This book has a really neat premise!

Brynn is newly divorced and hasn’t made any close friends. Brynn and her roommate Josh are staying up late watching Brynn’s favorite comfort TV show, Carson’s Cove. The show ended on a cliffhanger and was canceled, leaving the perfect ending up to the viewers imagination for the last several years. It is the night before Brynn’s birthday and it seems that everyone has forgotten, but right at midnight, a mysterious birthday cake arrives at her front door. Brynn and Josh cut into the cake before they fall asleep. When they wake up, they find they are literally *in* the Carson’s Cove world. Brynn is able to become her favorite TV character, Sloan. Brynn gets to live out Sloan’s life to find the show’s “perfect ending.”

The beginning of this book had me pumped. I was really engaged in Brynn’s real life - a recent divorcé with no real friends who all forget her birthday. Once we got into the TV show’s world, though, it dragged a bit for me. The romance aspect was there but there didn’t seem to be much real pining, yearning, desire… it just kind of fell flat for me.

Overall this was a fun read though! 💕🫶🏻

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the early chance to read and review “Prime Time Romance.”

I really enjoyed Katie Robb’s sophomore effort. The characters and the premise felt fresh and fun and overall it made me happy and nostalgic for teen dramas from the 90’s and 00’s. The main characters were likable and I enjoyed the progression from roommates to friends to lovers. 5 stars.

A romance revolving around a long love for a teen drama sounds like it’s so up my alley, but Prime Time Romance is so riddled with half-baked ideas that it’s more frustrating than enjoyable. Very regularly I found myself thinking, where did that come from? Why would I care that this is happening? Who is this random Sheldon guy and why is he magic? What is the actual explanation for anything that’s happening? Am I supposed to be invested in these people? Not great thoughts to have.

This is a fun premise with very poor execution.

The book started off really good! Loved the main characters and the way they interacted with rude people. However, the story lost me 50 pages in. Love fantasy and paranormal romances but this was just weird and came out of nowhere.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book in return for an honest review.

If you love small town tv drama’s where everything seems perfect and you wish you could live there, you need to read this book! It was so cute and really makes you think about living in the perfect small town. This book was whimsical and a little frustrating at times but I loved every second of it. Brynn and Josh are roommates that get out into an alternate universe and must find the way to get home before it’s too late. I will forever buy anything Kate Robb writes!

This one wasn't really for me! I don't like the "magical" aspect of a romance book. I did really enjoy the beginning and I thought it was going to be a book that I loved, but it just didn't turn out like that for me, which is OKAY! It was my first book by this author- I have another one by her sitting on my shelves, and I can't wait to give her another try!

Interesting concept. Really for audiences who love CW shows and Dawson's Creek and indulging in that teen nostalgia for adults. Felt a bit immature hokey otherwise. Not a bad book just for a very specific audience.

Thank you Madison Dettlinger and Random House for sending me an ARC!

I've got to say I really enjoy Kate Robb's writing style. Prime Time Romance was a real fun read although I would still put This Spells Love above it.

I loved the concept for this book. I think we all know the feeling of loving a piece of media and wanting to exist in it's world or thinking that the creators misstepped on occasion. I also think its important to recognize that our favorite media is not infallible.

Growing up is realizing that something we love does not inherently make it perfect and recognizing it's flaws. It's one of the reason I gave this 4 stars. In my opinion it takes our main character Brynn too long to understand that. In the story it only takes a few days but that is about 50% of the books page counts.

<spoiler>I was shocked at how long it took Brynn to understand that Poppy was not her friend, and she never really thinks that Poppy was never Sloan's friend either. Based on context clues Poppy was the mean girl who never wanted you to succeed while being your "friend".

Another reason this is a four star for me is the makeover stuff. Brynn is beautiful and they do a makeover where they change her hair from brown to blonde, from curly to straight, and her first thought after seeing herdelf is that she is now truly beautiful. I knew this was most likely setting up for a moment later on for her to come to the realization that she is beautiful as herself and she doesn't need to be blonde and have straight hair to be stunning. However in my opion that took way too long and she even has a conversation after the makeover with our main guy Josh and is a little upset he didn't react over the top positive about the change- I'm not gonna lie, I hated that.</spoiler>

I would suggest if you liked This Spells Love to give Prime Time Romance a shot, I don't think you will regret it.

