As a Nora Ephron fan, I was so excited to read a book inspired by one of my favorite movies, Sleepless in Seattle. Though it is a predictable read, it’s very sweet. The side characters were also all so charming. Really hard not to root for absolutely everyone involved.

Two words: Hopeless Romantic.

More to come on this later.
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Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an advanced readers copy of this book.

This review will be short and sweet... because you should just read it.
- Sleepless in Seattle vibes
- Kick your feet giggling
- Hope for the hopeless romantic
- Struggling MMC (emotionally, family illness)
- Super competent and independent FMC (she's an auto mechanic!)
- Reversed gender norms, which was super fun!

Also of note: I listened to the audio book as well and highly recommend! The narration is excellent, especially with the dual POV.

📚Trope(s): Grumpy/Sunshine, Single Mom, Competent Heroine/Sweet Hero, Reversed Gender Norms
What you get: 🎙️📻👩🏻‍🔧🌩️☀️
⭐️Plot: 3/5 (not the most original, but solid)
🔥Chemistry: 5/5
🌶️Spice: 4/5

This book was a breath of fresh air in a season of books I've struggled to finish. I cannot recommend it more highly.

Thank you to the author and publisher for providing me a copy through Netgalley. It's been a real pleasure.

All of the characters are adorable. The banter between the characters is believeable. I can't wait till there are more books in the series.

Loved every single second of this, thank you so much for putting it into the universe! I was never able to put this book down without the incredible urge to pick it back up and find out what happened next. There's something about a single mom with a meddling daughter that always pulls me in.
I would 100% recommend!

So, so stinking cute. I loved this author’s previous works and this one is no exception. I will definitely be recommending this one to the romance lovers in my life!

This was a fun, quick read but didn't have the spark I expected based on my experience with other books by this author (I LOVED the Lovelight Farms series). It was so strange, but I cared way more about the supporting characters than the main characters. Grayson, Mateo, and Maya were far more interesting to me and I wanted more about them, especially Grayson. The writing was good and it wasn't a bad book, I just didn't connect with it the way I'd hoped.

RATING: 2.75/5 STARS

Cute premise, sweet characters... and also unfortunately a bit boring for me and too long. I've liked B.K. Borison's writing in the past, but this one fell into the camp of a little too saccharine.

4.5 stars

Loved this Sleepless in Seattle inspired romance! A grumpy radio show host and a hopelessly romantic mechanic make the most unusual couple but this love story will have you laughing and swooning. Added humor with the random people who called into the show, the interactions of all the staff at the station and the heroine's ex-husband. So ridiculously fun side characters. I highly recommend!

Mild 1-2 open door scenes

this was just the cutest story ever! I am obsessed and wished I could tune into the radio show! gotta go watch sleepless in seattle!! the steam is STEAMY, btw.

BK has done it again. I am completely obsessed with this book! From the very beginning I just knew that these characters would pull on my heartstrings.

I love that we got snippets of the radio show in between chapters. The characters backstories were so well developed and the dual pov was perfection.

A cute take on Sleepless in Seattle. There were fun Easter eggs throughout for fans of the movie. I enjoyed Lucie’s search for love and Aiden’s self delusions. But honestly this book was too long. The story could’ve been about 20% shorter and tighter and it would’ve still been a lovely and charming book.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

First Time Caller is a charming read that had me hooked by the end, even if it took me a little while to get there. The premise of the story was interesting from the start, and I immediately found myself invested in the characters and their journey. Each of them felt SO real!

However, I did struggle a bit at first to really get hooked into the story. It took me until about the halfway point to feel fully immersed, but once I was, I couldn't put it down. The pacing picked up, and I found myself completely invested in how everything would unfold and resolve.

The ending, though, was absolutely worth the wait! It tied everything together so beautifully and left me with a sense of fulfillment that I hadn’t expected. I'm even more excited to read more about the side characters and their stories!!

Overall, it’s a fantastic book with great characters and a strong plot—just stick with it through the slower start, and you'll be rewarded with a fantastic conclusion.

4.5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I truly believe this is B.K. Borison’s best work yet!

Aiden Valentine is the host of a romance hotline, and while he has become reluctant to love, a call from Maya, a young tween, looking for romantic advice for their mother sets off the start of what is soon to be a viral conversation with Lucie Stone. Their conversation is honest and leaves people wanting more of Lucie. As they begin to co-host the hotline, they are also working on finding Lucie a worthy romantic partner.

