I've been THRILLED to see all of the excitement over FIRST TIME CALLER, and even more happy that I can now safely say it lives up to the hype.

I'm over the moon with how sweet, romantic, and heartwarming this was. It's stories like this that remind me why romance novels are so important; they're uplifting, hopeful, and vulnerable in the best possible way. I really enjoyed reading Aiden and Lucie's love story, and seeing it play out in such a realistic and wholesome way. I especially loved seeing the two of them connect on such an intimate level; it really felt like I was reading about two people seeing each other honestly, and falling in love because of it. It truly felt like reading the ultimate romcom!

All of this to say, I adored it and am so, so excited for it to be released and to be able to recommend it to everyone! It surpassed all of my expectations for a romance novel.

I’ve been a major fan of BK Borison since my friend @bookologist_phd introduced me to the cozy, swoony love stories of the Lovelight Farms series. When I saw this book announced, I just knew I needed to read it as soon as possible!

First-Time Caller might just be my favorite BK book yet! I’m already patiently awaiting the release of the next two Heartstrings books!

SYNOPSIS: Aiden Valentine has fallen out of love with love, which is a problem since he hosts Baltimore’s romance hotline. When a young girl calls in for advice about her mom’s love life, the interview goes viral, making Aiden and Heartstrings the center of attention.
Lucie Stone has a great job, a supportive family, and a clever daughter—but when Baltimore starts focusing on her non-existent love life, she begins to rethink her happiness. Maybe she’s been missing something.
As everyone pushes Lucie to find her happily ever after, she finds herself torn between a radio-sponsored romance and the sparks flying with Aiden, the man behind the microphone.

REVIEW: What a nice and satisfying nod to Sleepless in Seattle! This book left me with the biggest smile on my face, cheesy grinning from ear to ear. The story had me laughing (and crying once) along with BK Borison’s sharper, witty, and oh so fun prose.

Aiden might just be my favorite BK man. This journey to melancholic to hopeful is so lovely.

The characters surrounding Aiden and Lucie are funny, quirky, and lovable. What an absolutely gorgeous ensemble with so much room for delectable stories to come! I’m so glad we will get more of the Heartstrings team in the next two books.

Overall, I found First-Time Caller to be a bit grittier and evocative than the Lovelight series, in the most heartwarming and gratifying way. I really feel like the author hit her stride with this one, which makes me even more excited for her upcoming release of Good Spirits with @avon in fall 2025.

This book was everything. Lucie is an auto mechanic who feels perfectly content on her own. She has her daughter, her daughter's father and his husband, her job, everything she needs to be happy. Aiden is a radio host who is perfectly not content where he is. When Lucie's daughter calls into Aiden's radio show, life flips upside down. Lucie is so real and raw and relatable that she accidentally goes viral. Enter the deal: Lucie goes on the show with Aiden to help drum up some audience and find Lucie a boyfriend. The chaos that ensues is beautiful. I love how snarky and sassy these two are together. I love how everyone has their big opinions on Lucie's relationships. I love that Aiden is so so so soft for Lucie and her darling kiddo. This book has a love story that is absolute goals and so so REAL. I am obsessed and I cannot wait for more from BK Borison.

I adore how the author’s affection for “Sleepless in Seattle” is so memorable that it inspired her to create this delightful tale. This book explores love and the enchantment within that concept, examining its meaning, its emotions, and its transformative power when least expected. At its center are a cynical radio host named Aiden, disillusioned by love, and Lucie, a resourceful single mom and mechanic, focused solely on her daughter Maya’s well-being. Both have relinquished hope of finding their soulmate or even believing in its possibility, yet secretly yearn for that magical connection. Together, Lucie and Aiden are charming. Maya stands out with her big heart, crucial to Lucie and Aiden’s journey. The story unfolds with Maya calling the radio station’s romantic hotline, Heartstrings, to seek help for her mom’s love life, sparking a viral buzz on social media. Witty, charming, and deeply endearing, the ending evokes the feel of classic romantic comedies of the past.

B.K. can do no wrong in my eyes! First Time Caller was the same swoony, sweet, cozy vibes of the Lovelight series in a fresh new setting with new characters to fall head over heels in love with and it delivered on all fronts!