⭐️ 2.75-3/5
🌶️ 1/5

Prime time romance centers around a TV show, Carson‘s Cove. CC is giving Gilmore girls meets one tree hill meets teen beach movie. Lots going on but does it all work?
About 50% in I sort of lost interest in the plot , felt like it dragged a bit and had me skimming to the end at times. I really enjoyed the beginning when the FMC and MMC started off in Toronto. The descriptions of the city were spot on, including the scent on the ttc 😂👏🏼 I found it hard to connect to the characters and follow what was happening given it was the FMC that had to explain what had occurred on different episodes of the show to the MMC and audience at times.
I know Carson’s Cove was a teen show and they couldn’t swear, that was one of the redeeming funny qualities and made me laugh.

Overall, an ok, quick and easy read. Just not my cup of tea entirely!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow. I ADORE this book. This was such a unique story, and Josh and Brynn’s acquaintance to lovers evolution was perfect. They each had such a well-thought-out backstory. I loved that not only did Brynn realize that Spencer wasn’t perfect, but Josh got the chance to heal, Luce got redemption, and everyone saw the truth of who Poppy is. Such a fantastic book. A must read!

What do you get when you mix a bit of Pleasantville, Riverdale, Dawson’s Creek, and Vampire Diaries without the vampires? A heck of a sophomore novel by Kate Robb, that’s what! Brynn is newly divorced and about to celebrate her 30th birthday. She’s feeling pretty low about life but her adorable, almost stranger of a roommate offers to join her as she binges her favorite 90s teen show, Carson’s Cove, one night. Brynn explains to Josh (aforementioned adorable roommate) that the series ended on a cliffhanger and there was no resolution for the two main characters. A but of magic happens and Brynn and Josh wake up the next morning in Carson’s Cove and learn that it’s their job to “finish the series.”

I loved this story. It was so entertaining and it was really fun to revisit some of the themes/ideas from my own favorite 90s/early 2000s tv shows. Brynn was an awesome heroine, and she was easy to root for. Josh was a sexy cinnamon roll who you couldn’t help but root for as well. I LOVED how Kate Robb wrote the side characters and used them to help Brynn (and the reader) reflect on the past and how not everything was as it seemed. For example, perhaps the mean girl from your past was never mean…maybe you and your friends were the problem (loved that twist), and your first love is not usually supposed to be your last. Brynn and Josh learn what really matters and that life doesn’t have to be shiny and pretty.

The third act of the story, aka the “conflict” was handled very well (do you know how much I hate the conflict? A lot. It’s a true gem of a story that can make me think, “oooh this is good” when the conflict arrives) and the ending was super cute! I highly recommend this book and will pass it along to all my bookish friends.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group for review consideration via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Prime Time Romance is an Adult Women’s Fiction novel that was so fun to read.

This one is for the teen drama fans. There’s quite a few Easter eggs sprinkled in throughout the story and many of the characters names are a nod to a character/actor from a teen drama. That in itself was so fun to see, but I also really appreciated the writing style. I loveddd This Spells Love so I was excited to be approved for this one. And as far as slow burn romances go, it didn’t disappoint.

I also appreciated how this book looks at the “everything works out in the end” magic of teen dramas and critiques it. Because not everything works out in the end for every character. Those who are “different” or who don’t fit the sweet and charming girl/boy next door mold get shafted time after time. And I liked that this was called out.

I really enjoyed Brynn and Josh as characters and I liked them as a couple. I do wish we had a little more closure in Josh’s POV, but still a fun book overall.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Prime Time Romance is an absolute delight from start to finish. Robb delivers all the atmosphere and charm of a small-town Hallmark romance but with a sexy, magical twist. Any reader who has ever rooted for the bad boy to get the girl, or for the girl to get her long deserved happily-ever-after will fall for this completely original and binge-worthy book.

