October 1, 2022
Tara Chen is a nurse by day and romance novel-focused social media influencer by night. Recovering from a broken engagement, she moves in with firefighter Trevor and embarks on a quest to find a date for an upcoming hospital fundraiser by attempting to reconnect with all ten of her ex-boyfriends. While tracking down her exes and documenting the process on her social media accounts, she quickly finds herself falling for Trevor as they bond as roommates in this easy-to-read friends-to-lovers story. Trevor is a fully realized love interest with a complex backstory, and readers will find themselves rooting for the couple. While romance novel tropes abound, Tara cleverly calls them out as part of her "bookstagram" influencer persona, and transcripts from her "live" videos and comments from her followers also make the influencer world feel more lived-in. The plot is less focused on social issues than Lea's debut Set on You, and some of the secondary characters are one-dimensional, but the story moves quickly. VERDICT A perfect beach read for fans of contemporary romance who enjoy unique and compelling leads.--Whitney Kramer
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from November 28, 2022
A romance-obsessed social media star refuses to give up on her own happily ever after in Lea’s captivating second Influencer rom-com (after Set on You). Bookstagrammer Tara Li Chen is “trash for a second-chance reunion trope,” especially after witnessing the real-life rekindling of her Grandma Flo’s love for a childhood sweetheart. So Tara decides to date her exes—all but her recent ex-fiancé—in hopes of finding her own second-chance romance. The experiment goes as hilariously badly as readers will expect, and Tara realizes she may be giving off “crazy ex-girlfriend” vibes. Meanwhile, her new roommate, Trevor Metcalfe, has a very different view of relationships—i.e, avoiding them at all costs and bringing home a different woman every night. He can’t help but be sucked into Tara’s chaotic love life, however, offering much-needed advice and a shoulder to cry on. Their developing friendship is one of the book’s chief joys, with Lea making their dynamic feel tender, fun, and entirely believable. Then Trevor appears in one of Tara’s livestreams, leading her followers to instantly start rooting for a relationship (or “room-ance”) between them. The resulting romance is as sensitive and swoony as it is self-aware, playfully engaging popular romance tropes. This is a winner. Agent: Kim Lionetti, BookEnds Literary.
Starred review from November 1, 2022
After being dumped by her fiance, a romance Bookstagrammer decides to revisit her past relationships to see if she can discover a second-chance spark. Tara Chen is a Boston nurse who's always been in love with romance novels, and she shares her love through videos on Instagram and TikTok. Her track record with real-life romance, on the other hand, is way less successful. Exhausted by the ups and downs of modern dating, she decides not to look forward to a new potential relationship but back...to every single one of her ex-boyfriends. The hope is that she'll be able to rekindle something worth pursuing, especially since her most recent engagement ended in a devastating fashion. Meanwhile, there's the issue of her new roommate, Trevor Metcalfe, a tattooed firefighter with a love-'em-and-leave-'em mentality. He doesn't want Tara making friends with his one-night stands, and he definitely doesn't get her romance-novel obsession, but he does offer to be the wingman she needs in her journey to reconnect with one of her exes. The more time they spend together, though, the more Tara realizes that the perfect guy might not be one of those former boyfriends, and even she can't deny the power of the forced-proximity trope. Lea's follow-up to Set on You (2022) is a hilarious, relatable exploration of life and love, filled to brimming with soft moments, small gestures, and a clear love of the romance genre itself--all of which adds up to a rewarding conclusion for any reader. A comically delightful romance about how the best love stories are found where you least expect them.
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