This book was so cute and so good!

Juliana Ryan is looking for a new job after her husbands unexpected death, leaving her with two grieving kids and a stunted career from being a stay-at-home mom. She starts work at a new company and she is all excited to dive in, until she overhears her condescending but infuriatingly handsome new colleague, Ben Thomas, talking about how her kids and inexperience are a liability. This sets off a feud between the two. Will the two be able to call a truce and work together or will the man Juliana considers her nemesis, actually understand her life more then anyone?

I absolutely devoured this book. I loved watching the connection between Juliana and Ben grow and them fall in love. Buchanan knows how to pull at your momma heartstrings and had me all in my feels while listening to this book. I loved the connection with the kids and I felt that she did a great job with the character development of each character. I also loved all the side characters! I cannot believe this is a debut book. Oh and that spice, that was a nice unexpected surprise! I cannot wait to see what else Amy Buchanan writes!

Read if you like:
-Workplace romance
-Enemies to lovers
-Cinnamon roll MMC
-Single parents

Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the #gifted copy.

After the death of her husband, Juliana has returned to work after years away as a stay-at-home mom. On her first day back, mom duty calls, and she overhears co-worker Ben disparage her for putting her family first. Now, 2 years later, their feud is still going strong, and those angry feelings she has towards him seem to be mixed with another kind of…*tension*. 👀

This was a really cute workplace romance! It’s single POV, which I often have a problem with in romance, but I found I didn’t really mind it here. (But it may have made me take Juliana’s side in most of their disagreements. 😂)

I enjoyed Juliana’s journey, finding her footing after such major life changes. I also really loved all the side characters, especially Juliana’s friends and the little darling daughters.

The third act breakup wasn’t my favorite, but…I understood where it was coming from. (But that doesn’t mean I have to “like” it! 😜) And their makeup was very cute.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this one!

Audiobook Notes: I always enjoy Charlotte North’s narration, and this one was another job well done!

Thank you to and @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for providing me an early copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

What this book is giving:
✅ Contemporary Romance
✅ Single POV
✅ Workplace Romance
✅ Older MCs (35/38)
✅ Single Mom + Widow
✅ Animosity to Lovers

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
🌶️🌶️🌶️ / 5

What an amazing debut novel! I was hooked from the first page!

After suddenly losing her husband, Juliana Ryan is pushed back into the workforce to provide for herself and her 2 younger daughters. With all the fears of returning back to work, she’s also stuck with Ben, a coworker who had less than nice things to say behind her back about her work experience and putting her children’s needs first.

The two continue to clash through numerous work related issues. It isn’t until a work trip to Boston brings the two closer than anyone would have predicted possible. Will their work lives and personal lives mix or will personal interfere with their work?

Perfect if you like:
Single parents
Workplace Romance
Enemies to Lovers
Found Family
Love After Loss

I absolutely ate this story up! The tension and banter between the two felt perfect to me. Don’t get me started on the unexpected spice. The desk scene will live in my head rent free for eternity.

Ben is an amazing MMC. He is sweet, extremely patient and the little bit of groveling at the end really sent me over the edge. Dare I say he might be too good for Juliana?

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc and opportunity!

😘 Let’s Call a Truce 😘⁣
⁣⁣
⁣Genre: Romance. ⁣
⁣⁣
⁣Length: 336 pages. ⁣
⁣⁣
⁣Pub. Date: January 14, 2025. ⁣
⁣⁣
⁣I have a rule… if a book makes me cry, it’s an automatic five star! And this one delivered! ⁣
⁣⁣
⁣After Juliana’s husband dies unexpectedly, she must return to work to support her two young daughters. On her first day, her confidence is shattered when she overhears a coworker talking about her kids and inexperience as a liability the company can’t afford. This sets off a feud between the two— with Juliana vowing to prove Ben wrong. ⁣
⁣What you can expect in this book- steamy workplace romance, enemies-to-lovers, single parents, forced proximity, and witty banter. I liked both Juliana and Ben and found their entire relationship realistic and endearing. ⁣
⁣⁣
⁣I’m sure impressed that this is a debut novel! I’m looking forward to Amy’s next book! Five stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
⁣⁣
⁣Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for my honest review.

4.5⭐️ — absolutely loved this! I was hooked from the start and didn’t want to put it down!

