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Eternity Springs #18.25
Better than a Box of Chocolates
Get ready to savor this delectable romantic treat - an audio-first novella by New York Times best-selling author Emily March!
Valentine’s Day has always meant trouble for wedding photographer Ali Lovejoy. All her worst romantic disasters have happened on V-Day, so she’s made a habit of hiding out at home in her pj’s until it’s over. But when her best friend begs her do an engagement photoshoot on the dreaded holiday, Ali reluctantly agrees and travels to the quaint Colorado mountain town of Eternity Springs to help her bestie.
While scouting romantic locations for the shoot, Ali is stunned to encounter a naked man skinny dipping in the hot springs. After the most awkward meeting of her life, she eventually agrees to a Valentine’s date with the sinfully delicious stranger. Is she destined for a fresh new disaster - or will she finally find real love?
©2022 Emily March (P)2022 Audible Originals
Valentine’s Day has always meant trouble for wedding photographer Ali Lovejoy. All her worst romantic disasters have happened on V-Day, so she’s made a habit of hiding out at home in her pj’s until it’s over. But when her best friend begs her do an engagement photoshoot on the dreaded holiday, Ali reluctantly agrees and travels to the quaint Colorado mountain town of Eternity Springs to help her bestie.
While scouting romantic locations for the shoot, Ali is stunned to encounter a naked man skinny dipping in the hot springs. After the most awkward meeting of her life, she eventually agrees to a Valentine’s date with the sinfully delicious stranger. Is she destined for a fresh new disaster - or will she finally find real love?
©2022 Emily March (P)2022 Audible Originals
3 pages, Audible Audio
First published February 3, 2022
51 people are currently reading
259 people want to read
About the author
Emily March
61 books1,460 followersPseudonym(s): Geralyn Dawson
Emily March is the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author of over thirty novels, including the critically acclaimed Eternity Springs series. Publishers Weekly calls March a "master of delightful banter," and her heartwarming, emotionally charged stories have been named to Best of the Year lists by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Romance Writers of America.
Emily March is the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author of over thirty novels, including the critically acclaimed Eternity Springs series. Publishers Weekly calls March a "master of delightful banter," and her heartwarming, emotionally charged stories have been named to Best of the Year lists by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Romance Writers of America.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 237 reviews
March 24, 2024
Cute! Cute! Cute! 🥰 could have been longer!! ❤️
March 5, 2022
Anti-Valentines Day!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Romance: 💛🖤💜💚
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙
World building: 🌎🌍🌏🌎
Character development: 😳☺️😍🥰
The heroine(s): Ali Lovejoy - She is a photographer and likes to spend Valentine’s day hidden away at home since she has a bad history of things happening on that day. However, this year her best friend asks her to go to Eternity Springs to do a photo shoot to celebrate their engagement and recreate the moment the question was popped because the camera failed when it actually happened.
The Hero: Max Romano - Lives in Eternity Springs Colorado, owns the Tipsy Angel Micro Brewery. He is a bit shell shocked by the number of women in town recently and how they are all a bit man crazy. It doesn’t help that they have a famous cousin Lorenzo Romano who could be twins with Max and rumor around town is that Lorenzo will be in Eternity Springs soon.
The Story: Max tries to stay away from the crowds that swarmed to Eternity Springs for Valentine’s day and the hot air balloon festival, because he keeps getting mistaken for being his cousin Lorenzo. So while he is hidden away decorating the local mine and underground springs for a friend, he takes a dip in the springs and is caught by Ali.
The narration was done by Jason Clarke and Andi Arndt who never disappoint. I love Jason’s deep gravelly voice which is sexy and romantic. Andi always sounds both feminine and upbeat and she is just pleasant to listen to.
This was a novella so it was insta-love in the extreme, which is pretty much expected when it is a romantic stand-alone. But I liked the romance and the story including the famous look alike relative.
