Microtropes:
- Soft flower boy who’s not afraid to get his hands dirty.
- Golden retriever energy with a spontaneous black cat attitude.
- Inappropriate use of a public bathroom.
- Both of them are excellent at holding up walls 😏.

This story started out with a bang (literally 😏) and then tortured us in the best way with a perfectly executed slow burn. It was such a strong introduction to Elodie’s work; I already know I’ll be circling back to explore more of her books.

The gorgeous cover initially drew me in, and thankfully, the story absolutely lived up to it. So many swoon-worthy moments: the almost murder attempt, surprise breakfast delivery, hotel bathroom rendezvous, the market shower scene… and perhaps most importantly: NO THIRD ACT BREAKUP. Instead, when she asked for space, he respected it. They were never over, because he trusted her completely and believed in her. And that unwavering trust made the entire journey worth it.

Song of choice: Daylight by Taylor Swift

Okay, first things first: the cover is absolutely stunning. I’d like it framed, thanks.

Even though this is technically the first book in the series, coming back to Pine Falls felt like coming home. Elodie’s written in this setting before, and to me, it has full-on Stars Hollow vibes. Cozy, comforting, and filled with characters that feel like friends.

Now, about Zoey and Matt… oof, they really made my heart ache. Both go through some tough stuff (different situations, but equally hard), and it felt like they were exactly what the other didn’t know they were missing. That whole “finding your North in a person” feeling? Yeah, Matt was that for Zoey. It was soft and emotional and made me tear up more than once.

The side characters? ICONIC. Warm, funny, and full of charm — they gave the story such vibrant energy. Also, Daphne?? I adored her. The autistic rep felt natural and needed, and honestly, she added so much to the plot. I wish more books handled it this well.

Now… I have to be honest. I don’t like insta-love. And while this didn’t feel too rushed, the story does happen in a very short time frame. It left me doubting the depth of their connection a little, which was a shame because I loved them together. I just wanted a bit more build-up, more slow-burn, more “will-they-won’t-they” to really sink my teeth into. It’s the one thing that held it back from being a five-star read for me — but that’s totally a me problem.

Also, shoutout to healthy communication and no third-act breakup. I’m actually begging for more books like this, thank you.

Elodie’s writing continues to be everything I love: emotional, grounded, and beautiful in all the right ways. I didn’t want to stop reading — except adulting said otherwise. Toxic.

3.5 rounded up to 4⭐️

City girl meets small-town boy, and a one-night stand turns into fake dating, all big buzzwords for me so it’s no surprise I enjoyed this one. The writing captivated me from the first chapter, and the characters’ backstories were well flashed out. The rest of the characters made up the perfect cozy small-town vibes I love so much. The only reason why the rating wasn’t higher is that the relationships setups could have been stronger. I liked how Zoey and Matt met and the initial tension between them but the switch from heated rivals to supportive friends (and more) could have been more fluid. The same goes for the townspeople, I wanted more scenes of Zoey creating friendships and a life there she didn’t want to leave.
Zoey's relationship with her mom was also quite confusing, most of her internal dialogue was based on the idea that she never had someone in her corner but every time she talked about her mom she was described as someone reliable and loving so it was a bit weird in my opinion.

That said, I really enjoyed how supportive Matt was of Zoey, how he challenged her to open up and discover a side of her that she had kept locked away for a long time. The autistic representation was also very appreciated and it felt like Colliard handled it with the care it deserves. I would recommend this to people who enjoy a softer kind of romance, like the Oxford Series by Clare Ashton or some books from Chloe Liese.

I’m intrigued about the previous series and curious to know more about Charlee and Oliver’s story. I'm still deciding whether to go back and read it, but I will definitely continue with this series. I can’t wait to learn more about Lola and James!!

- 𝑯𝒐𝒂𝒙 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑲𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝑬𝒍𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒅, 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝟐𝟔𝒕𝒉

𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴:
✰ 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯
✰ 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥
✰ 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴
✰ 𝘧𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨

This book was a joy to read! Fake dating excellence romance between two rivals set in a charming small town... also giving huge Gilmore Girls vibes.
The romance between Matt and Zoey was the perfect mix of sweet, comfort, angst and spice. I loved them together and how they got there.
I also really appreciated how much care the author put in the autism representation and one of my favorite things about this read was how beautiful the relationship between Matt and his sister was.

In general this book is delightful and heartwarming and I highly recommend picking it up as soon as it's released!

*arc kindly provided in exchange of an honest review

This was a swoony story featuring a fake dating premise between a guarded city girl and a protective and sweet small town guy.

