Crush in the Cascades was a cutesy romcom adventure that follows Easton Cooper and Amity Rose as they battle through a reality TV show amidst other contestants for a cash prize of $1 million. The reality show constantly changes its rules and throws out skills and challenges that keep the contestants guessing. Amity and Easton start off at odds and have a back-and-forth relationship that is almost Enemies to Lovers in its delivery while popping in with the miscommunication trope.

The book is a very light, happy read that brings in a breathtaking backdrop of the candidates competing along the PCT. If you're looking for an easy RomCom with a hint of spice for a summer read, this will make a great addition to your TBR.

I received this story as an E-ARC courtesy of NetGalley and BooksGoSocial and am sharing my thanks for allowing me to read an early copy.

I absolutely loved this read. The cover sucks you in and the concept of the story keeps you there.
5* read !!

Thank you to NetGalley for access to this title in exchange for an honest review.

Being a PNW native and a bit of a reality TV junkie (particularly of MTV's The Challenge, which this gave me vibes of), I wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. I would have liked there to be a bit more main character background early in the book so that the reader understood their motives even if the other characters didn't. There was also a bit too much giggling from Amity - it didn't align with the scrappy character she was set up as.

That being said, the author did a good job of describing the environment the book was set in. And it was an entertaining enough read that I will likely ready the second book in the series when it releases.

While I'm not a very big fan of books written in third person POV, I found myself quite drawn to not only the cover of this book but also the plot description. Going into it, I thought it was going to remind me quite a lot of the bachelor, the amazing race, and of ‘the charm offensive’ by Alison Cochrun, and it did, in the best possible way. I think the cover is very well designed as it’s a cover type that is super popular and well liked among most at this point in time, so points for that(I love it and I think it’s adorable).

I think the buildup of the main characters' relationship was well written and I loved all of the competition elements, like the challenges. I thought it was super cute and I'm incredibly glad that I got to read it.

The only reason I'd mark it down is probably because of the fact that it was written in third person, as it makes me feel kind of disconnected from the story, but what’s not my cup of tea, could be yours, so please give it a read!
I rate this book about 3.75 stars, and id recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the charm offensive or likes watching high intensity shows like The Amazing Race, Survivor or The Bachelor.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this early!

Crush in the Cascades is a fun, light read about a reality TV show, ‘The Race for Riches or Romance’ told in third person alternating POV - Amity and Easton Cooper. I adore the cover.

I liked the first half of the book better than the second. The relationship buildup was believable, considering the forced proximity circumstances and physical and mental challenges, but the romantic scenes are problematic. They’re cringey and more of a half open door. The dialog in these scenes is atrocious and, well, cringey. I did, however, enjoy the competition scenes.

I really like the idea of this book, it has a great premise and story, but the execution is just a tad off. Gayle’s writing, while good and descriptive is at times stilted, which in turn had me rereading several passages to make sense of them. Adding an additional word or sentence(s) for clarification would go a long way. Then there was the wrong use of several words, for example: stalked/stocked or humm/hmm or having a house that is “several square feet.”

Overall I enjoyed Crush in the Cascades and can recommend it. I think a lot of people will enjoy Amity and Easton and the reality show premise. However, I do think it would benefit from a thorough edit.

Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for providing an ARC in return for an honest review.

This was such a cute, fun read! I love the relationship between not only Easton Cooper and Amity (who doesn’t love a good enemies to lovers trope?!) but the other characters as well. I also love the “Amazing Race” style of this book, it really makes it stand out among other romances novels out now. The ending was fantastic and I can’t wait to read the next installment in this series!

This is so good! The gameshow idea is unique and provided some good tension, plus it fostered two great tropes: enemies-to-lovers and forced proximity. I really liked Easton and Amity, but why did he do that??? I understood why Amity didn’t want to be entirely truthful when there were cameras around, so this conflict felt natural, but if I were her, Easton would need to do a little more to earn my forgiveness. I’m glad Bria got a happy ending though, she was a cool side character. I’m excited to read the next book!

What a fun and easy read. I really enjoyed it.Read it in one sitting.Great book to get out of the reading slump. Plus, enemies to lovers trope.You can’t go wrong with that. Would definitely recommend.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

This book was a sweet contemporary romance that contained themes of adventure, lust, and heartbreak. It starts out as an instant enemies to lovers, but you quickly find yourself rooting for the character's to get over their dislike for the other. It's a unique theme to a romance novel that I have not experienced until now and I eagerly am awaiting the second book in the series to come out! Bravo!

This book was a difficult one for me to get through, I have to admit. I had a lot of issues with its delivery.

A positive for this book is that I have never read a gameshow adult lit before, which gave it a nice novelty factor and I was intrigued as to how this would be incorporated throughout the book. What I struggled with was that this meant the timeframe was mere days and this made the whole enemies-to-lovers almost thrown in just for the sake of it rather than adding to the plot development.

My biggest problem with this novel was its use of repetitive descriptions throughout the book. I think the word "slender" was used repeatedly to describe the majority of the build of most of the competitors, including both main characters (including Easton who, apparently, splits chunks of wood with ease with an axe - it feels a bit contradictory to describe him as a lumberjack with "rippling muscles" when the characters repeatedly refer to him as slender or thin?).
Throughout the book, Amity and Easton appear to just constantly giggle or laugh out loud to themselves whenever they thought something. A couple of times is one thing, but in every chapter? They must have come across as lunatics to other characters.
This one may just be a personal slight, but the use of "princess" as a sarky term of endearment will always rub me the wrong way, no matter how well a book is written. I feel this is an overdone trope.

I found that the novel did not really have much pacing and the ending just felt shallow and forced and existing only to neatly tie up lots of loose ends. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters despite my personal love of reality TV and romance novels. This novel just didn't really get out of the stalls for me unfortunately.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.