4.5
I devoured this book….I couldn’t get enough. I was going back & forth but I loved the experience of this read! It was a wonderful take on some great tropes: enemies to lovers, billionaire romance, rom-com & forced proximity.
The characters in this were so unique & their backgrounds are so well-written & humbling as well. It is the perfect palate cleanser book if need be & a fun escape! The scenery & background were so distinct as it felt like I was there!! The tension in this read leading up to the slow burn was 10/10! I loved it. I will add, the FMC at times was difficult & kept bringing up old conflict and I just wanted to take her to the side and talk to her, but near the end everything played out well! It was such an overall great read!

4.50 ⭐️

I've officially found my next comfort romance read! Summer in the City by Alex Aster was such a fun and special romance read! As a huge lover of rom-com movies and books, this book was everything!

In Summer in the City, we follow Elle, an anonymous screenwriter who has an amazing career opportunity to write a big-budget movie script set in New York City, a city she actually hates! To fight back against her writer’s block and find some inspiration, she finds herself back in the city.

Once upon a time, Elle had a hot encounter with the gorgeous tech billionaire, Parker, in the city and it was delicious moment until he ruined it by making some poor assumptions about her. After the encounter, Elle truly despised the man and when I say despised, I mean she despised him to the point where she essentially started obsessing over him.

When Elle returns to the city, she finds out that her neighbor is none other than the gorgeous Parker, and ooo the temptation! One thing leads to another, and they both agree to fake-date each other, but only for the summer—and the story blooms from there! Oh, and a certain gorgeous man may or may not become her muse to help with her writer’s block!

The romance and tension in this book were perfect! I adored Parker, and I can’t wait for everyone to read how charming he is, along with how much he cares for Elle, even if she doesn’t want to admit it to herself! I was blushing and giggling nonstop while reading the book! I finished this book in one day and will definitely be re-reading it soon!

I loved seeing Elle’s journey from initially hating New York City to eventually falling in love with it! I related to parts of her, including her fear of doing the opposite of the lessons her mother taught her growing up. With time, she is able to identify and challenge those fears to not allow her past define her future!

I can’t wait for everyone to read it when it’s published this month! Thank you so much to William Morrow and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC!

Welcome to New York!

Summer in the City by Alex Aster is a fun rom-com set in one of my favorite cities, NYC. Elle, the FMC, is a screenwriter with writer’s block who is apartment sitting for the summer, her next door neighbor, Parker, is the MMC, who is a billionaire tech founder. These two start off on the wrong foot. There is a little bit of an enemies to lovers vibe. One thing leads to another and they end up fake dating for the summer. They also end up exploring the city together, and I loved being able to experience the city through the characters’ eyes.

Elle and Parker have fantastic chemistry, the bickering, flirting, and banter were on point. I absolutely adored Parker, such a swoon worthy MMC. I also appreciated Elle’s independence and drive.

Overall, it is such a fun read, and the pacing was just right. If you love a romance that has tropes of enemies to lovers, fake dating, and second chances, then this is the book for you. Perfect for the summertime.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the arc. All opinions are my own.

4.5 stars!

This was such a fun read. I loved the author's writing style. She immediately sucked me into the story with her great visuals. I felt like I was right there with them exploring New York and getting to eat all the delicious foods. I would love some New York style pizza right about now.

This story follows Elle and Parker as they spend a summer "fake dating". I LOVED Parker's character. He is such a golden retriever. Elle is a more complicated character. She is flawed, and is working through some trauma from her past that make it hard for her to love, especially someone like Parker who feels he can just buy her things to make her happy. She wants to be independent and take care of things on her own, but then you have Parker who buys out a whole coffee/cafe chain for her just so she can get her favorite treat since they stopped carrying it.