Aiden Valentine is the host of a romance radio show in Baltimore. But he's not so sure he believes in it all after one too many callers complaining about silly things. He's a tad grumpy on the outside but a gold chain wearing, swoony sweetheart under those layers of past hurt.

Lucie is a single mom who has focused on her daughter for the last 12 years. She's a mechanic with a small found family that lives next door in the form of her best friend/baby daddy and his partner, all raising their daughter, Maya, together. At 29, she skipped most of the having fun years and doesn't have the energy to try to make dating work.

Maya calls into the radio show one night which results in Lucie word vomiting her feelings to all of Baltimore and Aiden feels a spark of fun that he hasn't felt on the show in a long time. From there the most adorable, angsty romance develops and I ate up every single second.

B.K.'s writing is so wonderful and cozy. She crafts characters that are fun and have depth and you will not be able to resist falling for them.

First Time Caller truly is a love letter to love with Sleepless in Seattle vibes, a single parent and a bit of grumpy sunshine with a radio host that is swoony and fun cast of side characters and so much more!

The way I absolutely loved this book. This was so cute, so sweet, so lovely. One thing I loved was the family dynamics. Our main character Lucie has a 12 year old daughter and the relationship between them and her daughter’s father was so wonderful. And I loved that Lucie didn’t have a “typical” job for a woman. Definitely not something you get to see in romance books very often. Aiden was so gone for her immediately and if there’s one thing I like in a romance book, it’s when he falls first. The radio show aspect was fun to read about but I did wish we got a little bit more of it. I can definitely see how this book was also setting up subsequent books for side characters and I loved them so much so I can’t wait to hear more about that hopefully! Overall this was awesome, and B.K. Borison continues to be one of my faves. 4.5 ⭐️

I absolutely loved this book! I love reading books that are different from anything that I have read before and this is definitely one of them. The connection between the characters is so great. The banter that they have with each other I love. The fact that she has a manly job and usually men don’t like that about a woman, but Aiden doesn’t care. Perfection. This is definitely a book that I think every romance reader needs to pick up.

I'm turning into quite the BK Borison fan! This is a sweet book and would be a good suggestion for fans of Emily Henry. Here's hoping it's the first in another series (I love her Lovelight Farm series).

4.5 stars!
My first B.K. Borison book & now I'm addicted. The story is inspired by Sleepless in Seattle, and it really captured the magic & romance of those classic rom-coms we just don't get anymore. I loved all of the characters so much and all of their banter with each other. This is the perfect Valentine's read!

Words are not enough. This book is a forehead kiss after a hard day, a squeeze of the knee when your leg is shaking, a hug when you're feeling down. BK' s voice comes through so powerfully in First Time Caller. This book could have ended at 50% and I would have felt (almost) just as happy as when I finished the book. This book had a lot to live up to for this Nora Ephron fan, it did not disappoint. I laughed, I teared up, the whole gamut

Pure simple magic. Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for this eARC - I'll be thinking about this book for days.

LOVE! MAGIC! Lucie and Aiden are so cute and I am in love with them. I also love a new take on a classic, this one is a rework of Sleepless in Seattle that takes place in Baltimore. There was not one character that I wasn't completely enamored with and wanted to know more about (when's the next book out? who is it about? I need more of these characters NOW!).

This was truly a sweet story about finding love where you aren't looking for it, but mostly accepting that love. There were moments that made my heart swell (the fort scene, the napkin in the car, the pizza) and once I found my footing I could not put this book down. My first B.K. Borison and a full five stars for me!

Thank you NetGalley and Berkely for this E-ARC!

First Time Caller is such a feel good romance. It kept a huge smile on my face and I loved Lucie and Aiden. BK Borison’s writing is addictive and even though this took me a bit to get through, it was because I was busy- I didn’t want to put it down!

Lucie has been single for such a long time. Her twelve-year-old daughter calls into a radio show/romance hotline for advice. She reaches Aiden Valentine. Aiden is a cynic when it comes to love, but with his job, you would think otherwise.

This was the cutest meet cute. I loved Aiden’s grumpy nature and Lucie’s fun and carefree side. They were a great couple. Inspired by Sleepless in Seattle, this is a fantastic romance I can’t recommend enough.

