ARC review: Love Story by Lindsey Kelk

I was gifted a copy of this book by Harper Collins UK to give an honest review

Blurb:

She’s a small-town schoolteacher, he’s a hotshot creative director. Together, it’s hate at first sight.

Sophie Taylor has a secret and Joe Walsh is the last person she’d tell. He’s devilishly handsome, incredibly hot – and far too sure of himself.

But Sophie desperately needs his help.

Because she’s not just hiding something small. She is Este Cox, the mysterious romance author the entire world is desperate to unmask.

When a trip to the countryside means sharing a cottage with only one bed, it’s a short step to sharing a whole lot more besides… Can Sophie trust Joe with the truth – and be herself?

My thoughts:

Love Story is a cute and lighthearted rom-com. It follows Sophie as she tries to keep her identity as a successful romance author under wraps during her dad’s birthday party weekend.

The setting made for an entertaining read, with a group of people who don’t all love or even like each other gathering in one place as alcohol starts flowing. There are many laugh-out-loud moments, particularly between her dad and his longtime publishing nemesis.

I really liked the main character and the reasons why she didn’t want people to know she’d written the romance novel. It felt very fleshed out and realistic especially when looking at her parent’s background, working in the publishing industry.

It’s interesting to read about the literary world. We get a glimpse of the romance industry and how some people view certain books. Kelk shows how much the romance genre has changed from being criticised as poor writing in the past to being reclaimed as a successful feminist genre as new generations have discovered the novels. It feels quite empowering and meta to read a book about rom-coms from one of the queens of the genre herself.

There are many pop culture references throughout – from real life author shout-outs to Taylor Swift references. In true Lindsey Kelk fashion, it’s filled with humour and witty dialogue – making it a really fast and easy read.

Stand-out side characters include her immediate family, especially Charlotte and her free spirit attitude to life. She added a lot of joy and laughter to the story – with there being a big age gap between her and her two older siblings.

There’s plenty of banter between the two lead characters for most of the first three quarters of the book which makes for an entertaining read. But I didn’t love where the plot went after that. There are tropes in this book that aren’t my favourite, including insta-love. I thought Joe was a good character but he was slightly one dimensional and his story felt slightly rushed. It’s still a fun book and I’m sure there are other readers who would love the direction of the story more than I did.

Lindsey Kelk will always be one of my auto-buy authors and this one is definitely a great feel good rom-com that you should add to your summer reading list.