Having recently read a book with the "high-mantience girl vs rugged boy" trope, this one just fell really short in comparison. I don't like how Amity is portrayed, or the relationship between the two. I thought I'd really like the idea of a game show esque setting. I figured it would be really fast paced, and funny but I just didn't get that from this book.
The writing was easy to follow, and it was a very lighthearted book which I enjoyed but overall it just fell short for me.
I could defintely see others reading, and really enjoying this but alas, it wasn't for me.

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

Pre-reading:
Seems like standard smooth brain fare.

Thick of it:
Bestie, you're the one using the cooler. If you don’t want it, don’t use it. Oh, everything’s a brand name drop. Okay then. I read Alec Baldwin. This book has super awkward phrasing. Not just harm in general? We are on page 21, and he already wants her naked. She just cut her hair off. Honey, you’re not Mulan. This man is instantly in love with her just because she’s wearing some dry-fit T-shirt. Is she describing spidery arms as an attractive thing? What? I feel like she’s not using riveting correctly. Isn’t running in new shoes bad for you or something? Would you really call a Christmas tree a floral scent? “Bulge in his zipper compartment pants” I honestly can’t tell if she’s trolling. I don’t like her calling it personals. This man is a raging misogynist. She did not just say mad skills. Every comment this man makes is disparaging women. This book is not good, but it is entertaining. I think it would drift into solid two star territory if this man wasn’t so awful, but I just cannot buy him as a viable romantic interest when he’s this awful to women. Amity deserves better. “Of course, being a woman” I gasped. This book is hateful. Why do they call this man a people person? He actively hates people. Have these people showered once? He’s described as having octopus arms, and we’re supposed to be attracted to him? I’m confused. Clits aren’t really soft or inside. Poor typo or is she genuinely confused about personals? No one’s fainting over this. No one in romance books ever knows how to communicate, oh my lord. Yeah, wait a minute, how does he still have a goatee? None of them are shaving. All the girls should have like hairy legs and armpits. Also, how does he wear contacts in the wilderness and then he dives underwater and had to open his eyes? Can you do that with contacts? Wouldn’t they be all gross and filthy? What about like dust behind the contacts? Do Olympics people compete in contacts or do they have like extreme sports glasses? Google says they all get Lasik. An orangutan is not what pops into my head to compare people to. Yeah, I don’t buy them getting together. They both could’ve had 1 million dollars. Maybe like 10K you could let it go but 1 million. Also, I like how a 1 million dollar medical procedure is completely plausible. Fucking America. Oh yeah, she wears lipgloss she must be loaded. What the fuck is this book? This guy is so rude. Oh, she’s not rich so now he doesn’t have to feel guilty about not wanting to give her nice things. 0/10. That’s how it ends what the hell? I feel like it’s hard to live interchangeably at a Homestead because like don’t you have cows and stuff to take care of?

Post-reading:
This book annoys me. Reading about the competition was genuinely interesting. It’s a decent concept of an extreme survivalist reality show romance. The smut is bad. Easton is incredibly unlikable. He’s a misogynistic asshole. Hard to come back from that if it’s supposed to be a romance book. By no means is this book good, but I would’ve given this two stars if they had different inner monologuing for Easton. I feel like it needs a heavy, heavy edit.

Who should read this:
Easy read romance lovers

Do I want to reread this:
No

Similar books:
* Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson

Crush in the Cascades is a cute, mostly open door romance based in (you guessed it) the Cascades in Oregon where a new reality action-adventure TV show is busy pushing contestants to their limits in the great outdoors. Will the contestants win it all? Or give it all up for love?

While I definitely enjoyed the story overall there were a few things that left me wanting a bit more.

Let's start with what I loved:
1. A unique story that was a little bit The Amazing Race meets Survivor. I've never read a book that centered around a reality TV show. It was a fun plot that kept me engaged.
2. I actually really enjoyed the main Characters: Amity and Connor. They had personality and I enjoyed getting to know them better. I did have a few issues with Cooper (see below) but I felt like those issues were anomalies and not his actual persona.
3. The challenges they encountered through the show were a lot of fun. I wished I was actually watching them unfold on TV.

Things I didn't love:
1. The attraction between Connor and Amity felt a little too forced/intense at the beginning. It really didn't make sense to me to go from "Yeah, she's attractive, but I can't stand her" to ... the woodcutting challenge. I feel like that scene would make more sense after some forced proximity relationship building instead of the way it actually came to fruition.
2. The sex was a bit cringy for me. For me it would have been better with some fade to black and call it good.
3. Some of the plot fillers or the devices to move the plot forward felt too forced. I felt like I mostly understood Cooper but his bizarre efeelings and erratic actions toward Amity hindered the plot. It was just awkward to read those.

I feel like a bit more editing might find a way to smooth out these edges and make it an even more enjoyable read.

OVERALL I liked it.

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.