Typically, as a lover of romance, I gravitate towards enemies to lovers books, but I have so far avoided reading lockdown books (I’m sure we all want to escape lockdowns by this point!) This isn’t something I would have typically picked up in a bookstore, however I’m happy that I gave this a try and it was nice to step out of my comfort zone to read something different within one of my favourite tropes. The book definitely lived up to its genre, with the cute romance and the comedic excerpts that had me laughing and feeling as though I was looking in on how lockdown was affecting my neighbours.

The story focuses on the main characters Angela and Colin and watches their relationship develop after Colin invites Angela to stay in his spare bedroom. The dynamic between Angela and Colin was sweet and made the characters likeable, although I wished their had been a little more chemistry in some places.

I definitely felt that I gelled a lot more with Colin’s character than Angela’s, as he was more likeable and seemed like the sort of person you could easily make friends with. Colin came across as being a hard worker, focusing on his radio show, and seemed really dedicated to something when he put his mind to it, such as planning cute dates. I felt that Angela seemed a little immature at times, but some people are like this or it could potentially be something that is exacerbated by her anxieties surrounding the lockdown, so it didn’t feel too out of place within the story, but I didn’t warm to her in the same way I did with Colin.

I felt as though the lockdown and social distancing rules took over Angela and Colin’s lives at times, which I know is reflective of how lockdowns have been, but I was hoping for something that was a little more in the form of escapism or made the situation feel a little lighter. I think given that this was a rom-com, I would have expected there to have been a little less focus on the lockdown rules.

I liked that this was written from different perspectives and even though Angela seemed to have 2 sides to her personality (affected by the anxiety surrounding the lockdown), I think the book effectively conveyed the different ways in which people have been affected by the lockdowns.

Overall this book was enjoyable and one that I would recommend to those looking for a sweet lockdown romance, with a sprinkling of comedy throughout!

I really wanted to like this book more than I actually did. The idea of love and lockdown appealed with the forced proximity that many of us are facing. However, I couldn't buy into the chemistry between the main characters, with Angela grating on me towards the end especially the way she acted towards Colin.

An easy read if you are looking for something light to escape to.

I’ve been looking forward to romance novels that incorporate quarantine and this one was really cute. It was enemies to roommates to lovers with forced proximity. Angela and Colin are neighbors in an apartment complex and Angela has always disliked Colin due to his thumping at all hours. Angela lost her job pre-quarantine and has no where to stay, so here comes Colin with a great offer. Use his spare bedroom but help him write a segment for his radio show. It really bothered me how embarrassed Angela was about reading romance novels. She hid them from her boyfriend, her friends, and Colin. She wanted to write one but how could she write one if she couldn’t even tell people she enjoyed them. I also thought Angela was super passive aggressive with Colin where she could’ve knocked on his doors two years ago and told him that his thumping bothered her. It also super bothered me that the cover is a skinny girl but in the book, she’s supposed to be a curvy girl (size 16). They should’ve done better with representation. Colin is super privileged but also pretty sweet even if it starts off for selfish reasons. I loved his chosen family of radio hosts that he talked through his problems. I also loved how much he helped with his elderly neighbors. Overall a cute story but I thought there could be some improvements to make it better.

💕Romance in sad times for DJ & his muse🎙🎚🎛🎧

Love and Lockdown had a promising start and author Alyce Caswell bravely tackled a difficult plot situation. But I frankly found this sweet romance slow going and it could have been told more succinctly, particularly the two weeks of male lead/DJ Colin's Plan for enduring quarantine. At its release, we have been dealing with lock downs and quarantine for about a year and still have a way to go. This story kept me zeroed in on the restricted lives we lead and I enjoyed the romance less as a result.

Thanks to Books Go Social and NetGalley for providing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.

I have been wondering what a romance set during the pandemic might look like. Though this one started off as fictional even in the story but with a little bit of enemies to lovers and forced proximity it turned into more.
Angela and Colin are neighbors and don't necessarily get along. Colin, a radio DJ, needs to find material for his show and sees Angela upset outside so goes to social distance to see if she's ok as his RAOK that he can talk about. Instead finds out she is about to be evicted so he invites her to stay in his spare room. In pitch meetings with his other DJ hosts they now think it would be a great idea for him to start a romance with her for his segment.
He really did think outside the box trying to find original content when they weren't allowed to leave their homes. Though tbh I don't think he was going out much prior.
This was a cute romance. I think he had his eye on her before this whole situation happened and his subconscious helped move it along. Angela is super snarky and doesn't give him an inch at all in all her fruit colored jumpers.
She set some reasonable ground rules and he agreed to them. So when he broke them and she found out about some other iffy looking stuff he had to try to win her back.
This story is full of romance writing and radio lingo. There's human need for interaction even when there's forced separation worldwide. Everyone was wanting to hear more of their fictional romance as their actual romance was growing.
I liked that this kept to the pandemic narrative. It was very strict in what could be done and where I live. It's still in the orange tier so it's not much different, ugh.
I also love when it's a two person POV so you can tell what they are both thinking, not what each is assuming.

