The Buy-In by Emma St. Claire is a romantic comedy set in a small town in Texas. It has second chance romance, marriage of convenience, and ultimately felt like a mash up of Money Pitt, Schitt’s Creek, and Gilmore Girls.

Patrick and Lindy dated casually in college and ultimately had a painful break up. Years later, Lindy is raising her 5 year old niece by herself in a small town full of quirky characters. Patrick’s dad is looking for a project he can do with his sons and ends up buying the town Lindy lives in with plans to fix it up and make it the home of the family brewery. When Patrick comes to town and learns of Lindy’s struggle to legally become her niece’s guardian, he suggests they get married to strengthen Lindy’s court case. But of course, Patrick is hoping the forced proximity of a temporary marriage will provide him with the opportunity to win Lindy over and convince her to stay married to him.

Just like all of Emma St. Claire’s rom coms, this book was full of hilariously awkward moments, had lots of great chemistry, and all kinds of pop culture references. There were several scenes I thoroughly enjoyed and the main plot line was very enjoyable. However, I felt like the story needed to be cleaned up. There were a lot of side characters, and some of them I loved, and others I simply couldn’t keep track of. I liked the small town quirky feel, and I think that feeling came through really well in the quirky side characters and the Neighborly app they all use to communicate.

There were some things I wanted to see more of, and other things I could’ve done without. For example, the Ladies Literary and Libations club was awesome, and I wish we could’ve seen Lindy and her friends attend it more often. The Bobs that were overly invested in the high school football team was also awesome, and I would’ve liked to see more of Patrick working with the football team. The backwoods bar was interesting, but felt random and I probably could’ve done without it. Patrick and his brothers getting arrested for a fight they didn’t start and Patrick being put on “town arrest” with an ankle monitor, felt a little forced. I think Patrick’s determination to win Lindy over would’ve been a good enough reason to keep him from leaving town.

I also didn’t like how Lindy personified her sexual feelings as a feral cat. I would’ve preferred that she just acknowledge how she was feeling and tried to push the feelings away rather than listening to her talk to this imaginary cat. And I didn’t care for how the entire town was ogling Patrick and his brothers. I’m not a fan of ogling in general and found it annoying that anytime anyone in the town interacted with Patrick or any of his family members someone was making a sexual comment.

Lastly, I was expecting more poker. Patrick and his brothers play one poker game at the beginning and that was it. I get that “the buy-in” is supposed to be related to Patrick’s dad buying a town, but I never had that ‘ah ha’ moment when the title ties in to the story.

Overall, I loved Patrick & Lindy’s chemistry, that kiss in the rain was amazing and hands down my favorite part of the book. I laughed at the flaming squirrels and Patrick’s freak out moment when he realized the whole town was talking about his butt on the Neighborly app. I loved the quirky small town feel. But I think there are a lot of things that could’ve been trimmed or changed to make the characters more relatable, and the plot smoother and less random.

I enjoy Emma St. Claire’s clean rom coms and appreciate that the characters had lots of chemistry but the content was still clean. The humor was a bit strange at times, but I think that’s part of Emma’s writing style and sometimes it worked for me and sometimes it didn’t. I’m still going to read Emma’s books, but this one in particular was not my favorite.

If you enjoy clean rom coms, quirky smalls towns, characters with lots of chemistry, lots of awkward moments you can’t help but laugh about, and second chance romance, you should check out The Buy-In.

Whenever I’m having a bad day, or (ahem) a bad week, I can always count on Emma St. Clair and her sweet romantic comedies to cheer me up! I absolutely LOVED The Buy-In.

Emma St. Clair kept me laughing, quite literally, out loud with her characters’ antics and the hilarious, dramatic scenes that unfolded in this second-chance-at-love, marriage-of-convenience mashup. I thoroughly enjoyed the main characters, Patrick and Lindy, who were down-to-earth and fully relatable!

The romance was the perfect combination of spark and sizzle and I personally loved how Pat pursued Lindy and determined to love her well. There were so many moments that really touched my heart. Speaking of heart, I loved how each of the main characters had a close, deep relationship with their family members and friends. Those secondary characters added to the story in a really tangible way, making it even more enjoyable! Throw in the small-town vibes and I was completely won over.

