3.5 ⭐️

My expectations going into this book were non-existent. Some of the dialogue and spice was cringey. If you can look past that, this was a fun read. I enjoyed the premise, the characters and it gave what I was hoping for in the end.

This was my first Jennifer Probst book, but it won’t be my last. I will definitely be reading Sierra and Kane’s story when it’s released!

Thank you NetGalley and Blue Box Press for the ARC.

Actually, the book I was going to read this weekend was The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict, but inexplicably, every time I tried to open that book, my Kindle opened Book of the Month, so I ended up reading this story.
Excellent choice, Kindle! At first, it took me a while to get used to some of the characters' names, Maleficent? Brick? Really? Anyway, after getting used to the names, I can only say that the story completely absorbed me!
Aspen is a young writer who needs to write a second bestseller to prove to herself that she is not a one-hit wonder, but no matter what she does, she can't overcome her mental block, so she decides to spend the summer with her sister in the Outer Banks, where she meets Brick, the town's infamous Don Juan. From there, the story gets interesting, with hilarious moments and very sweet and emotional ones.
My favorite characters? Easy: wild horses, turtles, and Dug, Brick's dog.
A book that makes me cry deserves no less than five stars. Well done! I think I found my Book of the Month!
Now, just like the novel, this reader needs to read the sequel...
I thank the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.
The opinion I have expressed above is based solely on what I think and feel about this book.

I thought this was very well written. As an indie author who will most likely never blow up on Booktok or become really famous, I related to Aspen immediately at the beginning of the book. I’ve been there at book signings, forcing a smile and hoping for the best only to sell one book - or sometimes not at all and found Aspen’s desire not to be a one-hit-wonder as she refers to herself, completely relatable. I loved the setting of this book! The Outer Banks sounds gorgeous and I’ve always wanted to go so it was nice seeing the fictional portrayal in this book.
Overall I found Aspen’s story to be uplifting and relatable and I really enjoyed it. This is my first read by this author but I will definitely check out her previous books.

This is a 5 star because it is so brilliantly written. The story within a story is very intriguing and has you wondering about the author's motives until the very end. Many books when the main character is also a writer often seem contrived and lazy. Like the author is taking the easy way out of writing about themselves instead of digging deeper to give the character a different career from their own. But Jennifer does it so well, hinting at some real life situations while keeping the reader wrapped in the fantasy. We were in a rom-com inside a rom-com, what's not to love!!!

How this book has such high ratings is beyond me. Let’s be real for a minute, if the main character was a man harassing a woman, we’d all be furious, but because this is a woman who can’t take n for an answer, it’s cute. And why is Brick so mean to his dog?! Hard pass for me.

Aspen desperately needs a bestseller 📚
I love books that are about books and the publishing business in general. Give me a info from the kitchen any day of the week and I will never be disappointed.
Aspen writes amazingly, but her stories lack something. It lacks tension, raw emotion. Something has to change. ASAP. 
...When you feel confused in life, sometimes you really want to restart everything. To go back to the beginning, to a place where you felt good. That's why Aspen returns to North Carolina, far from the noise of New York. 
She is ready to do anything to bring back the spark in her novels. Including getting her heart broken. She needs Brick.
There is such ease in communication between the characters that I envy them. But I guess in love things happen easily. 
A fun, light read that will make you laugh at the whole experiment. I'm so glad I read it over the summer. It's perfect for the season. 
P.s. I always wanted to ask a man if he was capable of seducing my mind. Well done Aspen, you are my idol.

Book of the Month || Jennifer Probst

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC! Quotes are not from the final version of the book. Releases Oct 22, 2024

“And once again, Aspen wondered if she’d committed the ultimate sin by falling in love with a man she’d hired to break her heart.”

Aspen is an author who is struggling to find success after her debut novel became Book of the Month and sent her to renowned author status. Unfortunately, her debut book pulled a lot from her personal heartbreak and her following books just keep falling flat. To find inspiration, Aspen flees to the Outer Banks of NC to stay with her sister.

Brick is the local bad boy heartbreaker. Brick was bequeathed his grandfather’s home, dog and tourist business of showing off the Outer Banks wild horse population. Only issue is, the business is going under and no bank will loan him the funds to get it back up and running.

Aspen devises a plan to help both her and Brick. Brick will date her, make her fall in love with him, and then break her heart to give her inspiration for the sequel to her best selling book and in exchange, Aspen will give him the funds to save his business. It’ll be a clean break at the end of the summer when she goes back to New York. However, the summer is hot, and the line between fact and fiction becomes easily blurred.

