Absolutely adored this book! Read it in one sitting. The chemistry between Ama and Elliot was palpable. I am already looking forward to Soto's next book!

Ama is currently working as a wedding planner alongside her ex-partner for a high-profile celebrity wedding. With the pressure to succeed, this project has the potential to take her business to new heights. However, she wonders if it's worth the emotional turmoil that it may bring.

The story of Ama and Elliott beautifully depicts the ups and downs of planning a wedding and finding healing after heartbreak in a delightful romantic comedy. The writing is exceptional, and it will keep readers smiling throughout the story. Although there were a couple of cringe-worthy moments, I rated it four stars, but I wouldn't want that to discourage anyone from reading it!

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys this genre, and it's sure to be the perfect summer read for 2023!

I really enjoyed this romance novel, the characters were likeable and I loved the wedding planning aspects too!

This was such a fun romance! I absolutely LOVED the wedding planner aspect of it like oh my god it was SO GOOD I now want to be a wedding planner! The romance was also cute, it IS a second chance romance which aren't usually my favourite but this one was good! The reason they broke up was reasonable and not like UNFORGIVABLE in my opinion so I was happy that they got back together! I didn't feel ABSOLUTE chemistry and sparks between them but they did mesh well together I wish there was more like LUSTING GLANCES and stuff but overall I very much enjoyed their interactions.
I did think the FMC was a bit naive at times and I was almost SCREaMING 'HOW ARE YOU NOT SEEING THIS' but you know its not a crime to be naive!

Overall a very fun read and the cover is GORGEOUS! Thank you to Netgallery and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found it very difficult to put this book down, and read it in two sittings. What a wonderful debut!

It was a beautiful, emotional, passionate, second chance romance, where the grumpy and quiet MMC falls first.

Told in a dual timeline and dual POV format, it was everything you could possibly want in a romcom - funny, spicy, even deep and sad at times!

Ama's drive in her career and her sensitivity shined through, and I loved following her planning a wedding.

Elliott's tattoos and reasons behind them were incredible. I don't blame Ama for wanting to kiss them all.

Did I mention it's also grumpy/sunshine?

It would have been an easy 5 stars, if only the spicy scenes weren't so repetitive.

Ama is a wedding planner about to get her big wedding but itvmeans working with Elliot, the man she dumped because she doesn't commit. Her mother has married and divorced so much its put her off for life but can they find a way to make the best wedding ever.

Aww I really enjoyed this story. It's always interesting when it's the female lead who was the reason for the break up and has the issues. The plot was really well written. Its a steady burn to a perfect ending. I did love the scene towards the end with Witney too. The characters are fun and likeable especially Elliot. A fun summer beach read.

I adored this book it was absolutely amazing and might just be my favourite romantic story of the year, The tension and banter between these two characters is top tier and to be honest I cannot wait to read it again!

Weddings 💒
Forced proximity 👀
Second chance ❤️
Dual POV👦🏻👩🏻
Spice 🌶️

A book I couldn’t put down at all. I managed to binge read this book in a day as I couldn’t put it down. Fast spaced, relatable and enjoyable at the same time.

You can sense the tension between Ama and Elliot the whole time whilst working in close proximity again. I kinda of understand Ama’s logic into not being in a committed relationship but I still can’t wrap my head around what Ama’s mum is thinking with the amount of marriages- it completely baffles me !

Ama and Elliot have history but when their paths cross again while planning a wedding they are forced to face their past and admit that their feelings are still there.

This was a cute romance with a little bit of steam! I struggle with sex scenes a little - not through any prudishness - it’s just that, no matter how much the author tries, they always seems cliched and overworked. But the overall romance was spot on with nice touches of humour. A great summer read.

This is my first book to read by Julie Soto and what a book!. Very moving and emotional but very well written. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

The story
Ama (short for Amaryllis) is a young wedding planner who loves creating magical weddings. When influencer Hazel Renee and her wife to be Jackie hire her to plan their special day, the last thing Ama expects is to be forced into working with her ex, Elliot. He’s the florist that gave up studying architecture to take over his father’s business when he died a few years ago. Will Ama be able to keep it together when she is forced to work in close proximity with Elliot?

