Book Review: Smitten by Lauren Rowe

smitten.png
smitten synopsis.png

This was so precious. Even though I already said this recently about another book: my new favorite Lauren Rowe book. 

It felt very different from other books I’ve read by her. It’s a lot more light and fluffy. Fish/Matthew is such a kindhearted man. He is a great friend and supportive partner. Alessandra is really nice, too. She loves music, but is shy and has stage fright. She also has no relationship experience and Fish handles that spectacularly.

They are immediately attracted to each other and have long conversations. I’m a huge fan of that in my romance novels. Smitten is really the best word. Yes, they fall in love, but there’s an adorable sweetness and innocence to their relationship. It makes me so happy and I want to protect them with everything I have.

I also really loved the music. In the audiobook you get to actually listen to a song the characters wrote. I’m not normally a rockstar/musician romance person, but this definitely worked for me. Fish isn’t an over-the-top and cocky rockstar. Ms. Rowe also shows how passionate they are about their music. I’m a sucker for a passionate and competent character.

This is a stand alone, but connects to a lot of the other books. And timeline wise it overlaps with the Reed River Trilogy. You can read it on its own, but it’s so fun to see characters you’ve read about before. And I hope Lauren Rowe continues to write in this world/friend group.

Thanks for reading!
Holly