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The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Romance: 💛🖤💜💚
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙
World building: 🌎🌍🌏🌎
Character development: 😳☺️😍🥰
The heroine(s): Ali Lovejoy - She is a photographer and likes to spend Valentine’s day hidden away at home since she has a bad history of things happening on that day. However, this year her best friend asks her to go to Eternity Springs to do a photo shoot to celebrate their engagement and recreate the moment the question was popped because the camera failed when it actually happened.
The Hero: Max Romano - Lives in Eternity Springs Colorado, owns the Tipsy Angel Micro Brewery. He is a bit shell shocked by the number of women in town recently and how they are all a bit man crazy. It doesn’t help that they have a famous cousin Lorenzo Romano who could be twins with Max and rumor around town is that Lorenzo will be in Eternity Springs soon.
The Story: Max tries to stay away from the crowds that swarmed to Eternity Springs for Valentine’s day and the hot air balloon festival, because he keeps getting mistaken for being his cousin Lorenzo. So while he is hidden away decorating the local mine and underground springs for a friend, he takes a dip in the springs and is caught by Ali.
The narration was done by Jason Clarke and Andi Arndt who never disappoint. I love Jason’s deep gravelly voice which is sexy and romantic. Andi always sounds both feminine and upbeat and she is just pleasant to listen to.
This was a novella so it was insta-love in the extreme, which is pretty much expected when it is a romantic stand-alone. But I liked the romance and the story including the famous look alike relative.
Blog|Goodreads|Facebook|Instagram|Twitter|BookBub
June 1, 2022
The idea was nice, the couple was kinda cute, but the execution could've been better.
The story: Christmas and Valentine celebrated together at a cabin and the leads meet there. A romance lover would obviously love it.
Things I liked:
🧡As written above, The story idea was nice.
🧡 Scenes of Tea leaves reading. I have a soft spot for them, so, yeah...
🧡 The meet cute. It was witty. It needed more scenes like that.
Things I wasn't impressed with:
⚫ All the characters were just so... simple: And maybe too sweet for my taste...
⚫ The situations could've been a lot more romantic or comedic.
The story: Christmas and Valentine celebrated together at a cabin and the leads meet there. A romance lover would obviously love it.
Things I liked:
🧡As written above, The story idea was nice.
🧡 Scenes of Tea leaves reading. I have a soft spot for them, so, yeah...
🧡 The meet cute. It was witty. It needed more scenes like that.
Things I wasn't impressed with:
⚫ All the characters were just so... simple: And maybe too sweet for my taste...
⚫ The situations could've been a lot more romantic or comedic.
February 3, 2022
A slightly steamy, but cute novella, that takes instalove to an extreme. But it’s okay because grandma reads tea leaves, and she predicted it. I guess instalove has to be somewhat present in a novella, but when the mains are talking marriage by day two, it’s hard to suspend disbelief. I take it there must be other books set in this ridiculously quaint, picture-perfect town of Something Springs, because it definitely feels like the reader should know more about this place than what is being presented, but I don’t know if I feel like finding it out. I liked the narrator’s well enough, and I’d probably rate this closer to 3.5, but it wasn’t a huge hit for me.
March 5, 2023
I’ve never been more confused in my entire life
April 2, 2022
I waffled between two and three stars here (keeping in mind two stars is "it was okay" which is my sentiment more or less) but I bumped it up to three because the audio performers are so good, especially as a team. Seriously love those two.
Ooooh-kay. The downside on this one? The author really, really, really overdid the references to other books. As a reader, I'm here for Easter Eggs that make me grin and think oh, that's so-and-so's restaurant, I loved that book! but when it becomes just a series of name-drops and references without context—or, worse, long dialog explanations—it's less Easter Egg and more I feel like I forgot to do the homework. This novella really hammered home on the latter, and it didn't work. (Also, this feeling came without warning. This didn't have "an Eternity Springs novella" or anything to point out it was part of this ongoing/shared series.)