It had a good balance of heart and spice with great chemistry between the main characters.
There was a bit of insta-lust, but they were slow to open up and be vulnerable with each other because of past wounds.

I appreciated the accurate representation of autism with Matt's sister.

All in all it's a comforting and heartwarming book with enough angst to give it emotional depth.

Small town, Hallmark style romance with the classic premise of opposites attract with a humble small town guy and a well-to-do big city girl.

Zoey works for her dad’s luxury hotel chain and is challenged with winning a bid for land to build another hotel within one month to earn her place as successor to her dad’s business. Matt is a florist in the small town who is opposed to any big hotel chains trying to take over the town.

Tropes:
- opposites attract
- small town
- enemies to lovers
- fake dating
- found family

I disliked both Zoey and Matt to begin with, which I think was due to the opening scene for Zoey and to do with Matt’s general demeanor coming off as rude at times. I did warm to them and really liked them together in the end. Matt was a great big brother to Daphne. Some of the storyline was a bit unbelievable or not fully explored at times (Matt’s mum and how long she had treated Daphne the way she did just to change because Zoey had one little conversation with her, how things ended with Zoey and her dad) but I enjoyed it overall and liked the minor characters in the town and would definitely read another book about one of them.

Great small town, cosy vibes!

3.5 stars

What a fun small town romance, a one night stand turned into fake dating.

Zoe is a city girl coming into town to make changes, Matt is the family man with the world in his shoulders. Their connection is everything, being exactly what they need to each other. I love the autism representation in this book, as an autism mama this really makes my heart happy to see. These characters were so relatable, making this book such a great read.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

this is giving 2000s romcom in the best way and I ate it up! I can’t wait to pickup a physical copy of this for my library and to tell everyone I know about the cutest new love story.

3.75 stars

I'm going to start by saying this was not my favorite book from EC, yet I really like it.
What it was? I don't know, but I felt something was missing with our main couple. Like the chemistry was there, but everything happened too fast (maybe?).
I love the side characters, tho, especially Daphne. She was amazing, and the way EC wrote her it was beautiful and so real.
I love Elodie's writing style. It's emotional and beautiful, and it makes you feel like you're there with the characters, and that didn't change here.
Still, with the things i didn't love, I fully recommend this book, and I'm excited about this new series.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ok. This was so cute. Elodie Colliard is becoming an instant buy author for me quickly!

Small town romance, fake dating, enemies to lovers…i ate this up. I saw the description said The Holiday meets Gilmore Girls and that fits this so perfectly. Zoey and Matt had so much chemistry, from their very first interaction I was HOOKED! You know when it starts fiery and angry it’s going to turn hot. Matt was so undeniably attracted to Zoey. I loved how much he couldn’t deny himself.

Ok, then the side things. Matt’s sister Daphne, who is autistic. I loved her!! He would tear the world apart for her, and for her to be seen and accepted and to have people love her for her. The struggle with his parents hurt my heart so much. How much he wanted things to be good for her in life and for her to thrive. How much he melted when Zoey was able to meet them where they were, PERFECT.

I loved getting more with characters we met in Unbearably Yours. All of the side characters were so good. The setting and all the townspeople really brought the Gilmore Girls comparisons to life.

Honestly I could see Zoey and Matt as a Luke and Lorelai just a different font.

Highly enjoyed this one.

This book is like a hallmark movie with the big shot city business person falling for the small town hero just minus christmas and i loved reading it.

The story was enjoyable, I wasn’t a huge fan of the insta-love/lust but I really enjoyed the couple. I also enjoyed the small town aspect of the whole thing and how even when things ended differently she still found a way to make it right.

Zoe being the businesswoman was a really fun part of the story, especially because she really seemed to really cared how she impacted the people. I was so glad when she finally decided to take the reins of her own life and stop pleasing her father. Her dads ending was also satisfying and he totally got what he deserved. Her love for the town grew in a very organic way which I loved and honestly she really did care even when she had just gotten there.

Matt, he was honestly so sweet once we got past the rudeness. I really didn’t like his mom but I am glad she had her character development. I feel like while Matt was a great brother, he still was too responsible for a child that wasn’t his even if it was his sister and only for a month. His role as a brother very quickly turned into the role of caretaker in the eyes of his parent and I did not like that. While I semi-understood his parents wanting a vacation I feel like they should have prioritized their literal child.

I really loved seeing autistic representation in books, I feel like it’s one of the many topics that should be more talked about. Daphne was honestly such a great character and addition to the story, I loved her. the amount of this she knew about flowers was probably my favorite thing about her and she really seemed to love it, it gave her confidence and comfort. The care that her brother had for her was heartwarming and their sibling relationship was incredible.

