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Musical Artist
"Be my everything, Oaklynn Rucker."
Oaklynn and Jethrow are not as different as they think.
At twenty-three, Oaklynn Rucker is forced to drop out of art school to take care of her younger brother, River, after a terrible accident. With money growing tight, a family friend takes it upon herself to find Oaklynn a job.
The job in question?
Pretend to be Jethrow Collins' girlfriend.
"I love you more than paint could ever express."
At twenty-five, Jethrow Collins is forced to learn a hard lesson and is thrust into a fake relationship he wants nothing to do with.
He's given a choice.
Go along with the unwanted partnership or let his bandmates in Cherished Expression down.
The problem? They hate each other, but they just can't seem to stay away.
This is an Enemies to Friends to Lovers that is meant for an 18+ audience. Triggers include: drug abuse, physical abuse, mentions of suicidal thoughts, alcohol abuse and mentions of death.
Oaklynn and Jethrow are not as different as they think.
At twenty-three, Oaklynn Rucker is forced to drop out of art school to take care of her younger brother, River, after a terrible accident. With money growing tight, a family friend takes it upon herself to find Oaklynn a job.
The job in question?
Pretend to be Jethrow Collins' girlfriend.
"I love you more than paint could ever express."
At twenty-five, Jethrow Collins is forced to learn a hard lesson and is thrust into a fake relationship he wants nothing to do with.
He's given a choice.
Go along with the unwanted partnership or let his bandmates in Cherished Expression down.
The problem? They hate each other, but they just can't seem to stay away.
This is an Enemies to Friends to Lovers that is meant for an 18+ audience. Triggers include: drug abuse, physical abuse, mentions of suicidal thoughts, alcohol abuse and mentions of death.
345 pages, Paperback
Published April 18, 2023
1 person is currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Emmy Reese
6 books10 followersEmmy Reese is an author of Contemporary Romance.
Emmy Reese graduated with a degree in Anthropology from University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2019 before chasing her dreams of becoming an author.
Currently, Emmy lives in North Carolina with her two cats: T’Challa and Nakia. She likes drawing, movies, and book shopping (it’s a hobby). She is naturally chaotic and usually reflects that in everything she does.
Connect with Emmy!
Facebook Reader Group: Musical Muses
Instagram: @emmyreeseauthor
Tik Tok: @ emmyreeseauthor
Emmy Reese graduated with a degree in Anthropology from University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2019 before chasing her dreams of becoming an author.
Currently, Emmy lives in North Carolina with her two cats: T’Challa and Nakia. She likes drawing, movies, and book shopping (it’s a hobby). She is naturally chaotic and usually reflects that in everything she does.
Connect with Emmy!
Facebook Reader Group: Musical Muses
Instagram: @emmyreeseauthor
Tik Tok: @ emmyreeseauthor
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 13, 2023
1.5 ⭐
2/5 🔥
This was something I really wanted to like. It could have been a lot better than this.
The writing was my primary issue with this book. I had no idea writing in books was so important until I read this. When writing this, I will try to be honest and polite as possible .
The story
After a horrible accident, Oaklynn Rucker, our 23 year old Fmc, is compelled to leave art school in order to care for her younger brother, River. Her best friend Jessica decides to find Oaklynn work because money is getting tight.
This position in question, is to play the girlfriend of Jethrow Collins.
Jethrow Collins is a member of a musical band, and he's basically a band's playboy. But, due to a tragic circumstance, he is left to mourn her mother's death. By drinking and ingesting whatever drugs he could get his hands on.
One day, a photographer caught him fucking a girl while drunk. In the open. He got a lot of abuse from there, and the band suffered as a result. Their producer recruits our Fmc Oaklynn Rucker to act as his fake girlfriend. Until his reputation is restored.
The premises sounds too good, I mean going into this I expected drama, TENSION-filled romance, banter, and lots of ansgt. But alas it wasn't close to anything I expected.
My thoughts
My main issue was the writing; it would've been much better if the writing had been better; it made me want to dnf this so many times. The tone was always (he hissed, she snapped, he whispered, said) that was all. Their conversations lacked emotion. I wanted to feel every word they exchanged!
The first part of the book was a bit enjoyable. But then I got bored and just wanted to finish this.
There wasn't anything special, it was the same fake-dating romance, nothing too amazing. I've read books with fake dating, I loved each of them but in this nothing really stand out to me. Although it had the potential to be good but it just wasn't enjoyable.
Their relationship wasn't enemies-to-lovers. It was more like insta love/lust because they had one chat where they acted like enemies, and then he started being lusty and horny, telling her that he can't get her out of her thoughts and all..
There was little chemistry between them, and the sex was... alright? I mean, the writing ruined everything. I had no feelings for Oaklynn or Jethrow and didn't care about them.
A moment in which they were in a recording studio—basically, after about 5-6 days of meeting her, he wrote her a song. They continued stating after that scene that things had changed between them, that they felt differently for each other. Nothing altered, and I didn't FEEL ANY CHANGE, TENSION, OR ANYTHING.
The characters in this book were bland. I was digging, scrapping the surface of this book to like something about it!!
Reading the last 80% was horrible since I expected Jethrow to botch things up, but our dear little Oaklynn made the stupidest decision ever. 💀 I really wanted to smack her. The way she handled the matter and that third act breakup ugh, horrible. It was the absolute worst. Jethrow ngl I felt bad for him.
The author highlighted their interests but never offered us enough information to make us care. Oaklynn never told us how she feels about art, how she connects to it, or why she enjoys painting.
Similarly with Jethrow; despite being a member of a band, I never thought he appreciated or was passionate about music; he never really expressed his feelings for music.
What I liked alot
Jessica and Steven get one star. I loved them both because they were humorous. It was a lot of fun reading whenever they came!! I liked Jethrow in some instances, and the things he did for Oaklynn were cute and adorable. The nickname Viper was PERFECT. But when he started calling her Acorn... I cringed.
I loved the boys in the band, their relationship with each other and their jokes, it was so fun to read their bickering and random taunts😂
Overall, this was an experience but a dissapointing one.
I want to thank the author for providing me an ARC for an honest review.💜
"I'm scared to fall"
"I'm going to fall with you"
"Do you promise?"
"Only my life"
________
Thank you vio baby for reading this with me. AHHH I HAD SO MUCH FUN. Reading this with you was a blessing😭. Thank you for listening to my rants lol. I don't know if I'll be able to finish this book if I went through this alone, probably would've dnf'ed this💀! The messages we sent to each other were... proof how much wehated this book
I hope to Buddy read another book with you in the future, 😘
---------
I don't know what to think... 😒
RTC
____________
Cheers to my first ARC ever
💜💜💜
2/5 🔥
This was something I really wanted to like. It could have been a lot better than this.