The narrative itself was cute enough: Max, a man with a tea-leaf reading grandmother, has been told he's got a fated woman out there and it'll happen on Valentine's Day meets woman, Ali, who has multiple reasons to hate Valentine's Day and they spark into an insta-lust/love connection that she resists because see above, re: Valentine's Day. That could have been enough, and if the author had just spun it that way, it would have been—instead, we get references to Max's identical cousin who is a famous actor on a show and is in town for reasons and the rumours of that... don't come to anything. (I assume this is another book?) Also, we get a woman who meddles in love lives because she's... uh, well, she runs a spa or something and has a fixation on angels? Again, without the context of other books, so much of the dialog turned into "Wait, who is she?" from Ali and Max saying, "Well, Jim, as you know..." info-dumps. Honestly, it was unfortunate—I think there was a good cookie of a story in here, but it got buried under so many layers of icing and sprinkles from other stories that I found myself frustrated just as often as I was charmed.
And it didn't make me want to check out the other books in the series, either.
Ooooh-kay. The downside on this one? The author really, really, really overdid the references to other books. As a reader, I'm here for Easter Eggs that make me grin and think oh, that's so-and-so's restaurant, I loved that book! but when it becomes just a series of name-drops and references without context—or, worse, long dialog explanations—it's less Easter Egg and more I feel like I forgot to do the homework. This novella really hammered home on the latter, and it didn't work. (Also, this feeling came without warning. This didn't have "an Eternity Springs novella" or anything to point out it was part of this ongoing/shared series.)
The narrative itself was cute enough: Max, a man with a tea-leaf reading grandmother, has been told he's got a fated woman out there and it'll happen on Valentine's Day meets woman, Ali, who has multiple reasons to hate Valentine's Day and they spark into an insta-lust/love connection that she resists because see above, re: Valentine's Day. That could have been enough, and if the author had just spun it that way, it would have been—instead, we get references to Max's identical cousin who is a famous actor on a show and is in town for reasons and the rumours of that... don't come to anything. (I assume this is another book?) Also, we get a woman who meddles in love lives because she's... uh, well, she runs a spa or something and has a fixation on angels? Again, without the context of other books, so much of the dialog turned into "Wait, who is she?" from Ali and Max saying, "Well, Jim, as you know..." info-dumps. Honestly, it was unfortunate—I think there was a good cookie of a story in here, but it got buried under so many layers of icing and sprinkles from other stories that I found myself frustrated just as often as I was charmed.
And it didn't make me want to check out the other books in the series, either.
March 31, 2022
uhm NO.
February 9, 2022
Free from the Audible catalogue. Thankfully this book was short but it was too sickly sweet for my liking.
Even though I fancied a Valentines read.
Even though I fancied a Valentines read.
May 8, 2022
This is a novella length book so it's sweet and short, but a fun listen with a happily ever after. Add in that the audiobook has two of my favorite narrators, Andi Arndt and Jason Clarke, and you have a quick listen that is a fun palate cleanser. It's the perfect book to lighten the mood after a heavier or darker book. The characters are a fun, Valentine's Day hating duo surrounded by meddlesome family and friends that leads to some interesting interactions sprinkled with just a bit of spice! If you only have a few hours to fill and want a quick listen, then this is a great choice.
June 19, 2024
Cute VERY short romcom audio novella.
Not much to it, but a sweet little story with insta-love based around Valentine’s Day.
I haven’t read anything else in this series, so I’m sure I missed out on the fun connections and character references. I just needed something short and happy to listen to - and this fit the bill.
It probably fulfills its purpose - so maybe it should get 4⭐️; but it wasn’t anything special for me.
Not much to it, but a sweet little story with insta-love based around Valentine’s Day.
I haven’t read anything else in this series, so I’m sure I missed out on the fun connections and character references. I just needed something short and happy to listen to - and this fit the bill.
