While overall I enjoyed the read, it also fell kinda flat for me as well. I just could not connect as well as I hoped with the two main characters. I did not really feel the romance in the book. Josie Silver is a great author, this book was just not my favorite of hers.

I was so excited for this book, but unfortunately, it just didn’t deliver. I promise I tried to love it—I really did—but I just couldn’t get past the premise. I mean, how can a sane person be okay with taking credit for someone else’s work? That’s just not something I can get behind morally. And then you’re scared the lie will be discovered? Yeah, no thanks.

I ended up DNF’ing at 60%. Up to that point, there was absolutely no romance—it’s supposed to be a slow burn, but honestly, it felt like there wasn’t going to be any romance at all. It leaned way more into women’s fiction. And hear me out: if it had actually been marketed as women’s fiction, I might have enjoyed it more. But I think my expectations going in are what led to my disappointment.
⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚𝕻𝖗𝖊-𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

I just screamed when I saw that I got approved for this 😭 thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Netgalley for the eARC 💕💕

This was unique and enthralling. I finished it within a day. There’s witticism and warm, stranger-turned-friends tropes. Some social media topics that were handled well. And book-lovers-unite story lines. My only qualm is that I wasn’t fully invested, and I think that’s because the I wasn’t invested in the main character. She was lacking some development. I didn’t fall in love with her because I didn’t really know her, if that makes sense. All I got was that she was a good person coming out of a sad situation. Knowing more about her could have helped my investment. Thank you to Dell and NetGalley for the arc.

How I know this was written outside of the US: an ambulance was called without a second thought.

Rating: 3 ⭐️
Release Date: June 10 2025
Tropes/Themes:
• Actor x Agent
• Both divorced
• The secret comes out
• Dealing with grief

The premise itself was interesting. We are all familiar with ghost writers and pseudonyms, but what if we take things a step further and paste a whole new person on the cover and have an actor pretend to be the author? I also enjoyed being in the dark about the real author and trying to figure it out.

Unfortunately, I just really was not even feeling slow burn here... The chemistry was nonexistent between Kate and Charlie leaving us with fairly bland interactions. Kate makes rude assumptions and comments about Charlie pretty much the entire time up to the (entirely out of the blue) "I love you". It felt more like the author forced these two characters to be in love rather than actually let them find it themselves. The cheesy "I loved you since I first saw you" lines come off as insincere since neither Kate nor Charlie actually showed any signs of feeling that way.

Also PLEASE romance authors, please please please stop having characters go from doing nothing at all physically to straight up sex. Where are all the kisses and hugs and comforts of falling in love???

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing an eARC of Slow Burn Summer in exchange for this honest review.

Slow Burn Summer by Josie Silver is a heartfelt, beautifully written romance that captures the magic of a summer fling turning into something deeper. The slow build between the characters is incredibly satisfying, with Silver taking her time to develop their chemistry and emotions. It’s the perfect mix of tender moments and emotional stakes, set against a backdrop that makes you want to savor every page. If you’re in the mood for a romantic story with a bit of nostalgia and a lot of heart, this one’s a great pick.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Give me a British author and a romance and I’m here for it! This was a bit different from the authors previous books but I absolutely loved it!

Kate Elliott is trying to rebuild her life after divorce. A former actress, Kate reaches out to her former agent’s son and is hired to act as a novelist on a book tour for a romance author who wants nothing to do with its publication.

Charlie Francisco inherited the business from his father and is determined to prove himself as an agent. As Charlie and Kate work together attraction and romantic feelings begin to grow.

Kate Elliott was such a fantastic character. She was so relatable and I loved her determination to rebuild her life. Kate and Charlie’s romance is a slow burn but you really get to understand why they are the way they are throughout the story.

I loved the relationship between Kate and her family especially with her sister who is so funny. Charlie was a great guy but I wished there was a bit more chemistry between him and Kate.

This was such an enjoyable read with a fantastic plot and I highly recommend this summer read.