The writing was my primary issue with this book. I had no idea writing in books was so important until I read this. When writing this, I will try to be honest and polite as possible .
The story
After a horrible accident, Oaklynn Rucker, our 23 year old Fmc, is compelled to leave art school in order to care for her younger brother, River. Her best friend Jessica decides to find Oaklynn work because money is getting tight.
This position in question, is to play the girlfriend of Jethrow Collins.
Jethrow Collins is a member of a musical band, and he's basically a band's playboy. But, due to a tragic circumstance, he is left to mourn her mother's death. By drinking and ingesting whatever drugs he could get his hands on.
One day, a photographer caught him fucking a girl while drunk. In the open. He got a lot of abuse from there, and the band suffered as a result. Their producer recruits our Fmc Oaklynn Rucker to act as his fake girlfriend. Until his reputation is restored.
The premises sounds too good, I mean going into this I expected drama, TENSION-filled romance, banter, and lots of ansgt. But alas it wasn't close to anything I expected.
My thoughts
My main issue was the writing; it would've been much better if the writing had been better; it made me want to dnf this so many times. The tone was always (he hissed, she snapped, he whispered, said) that was all. Their conversations lacked emotion. I wanted to feel every word they exchanged!
The first part of the book was a bit enjoyable. But then I got bored and just wanted to finish this.
There wasn't anything special, it was the same fake-dating romance, nothing too amazing. I've read books with fake dating, I loved each of them but in this nothing really stand out to me. Although it had the potential to be good but it just wasn't enjoyable.
Their relationship wasn't enemies-to-lovers. It was more like insta love/lust because they had one chat where they acted like enemies, and then he started being lusty and horny, telling her that he can't get her out of her thoughts and all..
There was little chemistry between them, and the sex was... alright? I mean, the writing ruined everything. I had no feelings for Oaklynn or Jethrow and didn't care about them.
A moment in which they were in a recording studio—basically, after about 5-6 days of meeting her, he wrote her a song. They continued stating after that scene that things had changed between them, that they felt differently for each other. Nothing altered, and I didn't FEEL ANY CHANGE, TENSION, OR ANYTHING.
The characters in this book were bland. I was digging, scrapping the surface of this book to like something about it!!
Reading the last 80% was horrible since I expected Jethrow to botch things up, but our dear little Oaklynn made the stupidest decision ever. 💀 I really wanted to smack her. The way she handled the matter and that third act breakup ugh, horrible. It was the absolute worst. Jethrow ngl I felt bad for him.
The author highlighted their interests but never offered us enough information to make us care. Oaklynn never told us how she feels about art, how she connects to it, or why she enjoys painting.
Similarly with Jethrow; despite being a member of a band, I never thought he appreciated or was passionate about music; he never really expressed his feelings for music.
What I liked alot
Jessica and Steven get one star. I loved them both because they were humorous. It was a lot of fun reading whenever they came!! I liked Jethrow in some instances, and the things he did for Oaklynn were cute and adorable. The nickname Viper was PERFECT. But when he started calling her Acorn... I cringed.
I loved the boys in the band, their relationship with each other and their jokes, it was so fun to read their bickering and random taunts😂
Overall, this was an experience but a dissapointing one.
I want to thank the author for providing me an ARC for an honest review.💜
"I'm scared to fall"
"I'm going to fall with you"
"Do you promise?"
"Only my life"
________
Thank you vio baby for reading this with me. AHHH I HAD SO MUCH FUN. Reading this with you was a blessing😭. Thank you for listening to my rants lol. I don't know if I'll be able to finish this book if I went through this alone, probably would've dnf'ed this💀! The messages we sent to each other were... proof how much we
I hope to Buddy read another book with you in the future, 😘
---------
I don't know what to think... 😒
RTC
____________
Cheers to my first ARC ever
💜💜💜
March 14, 2023
Welp- this doesn't work well for me and it's bad.
There are some things that I'll mention is based on my preference but there are some that doesn't quite working in my opinion.
This book really made me realized that writing is a really important skill for an author to have and in order to have a great writing skill, one of the thing that you must have is a deep understanding and collection of vocabulary. Which the author lacks. And why do I think about this and highlight it in my review? Because I felt this with what happened in the book and I feel very unfortunate because this could be easily rectify. To explain more is why do I think this is a very important matter to highlight is because when you write a book with characters in it everything that the characters did in the book (and I meant it every little thing that the characters did), has a very huge impact for the character development and identity.
Now I felt this so badly throughout my reading because the writing doesn't do any good for the characters in the book especially the main characters, it was due to how some certain words were used at the wrong times and too often (like the word spat, hissed, snapped were used even when the situation wasn't fit). Honestly, the characters were bland and has nothing special to begin with and the writing just added fuel to the fire in making them portrayed in "not bad but not good either" light.
Other than how the writing impacted the characters, it also impacted what the author was trying to convey or to deliver to the readers and it didn't do any of that to me. It didn't deliver or convey what the author trying to and I'm honestly quite sad with this you know. Throughout my read I really trying to find something that I liked and I found none because of this.
Now on to my preference, this is not my go-to writing that I like but it did it job adequately. Though there were some weird things that I dislike about how the author described the mc with their job and it just plain weird in my opinion (she described them too often with "the musician" and "the painter", and sometimes when they were together she described them as "the couple"), and it's because I was often confused who is she talking about with that.
The flow was dragging a lot without going anywhere. The first half book was fine and it was great, I enjoyed it better in the first half. But the second half was just badly dragging and a lot of pages and chapters exists but nothing significant was happening and to be honest I started to skimmed a lot toward the second half. So the verdict is the book is unnecessary long.
The story was okay and as I said in my update this is nothing new and we've seen this a lot in every romance books so it's just so-so to me. As I suspected, since this is just the common fake dating romance, there was nothing new and refreshing to make this book different from any other. It was great at first hald but get messy in the second half especially near the end where the last final blow. I admitted I was laughing my ass off because I thought Jet was going to messed up, you know? But Oak did and she blamed it on him 💀 oh and this is insta-love and lust and it's not my go-to in romance.
The characters was bland. There was nothing that make each of them stood out except Jet is always horny. Oak doesn't even stood out then the rest of the characters, in fact Jessica shined a lot more than her. That doesn't helping since Oaklynn is the female main character in this book. But I do like how the side characters were goodly written but I'm not sure if this is a good thing? Since every single side characters outshine the main characters. The info dump for the mc also lacking a lot, I don't even know what's Oaklynn's and Jethrow's age at this moment.
So the question is did I enjoy this? Well yeah, a little bit at some point, but it didn't compare to the feeling how I want to finish this as quickly as possible just to be done with this book and the urge I felt to dnf this. And how did I feel when I finished this? I can't say that I'm disappointed too because I have no expectations when I first started it but one thing is I felt unfortunate because this is a good book with promising and potential premise, it's just the execution went really bad.
