With any true romance, we know we are guaranteed that HEA, but gosh, the journey to get there... I wasn't sure. This book follows Freya, who dreams of being a literary agent, but right now she is an assistant. Due to her boss's sister's wedding, Freya is sent in her place to attend the Romance Convention in NYC. While there, she is tasked with trying to make big-shot romance author Jake likeable again. After a recent article was posted, Jake is out with his readers for dissing on romance readers, aka his readers. While in NYC, Freya and Jake spark up a romance and the rest is history. I would say more, but I don't want to give it away. I loved the way everything played out and how much it made me kick my feet with giddiness. I could not put this book down.
I loved all the tropes, age gap (10 yrs), workplace romance, enemies to lovers, and even some slow burn. While this book with very relationship/main characters focused, which normally I like more of a background plot too, I really enjoyed it just focusing on Freya & Jake. It was a fun and cutesy read.
And even though I am a high spice girl, I enjoyed the low spice in this book. It seemed fitting for the characters, their relationship, and their personal goals. Nothing felt rushed. It seemed like this relationship could truly happen & wasn't just one found in romance books.
I can't recommend this read enough, it comes out in a few short weeks, May 19, 2025!
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Thank you, NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review

I enjoyed this book, but it unfortunately did not stick with me in a memorable way. It was a fun and easy read with low stakes drama and likeable characters.

If you're looking for a short rom-com that is:
- grumpy x sunshine (I could see an argument for enemies to lovers maybe?)
- forced proximity
- age gap (MMC is older)
- workplace romance

This could be what you're looking for!

Jake is a romance author who tanked his reputation following some controversial comments and Freya is a literary agent's assistant who is given the task of trying to help Jake get his career back on track.

I was quite excited about the premise of this book, however it didn't hit the mark for me.

Freya (the FMC), felt really immature and her 'quirkiness' felt quite forced. Jake (the MMC) just gave me the ick the entire time if I'm being honest. He came across as rude and arrogant rather than grumpy (telling Freya to 'not use her school teacher voice' and that maybe she needs to lie down? No thank you.)

I didn't get enemies to lovers or slow burn from this and if anything, I felt it was quite insta love? They've been at this conference together for like two days and now they're in love? I didn't really feel any connection between the characters and their dialogue felt quite forced and repetitive.

Throughout the entire book there was a lot of telling you what was going on and not a lot of showing. I also found the spice scenes quite cringey and by the end of the book was just skipping through them.

I did really enjoy how the book didn't just finish after Jake's career dramas were resolved. I also liked the storyline behind Davis's redemption ARC.

Overall, this book wasn't for me, but it could be just what you're looking for.

Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

2★

Well, that was a slow read. Relatively short, but took me quite a while to finish.

To be quite honest, I really disliked this book, and it took me so long to read because I literally had to force myself to actually get through it.

Let me start with Jake. I usually like grumpy men, but not when they’re misogynistic. I would never accept a man telling me to “calm down”. While they were not his exact words, you know what we’re? “It’s fine, Freya. No need to put on your school teacher voice about it. Maybe you need to lie down.” LIE DOWN? No I need to spit in his face and tell him to fuck off. That is so disrespectful.

Now Jake wasn’t all too bad after that initial setback. He was quite bland and had some super cheesy/awkward lines but he was an ok character.

Freya was ditzy and childish. She was always flustered and unaware of how loud she was, so her embarrassing stories or comments were overheard by others multiple times. I hated how the one outfit she ever wore was a dress and cowboy boots. Girly, you’ve gotta dress professionally in a professional working environment! She gave me second hand embarrassment. She was also very pushy in trying to get Jake to be honest and tell his readers why he said what he did in the article, but apparently him saying it was something “too personal” wasn’t enough. Ma’am, nor you or his readers are entitled to information about his personal life!

Now, I did not understand their relationship. Freya annoyed me the most with trying to forcibly get him to be honest and open up more, as if they’re not two total strangers to each other. She thought she knew him because she read his books. Like what? You can’t tell someone’s personality from the fictional books they write. And THEN she would say stuff like “who is the real Jake?” Like miss girl, you don’t know anything about this man apart from the fact he’s a romance author! Get a grip!