I’m really sad that this one just didn’t really do it for me. I loved so many of Josie’s other works but this just fell flat. The storyline itself was interesting but I saw ZERO chemistry between Charlie and Kate. When she told him she loved him at the end I was frankly baffled. They spent MAYBE 6 days together total in the entire novel. I honest to god thought this was going in the direction of her falling in love with the author. I also had a hard time with the idea of her going on all these talk shows and telling them personal information about herself and not thinking people would put 2 and 2 together and realize she wasn’t who she said she was. Does she not have a friend? Neighbor? Old colleague? Anyone who would be like that’s not her name? It just all felt very far fetched to me. And the storyline about the daughter and the boyfriend who outed her just felt thrown in to move the story along. We could not have cared less about the daughter and knew nothing about her. 2 stars because I liked the IDEA of the story and I liked Kate enough but this was unfortunately just not my favorite.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. 
Book girls unite! Josie Silver pays homage to book girls and romance book girlies everywhere.
Newly divorced, empty nester, Kate Elliot is looking for a fresh start  and a cash flow. After a few glasses of wine, she writes a letter to her former acting agent to see if there is any work out there for her. Instead of hearing back from the larger than life Jojo Francisco, she hears from his son, Charlie. He has a gig for Kate, and it's not one she would expect. 
I really enjoyed the fresh storyline. Not only did it offer a plot I have not encountered before- it gave us a sneak peak into the world of publishing, and the concept of ghost authors/ghost writers. Additionally, it showed a realistic view into the book world and the die-hard fandom. 
I did enjoy the slow burn romance between Kate and Charlie but feel it was secondary to Kate finding herself again. The true standouts in the story were the relationship between Kate and her sister Liv and the community you can build by just being your authentic self.

I love Josie Silver. I love epistolary novels. I love romance books. I love books ABOUT writing romance books. I can read cursive JUST FINE. I could not, in the NetGalley or Kindle app, engage with the handwritten-styled text on a small screen, and once I skipped past it, found there was too much going on and too many characters to keep straight to enjoy the book. I am admittedly not a mystery fan, and perhaps that also contributed to my putting it down and not finishing at 16% read. I think it's a finely written emotional story, but not the right book for me at this time.

Thank you to Random House Publishing/Ballentine/Dell and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
When Kate Elliott writes a letter to her old agent in the hopes of jump starting her old career, she doesn't think she'll end up working for his son after her agent's untimely death. Charlie Francisco is not his father, nor does he want to be. But he's determined to help a surefire hit book make it to publication. And Kate is just the person to help him with it!
I loved that Kate was a divorcee who has lived life a bit. She has a daughter in college and she's coming up on midlife. I don't read a lot of books with characters her age and it was refreshing to see a 40 year old woman portrayed. I felt everything she did when it came to her personality and how it had been wrapped around her marriage. She didn't have a sense of her own self and now that she was divorced she was determined to find it. She is quirky and fun and the author made her someone you truly wanted to have find her happy ending after all she had been through. I loved her sense of humor and how, even though she had many awkward situations in this book, she handled them well and tried to embrace herself as is.
Charlie was harder to get a read on. I don't think the author gave him enough time on the page. As a reader, if the author is using a dual POV type of storyline, I need equal time from the characters. And I didn't get this at all. It made it hard to get to know Charlie. I wanted more of him and I didn't get it. What I did get, I really liked. He was genuine and caring.
The romance seemed a bit forced for me. I did like it once it was revealed but it just seemed to forced. The close proximity trope aside, the chemistry seemed off. Charlie definitely appeared more into Kate than the other way around, which would have been fine if we didn't only see this through Kate's eyes. I wanted to watch Charlie fall for her and Kate realize it. But beyond that, I just didn't necessarily feel the chemistry between them. I just didn't believe they loved each other as much as they told each other they did.
The pacing of the story was good. I loved all the humor the author infused and the chapters flowed well to move the story forward. I liked the writing, it was easy to read and Silver kept me engaged.
Overall this story was just ok for me. I needed more romance and chemistry. I needed more of something. The idea was there but the execution left something to be desired. That being said, I would pick up other Silver books as I did enjoy the writing.
3.5 stars

The ending was my favorite part of the book! I loved how it all tied together, but while reading, I had a hard time connecting and being invested in the story. Slow Burn Summer had cute story elements, but still left me wanting more throughout reading.

3.25ish ⭐️

I really enjoyed the story of Kate, a retired soap actress that takes a job as a ‘ghost author’ for an unknown best selling author that would rather keep their identity unknown.

Kate falls deep into the bookish world, and her bubbly personality help skyrocket the book to best seller status. However, when her identity is revealed to be a fraud, the book fans turn against her and come out with their pitchforks trying to find out the authors true identity.

Now there is a romance story in this book as well, but it kind of takes a back seat to the rest of the drama. I did not get the chemistry between them, Charlie just was entertwined into the story as her rock support system.