So 1 star. That's the best I can do 😕😬 I can't even review the spice and sex scene because I was just too sincerely concerned with the writing. But if you don't mind with what I mentioned above and insta-love and lust with fake dating a rock star are what you enjoy, by all means I recommend this one for you.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Reviewing this arc together with Huda, my sweet friend
Cheers for our first br and her first arc🥳🥂🫶🏻
Goodness gracious, I'm so glad Huda popped in on my DM and asking me about this book few days ago to read and review together! I don't know if I'll be able to finish this book if I went through this alone!😭 it was fun, I had so much buddy reading with my sweet friend Huda. The buddy read, I mean, well the book was you guessed it already. I don't like it and I didn't enjoy it that much. I'm just so relieved and glad that I read this together with Huda.
And the fact that we poured our hearts, frustration, exasperation, and etc together while reading this in our DMs is just a proof that it's been a lovely time that we spent together. And yup, you guessed it. We talked in full caps in our DMs💀😭
It has been an honor to buddy read with you, Huda hon. And I can't wait to read more books with you together in the future!🫶🏻 like I'm opened with any books! AAAAAAA💖💖
There are some things that I'll mention is based on my preference but there are some that doesn't quite working in my opinion.
This book really made me realized that writing is a really important skill for an author to have and in order to have a great writing skill, one of the thing that you must have is a deep understanding and collection of vocabulary. Which the author lacks. And why do I think about this and highlight it in my review? Because I felt this with what happened in the book and I feel very unfortunate because this could be easily rectify. To explain more is why do I think this is a very important matter to highlight is because when you write a book with characters in it everything that the characters did in the book (and I meant it every little thing that the characters did), has a very huge impact for the character development and identity.
Now I felt this so badly throughout my reading because the writing doesn't do any good for the characters in the book especially the main characters, it was due to how some certain words were used at the wrong times and too often (like the word spat, hissed, snapped were used even when the situation wasn't fit). Honestly, the characters were bland and has nothing special to begin with and the writing just added fuel to the fire in making them portrayed in "not bad but not good either" light.
Other than how the writing impacted the characters, it also impacted what the author was trying to convey or to deliver to the readers and it didn't do any of that to me. It didn't deliver or convey what the author trying to and I'm honestly quite sad with this you know. Throughout my read I really trying to find something that I liked and I found none because of this.
Now on to my preference, this is not my go-to writing that I like but it did it job adequately. Though there were some weird things that I dislike about how the author described the mc with their job and it just plain weird in my opinion (she described them too often with "the musician" and "the painter", and sometimes when they were together she described them as "the couple"), and it's because I was often confused who is she talking about with that.
The flow was dragging a lot without going anywhere. The first half book was fine and it was great, I enjoyed it better in the first half. But the second half was just badly dragging and a lot of pages and chapters exists but nothing significant was happening and to be honest I started to skimmed a lot toward the second half. So the verdict is the book is unnecessary long.
The story was okay and as I said in my update this is nothing new and we've seen this a lot in every romance books so it's just so-so to me. As I suspected, since this is just the common fake dating romance, there was nothing new and refreshing to make this book different from any other. It was great at first hald but get messy in the second half especially near the end where the last final blow. I admitted I was laughing my ass off because I thought Jet was going to messed up, you know? But Oak did and she blamed it on him 💀 oh and this is insta-love and lust and it's not my go-to in romance.
The characters was bland. There was nothing that make each of them stood out except Jet is always horny. Oak doesn't even stood out then the rest of the characters, in fact Jessica shined a lot more than her. That doesn't helping since Oaklynn is the female main character in this book. But I do like how the side characters were goodly written but I'm not sure if this is a good thing? Since every single side characters outshine the main characters. The info dump for the mc also lacking a lot, I don't even know what's Oaklynn's and Jethrow's age at this moment.
So the question is did I enjoy this? Well yeah, a little bit at some point, but it didn't compare to the feeling how I want to finish this as quickly as possible just to be done with this book and the urge I felt to dnf this. And how did I feel when I finished this? I can't say that I'm disappointed too because I have no expectations when I first started it but one thing is I felt unfortunate because this is a good book with promising and potential premise, it's just the execution went really bad.
So 1 star. That's the best I can do 😕😬 I can't even review the spice and sex scene because I was just too sincerely concerned with the writing. But if you don't mind with what I mentioned above and insta-love and lust with fake dating a rock star are what you enjoy, by all means I recommend this one for you.
ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ
Reviewing this arc together with Huda, my sweet friend
Cheers for our first br and her first arc🥳🥂🫶🏻
Goodness gracious, I'm so glad Huda popped in on my DM and asking me about this book few days ago to read and review together! I don't know if I'll be able to finish this book if I went through this alone!😭 it was fun, I had so much buddy reading with my sweet friend Huda. The buddy read, I mean, well the book was you guessed it already. I don't like it and I didn't enjoy it that much. I'm just so relieved and glad that I read this together with Huda.
And the fact that we poured our hearts, frustration, exasperation, and etc together while reading this in our DMs is just a proof that it's been a lovely time that we spent together. And yup, you guessed it. We talked in full caps in our DMs💀😭
It has been an honor to buddy read with you, Huda hon. And I can't wait to read more books with you together in the future!🫶🏻 like I'm opened with any books! AAAAAAA💖💖
April 30, 2023
Musical artist review
I was lucky enough to receive an Arc from this book but this is my honest review.
4’5/5 ⭐️
4/5 🌶️
4’5/5 for 🤵♂️🎸
4’5/5 for 👰♀️🎨
⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️
THIS REVIEW HAS SOME SPOILERS. In my opinion they are minimal but in case you want to go blindly DON’T CONTINUE TO READ
⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️
This book can be described as a wholesome rockstar romance with minimal OW/OM drama (they are not interested in them AT ALL) and where they are only with each other after meeting. h is a strong one and H is a simp that would do whatever to make her happy and safe. They became a big found family (h, H, h’s brother, h’s bff and H’s boy band) We have so many comfort, safe, wholesome scenes between all of them. BUT don’t let the cover and all the wholesomeness tricks you, this book is SPICY. It has a lot of smut scenes where H’s favorite place to be is with his head between h’s legs. We love a man that loves to spoil his partner!
It’s the first book publish by this author and I have to say that it was exactly what I wanted.
I grew up in the Wattpad era and have read a ton of books where one of them (or both) was famous singers (I’m looking at you Harry Styles) but I grew up tired of them because there was always a ton of ow drama/groupies. Thankfully this book is not like that. There are no other for them once they meet. And he isn’t interested in anyone else. She isn’t either.