It probably fulfills its purpose - so maybe it should get 4⭐️; but it wasn’t anything special for me.
February 7, 2024
A cute Valentine’s Day novella that made me want to read more in this series.
CW: cheating
4.25 ⭐️
CW: cheating
4.25 ⭐️
April 5, 2023
Short + sweet.
February 3, 2022
Better than a Box of Chocolates by Emily March was such a fun, sweet, and swoony Valentine's audio treat for my ears! Ali is on her way to Eternity Springs, CO to retake some engagement photos for a dear friend. While visiting the spring, she meets hunky Max, and they have an instant connection; they both despise Valentine's day. However, they soon learn that fate and Max's meddling family, may have other plans for them. Andi Arndt and Jason Clarke narrate this audio, and are amazing at bringing Max and Ali's romance to life. Andi and Jason made me fall head over heels in love with this light, heartfelt Valentine's Day themed romance, and I didn't want it to end.
April 28, 2022
This was listenable. But it’s plot was far too silly. Lots of miscellaneous characters who served no discernible purpose (though I’d imagine they were intended by the author to motivate characters’ behavior or personalities—they didn’t). The real problem for me was the impossibility of relating to the characters’ angst. I don’t have to be convinced by whatever drama has the main characters hung up. But it has to be internally consistent and compelling. That is, it has to be believable and logical based on the characters’s personalities and interests. That was missing. And so it made both characters feel silly and annoying. Ugh.
April 13, 2022
Adorable novella
I havnt listened/listened to Emily’s books before.
This wee novella has made me want to read the eternity springs series so I have downloaded book 1
Hea? Yes
Smut? No
Romance? Yes
World building? Good, I liked the background characters enough to start the series from the beginning.
3.5 stars
Max and Ali
I havnt listened/listened to Emily’s books before.
This wee novella has made me want to read the eternity springs series so I have downloaded book 1
Hea? Yes
Smut? No
Romance? Yes
World building? Good, I liked the background characters enough to start the series from the beginning.
3.5 stars
Max and Ali
April 20, 2023
1.5 ⭐️s The beginning was off to a great start. But, did a face plant at the end. I’m sure I heard a splat.
May 15, 2022
3 Stars for BETTER THAN A BOX OF CHOCOLATES written by Emily March. I listened to the Audible audio wonderfully read by Andi Arndt and Jason Clarke. This was a quick reading but enjoyable Romance novella.
MY RATING GUIDE: 3 Stars. An easy & cute “read”.
1= dnf/What was that?; 2= Nope, not for me; 3= THIS WAS CUTE; 3.5= I enjoyed this; 4= I liked it a lot; 5= I Loved it, it was great! (I seldom give 5 Stars).
I listened to BETTER THAN A BOX OF CHOCOLATES while completing outdoor chores one afternoon. It was a quick listen and another pleasing performance by Andi Arndt and Jason Clarke.
In BETTER THAN A BOX OF CHOCOLATES, wedding photographer Ali Lovejoy/FMC has a hate relationship with Valentines Day. As a favor for a friend, Allie heads from Texas to Colorado to shoot retake photos of her friend’s “Proposal Acceptance.” While in Colorado for the shoot Allie meets business owner Max Romano/MMC. Through a series of unplanned events, together Allie and Max manage to erase Allie’s bad memories of the holiday, and the book ends in a probable HEA. The epilogue is promising.
I recommend BETTER THAN A BOX OF CHOCOLATES to readers who enjoy:
1) Quick reading/novellas
2) Romances with HEAs
3) Clean Romances
4) Simple, light Romances without excess drama and angst (yay!)
5) Novels read by Andi Arndt and/or Jason Clarke
BETTER THAN A BOX OF CHOCOLATES could easily be read before bed (as a bedtime treat) or between other more intense and/or complicated books as a fresh change/break.
READER CAUTION ~ I believe this was a Clean read.
PROFANITY - None that I recall.
SEXUAL SITUATIONS - None.
