Forever in a Kiss
Kissed by the Bay, Book 7

I Picked Up This Book Because: #Roll100

Media Type: eARC
Source: Netgalley
Dates Read: 2/14/23 - 2/28/23
Stars: 3
Narrator(s):

The Characters:

Claire Davenport:
Alex Murphy:
Michelle Moss (BFF), Missy Peters (Former BFF turned Frenemy)

The Story:

The short and quick of it is that I liked the characters. They had great chemistry. However, I quickly got sick of Clair’s obsession with a 7th grade kiss during a game of spin the bottle. I wanted her to grow up. I even considered DNF-ing as it was mentioned so often. (view spoiler) Full disclosure, I also have a hatred of excessive repetition so this probably hit a few notes on that particular pet peeve. The story overall was okay.

The Random Thoughts:

I always enjoy books by Susan Hatler and this book was no exception. It is a sweet, clean romance, so if you are into hot an steamy, this isn't for you. I don't like too much hot and steamy, but a bit more than this one had. Still a solid book. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy.

Forever in a Kiss by Susan Hatler is the seventh book in the contemporary romance Blue Moon Bay series. Now I haven’t read the other books in the series but upon a little investigation these seem to fall along the lines of most contemporary romance series and feature a different lead couple in each of the books so they read fine as a standalone. The series seems to all have in common the lovely little town of Blue Moon Bay and may have glimpses of previous leads but not having read all I can’t say that for sure.

At twenty-seven Claire Davenport has been focusing on Forever Designs, her boutique wedding dress business and hasn’t ever found the “one” for herself. With the business not making as much as she would like Claire has taken on a new challenging client in Missy Peters. Missy was a former childhood rival and not Claire favorite client. Soon Claire finds out though that along with Missy comes Alex Murphy back into her life. Claire’s once crush on Alex came to a halt when she shared her first kiss with him during a game and he never approached her afterward.

Forever in a Kiss was a cute, quick read. This one was a bit of a second chance with the characters having known each other previously and the story was enjoyable enough to follow with the characters being likable. It was a rather short read so of course there wasn’t a whole lot of depth to it but I would still rate this one in at three and a half stars and would give the author another try in the future.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This was such a cute book! I absolutely loved it! The story moved along well without any big gaps or slow moving sections. I really liked the characters, I thought they were well fleshed out and were believable as a couple.

I thought that this was a really enjoyable story.

It was a quiet romance that was slow to burn and an easy read with some great characters. I have read quite a few books by this author and this was another great story.

It is 4 stars from me for this one, it was well written and would be a great and easy story to read when you are on a summer holiday - highly recommended!!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book for an honest review.

A darling read that included just the right amount of love and romance you want in a book.

Wedding dress designer Claire Davenport is given the opportunity to design a glamorous dress for a prestigious client which will help her budding new business, but will things go as planned? Will love conquer all?

I adore cozy fireplace books and this one did not disappoint. I would definitely recommend this book!

A delightful and easy romantic read by Susan Hatler, Forever in a Kiss is a great way to escape from reality for a bit. Another story meant to take a reader back to their own firsts, in this case, their first kiss, it's got a delightful setting, great characters, and fast pacing ensuring that the reader will never get bored. Claire is a great heroine, humorous and relatable, and Alex portrays a great annoying hero at first meant to melt little-by-little. It lacks great chemistry, but it's a fun read none-the-less.

Nicely written, light-hearted and fluffy romance based around a kiss Claire (a wedding dress designer) had when she was twelve....she's now 27! Sigh. Maybe that scenario would have been more believable if she'd been - seventeen? Not quite the book for me, but I can appreciate that lots of other people will enjoy it more than I did. There's lots of snappy lines and fun scenes and it's YA/NA in flavour. Written in the first person. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in return for my honest opinion.

This book was a little cheesy but also very cute! I really enjoyed Claire as the main character and her battle with loving this man who she wasn't sure how he felt. I loved the first kiss story and how they came together again as she works to design a gown for a sort of friend's wedding. This was a fun read.

Everyone remembers a first kiss. And even with this being ultra cute and very sweet, it still works as an entertaining break from reality. I really enjoyed these cute characters. I hadn't read the previous book in this series but that didn't detract at all from the story.

A sweet romance. If you like second chance romance than this is for you.