The main characters are Oaklynn and Jethrow.
Both have suffered a lot before meeting. H lost his mom in a car accident two years ago before the book starts and h lost both of his parents a couple of months ago leaving behind her brother of 7 years. h has custody now of her brother and has dropped out of college and is working two jobs to be able to pay for everything.
Oak bff, Jessica, convinced Oak to pretend to be the gf of a bad boy from a boy band to help him improve his public image for money. This bad boy is not other than Jethrow. I don’t mind manhos or playboys if there are not others once they meet. He was suffering when he started to sleep with more people because of the death of his mother, the only family he had.
The rest of the band are: Jesse, Zack and Steven.
Jesse is a surfer golden boy.
Zack is a tattoo guy that used to work in a florist shop and has killer moves with the ladies.
Steven is the one that is always playing with River (h’s little brother) and is bff with Jessica. But everything is platonic between the two of them.
Tropes that you can find in this book:
✨Enemies to lovers
✨Fake dating
✨Famous romance
✨Found family
✨Forced proximity
✨Rockstar romance
✨Boy band
✨They like to get freaky on public places
✨H is obsessed with h
✨H tattoo bad boy rockstar that turns into a golden retriever for his heroine
✨Praise kink
✨Degradatory kink
✨ A ton of smut
✨h is in charge of her little brother
✨H has a great bond with her little brother
✨No other after meeting
✨No ow/om drama
✨Grieve talks, both has lost their parents. H 2 years ago, h less than half a year ago
I was lucky enough to receive an Arc from this book but this is my honest review.
4’5/5 ⭐️
4/5 🌶️
4’5/5 for 🤵♂️🎸
4’5/5 for 👰♀️🎨
⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️
THIS REVIEW HAS SOME SPOILERS. In my opinion they are minimal but in case you want to go blindly DON’T CONTINUE TO READ
⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️
This book can be described as a wholesome rockstar romance with minimal OW/OM drama (they are not interested in them AT ALL) and where they are only with each other after meeting. h is a strong one and H is a simp that would do whatever to make her happy and safe. They became a big found family (h, H, h’s brother, h’s bff and H’s boy band) We have so many comfort, safe, wholesome scenes between all of them. BUT don’t let the cover and all the wholesomeness tricks you, this book is SPICY. It has a lot of smut scenes where H’s favorite place to be is with his head between h’s legs. We love a man that loves to spoil his partner!
It’s the first book publish by this author and I have to say that it was exactly what I wanted.
I grew up in the Wattpad era and have read a ton of books where one of them (or both) was famous singers (I’m looking at you Harry Styles) but I grew up tired of them because there was always a ton of ow drama/groupies. Thankfully this book is not like that. There are no other for them once they meet. And he isn’t interested in anyone else. She isn’t either.
The main characters are Oaklynn and Jethrow.
Both have suffered a lot before meeting. H lost his mom in a car accident two years ago before the book starts and h lost both of his parents a couple of months ago leaving behind her brother of 7 years. h has custody now of her brother and has dropped out of college and is working two jobs to be able to pay for everything.
Oak bff, Jessica, convinced Oak to pretend to be the gf of a bad boy from a boy band to help him improve his public image for money. This bad boy is not other than Jethrow. I don’t mind manhos or playboys if there are not others once they meet. He was suffering when he started to sleep with more people because of the death of his mother, the only family he had.
The rest of the band are: Jesse, Zack and Steven.
Jesse is a surfer golden boy.
Zack is a tattoo guy that used to work in a florist shop and has killer moves with the ladies.
Steven is the one that is always playing with River (h’s little brother) and is bff with Jessica. But everything is platonic between the two of them.
Tropes that you can find in this book:
✨Enemies to lovers
✨Fake dating
✨Famous romance
✨Found family
✨Forced proximity
✨Rockstar romance
✨Boy band
✨They like to get freaky on public places
✨H is obsessed with h
✨H tattoo bad boy rockstar that turns into a golden retriever for his heroine
✨Praise kink
✨Degradatory kink
✨ A ton of smut
✨h is in charge of her little brother
✨H has a great bond with her little brother
✨No other after meeting
✨No ow/om drama
✨Grieve talks, both has lost their parents. H 2 years ago, h less than half a year ago
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 22, 2023
I read this as an ARC. It is a super cute, with some spice 🥵, feel good romance. It's easy to fall in love with the MMC and love the tragic back story in which they bond over. All that was missing was me sitting on the beach to read it!
April 18, 2023
Such an amazing romance book! I love the mmc and mfc, and I can't wait to read the next book 😍
March 8, 2023
This is a cute, feel-good rockstar romance and I loved it.
🌶-4
Tropes:
- Enemies to Friends to Lovers
- Fake Dating
- Forced Proximity
- Found Family
The characters, 9/10. Jethrow and Oaklynn were made for each other. Their journey from hating each other to falling in love while healing from their losses was cute and perfectly smutty. Jethrow truly changes for Oaklynn and River, wanting to be a better person for them. I absolutely adored all of the guys working around Jethrow and getting to know Oaklynn. I LOVED Jessica Barlow because every rom-com needs a sarcastic bitch that loves everyone and is hysterical.
The plot, 9/10. This is solely a feel-good romance. Once the two get over their enemies phase there is back and forth that takes a while, but the banter makes it worth it to read. Jethrow, Jesse, Steven, and Zack are completely different and we get to know a little bit about each boy throughout the story. The ending was touching and I loved the two epilogues, the second one starting up the next book with Jesse and Victoria. Also, the bonus scenes really show a different side of Jethrow and was completely worth the read.
The pace, 8/10. Again, there is a stretch where it is a bit of them figuring out their life together before anything really happens between them but the ending made it so worth it.
I am excited to experience the next book when it comes out and I would recommend this.
🌶-4
Tropes:
- Enemies to Friends to Lovers
- Fake Dating
- Forced Proximity
- Found Family
The characters, 9/10. Jethrow and Oaklynn were made for each other. Their journey from hating each other to falling in love while healing from their losses was cute and perfectly smutty. Jethrow truly changes for Oaklynn and River, wanting to be a better person for them. I absolutely adored all of the guys working around Jethrow and getting to know Oaklynn. I LOVED Jessica Barlow because every rom-com needs a sarcastic bitch that loves everyone and is hysterical.
The plot, 9/10. This is solely a feel-good romance. Once the two get over their enemies phase there is back and forth that takes a while, but the banter makes it worth it to read. Jethrow, Jesse, Steven, and Zack are completely different and we get to know a little bit about each boy throughout the story. The ending was touching and I loved the two epilogues, the second one starting up the next book with Jesse and Victoria. Also, the bonus scenes really show a different side of Jethrow and was completely worth the read.
