This was a sweet, easy-to-read romantic story that touches on personal struggles and how our abrupt decisions can shape public perception.
The story follows Jake Richards, a successful male romance author—a rare unicorn in the genre—who damages his reputation after publicly admitting he writes for the money and doesn’t believe in happily-ever-afters. Naturally, this doesn’t sit well with his fanbase. Enter Freya, the assistant to Jake’s top literary agent, who is assigned to help Jake navigate his PR crisis. Though her ideas often contradict her boss’s, Freya, a romance fan herself, understands exactly what readers expect—and need—from Jake.
The close proximity between the two leads and the growing attraction between them adds a layer of warmth and charm to the story. It's romantic, engaging, and a perfect choice when you're in the mood for something light and cute.

Loved it. The book is well written and the banter and narrative made me smile at times. It is lighthearted and a cozy read. The characters are well written and the male lead is quite swoon worthy. Their meet cutest are sweet and made me laugh. Especially the awkwardness which is absolutely endearing.

I loved the concept of an author trying to fix a PR disaster and an agent trying to make it. The feeling of everything can go wrong and partnering to make it work to save a PR disaster is brilliant. Especially loved the romance genre of writing being brought in along with others. And the themes of writers supporting each other. The rivalry is well written too. Love it!

Thank you Boldwood Books and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review.

This book presents an intriguing premise—a disgraced romance author forced to face the very genre he disparaged, alongside a romance-loving assistant with publishing ambitions. Jake Richards, a bestselling author, finds his career in jeopardy after a careless comment goes public, and Freya, his agent’s assistant, is thrust into the awkward role of escorting him to a romance conference. Sparks and friction naturally follow as opposites are thrown together in a setting designed for love.

There’s an appealing enemies-to-lovers thread, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the publishing world, and a heroine who believes in love but hasn’t quite found her own yet. However, the execution doesn’t quite live up to the potential. The age difference between Jake and Freya is repeatedly mentioned, but it’s not explored in any meaningful way, and other character contrasts also feel surface-level.

While the plot has charm, the writing often feels basic, with some key elements—like character development—underdeveloped. Surprisingly, a secondary character, Davis, ends up more dimensional and engaging than the leads. It’s a story that has heart and promise, but it could have used a bit more polish to truly shine.

It was good ! It took me a while to get through . Would recommend though .it was about jake who made a mistake and said he hated romance and freya who is tasked with the job of getting his readers to turn around and think he’s a good guy

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

‘long story short’ is a relatively quick and lighthearted read that i think will appeal to many romance readers. i did like how the story was set within the publishing industry and thought it moved at it’s best pace when in new york. personally i found the dynamic between the main characters, freya and jake, to move very fast with very little build-up, which made their relationship feel flat. i didn’t love either character either, so my investment level in their relationship was low.

This was a cute rom com, set in New York. Freya wants to be an agent for authors, but she’s only working as an assistant. She has the job to get Jake (author) to repair his mess after saying he hated romance books, that’s what he writes. It’s an easy read with lots of steamy sessions, very descriptive and fun. An overall quick read, 4 stars. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

I did not love this one.

The premise was fun and I really enjoyed the setting (London publishing world and New York). However, the writing felt really clunky in parts and I was bored for the majority of the story - it just felt so bland and the characters were so one dimensional. The conflict annoyed me and the ending felt unrealistic.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this book!

Sadly I did not enjoy this spicy romance. It had all the things that I thought I would love: a New York setting, enemies to loves, grumpy x sunshine, and he falls first, but it was not for me.

Long Story Short is my first book by Victoria Walters and after starting to read it, I was instantly hooked and couldn't put down the story of Freya and Jake. Freya, well she's a straight talking girl who has big dreams of being a agent one day. It's impossible not to like her, not want her to get her happy ever after as her story unfolds in this page turning, unputdownable book. The chapters are really short and I loved how they flowed from one into the next, always keeping the story going and not stopping.

Jake, well, he's this swoon worthy author with a massive problem on his hand. What caused his scandal and can a man who he been broken be able to see that love and romance does exsist. I wanted him to succeed in the challenges he faces. Does that happen? Well you need to pick up the latest book by Victoria.

Although this book is worthy of the 5 stars I'm giving it, and is a standalone novel, I feel that you should read Freya's cousin Liv and Tessa's stories first as the books all flow into each other. I'll be going back and reading their books for sure, but this is one you don't want to miss. It's perfect to read next to the pool, on a long plane journey or down next to the beach. Romance with a right amount of spice makes this one of my must reads of 2025.

I’ll be honest – I wasn’t sure if Long Story Short would be my kind of thing, but it ended up giving me all the feels. It felt fresh, and I found myself getting completely swept up in it.

The characters are likeable and relatable. Freya, especially, was a highlight for me – quirky, brutally honest, and just very real. I loved that the story wasn’t just a straightforward romance but also a bit of a journey of self-discovery for her and Jake. There’s loads of character growth throughout, which I always appreciate.

The book made me laugh more than once, and even though it’s marketed a bit like an enemies-to-lovers story, I wouldn’t say that’s totally accurate – it didn’t have the proper ‘enemies’ vibe you sometimes expect from that trope. Still, the chemistry between Freya and Jake worked really well.

One thing I found especially interesting was the little insights into the world of romance writing – like the idea that even though readers know a romance will end happily, it’s the journey that keeps them hooked. Those little moments made the story feel a bit more layered and thoughtful.

Overall, it’s a quick, easy, and really fun read. I had a good time with it. I’d give it 3.5 stars.

