3.5 stars

I wanted to love this one, but it just didn’t quite work for me. For one, it’s not advertised correctly- it’s definitely not a romance. Not primarily. It’s a story about a woman coming into her own space after a divorce, getting a really unique job opportunity, and the pitfalls that come with that job opportunity.

I’m sorry to say that the romance in this book was … not great. Charlie and Kate had zero chemistry. I didn’t buy their attraction for a minute.

I did love the unique situations Kate found herself in with her job…and I really loved H and Kate’s interactions with H. The side characters - Liz, Nish, Fiona, H - were all really great and I would have enjoyed seeing even more of them. Charlie felt like a side character, too, but not a very well-fleshed out one.

I think was a decent read, but expectations on genre type need to be adjusted before digging in.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dell Romance for a free eARC in exchange for my honest review. This one releases on 10 June 2025.

Thanks to Netgalley & Random House- Ballantine for the E-ARC! Loved so much! Wonderful characters & fun setting. The romance was so good too. Will read more from this author.

This review will contain spoilers. This book was sweet. Interesting concept in a ghost author but it makes sense. It also makes sense how the internet got really nasty for something that they didn't understand.

Some of the notes I wrote down while reading were.
Chapter 16, Liv is accidentally Live at one spot. it says that Live snapped a photo.
Chapter 24, I was disappointed with the cab driver who said that romance books were "pies in the sky." I personally love that romance stories give us hope for the future in whatever that may look like for us.
Unknown Chapter, I was confused how quickly it went from happy sex to not talking. It turned so quickly out of nowhere. I think a little more description may have been needed to show in that moment that he chose his phone at the wrong moment.
Chapter 46, When the author's name was used, it felt like a random drop, it felt like we already knew it. I wish their was a little more to this.
Chapter 51, the idea of book friends melted my heart. How supportive we all can be.

Overall, I thought this book was sweet. It just needed to be flushed out just a little bit more. I really liked it though. I will share this title on my instagram near the publication date.

This felt, unfortunately, rushed and under developed. The slow burn romance is TOO excruciatingly slow, specifically because nothing romantic ever occurs. In fact, it's between one chapter and the next that the two seem to suddenly have feelings for one another.

Agent / Client
Strong Sister Bonds
Life Post-Divorce
Hidden Identity

This one’s for the readers who love stories about stories.

Charlie is a washed up talent agent with one shot to save his agency. Kate is a former soap star in desperate need of a break. When he asks her to pretend to be the author of a romance novel for a summer book tour, things get messy, fast.

This was such a fun read for any book lover!! I loved the behind the scenes peek at the book world.

Kate’s relationship with her sister was my favorite, the focus on books and family made it feel extra personal to me!

This book had lots of drama, sweet moments, and an ending that made me smile.

Thank you NetGalley and Dell for the gifted copy.

Charlie Fransisco’s life has drastically changed. His divorce took his screenwriting career down, his father passed away unexpectedly and left Charlie half of a talent agency business. Not only does he need to rise to his father’s legendary gut instinct, he has an astounding romance novel to sell, but the author wants nothing to do marketing the book. The agency and publisher’s need an unknown actress to play a romance writer, on a huge book tour.

Kate Elliot has sent her only daughter to college, has moved into an apartment above her sister’s costume shop and is ready to live her life according to her own terms, not under the controlling and exacting whims of her ex-husband. But after being a stay-at-home mom for so long all she has to fall back on is her former time as a young actor on a soap. It’s a tough business to crack and who would take a chance on her now but maybe her former agent will take a chance on her again.

Charlie and Kate are determined to maintain a respectful business relationship, but summer isn’t the only thing heating up between these two…

What a fun read to start my summer! I loved insight to marketing books, and the relationship between writers and the book community. Que *is this play about us* IYKYK. Maybe even calling out the internet’s ability to dehumanize real people and eviscerate them without even having all the facts. The slow burn was definitely slow… maybe even a small sizzle sometimes. Maybe that's just me though as I was so intrigued with the mysterious author and their storyline as well, I found it this is what drove the plot more than the romance storyline. I loved the twists, I love how Silver created a distinct personality for her characters and wrote them so well. Overall it’s a fun vacation read.

