This book started out with an interesting premise but lost me when Aspen desperately threw herself at the very uninterested Brick repeatedly until she eventually threw money at him to get his attention; he kept saying it wasn’t because of her looks so she bought him so she could set herself up for heartbreak. With all this you get flat characters that had no real chemistry and didn’t work well together. I couldn’t get myself interested to continue the book.

Book of the Month by Jennifer Probst is everything you want in a romance novel—sharp, witty, and filled with that slow-burn tension that keeps you hooked until the very last page. Aspen Lourde, once the literary world’s golden girl, is now facing the dreaded sophomore slump. Desperate for a bestseller, she heads to the Outer Banks in search of a muse and finds herself tangled up with the town’s notorious heartthrob, Brick Babel. Brick is as rugged as his name suggests—gorgeous, a bit wild, and just the right amount of acerbic to make their chemistry absolutely electric.

The dynamic between Aspen and Brick? Perfection. It’s that push-and-pull where every acerbic line Brick throws at her only pulls her deeper into his world. Aspen’s quest to create her next big hit by faking a romance with him is hilariously complicated, and Probst writes their banter with such skill that you can feel every spark, every barb, and every unspoken feeling. As they navigate this fake relationship for their own selfish goals, the lines blur, feelings get tangled, and suddenly, the stakes are so much higher than just a book deal.

But it’s not just romance—this book also dives into the pressure of creative blocks, the vulnerability of putting yourself out there, and the unexpected places inspiration can come from. Probst brings the Outer Banks setting to life, creating a perfect backdrop for a summer of love, laughter, and unexpected growth.

Five stars, no question. If you’re looking for a romance that’s as acerbic as it is heartfelt, Book of the Month is a must-read. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Books for providing me with an advanced copy of Book of the Month by Jennifer Probst. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and Blue Box Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Every authors dream is to write a book so good that everyone is buying it, talking about it, and obsessed with it. Every authors nightmare is that no one will buy your next book because they are so hung up on your first book. This was Aspen's reality. No one would move on from the book she put her whole soul in to write and now her publisher is breathing down her neck to write one just like it.

Aspen sets off to stay with her sister to try to write her next best seller. Her plan is to fall in love again and have her heart broken again. Local tour guide and heartbreaker, Brick, is the perfect man for the job.

This was a fun book to read. There were some funny moments and some heart breaking ones as well. Great if you like the grumpy/sunshine and fake dating tropes.

Aspen is a best selling author, but hasn’t gained any traction on her last two novels. Her publishing company wants a knockout book, wants her to dig deep with angst and feelings for her characters… but Aspen doesn’t know how to write such characters without proper inspiration. She needs her own love life to spark before she can write a spark for her characters.
Brick’s tour company is failing. What he thought was a successful business left to him from his deceased grandfather, was actually a tour business in the brink of collapse. Brick needs an overhaul. Enter Aspen.

Aspen and Brick strike a deal: her help for his help in the romance department. What starts as a great plot line steeply plummets with no real chemistry between the characters. I wanted to love this book, but I just couldn’t connect with Aspen or Brick.

Thank you Jennifer Probst, NetGalley, and Blue Box Press for the ARC of this novel.

This was a cute read that was easy to read and brought back memories of trips made to the Outer Banks.

Lots of great side characters that helped keep your attrntion.

Book of the Month by Jennifer Probst was such an enjoyable read! Although the fake dating trope faded quickly, I loved the mix of a romance-skeptical MMC and a writer’s block-stricken FMC. The beachy vibes, charming side characters, and intriguing plot kept me hooked—I just wish I could dive into Aspen’s books myself!

This book was cute, but felt a little too long. Overall, I enjoyed the premise, but I also thought the idea of dating to break up was just kind of an awful way to treat someone/go into the idea. Why did she not think she could fall in love/feel emotions to write something? Why did it have to be a love to heartbreak?

Also some minor inconsistencies about NC- we can't have happy hour drink specials. Drink specials have to last all day. Just a minor note from one part in the book, but bothered me as an NC native.

