I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Published by Blue Box Press/1001 Dark Nights Press on October 22, 2022
Genres: Contemporary, Fling to relationship, Romance, Small Town & Rural, Women's Fiction
Pages: 294
Format: ARC, eBook, Paperback
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She’s desperate for another bestseller… and she’ll go to any length to get it. Even if it means sacrificing her pride to chase the hottest bachelor in town and get him to break her heart…
Once the literary world’s golden girl, Aspen Lourde can’t seem to produce another successful book, and the pressure’s on to prove she’s not just a one-hit-wonder. But there’s a catch: her bestseller was a heartbreak hit, straight from her own love life disaster. Without any fresh romantic turmoil to fuel her pen, Aspen needs inspiration quick enough to create a book her agent can sell to her publisher. So she escapes for the summer to the Outer Banks with a plan to live a story worth writing.
Brick Babel is a romance novelist’s dream: a local heartthrob with a reputation as wild as the horses running free in the town. He’s everything Aspen needs for a muse kickstart—gorgeous, moody, and notoriously unattainable. His affairs are legendary in the small town, and every woman warns her off, including her sister.
Too bad a good heartbreak is exactly what she needs to meet her deadline.
But Brick refuses to play the game, rejecting all of her advances. When Aspen hears his tour company is on the verge of bankruptcy, she offers him a deal: fake a whirlwind summer romance, then ditch her, drama guaranteed.
Desperate to save his grandfather’s business, Brick agrees to the ridiculous deal. What starts as a contractual fling spirals out of control as lines blur and real feelings emerge. Brick’s falling hard, and Aspen’s rethinking her plot twist. The novel might be her ticket back to the top, but at what cost?
Because Aspen’s finally found her muse, but some stories may be too true to share.
Book of the Month isn’t just about finding love where you least expect it.
It’s about finding yourself in the pages of life’s unexpected chapters.
Book Of The Month had a happy ending and I was glad for these characters, but much like the dunes in the OBX it was a bumpy ride to get there. ~ Sharon – Simply Love Books
I’ve read Jennifer Probst’s work over the years here and there and the synopsis of this book, made me want to read Book of the Month. I’ll be upfront and honest that I’ve toyed with how to rate this book at times it was a 3 for me and at times it was a 4, in the end I did it enjoy it and will recommend it, but for me it wasn’t without some problems. Book of the Month was absolutely a fun and flirty summer romance, but at times I also found it frustrating.
Aspen is a well known author whose first book was a blockbuster hit that fans still talk about, her next two books including her very recent release, not so much. Her publisher isn’t happy, her agent has told her she needs another book like her first to stay relevant and she just isn’t sure she has it in her. Her first book was basically her story; her romance that crashed and burned and the feelings from that poured out of her and now she feels she’s just faking her way through her writing. I felt for Aspen, because I’ve had the pleasure of knowing many authors I know that imposter syndrome is something so many of them deal with and it paralyzes them. Deciding to get out of New York and head to the Outer Banks to stay with her sister, Aspen immediately begins to feel different in her new setting. She also decides that she needs a summer fling and a man to break her heart so she can once again write the emotional story she needs to write. I’m not truly on board with her and this decision especially when she sets her sights on Brick, a local who is known as a heartbreaker, so much so there is a support group formed by the women he’s supposedly wronged. At times I felt that Aspen was so desperate to latch on to Brick that had she been a man acting the same way towards a woman, people would have gone after him with a pitchfork. She just wouldn’t take no for an answer and ladies, NO is a complete sentence and women need to understand that as well as men.
Brick is doing his best to keep the tour company his late uncle left him up and running as well as try and keep a roof over his head and deal with his uncle’s dog who is kind of a mess. He doesn’t want or need a woman in his space or his life, but when Aspen offers to loan him money to keep the business alive if he’ll have a fling with her and break her heart, he can’t say no.
I really liked Brick and he was the epitome of still waters run deep and while it was obvious he enjoyed being around Aspen after a rocky start; I didn’t feel the heat between them for quite some time. Brick was such a genuine guy; willing to help the locals in any way they needed. On the other hand, I grew tired of Aspen always being down on herself and always comparing herself to others, so when the (for me) dreaded 3rd act break-up occurred I’ll admit I wasn’t a fan, at all. I had hoped that she’d learned and grown, but she didn’t and it went on too long and was resolved too quickly.
Unlike Aspen’s books; Book Of The Month had a happy ending and I was glad for these characters, but much like the dunes in the OBX it was a bumpy ride to get there.