In The Event of Love by Courtney Kae Book Review

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Blurb

With her career as a Los Angeles event planner imploding after a tabloid blowup, Morgan Ross isn’t headed home for the holidays so much as in strategic retreat. Breathtaking mountain vistas, quirky townsfolk, and charming small businesses aside, her hometown of Fern Falls is built of one heartbreak on top of another . . .

Take her one-time best friend turned crush, Rachel Reed. The memory of their perfect, doomed first kiss is still fresh as new-fallen snow. Way fresher than the freezing mud Morgan ends up sprawled in on her very first day back, only to be hauled out via Rachel’s sexy new lumberjane muscles acquired from running her family tree farm.

When Morgan discovers that the Reeds’ struggling tree farm is the only thing standing between Fern Falls and corporate greed destroying the whole town’s livelihood, she decides she can put heartbreak aside to save the farm by planning her best fundraiser yet. She has all the inspiration for a spectacular event: delicious vanilla lattes, acoustic guitars under majestic pines, a cozy barn surrounded by brilliant stars. But she and Rachel will ABSOLUTELY NOT have a heartwarming holiday happy ending. That would be as unprofessional as it is unlikely. Right?

Triggers

This is a sweet book that doesn’t have very many sensitive topics that arise but I’ve included the potentially sensitive content that I observed:

Alcoholism (not MCs)
Death of a Loved One
Profanity
Sexually Explicit Scenes

Ratings

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There are possible **SPOILERS** beyond this point!

Overall Rating

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Morgan Ross and Rachel Reed were the best of friends, maybe more, until hurtful words pushed one away from the other. Morgan leaves their small town, Fern Falls, to chase a big career in event planning while Rachel remains to help with her family’s tree farm. When Morgan returns to her hometown, she sees that Rachel’s business is struggling; she believes that helping will perhaps solve both of their problems.

Morgan and Rachel were both so cute when it came to each other! The pining from either of them was enough to just about break my heart! I found myself swooning over how thoughtful and caring Rachel was to Morgan. The ways Morgan saw Rachel and uplifted her was so beautiful! Morgan’s narration had me giggling often. I usually prefer dual POV. This book is told only from Morgan’s perspective but the confessions we get from Rachel and the rest of the cast were worth the absolute shock I experienced!

This book has a strong small-town community that you will fall in love with! I liked the small businesses that Morgan and Rachel’s friends own and operate in Fern Falls. This town felt real and I felt the same passion these characters had for preserving the integrity of these establishments. For example, I don’t even drink coffee but I was convinced to try a latte from a local coffee shop while reading this book. The jury is definitely still out on the coffee but the smells added lots to the reading experience for me lol

The Christmas parts of this book didn’t feel cheesy. But I didn’t love the resolutions for some problems they encountered and it was very “Hallmark”. They were solved a little too easily in my opinion. It made their victories unbelievable at times but it kinda suits how sweet, and whimsy this story was overall. There was a lot of love in this book and I enjoyed the ending and epilogue!

Spice Rating

3/5 🌶🌶🌶

This book does have a couple of steamy parts but mostly toward the end and I would say the door is open.

Genre & Tropes

Genre

Contemporary Romance

Tropes

Friends to Lovers Romance
Slow Burn
Mutual Pining
Second Chance Romance
Small Town Romance

Favorite Quotes

“Go fuck a pair of plaid capris.”

“Love never stops being scary. People choose to keep being brave.”

“No one’s laugh warmed me from the inside like yours. No one looked at me in that gentle way you do that instantly reassures me everything will be okay. No one’s voice was as sweet as yours, presence as easy as yours. They made me miss you more.”