A fun novel from this promising new talent in romantic comedy. Runner-up in the 2019 Search for a Star competition sponsored by Your Cat magazine. What do mascara wands and gardening shears have in common? Absolutely nothing! At least that’s what wannabe beauty influencer Sophie Timney thinks when her friend Polly suggests involving her brother Marcus in Sophie’s make-up tutorials. She needs more … Sophie’s make-up tutorials. She needs more views, Marcus needs promotion for his gardening business – in Polly’s mind joining forces will help them both. Sophie isn’t so sure.
Because Marcus Bowman has a habit of getting under her skin in a way that no exfoliating face scrub ever could. But, as the views and comments on her videos begin creeping up, it becomes increasingly obvious that Sophie’s subscribers like Marcus, and what’s even worse is that Sophie might be starting to feel the same way …
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Just a Boy Friend: A laugh-out-loud debut romance you won’t want to miss! (Friends Book 1)
By lucykeeling
Raunchy, engaging and with the best kind of humour – A fab and entertaining read by Lucy Keeling.
This is a fabulously funny, steamy romance with uplifting and irresistible characters! I loved it!
This is the second book in the series but can be read as a stand-alone. The characters are so loveable and it’s a real page-turner!
Loved this! Really funny, with great characters. Including a hunky gardener and a resourceful makeup blogger. Set in funky Manchester.
A perfect feel-good romance with lots of laughs and some fabulously funny scene set-ups that also sizzle with sexual tension.
I absolutely loved this book, and all the back and forth between Marcus and Sophie. It was so fun!
Look, I get why Sophie wanted to work so hard for her career. I get her determination at wanting to shut Marcus out, but he was so lovable and even I was yelling at Sophie to get it together, just like all her friends were.
A fun, lovable, steamy book. I can’t wait to read the next one!!! All the characters in this book were life-like and different from one another. I loved them all.
It’s not often I’m at a loss for words, but miracle of miracles, this is one of those rare occasions *snorts*.
You know how they say never judge a book by its cover? Well, I present Exhibit A *points at MIUTY book cover* as evidence for the defence. Coz this story took me on a ride I did not see coming. Who knew such steamy deliciousness lay within? *shrugs* I was quite overcome *wafts face* – just W-O-W!
Beauty blogger, Sophie, is a girl with BIG ambitions. Trying to crack the beauty influencer market is no mean feat. Nothing and no one are going to get in her way. It takes hard work, planning and dedication (something she has in spades), but at the end of the day, it’s a numbers game. As in social media followers, likes, views, shares etc.
Stuck in a rut, she grudgingly agrees to a partnership of sorts with her friend’s brother, Marcus (hubba hubba). I freely admit I was left slightly perplexed and scratching my head at what kind of collab a makeup vlogger and gardener would come up with. Intrigued, you will be.
I honestly have not belly-laughed or snort-giggled so much in ages. If I wasn’t lol’ing, I was swooning, if I wasn’t swooning, I was threatening to knock sense into certain characters. My sound effects whilst reading were something special, I’ve gotta say.
Ugh, I honestly just loved everything about this book. The characters and the writing just swept me away and I have never been as glad to find out it’s the start of a series. I think this is one of those times that after each book I’m going to be saying, “They are my favourites.”
I’m showing my age (shut it), but for some reason I kept thinking of the 90’s series, This Life, as I was reading. Everyone has a story to tell. Just obviously with more laughs.
Lucy Keeling is definitely one to watch, and as such, she has just gained a new stalker – I mean fan!
Desperate to turn her fledgling social media makeup channel into a career, Sophie is fully prepared to work herself to the bone to make her dreams come true. She really doesn’t have time for a love life, but somehow, landscape gardener Marcus is managing to insinuate himself into her heart as well as onto her vlogs.
Sophie and Marcus are very believable as a couple, and Sophie has a wonderful group of supportive girlfriends in Mya, Paige and Polly. I know absolutely nothing about makeup or vlogging so probably can’t comment on how ‘legit’ that aspect of the story was, but it read fine to me as someone who is ignorant of either.
Charming and rather funny, though not really enough to fit into the romantic comedy classification, I’d call this a light-hearted contemporary romance. The only place this book was at all let down was in the line editing. The dialogue felt at times quite clunky and I noticed a few misplaced commas, extra ‘that’s which could have been dispensed with, and several times ‘pallet’ used in place of ‘palette’. I enjoyed the read; the storyline was fresh and interesting, but the editing did bring this one down to a four star rating for me.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book via Rachel’s Random Resources.
Favorite Quote:
‘He seemed really lovely. When we spoke online he was really polite, really attentive… When we met up he was in a smart outfit and really well put together… I hadn’t noticed the woman he came in with and didn’t notice her for ages as she was sat behind me. Anyway, long story short, it was his mother. It was also his mother I’d been chatting with online and she coached him through the entire date by signalling behind me… and I know all of this because afterwards she came up to me and explained who she was and would I give feedback on his performance. On the plus side, he paid for both drinks, well presumably with his pocket money.’ Sophie was speechless for a minute. ‘Oh, Jesus, Pol how the hell do you find them?”
My Review:
I enjoyed this amusing book, the humor was crisp, the majority of characters were interesting and appealing, and the storylines held my interest and piqued my curiosity – I am eaten up with it to know Mya’s secret career. This wily author is such a tease and cleverly left lots of breadcrumb trails for subsequent books. Yet I found myself tapping my little foot in consternation, as I had no love for the main character of Sophie. Sophie’s tedious self-involvement and mono-focus with her social media profile and YouTube videos were annoying to me, she was driven, selfish, and a rather thoughtless user. I did, however, enjoy most of the other characters and I fell into a swoon for the sweet, patient, and sexy Marcus. I coveted Marcus’s adoration and attention to Sophie as I wanted to steal him for myself.
In addition to providing my entertainment for the day, Ms. Keeling added to my Brit Word List with hench – Brit informal for a man with well-developed muscles; and mither – to fuss over or pester someone. I would most definitely mither over a sexy hench.