The book was amazing especially for a cozy, reliable and light read. i honestly look forward to the rest of the series in this universe.

Hoax and Kisses was an enjoyable read. This small town, fake relationship book is sweet and spicy in all the right places. Matt and Zoey are hot and heavy at first, then when things go awry a fake relationship is what is needed to help. Seeing the characters learn and trust on the pages is really nice. This deals with a lot of topics, including emotion and mental abuse, betrayal and more but I really appreciated the Autism rep with Daphne, she was an absolutely amazing character to read and so see how much Matt loves her sister and how Zoey grows to love her.

First of all, thank you Netgalley for the arc and author Elodie Colliard for writing this book.

Uhm wow? This was such a cute book! I've searched up the author on google because I feel the need to read all her other books and to whoever is designing the covers- you are so so cool. All of her books covers are the prettiest things ever- of course you shouldn't judge a book based off it's cover but in this book? Yes you can, the outside and inside are equally as good!

Hoax and kisses has everything you need for a good romance book:

a double POV
great spicy scenes
countless love confessions
a basically perfect MMC
and a HEA

I adored the characters in this book, Zoey is so so sweet and Matt? This man runs a flower shop and thats all I need to say. Him and his sister have the best bond ever, I love Daphne so much (especially the part when she was defending Zoey, I was cheering her on) and the way Zoey was around her and making sure she was comfortable was perfectt.

The resolution of this book was so real, even though it was a HEA, some things just didn't go as planned which I really loved, but in the end it did make way to something even better. I feel Zoey's character arc and her realising what a terrible person her dad is, was such a big part of this book which I really liked.

Honestly, I wish this book was longer, I feel it could've done better with even more bonding scenes between Matt and Zoey because this book contained immediate attraction- which I am unfortunately not the biggest fan of. There are definitely other things which I would've like to be different (full review will be in my goodreads, linked below) but this was such a great book and I know this author will be popular.

4 stars!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7753533957

Thank you Netgalley and the author for the ARC!

This book was so cute! I loved this book so much. It was another stayed up late to read book for me, because I couldn’t put it down.

Zoey and Matt had such great chemistry from the start, and it kept building throughout the book. They were so cute together, and she fit in so well in his life. Matt was so sweet and gave off serious golden retriever vibes. He was the perfect balance for Zoey and her bit of black cat personality. I loved these two together!

I loved the side characters as well, the interactions were saw were adorable and genuine. I loved how everything gave Matt crap for stuff. I laughed a few times while reading. They all had such great dynamics with each other!

This was such a great fake dating/slow burnish book! I’m seriously so in love with this book!

Small town
Fake dating
Found family
Enemies to lovers

My first book by this author and I was not disappointed. Her writing style is easy to follow, funny, sexy, and cute. Full of emotional depth and charming too.

This is an instant favorite book. I now need a paperback as a trophy!

Hoax and Kisses by Elodie Colliard
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️

Autumnal, sweet and spicy - what more could you want? I just finished this book after 2 days and I would have devoured it in 1 if I had the time.

This book was like a perfectly made cuppa after a miserable day outside. I didn’t realise quite how deeply I wanted the sun gone and the leaves to start turning until reading this.

The MMC is sweet and self sacrificing but also haunted by his past experiences and living slightly on autopilot. Funnily enough all he needs is a city girl who truly sees and challenges him to wake him up.

The FMC has lost her sense of self in the pursuit of making a parental figure happy and wouldn’t you know that a small town full of genuinely nice people and a particularly swoony florist are just what she needs to find herself again?

Key elements
-small town (strong Stars Hollow vibes)
-found family
-city girl/ small town boy
-autism rep
-fake dating
-no third act break up
-saucy and sweet
-THE RAIN SCENE

I love that they didn’t fall into the miscommunication trope and genuinely just handled things like decent emotionally intelligent people (if only that always happened in real life). It was so refreshing to read and really made you invested in the relationship between the two of them.