This was a super cute, comfort romance. Not too dramatic, just enough to make my blood boil towards certain characters. Satisfying ending. I didn't want to put it down and I really enjoyed the romance brewing between the main characters.

Freya is offered an opportunity to take her career from assistant to literary agent. That opportunity takes her to a conference in New York with her idol and favorite author, Jake Richards. Her mission: save Jake’s reputation. It proves to be quite the challenge since she’s quirky and awkward, and he’s a bit of a grump who seems intent on destroying his career. But as they get to know each other, it turns out their biggest hurdle might be their attraction to each other.

I liked the premise of this book, and enjoyed the bookish theme. There were moments of humor, romance, and drama. I especially liked the way that Jake expressed himself and became Freya’s champion.

However, I felt Freya’s maturity level was a bit lacking, especially compared to Jake. She lacked self confidence and didn’t handle situations well that didn’t go her way.

Overall, I liked the concept of this story but felt the execution fell a little flat.

this book is major cute. its the tropes that are tropes because we love these tropes. and i cant deny im a cynic or falls for the tropes every single time when done well. and this for me was done well. i couldnt help but smile and root for the characters.
Freya has the chance for her big break as literary agent. but one thing is very much standing in her way. hes a romance author who been heard heard talking badly about all things romance novels. great. not only that but he goes one step further in ridiculing the fans who adore him. or so they did adore him. no he is a PR night mare.
so its up to Freya to sort him out because this needs turning around fast. Freya has more in the game than the job though. she loved his books too. and she believed in the whole big romance love of your life thing. can he really be the one to destroy that.
but does needing to be the big love in her OWN life need to be her big love. and is there more to Jake than people are now assuming or his determined to give off to the world. theyve got a romance conference to find out.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books, and Victoria Walters for the opportunity to read this ARC!

This book is written from the POV of Freya. She is trying to break through the literary world and become an agent. She is tasked with the job of going to a romance conference in NYC with Jake, an author who just got blacklisted by the romance community for getting caught saying that writing romance is easy and he just does it for the money. As Freya works to fix things, Jake and Freya get closer. However, there are many ups and downs in their story as they navigate work, rivalries, and their own insecurities. Will they be able to make things work?

I went into this book a little apprehensive after reading through the reviews. There are many negative reviews and the average star rating is 3.19 on Goodreads and 2.97 on StoryGraph. I tried to go into the book with an open mind, and I’m glad I did. While there were things I didn’t like about the book, I still enjoyed reading it! I’m honestly a little confused where some of the really negative reviews came from as I either missed those parts of the book or it has been revised. I didn’t love Jake, but he wasn’t misogynistic as noted. Overall, combining the positive and negative things about the book, it ends up being mid.

Freya, an assistant literary agent, is given the opportunity to attend a romance conference in New York, a place is she has always wanted to visit. Her role at the conference is to assist best-selling romance writer Jake Richards salvage his career. Despite the difference in age, economic status and experience, their relationship starts to develop over the course of the conference.

The romance conference setting intrigued me and I enjoyed some of the insights about the industry. However, I found myself getting frustrated with Freya and Jake. For two people whose careers were on the line they didn’t seem focused on the task at hand.
The pacing of the story was a little problematic for me and there were a couple of times when the dialogue made me cringe.

While rom-coms can be predictable, there were a few surprises which added to my enjoyment of the book. The development of the side characters also added interest.

Thank you to Victoria Walters, Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the eARC.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. The premise seemed amazing. He messes up big time and she has to help him gain a good public image once again. The setting (New York) is beautiful and well described and the romance seemed even better just because they were in New York. Nevertheless, I think Freya was a bit too childish and her lack of self awareness was really weird, starting from her outfits to her behaviour around a client. I also didn't particularly enjoy the writing style, but that's highly personal so take from this what you want.
Bottom line is, it's a cute romcom and there is some good to it, but it really was not for me.

Long Story Short is the fourth book in an interconnecting standalone series centring around a publishing house and the romance writing industry, and I love each of them. This one is Freya's story, and Freya is Liv's cousin [Liv's story is in The Love Interest - Pride and Prejudice fans HAVE to read it!]. They are all interconnecting, which I just love, but if you are new to the series they can also be read as standalones.

Freya Harrison works as an assistant to a literary agent and when an opportunity for her big break [to become a literary agent] appears, she can't let it slip through her fingers. Even if that involves accompanying disgraced author, Jake Richards, to New York. It's a trip of a lifetime for Freya, who has never been to New York. The city has a romantic effect on them, as they discover a romantic attraction for each. But first they must work together to save both their careers.

I really love that this one has a male romance writer front and centre. He lashes out at the genre [not a good thing to do if you want a career!] to save himself from a rival finding out more gossip about his life. There is so much chatter in the industry about romance novels lately and I feel like it does get looked down a lot, which is why I think books like this are so important.

Freya loves romance books and believes in her own HEA one day and I love watching her initially clash with Jake and the slow burn their romance takes.

If you love books about books and a sweet 'n spicy romance then Long Story Short is just for you!!! It's perfect for readers that enjoy a slow burn to spice, and once you read one you're going to want to read all of them!

Had a really great time reading this one. Was rooting for both leads and enjoyed their story. Will recommend this book to other romance fans. I really enjoyed the way the MMC started to open up to the FMC throughout and their chemistry.

I really loved this book, it had me hooked from the start, the chemistry between the characters was exactly what I was looking for!
I will be looking out for more of Victoria Walters books!