Thank you Netgalley and Avon Books UK for sending me the complimentary arc of this book.

2.25 stars.
The love solution is a story of two sisters - Sarah and Molly - who lost their parents in a car crash at a very young age. Years after the accident, Sarah is happily living with her long time boyfriend and running her own tiara making business while Molly is working at a lab with her extremely handsome but workaholic boss and developing a solution that can help people fall in love. But on New Years eve, both of their lives fall apart as Sarah finds out that she is pregnant and that her boyfriend Niall is cheating on her while Ewan, Molly's boss/crush kisses her at the party and starts acting cold and distant, making her give up any hope of any potential future with him. The rest of the book deals with Sarah's complicated feelings towards her ex-boyfriend and the new guy in her life and Molly's slowly developing relationship with her boss.

I don't know what I was expecting from the book when I requested an arc but this was definitely not it. While the writing was light hearted and fast paced, everything else about this book was bad. The characters were boring. I hated Sarah - she is awful, whiney and selfish. Yes I understand she got cheated on and that hurts but the things she did after that are inexcusable. She clearly needed therapy and Molly should have assisted her in getting professional help instead of partaking in her madness. That plot just infuriated me - everything about it was wrong. I feel the book would have been way better if that science bit was left out. The main couples had no chemistry. I still liked Molly and Ewan but Sarah and Liam were just bland and felt forced. I also felt Liam's dialogues were repetitive. Overall, the book was frustrating and uncomfortable to read with really bland and underdeveloped characters and a very morally questionable plot line.

* I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review *

The love solution is a cute rom-com, with likeable characters and a kinda interesting scientific background, which I would have liked to read more about.
It has what you would expect of a standard rom-com but little new to add. Also, the plot moved too slow
That said, it was enjoyable and I would recommend it for a good time.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read. I'm already a fan of Philippa Ashley and this book takes her stories in a new and interesting direction. It was unusual, different and crazy. What's not to like?

While this book was marketed as a romance novel, it also had a very strong theme of sisterhood. It was cute and I enjoyed the scientific element of it but would have loved to read more about The Love Bug. The characters were a bit under-developed but despite that, the plot was enjoyable. Three love triangles made for more drama which certainly grabbed the attention of the reader. As with the book I just finished, I found myself also yelling at the characters in this book and telling Molly not to do it! (I won’t spoil what “it” was but once you read the book you’ll know). The book was fairly predictable but a quick and fun read nonetheless. Look for The Love Solution by Ashley Croft on bookshelves August 15, 2019!
.
Thank you Netgalley and Avon Books UK for an advanced copy in exchange for an independent and honest review.

I think this book was not for me.

I ended up dnfing, I didn't like the characters. Didn't the subject matter. Felt like it was two grown women acting like children and using something sugarcoated as "love potion" just so that they'd keep a man who clearly was over one of them.

the synopsis sounded like such an interesting story. but the actual book was not it for me. i was uncomfortable and bored.

this was really disappointing.

The Love Solution starts of with a flashback prologue, giving the backstory of the two characters childhood, and the night they lost their parents. Molly and Sarah were both young when their parents died. Sarah stepped in and took care of Molly. In the introductory few chapters, it is revealed that Sarah is pregnant, and her boyfriend had been cheating on her. Molly, on the other hand, is in love with her boss (with whom she’s creating a solution that causes someone to fall in love with another person) and gives up hope that anything could ever happen between them (after he kisses her on New Years and immediately regrets it). The story navigates Sarah’s relationship with her ex-boyfriend and the new man in her life and Molly’s with her boss, while also navigating the sisters’ close relationship.

The Love Solution was a feel-good novel that not only told a romantic story but focused on the ups and downs of sisterhood. It had me rooting for two couples, hoping they’d find their way to each other, while also rooting for the sisters to maintain their strong relationship.

There is a bit of a science-y component, but nothing that would classify this as science fiction. The Love Solution is the perfect summer (or beach) read to dive into and get lost in for a short while.

Overall, I gave this novel five out of five stars because it was not the stereotypical rom-com. It was comical and romantic, but it also brought in that component of sisterhood that I believe gave it an extra edge. It was a lovely read that I would recommend to anyone who loves a good rom-com!

*Important Note* I was given a digital Advanced Readers Copy of this book thanks to the author, NetGalley and Avon Books UK. All opinions are my own.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ This was such a cute story! The characters and the story line are a bit predictable, but I still enjoyed every page. Perfect beach read! If you're looking for a cute rom-com, this is the perfect read.

Did not finish, didn’t keep my interest. I tried, but only made it about two-thirds of the way through.

one word-horrible. Do waste your time, I did.Adults who act like children. Book supposed to be rom-com but is not. just awful, nothing redeeming.

