😭 Lessons in Heartbreak hits in ALLLL the best ways. Easiest 5 stars.

Thank you so much to Montlake for the eARC of Lessons in Heartbreak by Karla Sorensen via NetGalley! These are my honest thoughts!

I'm convinced Karla could write a grocery list and it would somehow make me emotional, but this story just felt like... more.

Ruby is a small-town librarian who spent her childhood being an overachiever, and then when something traumatic happens with her health, she becomes sheltered and smothered. She's turning 30 and is having a hard time connecting with someone... intimately. Her friend encourages her to hire someone to give her lessons, but the person who shows up is not who she expected.

Griffin King was Ruby's childhood neighbor when they lived in Michigan. She used to sit perched on a tree branch watching the King twins challenge each other in athletic endeavors. Both King brothers noticed her, but then she moved away with her family. The boys went on to be professional athletes, but Ruby kept her head down, worked hard in school, got her master's, and lives a quiet life.

Griffin, on the other hand, has lived out loud. He's a playboy. He's a big deal. He's a professional football player and his rival, aka his brother, coaches a team in his division. It comes time for him to start fresh, landing on Colorado's professional team, and he ends up banished to his agent's vacation home in a small town in Colorado to let his latest PR snaffu settle down. That small town? It's Ruby's hometown.

When Griffin and Ruby ~bump~ into each other, both of their world's turn to a new axis. When Griffin corners Ruby and insists she tell him what she's up to, she admits she wants some... lessons. And when Ruby realizes she's comfortable with Griffin, she convinces him to be her teacher.

And then? AND THEN... these two spend quiet time together. They watch JANE AUSTEN movies. They hold hands. He helps her to feel confident in clothing (that he buys, thinking of her, which makes her feel sexy). THEY KISS. They... ahm, learn things. And all along the way, you can just tell, there is heartbreak coming. There's been heartbreak. There's all this love and joy and learning about growing comfortable together, but Griffin's time in Ruby's orbit is going to end... and it's going to hurt.

READ IF YOU LOVE:
- literally anything else by Karla Sorensen
- Professional athlete x small town librarian
- LESSONS (of the sweet + the sexy variety)
- Small Town
- Friend groups that feel like family
- Karla Easter Eggs
- Soulmates
- Jane Austen movies
- Disability rep
- Therapy dogs
- Libraries :)

This one is out May 20th, and gets a glowing 5 star review for me. I intentionally left out major parts of this story so you could enjoy it for yourself :)

Lessons In Heartbreak was a phenomenal story that had me kicking my feet in delight, gasping in surprise, and falling hard for the characters. Bravo!

I love that these two reconnected in a super unusual way. I wouldn't say they knew each other well when they were young, so watching them get to know one another as adults was amazing. Their journey to their HEA was funny and sweet, but definitely had some difficulties.

Griffin is known for being the fun, impulsive, take nothing seriously one. When you get to know the real him, you can't help but fall in love. Underneath it all, he just wants to be respected and taken seriously. He has an amazing heart and is so kind. I mean, he definitely is more of a care free soul, but he's so much more as well. My heart broke for him and his twin brother. I hope his twin, Barrett, gets a book next so we can get their full story.

Ruby is known for being the quiet, responsible one. She too wants to break out of that shell. I love how, with Griffin, she starts to feel confident to go after what she wants. This woman is so strong and sweet and just all around amazing. There is one part to her story that shocked me! I won't give it away but I will say that I loved how it was portrayed. I know that's vague but you just need to read it!

Watching these two grow and change was everything! They really make each other better and stronger and braver. Their story shows what true love really is. I loved everything about this book! Obviously the main characters are phenomenal, but the secondary characters were also fantastic and added so much to this story.

ARC review.

I loved this story. I thought the description of the “birthday present “in the first chapter was a bit much.🙄

oh man I love a Karla Sorensen MMC, and GRIFFIN THE MAN THAT YOU ARE. This is an excellent contemporary romance and hit so many high notes (and has an adorable dog).