Thank you booksgosocial and netgalley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫

Note: I saw people writing weird comments about how they didn't like how she was so strict with the social distancing and bringing up all the rules. But to be fair this appears to be set in April-May 2020 when there was a TP and mask shortage. So this was the mentality for a lot of people and this was in a diff country so diff rules.
We had helicopters flying around with speakers telling people to stay inside around that time so its def different now.

Love and Lockdown is a romance novel about Angela and Colin, who hate each other's guts. They are neighbours, and even in the middle of a pandemic, they keep bumping into each other at random places.

When Angela gets evicted and her petition to move in with her boyfriend gets rejected, she feels the world is ending.

On the other hand Colin needs a good deed to boast about on his radio show, and Angela's situation looks like the best thing he can find, so he invites her to live with him.


I love a good romance novel, specially if it feels light and cosy like this one. Being forced to share a small place looks like the worse kind of torture if your only company is your worse enemy, but if he's hot and kinda infuriating you can't help but enjoy it.

Angela's relationship with Colin is adorable, they share so many cute and cosy scenes it made me feel all warm inside, like i was actually seeing two good friends fall in love.

Colin is cute and a bit of a mess, but he works hard for what he wants, and feels bad for using his good deeds to get something in return.

Angela is closed up and kinda rude, but adorable at the same time. She has had her share of bad in life, and she just wants to be left alone. Or to actually be loved.

As I said, I loved their relationship, and I enjoyed the book thoroughly, but there are some things I didn't exactly like.

The first one, I didn't like the fact that he is working a lot to make her fall in love with her, planning dates, buying stuff and working on his radio show all at the same time, while she does nothing for him. Yeah sure, she cooks, but she could plan some dates, make him fall in love with her.

The other thing I didn't like was her lack of maturity. I get it that she was angry at Colin for messing up, but I felt that running to the closet and open it to see what was in there was her way of hurting him. An eye for an eye. I'm not into toxic people at all.

Nonetheless, I did enjoy the end of Angela's friendship with her childhood friend. I enjoyed thoroughly how she cut it off, and even if it went on for a bit, she didn't end up forgiving her toxic friend, which is something that sometimes happen.

A lovely book with lovely characters (most of the time), with a kind-of-predictable plot and amazing relationships.

Angela has had a rough time of it. With the onset of a pandemic, a lot of places- including her job- have shut down and now she’s sold everything but her soul and still can’t continue to make rent. Moving in with her mother holds zero appeal, and her boyfriend isn’t interested in cohabitation (even if that is the only way they can legally see each other amid lockdown). Who would have thought salvation would come in the shape of Collin Cooper, upstairs neighbor and bane of her existence?

Collin Cooper, internet radio DJ, is at the end of his rope. He knows he’s one of the “lucky ones”. Working from home, his job hasn’t been affected by the pandemic in any way. Unfortunately, it comes with the boss from Hell. Leo is always telling him to find new things for “daily inspo”, the segment of his show where he talks about inspiring things- good things, no matter how small- that are going on. Little acts of kindness… but not the ones people can find by just looking on twitter for a minute. He’s not proud of the fact that he started getting groceries for the older couple down stairs so that he’d have something to talk about…. and now he has to find something else. Then he sees her- the mouthy girl downstairs, crying on the walkway in front of the complex. What could be a greater act of kindness than taking someone in during a pandemic? Yeah, she hates him…. but it’ll make good radio, maybe? Especially when Leo decides to change the segment into a romance serial starring Collin and Angela…