This was a fun, end of summer read, and it took place in my state which is always enjoyable! I enjoyed the characters in the book and the love story between Brick and Aspen. The author sets up for a sequel to occur with some of the supporting characters and I look forward to checking that out next year. If you want to read a quick romance and reminisce about summer, pick this up!

-ARC out 10/22/2024
-romance
-fake dating
-misunderstood bad boy
-summer love
-healing
-sets up for sequel
-dual POV
-3rd person POV

Spice 4/5

This story is about Aspen, a writer who needs new inspiration for her latest book - a romance book, except that the well is a little dry. So she decides to make her own magic and heads to the Outer Banks, where she encounters Brick, who has a reputation within the town. He thwarts her advances, however, until she makes him a proposal to help his business which may go into bankruptcy. Both will get what they need out of the pact, and then they can part ways. Except, that is not how things work out, of course.

I thought the characters had good chemistry, there was a good vibe within their conversations and they reminded me of an actual couple. I think this is a good book for that summer romance vibe.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blue Box Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

truly loved this book! Fabulous rom-com! Aspen is a best selling author that’s in a writing slump and is on a deadline. She heads to the Outer Banks to write at her sister’s home. Loved this familiar setting. The author transported to OBX so well. I loved her writing about the wild horses and turtle nests. Brick local bad bay, but is he really. Brick is running his deceased grandfather’s tourist business. They strike a mutually agreed upon deal and fiction turns to reality quickly. Such an expected fun read! Thank you to Net Galley and Blue Box Press for this advance read

Reading Book of The Month by Jennifer Probst felt like watching a 2000s rom-com—you know, the kind where weird corny stuff happens, and you just have to go with it to enjoy the ride. The story is fun and light, but there were definitely moments where I had to just go along with whatever was happening.

The romance between the two leads, Aspen and Brick, could have used a bit more depth. The insta-love was so strong that I found myself wishing for more buildup—but this is honestly just a personal preference thing.

Certain conflicts added drama but also felt a bit contrived. The ML is also too much of a green flag that I wish we could have had the chance to see more of his flaws just so he feels more attainable/relatable/realistic.

Likewise, certain scenes were also a bit over-the-top that I decided to just take it as pure comic relief (and enjoyed it that way).

Aspen’s life as an author and the insights into publishing were interesting, but her obsession with the idea that getting her heart broken was the only way to write a successful novel was a bit much (even though that’s literally the entire premise of the book). She kept repeating this over and over, which made it feel a bit corny and also made me question her skill as a writer.

Overall, Book of the Month is fun, easy to consume, and perfect if you’re looking to turn your brain off for a bit with some romance with a dash of spice.

A fun entertaining romantic read. Some of the "romance" might be too explicit for some, but all in all a well developed story. Especially liked the Outer Banks history of turtles and wild mustangs. Now it is on my bucket list to visit.

Like a lot of rom-coms, this one is superbly readable and I devoured it quickly. I love a book about books and our FMC Aspen is an author, trying to churn out her next big bestseller.

Aspen is hindered, however, by a lack of emotions since her first big hit. Two other books followed with little fanfare. What’s different? Aspen wrote her first book after a colossal heartbreak, so she engineers another heartbreak to fuel her creativity for her next book of the month.

This was fun, I enjoyed the OBX setting and most of the characters. However, there was a lot of repetition (if I have to read ocean-blue or cocoa-brown as eye color descriptions again I might scratch out my own ocean-blue eyes) and the MCs names were grating - Aspen Lourde and Brick Babel? Is this a porn? So…fun but with a little gag warning from this sporadic romance reader.

Review coming soon!

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Opinions are mine.

I picked this book based on the summary because I thought it was an intriguing plot with a twist on the typical “fake dating” trope. I liked the relationship between the main characters, and their support of each other was sweet. I felt the book was a little slow and could have been edited down quite a bit, there were some parts that felt like they had already been written and I was having to read them again when I just wanted to move on. I also had a hard time with the names of so many characters: Brick, Ursula, Maleficent, Kane, Anastasia, etc. To have one weird Disney villain name is one thing, to have several really takes me out of the story and reminds me this is fiction because no small town has that many crazy names. Otherwise is was a cute read, and I’m tempted to pick up Sierra and Kane’s story next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I thought about DNF’ing this book numerous times but kept reading because I needed something mind numbing for a hectic work week. This book was not for me. I was invested in about 5% of the end.

Things I liked:
-that Aspen was the one to break Bricks heart and win him back.

Things I didn’t like:
-the heavy repetition of the words: male, female, masculine, feminine, greedy, greedily, tremble, shudder, aftershocks, clenching.
-why was everyone so mean when they talked about Dug?
-why was PTSD thrown about lightly?
-if Sierra and Kane have a story, why is their story not sprinkled in more
-not very relatable & fell kind of flat
-I’m bummed I pushed through this one


An ARC was received in exchange for an honest review.

