This book is a modern and queer take on the classic Pretty Woman narrative. The premise immediately captivated me, with its unique blend of a plant shop owner meeting an app designer. The clever app concept and humorous touches, including playful jabs at straight people, added to the enjoyment.

I had higher hopes for this book, drawn in by its stunning cover and intriguing premise. While I adored the characters Cole and Teddy, and found them charming together, the writing felt awkward, and the plot left much to be desired. The pacing was too quick, and the focus on unsavory side characters overshadowed the development of Cole and Teddy's love story.

Despite my personal preferences in writing style and storytelling, this book isn't inherently bad. I recommend it, particularly for enthusiasts of the "pretty woman" trope and those who appreciate well-crafted narratives around sex workers. The positive representation of diverse bodies in fiction was a refreshing aspect that added to the book's appeal.

This was my first book by this author, but now I need to go back and read all of the other books. Prioritize this queer book this year. I enjoyed this book so much. I love queer books so much. READ QUEER ALL YEAR!

this is incredibly insta-lovey and cheesy but gosh darn-it, i had a great time with it. it's silly and unbelievable but it's so fun!

I loved the premise and the characters of Cole and Teddy, but overall felt the story to read slightly too stilted. Thankfully, if you want a queer retelling of Pretty Woman, this novel does that pretty well. I think the biggest issue is too much time spent with the plot when the romance is more central

Teddy Hughes has lost everything, and now he has to move back in with his mother in Louisiana. He has no money, his business is bankrupt, and his ex and his ex's family are horrible people. Things are just not going his way, but then he meets Cole Vivien. Cole is a sex worker who has started a very profitable app, but he needs a boyfriend to make him look better to potential investors. Teddy and Cole agree to a mutually beneficial arrangement: Teddy will pretend to be Cole's boyfriend, and Cole will pay Teddy generously.

I had really high hopes for this book: queer representation, sex work talked about in a positive way, plants... unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book. The writing felt very disjointed, there were some pacing issues, and a few plot points popped up out of nowhere (and not in an interesting plot-twist way). I didn't like how Cole treated Teddy, and I definitely wasn't rooting for them to end up together. Throw the whole man out, Teddy, you deserve much better!

I tore through The Boyfriend Subscription in less than a day. Just couldn't put it down. It's a wonderful modern, gay, remix of Pretty Women. I loved how it updated and addressed stigmas around sex work, and a still existent class system in America. But also showed how the existence of social media, and these stigmas can prevent people from really communicating with each other.

4/5 Stars
3/5 Steam (one would think it would be higher but Salvatore emphasized that sex does not equate to emotional intimacy and that the connection between the two MMCs was about finding a safe place to land instead of steamy sex - which was wonderful).

Pretty woman but queer? YES PLEASE! This concept of this book was really intriguing and I’m happy I read it. The characters se so good, I’m in love with Teddy so much! I like them as a couple and I like that there was a plot a bit convoluted, but I think the resolution can be a little less exaggerated. However, the book was fun and a good reading, and I think I will read every other book of this author.

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin for the arc!

While the main characters were both likeable and the spicy scenes were well-written and fun, the main story had too much going on and wasn't fleshed out enough to give the story the structure it needed to allow the romance to fully blossom.

Thanks to Afterglow Books and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for review.

The Boyfriend Subscription is Steven Salvatore's take on a queer Pretty Woman, which I thought was a fun premise. Overall, I liked this book. The main couple, Cole and Teddy, are cute, and they felt believable enough to me. But the pacing of this book was a bit all over the place. The third act breakup and conclusion, especially, felt like it was waaay too quick and with convoluted. Like, if all that happened at my wedding, I'd be so mad lol.

I'm interested in checking out other Steven Salvatore books, since this one was fun enough.

all the stars. every last one. simultaneosly a gay love story and a mental health focused book in the best ways. thanks for the arc

What a unique and fun read! This book was steamy, had depth and I loved getting swept away in this story. It was romantic and swoony and I loved watching these two characters overcome so many insecurities to be together.

I so badly wanted to love this book but I didn’t. The cover is gorgeous. The premise is amazing. I loved Cole and Teddy as people and I liked them together. But the writing was clunky and I hated most of the plot. It just all happened so fast and the evil side characters took up so much time that I didn’t feel enough time was spent on making me believe Cole and Teddy were falling in love. So once the love declaration came I wasn’t even convinced they should be together. This is a prime example of why I’ve stopped taking arcs recently because I can’t really spell out my issues with this book without spoiling.

I will say I did love Teddy. He was the most well rounded character, fully formed, and I loved him and felt for him the entire way through. Which is funny because I feel like I was supposed to feel that way for Cole? But I never really connected with Cole, instead I connected only with Teddy.

This book isn’t bad by any means. A lot of my issues come down to personal preference in writing style and in storytelling. So I do still recommend it especially if you love the pretty woman trope and well written sex workers.