I found The Buy-In to be a quick, easy read with a creative story line that kept me highly engaged. In fact, I had trouble putting it down! Overall, this was a great read that was fun, flirty, and most certainly heartwarming. I can’t wait for the next installment in this series and I highly recommend Emma St. Clair’s Love Cliche series as well.

*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary e-copy of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts below are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

If you are looking for an easy read, relatively light-hearted rom-com, The Buy-In should hit the spot. I am torn in the sense that I am rooting for St Clair's characters but struggled to care about certain aspects of the plot. At times it felt like there was almost too much going on and I also found the abundance of pop culture references a little jarring for my own personal taste.

I thought the custody battle storyline was great but would loved to have seen a little more development in Lindy and Pat's storyline as it did feel a little rushed at times.

All that being said, St Clair has set up a great bunch of characters and I would definitely be intrigued to see where she takes us with the rest of the Graham Brothers series.

This book solidified Emma St. Clair as an auto-buy author for me. I've read a few of Emma's other works, and this one takes the cake, definitely no pun intended :). I devoured this in one sitting and the within an hour I ordered some of Emma's backlist.

I am a sucker for anything set in a small town, and Sheet Cake with their festival really was made for me (i'm booking a plan ticket as I type this). Pat is a dream all around, his genuine character and love for both Lindy and her niece is just the tip of what I loved about him.

This book had me bursting with laughter at times and also swooning at others.

Would recommended over and over again. 5/5 stars.

Thank you to netgalley for generously providing me with an arc!

I am a huge fan of Emma St. Clair and have read all of her books. She is normally an author that I buy the digital and physical copies immediately because I know I’m going to love them.

This book had everything I love about Emma, except the comedy felt extremely forced. It felt like she was putting in funny parts just to try and fluff it up— kind of like she went a few pages and said, ‘oh I better add something funny!’

Her characters were still well developed and the story was fun. I still rooted for them both. I still can’t wait for the next book. ——It all just felt a little too forced.

A brilliantly good, laugh out loud romance with great characters and interaction, looking forward to reading more from this author. Really enjoyed this book and would recommend it

Anyone who knows me knows how absolutely obsessed I am with Schitt’s Creek! So when I read the summary about The Buy In by Emma St. Clair I immediately knew that I HAD to read this book!

I started reading it last night & I’m already halfway through it & absolutely adoring the heck out of it.

When Pat’s father Tank buys an entire town to get his family together, he brings Pat along first to this town called Sheet’s Cake to get him on board to convince the rest of his siblings to accept their father’s insane purchase. What Pat wasn’t expecting? To run into “the one who got away”, the woman whose heart he broke all those years ago and who he has not been able to get off his mind.
Now a woman with a myriad of responsibilities including caring for her niece whose she raised from birth, Lindy is in no way ready for a blast from the past in the form of her ex. But when circumstances force Lindy into a relationship with Pat, Lindy has to fight her hardest not to fall in love all over again with the man who once upon a time left her. Of course, Pat in no way makes it easy for Lindy & this book is really one hoot after another. You’ll for sure be laughing out loud for the majority of this book!

I love the small town setting and quirk in this story. The cast of characters were funny and charming. I love Pat and his brothers, and have seen meeting them in Falling for Your Best Friend. This book fell a bit flat for me, somehow. It was heavier than I’ve come to expect from Emma St. Clair. There wasn’t enough tension or buildup for me. Not much actually happens in the plot, but we get an excess of repetitive inner dialog. A few of the characters and plot lines felt unresolved (Billy Waters and city council) but I know that is because there are more books in the series coming. I am excited to read about Winnie and James!! James is very intriguing to me. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

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“I’m not here for the man; I’m here for the Tex-Mex.”

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👍🏼 Thumbs Up:

Adored this book. It was so fun to read that I couldn’t put it down. I appreciated that it was closed door and had all the witty banter I want in a romcom.

👎🏻 Thumbs Down:

There wasn’t really anything I didn’t like!

🤓 For Readers WHO:

Are fans of romantic comedy! This one has enemies to lovers, forced proximity, and great side characters.

👉🏼 This is what’s WHAT:

When Pat’s dad purchases the small Texas town that happens to be where his ex lives, he views it as the perfect chance to get her back.