Oh man! The premise of this book was really promising but sadly I had to DNF this one. Aspen is an author who is struggling to follow up on the success of her first book. To resolve this issue, she decided to pursue the MMC Brick in hopes of getting "book material" from a future heartbreak. It was so hard to relate to Aspen. At times, I struggled understanding why she is the way she is and the things she does. Brick is also not endearing. Their interaction is pained and forced and I didnt feel any type of connection between the two. Aspen seeking out Brick is borderline harassment. I just couldnt get on the love story. They didnt endear me or made me giddy. This is the first Jennifer Probst book I've read (or tried to) so I dont know if this is unique to this book or not. I will definitely try reading another one of her books to see. Overall, again had to DNF. Great premise, just didnt deliver.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for a honest review.

An easy, fun, summer romance. This book was predictable at most times, but still kept me engaged. The OBX beach setting was perfect for visuals. I liked that Aspen and Brick both heard each other and made the other feel seen. It was fun seeing Aspen find herself for what may have been the first time ever. It does have one of my least favorite tropes, but it needed to happen for this story and wasn’t a heavy hitter. I’d recommend this for a summer beach read.

Aspen is desperate for another bestseller. Ever since making it big with her first book, that she wrote from her own experience with heartbreak, she just hasn’t been able to recreate the magic with her last two books. Under pressure by her readers, publisher and her agent; she decides to take the summer to write a sequel to her first book while spending the summer vacationing with her sister in OBX. She just needs to find the perfect guy to fall in love with and break her heart to spark her writing…

Brick inherited his grandfather’s wild horse touring business in OBX less than a year ago and you might say things aren’t going the best. The women in town think he’s a hunky heartbreaking savage and his competition in town is sabotaging him at every angle. If he doesn’t get some cash flow soon he’s going to lose his grandfather’s business.

Could Brick and Aspen come to an agreement to help each other out? Other will this intentional heartbreak bring disaster for both of them?

This book was such a fun, sexy baby read. This was my first Jennifer Probst book and I absolutely loved it! At times, the book was predictable however the premise of the book was intriguing. I enjoyed the main character developments and their chemistry. The secondary characters were so refreshing and made me want to visit OBX! Can’t wait for the second book in the series, The Reluctant Flirt to come out!

This book was an absolute blast to read! The fake dating trope is always a favorite of mine, but the author took it to another level by weaving it into a story about an author in crisis and a business in need of saving. The setup led to plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, especially when the lines between reality and pretense started to blur.

What really made this story stand out was the chemistry between the main characters. Their banter was sharp, funny, and filled with just the right amount of tension. Watching them navigate their fake relationship while both trying to solve their own problems added a layer of depth to the usual rom-com formula. The humor was spot on, and there were several scenes that had me grinning from ear to ear.

And let’s talk about the steam! The slow build-up of attraction was perfectly done, making those moments of closeness feel all the more intense. The way the author balanced the comedic elements with the romance kept the story engaging from start to finish.

If you're a fan of fake dating stories This book was an absolute blast to read! The fake dating trope is always a favorite of mine, but the author took it to another level by weaving it into a story about an author in crisis and a business in need of saving. The setup led to plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, especially when the lines between reality and pretense started to blur.

What really made this story stand out was the chemistry between the main characters. Their banter was sharp, funny, and filled with just the right amount of tension. Watching them navigate their fake relationship while both trying to solve their own problems added a layer of depth to the usual rom-com formula. The humor was spot on, and there were several scenes that had me grinning from ear to ear.

And let’s talk about the steam! The slow build-up of attraction was perfectly done, making those moments of closeness feel all the more intense. The way the author balanced the comedic elements with the romance kept the story engaging from start to finish.

📖📖 Book of the Month 📖📖 Adulting is hard, it’s especially hard after loss and heartache. And sometimes art imitates life; Aspen doesn’t do happily ever after endings in her books. Perhaps that’s why she has been a one hit wonder. There is one tried and true way to refresh and renew that never fails me….the beach. And Aspen is trading in the cement of Manhattan for some respite in the sand of the Outer Banks with her sister. A handsome tour operator with a reputation with the ladies catches Aspen’s attention and has her thinking he might just be her inspiration. Book of the Month reminds us that it is totally okay to feel overwhelmed and in over our head in the adulting world. And thank you Jennifer Probst for the reminder that taking a break to go to the beach is always a perfect way to recharge and start fresh.

Review is on Goodreads and will be posted on instagram closer to publication date and on Amazon when published!