The pace, 8/10. Again, there is a stretch where it is a bit of them figuring out their life together before anything really happens between them but the ending made it so worth it.
I am excited to experience the next book when it comes out and I would recommend this.
April 6, 2023
thank you to the author for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.
★★★.5
from what the author told me; the book was still in the editing stage and some chapters were still the first draft when I read them so I don't really feel right criticizing the writing. however, when I read it, it was very rough, wordy and sometimes hard to follow because of how the sentences were written but that could've changed now. I'm not gonna reread it and find out. just have that in mind of you want to pick this up.
this really felt like some one direction/5 seconds of summer fanfiction you'd be able to find on wattpad in 2013. the characters and especially the boys were very stereotypical rockstars and it just felt like pieces of all the characters were missing. what I really enjoyed in this were the friendships and the siblings/guardian relationships between the main girl and her little brother but that really shouldn't be what I remember most about a romance. the smut and tropes were okay but nothing memorable except for the nicknames which I found really cute.
I might not be the best person to review a romance because I have very low standards lol. as soon as you give me a somewhat cute couple I will eat it up until the end of the book even if they were only cute for a chapter. the romance in this was the only thing keeping me going. they get together really early which is something I usually don't like but I think it saved this because I almost dnf'd this before the 20% mark. the romance was enough for some temporary serotonin while reading but now I honestly remember nothing about it.
unless I hear amazing things about the next book in this series and that the writing has made a magical transformation; this is it for me and this universe.
cawpile: 6.21
ig: @winterrainreads
★★★.5
from what the author told me; the book was still in the editing stage and some chapters were still the first draft when I read them so I don't really feel right criticizing the writing. however, when I read it, it was very rough, wordy and sometimes hard to follow because of how the sentences were written but that could've changed now. I'm not gonna reread it and find out. just have that in mind of you want to pick this up.
this really felt like some one direction/5 seconds of summer fanfiction you'd be able to find on wattpad in 2013. the characters and especially the boys were very stereotypical rockstars and it just felt like pieces of all the characters were missing. what I really enjoyed in this were the friendships and the siblings/guardian relationships between the main girl and her little brother but that really shouldn't be what I remember most about a romance. the smut and tropes were okay but nothing memorable except for the nicknames which I found really cute.
I might not be the best person to review a romance because I have very low standards lol. as soon as you give me a somewhat cute couple I will eat it up until the end of the book even if they were only cute for a chapter. the romance in this was the only thing keeping me going. they get together really early which is something I usually don't like but I think it saved this because I almost dnf'd this before the 20% mark. the romance was enough for some temporary serotonin while reading but now I honestly remember nothing about it.
unless I hear amazing things about the next book in this series and that the writing has made a magical transformation; this is it for me and this universe.
cawpile: 6.21
ig: @winterrainreads
March 15, 2023
i DNFed at 65%, i really tried to push to finish the book but couldn’t. i almost stopped reading at the beginning of the book because of something jethrow said to oaklynn:
“I don’t want to know about the numerous cats you must have, and I don’t want to share my favorite ice cream with you. If I can’t fuck you, I don’t want anything to do with you. So, you can either become fuckable or speak to me as little as humanly possible. My bandmates may be nice, but they’re idiots if they thought I would actually get along with someone like you”
i hated his character like boy you don’t need a fake girlfriend, you need a therapist..
other than this, i found it weird how quick jethrow and oaklynn got together, i didn’t feel like there was any kind of development between them. i wanted to love this book because there were so many tropes i love but it was just not for me.
“I don’t want to know about the numerous cats you must have, and I don’t want to share my favorite ice cream with you. If I can’t fuck you, I don’t want anything to do with you. So, you can either become fuckable or speak to me as little as humanly possible. My bandmates may be nice, but they’re idiots if they thought I would actually get along with someone like you”
i hated his character like boy you don’t need a fake girlfriend, you need a therapist..
other than this, i found it weird how quick jethrow and oaklynn got together, i didn’t feel like there was any kind of development between them. i wanted to love this book because there were so many tropes i love but it was just not for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 13, 2023
A wonderful and spicy story about two people who didn’t know the needed each other coming together! What starts off as basically a business deal with hateful banter very quickly turns into a whirlwind romance with as much wholesomeness as there is spice! Jethrow is absolutely to die for, and I am so excited to read more in the series and learn more about the other characters!
March 15, 2023
I was provided an Arc from the author in exhange for a honest review and here are my thoughts:
The repetation of the name Oaklynn annoyed me quite a bit and I really wish the author could have written something else instead of repeating ”Oaklynn” every two sentences (which is the main character’s name). It made the book very hard to read since it felt quite repetitive and bored me. I never knew how important the writing of a book was until I read this book.
The relationship between the main character and the love interest also felt pretty forced and I didn’t feel like they had any chemistry between them at all. Their relationship didn’t really develop later on the way I hoped it would either and was very dull to read about.
Now this may feel like a very harsh critique considering this is the author’s first book and I want to clarify that even though I did not enjoy it, it doesn’t have to mean that the author didn’t spend immense amount of time and hard work into creating this book and still deserves respect for her time and her effort and for being incredibly respectful and sweet.
The repetation of the name Oaklynn annoyed me quite a bit and I really wish the author could have written something else instead of repeating ”Oaklynn” every two sentences (which is the main character’s name). It made the book very hard to read since it felt quite repetitive and bored me. I never knew how important the writing of a book was until I read this book.
The relationship between the main character and the love interest also felt pretty forced and I didn’t feel like they had any chemistry between them at all. Their relationship didn’t really develop later on the way I hoped it would either and was very dull to read about.
Now this may feel like a very harsh critique considering this is the author’s first book and I want to clarify that even though I did not enjoy it, it doesn’t have to mean that the author didn’t spend immense amount of time and hard work into creating this book and still deserves respect for her time and her effort and for being incredibly respectful and sweet.
April 15, 2023
Going into the editing process I knew that anything and everything that could go wrong would. And it did. The program that I was writing on malfunctioned causing most of the edits that were made to be deleted. I then had to have a second editor go through the whole book, resulting in the release date getting pushed back BUT now it's done and all of that work is ready for my debut novel to be published in less than a week! I am so excited for everyone to read Jethrow and Oaklynn's story!
August 13, 2023
Thank you Emmy for allowing me to read the arc to your debut book, and first book in the Cherished Expression series.
.
I've gotta say a new favorite nickname is Viper. 😁
☆ enemies to lovers
☆ fake dating
☆ duel pov
☆ found family
☆ forced proximity
☆ book playlist
☆ fast paced
☆ happy ending
"Oh, little Viper. You have no idea what you mean to me."
This story was honestly so fun and heartwarming and spicy. Once I picked it up I didn't want to put it down.
