by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka
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Book Boyfriend by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka is a cute contemporary romance.
It’s possible that I wasn’t the direct audience for this one, since I’ve never read the works of JLA or SJM. It seemed heavily hinted that the protagonist’s favorite romantasy series was something like one of theirs. I’m certain that I missed a lot of direct references to some of those works.
That being said, an immersive fan experience celebrating a favorite romantasy series sounds super fun! I also agree that reading fantasy is helpful as an escape in these trying times. And the scavenger hunt at the fan experience sounded so fun, though maybe a little drawn out.
It’s technically a workplace romance. Our two main characters are coworkers, but much of the actual plot of the book happens at the immersive fan experience and not at the office.
Rivals to lovers is usually one of my favorite tropes, but it didn’t fully land for me in this instance. The love interest just kinda felt like a jerk to me the whole way through, and I’m not sure he was ever really redeemed.
But I did have fun with their banter and I did feel the chemistry between the characters. There were also some pretty great side characters I would have loved more focus on. The concept here was great, I just wish the book hooked me a bit more.
I received a complimentary review copy from Berkley. All opinions contained herein are my own.
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