- hes the player / shes the shy librarian
- you're my person
- CHEMISTRY and BANTER (my word)
- a love letter to the genre

Karla's football men are just BUILT different. And Griffin is another 10/10 Sorensen man, wheeeewww.

Karla Sorensen writes beautiful love stories. Lessons in Heartbreak is about a couple who recognize the best in each other and support each other without having to say anything. They are interesting characters, with layers that are gradually revealed. The secondary characters bring a fun lightness, making the reading more enjoyable. I can't wait for the next one!

I love these easy we knew each other as kids romances. Nothing too crazy with hints of Untamed heart, except no devastation.

4.5 Stars Rounded Up

Karla always knows how to bring the emotion, even with a cocky football player and this one was no different. I just adored Ruby and Griffin from the second they met up again and there was a bit of mistaken identity.

I felt for Ruby and everything she was going through, but loved her growth and acceptance throughout this book.

It was such a great feel good story.

Lessons in Heartbreak is book 1 in The Kings series and feature Griffin King and Ruby Tate. This story surprised me in the best way possible. Karla always manages to surpass my expectations for a story. Griffin is one half of the King twins and is the carefree, football player who is staying at his agents house when encounters his childhood neighbor Ruby in town. Ruby is the town librarian who has always been the good girl who lives vicariously through her books. She doesn't let many people get too close to her due to some trauma in her past.

Tired of feeling clumsy and inexperienced around men, her best friend convinces her to hire an escort for some lessons. What she did not expect was to be greeted by her childhood neighbor, now a super hot football star Griffin King. What starts out as "lessons" turns into so much more. There is so much depth to these characters that I found myself devouring the story and unable to put the book down. In true Karla fashion she brought me to tears with the journey these two went on.

I absolutely loved how patient and caring Griffin was with Ruby. She shook him to his core and when he finally realized it, there was no going back. I loved watching Ruby open up and move past her fears. The side characters were just as amazing and I can't wait to see more from them as well.

I love me a man who reads. Or even starts reading to make his “crush” happy. Ruby and Griffen are couple GOALS. This story felt so real. Ruby is a cautious woman, but with what she has been through, who wouldn’t be, and Griffen is your stereotypical NFL football player, at first glance. Once you get to know him, he is such a sweetheart. Everything that this man did for Ruby had me smiling. Also, it felt like a slow burn because there were so many moments where I just wanted them to get together, and they wouldn’t. They made me so mad at times. I enjoyed the small acts of service that he would do for her. It was just my ideal level of romance.
Let’s talk about the side characters, Lauren and Marcus. These two are some of the best side characters that I have read about. Marcus brought such a comedic, carefree vibe to the story that I loved so much, and Lauren is the messy to Ruby’s organized. I loved how much Marcus helped Griffen at many points throughout the story, and I'm so happy that these side characters got the ending that they deserved. There was a plot twist towards the end that made me a little mad, because both of the main characters showed such amazing growth from when we met them at the beginning, and it felt like they backtracked a bit. But, after I calmed down, I did find myself appreciating the end so much more. One major thing that I found myself not liking much was the number of times that their size comparison was brought up. After a couple of times, I understood that she was tiny compared to him. So every time it was mentioned, I was taken out of the story because I started noticing how frequently it was being mentioned. Anyways, this story had amazing character growth, such a wonderful found family, and just some amazing romance!
This book indeed does give you lessons in heartbreak. My heart is broken because I don’t have a Griffin King for myself.

4,25/5 🏈📚

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

If Karla writes it just go ahead and plan on reading it or you will be SERIOUSLY missing out. I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect with a new Sorensen series but I can promise you, I wasn’t disappointed. This was like that slow but exciting climb up the tracks on a roller coaster. You knew that even with the heaviness behind certain topics this story, this climb, was going to be so worth the ride. Griffin, our muscly and misunderstood MMC, keeps us in a branch of the Sorensen football world we’ve come to love. While Ruby brings us a kind of Type A heroine we’ve never seen from this author before. They were so different that they shouldn’t have worked but they were written so well that I can’t imagine these characters not fitting together.