Absolutely fantastic had me gripped!!! Loved it! Can't wait for more from.this author. Storyline was great, characters were easy to.connect with

Thank you for the advanced copy

Really not for me at all. It sounded so good, but it ended up nearly being a DNF - the only reason it wasn't was because I hate not finishing, and I was vaguely intrigued to see if it got worse. It did.

I didn't feel the writing was that good, the characters were flat, the plot was truly bizarre and the pacing was terrible - some areas were super rushed and others were dragged out to a point that I wanted to rip my hair out. Do yourself a favour, save some time, and move on to something better.

#TheLoveSolution #NetGalley

This is a story of 2 sisters living very different lives, but being there for each other. I liked the set up of this book, and feel that it started so well. I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, this was not the story for me. I'm sure there are plenty of people who will like this one - interesting people and jobs, co-workers to partners will they won't they trope, a cheater confrontation, some mix ups and heart breaks....

Typically, I'm here for all those things, but the storyline was problematic for me. The sisters relationship started really well, but went to a weird, manipulative place with one of them holding their relationship hostage if the other didn't make a monstrous ethical/moral (and illegal) choice. Gross.

The Molly/Ewan relationship started really cute, and again got weird-- with him being moody and withdrawn, for no clear reason. Then when she has to confess her HUGE fuck up, he just kinda goes with it after he initially is angry. Then another twist (the wife) to keep them apart, but is quickly resolved without matching any of the setup. Every reference to his wife prior to her showing up in person leads us to understand she is not coming back to him- she left him, complained to him that he never had time for her... Like, why are you back? Makes no sense.

I did like Liam in this book. Just a normal, rational person who was always honest and up front. I love that he was an unabashed man who stepped out of his comfort zone and took no disparaging for making a tiara. All any other character did was comment on how old he is... But he was the only real adult in this book.

This book was unfortunately not for me.

I was intrigued by the description of the synopsis but the characters fell a bit flat for me.

I think that it would also be helpful to not categorize this book as a romance. It is definitely women's fiction with romantic themes but structurally it's not a romance.

This was a supposed to be a lovely, contemporary, romantic novel. It had a couple of hilarious moments and I actually laughed out loud one time - that doesn't happen very often. It had three ships, a basic setting and two female protagonists I didn't really care for all that much (one I liked slightly better than the other). It was an easy read and I finished it pretty quickly. So why did I only give it 2 stars?

Mostly because of Sarah (one of the two protagonists). I didn't get her. I didn't understand why she made certain choices, why she was so hell-bent on getting back together with her ex boyfriend (a massive tosser in my opinion) and WHY did she keep *that* secret for him for so long. If she'd told him sooner, she'd never had to put her sister in that awkward position and she'd had discovered that she definitely didn't want to be back with him a few chapters into the story. I get it, the author had her keep her mouth shut for plot reasons. But it's a pretty weak reason if you ask me.

The other reason is the whole Love Bug storyline. I thought it was actually pretty interesting and inventive. I liked Molly & Ewan as colleagues and of course, I wanted them to hook up eventually from the get-go. I definitely liked their chemistry better than that of Sarah & Niall or Sarah & Liam. I actually enjoyed Molly's chapters more, if I'm being entirely honest. But what I don't get is why any self respecting scientist whose working on a top secret project would share any details with her sister - no matter how close they are. Even her co-workers at the lab have no idea what she and Ewan are working on but she tells her sister? And she actually considers giving the bug to her sister? I don't understand. I don't contemplate. I just - I don't think that's right, not even in a romantic feel-good novel.

Plus, the pacing was a bit off at times. Some events the author described in its entirety, other events she skipped all together. For instance - Niall getting upset and angry and storming off to confront Liam in his office. I would've liked to see that, to read about it. But it was skipped and we only hear about what happened when Sarah and Liam discuss it briefly in his office.

Overall it was an okay book, a quick and easy read and if your expectations aren't too high you will probably enjoy this. There were certain bits I liked, even though there were some aspects that really bothered me. It's not the best romantic novel I've read over the years, but it certainly isn't the worst either. It's just... okay. Somewhere in the middle, I guess.

Unfortunately, The Love Solution was a bit of a drag for me. In a couple of senses of the word. It took what felt like forever to get through, and the plot was a bummer.

Like other reviewers have mentioned, this book would be more successful if it focused on one main character rather than two. And again, I have to agree with other reviewers that Molly is the much more likable, compelling character. Her story alone could have been a whole book. Sarah simultaneously had no personality and was also the worst. Why not be like the rest of us and binge on bad food and make bad hookup decisions after a breakup? Don't completely disregard common ethics and put your supposedly dear, dear sister in a really bad position! The science-focused parts of the story were quite troubling, and I think the Love Bug debacle could have still played out well without compromising anyone's ethics.