A book about writing books? Sign me up. This book was swoony, a little spicy, and was all wrapped up in the perfect happy ending. I loved the journey that Aspen found herself taking as she went to the Outer Banks, making new friends and discovering why she was working so hard to achieve a best seller status. This one is heartwarming and hilarious worth picking up for sure!

I received this e-book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for the copy!

Ever since Aspen Lourde's first book was so successful, even scored Book of the Month, the rest of her books have fallen flat. She's starting to think that maybe she can only write well when her emotions are high, since she wrote the first one after a huge heartbreak. Brick Babel is the small town guy whose reputation around town is known as a heart-breaker, who is trying to save the family business. When Aspen decides to visit her sister and hears about Brick, she starts to think he is exactly what she needs to write another best selling book. Aspen propositions Brick, a fake relationship in exchange for helping to save the family business....and somehow Brick agrees. Will the deal end up being worth it or will they both regret the decision they've made?

I absolutely loved this cute book! I couldn't get enough and was dying to read it each day. Jennifer Probst did a wonderful job of painting the scene and characters and giving each character voice. She not only had me excited about Aspen and Brick's story, but also created just enough about the surrounding characters that made me care about them as well. So much so that I will definitely be picking up the second book when it comes out because I have to know what happens with Aspen's sister, Sierra! If you enjoy the fake dating trope, I think you'd enjoy this!

I enjoyed this one. Love the grumpy guy isn’t really grumpy but just trying to protect himself and his grandfathers business.

Desperately needing to write her next great novel, Aspen's reading are clamoring for the gut-spilling, emotionally draining experience from her first book. Yet that book was based in reality where she lost her heart and was betrayed by her college professor lover. So Aspen decides that she needs to fall in love again and then get her heart broken to write her next art bestseller. But she needs to do so in a fake relationship and finds Brick, the owner of a failing tour company in the Outer Banks, who reluctantly agrees to this plot as Aspen proposes to pay him to save his company. Predictable as this is, it is delightful to see them truly fall in love, but then there is added content so unnecessary to sell this story that I found it off-putting. Why? Ending is predictable, What started out as promising, ended like helium let out of a balloon. It was okay. Many thanks to #netgalley and #blueboxpress for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Cue the Hallmark romance! Book of the Month is a unique take on the strangers to lovers trope with a twist.

Aspen Lourde needs to write another best seller to prove she’s got what it takes to become a full fledged author. The only problem is she doesn’t think she can do it without another devastating break-up.

While visiting her sister in a small town for the summer, she learns of the unattainable player, Brick. Cute and swoon worthy, this contractual relationship turns into something more than just another best seller.

The characters are lovable from Aspen and Brick to Kane, Sierra and Marco. I loved them all and I can’t wait to read Sierra and Kane’s story.

Thank you to Blue Box Press, NetGalley and the author, Jennifer Probst, for the opportunity to read an early digital copy.

Aspen needs to write a sequel to her bestseller and feels that without the proper heartache and conflict she will fail to make it happen. Brick is trying to revive his grandfather’s failing tour business and the money Aspen gives him to break her heart at the end of her summer visit will help out the business tremendously. Feelings develop and change over time and important decisions must be made. This is an emotional journey of dealing with the past and figuring out the future. A number of sex scenes to keep you fulfilled there as well. There is a good bit of humor within the pages as the main characters cleverly banter and the supporting characters are very entertaining.

I liked the book very much. It is a romantic, entertaining story that has everything to make me enjoy it.

The main characters are very well constructed and I loved their chemistry. Brick, I'm in love. I loved his relationship with the main character. I found it believable and it made me feel so much.

The ending was a bit predictable, but I enjoyed it. Reading this author never disappoints.

thanks for trusting me!

Aspen is desperately needing to write another bestseller book, before her publisher drops her. But when she wrote her first bestseller, she was going through a terrible heartbreak. Moving in with her sister for the summer for a change of scenery could be the answer. Then she meets the town heartthrob that is known for breaking hearts. Can she talk him into an agreement where he breaks her heart so she can write her bestseller? Or will they actually find a true relationship?