This book is part of a series but can be read as a stand-alone. Claire is a dreamer and dreams BIG. Alex is a scientist and more grounded. Claire is stuck on Alex as he was her first kiss years ago (playing spin the bottle). I found it a little hard to believe but it was still a cute story

Forever in a kiss is an adorable love story with a happy ending. The author Susan Halter did an excellent job with each character, the story line and the ending.
Some romance books can be a little bit much and get carried away. But Forever in a Kiss is a very clean romantic story. There were times I laughed and times I shed a tear or two.
If you are looking for an easy well written love story to read I highly suggest Forever in a Kiss.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was adorable. She is designing a dress for her former school rival only to find out the best man is her past crush that she has never really been able to let go. He’s determined to stop the wedding and she can’t let that happen. This book was cute and I really enjoyed reading it. Thanks NetGalley.

Forever in a Kiss by Susan Hatler is a very good romance book. It was simple and easy to follow plot and characters. I liked how easily the story was to follow, it had a great flow. It was really based and focused on the main characters and did not need to have secondary characters.

Overall a good, easy to ready romance book.

ARC was provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had a very difficult time finishing Forever in a Kiss because it is frankly not my cup of tea. The idea behind the story is cute, but the execution is not there. I didn't feel any chemistry between the main characters, there is very little plot, and the fact that a grown woman is solely obsessed by a kiss she had years and years ago was a bit juvenile.
There is very little substance to this novel and the characters do not seem real. I also found the read to be very unoriginal.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cute book with interesting characters. Good storyline with some twists! A bit cliched about the first kiss, but good book overall.

This is a fun, clean romantic story that kept me entertained. I loved the humor in this book. This was the first book I have read by this author, but it definitely will not be my last! I’ve already started another one actually. Some of the characters really surprised me and that was the point in the story and it made such a wonderful point of our perceptions vs reality. It made for a touching story with some real meaning behind all the fun.

The story of Claire and Alex. She has always thought about him since their kiss years ago. But after the kiss he ignored her, so he obviously didn't feel the same.

Years later she meets him again. He is the best man and she is designing the wedding dress. He is trying to stop the wedding going ahead, so she sets out to find out why and stop his sabotage.

Unknowing they are also being set up by the bride, who can see they are attracted to each other.

Alex is keeping secrets though, so what will happen when Claire finds out?

An entertaining short read.

Have been enjoying this series and circle of friends and family and found this one a quick, somewhat tolerable read. The first few chapters were so incredulous that I think the author was just trying to extract some really deep and strong emotions from her readers. No one could have such terrible, unrelenting misfortune within hours of each mishap that wouldn't cause you to feel compassionate, yet I found the heroine wholly pathetic ,obsessive and simple-minded. The hero on the other hand was just a bit too smug and hateful for him to be likable and I thought of throwing my kindle with each act of stupidity and /or rancor. Strong emotions those times but I couldn't feel any real romantic connection between them once they decided to travel that path,and thought it all got wrapped up in a pretty bow rather quickly. Enjoyed the inclusion of previous characters throughout the book. One unanswered question though-did Claire ever get payment on Missy's wedding dress?

She's trying to get her wedding dress business off the ground, and a famous client (who just happens to be her ex-best friend) is just the thing to do the trick - however demanding she may be. He's the best man for the upcoming wedding - but seems to be doing his best to sabotage it. She can't let him succeed - both because she needs the business and the publicity, and because she believes in true, lasting love. But it just so happens that seeing him brings back memories of her first kiss, back in school - a kiss she's never forgotten - from him. Will she be able to make him believe in true love, and get her business on a firm footing at the same time? Or are the two equally doomed...?

I enjoyed this book as I have all the author's books to date - but was a bit frustrated that Claire seemed to assume that the fact that Alex was trying to prevent the wedding meant that he didn't believe in love in general. Though the latter appears to have been true, why couldn't he merely be trying to prevent it because Missy and Kyle were not suited to each other - which, if correct, would presumably be a praiseworthy thing, not a lack of belief in love. Anyway, despite that, I enjoyed the continuation of the series as a fun, clean, light read. It was particularly nice to see the gradual unfolding of Missy's character and motives, and I'd love to see more of her story.

Note that I received a copy of the book from NetGalley and this is my considered opinion of the book.