Thanks to the publisher for this arc. This is the start of a fun new series. I always enjoy Karla’s sports romances and this one was no different. I liked the connection between the main characters and how he helped her be more open to love. I think this maybe could have been a bit longer to develop the MMC better and his relationship with his brother.

Griffin King, football player extraordinaire has been put in time-out by his agent. The headlines with Griffin and beautiful woman one after another, are just getting out of hand. He is relegated to his agent's vacation home in Colorado and he is bored!

Ruby Tate, the quintessential shy librarian needs help with men. She just doesn't do well in social situations. After a particularly embarrassing birthday gift, Ruby decides to hire an escort to help her get more comfortable being around men. The escort is late, and Griffin takes over!

Such a cute story. I love the history that Ruby and Griffin share. All of the people coming into and out of their lives as they work through their attraction just made sense. This book was a feel good read for me, even when there were issues that didn't feel like they could be resolved.

The epilogue was THE BEST! A solid 5 star read.

Thank you to Good Girls PR and Montlake for this ARC 🫶🏻

Griffin is a playboy football player who is estranged from his twin brother. When he runs into his childhood neighbor, Ruby, he’s intrigued to learn she’s meeting an escort! Ruby wants to have some lessons in seduction.

As a small town librarian, Ruby has always been the responsible one. She’s had some unexpected events cause her to want to stay away from love. When she asks Griffin King to help her learn all about being sexy, she has no idea what she’s in for!

Griffin is the perfect teacher. He watches her favorite movies, tries to cook, and wants to keep it casual. But what happens when these two fall hard and have to go their separate ways?? This was heartwarming and unexpectedly emotional! No one knows how much time we have on earth, but spending it with the ones who love them is the best way!

From the very first three pages I knew this book was going to absolutely shred me. And I was right. We start out seeing Ruby sort of distraught over who she has become over the years, fearful of missing out on some of life’s greater moments. As if she feels like she is the curator of her own isolation. And I, sitting at work and reading this on the kindle app on my phone, almost cried in public. Holy cow, Karla hit me hard with that one. From the very beginning, you think you know who Ruby is. Who Griffin is. And it’s not until we’re entrenched in this story, more than a dozen chapters in, that we realize we’re so off base. There is infinitely more to these characters and their actions than we can even start to believe. We fall in love with them as they fall in love with each other and together we just keep evolving. I love a grumpy, moody girl. And I love a cheeky, overconfident playboy. And I love that neither one of them really was that labeled stereotype under all the pomp. I am a huge Karla Sorenson fan, I truly am. So believe me when I say this may be the most honest depiction I have seen of humanity and relationships yet in any of her work. And that’s saying something! Maybe I should skip work tomorrow so I can stay home and re-read Lessons in Heartbreak without being interrupted this time.

Ruby has always been the overachiever, getting perfect grades and never getting into trouble. After graduating college and learning she was sick her life became all about control. Now on her 30th birthday she realizes she doesn’t want to spend her life playing it safe anymore. After Griffin gets in hot water with the media he is forced by his manager to take some time out of the spotlight. While staying in a small town at the his managers house he runs into his former neighbor who thinks he is the escort she hired to help her. I really didn’t like how much he teased her in the beginning and his alpha male behavior. I did appreciate that once she opened up to him about some serious topics he realized this wasn’t the time to mess around and was very sweet to her. I liked that they were both able to open themselves up to love, but their development was very superficial. I wish we would have got more depth to the characters.

Fake dating
Sports romance
Friends to lovers
Spicy lessons

Ruby and Griffins story was so damn good. Not going to lie I saw the cover and I said to myself yes please I need that book. It did not disappoint.

Griffin is a charming, good hearted, and playboy. He may not always think before he lets the words flow but he means well. When he and Ruby reconnect after years of not seeing each other they build a friendship that turns to more. Griffin is so absolutely adorable with Ruby.

I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be reading more of Karla Sorensen work! Great writing and storyline development.

Ruby is ready to accept that she needs help with some intimacy problems, so after her friend's encouragement, she hires a professional to help her out. The problem is that instead of the person she hired she meets her childhood neighbor, turned hot shot athlete Griffin, who she hasn't seen since they moved away and she thinks he is the one to meet so she ends up making a fool of herself.