The banter, tension and spice were so good! Juliana and Ben both have such tragic pasts. This story is about healing, loving again and finding the right people to be around. There was also SO many laugh out loud moments as well. I felt that Amy was able to manage heavy topics but also had an appropriate amount of comedic relief.

I snagged this ARC from NetGallery when it was available to all and I am SO happy I did.

Tropes:
Found family
Love after loss
Blended family
He falls first
Golden retriever MMC
Slow burn

Let's Call a Truce by Amy Buchanan was one of the best contemporary romance debut I’ve read in some time!
The tension and banter between the two was really well done. The chemistry was just outstanding.
I found this book to be delightful and was engaged throughout reading it.
Let's Call a Truce is a humorous, swoony, engaging read by Amy that had the perfect storyline for my rom-com loving heart.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an Advanced Reader Copy

📎 widowed mom fmc rejoining the workforce
💘 workplace rivals to lovers
📎 blended family
💘 finding love after the loss of a partner
📎 office romance
💘 forced proximity
📎 banter
💘 slow burn

This book has everything we all love about enemies to lovers! Tension! Banter! Loaded glances! Spice! It’s perfect for fans of The Hating Game.

I did find some parts a bit repetitive, but that could be because I read a TON of romance and prefer shorter stories. I’m also not sure that I was the target audience for this one. Joining Juliana in her grief was tough (though the author handles the topic of losing a partner with gentle care) and I couldn’t relate to her experiences in motherhood. However, this was an enjoyable and well-written read that I would definitely recommend to other romance/enemies-to-lovers aficionados.

4.5 stars

This was a really great debut! I loved Juliana and Ben and I thought they were both really well developed characters. They both had a lot of things to work through from their previous relationships and with their kids and I thought the way they worked through those things was really well done and felt authentic to their characters.
Their chemistry was so good! Their flirty banter - sorry, I mean their fighting - was so entertaining and the tension was immaculate. Even when they got together they still had a really great dynamic. Ben was such a sweetie and I loved that he just wanted to take care of Juliana and her kids. He did have some issues of his own, but throughout the book you kind of see why he is that way.
The side characters were also a lot of fun and I liked how Juliana had so many people supporting her and her kids. Everyone in this book was an absolute delight and I really enjoyed reading about them.
My one issue was that the conflict could have been resolved so much easier if Ben would have communicated better/stuck up for himself. I understand why he acted the way he did but it was still so frustrating. However, the man really knows how to grovel and I loved the ending of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Griffin for the ARC!!

Thank you SMP and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

After a bit of a rocky start where I wasn’t sure if I was going to be hooked…I got darned hooked. BUT eventually the repetition and constant going back and forth between the MCs got to be too much and I just wanted to get it over with. To be clear, I didn’t hate it, I just didn’t like it a whole lot.

What to expect:
❣️blended families
❣️love after loss
❣️workplace romance
❣️rivals to lovers
❣️cheeky side characters
❣️slow burn with a 🌶️ reward

CW/TW: grief, death of a loved one, death of a parent, abandonment, panic attacks, toxic relationship

As a single mom rejoining the workforce after years of being a stay at home mom, Juliana Ryan has a lot to prove. Her new coworker, Ben, may be attractive but he’s also infuriating and condescending. Two years later, they’re still in a never ending feud when they’re forced onto a project together. When they decide to call a truce and Juliana begins to learn more about him, she realizes Ben may be a completely different man than she thought.

Omg this book. It reminded me of everything I love about enemies to lovers. The looks. The banter. The TENSION. It’s everything. You just want to scream at them to hook up already but also never want them to stop fighting. It’s a real problem I don’t want to solve.

As a mom myself, Juliana’s grief and guilt and difficult parenting moments really ripped my heart out. I cried multiple times mostly because I just wanted her to be happy again. Her daughters are sassy and funny and a little manipulative (in the best way) and I loved every moment with them.

This is a romance that feels so real to life. It’s messy and there’s baggage and they’re both a little guarded and oh my is it worth it. Once you get to know the real Ben, he’s everything you’d want in a partner. He may be a bit snarky but he’s also kind and patient and such a good listener.

And I can’t not mention how much I loved the Orlando setting! I never find that in books and it was so incredibly relatable to me. Before anyone asks, yes the mud walk is a real field trip and it’s awesome!

