Name: First-Time Caller
Series: Heartsrings #1 (Interconnected Stand Alones I believe)
Author: B.K. Borison
Publisher: Pan Books
Format: Kindle
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Noted Tropes: Grumpy x Sunshine, Workplace Romance, Forced Proximity, Found Family
Spice Rating: Explicit Open Door 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Rating: (This has been retroactively added to the 6 star club)
Synopsis: Goodreads
Aiden Valentine has a he’s fallen out of love with love. And as the host of Baltimore’s romance hotline, that’s a bit of a problem. But when a young girl calls in to the station asking for dating advice for her mom, the interview goes viral, thrusting Aiden and Heartstrings into the limelight.
Lucie Stone thought she was doing just fine. She has a good job; an incredible family; and a smart, slightly devious kid. But when all of Baltimore is suddenly scrutinizing her love life—or lack thereof—she begins to question if she’s as happy as she thought. Maybe a little more romance wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Everyone wants Lucie to find her happy ending. . .even the handsome, temperamental man calling the shots. But when sparks start to fly behind the scenes, Lucie must make the final call between the radio-sponsored happily ever after or the man in the headphones next to her.
Review:
First-Time Caller is one of those books outside of my comfort zones, but it sounded cute and so I thought it was worth picking up (and on sale!). Then it just was there, but because it was out of my comfort zone I didn’t pick it up. It won Cody & James’ book club vote, and so there, finally, was the push to read it! And I loved it.
The premise is that our FMC’s – Lucie – devious daughter calls up Heartstrings (a radio show all about love!) to get advice from the host, Aiden Valentine, for her mum who she’s trying to help. She gets caught by her mum, but ultimately her mum decides to stay on the line and talk with Aiden. Aiden’s boss then invites her to the show and a segment is created with the goal being to find her a partner.
It’s cheesey, the banter and found family is to die for (no really, I adore Lucie’s family – Grayson and his husband had me grinning from ear to ear whenever they were on the page!), and I had such a bloody good time with it! I loved the radio transcripts from both their duets and Aiden’s solo nights. I don’t think I could have ever predicted having just such a good time with this one. There were moments where I was giggling away with them, others where I wanted to slap one of them (occassionally both) because naturally they do stupid things, and genuinely I had a smile on my face the whole time.
I don’t think much needs to be said on this one – I just had a good time and enjoyed it. Exciting news, the sequel will follow Jackson – Aiden’s colleague – and I loved him, so I’m definitely looking forward to that release! I am not an expert on contemporary romance, but if anyone has any recommendations for me – let me know! After how much I enjoyed First-Time Caller, maybe I’ll be tempted to try others!
“Long-time listener, first-time caller […] I was hoping you could give me some advice.”
Reading With Tyler 
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