The Boyfriend Subscription really takes you on a ride from start to finish. Teddy and Cole are two complex characters with vastly differently lives built around past traumas. They meet by chance but the connection is instant and we find ourselves following them through a quick whirlwind of confusing feelings, steamy nights and personal growth and understanding.

I think this story packed in a lot of plot drama and tropes which aren't a bad thing, though some areas did feel a little rushed towards the end. Focusing on just the main relationship aspect with Cole and Teddy though I enjoyed this one. I would root for them in real life (pun intended) and enjoyed seeing their story play out!

In the Aftermath of losing his marriage and Plant Daddy, his retail plant store, Teddy Hughes is facing financial woes forcing him out of New York to start over in New Orleans with his mother. His path takes and unexpected turn when Cole Vivien, the charming and handsome entrepreneur behind the sex-work app VERSTL, meets Teddy in a local dive bar. Cole Needs a fake boyfriend to maintain a more traditional image for an investor and to take home for his sister's upcoming wedding and offers Teddy a business proposal, fake boyfriends for a week, financial relief, and only two rules, no kissing and no love. As they navigate the complexities of their increasingly intimate arrangement the question arises: Can a couple of rules really withstand the unpredictable nature of human connection?

This was a fast paced sweet and quirky romance that had me laughing out loud more than once. Teddy Hughes was so relatable, I was rooting for him the whole time! The nods to Pretty Woman were giggle-worthy and nostalgic. This is a must-read queer romance with lots of queer representation, sex-work and body positivity.

A wild rollercoaster of emotion. How do you navigate a relationship that’s intended to be temporary when feelings develop? Teddy and Cole are the typical star crossed lovers from two different world, but seemingly find the unexpected in each other.

A very interesting read with highs and lows that keeps the reader wondering and wanting more. There’s also a some intimate scenes to spice things up along the way.

Thanks for the ARC. While I started with high hopes, this book left me with the mids somewhere around the middle and I stayed there until the end. I will say it's a relatively quick and easy read so it wasn't painful it was just average.

Thank you Harlequin and NetGalley for the ARC.

I really wanted to love this book. It started with a great premise the gay ‘Pretty Woman’. I wanted to love it but the insta love and convoluted storyline with the ex’s just made me grumpy. It was a struggle to get through. I don’t know why Cole had to be in the sex business ( I didn’t feel like it added anything). I will say I love Teddy. I loved that he loved plants and didn’t fit the stereotype make leading man.

While I’m disappointed by this particular book, I would try another book by Steven Salvatore.

This book was okay but I still didn't like it that much. Kinda sucked and was weirdly plant daddyish and all in all I hated it.

I will go into this review with a note that I 1) have never seen Pretty Women and am not super familiar with the concept, and 2) fake dating is one of my favorite tropes ever, but I do not like it as much when there is payment involved. It just feels ... weird to me. And this is not a diss on paid sex work, which is very valid and a legitimate job.

I wanted to check out this book because I have the authors YA books on my TBR and I liked the BDSM-sounding appeal. And yes, the sex scenes were hot! I loved how different the two men were and how much they grew in the course of the book. I liked the idea of Cole's business and how he had developed it all on his own. I liked that Teddy was a plant daddy and wrote books!

Things I didn't like? The idea that Cole's parents knew NOTHING about his business - like, really? Changing your name is not a magic wand to immediately erase you off of the face of the planet. I can suspend belief for a lot of things - I do not read romance novels for the reality of them - but this was a little too much, and unfortunately it was a major plot point. I did not love some of Salvatore's writing, either - there were a few lines that pulled me right out of an otherwise enjoyable scene (the phrase 'smashed my prostate to pieces' comes to mind, ugh).

Overall, the book was cute. I think it will be great for people who like fake dating, who like power dynamics in relationships, and who like plants. It just wasn't really for me.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Teddy is a sweet and nerdy botanist who just lost his NYC plant shop in the course of his divorce, and he makes a quick but intense connection with Cole, an entrepreneur who created a popular app for sex workers, on which Cole also stars. As the blurb suggests, we get a fake-boyfriend-Pretty-Womanesque plot, but here the sex worker is the wealthier party paying for companionship.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I really appreciate a queer romance written by a queer author, and the leads are pretty likable. Teddy is, well, a teddy bear and a total plant nerd. The level of plant nerdery is a huge plus for this book— very charming. Cole is fun: he’s thoughtful about his work, clever, and very taken with Teddy, despite the transactional nature of their initial relationship.

This book was a bit of a mismatch for me: when reading the blurb I focused on the plant gay and pro-sex worker aspects, neglecting to consider that Pretty-Womanesque also promised slickly wealthy trappings and that “entrepreneur” usually equals “man with too many expensive suits” and descriptions of money spent in ways that have little relation to most people’s lives. That’s on me. I suspect that this will please readers that don’t share my aversion to this kind of main character.

Based on my tastes. I’d probably give this book 3 stars, but otherwise it likely deserves 4, so I gave it that. I took off a star because the denouement leans too heavily on unnecessary drama and miscommunication that makes the leads less likable than they’ve been in the earlier sections of the book.