I love Josie Silver’s books and while this isn’t my favorite of hers I definitely still enjoyed it!!

3.5 stars rounded up

I needed more romance building between Kate and Charlie because all of a sudden they were in love at the end and I needed more to get there. Also for a minute there in the beginning I thought she'd fall for Hugh with all the letter writing. I liked the relationship between Kate and her sister best of all and think the “deleted scene” should have actually been a part of the main book

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Cute, quick read based on a fun idea that I haven't read yet. The relationship between the 2 main characters felt like it suddenly developed versus slowly building, but otherwise I enjoyed it.

I don't' read a ton of romance novels, but I will always pick one up that centers around the publishing industry! Mixing books and relationships is so interesting to read about and I loved the romance between these two.

Slow Burn Summer by Josie Silver
Rating: 3.5 stars
Pub date: 6/10

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Ballantine for my advanced copy.

The story follows Kate, a struggling actress going through a rough patch, who ends up pretending to be the author of a super romantic novel, while the real author remains a mystery. The agent behind it all, Charlie, has his own baggage, and while there’s a bit of tension between them, the romance felt more like a subplot than the main event. If you're picking this up hoping for a full-on love story, just know the romantic payoff is pretty minimal.

That said, I still enjoyed the ride. Josie Silver always writes with heart, and while this one wasn’t quite what I expected, it still had some really great moments. I loved the focus on books, family, and finding yourself after loss. Kate’s relationship with her sister was a real highlight.

Overall, it wasn’t a new favorite, but I’ll definitely keep reading anything Josie Silver writes!

Thank you to NetGalley and and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for an advanced reading copy of Slow Burn Summer in exchange for my honest opinion.

Slow Burn Summer will be released on June 10th.

This is the first Josie Silver book I have read and it won’t be the last. There is so much I enjoyed about this book. The characters were well written, and this book seemed to be more character driven than plot driven at times.

The plot is simple: Kate is down on her luck and sends a last effort email to her old soap opera agent from 20 years ago. His son replies to the email (jojo, her agent, had passed away) and offers her a job as a ghostwriter of sorts. Instead of doing the ghost writing, she would be the ghost author. It all happens quickly and seems to go great; until a stolen, sold email ruins the whole thing. Lots of laughs the whole way through!

Kate was down on her luck, and it just seemed that the hits kept on coming. There are almost some unbelievable moments in the hits. She works for her husband of almost 20 years. He cheated on her, and because of the prenup she got nothing? Usually infidelity will wipe away a prenup… Her daughter Alice, won’t listen to her about the boyfriend; but when he betrays her and Kate, Alice goes to her dad instead? Kate doesn’t get mad and defends her family through it all even though they make everything worse for Kate. The ex husband even takes a swipe at her towards the end of the story and nothing is done to him!

Kate is a walking doormat and her sister is her protector, and a hilarious sort of way. However, Charlie, the literary agent, decides to be the protector, and this is where the love story happens. Hugh, the actual author of the book, becomes a protector of Kate as well, along with a football team that just keeps popping up.

This is a 3.5 ⭐️ read to me. I’ll round up to 4 ⭐️ for Goodreads and Netgalley’s sake. It’s a quick read and enjoyable. I just wish the people that ran over Kate over and over groveled for their mistakes, and not strangers throwing pastries.

An actress standing in to promote an anonymous author’s love story, what could possibly go wrong? This book had my heart in knots from the synopsis, waiting with bated breath for someone to reveal her true identity. Overall, an enjoyable quick read. I liked the author scenes the most - the tv interviews, the book festival, the sneak peek into the world of publishing! Not sure the title spoke to the story though…

I have enjoyed many Josie Silver books but Slow Burn Summer fell flat when compared to her others.

The writing is enjoyable and the outline is original but it lacked depth and seemed far fetched. I missed Josie’s ability to make me feel strong feelings like her other books. The topic of ‘deleted scenes’ was part of the book but I actually felt like needed chapters were deleted.

There was potential but each main storyline came off as underdeveloped. The actual deleted scene in the book gave much appreciated context and should be in the beginning because the author reveal meant nothing to the reader anyway. The romance didn’t add anything to the story itself and the humor felt forced rather than funny.