My thoughts
I really wasn’t expecting to quite so blown away by Julie Soto’s gorgeous debut story filled with gorgeous flowers and stunning wedding settings. I love a good dual POV at the best of times, but allowing Ama to tell the current day story while Elliot handled the flashbacks was a lovely take. When their stories converge the lid is lifted on their relationship and complicated history. It’s such a goodie ❤️

My rating 4,5/5 - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 💫

This was probably one if the best second chance romance I have read for the year so far.
I fell so hard for the fmc and the mmc, they scream soul mates.
The dual time line was done in such a genius way as well. Great pacing and dialogue. This plot will stick with me for a very long time.

This was cute but also hot, I loved seeing Ama rock her profession as hard as she did and Elliot is a very grumpy love interest who is smoking hot and their back and forth kept me hooked throughout. I'll be keeping my eye on Julie Soto's future books for sure!

3.5 / 5

This story is mostly told from the point of view of Ama Torres, a young wedding planner who has recently set up on her own and is highly ambitious. She has a keen eye for design and gaining a strong reputation as being the top wedding planner in town. Now she’s landed herself the dream job of organising the wedding of celebrity Hazel Renee – and the pressure is on!

Unfortunately for Ama, this also means working with her sort-of ex, Elliot Bloom, as the couple insist on having him design the flowers for the big day. Which means Ama will have to work alongside him for several months.

In between Ama’s chapters, we also get the viewpoint of Elliot, who looks back to when he first met Ama and what has led them to their firey passionate start to where they are today – struggling to even talk to each other.

The Elliot chapters really build up the story of the couple’s relationship and are full of tension and passion – personally, I think maybe just one or two sex scenes would have been enough as they started to get a bit repetitive haha! And the reason for them not talking for a couple of years was a bit exasperating – surely they could have just had a conversation!

I enjoyed the story and the characters, especially Ama’s strong character and dedication to her work – although I did start to get a bit annoyed with her later on, and was ready for the story to start wrapping up by about 80% through.. the final chapters on the day of the wedding started to feel like I was working it myself and the list of things to do was stressing me out! However the ending was pleasing.

I so badly wanted to love this book, but in the end I'm settling for liking it.

The friends-to-lovers trope or the "getting back together after a break-up"-trope are ones that I'm not particularly fond of, and this book definitely hit me with the latter. I know you're thinking <i>"but you requested the book!"</i> I know. I wanted to challenge myself, read something that I normally don't quite enjoy as much to see if maybe this author could change my mind. But sadly, no.

The trope is not what I had the most issues with. Overall, this book is perfectly enjoyable and I can see so many people who will absolutely devour this book. But for me, there was too much focus on the wedding planning in the first 60% of the book and there just wasn't enough focus on Ama and Elliot and their relationship. The constant jumping back and forth in time didn't really help me either.

The writing style is amazingly comfortable to read and you'll get attached to the characters pretty quickly. The spice in this book is also just top-tier, but sadly the pacing had me feeling off during the entire book. I didn't start to get into it until the last 40% and I just think it's a waste.

It'll be an amazing book for other readers, but for me specifically, it wasn't it.

A wedding planner and grumpy florist, sign me up!!! This I was too good. The slow burn to spice was just urghhhhh.

It's well written but I didn't care for the characters and the story fell flat.
Not my cup of tea
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was an enjoyable story about Ama, a wedding planner, who is forced to work with her bad tempered ex-boyfriend once again as she prepares for a high profile wedding. He is a florist who has a major role to play in this up and coming wedding so they find themselves spending a lot of time together…..and sparks begin to fly.
Ama is a complex character with a lot of personal issues, the cause of which is possibly her difficult relationship with her mother. There was some humour sprinkled throughout and I did enjoy the book, I also loved the characters of Hazel and Jackie, the two brides from the celebrity wedding. They were so different in their personalities and in their hopes for their wedding, but managed to achieve their dream with the help of Ama.

I really enjoyed this book, to me it summed up what a rom-com is, there are moments that make you laugh out loud and some that make you swoon - some excellent writing.

I did enjoy this book, but a lot of emphasis was placed on the sex scenes rather than the romance. I would have liked more time to be spent on Ama and Elliot dating, so we could see how their romance/relationship developed. Elliot was lovely, and I did like Ama. I liked the wedding planning theme too. Lots to like in this book. With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.