⏳WHEN I read this book:

I immediately wanted to read the rest of the series and was disappointed that I will have to wait for them to come out! I will definitely read the rest of this series.

🚨WHERE you should watch out:

Child abandonment, mentions of a family member’s drug addiction

📍WHY you should read this book:

It was adorable and everything I love in a rom com. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

📚 HOW I read this book:

eARC from Netgalley

I absolutely loved Lindy and Pats story! Im obsessed with the Graham family and their dynamic. This was my first book to read by this author and it did not disappoint! From the literal laugh out loud scenes to the heart warming moments I could not put this book down! Im so excited to see whats in story for the Grahams in the next book!!

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me a copy early! My review is my own and is not influenced by this.

Marriage of convenience is one of my favorite tropes, and is it often the case with favorites, my expectations tends to be a bit high.
This book fell a bit flat.
The first half of the book is not bad. The characters are likeable and the plot is lighthearted but engaging. Sadly, in the second half of the the romance got a bit lost and suddenly there were so many other characters and things going on that the main couple and their relationship was lost.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

I really wanted to like this story. In fact, I actually loved the first 30% and thought for sure it was going to be a 5 star read, but something, I’m not sure exactly what, took me out of this story. I wanted more time with Lindy and Pat. I felt like there were too many people and too many things happening that did not necessarily add to the story. I ended up giving up on this one.

That being said, I do really like the writing style of this author and I will definitely read her again. I think this is a good story, but, sadly, it was a miss for me.

I received a complimentary copy of this story from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

The first in Ms. St. Claire's delightful new spin-off series, Graham Brother's, this book was one that I could absolutely not put down once I started reading. Her books always leave me with a warm and happy feeling, and this one was no different. Pat and Lindy knew each other years ago, when Pat broke Lindy's heart. After all that time they are back in the same town and Pat is determined to win back the love of his life. Lindy doesn't make that easy for him, which makes for some very humorous, fun, and adorable moments. But when Lindy is in jeopardy of losing custody of her niece and Pat offers a solution, how can she say no? She would do anything for her niece, but can she risk her heart that way? This story was over the top, emotional, fun and simply heartwarming. I am never disappointed when I pick up a book by Ms St. Claire and this one was just fantastic! Romcom at it's best!
I'm excited to read the upcoming stories of this series. Can't wait!

I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

OKAY, OKAY! EMMA ST. CLAIR I ALREADY LOVE YOU!
So this was my first book, from her and now I will read more by her!
Also so happy that this is a series, cuz I am obsessed with the first book!
First of all, IT IS AN AMAZING ROMCOM! I have not read a book this funny and comfortable book in a very long time!
Even tho I did very much enjoyed it, it was a little bit of a slow start for me.
When I picked it up I was expecting something different than it was but in a good way. This book can't be more wonderful!
ALSO, THIS BOOK HAD THE CLEANEST ROMANCE FOR ME!
I also loved the backstory and the chemistry between the characters. Also, I adored the Graham family. I want to thank the author for putting dual POV!
Tropes:
-Forced proximity (my favorite)
-Small town and second chance romance
-Marriage of convenience (not a big fan of it)
-(kinda) slow burn
I REALLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK! 100%!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Schitt's Creek meets the classic marriage of convenience trope. The spice may be limited, but the wit and banter more than made up for anything! I typically read spicy romances, but this was a welcomed change.

✅ Second chance romance
✅ Small-town (Texas)
✅ Marriage of convenience
✅ Former pro football player
✅ Closed door

The Buy-in has some great romcom tropes and lots of humor! I’ll be honest, it was a little bit of a slow start for me. I’m not usually a fan of quirky heroines and Lindy was a bit much. But then, bam, I got to a point where the characters really drew me in, especially Pat. (Swoon) The banter between these two is so good! Pat’s family…I just love them all, even the grump. I love that it takes place in Texas, albeit a fictional small town outside of Austin. Sheet Cake is hilarious and gossip spreads fast. What makes this story even better is the Texas football talk cuz no one does Friday night lights (or Thursday night) like Texas. There’s lots of cute kissing in this book and I’m all about those romantic kisses. That’s about as far as the spice level goes, so those of you that look for closed door/clean romance, this one is a great one. There is a scene toward the very end that was so amazing, I had to cover my mouth so I wouldn’t scream at midnight and scare the crap out of my husband. 💕

Thank you to @NetGalley and @kikimojo for a digital ARC of this book.

