be ourselves as queer people.

This book, like In the Event of Love before it, is sweet and sexy and extremely queer. It’s the first time I (21 years old lesbian, non-binary) read an adult mlm romance and I have to admit I was worried the main couple wouldn’t resonate with me. I was soooo wrong. I aspire to be as loving and caring as Ben and Adam are, and to have a relationship like theirs someday. And what can I say about the side characters? It was great to meet some familiar faces again, but the award goes to G-ma Parrish and mama Laura. I felt loved just from reading how much they love Ben. My only complaint? Not nearly enough Rachel Reed in this book :( Courtney, pls bring the love of my life back in future projects thank u.

Jokes aside, I loved this book with all my heart and hope there’s much more in store for the Fern Falls/Maywell Bay crew.

My advice? Read this book as soon as it’s out, and take care of yourselves while doing it because there’s a lot of open and honest discussion around mental health and past trauma. Other than this? Love love love and support queer creators.

I loved this book! Courtney Kae does an amazing job of writing books that feel like a hug. This book is cozy, and real, and romantic. The best part - the communication!!! This book has some of the best communication between characters, no keeping secrets, no miscommunication that is just used as a plot device. The characters talk to each other about everything and it creates a wonderful story. It doesn't mean there isn't conflict, or that it's all sunshine and rainbows, but its all handled very well while still getting a HEA.

I loved all the cameos of other Fern Fall folks and the cute moments we get with Morgan and Rachel. The discussions of anxiety and how each character felt about progressing the physical side of their relationship was so well done and gets multiple gold stars from me!

This book is a giant, pastry-scented hug! It featured a duo of super sweet cinnamon rolls and loads of supportive friends and family side characters. Reading about G-Ma's antics and the wildest birthday celebration ever (TRULY, goals) was the perfect escape. Though the setting is party-central, heavier topics were present—and Kae handled everything with absolute care, from the characters' mental health representation to careful, unequivocal consent. BADAM FOREVER!

This book had my heart smiling so much. It was soft and spicy and profound. It was also really funny at times. I actually audibly laughed at some of the characters' antics. My only takeaway would be that the ending felt a bit rushed, but I'm not mad about it.

Thank you so much, Netgalley, for this ARC. I absolutely loved this book. Ben & Adam, and their love was so precious. The supporting cast of characters made it even better, and I'm not gonna lie. I've been way hungrier while reading this book 😂😂

This was such a sweet romance, and the anxiety rep was just fantastic. A new favourite author, that's for sure.