This book was an ok read. Definitely Middle School appropriate. I liked this idea of a literary scavenger hunt. The relationship moved to hot and heavy too quickly. I appreciate the mother daughter conflict and resolution.

2.5/5 Stars

Macy is the daughter of two successful authors. Her mother pulls some strings for her to attend a writing retreat with other teens in the hopes of gaining a published story. When it is announced that the topic will be romance, she is a bit hesitant. She isn't prepared to connect so deeply with her critic partner, and son of her parent's rivals, Caleb Bernard.

I found this to be a bit cheesy, which made it difficult for me to connect with the characters. I usually like the enemies to lovers trope, but this felt like it lasted about two seconds, which was disappointing. I also hated all the slang and gen z sayings that were used, it just made me cringe and took me out of the story. On the bright side, it was extremely quick and I finished it in one sitting.

Love on Paper finds Macy Descano, Black Korean daughter of two famous authors, spending four weeks at Penovations, a teen writing retreat. There she is paired with Haitian American Caleb Bernard, a writing "nepo baby" himself, and son of her parents' sworn enemies. The theme of the retreat is romance writing in honor of author Betty Quinn, who recently died. She left behind a mystery for the teens uncover as to where her final manuscript is hidden. In addition the attendees must submit a short story, and the five winners will be published in an anthology. As Macy and Caleb follow the clues all around the Bay Area, they learn more about Betty's legacy, as well as each other and their families, Their growing chemistry and support of each other in their writing endeavors is charming and informative for budding writers. The story concludes with a reading list which includes recommendations from Shakespeare and Jane Austen to contemporary YA authors like Elise Bryant and Maureen Goo.

This was a fun read. I always enjoy characters that are writers, being one myself, and how it makes them a little more relatable. I will say it wasn't one I enjoyed as much as I wanted to, but it was still a good read. It's one of those books that could probably get someone out of a reading slump.

What a sweet, tender read. (And OMG I am *obsessed* with that cover!!!)

The story follows Macy Descanso, the daughter of two writers who goes on a summer-long writing retreat. As she tries to find her voice and put words to paper, she also uncovers the mystery behind elusive romance writer Betty Quin; as well as the mystery behind her family's feud with the family of her summer crush Caleb Bernard.

I love that this book combines the love of romance writing and reading with a plot-twist, easter-egg-filled mystery. It felt a little disjointed at times, and I thought it could have been developed a little more, both plot- and character-wise, but overall, this is a really enjoyable YA read from a great voice in the genre.

Thank you to Joy Revolution and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

A super cute, witty, and fun read. I enjoy grabbing a YA from time to time and this was the perfect easy read for me. I will be grabbing a paperback for my daughter to read this summer!

This book is a good read for those just starting to read YA who are looking for romance. Unfortunately for me, the story fell a little flat.

Pros
* cool writers' retreat in Berkeley, even if writer mom pulled strings to get in
* talks a lot about the writing process
* there is a mysterious missing manuscript the students are looking for
* Macy is paired with "swoon" Caleb as a critique partner though their families have a strong feud.

Cons
* What kind of writers' retreat has them all write romance and doesn't tell them that ahead of time? That would seriously piss me off if I was attending or had a kid who was attending
* The issue between their families is never fully explained to my liking
* The story doesn't seem to know if it is a romance or a mystery and then it doesn't really manage to feel like either.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Joy Revolution for a digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

This was short but a little on the slow side for me here and there. I would recommend for younger YA readers though. I enjoyed the little mystery scavenger hunt the characters went on! The characters were so fun and sweet and I enjoyed their little romance.

Love on Paper was a sweet, fun read. I loved the dorm-like scenario the characters found themselves in. The inclusivity of this book made my heart sing! I was so happy to see characters referenced that didn't fit the normal young adult "mold." While I loved the mystery of the plot at times I questioned if the focus was on the approval from family, romance, friendship, of the mystery itself. These all led to an enjoyable read!

This is one of the books that I was so desperate to love that I kept reading it even when I knew I shouldn’t have. It had everything that I would normally love tho so I just kept reading. It did in fact, not do anything for me.

The thing that stood out the most and honestly the reason I didn’t DNF this was because I HAD to know how the mystery ended. I really don’t remember a single thing other than this part. The mystery aspect was good because it involved everyone and at some point. It ended up being really cute and I was glad I stuck around for that part at least.

However, that was the only thing I really enjoyed. I’m not sure if it was my mood or the narrator or what, but I fell asleep every 30 minutes of this audiobook. I thought that maybe I was just tired because my cycle was coming, but I ended up listening to the one before and after this one with no problem. Idk, I just couldn’t get into it and I tried multiple times.

The romance was cute but unfortunately it wasn’t memorable. I can’t say that I remember anything besides the fact that their parents didn’t like each other. And then they stopped liking each other and I was like eh ok by that point. Y’all know I’m not a huge fan of enemies/rivals to lovers. So basically I lost interest. And no it’s not because its a teen book. I understand that sometimes books can just be HFNs. But this one just didn’t seem memorable TO ME. I don’t think I would have even realized if it was a HEA or not.

The relationships that I thought were more important that the romance was the one with her mother. I was glad that that got a lot of time and some explanation, but at the same time, it HAD to because it was the main plot point. It really made this feel more like a coming of age book instead of a romance. But I was glad that she got the answers from her mom. The other people she got answers from was kind of weird, but I had to admit it was kinda cool.

This usually would be something that I would have loved, but I just didn’t vibe with it. And that’s ok. Maybe someone else will. And when it finds its readers, I hope they genuinely love it.