I thought they moved waaayyy to fast and felt too much too quickly. They never had any deeper conversations. Their emotional connection is told to us, but we don’t actually see it. Their 10 year age gap only emphasised their immaturity and lack of complexity. I mean, Freya’s whole shtick is that she’s “young and inexperienced” like come on!

That was my biggest issue with the writing overall. Too much telling, not enough showing. There were paragraphs upon paragraphs about the little details like Freya’s morning routine, or what outfit she was wearing, like I don’t give a shit about that. It reads like a Wattpad fanfiction.

Also those spice scenes were cringe. I did not like them at all.

What I did like though, was the side characters storyline’s. Particularly Davis’ storyline. I liked his whole sub-plot and how he got his happy ending.

I’m always a sucker for a characters book being dedicated to their partners

Overall, this had a lot of potential, but I was majorly let down.

Many thanks to Boldwood and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book started out promising but got very repetitive and unbelievable as it progressed.

Our story follows Freya, a publisher’s assistant on a mission to make a name for herself and save her favorite authors career. The only problem
Is, she keeps embarrassing herself in front of him and he’s as grumpy as they come.

Jake Reynolds is a popular romance author who was caught saying that writing romance is essentially easy money. That he doesn’t really believe in happily ever after but will happy write sappy stories so long as it pays the bills.

As you can imagine, an anti-romance romance author attending a romance convention is quite the controversy.

As Freya gets to know Jake she urges him to be honest and share the truth that led him to share such comments in lieu of discussing his private life.

Just when they think they have things managed, Freya’s boss Hayley shows up and takes credit for Jake and Freya’s efforts. Her appearance quickly cools off their budding romance and after a fall out, Jake and Freya head back to London and go their separate ways.

Freya shortly learns that Hayley never had plans to promote her. She also starts to see Hayley’s true colors and realizes that she doesn’t like what she sees.


I found Jake’s bedroom talk to be a bit cringe. If I never hear good girl again, it will be too soon.

I also didn’t like how both Jake and Freya fall into the same pattern and conversations again and again. So much could’ve been fixed with a simple conversation instead of assumptions and pouting

I liked this for an easy read, even though I do think it went on a little too long. It is a cute little story and I loved that it was about the book world!

Thank you to net galley, the publisher, and the author for letting me arc read this book!

Okay, grumpy-sunshine/enemies to lovers, eat your heart out!
I've read a few of Victoria Walters' books now, and this was precisely the kind of story I would have expected.
Another story in the publishing world which I LOVE!
Our FMC is Freya. She's a true romantic, as well as a romance fan. Working as an assistant at a Literary agency is a dream for her, and she aspires to be an agent one day.
Enter our MMC, Jake, a grumpy but popular romance author who is one of Freya's boss's biggest clients, and also out of favour with the romance community at this stage, because of some unsavoury comments about the genre.
By a twist of fate, Freya ends up on a business trip to New York, a place she has dreamt of going to, accompanying Jake, with the sole goal of repairing his reputation at a Romance conference.
OMG! So much to love, here!
We always go into a romance expecting a HEA or HFN, and the journey to that ending makes or breaks a story.
The difficulties that both Freya and Jake go through during this trip make for gripping reading. I finished this in one day! Plus, there is a bit of a spice factor going on!!
And featuring a previous book's character was another little bonus. I love revisiting characters and hearing how they are getting on. :)

3.75/5 stars....The FMC and MMC developed a romance pretty quickly in this book & I wasn't thrilled with the 10yr age gap between them. Some of this story takes place in the UK and some in New York. I really love reading books about books (the MMC is a romance writer and the FMC works in publishing). But I did not see that plot twist with their boss (Hayley) and the MMC's nemesis coming. This was a fu, cute, & quick read and it kept me entertained.

eArc provided by the Publisher through NetGalley. Thank you in advance.

The book is about an aspiring agent and a writer who tanks his career by making inappropriate/hurtful comments about the books he writes. The question is, can she help him without falling?

Let’s take this part out of the way: there is an age gap, and there are spicy scenes.