The pacing is great, the relationship is great. I loved that it didn't just end happily right away and that they had to work through some things to get to where they are at the end. The story made me tear up a few times and I always love it when a story can pull on your heart strings.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and now I want to read her other books. I will say I may not think about painted walls the same way again lol. 🎨🖌️

✨Billionaire Romance
✨Fake Dating
✨Independent FMC
✨Second Chances
✨Forced Proximity

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:
♡Apparently I talk to myself a lot louder than I thought. "Oh you must have heard the TV." We both do a slow turn to the television, which is still in its box. "That I stream on my laptop." Both of our eyes drop to my computer, which is sitting closed on the counter.♡

♡Movies have a formula. A three-act structure. A resultion. Life isn't like that. Life doesn't fit into pretty boxes.♡

♡Life isn't a movie. There's never just one start or ending. There's always the chance to begin again. The promise of a new tomorrow is the best part of living.♡

♡A love letter to our summer.♡

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Alex Aster absolutely nailed this genre shift, and I couldn’t be happier that she did! I loved this love story—it wasn’t just about romance, but about the flawed, messy, and deeply real aspects of love. It captured how relationships should make us better without changing who we are, and how we have to be whole on our own before we can truly be with someone else. The emotional depth, the growth, and the push-and-pull of becoming your own person while being in love were so beautifully done. This book had me feeling everything—I was hooked from start to finish!

Thank you so much for the ARC! I absolutely lovvvvved this book. Like LOVE! I had seen a few other reviews that held high praise so I was definitely interested, but it was even better than my expectations. I have never read anything by this author but it's an auto-buy author for me now. My house lately has been: hey babe, what's for dinner; hey babe, do you want to watch this show; hey babe, the dog needs to be taken for a walk; hey babe, I have no clean underwear........because I could NOT put this book down! And hey, the husband can fend for himself, right? The banter between the two main couples was fantastic. It kept me wanting for more! I love the slow burn, but when it does happen (spoiler alert) it's exactly how I would have written it. I loved the New York feel of the book as well. Having been there a few times, I can imagine the whole experience. It was just such an easy book to read. I love the way the author writes. It's not cheesy or boring but just grips you and makes you want to keep reading. The only bad thing I can say is that it had to end. I really didn't want it to! This may go down as my favorite book this year, but it's only March so time will tell. An EASY five star read for me.

Having read Alex Aster's romantasy series, Lightlark, I had incredibly high hopes for this rom-com. Alex KNOWS how to write enemies to lovers, leave the reader begging for more, while also giving the characters realistic internal dialogues and actions throughout the story. I am in love with these characters and truly cannot wait to see what else Alex writes. Definitely an auto-buy author!

Summer in the City by Alex Aster• ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read: 3/02-3/03 2025

✨ Review ✨

Thank you so much William Morrow Books and NetGalley for this ARC!!

I love the Lightlark series, so of course I had to read this! Now, first thing’s first, you’ll definitely want to read this after, while, or right before you eat because of how much food is involved in this book.

I love getting to tour around New York with Elle and Parker. As someone who never has, and probably never will, go to NY, it’s fun getting to read about it as if I were there. Especially the food. Seriously, the detail in this will make your mouth water.

And Parker, the man that he is. He is the best billionaire boyfriend ever. The things he does for her. I need a Parker in my life.

And we can’t forget about poor Luke, the contractor. Poor man thinks Elle is a serial killer. You’ll understand when you read this.

Now I do feel that Elle tried to be a little too independent. Of course she has her history and it’s very understandable of why she would be hesitant of someone with so much money. It just felt like she used that as an excuse one too many times and really let it control her life, which does definitely give a realistic aspect to this, but in the fictional world, it feels like she created this rift that didn’t need to happen.

Overall though, it was really fun reading about their dates, going to the different filming locations, and getting some found family with Parker’s friends.

Plus, we need to talk about the looks of this book! The cover! The sprayed edges! The endpapers! I love how different stores sell different versions of this, each with their own meaning. The Amazon pre-order link is below. Thank you again Alex Aster and I can’t wait to read the Grim and Oro book!! (Team Grim)

Releases March 25, 2025
Amazon Pre-Order link: https://a.co/d/jjEGD1Q

I adored this book. I had been looking to read another contemporary romance after finishing Nisha Tuli’s Not Safe For Work, and this really hit the spot. Rom-coms tend to be a bit predictable, as this one was, but there is a certain comfort in that; you know what you’re going to get. It hugged my heart in all the right ways and I couldn’t put it down.

Aster does such a great job describing the scenes, I almost felt like I was walking the streets of NYC myself. Everything played out just like a movie in my head, which is appropriate since the FMC Elle is a screenwriter.

