Reviews - First-Time Caller

18.1k reviews for:

Thank you to Berkley romance for my digital ARC!

First-Time caller is a love letter to love just as the author said in her note and a pretty good nod to Sleepless in Seattle. Lucie gets unexpectedly roped into becoming a radio jockey for a romance hotline show after her daughter Maya goes behind her back to call the show in order to help her mom with her love life. Aiden, the host of the show makes a pact to help Lucie find her love via the show while Lucie helps him cohost the show in exchange. There is a lil fun crossover with Bachelorette as well, while it has a really interesting premise I am so sad that this one really didn't work for me like for the majority.

I think not all the books have to work for us and its ok. My main issue was with not being able to gel with the writing/dialogue style because I had hard time distinguishing these characters as if they don't have a unique voice. I also struggled with the plot a bit, while I understand it is meant to be a super slow burn I felt parts of it are too redundant and lot of page time for inner monologues made the pacing feel off. I was little frustrated with Aiden's character as his "I want you but I am not the right person for you" tune got repetitive, I actually enjoyed the last 30% more as the pacing picked up for me. I enjoyed Lucie's character a bit more while I absolutely adored Grayson and Jackson's characters, overall it is a cute story but I hope I enjoyed it as much as everyone else did.

louarchives's review against another edition

4.5

OUT OF MY BOOK SLUMP (I hope)

dea080020's review against another edition

3.5

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

This was cute and funny. A nice light, contemporary rom-com. Pet peeve- audiobook has two narrators, but they alternate chapters instead of being fully integrated.

chasingpages1's review against another edition

3.75

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

audible_boss's review against another edition

4.0

Cute story. Well written with very likable characters. Although Aiden had the frustrating, “I’m afraid to love deeply & don’t deserve love, therefore I’m going to push you away” tropes, thankfully Lucie wasn’t deterred for long and put her cards on the table anyway. I also liked that she admitted to overhearing a hurtful comment and instead of the usual slinking away like in some stories, Lucie spoke up and questioned it! Few things frustrate me more than 2 characters who spend 1/2 a book suppressing hurt feelings because of a bunch of misunderstandings hidden from the other. That wasn’t the case in this story. I liked the blended family Lucie had. There were a couple well-written spice scenes.