VIOLENCE - None.
MY RATING GUIDE: 3 Stars. An easy & cute “read”.
1= dnf/What was that?; 2= Nope, not for me; 3= THIS WAS CUTE; 3.5= I enjoyed this; 4= I liked it a lot; 5= I Loved it, it was great! (I seldom give 5 Stars).
I listened to BETTER THAN A BOX OF CHOCOLATES while completing outdoor chores one afternoon. It was a quick listen and another pleasing performance by Andi Arndt and Jason Clarke.
In BETTER THAN A BOX OF CHOCOLATES, wedding photographer Ali Lovejoy/FMC has a hate relationship with Valentines Day. As a favor for a friend, Allie heads from Texas to Colorado to shoot retake photos of her friend’s “Proposal Acceptance.” While in Colorado for the shoot Allie meets business owner Max Romano/MMC. Through a series of unplanned events, together Allie and Max manage to erase Allie’s bad memories of the holiday, and the book ends in a probable HEA. The epilogue is promising.
I recommend BETTER THAN A BOX OF CHOCOLATES to readers who enjoy:
1) Quick reading/novellas
2) Romances with HEAs
3) Clean Romances
4) Simple, light Romances without excess drama and angst (yay!)
5) Novels read by Andi Arndt and/or Jason Clarke
BETTER THAN A BOX OF CHOCOLATES could easily be read before bed (as a bedtime treat) or between other more intense and/or complicated books as a fresh change/break.
READER CAUTION ~ I believe this was a Clean read.
PROFANITY - None that I recall.
SEXUAL SITUATIONS - None.
VIOLENCE - None.
January 21, 2025
Andi Arndt and Jason Clarke are always amazing together. I have had this on my TBL for quite sometime and had a small time frame between ALCs so I finally listened to this one and I absolutely adored it. I mean what is not to like about a man and woman who both hate Valentine's Day and end up together on that weekend? Throw in Jason and Andi as the narrators and it was a little over 2 hrs of magnificence.
March 4, 2022
Audible plus download.
I am wondering if there are more books set in this Hallmark-perfect town, as I got the feeling I should have known this town/these people?
Cute, veeeerrry instalove (marriage talk on day 2 or 3 of knowing each other? Eeek!)
Great narrators, kept me engaged during a drive today
I am wondering if there are more books set in this Hallmark-perfect town, as I got the feeling I should have known this town/these people?
Cute, veeeerrry instalove (marriage talk on day 2 or 3 of knowing each other? Eeek!)
Great narrators, kept me engaged during a drive today
February 1, 2023
A very quick listen on audible. It’s essentially a Christmas meets Valentines Day where a photographer is going to set up redo engagement photos for her friend and she runs into this guy who’s in a cave. His family is essentially playing match maker for the two of them and in the end they end up together
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 16, 2022
2.5 stars
An okay short story within Emily March's Eternity Springs-verse. I haven't read any of the ES series so I wasn't familiar with any of the secondary characters. The narrators (Andi Arndt & Jason Clarke) were the best part.
An okay short story within Emily March's Eternity Springs-verse. I haven't read any of the ES series so I wasn't familiar with any of the secondary characters. The narrators (Andi Arndt & Jason Clarke) were the best part.
February 17, 2022
Cute Audible Original that takes place in Eternity Springs (series).
March 1, 2022
Sometimes the books included in my audible subscription are amazing. Other times they are not. This was one of those times. 3 stars because the narration was pretty good.
March 9, 2022
This Novella was adorable. Loved Ali & Max. Loved the setting. Cute, fluffy instalove story but very enjoyable.
Content: Chaste, Swoony kisses, Innuendo
Content: Chaste, Swoony kisses, Innuendo
December 6, 2022
2.5 ok, could be better
December 9, 2023
Too cheesy ... 🙄🙄
January 9, 2025
It was short and Sweet
Displaying 1 - 30 of 237 reviews