Jake is a romance writer, and Freya is an assistant aspiring to be an agent. Her task is to help save Jake’s career, which is borderline done because of the comments he made about his genre. Freya is being tested by her boss to see if she has what she needs to become an agent. Has to travel to New York to a big conference to save Jake’s career. Jake has a big secret, and Freya is pushing for the truth; the New York setting is cute but a bit basic. There was no big spark for NYC, which was Freya’s dream place to visit. Their relationship between Jake and Freya goes from none to jumping in it, taking advantage of the short trip, and basically, you only live once. There are insecurities and a bit of drama, but mostly, the book gives you the vibe of a bit of romance while navigating a new career and trying to find your place in that career.

The romance was okay, but I did not fall in love with the main characters. There were times that I smiled, but there was no clenching in the book for the OMG moment.

Overall, the book is a sweet read, and I loved that it just did not finish when everything got resolved.

I love a romance novel and I enjoyed this book. It's fun that it's set within the romance and wider literary community and through that puts a different spin on it. The plot was interesting and it kept me turning the pages. Having said that, I feel the story and the characters could have had more depths. There isn't much scene setting or character background. But if you are after a quick and entertaining story, it will deliver.

The premise of this book—an aspiring literary agent and a grumpy romance author forced to team up in New York—immediately grabbed my attention.
The New York setting was actually one of my favorite parts (I’ve always wanted to visit!). The literary conference was also a fun backdrop, but it didn’t quite have the same atmospheric magic as the city.

I really liked the idea of Freya navigating her big career break while being thrown into this PR mess with Jake. I related to her a lot—starting out in your career is scary, and I also want things to happen fast, even though I know growth takes time. That said, Freya did come off a little naive and unrealistic at times. She was so eager to jump into being a literary agent after just six months, and I found myself thinking, “Girl, slow down!” Still, I was way more invested in her professional journey than the romance, if I’m being honest.

As for the romance… Jake was fine. I didn’t dislike him, but I wasn’t super drawn to him either. I didn’t feel much emotional connection between them. I personally prefer more emotional depth in a love story but that’s more about my taste than a flaw in the book itself.

All that said, I was never bored. It’s a fun and cute rom-com, and I flew through it. The writing is super accessible and easy to read, which made the whole experience enjoyable.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Victoria Walters for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The book is about Freya, a literary agent's assistant, who is sent to a Romance Conference in New York City to help Jake win back his readers after some bad press.

The premise sounded really good, and I was intrigued by it. However, I didn’t enjoy that the main conflict between Jake and Freya was based on miscommunication, which felt frustrating. If they had simply talked to each other, their issue could have been resolved easily—there wasn’t a strong enough reason for them not to.

That said, I really enjoyed the parts of the story that focused on Jake and Freya’s work and the struggles they had to overcome to succeed in their careers. I also didn’t fully understand why Jake and Davis were enemies, and it felt too easy that everything was resolved after just one phone call.

Overall, though, it was a fun story to read.

Received as an arc from Netgally I loved the premise of this book, I loved the characters Jake and Freya, I thought they had great chemistry together and didn’t want it to end

Jake is an author who’s been overheard by a reporter saying that he hates romance which is what his books are all about. Freya is assistant to Hayley who is his agent.

Hayley manages to get Jake a place on at the Romance conference in New York, but she’s unable to go as her sister is getting married so suggests that Freya goes instead

Jake shows Freya around New York where things start to hot up between them. Unfortunately things come to an end when someone sees them and some misunderstandings happen. But will they get back to each other before it’s too late …

Long story short, Freya wants to be a book agent. When her boss sends her to a conference in New York with her client Jake, a grumpy romance author whose career is on the line thanks to an unflattering article, Freya finds herself toeing the line between a professional and personal relationship with him.

This was a cute, light, and spicy read! Pick it up if you’re looking for a light storyline between love scenes.

Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC in exchange for a fair review.

3.5⭐️

I really enjoyed this book. Such an easy read with likeable characters. Set in the publishing world, Freya assistant literary agent and Jake the global best selling author. I really wanted these two to get together. Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for ARC.