I couldn't understand decisions that either of these sisters made, and reading about them was a bit torturous. I'm not a fan of scenes in books that don't serve the plot as a whole and it felt like there was a lot of those. The pacing of this book was completely wonky. There are moments we hear about after the fact, and scenes that are short with little explanation when they deserve a lot! This goes back to having two main protagonists when there should have been one. It wasn't until more than halfway through the book that the main plot point in the blurb even gets brought up, not to mention acted upon. And from there the story was a whirlwind. If the first 50% was condensed and the last 50% expanded upon in certain scenes, the story would have been much more successful.

I really wanted to enjoy this one but I couldn’t. I certainly hope someone else does though! It was a good story but something just didn’t vibe with me as a human.

There was too much going on in this book. The stories would have been better served if they had been divided into two books, and even then they could have been pared down further. As it is, it's a back and forth between the romantic lives of two sisters with all the strangeness each of their lives: a tiara-making business, a love potion-bug-something scientific but implausible, back and forth with a cheating and unapologetic ex. It was too much to want to keep up with.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

*received an ARC for an honest review* Honestly, I didn’t love this one. I liked the concept, but the deeper I got into the story it just didn’t work for me. The chemistry between Molly and her beau was not really there. The other sister had a better storyline but still didn’t hit the mark. On top of that it was long and at times boring.

All I wanted was for this to be a light-hearted, quick summer read. That’s not asking a lot. And while the blurb definitely excited me, the book unfortunately didn’t meet any of the required criteria. About halfway in I debated DNFing but I pulled myself through. Not that I would have missed much if I hadn’t.

My first and main problem with the book is that it’s advertised as romance and that there is zero chemistry. The book is written in dual POV switching between orphan sisters Molly and Sarah and thus it contains not one but TWO developing romances; in some ways even a third. Yet I didn’t care. I can forgive a lot in chicklit books. As long as the romance is compelling there is a lot I can turn a blind eye to. But if not even that is compelling… it makes for a very boring read.

Sarah was in no way relatable (she made no sense at all) and even Molly was only slightly likable. They were very flat and superficial, as was every other character. The love interests were more or less interchangeable and apart from some stereotypical traits they had no personality or even a life. Molly and Sarah made choices I couldn’t possibly understand or stand behind and could sometimes only be explained as plot convenience. And too often there was drama for the sole purpose of DRAMA. So many things were exaggerated and could have been avoided if only people communicated.

The plot was … weird. It focused on the wrong parts of the story in my opinion and was often more tell than show. Some parts were awfully rushed while others that didn’t matter at all were given too much attention. But even then it was often just plain wrong or utterly unbelievable. This book is supposed to show empowered women but fails miserably. At some point it almost told me to feel sorry for people cheating on their partner, like boo-hoo they have it bad too.

And then there’s the ‘love solution’ plot. Molly and her boss Ewan are working on some top-secret artificial hormone that is nicknamed the ‘love bug’. It’s some sort of chemical combination that will make people fall for each other. It’s dubious in itself but the way it was used in the story was so awfully wrong I couldn’t get over it. Also, despite it being top-of-the-art and not even disclosed to other members of the company, Molly tells her sister all about it. How does that make sense? But none of that as bad as using it to make your cheating fuck of an ex-boyfriend take you back.

The writing itself was below average. The dialogue was off. I can’t quite pinpoint what didn’t work exactly but reading it felt like watching a bad soap opera; everything obvious and melodramatic. Except for the word “shagging” probably. Never have I seen the verb “shag” used this often before. I was this close to turning the book into a drinking game.

The only good thing I can give you is that the cover of the book is really cute. When I looked at it I could see myself fall in love with these characters. But a cover is not the book, you still have to open it up and take a look. ‘Cause under the cover you discover that the king may be a croo- Yeah fine, no more Mary Poppins but I guess this tells just how much I didn’t care. The book was boring and sort of problematic. Would not recommend. Moving on to better things.

I really enjoyed reading The Love Solution. Sarah and Molly have very different personalities and share the tragedy of losing their parents in an accident. Their bond is very strong and I loved both of them. I also enjoyed getting to know Ewan and Liam, and Niall was someone I really didn’t like in the beginning but the author did a great job of humanizing him during the story. The story brings to light some very difficult topics that will hit home for many readers. Relationships, both broken and newly formed. Regrets, mistakes, and new beginnings. The heartache of losing someone you love and the way the mind and heart interplay with the loss. Picking up the broken pieces of your heart and learning to love again. Doing the right thing and how close each of us can come to doing the wrong thing. How the choices we make affect not only us, but everyone around us. It’s two love stories, but presented in a very realistic way with just a hint of fairytale. This book will make you think, make you laugh, and make you cry. I highly recommend it.