"Learn a lot, write your heart out, take chances, be brave, find a story that surprises you maybe even scares you and dig deep into that."
"Because we all do, we all have important stories to tell if we allow ourself to."
"Break downs tend to lead to break throughs"
"Different doesn't mean bad, it just means different."

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House Children for a E-ARC in exchange for an honest review. This was a cute, quick read! I really liked how fast paced the story was! Macy is going to a writer's retreat and her journey with trying to get out of her parents shell and lime light was a typical growing pain that the average young adult goes through. I really enjoyed that the story and the growth of Macy and Caleb was extremely relatable and a full circle moment. The mystery behind the script and bread crumbs from Betty Quinn was the cherry on top for this story because it brought the characters together and find their interests and love on paper. Macy and Caleb not only have experiences with their growth in writing but their separate accomplishes with family was just as important in the story as well. Although different paths but same destination. There was an equal amount of plot, mystery, and romance.

This story definitely read like a young adult story, at first I thought Macy was 13 0r 14 but then in a random scene she said she was 17 and in the epilogue she is 19. So I was bit shocked due to the language, and dialect it read like a younger person than her actual age. It wasn't necessarily annoying or anything bad but her age did kind of shock me. However over all this was still a nice read and cute plot.

The cover is adorable. The story idea has so much promise.

Unfortunately for me it fell flat. I was bored. I found it hard to like the characters at all. It was also chaotic.

It also reads a little more middle grade than YA for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

Young love at a camp for teen writers! Both Macy and Caleb are children of famous writers with a lot to prove. And their families don't get along. They team up as writing partners, trying to figure out a mystery, and find "romance."

Our characters felt really young at times. And while some of the moments between Macy and Caleb were sweet, the romance felt a little forced. The family drama felt lacking, too.

The overall book was just okay.

3 stars

I just finished Love on Paper by Danielle Parker and here are my thoughts.

Nepo-babies have it better right? Macy and Caleb do not agree. Both from writer parents and it doesn’t make it any easier for them to write too but they both end up at the same writing retreat and they find themselves pushed together… even though their parents had open hostility. The trouble with the writing retreat is that it's not just about the writing… There is an unofficial scavenger hunt going on too and it’s almost as distracting for Macy as Caleb is….

It was a pretty cute read. I always love books that have something to do with writing and books as part of the plot. It wasn’t just a YA romance. It has so much more to it than that. It gives us family romance and parental issues in a rather charming way. I loved the mystery as well. It wasn’t a huge part of the book but I can see how the writers got caught up in the need to find the manuscript.

I thought the book was a heart tugger for sure. I love how cute the cover is and I love cutesy love. I am a huge romantic and first love is always special.

The writing almost had a poetic quality to the way it came across and I kinda loved the romeo/juliet type love story they had.. Without the poison though haha.

I really enjoyed it. I will definitely be looking for more from this author.

Tropes - Read if you enjoy the following.

Coming of age
Mystery
Families at war

4 stars!

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhousekids for my gifted copy

The premise was cool, but the execution wasn’t good. The main character is the daughter of two famous authors, so she goes to a writing summer camp to follow in their footsteps. There, she meets the son of her parents’ rivals, but falls in love with him.

The romance didn’t feel realistic, it really felt like the author was just trying to do rivals to lovers and they didn’t even dislike each other? They started dating almost immediately. And also there was forbidden love in the sense that their parents are the rivals but their parents were not upset at all about their dating which sorta gets rid of the whole rivals thing that they were worried about for the entire novel.

The amount of teenage slang written into this book annoyed me. It stood out excessively from the rest of the writing. The dialogue (mostly) was ok and fine because I know that people speak like that, but when it was inside her head it was unbearable. Also it just felt like it was trying too hard and overall was so cringy. “Womp womp. Kinda mid” was actual dialogue???? That's just random words put together at this point. Tiktok/Instagram slang shouldn’t be included in books and most people never even say some of it irl, just online.

This one took me a minute to get into, maybe 25% before I was invested but it ended up being a beautiful heart tugging story. It focuses on future dreams, parents, relationships, dating, a mystery, and of course, because it's my page, a YA romance. Add all of that to a cute cover, and I think it's worth your time.

Reader Expectations: language, including 4 uses of the F word, teenage drug use, death of parent off page,

Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

This is such a charming, heartfelt romance that seamlessly blends the world of aspiring writers with personal growth, tension, and unexpected romance. The author does a good job of balancing the romance with internal character struggles of family, identity, and self-discovery. This book is a perfect read for fans of YA romance that explores the theme of truly finding your own voice. This story is relatable and engaging which makes it hard to put down. Thank you Random House Children's | Joy Revolution for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

While I enjoyed this one I think it would have been better it it had been it had been an adult book instead of YA. Because it actually read older.

What happens when your parents are rivals and you’re linked to their son? The rivals are authors while their children are at a writing retreat and paired as partners. Enemy to lover fans unite!

Macy is secure in her writing, just not the romance topic - since she’s cynical. Then she finds out her critique partner is Caleb, the rival's son, who is sensible and endearing. There is plenty of tension - until there’s not. The switch from enemies to lovers is wonderful. The dialogue snaps, the pull is strong, the future is bright, and the story is believable. The retreat honors romance author, Betty Quinn. The lucky person to solve her mini mystery will face a life altering consequence. Think plot twist. Overall, a good storyline makes this an enjoyable read.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun book. I enjoyed it a lot!