Read this book for
-enemies to lovers
-single parent
-workplace romance
-single POV
-found family
-Orlando!
-grief
-multiple open door scenes

Let's Call a Truce
by Amy Buchanan

Juliana's husband dies unexpectedly, and with two kids to care for, she heads back to work. Her bosses understand the need for flexibility, but after an urgent matter with her daughter on her first day, one colleague makes a comment about him not accommodating for her children. Juliana formed her opinion of Ben since that comment, but their paths continue to cross and it becomes a workplace rivalry that has gone on for two years. When a project pushes Ben and Juliana together, the chemistry is sparking, but Juliana isn't willing to make excuses for anyone when it comes to her kids.

Enemies to lovers, workplace romance, single parent, forced proximity- this romance had so many good tropes! The enemies to lovers specifically was done really well, and I loved Ben and Juliana's banter and pranks they played on each other. The pettiness that Juliana had with a spreadsheet keeping score is so amazing. The author touched on grief and Ben's sympathy and understanding of Juliana's love for her late husband was so sweet. There were some missed connections that I didn't quite catch, and there were some parts I wanted more from, but otherwise I enjoyed reading along!

This book had a lot of tropes I love: enemies to lovers, coworkers, single parents, and a curvy FMC.

I loved the back and forth these two had, and it definitely didn’t die down once they were together. They had such great chemistry and I loved following their dialogue from the very start.

I loved that they both had daughters, two in Juliana’s case, who were already friends. It just seemed to lead to an easier transition and one less problem they would need to deal with down the road. HOWEVER, I was incredibly happy with how Juliana decided to tell her daughters and how she made time for her and her oldest daughter, Clara, to talk through it since Clara still remembered a lot of times with her dad before his passing.

I thought the book handled grief very well. Juliana’s husband had died in a car accident, which left her as a single parent to their daughters; Ben’s ex-wife had abandoned him and his daughter, and he was left to pick up the pieces and reestablish a trust with his daughter who had a loss of parent as well as a feeling of not being good enough for said parent to stick around. They both have had hard hits to their family units, but they were wonderful parents and definitely kept their children in mind while they made difficult decisions (whether I agreed with some of them or not).

I especially loved how the topic of death of spouse was touched on. Juliana remarked that a lot of people would learn of his death, send her a pity glance, and then move on to another topic quickly to avoid discomfort. She pointed out that really this is a personal discomfort to the person rather than her, as her husband whether dead or alive, would always be with her in some fashion, so it wasn’t awkward for her. I further loved how Ben always wanted to respect her memories with her husband and was never afraid to talk about him. He was neither jealous nor anxious to bring up the other love of her life, and that shows how great of a man he was.

What brought down the rating for me was there was a lot of filler in the book and a couple too many back and forth (we shouldn’t do this/ok, let’s do this) moments. There were many times a scene was added that didn’t provide much value, nor was it overly descriptive, to the point where I wondered if it was added just to get to a page count goal. In this way, it became daunting at times, but was still overall an enjoyable book.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Amy Buchanan for the opportunity to read this book. The thoughts and opinions expressed above are honest and my own.

3.5 stars

I admire the author's bravery in starting a romance novel with the protagonist mourning her late husband. But based on the cover design and promo copy this is meant to be a lighthearted romance, and beginning with the protagonist at her very worst turned me off from the whole thing.

I usually enjoy enemies-to-lovers plots, but Juliana's delight in doing her job poorly just to annoy a colleague who doubts her (objectively lacking) qualifications and experience does not seem like a great basis for a relationship. Plus, while I want to sympathize with her single-parent struggles, mostly she comes off as poorly organized, self-centered, and thoughtless. I did appreciate the writing on a scene level, but this story was just not for me.

DNF at 10%.

2.5 stars

I think this book isn't bad and it is quite well written. Even though I personally didn't love it, I did still feel things from it which I think was a feat. The plot just didn't fit right in my head for quite a few reasons. 1-She works in HR but is clearly ok with a hostile work environment between her and the MMC. 2-She works in HR and is a single parents but never once worried about losing her job for the things they were doing. Not for the bad blood, not for banging IN THE WORKPLACE, not for secretly dating a colleague (even if it isn't against the rules, it is definitely frowned upon for an HR person to do). And the 3rd act breakup felt like such a copout and the way they got back together was rushed and cheap in my opinion. He needed to GROVEL for that screw up. For weeks he should have been groveling! Girl, have more respect for yourself after what he did and you get back together like 12 hours after you said no?

