Alex Aster will never write a book that I do not thoroughly enjoy. This statement is supported by this book. Thank you, Alex, for another smash that would live on my shelf rent free.

A successful but anonymous screenwriter returns to the city she can’t stand, begrudgingly fulfilling her contract for the next big movie she’s supposed to write. Struggling with creative burnout, the last thing she expects is to get entangled with her billionaire next door neighbor. What begins as a mutually beneficial arrangement quickly turns into something neither of them saw coming.

I DNF’d this book at 55% for two key reasons. First, when a woman says no, that boundary should be respected, immediately and without question. This story included moments where “no” didn’t mean “no,” which sends a harmful message. Second, the MMC’s repeated love bombing (lavishing her with extravagant gifts like dresses, diamonds, even a coffee shop) despite her repeatedly saying she’s not interested in dating him, crossed a line. When a woman says she’s not interested, believe her.

Thank you to William Morrow for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I love romance and I love books set in New York, so I thought I'd be really into this. It just did not do it for me. All of the characters felt unbelievable to me, and how wealth was handled in the book felt unrealistic. I get it, he's really rich. But also, I don't think a rich person would spend there money like that on a girl they just met, even if they really loved them. I can see the appeal of this book to some people, like people who liked the OG Gossip Girl, but this just isn't the book for me. Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC!!

I was not a fan of this book personally. Parker was an A+ character and I loved him with every ounce of my being. No notes for my man Parker. Elle on the other hand was taking me out of the book. I could not vibe with her and even when I found out her reason for not wanting to date rich it was still not a good reason to be mean to Parker. Elle was so insufferable and it made enjoying the book very difficult.

This delightful summer rom-com swept me away with its vibrant New York City backdrop, which felt like a character in its own right. From the bustling streets and iconic landmarks to the electric energy coursing through every page, it evoked a nostalgic vibe reminiscent of classic 2000s rom-coms. The story’s playful tone and billionaire romance premise delivered exactly the kind of over-the-top fun I crave, filled with laugh-out-loud moments and sizzling chemistry.

That said, I found myself frustrated with Elle, the main female character. While I love a good grumpy heroine, her lack of growth was impossible to ignore. She remained stubbornly closed-off, with communication issues that made it hard to root for her at times. Her tendency to ghost people at the slightest conflict felt immature, and though her past trauma was acknowledged, the story didn’t give her enough opportunities to truly confront or overcome it. This lack of depth made it difficult to fully connect with her journey.

The romance between Elle and Parker also moved at a breakneck pace. While that added excitement, it sacrificed deeper emotional development, making their connection feel more like a whirlwind than a grounded love story. Still, the book’s cinematic quality and undeniable charm make it clear why it’s a fan favorite—it has all the makings of a blockbuster rom-com I’d happily watch on the big screen.

Put this one in your beach bag! It is such a fun summer read. I loved it, I loved the setting, and Parker was a 10/10. The only drawback for me was Elle. I found her aversion to money became grating after awhile. Parker doing these grand gestures (which gave me anxiety honestly because throwing that much money around seems ridiculous even in a work of fiction) but anyway, his thoughtful, over-the-top kindness was never even met with a thank you and that started to get on my nerves! I am Team Parker and Elle did not deserve him. I loved the story anyway! 5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley & William Morrow for an e-ARC.


Elle is spending the summer in a high-rise in New York City, where she is writing a script. Her neighbor, who is obviously a wealthy bachelor, asks her to spend the summer as his girlfriend. He wants a woman who he can trust and who won't sell him stories to the tabloids, in the spirit of Pretty Woman. The description and character development were important. I haven't read any of Alex Aster's previous works yet, but I plan to soon.

Elle was maddening. thought I could just ignore it and push through the audiobook, but I couldn't. bc she's the MC and the book is using 1st person POV. I understand for wanting to be independent but her hatred towards gift and grand gesture and wealth was WAY too far, it ended up looking like she's having a massive pick me,
"I'm not like the other girls" behavior. It's also not helping that Parker is just a typical, generic rich dude with no personality depth or anything.

there’s this repeating dynamic between Elle & Parker where Parker did a grand gesture and Elle was not having it and I was started losing it, and then I looked at people’s reviews and they mentioned chapter 30 (88% in) so I looked it up to decide whether I’d dnf or not and that exact dynamic happened again and I finally lost it. No growth at all between 50% and 88% for both of them. goodbye.

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for an ARC ebook!

Summer in the City follows Elle, a screenwriter spending the summer in New York in an attempt to overcome her writer's block. She lives next door to our MMC, Parker, who is a billionaire. They met in a club two years ago, and shared a steamy make-out session, and while he's been on her mind, he doesn't even recognize her. After seeing him, her writer's block is lifted and she realizes he might be just what she needs to get her next movie written. Luckily, he needs a pretend girlfriend for the summer to distract from rumors of his big business merger...