Aiden and Lucie are such sweethearts and while they have seemingly conflicting views on love, they both want the same thing. And we see each of them work through their “issues” with love and learn to accept each other for who they are and where they are in life. They’re both vulnerable with each other and take their respective time to open up to the other but what blossoms is pure understanding of each other. And I just love them and the found families they have cultivated.

In her acknowledgments, she mentions that this novel is a love letter to love. And when you read it, you certainly see that shine through. Not only is this a love letter to the romance movies and books we all love, but to her city and all the various forms of love one encounters.

An absolutely delightful romance between a jaded romance radio talk show host and a single mother whose 12 year old daughter calls into the radio show one night concerned for her mother’s nonexistent love life.

My favorite things about this book are all of the puzzle pieces that come together to make up their story, how they all end up connecting, and how they sneak up on you. It’s ultimately a story about learning how to accept good things, believing in love again, and that the real magic is in the small stuff.

This was my first book by @authorbkborison , and let me tell you right now - I was BLOWN away and I am now a huge fan!

This book was such a beautiful and REAL romance! Line and line was pure poetry and I was totally swept up in it!

This books follows Aiden, a romance radio show host who doesn’t believe in love, and Lucie - an automatic and single mom who is a hopeless romantic! I fell completely in love with the created family in this book, Lucie’s heartfelt hope and reservations, and Aiden’s stubborn love for Lucie.

I was swooning the entire time - this is DEFINITELY one to pick up!

𝐻𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝒫𝓊𝒷 𝒟𝒶𝓎 to @authorbkborison and First Time Caller.

I loved and constantly recommended Lovelight Farms, and First Time Caller is the first in her new steamy and sweet series Heartstrings- it is the perfect romance for Valentines or Galentines featuring a female forward, radiant and full of sunshine Lucie, a single mom mechanic, raising her daughter (her ex lives nearby and they are amicable). She has the sweet support of her ex, but her daughter stages an intervention by calling into Baltimore’s romance radio hotline Heartstrings because she thinks Lucie needs to get a life and get a date. Grumpy Aiden has the last name Valentine, but he’s just not feeling it. Soon, Lucie is joining him in the booth in a search to find her a perfect match. I can’t wait to read the next installment- there are many Easter eggs about who in the supporting cast of friends and family will be the next satsfying romance in this series.

This was the perfect romance to warm me up on a cold February day. The author called this “a love letter to love” - easy, breezy, sweet and satisfying - you’ll read it and want the next episode of Heartstrings to air immediately!

QOTD: When Harry Met Sally was featured in the Super Bowl commercials, and the author herself compared this story to Sleepless in Seattle - what’s one movie you saw that you think is a quintessential love story?

Thank you @authorbkborison @berkleyromance and @netgalley for the opportunity to read First Time Caller in exchange for my opinion.

#heartstrings #firsttimecaller #bkborison #opendoorromancebooks #romancebooks #lovestories #lovestory #sleeplessinseattle #bookreviews #nicmedia

This book was so fun read. I love that I went into it with the idea of it being very Sleepless in Seattle-esque. I adored the dynamic between Aiden, Lucie and her daughter. We got slow burn, banter and tension? yes please. If you missed the early 90s to early 2000s romance movies, this will satiate that! Such a great and fun read AND I’m most than likely to reread this as well!

3.5 ⭐️
So now I need to go watch sleepless in Seattle! This book was super cute and the chemistry between Aiden and Lucie on the phone and then on the radio show was undeniable. Even the listeners knew it lol.

I loved Maya, Lucie’s daughter and the family dynamic that they had.

Lots of banter and humor in this book made it enjoyable! Aiden was seriously so thoughtful towards Lucie. I’m glad that he learned how to love again.

The story could have used a bit more out of the radio show time since it became a bit boring. Also, there wasn’t much time involved with Lucie and Maya her daughter which I would have loved to see more of. Aiden spent no time with Maya except on the phone.
Aiden also annoyed me at the end saying he isn’t good for her and can’t be serious..blah blah blah lol.

Read if you like—
- Sleepless in Seattle
- single mom
- fun banter
- dual POV
- spicy scenes
- radio show

As a current Baltimore resident and cheerleader, this book made me incredibly giddy. Baltimore deserves romance and this book delivers. I look forward to reading each and every book in this series and I hope there are a million.

This was such a fun read! It gave all the vibes of a 2000's romcom, with banter and chemistry and swoonworthy lines. Given how long the book is, I would've loved to see more of Lucie & Aiden outside of the booth, but their love story was still really believable (I often have a hard time believing two characters are in love, because all we see is spicy scene after spicy scene). If you're looking for a lighthearted read to get you out of your winter blues, this is the one!