ARC Review: Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score

Genre ~ contemporary romance ~ romantic comedy

Tropes ~ small town, slow burn, steamy

Release date ~ June 21, 2022

POV ~ 3rd person follows Maggie & Silas

Page count ~ 417

Audio length ~ 13 hours 41 minutes

My rating ~ 5⭐

My review:

One of the best best friends to lovers/fake marriage books I’ve read.

Mia and Noah have been best friends since they were seven, now they’re in their 30’s and neither have settled down. An opportunity comes up for Mia to go back to school full time and she is elated. Problem ~ she can’t quit her job that offers medical insurance that she desperately needs for her chronic illness/kidney transplant. Noah has the perfect solution ~ they’ll get married, so she can quit her job and concentrate on her dream of being a pediatric dietician. It takes lots of chicken wings to get Mia on board with this plan ~ and yes, I had wings for dinner the day I finished this, not plain though.

Dual 3rd person POV was perfect for this story. I really enjoyed their easy friendship, Noah’s protectiveness (well actually this fits for both of them), the jokes they played on each other, and, of course, the would you rather game they’ve been playing for all these years. It took a bit, but they finally realize their feelings go deeper and they give in to their desires ~ in a clean manner.
I am a believer in YOLO, so I wasn’t feeling either of their decisions for certain things, but luckily it all worked out in the end.
Claire and Graham and Natasha and Barbara were great side characters too.

Overall, super cute ~ super fun ~ quick read ~ heartwarming ~ sweet ~ some teary moments ~ lovable characters (except one, there’s always gotta be one) ~ an all around delight.

I would absolutely be interested in reading more from this author.

*Thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Allison Ashley and NetGalley for the ARC. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*

A rare full on 5 stars from me. Where has Lucy Score been all my adult reading life??

Maggie is a youtube sensation flipping houses.
Dean is her right hand man helping with the business.
Silas is a hot landscaper working on Maggie’s latest house.

Maggie is already a delight, but Silas is such a charmer that he was able to bring even more delightfulness out of her. He could charm the pants off a mannequin. Every single character was lovable and I especially loved the mischief Kevin! he’s so adorable. Anyone would be lucky to have a BFF like Dean. Wallace was a perfectly named grumpy old man. Cody just needed someone to show him some support and I’m so glad he got it. Silas’s extended family was a great addition to the story.

I love that it was told in 3rd person following Maggie and Silas.
Although it was love at first sight for Silas, it was a bit of a slow burn as Maggie took too long for me to figure out what she wanted. Their chemistry was on fire and luckily we didn’t have to wait a terribly lengthy amount of time for the steamage. It wrapped up as perfectly perfect as I knew it would. The mystery behind the house was fun to read about too.

I was able to listen to the final version on audio as well, so I went back and forth reading and listening. Ultimately both ways were wonderful. Emma Wilder did a lovely job narrating for 13 hours and 41 minutes, easy to follow at 2x. She had lovely male voices too.

*Thanks to Forever (Grand Central Publishing), Lucy Score and NetGalley for the ARC. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*

⬇Purchase links⬇

Can these opposites turn up the heat… without burning down the house?

House-flipping sensation and YouTube star Maggie Nichols can’t wait to dig into her next challenge. Arriving in tiny Kinship, Idaho, with only a cot and a coffeemaker, Maggie is prepared to restore a crumbling Victorian mansion in four months or less. She has her to-do lists, her blueprints, and her team. What she doesn’t have is time for sexy, laid-back landscaper Silas Wright.

The man takes flirtation to a whole new level. And he does it shirtless…sometimes pants-less. He and his service school-dropout dog are impressively persistent. But she’s not interested in putting down roots. Not when fans tune in to watch her travel the country turning dilapidated houses into dream homes. A short-term fling on the other hand could fit nicely into her calendar. After all, Maggie remembers what fun is like. Vaguely.

As their summer gets downright steamy, Silas manages to demolish the emotional walls she’s spent years building, sending Maggie into a panic. He’s the wrench in her carefully constructed plans. With the end of the project looming, she has a decision to make. But how can she stay when her entire career is built on moving on? 

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