Someone tell me why I love roommates to lovers! It’s just like you know I’ve been there the whole time and then boom I’m attracted to you!
I love it.
Plus throw in a spin of some Dawson’s creek and 13 going on 30 vibes.
She wakes up in an alternated reality and she’s bound to get her happily ever after!
This book is a definite throwback to the 2000s and will make you feel nostalgic.

Not sure how I felt about this as the story wasn't very compelling and had to put it down and revisit when i remembered about it. The characters felt flat, but the concept and set up of the story had a lot of potential!

Thank you to Netgalley, Kate Robb, and publishers for the advance readers copy.

Often times when I write reviews, regardless how I felt one way or the other, I have a list of things worth noting. But in this case I really don't have much to say. I really enjoyed Kate Robbs previous book, but this one lacked anything that really sparked interest for me. It just felt very generic, very middle of the road. Not great, not terrible. I honestly kept forgetting to write this review because the book just left my mind the moment I was done.

The only things I can chalk this lack of distinct enjoyment up to, aside from personal preference, is the characters. I never really got a sense of who the main characters were, and additionally I never got their chemistry. It felt like they were telling us how attractive they found one another, and we were supposed to take their word for it. Additionally, in This Spells Love, the side characters added a lot of comedy when the love interest wasn't around. The side characters in this one didn't provide any of that, making the whole experience feel very mediocre for me.

Don't get me wrong, this book isn't bad by any means. I love Kate Robbs concepts, they're always very fun ideas. This one just lacked anything to really hook me in, and was missing some key elements from the last book that really made it shine.

Realllllyy had to just embrace the strange cringy concept of jumping into your favorite TV show & becoming the characters. It was a little creepy and strange but I understand the nostalgia. I almost couldn’t finish this one but it ended up nice enough and I enjoyed a few of the characters. If you are into the concept then I think you will enjoy this book, but I just had a hard time.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All opinions are mine alone.

1.75!

"You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep rewatching the old one"

To be very honest, I have no idea what happened. This book had such a good premise and I was actually invested during the start but I was so busy with exams that the hold that this book had on me slowly drifted away as I read this more and the less inclined I felt to finish it and I mean I was reading another book at that time and that did not fail to hold my attention, so it was this books problem. I even skimmed the last half I was the bored and that makes me sad because my hopes were high when I got an arc of this book :(

Brynn and Josh were OK main characters, I didn't find any attachment towards them, it was like they were just there and I was reading about them...didn't feel anything and the whole plot surrounding them had so much potential but it fell victim to a messy execution which did not help with the case of me getting bored.

Finally, the romance. I didn't see it! I mean I knew who it was between but the build up and everything was so mid that I actually wasn't interested in it at all and the smutty scenes felt so wrong 😭😭 because this had a more teenage vibe to it and adding two very graphic sex scenes in this book felt out of the blue and unexpected ( the scenes weren't bad at all) they just felt out of place and felt like they were not needed.

So when I read the last 10% I wondered why am I even reading this book?? I don't like the characters, the romance or the plot. I just enjoyed a few of their interactions and the start.
I personally would not recommend it because it felt vey boring and it failed to hold my attention!

If you are a certain sort of elder millennial who watched Dawson’s Creek live every Thursday with your high school girlfriends, you will want to read this book for the nostalgia alone. It is whimsical, it is silly, and it is definitely unbelievable. But it was exactly what I wanted from a book dedicated to Joshua Jackson.

Kate Robb is now an auto-read for me. This is her second book, and I’m a big fan of her winky-eyed approach to the rom-com genre. She’s inside the joke with us, but she’s careful not to make tooooo much fun of it. Tough line to balance, but she does it very well.
4.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House - Dial Press Trade for the arc!

This novel was a fun read STEEPED in nostalgia for those who love Dawson's Creek or One Tree Hill. Alone it was an enjoyable rom-com, but those readers old enough to appreciate the nostalgic references will certainly love this story even more. Be ready to suspend disbelief and just believe in the magic for a bit. If you're able to do that, you will enjoy the ride!