A story of overcoming loss, getting yourself out of a depression state, and love. Finding love unexpectedly.
Cherished Expression is the name of a band which Jethrow is the guitarist for. However he's been in a downward spiral since losing someone who ment everything to him.
So much so that he's ruining the image of the band. So in order to fix things and hopefully help Jet, his manager decided to look for a pr girlfriend.
In comes Oakland.
An artist, a college dropout, not by choice. She's gotta take care of her 7 year old brother, River, after they tragically lost their parents.
Working multiple jobs and still struggling to make ends meet, she's gotta find something better to pay these bills.
That's when her best friend, Jessica, suggests a job she's heard about through a friend.
With nothing to lose, Oakland says what the hell, well technically only because Jessica gave her no choice. That girl is persistent.
It's only for a few months anyways.
Right?...
Seriously the chemistry between these two is strong.
I love the banter between them and the sexual tension.
The ending was so sweet too. It made my heart so happy.
The other characters were so fun too and I can't wait to read their stories as the series go on.
.
I've gotta say a new favorite nickname is Viper. 😁
☆ enemies to lovers
☆ fake dating
☆ duel pov
☆ found family
☆ forced proximity
☆ book playlist
☆ fast paced
☆ happy ending
"Oh, little Viper. You have no idea what you mean to me."
This story was honestly so fun and heartwarming and spicy. Once I picked it up I didn't want to put it down.
A story of overcoming loss, getting yourself out of a depression state, and love. Finding love unexpectedly.
Cherished Expression is the name of a band which Jethrow is the guitarist for. However he's been in a downward spiral since losing someone who ment everything to him.
So much so that he's ruining the image of the band. So in order to fix things and hopefully help Jet, his manager decided to look for a pr girlfriend.
In comes Oakland.
An artist, a college dropout, not by choice. She's gotta take care of her 7 year old brother, River, after they tragically lost their parents.
Working multiple jobs and still struggling to make ends meet, she's gotta find something better to pay these bills.
That's when her best friend, Jessica, suggests a job she's heard about through a friend.
With nothing to lose, Oakland says what the hell, well technically only because Jessica gave her no choice. That girl is persistent.
It's only for a few months anyways.
Right?...
Seriously the chemistry between these two is strong.
I love the banter between them and the sexual tension.
The ending was so sweet too. It made my heart so happy.
The other characters were so fun too and I can't wait to read their stories as the series go on.
March 15, 2023
This is a cute feelgood story. The character development is good, the chemistry between the main characters is there, and the funny banter as well. Everything that I want in a romance story, but I found the pacing to be shifting a lot and that disturbed my reading experience. Halfway throughout the book everything that's supposed to happen in a romance had already happened and the rest just feel anticlimactic. The things that happened after the first half of the book weren't interesting enough to keep me captivated.
In my opinion, this was a good debut. Yes, there where some minor grammar mistakes and interruptions (calling them music artist, the painter while writing from their own perspective or mixing the perspective, for example writing from Oaklynn's POV and talking about herself as Oaklynn) that contributed to the disturbance in the fluency but overall a good, if not a tiny bit to long read.
I believe that feelgood romance readers will enjoy this rockstar romance because it had all the ingredients that are expected from a romance story.
Thank you Emmy Reese for giving me an ARC in exchange for a honest review.
In my opinion, this was a good debut. Yes, there where some minor grammar mistakes and interruptions (calling them music artist, the painter while writing from their own perspective or mixing the perspective, for example writing from Oaklynn's POV and talking about herself as Oaklynn) that contributed to the disturbance in the fluency but overall a good, if not a tiny bit to long read.
I believe that feelgood romance readers will enjoy this rockstar romance because it had all the ingredients that are expected from a romance story.
Thank you Emmy Reese for giving me an ARC in exchange for a honest review.
March 26, 2023
I throughly enjoyed this book, it had a good amount of spice but still somehow felt like I warm hug. The relationship between Oaklynn and Jethrow felt very natural and you find yourself rooting for them from pretty early on, knowing that things will get messy for the couple. This book contains a found family, and man do I wish I had a bunch of rockstar’s to be my brothers now! Seeing their relationship grow with Oaklynn and her little brother River makes me super jealous, I want friends like them!
I cannot wait for the next book. 😍
I cannot wait for the next book. 😍
April 1, 2023
thank you for the arc!
this was honestly such a fun summery read i liked it a good amount. It had fake dating, forced proximity & enemies to lovers, my favourite tropes <3 might continue the series!!!
this was honestly such a fun summery read i liked it a good amount. It had fake dating, forced proximity & enemies to lovers, my favourite tropes <3 might continue the series!!!
Want to read
February 16, 2023i just know this will be good
March 18, 2023
I’d like to thank the author for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.
This story follows Jethrow and Oaklynn. Jethrow is a member of a band, Cherished Experissions, and is currently spiraling out of control. When a stunt involving him nearly hooking up with a woman in public is caught and plastered on all the socials, his reputation is going out the window. Enter Oaklynn, a recently orphaned twenty-three year old, who’s forced to drop out of art school in order to step up and take care of her younger brother, River. Since money’s growing tight, her best friend gets her the job of a lifetime - playing the part of Jethrow’s girlfriend and hopefully clean up his image.
The tropes of this particular novel are as follows:
- Enemies to Friends to Lovers
- Fake Dating
- Forced Proximity
- Found Family
There were some genuinely very cute moments between Jethrow and Oaklynn. The first nickname he started calling her by? Adorable. There were very cute moments between River and the rest of the bandmates, the found family aspect was super wholesome! The bandmates were all very supportive of Jethrow throughout this whole journey, they were always there for him. I liked the solid foundation they had, and the story of how they came together. There were really solid moments throughout that kept me going. However, those moments were not strong enough for me to like this book as a whole. Unfortunately, the writing was a big no for me.
The writing came off as juvenile and a tad amateurish. There was excessive repetition throughout, and heavy usage of metonyms got a little too unbearable after a while. This really saddens me because the writing could’ve been better, and its definitely fixable. The writing didn’t do the story enough justice. The premise had enough potential to really be something, but it was fully eclipsed.
The characters were also not fleshed out enough for me. Why did Jethrow love music? How did it make him feel? Why did Oaklynn love art? How did it make her feel? We didn’t get anything save for surface level information on all our characters. That really hindered my ability to connect with them and see them as anything other than two dimensional characters.
This was touted to be ‘enemies-to-friends-to-lovers’ and the thing is, their ‘enemies arc’ was short-lived. It didn’t feel believable and it really only deterred from the story as a whole. Jethrow lusted after her the moment he saw her and hated her just as much. He believed that she was only in this to “gain popularity” from the gig - which, at no point, was there any mention or implication of the sort. The other four members liked her right off the bat, and yet he kept insisting that she was only in it to use them for her personal gain. I really wish the author gave us some sort of misunderstood action that he could then point to and say she’s using them, or scraped the enemies aspect out altogether. It really didn’t work. I think if the author had decided to make them reluctant allies to friends that could’ve worked better.