Griffin is supposed to take a break for the summer, some mandatory quiet time before the news of his transfer to a new team get announced. Being in a small town with little to do, is driving him up the wall, so when he recommends with Ruby it gives him the perfect opportunity to spend time with her while there.

A librarian who is shy and needs some help in the dating department and a athlete that is all in to help her, is a scenario I adore. Those two are a bit different but they are a perfect match.

Their romance is a slow burn, with a lot of tender moments that became very hot when time was right. The most important thing is that they saw each other as they were and not as they were seen by others. Their connection run deep and it was truly beautiful to witness. The perfect mix of sweet and sexy.

And now I am beyond excited to see the next King brother get his hea.


* I received an ARC and this is my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley, Karla Soresen, and Montlake for this ARC!

Tropes:
Sports Romance (Football 🏈)
Bad Boy x Good Girl
Childhood Neighbors to Strangers to Lovers
Dating/Spicy Lessons
Grumpy/Sunshine
Slow burn

This is exactly the book I didn’t know I needed! I was hooked from the very beginning. Karla’s writing is so descriptive that it feels like you are actually in the story with the characters. Ruby and Griffin have so much chemistry from the very beginning. They are the type of couple that you believe could truly be together in the real world. I love all the banter. Ruby has the greatest remarks, and Griffin is adorably sweet. Griffin and Ruby meet when they stumble upon each other in a coffee shop. Ruby is there waiting to meet up with an escort to teach her how to flirt, date, and be more comfortable around men. Griffin is in town on a timeout vacation of sorts, staying at his agent’s second home. He recognizes Ruby and sits down at her table. Consequently, he’s wearing the same outfit her escort is supposed to wear, so she assumes her former neighbor is her escort. This was the best way to bring these two back into each other’s orbit. Ruby ditches her escort and asks Griffin to help her since she feels more comfortable around him, and of course, he agrees.

This story was so beautifully written. There was a great combination of fun, lighthearted moments, and deeper ones. Both Ruby and Griffin had great friends in Lauren and Marcus, they added so much life to the story. The two epilogues really helped to wrap up the entire story, leaving the reader fully satisfied with no unanswered questions. I can’t wait to continue this series as each book releases! Please move this to the top of your TBR when it releases, you won't regret it!

Once again, Karla has delivered a 5-star book!

Childhood neighbors, Ruby and Griffin, reconnect as adults in an entertaining and very romantic manner. As kids, Ruby was the book nerd who read quietly in trees. Griffin was the louder boy who she found annoying. He has twin brother, Barrett, who at the time Ruby thought was the better brother.

As adults, Griffin is a well-known NFL player who has just gone viral for talking smack about his estranged brother. His agent sends him away to Welling Springs, CO to stay out of the public eye while negotiations with a new team take place. While there he runs into Ruby, the local librarian.
Sweet, sweet Ruby has had a hard go of it and wants help in the love department. Flirting and being intimate is something she struggles with. Enter Griffin, who is ready to assist her with becoming more comfortable in her own skin and feeling confident.

These two were so precious. Griffin watching Jane Austen movies! Griffin was more of a casual fling kind of guy so that moment when they are on the couch watching Pride and Prejudice was so swoon worthy. There is nothing greater than simple acts that hold so much power. Hand holding, the hand flex….you all know what I am talking about.

I loved the slow burn and witnessing characters that are so perfect for each other fall in love. With most of Karla’s books, the ending had me shedding some tears. She is a talented writer who writes such real characters. I love the ending these two got and I am soooo happy there were two epilogues!

Thanks to NetGalley and Montlake for the ARC!

Thank you Netgalley and Montlake for the ARC!

This book was really sweet! ruby and griffin were adorable. I loved their growth and the time they spent together really understanding one another and bringing out the best in each other. The opposites attract/good girl x bad boy was done well too. The story did take me a while to get into it & some cliche tropes I didn't really like but they did grow on me by the end.