Regarding the audiobook, the narrator is great, don't get me wrong, but I found her male voice to be flat and monotone and a bit creepy at times. I enjoyed the MMC much more in writing than in the audio solely because of the voice.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this eARC and ALC!

This was a fun enemies to lovers workplace romance with deeper themes involved. It follows Juliana who starts a job and meets Ben who says something less than flattering. This starts off a little war filled with tension and quips. I loved the way this dealt with dealing with grief and finding a new love. They both are single parents and this book showed the struggles with dealing with those situations. I thought both characters evolved well. It probably would have been a five if not for the last third. I won’t give spoilers but I’m not a fan of that 3rd act situation but did love the epilogue.

This was a really fun and sexy enemies to lovers romance! The MC is well rounded and you really felt like you were sitting in her emotions with her. I needed something that kind of bridged the gap between heavy emotional read and fluffy romance and this perfectly fit the bill!

This was an easy five star for me! And it’s the author’s debut! This story had me hooked from the very beginning, when we meet Juliana, a widowed mom to two girls. She starts a new job and almost immediately finds herself at odds with her hot coworker, Ben. Two years go by, and their rivalry carries on. But there is clearly an attraction between them that brings with it a lot of fun tension.
I really enjoyed the pace, the writing, the friendships between the characters, the drama, angst, humor, and especially the chemistry between Juliana and Ben. I’m looking forward to the next one by Amy!

Read/Listen if you like ⇣
•Workplace romance
•Single parent
•Enemies to lovers
•Forced proximity
•Single POV
•Spice

Thank you so much St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the e-ARC

Let’s Call a Truce by Amy Buchanan
Contemporary romance. Diverse. Enemies to lovers.
Widow Juliana Ryan needs to support her two girls and pay bills so after nine months, starts to look for a job. She hasn’t worked since having the girls so her experience isn’t current but she’s lucky enough to be hired in the Human Resources department by her prior boss.
Ben Thomas gets off on the wrong foot with Juliana when she hears him complaining about her lack of recent experience and her children’s needs. Their feud rages on still two years later when they are put together on a project. Their bickering has changed over the years to include a little flirting. As they work on the project they find their home lives also mixing. Turns out their children are similar in ages and they go to the same school. They declare a truce which turns into more. Juliana is ready to love again. Is Ben?

🎧 I alternated between an ebook and audiobook. The narration is performed by Charlotte North who does an excellent job between the two main characters. The emotions including anger, remorse, angst, and lust come through clearly. I did speed up the playback to 1.5 which more closely matches a standard Midwest conversation.
I liked the audiobook more than the ebook in this case because it kept me listening. If I only had the ebook, after the second breakup, I probably would have either skipped ahead to the end of the book, or simply stopped reading at that point.
I liked Ben for his priorities and his not willing to give up.
Too much angst for me with the arguments, banter a touch too mean for me, and a second on again off again yo-yo.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and publisher Macmillan Audio

For fans of "The Hating Game" comes this workplace romance full of spice, longing, single parents doing their best, and the chance to move up in the company. These office rivals sure know how to bring the heat to the workplace! Real rating of 3.5 stars.

The tension is definitely there in this workplace enemies-to-lovers book. Both MC's are single parents in their 30s doing their best while also pining after each other as they go head-to-head each day with digs and pranks after not getting off on the right foot on Juliana's first day of her new job. They both share the same BFF in a coworker who pushes them to resolve their differences and get along as she doesn't want to be in the middle of their feud.

I really enjoyed all of the characters, but the side characters stood out more to me. Ben and Juliana did deliver the heat and tension like I expected, but the constant back and forth between getting together then Juliana walking away repeatedly lost me. While I understand her fears after losing her husband and falling back in love, it just kept going back and forth between "yes, let's give this a shot" to "no, leave me alone". I admired how they put their respective kids above everything, but it just didn't work well with the constant drama between them. Ben was a good love interest and I would've loved at least a few chapters from his POV.

I enjoyed a lot of aspects of this story, but the infamous third act breakup (or even breakups since it was so hot and cold) lost me. With Juliana's situation, I could see why she was so hesitant, but their communication could've been better and Ben's situation with his ex wife was very frustrating as well. Overall a decent read, but I would've rated it higher if the last third of the book wasn't as chaotic and frustrating as it was.

A lovely enemies-to-lovers office romance with touches of grief and the importance of family and good friends makes for a great story as we learn to love Juliana and Ben. The yearning, the frustration, the giddiness - this book has it all!