The best part was the sister dynamic- I love to see strong friends and family relationships!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in return for my honest review.

This one wasnt my favorite from her to be honest. I didnt like the romance and felt that everything was too rushed. While I did enjoy the MC Charlie I wasnt too crazy about the FMC. Still a fun book though!

This book wasn’t my favorite of Silver’s. I felt that the plot was choppy and the romance was lacking and too rushed.

Tears fell from my face when this was over. Such a unique story - not a ghostwriter but a ghost author.

I needed more romance building between Kate and Charlie because all of a sudden they were in love at the end and I needed more to get there. Also for a minute there in the beginning I thought she'd fall for Hugh with all the letter writing. I liked the relationship between Kate and her sister best of all.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Spice: 🌶️ 🌶️
Tropes:
* Hidden identity
* Agent & client romance
* Grief and loss of a loved one
* Moving on from divorce
* Strong family bond

Thank you to NetGalley, Josie Silver, and Ballantine Books | Random House Publishing | Dell for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

While the summary of this book had me wondering whether I’d be interested in the premise (an actor instead of just a ghost writer or pseudonym?), it actually peaked my interest soon into reading it.

I felt, like most of the characters, that Kate was relatable and interesting, and enjoyed reading most chapters through her view. But also getting some chapters from Charlie’s POV helped a lot with understanding him and his fascination with her. If we didn’t get those, I don’t think I’d be as engaged in this book, so great choice by the author!

The themes of loss, grief, and heartbreak for most of the characters pulled at my heartstrings, so the ending for Liv and Nish and for Charlie and Kate made me feel hopeful and so happy to see the love and happiness they rightly deserve.

The only thing I will say that I felt unexpectedly was that in the middle, I actually wanted Kate and H to end up being the ones together. I loved their conversations and felt they really understood each other and deserved happiness together after what happened in their previous relationships. But by the last quarter, things really did make the most sense for Charlie and Kate, and I’m so glad she could also have H as someone to continue a strong platonic relationship with by the end.
That epilogue was the best way to end this, but I also hope somehow the author can find a way to include that prologue because it brought me to tears to see how this all started. I really want more of H’s story now, so please write something for him next because he’s wonderful! (Or, to really spoil us, write the book within this book 😉🙏🏼).

4.5 ghost author stars

I think I was in the right mood for this book. I enjoyed the characters, the unique plot, and the romance worked for me. I also loved the sneak peek into the publishing world and how agents work. I also watched soap operas in my teens, so I could totally picture the main character. And there were some laugh-out-loud moments for me.

Kate Elliott got her start on a soap opera and was an up-and-coming star, but she left that world behind to marry and raise her daughter. Now that Alice is grown and she’s divorced, she’s ready to get back into the work world. She reaches out to her old talent agent, a man she adored and had a great rapport with when she was acting.

She’s a bit thrown when her agent’s son, Charlie, makes a pitch to her about being the face and name behind a new book coming out. She would go on tour and pretend/act to be the true author. The real author doesn’t usually write in the romance genre and doesn’t want anyone to know their identity.

While non-traditional, bills are calling, and Kate decides to go for it. She’s got the right quirky personality to pull it off, and she loves the book when she gives it a read. She even starts an email conversation with the author, who goes by H. She will have to watch that she doesn’t go on and on and on during interviews.

Kate is fighting her attraction to Charlie as she knows that she shouldn’t mix business with pleasure. There’s a great weekend at a cottage in Cornwall that has some forced proximity vibes. Charlie is a screenwriter but is filling in at the agency after his father’s death. Even though this one is set mainly in London, I got classic Hollywood vibes from Charlie.

Kate’s sister is a gem of a side character. She creates costumes and is a fierce defender of her sister. She really thought she was helping when she jumped into the fray.

Another character I really enjoyed was Fiona, who represents the secretive author as their agent. I would want her to represent me with her no-nonsense approach but a secret soft side.

It wouldn’t be a good book without some drama, so cue secrets coming out, revenge trifle-throwing, and outraged media and fans.

While not my favorite by this author, I truly enjoyed this one and it was a welcome break from darker, denser reads.

Interesting premise but the writing style didn't mesh with my tastes. Have heard great things about this author though, will try another book by the same author instead.