2,5 ⭐ rounded up

the plot seemed interesting - a bestselling romance author and an assistant doing her best to clear his name - sounds fun, right? i was in the mood to read a lighthearted, fun romcom, but sadly this one just didn't do it for me.
i'm not a huge fan of the age gap trope, but i continued reading, hoping the story itself would be worth it.

first of all, i couldn't really connect with any of the characters. they felt one dimensional and i didn't really care for them.
freya is a sunshine, a little too much of a sunshine even. jack is always grumpy, borderline rude. despite the age gap, dude was acting so immature. the age difference had the potential to add more depth, but it just fell flat.
i didn't really feel any chemistry between them, and the spark felt kind of forced.
also, there was a miscommunication trope which i absolutely hate.

the writing style just wasn't for me. the dialogues between the characters seemed unnatural and kind of repetitive.

these are just some examples:

'I'd love to take this one off.'
I giggled. 'I'd love to take it off.'

'Yes, because you really see me.'
He smiled. 'I see you. And I want you so much.'
'I want you too.'

'And your breathing... it's so hot.'
'That was so hot,' I confessed

Let's get dressed up and go somewhere for a New York moment.'
'A New York moment?' Jake asked with a smile.
'Yeah, you know when we can look at each other and say, "This could only happen in New York"."
'A New York moment.'

(how many times can you mention 'new york' on just one page??😭)

'Do you want me, Freya?'
'So much,' I said.
'I want you so much too,'

like... the dialogues were just so damn dry and cringe at some moments. kind of felt like an average convo between me and literally every person i know, thanks to my lack of social skills.

"It made me want to be a little bit naughty." - i laughed out loud because i thought it was a little bit unserious and just couldn't take the characters seriously lol.

the drama with hayley fell flat for me.

overall, the book had potential, but it just didn't do it for me. it's definitely not a must read, but still, it was enjoyable and you might like it if you're an age gap romance lover.



*thank you to Boldwood Books, NetGalley and the author for this ARC!*

Long Story Short is the literary equivalent of a warm hug. Harriet escapes to the quaint village of Talting for a fresh start, only to find a brooding single dad, a dusty bookshop, and a community that slowly chips away her walls.

Victoria Walters weaves grief, healing, and hope into a slow-burn romance that feels cozy, comforting, and utterly timeless. With heartfelt characters, a charming setting, and just the right touch of emotional depth, this one’s for anyone who loves a story about second chances and soft landings.

I've read a couple of Victoria Walters' romance novels and this is in excellent company within her created world. The characters are good natured and positive. I liked how Freya was honest and that worked in her advantage. Most avid readers do so to escape the negativity and darkness in the world and this book certainly acted as an antidote to current events.
Not all of it worked for me, the conversations between the characters didn't flow naturally. Some of the plot machinations came across as far too contrived and convenient and whilst I liked Jake and Freya, I never felt I knew them.
Four books in, I'm not sure how important any of these criticisms are though, as there is a good natured sweetness to this world that will work for many.

3 ⭐

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Boldwood books and the author for providing me with an arc copy in exchange for an honest review!

Freya works as an assistant to a literary agent but she dreams of becoming an agent herself, she loves romance books and, in particular, she loves Jake Richards' books. Freya's big moment comes when her boss asks her to help Jake (yep, her favourite author) save his career. The two are sent to a romance conference in New York, where they need to make sure Jake's fans forgive him after the pr scandal that's ruining his career. Will they succeed?

Unfortunately this fell flat for me, the characters were pretty much one dimensional and there wasn't really anything I appreciated about them. Freya is really clumsy, always flustered and "inexperienced". Jack is grumpy (almost rude, I'd say), he is supposed to be older but he felt really immature. I enjoyed the romance conference setting, but I feel like it could've been explored better.
I liked the author's writing style, so this was a quick and easy read, but yeah, I'm not in love with this.

Thanks to NetGalley for this free ARC copy!
3 ⭐️
A short light romance about a publishing assistant and a romance author.
I liked the idea of this plot but personally didn’t like the FMC who was a little too “sunshine” and lacked depth