This was a fun book with an interesting plot and great characters. A great book!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in return for my honest review.

Book of the Month is a book about writing books with a bunch of other common tropes thrown in. Finding true love, overcoming gossip, sister bonding, overcoming a bad relationship, deciding to taking make a difficult life choice, moving to another town, big city versus small town, people realizing their business dreams, moving on from the loss of parents - were all attempted in this book. I wish the author would have picked one theme and carried all the way through. The book has good points and bad, but the ideas and characters would lead me to read another book by this author. I understand a sequel to the book is planned and I would enjoy visiting the townspeople again. This book has a lot of sex in it for those that have a trigger response.

Brick Babel is an unusual name for a man - I would like to know how the author picked this name. While the characters are likeable the plot line is confusing and the message of the book is unclear.

The two main characters are Aspen and Brick with a supporting cast of Aspen's sister Sierra, Brick's handsome friend Kane and business owners Marco, rival businesswoman Maleficient, and turtle protector Judy. The relationships between the characters in this town are enjoyable and inspiring. There is a touching scene between Aspen and Brick staying up all night to guard the turtle eggs before they are hatched that is well written and memorable. It's also hilarious that Aspen gets accidentally high by eating one of Marcos' brownies. The support and bond Aspen and Sierra had for each other is really touching and could have been a whole book in itself. A lot of the back story details of all the characters were left out of this book.

I was very turned off by the Aspen needing a man to write her book and looking for her identity in a man. This is a terrible message. Women and men need to be whole to give to each other. It is not fair to the man to be everything she needs and terrible for a woman to seek her identify in others. This viewpoint is weird. And Aspen's belief in this led her to not seeing her own gifts of generosity, friendship, leadership and creative thinking that she used to help her sister and others, The author does attempt to address Aspen not being healed from her emotionally abusive ex boyfriend late in the book through her journaling.

But the writing is very biased and suggests throughout that it is pursuit of her career that has ruined her life. But, if she didn't have her career success, which was her dream, then she wouldn't have been in the position to help Brick financially realize his dream and be a partner to him versus all the other women who merely used him. If she didn't pursue her career, she would have spent her life wallowing over her lost love.

The author continuously bad-mouthed Aspen choosing a career and living in New York. The fault lied in Aspen not being healed not in a career or New York itself. If Aspen would have tried to develop relationships in New York, she could have been as happy as she was in the Outer Banks. Is the message of this book finding true love or hatred towards New York and careers because Brick also bad-mouths New York and his friend had trouble in New York. Thank goodness they had the Outer Banks to save them? That is a big turn off to me. I think in reality, your flaws follow you even if you move. The characters were not really written as being small town people at heart. The message or theme of the book seemed to be finding true love both on Brick's end and Aspen's end, but it seemed that there was another message of small town beats big town, but neither message was clearly followed.

I was disappointed in this the first book I read by this author, but I would consider giving this author another try because of the book's characters.

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This was a very enjoyable story by Jennifer Probst. I love books about authors and books. The story really described how some authors struggle to write but at the same time are looking for the gratification that comes from a well liked published book. I really liked the characters and the setting. The story was quite steamy and yet had some comedic parts to it as well. I enjoyed this story from start to finish and at the end of the book she had an excerpt from the sequel. I will be reading the sequel for sure. I thoroughly enjoy books by Jennifer Probst and this book did not disappoint.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book.
I enjoyed it and will tell friends about it.

4.5 stars rounded up.
This book was fun, spicy.. (the mouth on that man.. 🥵) and heartfelt. I loved the deeper themes of heartbreak and healing mixed with the lighthearted romcom moments. I’m looking forward to the next book in this series!
I was given this book as an ARC.

Great rom com! I loved the writing and the spicy chemistry between the main characters, Aspen and Brick. I liked that this wasn’t the typical romantic comedy where boys meets girl, does something stupid and loses girl, then has to scramble to win girl back. The ending is know with the arrangement Brick and Aspen agree to from the start, but the ending is so satisfying and perfect for these characters.