I love the community created in this book, the town is full of oddballs and kindhearted people and the MMC’s friends are no exception to this. They rally around him and provide a much needed support system- I mean who doesn’t need friends who buy you Cockerel memorabilia and tell you to “Go get your f-ing girl” when you need hear it. 🖤

I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait to read more by the author!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️

Thank you to Elodie Colliard and NetGalley for this ARC copy, my opinions are my own. 💕

I thoroughly enjoyed the return to Pine Falls (you don't need to read Unbearably Yours before this one, but it does add some extra context) and its warm small-town feel. This is a lovely romantic read about two people battling the conflict between their dreams and their obligations - all family-related, but Zoey's ingrained need to please her father is very different from Matt's love for his younger sister. Zoey could come across as unlikeable to begin with (and does, to many in the town), but the reader is aware of her deep-seated doubts over the direction of her life and I really liked how she opened up. And Matt, so supportive and grumpily romantic and importantly, able to recognise his frustrations and mistakes - he's the ideal foil for Zoey and watching him fall is delicious. Their relationship develops over a relatively short period but the move from initial attraction to reluctant fake dating to unexpected love progresses naturally and feels a lot slower than it actually is. The romance is well balanced with the deeper themes of family expectations: I honestly thought I knew where the plot was going for Zoey, but the extra little twist towards the end was both surprising and, I think, necessary for her character as well as adding an extra layer of tension to the denouement. Definitely looking forward to more from Pine Falls.

I absolutely loved this book from beginning to end! From the cozy small-town vibes to the fake dating trope (one of my favorites!), Hoax and Kisses pulled me in right away and never let go.

Matt and Zoey had such great chemistry — I was hooked not just on their slow-burning connection, but also on their personal growth throughout the story. I loved how their “business deal” fake relationship turned into something so genuine and heartfelt. The emotional depth behind both characters, especially Matt’s family struggles and Zoey’s internal doubts, made this feel so much more than your average rom-com.

The plot twist caught me completely off guard (in the best way), and the writing style was smooth, heartfelt, and full of charm. The story gave me The Holiday meets Gilmore Girls in all the right ways — cozy, clever, a little chaotic, and full of love.

This is the kind of small-town romance I’ll be recommending to everyone. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Would I recommend? 1000% yes — if you love fake dating, heartfelt backstories, small-town drama, and swoony love interests, Hoax and Kisses will charm you completely. 💐💕

Hoaxes and Kisses by Eloise Colliard was a delightful read filled with so many laugh out loud moments, lovable characters, and a mix of sweet and spicy scenes to keep you entertained and ready to binge!

This was the perfect pallet cleanser and a great choice for my first ever arc (eek)! I loved that while it focused primarily on the romance it was led by a plot leaving the story to feel more “deep” than just a regular old romance novel.

The meet cute reminded me of a funny 2000s movie and had so many laugh out loud moments! If your wanting a small town feel almost *identical* to the Gilmore girls feel than you need to give this a try!

The pacing was also great and I loved the relationship between Matt and Zoé! It was so fun to see their relationship so naturally bloom from just fake dating to lust to genuine love and attraction! While it was set in a short time frame it didn’t feel too rushed or too insta-lovey whatsoever.

My only complaints would be i would have preferred it too be a bit longer when it came down to the beginning moments of their relationship just too fully flesh it out further (since this was less than 300 pages). But overall, great pallet cleanser read and very bingeable for the spring!

Much thanks to Netgalley and Victory Editing Netgalley Co-op for this arc.

Publication date: 08/26/25! This review can be found on Goodreads.

this was cuuute! it's been a little bit since i dove into a small town romance and this book really reminded me why i miss it.

i loved the two MCs and the autism representation in this with daph. i also loved all the characters in the small town and how they felt like real people a little bit. the romance was adorable and, in my opinion, really well paced! not too fast and not too slow.

sometimes i struggle with books where the MCs hook up in the beginning, but i didn't feel like that with this one. elodie colliard did a really good job of making their first hook up vastly different from the one that came after feelings were involved. you could really tell it meant something different to them.

my only complaint about this is i felt really bad for the heroine and i needed people to grovel lol. she honestly did like, nothing wrong, the whole book, in my opinion. sure she went out there to secure a promotion, but why is that bad? she doesn't know these people and she wasn't harming them to do it. she was genuinely trying to improve their town and their businesses! time after time people jumped to conclusions based on her dads mistakes and nobody ever apologized for it, except for matt on a few occasions. it also really bothered me when matt learned who zoey/zoe was how he kept using the word "disgust" in reference to his hook up with her. that it disgusted him or he was disgusted with himself. like, that really bothered me! not to mention how her only friends in the town immediately turned on her. the town became an angry mob on her TWICE and she did not deserve it EITHER time and NOBODY APOLOGIZED!! in fact, SHE apologized. nobody should have to apologize for the sins of a father. i can both understand why the town reacted that way, and still believe that every single one of them owe her an apology.

with that said, still a good book and 4 stars from me :)