Elle is doing her best to be a strong, independent woman who don’t need no man, though a lot of the decisions she makes are really frustrating to watch and makes me wonder if maybe she needs some therapy to work through her past trauma. But these flaws made her feel more relatable to me. The third act breakup was a bit much, but I wasn’t completely bothered by it and at that point I expected (and wanted?) my heart to get a little broken anyway, so it could get put back together in the end.

I loved the pacing, the relationship development, the found family with the side character girlfriends, and MMC Parker and their banter. The book overall was just very charming.

I am so grateful to William Morrow and Alex Aster for this ARC! I’m a big fan of the Lightlark Saga, so this was a highly anticipated read for me and I’m so happy I got to read it early. I hope Aster continues to write in this genre, I would read them all!

Getting an Arc for this book (Thank you Harper Collins) made my week. Not only was I so excited to get the Arc, but it lived up to the hype. This is such a well written romance! I felt all the emotions and couldn't put the book down. Really, I read it all in one sitting, and there was screaming, laughing and tears involved. I fell in love with the characters and was rooting for them the whole time. The prose of the book is also very whimsically, romantically written. It might not be for everyone, but I like the ways days bled together and we got a montage feel of their romance at points. This was easy to rate 5 stars, I absolutely love it, please check it out!!

I give this 3.5 stars, rounded to 4. I mostly enjoyed this book. It had good pacing, and the chemistry between the characters made me not care that the premise was silly. I would read another romance novel by this author.

I would've liked this book more if there had been more about Elle's relationship with her dad. There was never any closure on that storyline. The plot flitted about too much and shouldve focused more on Elle's childhood. I also felt that it started to drag in the last few chapters, and Elle's waffling started to get irritating.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC of this book - out March 25!

This one caught and kept my attention from the first page. I enjoyed the setting being in NYC versus most small town or beach romances I've read lately. I read this in just a day, and I enjoyed the writing style and storytelling - a great straightforward predictable summer romance. I knew what I was getting, and got it.

Parker was the perfect billionaire book boyfriend and really spoiled his lady. I loved his instant chemistry with Elle and the draw that kept them coming back together. The pacing was good - not instant love, not a super slow burn, but a nice consistent and gradual love story. Elle is the main reason for a loss of a star. Her grudge held for a miscommunication was a bit extreme and was really frustrating toward the end.

This was super cute and super swoony! I immediately fell in love with Parker and the vibes that Aster gave us! Aster perfectly encapsulated the aura of NYC (one of my favorite places on Earth to visit). The only thing that is holding me back from giving this 5 stars was the last 10% of the book. The third act break up ALWAYS makes me angry but this one was just unnecessary and it was dragged out for way too long. Elle really just annoyed me the last 25% of this book while Parker did all of the groveling.

I wanted to like this so bad, and I did…it just fell a bit short. But let’s start with the good - First, I finished it in 24 hours. Super easy to get through, keeps you entertained, just enough romance, angst, spice, and billionaire vibes.. everything you want in a rom com. Fun NYC summer vibes too.
BUT, the main character was insufferable at times!! She really threw the book off for me. What good is having a billionaire boyfriend if you can’t appreciate it and you’re just going to put him down all the time? LOL she was just really selfish at times and didn’t put herself in his shoes, when I wish she did. She was really big on earning things on her own instead of being given things, which I understand, but there were times where she should have just appreciated what she was given from him and been thankful. A lot stems from her past and her parent’s relationship which you’ll learn about, but it still rubbed me the wrong way. Other than that, I loved her love interest Parker and thought he was a gem! They really are cute together in the end.
A lot of this is extremely unrealistic, so just bear that in mind, but if you get past that and the main character’s bit of an attitude, it really is a cute rom com. Not going on the favorites shelf but I’d definitely still recommend, for a fun, easy summer read.

I love Alex Aster, and was excited to read her new contemporary romance! This was the perfect summer rom com, with rivals to lovers, close proximity, and a fun “date for the summer” romance! I especially loved the setting of NYC and all the special locations they visit throughout the book! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book for an honest review!

I have to start off by saying that I did enjoy this story. It was a cute light read and Parker (MMC) was everything you would want in a book boyfriend. You get to see the FMC Elle move past her traumas and fall back in love with a city she hated. If you are someone that has dreamed of ever going to New York this book will validate you.