In exchange for free room and board Angela begins ghost writing Collin’s segments and the two become close. But is it just forced proximity? Can these feelings be real? Then there’s the fact that Collin hasn’t told her all his secrets (For instance, she isn’t allowed to look in the wardrobe in her room…). When Hell breaks loose after quarantine and Angela walks away, can Collin convince her to come back? Is there love after lockdown?
I found this to be a fun, fast read. Written in dual narrative between Collin and Angela, it was easy to get close to these characters. Even when they were being ridiculous you wanted to hug them. I’ll admit, at the beginning it was hard to like Angela. She complained about the lockdown and lack of masks…. a lot. It’s understandable, and helps to see her frame of mind; at the same time I feel like the author overdid it a tiny bit. Collin was my favorite of the two- warm and funny, a bit socially awkward… yeah, I just really liked him. He made a lot of mistakes, but in the end he owned them and of the two I feel like he had the most character growth. My favorite character, of course, was Ishani (I would absolutely buy a book with her as the female lead). Popping up as Angela’s best (and only) friend during this crazy time, I loved how open and supportive she was right off the bat- like, literally minutes after meeting.

There were some absolutely absurd (if cute) things going on- epic pillow fights, floor lava, daily conversation starters… because what else do you do when you aren’t allowed out for fourteen days and only have one person for company? These are the areas where I started to really like Collin. He understands his feelings for Angela and is determined to “court her”, doing things to make her feel special and important until such time as they are allowed to leave the apartment- the timeline both of them decided was best for the beginning of any romantic entanglement. Final verdict? I really enjoyed this book. It was fun and fast with great characters. Is it the best book ever written? No… but sometimes we need a palate cleanser- something light and fun after reading something sadder or heavy. This was that for me. I would give it four stars.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
As far as adult content goes, there’s some language and sexual discussions plus a bit of actual sexual content. It’s all extremely mild, though. While it’s obviously made for someone over eighteen, I would hand it to an older teenager without hesitation.


I was lucky enough to receive an eARC of this book from Netgalley and BooksGoSocial in exchange for an honest review. My thanks!

I liked this novel very much. The reality of the situation, the realistic the characters were. It was just wonderful. And I loved them all, not only the main characters but the group of Djs specially, they made me smile, laugh and wanted to hug them. Very good on construction there.
I just wanted to say thank you for Angela, the most realistic heroine of them all. You can see humanity in her, no some normal character, it was just too real! And I appreciate that. (Maybe bc Im grumpy and a bit too much like her lol)
Maybe I think I could had had a little more details of some things? Like the ex of Colin and what happened later with Emily. And what about Rob and Ishani as well?
I feel like it finished so quickly and now I miss them 😭
Some errors I can think, were bc it wasn’t the final print edition, no?

To end up, I really really liked it. It was very nice to read and a pleasure. The references, all. I think I really needed a romcom or novel like that and I would read more. Also, Im so interested right now for future books of the author.

The premise of this story is perfect - how do we find love during a pandemic? I liked the author's take on the characters, but I had a difficult time really relating to them. Overall, it was a cute story.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy for an honest review!

Really cute story, although some parts, like the details about each day/activity had a tendency to drag on for longer than necessary. I would’ve liked to see more focus on the characters’ actual development of feelings for one another over every single detail of their quarantine and Colin’s conversations with his boss.

Angela would never be caught dead within two meters of Colin Cooper - and that was before a global pandemic broke out. But she was just evicted and he's offered her his spare room for free. Little does she know however, Colin only helped her out because he needed a good deed to talk about on his radio show. He soon finds himself ranting about Angela on the air, and his listeners love it! In order to please his boss, Colin has to turn the situation into a serialized romance, and enlists Angela (who is a huge fan of romance novels) to help. Angela accepts because she feels indebted to Colin, but can they write a believable romance in the middle of a lockdown?

This book was a super quick, easy, and relatable read. It definitely had its cute moments, however I do feel that the romance felt a little forced at times. I did love the banter between Angela and Colin though; they were both funny characters and had their own unique quirks. It brought me back to the early days of the pandemic when nobody really knew what was going on, and there were definitely a few toilet paper jokes. While this was my first pandemic romance read, it for sure will not be my last!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book that i’ve seen use the current situation of covid-19 so i was intrigued. It doesn’t disappoint and it’s a light read that you just want to finish. It’s not your conventional love story and i find that refreshing. The two main characters are kind of thrust together due to Angela needing somewhere to stay so Colin helps her out knowing he can use her and her situation as material for his radio show. It’s a cute fun read that i would recommend

Sorry I could not enjoy this book at all. Reading for me, is an escapism from the real world and this being set in a pandemic was just too familiar to real life. The main characters were cute although there relationship did seem quite predictable