I'm a HUGE fan of fake dating, so this was right up my alley. I greatly enjoyed the book. The sweet scenes are sweet, the spicy scenes are spicy, and Elle working through her trauma is real and emotional. It was an awesome book, but I found myself feeling like it was unfinished at the end. After taking some time to sit with it, I realized the thing that bothered me was that Elle never really pursues/sacrifices/puts effort into the relationship. The whole thing is Parker being devoted to her but there's never any reciprocity to be equal partners. Some minor tweaks would have moved this to five stars, but as it is, I didn't love it.

One other note, the comments Elle makes about being a screenwriter/author are hilarious as Alex Aster is assumedly working on the screenwriting for Lightlark. I GREALY enjoyed the meta commentary.

This was such a fun romcom!! I loved this right away including all the fun special edition covers and the map!

This was a love letter to classic romcoms and was just perfect! I enjoyed getting to know the characters and travel around New York!

Alex needs to keep writing romcoms because it was such a refreshing read!

A great summer romance ! This book was a quick and fun read that had an easy pace that made the book fly by. I loved the plot of the book with the almost sight seeing aspect. It did feel like the perfect sort of romcom vibes, but instead of being comedy focused I felt there were a lot of wholesome moments between the characters.

I was head over heels for Parker's character. He came off as such a sweet cinnamon roll and seemed so caring and patient. The way Elle and his dynamic grew and changed was really sweet. While I didn't like what they had to go through I was very happy with where the two of them ended up. This is perfect for anyone who wants to take a short trip to New York in their heads and see what the city might be like through a locals eyes.

5 stars!
This book was romance and chaos in the best way. The New York summer vibes were immaculate, the romance had me grinning and blushing, and the characters felt so real. Alex Aster nailed the feeling of falling in love while figuring out your life. I couldn’t put it down!

I was really hoping to enjoy Love Sick, but it just didn’t click for me. Grace was hard to figure out—her emotions and choices didn’t feel natural, and I had a tough time connecting with her. I think the author tried to show why she was closed off, but it didn’t fully come through in the writing.

Also, I went into this expecting a fake dating/millionaire romance, but it didn’t really deliver on that. Julian didn’t come across the way I thought he would, and their dynamic felt more surface-level than swoony. I liked the hospital setting and the idea behind the story, but overall, it fell a bit flat.

I love the fake dating troupe and this one doesn’t disappoint. Elle is writing a screenplay while staying at a high rise in NYC for the summer. Her neighbor…of course is a billionaire bachelor who asks her to be his girlfriend for the summer. Think of Pretty Woman style- he wants a girlfriend that he can trust and won’t sell stories to the tabloids about him. It’s very enemies to friends to…. I don’t want to spoil it. I haven’t read Alex Aster’s other books because I don’t read a lot of fantasy but this one certainly makes me want to devour more novels by her. I hope she writes more books like this!!

I loved that the author didn’t go down the usual “grumpy CEO” route that so many billionaire romances rely on. If anything, Elle was the grumpy one in the relationship. Parker was just completely devoted to her—buying her dream house, purchasing an entire coffee shop chain just because she loves it… he was so whipped for her, and honestly, it was adorable. so yeah, if you’re looking for a billionaire romance where the guy absolutely spoils his girl rotten, Parker alone makes this book worth reading.

this was a fun romance from Aster, I'm excited to see her branching out of genre's! The reason for my rating is because I absolutely couldn't stand the FMC, otherwise I think I would've loved it a lot more.

Tropes:
💌Fake dating
⚔️Enemies to lovers
🎭Rom-com
💢Jealousy


Thank you to NetGalley for giving this ARC, and this doesn’t influence my review. Honestly I’m surprised I got the ARC for Alex Aster’s book!!!
This book was fast-paced compared to books I usually read, but it wasn’t too fast. I love how it was set in New York, since I’m from there! The rom-com delivered well, and I was smiling a lot or laughing most of the read. I had to put myself on a self-imposed ban on reading this book in public cause I was getting looks cause I was laughing/smiling/snickering at my phone. The writing style was amazing and I love how naturally funny the FMC is. Low key this book motivated me to get active again and stop bed rotting.

Fav quote: “I’m the type of person who gets happy when someone cancels plans with me. More time with my bed!”

What I didn’t like: the intimacy in the start. I DNFed the book at 68%

This book was cute. This book was exactly what i expected it would be— a cute romcom between a billionaire man with stars in his eyes over the girl unimpressed with his money and the girl who wants to live the city she resides in and “not” fall in love with the man she obviously has feelings for.

I gave this story a 5 star review! I absolutely loveddd Alex Asters Characters. For someone who has not ever been in NYC i truly felt i traveled there through this book. The character development and the description was everything I was looking for right when spring was starting in the city if chicago!

I really love Alex Aster and her fun personality which shows in the book (which I loved.) However, I did feel this title was really forced into trying to be an "enemies to lovers." Plus, it felt like the book constantly relied on the characters constantly misinterpreting each other when a normal conversation could've corrected the issue.