4.5 ⭐️

This surprised me. When I seen that it was inspired by Schitt’s Creek, I had to read it. I just had to. But because of that, there was a lot of pop culture references. Which I knew there would be but surprisingly, I actually didn’t mind it. But I know a lot of people do so if you’re not into that then this isn’t the book for you.

I smiled and laughed A LOT. This is the first book that I’ve read from Emma St. Clair and most definitely not the last. I think I’m gonna finish the rest of the series and maybe even read Harper’s book 😂 I liked her!

I’ve been reading a lot of spicy books lately, so when I seen that this was a clean romance, I was like, “shit, idk if I’ll like this book because I want some spice” but no…that was not the case at all. There was banter and so much tension that kept me on my toes!

You can’t help but love the Graham family, even grumpy old James. Patrick was such a cute and sweet guy, and I laughed so much every time he had his giggle fit. It was cute and so funny. And hello, the whole family are former pro football players— what’s not to like about that? We all need a dad like Tank. You can tell he loves his kids so much, even if they tend to bump heads sometimes.

Pat and Lindy balance each other so well. I love their backstory and can understand why Lindy was so hesitant and cautious before getting back with Pat. Cause if I’m being honest, if the guy that I was seeing had ditched me after we scheduled our last meeting, I’d be pissed too. But I enjoyed seeing Pat grovel and fight for Lindy, no matter the consequences. I love them together. I admire her character, especially since she sacrificed a whole lot to care for her niece, Jo.

Every scene with Pat and Jo was just so cute and heartwarming 😩 he loves that little girl. I especially loved the scene where Pat takes Lindy to the loft, and on one of his walls is the drawing that Jo had colored and gave to him. That just made my heart burst. Jo’s relationship with Tank is also so cute! I busted out laughing when she was chasing him with the snake 😂 around the barn. She’s probably my favorite character from this book.

If you’re looking for a book that has…

• small town romance
• second chance romance
• marriage of convenience
• forced proximity
• opposite grumpy/sunshine
• single parent (the aunty fights for custody of niece)

Then this is the perfect book for you!

Emma St. Clair has done it again! This was a perfect start to what is sure to be an amazing series.

Closed door romantic comedy that still has chemistry, attraction, swoony heroes and great humor PLUS is well written? Please and thank you!

Pat is a steamroller (in the nicest sense). He knows what he wants and he'll go full speed ahead while on his quest to get it. Lindy is the quintessential female trying to hold it all together on her own. Men can't ask for directions but women don't like to ask for help! Jo is the big ray of sunshine that makes everything worth it.

There was just so much to love here. The Neighborly App feeds, the whole Graham family, Winnie and Val: the best friends, Chevy the protective unofficial older brother, flaming squirrels, glitter tornadoes... it was just laugh out loud, make you swoon good!

Things to know about content: No violence, kissing, no language, talk about sex in a non graphic way, and possible trigger of child abandonment.

Emma St. Clair did an amazing job with this book! The Buy- In had me laughing just within the first few pages. The classic one liners between Pat and Tank were something that was relatable and fun. When we meet Lindy, you resonate with her so well- her drive, passion, love for Jo and her heartbreak. St. Clair did a great job bringing these characters to life as well as their character development.

Here is what I loved about a few of the characters we meet along the way in the book:

Pat is a big 'ole teddy bear. He made mistakes in his past which he tried to rectify and now has a second chance at love.
Lindy, sweet Lindy she has been down on her luck with taking care of her sweet niece Jo, her mama and putting her life on hold it sure hasn't been easy for her.
Jo is a strong, brilliant, and fierce little girl and the story would not be what it was with out her.

The slow burn of this book just makes you keep wanting more. I literally COULD NOT put this book down. It will surely be one of the hottest releases this year!

I absolutely adored this book. It was such an easy, light-hearted read that I genuinely needed.

The characters are hilarious, and eccentric. You can’t help but fall in love with them (but not the Waters though!).

It’s a bingeable story, that has you rooting for the characters and warms your heart.