I’ll start off by being completely transparent. I did not finish this book. I tried to, hoping that maybe some of the things that I didn’t like about it would start to resolve themselves the further I got into it, but sadly, it didn’t. I got about 30% of the way in before finally having to put the book down. I really wanted to enjoy this book. When I saw this title on NetGalley, I was excited; a quarantine romance! A trend I expected was finally starting to appear on shelves. However, I think that it might have appeared on shelves a little too early.
From the beginning, the fact that this novel was set during the COVID-19 pandemic was glaringly obvious. While some of the offhanded comments about Zoom fatigue and sourdough starters made me laugh, I didn’t need a several-page editorial on mask efficacy. In the first pages, Angela discusses her dilemma of whether or not she should hold the door open for Colin because of social distancing, an inner monologue constant and heavy-handed throughout. That’s one reason I think this novel is on the shelves a little too early. We’re too close to the situation, and it feels too real.
Pandemic aside, one of the things I did like about this book was the difference in narration style. At any given moment, it was clear if the reader was in Angela’s head or Colin’s, so that was well done. However, I think there was a little too much going on in the plot, trope-wise for my tastes. Within the first 30%, there were hints at enemies to lovers, neighbors to lovers, forced proximity, roommates to lovers, and fake dating. Don’t get me wrong, I love tropes, especially roommates to lovers and fake dating. But I think it would have been better to pick one or two and then really develop the characters, so they drove the story rather than the circumstances. Angela and Colin’s character development seem forced, and, therefore, I didn’t find myself caring about them. I didn’t care about any of the characters, really, except for Ishani. From the moment she was introduced, I loved her. She was kind, fresh, and fun—basically, everything I love about the rom-com best friend. Her introduction was what actually spurred me to read another few chapters before finally deciding to put the book down.
Thank you, NetGalley and BooksGoSocial, for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review will be posted on my blog, Cozy Critiques, on 2/23/2021

FINALLY, a book that touches on the PANDEMIC that is currently taking over the world. The toilet paper hoarding killed me, haha. What a sweet guy Colin is; dressing up as Santa Claus to deliver toilet paper. So what if he was doing it for radio? At least he put in the effort. Also, I love Angela; she clearly went through so much growing up, with an unsupportive mother, and fake friends taking advantage. But, Colin was the person she needed to get through the hardest event possible, which is this lockdown most of us are experiencing. This is definitely a book I NEEDED, with my city going on red zone lockdown AGAIN. I never related to a book as much as I did with this one, with all the jokes on exercising in the living room, and the touches on mental health, along with the lockdown referred to being an introvert's dream. Definitely one of the BEST READS OF 2021!

I am sorry but I just could not finish this story and I DNFed the book at 25 % in. Firstly, I have never read a book that is trying so hard to be relatable. It felt like someone was trying way too hard to bring in contemporary topic and terms, and it felt unrealistic. I am 25 % in and the author have mentioned millennials at least 5 times. Instead of describing people ages she just used different categories for example: “A Gen X-er Danika had lived through the height of Goth popularity.” How old is the character? Who knows she could be anything between 40-65, but the grandkids that followed leads me to suspect the character to be on the older side? But this makes it hard for me to picture the characters in my head. No one actually is using these kinds of expressions casually in real life. In my opinion these kinds of modern expressions could have been toned down. It felt like the book written by a teenager’s parent that is trying too hard to be relatable and just throws in every kind of expression all the time, no matter if it fits or nor. The book could benefit to just reduce them by a lot.

I also have a hard time when there is a character when literally every single person in their lives is just terrible. The only friend? Terrible. Boyfriend? Terrible. Mum? Terrible. She herself? Seems a bit terrible to be around. She complains that the male main character checks his mailbox after midnight. Why? Because she wants to do the same. She seems to just glare at him for no real reason. So why did the male main character actually invite her to live with him? He can just lie on his radio show, I mean he starts doing it anyway. And you are aware that the girl actually has a boyfriend? What if he figures it out is about his girlfriend? Sure, the boyfriend is trash, but he does not know that at that time. It felt like the motive was weird. I understand that the author tried to create chemistry between the characters before the moving in, but unfortunately it was not that well done. If this were better done the story could feel more believable.

It is an interesting idea to write a Corona and lockdown romance, but the execution could unfortunately be better done.

**ARC kindly provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Talk about reading a book about current events! This was adorable 😍 I loved all the characters and the storyline. My only issue is the conflicts were super obvious and silly. I wish we could have learned more about Colin and Angela's background as well. I feel like their family stories would have helped us understand them more as characters.