There is lots of little things to love and take away from this book. Quirky moments and always there for you family ties. It’s hard when you go in thinking it will be a big romance and find that part of the story lacking. But it was still enjoyable to read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I received ARC from NetGalley for this novel. I'll be honest, it truly is a slow burn like the title says. But I couldn't get into it and the characters dynamic was little confusing at first and I was finding myself little bored. I couldn't get into the characters. The premise of the novel sounded really interesting and I had this on my TBR list for a while, but I was little disappointed when reading this. I wanted to love this, but I was underwhelmed.

If you’ve ever wondered what happens to a woman who is hired to pretend she wrote a book, this is for you! The premise of this book was absolutely intriguing and had me excited to read it.

Except I zoned out quite a bit and this book felt too long. Based off the title, I thought it would have a bit more romance but honestly, it came out of nowhere. There was no chemistry, no depth to Kate and Charlie’s relationship. There is a moment of spice that I rate 1 🌶️ out of 5. If there had been a bit more depth, their relationship would feel more believable.

I did love the sister bond between Kate and her sister. They had so many funny moments from a T-Rex encounter to Bridgerton being the reason the sister is pregnant again. 🤣

Kate felt a bit insufferable, especially because it’s her fault for what happens. You would think a 39 year old would have taken her secret more seriously and not leave a paper trail. I was honestly so annoyed when that happened. Ugh.

Overall, I didn’t love it but I didn’t fully hate it either. Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and Josie Silver for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

I’ve been a Josie Silver fan since the beginning. This is a sweet romantic comedy about two adults who are middle-aged finding themselves again. The plot was fun with the twist of acting and literature merged together. Charlie and Kate are a great couple to follow. This is a great summer read! Thanks to Netgalley and Dell for the advanced digital copy.

A talent agent hires an actress to play the part of “novelist” on a book tour for his agency’s publicity-shy client

She’s playing the part of romance author, but has she found her own real life love story?

I really liked Kate, I really liked Charlie. I also loved their chemistry. But there wasn't enough romance. Not enough history. Maybe if we had more of the book she "wrote", it could have been more impactful.

I love Josie Silver. I typically audiobook her books so maybe that I didn't this time, it was harder for me to emotionally connect to it.

I loved this book. Kate and Charlie were perfect together and the story line was great. Liv was also very entertaining.
Thanks for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

I feel like this is definitely a great book for summer! We follow divorcee, Kate, as she decides to dip her feet back in the acting world and pairs with agent Charlie to pose as the author of a new romance book as its actual author wishes to remain anonymous.

This story flowed really nicely, had a great set of characters, and an intriguing premise for a romance book. My favorite part of it was the love for readers appreciation of books and of authors. Personally, I really loved Kate and Charlie, buuuut I didn't fall as deeply in love with them as I'd hoped I would. It felt like their romance was an afterthought and I wish it had more time to grow. I wanted those summer romance butterflies to twinkle in my tummy, but I didn't get those. My favorite character was definitely Kate's sister, Liv, who was a hilarious, spunky badass.

First off, thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Josie Silver is one of my all-time favorite authors! "One Day in December" and "A Winter in New York" are both five star reads for me, so it honestly pains me to say this one didn't quite land in the same park. The cover gives off sweet, cozy, slowburn rom-com vibes but that's not what this story delivers.

If you're picking this up expecting a heartfelt romance, be warned! The romance feels like an afterthought, maybe 10% of the plot at best. There's little build-up, no real chemistry or development between the main characters, and when they suddenly declared their love, I found myself thinking, Wait, what?!! It just didn't feel earned.

That said, it's not that I didn't enjoy the book, because I did. It simply wasn't the story I thought I was getting. If I had gone in with the mindset that this was women's fiction rather than a romance, I think it would have hit differently. There are definitely fun and heartfelt moments scattered throughout. The T-Rex costume scene? Absolutely hilarious!! I'm still smiling thinking about it.🤣

I also really appreciated the unique plot centered around a reader's love for books and authors. Kate's sister was a standout character that is both strong, supportive, and someone I genuinely loved. At its heart, this is a story about grief, not just the grief of losing a loved one, but also the grief of losing yourself, and ultimately, finding your way back.

In conclusion, while this wasn't a new favorite, I still enjoyed it overall. And will I keep reading Josie Silver's books? Without question, resoundingly yes.⭐️⭐️⭐️.💫

✨3.5 stars rounded up to 4 ✨

3.25-3.5 ⭐️?! with a title like slow burn summer, i went in expecting a romance that simmers and builds tension—but i am torn. the plot itself was strong and kept me interested! i genuinely enjoyed the storyline. however, the romance didn’t fully click for me :( .

thank you net galley for the e-arc!!