Rave reviews and a comparison to Sleepless in Seattle had me requesting this one immediately. Such a strong start and then I just found myself waiting. And waiting. And waiting. More than halfway in before any romance is initiated? Too much of a slow burn for me. Found myself skimming the last 30% of so. Bummed!

Oh. My. Heart! I absolutely loved this book. If you are a skeptic, this book will make you believe in love again.

This book is so funny, I absolutely loved the meet cute when Lucie finds Maya on the phone with Aiden. Truly hysterical.

It's also very tender, the people in Lucie's life are all so amazing. Her bestie reminded me of a young version of Liz from Shrinking (such a great show if you haven't seen it yet.) the character development is superb.

It's also a little spicy, but not too spicy
🌶️🌶️/5

I believe there is one short and one long spicy scene.

This is my first book by B. K. Borison and I'm completely wowed!

First-Time Caller is a masterpiece, carefully and lovingly crafted. FTC is a love letter to Nora Ephron movies, but more than that, it is a wonderful contemporary and feminist take. Lucie and Aiden and the cast of supporting characters are beautifully fleshed out. (Heart)strings run through the prose and offer hints at the future novels in the Heartstrings series. Until next time, good night, Baltimore.

I had never read a book by B.K. Borison before and clearly I have been missing out. It has been a long time since I’ve been so gripped by a book. I just loved this story so much that I couldn’t put it down. I laughed, I cried, I swooned!

Aiden and Lucie’s story was so real and raw and I had no problems believing in the romance. Both of their characters were so well developed, I felt like I really knew them.

While the story was fun, this book is definitely more character driven but the radio station environment was unique and was the perfect setting for this story.

I also loved all of the side characters! They all had such memorable personalities and added so much depth to the story.

I adored this book and highly recommend you picking it up!

This was so so cute and so swoony and I loved how this ended. The romance was sweet and I definitely got the sleepless in Seattle vibes but it was seriously dragging in some areas. It could’ve definitely been 100-150 pages shorter. The banter was amazing and I found myself laughing at loud multiple times. I loved the family dynamic with Lucie and her daughter and the dads so maybe I wanted more of that? Regardless this was a fun little romance read. Also the cover is amazing!!!

Aiden Valentine is the host of Heartstrings, a Baltimore radio show where he doles out romantic advice. But years of listening to other people’s romantic drama has left him cynical about love. Is it really that great if so many couples are having problems? His bitterness has started leaking into the show, and ratings are tanking.

Enter Lucie Stone. The 29-year-old single mom is disturbed to find her preteen daughter talking on the phone late at night, and even more upset when she hears an adult man’s voice on the other end. Seizing the phone from her daughter, she learns her kid has called Heartstrings…to talk about her. OK, so Lucie hasn’t really dated since becoming a mom. But she still believes in love! When she describes the kind of relationship she wants, Aiden is charmed…and he’s not the only one falling for her. Her episode goes viral, and suitors begin calling the station, desperate to date her.

Aiden’s boss proposes a plan to capitalize on the interest: Lucie will cohost episodes where they try to find her a boyfriend. But what if her real soulmate is sitting next to her in the studio?

I’m obsessed with this book! It has a great found family and fully fleshed out side characters who genuinely enriched the story. The humour was genuinely funny and not at all cringe like rom-coms sometimes can be. Aiden and Lucie were both extremely likeable and their love story was totally believable.

This was my first book by this author and I’m looking forward to checking out more!

WHAT this book! Most likely my favorite romance book of 2025…I am calling it NOW in January. This was such a unique and fun story. I honestly get lost in B.K. Borison’s stories. She writes such fantastic characters that are so relatable and the LOVE STORY?! Epic. I love the tension and the character development in First-Time Caller as well. Just overall incredible and I already need to reread.

BK Borison creates magic. Three years ago, I randomly decided to read a little romance book about a Christmas tree farm, and that was Magic in and of itself. I loved Lucie and Aiden and how they loved each other. I love how real the falling in love was, from the fun and exciting to the “oh sh*t this is terrifying.”

The author’s love for Baltimore was tangible. Like so many romcoms where New York is a character itself, Baltimore shine in its own way. I know I read a love letter to Baltimore, and it made me love it a little more, too.

Congratulations on another masterpiece, Becs, and thank you for letting us mortals experience your magic, too. ✨✨✨

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkeley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own!