If you're looking for a fun read about finding love during a pandemic this one is worth the read!

This book is an easy to read romance set during COVID. I love a romance, even the slightest hint of a potential romance and I am invested, so I was so excited to see how this romance set in an era of COVID and social distancing would pan out. It was fine, it wasn't stand out for me, but it was light and it was romance. I did find this quite a surreal read, as it talks about COVID from the perspective that many of us lived through (and are still living through), which feels a little soon.

I felt that the characters were a little shallow and some were just down-right toxic (*Ahem* Ben and Emily, I mean you). There was some really important unpacking around the toxic characters and the affect a toxic friendship or relationship can have “Did half a lifetime of memories, some of them fantastic and some of them wince-worthy, make it worth hanging onto a friendship that has been frayed before distance even entered the picture”. Unfortunately, I didn’t find Angela or Colin very likeable and they both had traits that I found frustrating - Angela’s constant bad mood, and Colin’s hang-dog reluctance to ever take credit or responsibility for something. I felt that they were both quite selfish which frustrated me. Having said that I did really enjoy reading them go through their journey to building a relationship. In addition, I did feel that Angela especially grew quite fundamentally as a character going from a bit of a push-over to a witty, sarcastic and confident woman who didn’t feel uncomfortable flouting the ‘done thing’. In addition, I was a big fan of the radio references and all of the scenes where Colin was on radio or talking to his radio family.

Although it was weird to read about the pandemic as the setting for a fictional romance, whilst we’re very much still living in it, one of my favourite aspects of this story was the sage advice it provided around the pandemic, the importance of community and helping each other: “We should be nice to each other. Not because we’re supposed to be. But because it will make it easier for all of us to get through this.”. Also, the typical tropes, enemies to lovers, fake dating and forced proximity were conducted really well with some clever in-story reference to them in Angela’s writing work, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

While I did enjoy this book, I felt there could be a bit more to it and I feel that the pandemic settings, although a fun reminder, in my opinion, of the original panic and lockdown that I remember vaguely, could be triggering for people that have really struggled during this awful time. I just wanted more from it.

I received a free advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I downloaded and started binge reading this. book as soon as I read that it was a romance based during the pandemic. I did find it distracting that there were some typos throughout the book, which is understandable sometimes it isn't possible to catch all of them (you will most likely see one or more in my review). Angela just got her eviction notice as the pandemic was starting. Her upstairs neighbor Collen who she has never liked because of the weird thumping noises coming from his apartment and general annoying deminer offers to let her have his spare bedroom. This isn't out of the kindness of his heart, however, Collin needs to please his boss by creating a riveting segment for his radio slot and fast or he will lose his job.

Getting through the first 6 chapters was a little slow. Angela is hard to relate to at first and her boyfriend is self centered and inconsiderate. However, as a single young adult trying to navigate relationships during a pandemic (both romantic and friendly), the storyline appealed to me. I was hooked once things got spicey and finished the book 620-page book in two days. I found myself giggling and dancing excitedly throughout the novel. While the book mentioned and joked about typically romance novel tropes while using the exact ones in the plot, I thought it was a perfect pairing for adults who enjoy the writing of fanfiction but want unique characters. This novel was the perfect mixture of a classic Netflix rom-com and real life.

This book is not for those who are looking to escape the pandemic but for those that want to feel happy and hopeful that some good can come out of it. Honestly, it was refreshing to read this novel and realize that even fictional characters can have the same struggles I did during the first few months of the pandemic. Some portions could trigger those who have experienced loss and tragedy during the pandemic. Overall this book left me with the warm and fuzzy feeling that everything will be alright and that is what I want from romance novels. Alyce Caswell did a wonderful job in writing this novel and displaying the feeling single jobless Millenials are experiencing during the pandemic.

Like some of the other reviewers, I had a hard time rooting for this couple. I didn't feel any chemistry between them at all. Besides that, though, it's a super well-written book, and I think it uses the lockdown to its advantage in a way that doesn't come across as opportunistic on the author's part; some of the observations feel a little on-the-nose now, like when Angela's boyfriend kisses her in public and everyone gets annoyed, but they'll be genuinely insightful (dare I say nostalgic?) to look back on when all this is, finally, over.

I hope Alyce Caswell's next book has all the charm of this with some added chemistry, because I think she's onto a winner.