Another thing I had an issue with was how I didn’t really feel much chemistry between our two main characters. When they turned into friends I wasn’t feeling it. There was no tension between them either. I was expecting pining, angst, and DRAMA, but it was just all fell flat for me. Jethrow’s POV was constantly lusting after her, and at times, I would get confused on whose POV I was in. That is until the inevitable line of him lusting after her would show up and it’d become clear.
I really wanted to love this one, especially because it was my first arc to review ever. I understand that this review might be a little too critical of an author’s debut novel, but this is how I feel. My opinions in no way denote lack of effort and time put into this, clearly the author has poured a lot into it. I think had this been workshopped and edited more, I really think it could’ve been something. As it stands right now It’s just not my cup of tea unfortunately, I couldn’t get over the writing. If you’re in the market fake dating a rockstar, fast-paced romance, lots of spice then this might actually work for you.
This story follows Jethrow and Oaklynn. Jethrow is a member of a band, Cherished Experissions, and is currently spiraling out of control. When a stunt involving him nearly hooking up with a woman in public is caught and plastered on all the socials, his reputation is going out the window. Enter Oaklynn, a recently orphaned twenty-three year old, who’s forced to drop out of art school in order to step up and take care of her younger brother, River. Since money’s growing tight, her best friend gets her the job of a lifetime - playing the part of Jethrow’s girlfriend and hopefully clean up his image.
The tropes of this particular novel are as follows:
- Enemies to Friends to Lovers
- Fake Dating
- Forced Proximity
- Found Family
There were some genuinely very cute moments between Jethrow and Oaklynn. The first nickname he started calling her by? Adorable. There were very cute moments between River and the rest of the bandmates, the found family aspect was super wholesome! The bandmates were all very supportive of Jethrow throughout this whole journey, they were always there for him. I liked the solid foundation they had, and the story of how they came together. There were really solid moments throughout that kept me going. However, those moments were not strong enough for me to like this book as a whole. Unfortunately, the writing was a big no for me.
The writing came off as juvenile and a tad amateurish. There was excessive repetition throughout, and heavy usage of metonyms got a little too unbearable after a while. This really saddens me because the writing could’ve been better, and its definitely fixable. The writing didn’t do the story enough justice. The premise had enough potential to really be something, but it was fully eclipsed.
The characters were also not fleshed out enough for me. Why did Jethrow love music? How did it make him feel? Why did Oaklynn love art? How did it make her feel? We didn’t get anything save for surface level information on all our characters. That really hindered my ability to connect with them and see them as anything other than two dimensional characters.
This was touted to be ‘enemies-to-friends-to-lovers’ and the thing is, their ‘enemies arc’ was short-lived. It didn’t feel believable and it really only deterred from the story as a whole. Jethrow lusted after her the moment he saw her and hated her just as much. He believed that she was only in this to “gain popularity” from the gig - which, at no point, was there any mention or implication of the sort. The other four members liked her right off the bat, and yet he kept insisting that she was only in it to use them for her personal gain. I really wish the author gave us some sort of misunderstood action that he could then point to and say she’s using them, or scraped the enemies aspect out altogether. It really didn’t work. I think if the author had decided to make them reluctant allies to friends that could’ve worked better.
Another thing I had an issue with was how I didn’t really feel much chemistry between our two main characters. When they turned into friends I wasn’t feeling it. There was no tension between them either. I was expecting pining, angst, and DRAMA, but it was just all fell flat for me. Jethrow’s POV was constantly lusting after her, and at times, I would get confused on whose POV I was in. That is until the inevitable line of him lusting after her would show up and it’d become clear.
I really wanted to love this one, especially because it was my first arc to review ever. I understand that this review might be a little too critical of an author’s debut novel, but this is how I feel. My opinions in no way denote lack of effort and time put into this, clearly the author has poured a lot into it. I think had this been workshopped and edited more, I really think it could’ve been something. As it stands right now It’s just not my cup of tea unfortunately, I couldn’t get over the writing. If you’re in the market fake dating a rockstar, fast-paced romance, lots of spice then this might actually work for you.
March 16, 2023
I wanna thank Emmy Reese for my first ever arc. It was such a pleasure getting to read your debut book.
So this will be an authentic review & will include spoilers.
The story was a fun read especially if you want to just vibe, the smut was amazing. I love enemies to lovers + fake dating tropes so I was excited to read this book.
But tbh it barely was enemies to lovers. 28% in and the mmc Jethrow was basically in love with Oaklynn, it took two incidents (him inviting her into the studio and the beach) for them to suddenly understand each other. He was already telling her she owns his heart and is his muse. Oaklynn barely mentions her parents and her emotions. We hear about it from her brother and Jessica but we barely see it. While Jethrow is more believable, while him giving up drugs and alcohol just cause he's with Oak made no sense. Only for him to pick it up at the end after the breakup. Why did Jethrow automatically assume due to her being stressed about the fans, that meant they was breaking up? Like how did we go from here...
Let alone there's some grammar, spelling, and incorrect info. Oaklynn and her brother are 14 years apart, but she's 23 and he's 7. Which then becomes 8 with no birthday mention or acknowledgement. Salvatore was spelled wrong. The excessive commas (that end every sentence that is supposed to be completed with a period) and the over-use of run on sentences. I'm not a grammar caring person but it becomes distracting after a while. The repetitive use of smile, laughed, and hissed became toooo much of a problem.
Also the relationship developing in 7-8 months but within 2 months their in love basically. 3 months they move in together. 4ish months we find out Jethrow lied about her being fired (which could had been a lovely 3rd act fight). But it fell flat, they made up within 5 mins. 6-7 months in (i almost dnfed) because of the accidentally pregnancy that occurred like did he never buy protection?? Which is odd cause he mentioned he wraps it up but he never has a condom around. Like there was no talk about kids, they literally made up a month ago ctfu. Then it ends with them engaged.
While the real 3rd arc breakup made no sense to me. Like Oaklynn knew the risk of fans, cause she witnessed it several times but was shocked that it happened to her brother. Her and her brother literally are in the wide open at the beach with all the bandmates and didn't expect no one would stalk??? Okay.
Also how did they just tell the fans the whole plan, but the fans was like "okie dokie" who cares that they faked a relationship! lets continue this tour. Why didn't Howard not tell Oak she was fired, that didn't make no sense. Plus, how in the world did Savannah get into Oaklynn phone to leak all this info. Does Oaklynn not have a password or passcode lol?