However, there were so many contradictions in this book that didn’t make sense. She mentioned how Elle never did any physical activity since 10th grade and gets winded going down the stairs but then later it’s revealed that she used to play basketball as a kid and she plays again but older and is just automatically still good and in shape???

Then it does explain that her sister travels a lot and has all this money but her and her husband don’t work? It hints that she just takes money from her dad who is rich but it still doesn’t make sense.

I’m stuck between a 3-3.5. Now I did devour this book in a day as it was a pretty addicting read.

I loved the NYC setting and the pacing was fast. It was an easy fun rom-com. It really gave the vibe of the 2000s rom-coms that I loved to watch.

I also liked that Parker was not the typical broody grumpy billionaire that you see in most billionaire romances.

Also, I appreciated that this wasn’t insta love. The only reason why it’s not getting a higher rating was because of Elle. The unnecessary third act breakup at the end just annoyed me. I also felt like she was a little whiny at some points which turned me off.

Overall this was a fun read and I would recommend.

Thank you William Morrow and NetGalley for this eARC.

[arc review]

i was a little nervous to start this book because i tried reading lightlark when it first came out and i learned that alex’s writing style wasn’t for me. but i’m so glad i decided to take the plunge with her new romance novel because i ended up really enjoying it.

i think both parker and elle are grumps but elle is more grumpy than parker is and parker leans more toward sunshine. although he isn’t entirely sunshine, he’s just more positive than elle is. i really liked that though, usually billionaire ceos are very grumpy and parker strayed away from that.

parker in other aspects though, fell a little flat for me. by the end of the book, i felt like i learned more about elle than i did parker. however, that’s not to say that he didn’t grow. he was very used to buying his way into things and he had to unlearn that behavior for elle. she was the one thing parker could not buy. he did try though. he bought her favorite coffee shop because they stopped making her favorite blueberry scones. i didn’t want to like him at first because of the comments he made but he’s actually a softie and a romantic.

elle’s got a tough relationship with money and refuses to let a man with money control her the way her dad did with her mom. she became a screenwriter because her mom encouraged her to at a young age and after graduating from columbia, she became her own rich man. she didn’t make as much as parker does but it was enough to get her out of debt and to live off of. she’s always giving back to her community as well, which i admire.

overall the plot was cute and the pacing felt very natural. i teared up a few times but that’s just me loving love 🥹

Thank you to William Morrow, NetGalley & Alex Aster for the chance to read “Summer in the City” before publication. If you’re a fan of NYC, Billionaire Romances, Fake Dating, Forced Proximity & Second Chances, this may be up your alley.

I’ll start with saying that this was a pretty cute and easy read, I loved the descriptions of New York and chapters seemed quick. There were a bunch of “she’s looking at the view, he’s looking at her” moments, which we always love.

I do truly wish that we had gotten at least a little bit of Parker’s POV, which may have helped explain some things that I was confused about. I wanted to know if he ever did truly hate her after the stairwell moment, because it did seem sort of one-sided.

Elle seemed extremely judgmental and immature- I do believe that after everything she went through with her mother and her father respectively, she needed therapy. Parker was a sweetheart and I felt like Elle was rude to him quite often during their arrangement. Even after he apologizes to her for how their first interaction went and about flaunting his money, she still doesn’t seem to accept it. Her focus was constantly on how much money he had, even Penelope brings up her hyper/focus on money post-chapter 30…

Speaking of…Chapter 30 was very abrupt - we already hate third act breakups and this one gave me whiplash. I don’t want to ruin the entire chapter, so I’ll leave it at that.

Again, if you’re a fan of NYC, Billionaire Romances, Fake Dating, Forced Proximity & Second Chances, you may enjoy this one, but it didn’t quite meet my expectations.

This book touches on topics such as Parental Loss & Medical Trauma.

The book lives up to its name and captures the fun, the whimsy, and the possibility that comes with spending a summer in New York City. Billionaire romance can be hit or miss but Alex makes it work with the female characters backstory and drive to achieve financial stability on her own. It's equal parts funny, romantic and heartbreaking, and heartwarming. This book will be loved by fans of Ali Hazelwood and Abby Jimenez.