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Title: The Friends-to-Lovers Project
Author: Paula Ottoni @apaulaottoni
@harlequinbooks
Performed by Carly Robins and Wil Damron.
Releases July 1st (USA)

💘 Strangers-to-Lovers, Contemporary Romance, Tension, Passion, Spice, Vacation Romance.

Two best friends, Daisy and Jeremy, try to fall in love in Venice after both being dumped by their partners. Lorenzo, a bartender/concierge, tells them about hidden gems to help them fall in love and even volunteers to be their tour guide. They have a week to fall in love. Can they do it or perhaps maybe one falls for someone else?

This was a super sweet romantic read that ended up giving me all the feels. The setting was beautiful Venice. I wanted to jump right into the book and be there with them. The story flowed nicely, the inner monologues of both main characters were good, but maybe a bit long for the MMC. It showed you their worries and their vulnerabilities. They each found out what they really wanted in the end. This is a great short summer romance read.

Thanks Netgalley and Harlequin for the ARC.

3 stars. Cute, quick rom-com read. The details on Venice were so picturesque and I loved feeling like I was falling in love with a city. Otherwise I was kind of bored. The premise was very predictable, and I didn’t love the idea of trying to force a relationship between male & female friends.

Narration was done well.

I loved the premise of this SO much! I can definitely relate to having a male best friend that everyone thinks you should be with simply because they can't imagine a man and a woman being friends without secretly having feelings for each other. I definitely understand Daisy's impulse to try—and I also loved that no, they were just friends (not really a spoiler, considering the male POV chapter is Lorenzo's).

I really loved both of the narrators—they both did a phenomenal job. I did wish they'd cast someone with an Italian accent for Lorenzo, since hearing his POV in an American accent threw me off a bit. But that aside, I really liked both narrators' performances.

This was a cute, fun, easy read that had me dreaming of Italian summers in Venice.

Daisy and Jeremy are long time best friends. They have an Italian getaway planned with their significant others but the moment Daisy and Jeremy arrive their plans suddenly change course when both receive messages that they have been dumped. To add insult to injury, their significant others have decided to leave them to be with one another. Ouch. 😣 Now Jeremy and Daisy are left on this gorgeous vacation trying to devise a plan on how they can salvage their situation.

I really loved the first chapter. I was genuinely stumped on what direction this book would go and typically this genre is always so predictable. It was nice to be left guessing for a moment. Honestly, one of my only complaint with this story was that the author didn’t kept it a mystery longer than just the first chapter. I’m not one for love triangles but this would have been a good story to play around with it a little bit.

The setting was fun and adventurous. I loved reading about the gondolas and Vespas. The talk of food and desserts was even starting to make me crave Italian food.

Another reason I didn’t rate this as high was I felt that the MMC had a lot of internal monologue. It started to get to the point where I felt like I was reading a romance self help book rather than getting lost in the romance story and experiencing it for myself. Other than that, I really liked the book. It’s cute and easy to listen to on audio while trying to pass the time.

I received an ARC of the ebook as well as the audio and went between the two. The female narrator did a fabulous job. I don’t know if I was vibing with the male narrator as much.

Thank you, Harlequin, Harlequin audio, and Paula Ottoni for an advanced copy of The Friends-To-Lovers Project in exchange for my honest opinion.

Dual narration - Carly Robins & Will Damron
Fabulous narrators. Loved their voices.

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn’t exactly how I expected going by the title. A very fun listen and cute story.

Daisy and Jeremy go on vacation with their significant others only to get dumped. They develop a plan to try and fall for each other. However the universe has other plans.

3 stars ⋆✴︎˚｡⋆

a really cute and quick read.
the setting was stunning and gave the perfect summer abroad vibes and spicy romance.

i did find certain aspects of the book a bit unrealistic. daisy and jeremy attempting to fall for one another by going from friends to lovers while knowing they have no feelings for one another just cause jeremy’s ex said they were made for one another was just so weird to me. i feel like it was so pointless especially because it didn’t last long at all. i feel like this book could have easily just been about a vacation romance and completely get rid of jeremy’s character lol. he was just a useless side character imo.

Finding love in Venice yes please!! I really enjoyed this dual POV contemporary romance that sees Daisy, an LA chef mourning the loss of her dead father and getting dumped at the same time as her best friend. The two entertain the idea that maybe they could love one another and their hotel barkeeper/former violin protogee volunteers to act as a guide to the most romantic places in the city.

The plan backfires though when Lorenzo finds himself falling for Daisy himself but can the two find a future for themselves outside Daisy's vacation?? This had great mental health and disability rep (grief, anxiety, damaged fingers) and was the perfect combination of spice with emotional depth. I really enjoyed it and thought the audio narration by Carly Robins and Will Damron was excellent!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review. Recommended for fans of books like One last shot by Betty Cayouette or One Italian summer by Rebecca Serle with an important message about moving on after heartbreak and disappointment.