Overall, I still did enjoy reading this book. I was intrigued and the chemistry was there. The smut itself won a star for me lol. The dirty talking was amazing. If those minor changes happened from above, this would had been a five star for me. Thank you so much for this arc!!
So this will be an authentic review & will include spoilers.
The story was a fun read especially if you want to just vibe, the smut was amazing. I love enemies to lovers + fake dating tropes so I was excited to read this book.
But tbh it barely was enemies to lovers. 28% in and the mmc Jethrow was basically in love with Oaklynn, it took two incidents (him inviting her into the studio and the beach) for them to suddenly understand each other. He was already telling her she owns his heart and is his muse. Oaklynn barely mentions her parents and her emotions. We hear about it from her brother and Jessica but we barely see it. While Jethrow is more believable, while him giving up drugs and alcohol just cause he's with Oak made no sense. Only for him to pick it up at the end after the breakup. Why did Jethrow automatically assume due to her being stressed about the fans, that meant they was breaking up? Like how did we go from here...
Let alone there's some grammar, spelling, and incorrect info. Oaklynn and her brother are 14 years apart, but she's 23 and he's 7. Which then becomes 8 with no birthday mention or acknowledgement. Salvatore was spelled wrong. The excessive commas (that end every sentence that is supposed to be completed with a period) and the over-use of run on sentences. I'm not a grammar caring person but it becomes distracting after a while. The repetitive use of smile, laughed, and hissed became toooo much of a problem.
Also the relationship developing in 7-8 months but within 2 months their in love basically. 3 months they move in together. 4ish months we find out Jethrow lied about her being fired (which could had been a lovely 3rd act fight). But it fell flat, they made up within 5 mins. 6-7 months in (i almost dnfed) because of the accidentally pregnancy that occurred like did he never buy protection?? Which is odd cause he mentioned he wraps it up but he never has a condom around. Like there was no talk about kids, they literally made up a month ago ctfu. Then it ends with them engaged.
While the real 3rd arc breakup made no sense to me. Like Oaklynn knew the risk of fans, cause she witnessed it several times but was shocked that it happened to her brother. Her and her brother literally are in the wide open at the beach with all the bandmates and didn't expect no one would stalk??? Okay.
Also how did they just tell the fans the whole plan, but the fans was like "okie dokie" who cares that they faked a relationship! lets continue this tour. Why didn't Howard not tell Oak she was fired, that didn't make no sense. Plus, how in the world did Savannah get into Oaklynn phone to leak all this info. Does Oaklynn not have a password or passcode lol?
Overall, I still did enjoy reading this book. I was intrigued and the chemistry was there. The smut itself won a star for me lol. The dirty talking was amazing. If those minor changes happened from above, this would had been a five star for me. Thank you so much for this arc!!
October 1, 2023
My rating: 4.5-stars.
Ms. Reese is a new-to-me author. She also happens to be a local indie author. I'm always wanting to support indie authors and a bonus that she's local. One day I'm gonna be able to attend one of her signings. She's been to two local book stores and has an upcoming appearance at one of them. Unfortunately I already have plans on that day so like the last two events I'm unable to attend.
Now about the book. Oaklynn and Jethrow. Oh boy they were definitely enemies-to-lovers. Oaklynn is a strong and independent woman. I liked that she stood her ground and took nothing from Jethrow. He was an absolute a-hole to her and really to everyone around him. Of course we find out why. But Oaklynn has her own issues to deal with. They end up bonding because of their shared tragedies. Jethrow did end up redeeming himself.
The writing and storytelling was really good. While I feel like some chapters had too many trivial details, when the story really started to get going, I was willing to overlook them.
However the half star deduction is for how the author, I personally feel mishandled one of the trigger warnings. As someone who has and is still experiencing one of them, to put a time limit on it just hit me hard the wrong way. I'm not gonna go into anymore detail as I don't wanna spoil the book for anyone. That is my only complaint.
I'm looking forward to reading the next book.
Ms. Reese is a new-to-me author. She also happens to be a local indie author. I'm always wanting to support indie authors and a bonus that she's local. One day I'm gonna be able to attend one of her signings. She's been to two local book stores and has an upcoming appearance at one of them. Unfortunately I already have plans on that day so like the last two events I'm unable to attend.
Now about the book. Oaklynn and Jethrow. Oh boy they were definitely enemies-to-lovers. Oaklynn is a strong and independent woman. I liked that she stood her ground and took nothing from Jethrow. He was an absolute a-hole to her and really to everyone around him. Of course we find out why. But Oaklynn has her own issues to deal with. They end up bonding because of their shared tragedies. Jethrow did end up redeeming himself.
The writing and storytelling was really good. While I feel like some chapters had too many trivial details, when the story really started to get going, I was willing to overlook them.
However the half star deduction is for how the author, I personally feel mishandled one of the trigger warnings. As someone who has and is still experiencing one of them, to put a time limit on it just hit me hard the wrong way. I'm not gonna go into anymore detail as I don't wanna spoil the book for anyone. That is my only complaint.
I'm looking forward to reading the next book.
March 19, 2023
Meet Cherished Expressions, a hot new boy band on the brink of tanking because of a members bad boy behaviors. Enter Jethrow, the bad boy. The solution, Oakland, a paid PR girlfriend. Both Jethrow and Oakland have their own insecurities and tragedies that will perfectly intertwine as they become a beacon for each other while finding their own strength.
Follow their journey to love along with Oakland’s best friend Jessica, her brother River, and all the band mates as friendships, bonds, and families form.
This book will give all the feels. I laughed, I cried, and I went “ooohhhh”. A perfect mix of comedy, romance, and spice (and an unexpected twist or two).
Follow their journey to love along with Oakland’s best friend Jessica, her brother River, and all the band mates as friendships, bonds, and families form.
This book will give all the feels. I laughed, I cried, and I went “ooohhhh”. A perfect mix of comedy, romance, and spice (and an unexpected twist or two).
March 20, 2023
This was an ARC read & I appreciate Emmy Reese for allowing me to read this first before it was put out. It wasn’t my type of read personal opinion however it was a cute little read. This was a 2.5-3 for me personally. Writing is a huge play when it comes to creating books and the writing style was a bit off for me. Everyone’s opinion is always different; it was hard for me to get into this book because of the style. Overall for an ARC and a very first book it was decent/good!
August 28, 2023
This was my first ARC! I'm so glad I got it. I just loved this story so much! The character growth was phenomenal! I loved all the characters! I can't wait for the next books in the series. Especially after that last chapter.
(I really want to know who Jessica ends up with because I feel like she had chemistry with both Zach and Steven 😉)
(I really want to know who Jessica ends up with because I feel like she had chemistry with both Zach and Steven 😉)
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