It’s the holiday season and Anna is back home in her small conservative home town which is never fun when you’re liberal, queer and your parents are extra conservative. Or when you meet a gorgeous woman at the bar who you share a stolen kiss with just to find out it’s your brother’s new girlfriend… or is it just the start of something?

This very much gives off Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Cochrun but with less queer acceptance due to this one being set in a small conservative American town. And the cheating aspect with the bi MC Louise, the brother’s girlfriend. But it was a short novel with some fun sprinkled in around learning to accept and love yourself.

Thanks NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for this ARC.

3.5 stars

I really struggled to connect with the characters, but this was still a fun read overall! I enjoyed the pacing and found it easy to stay engaged, despite struggling to connect with the characters!

The characters came off as very similar and the dialogue just seemed forced? Inauthentic? The pacing felt wonky to me.

Unfortunately this just wasn’t for me

This was a really fun sapphic read with a great premise and enjoyable characters. I would highly recommend.

This book had bits I loved and bits I really didn't. Overall a good tropey sapphic romance.

What I liked: Small town vibes, instant attraction, forbidden romance, plenty of queer characters.

What I didn't like: part of the cheating aspect (more specifically the cheater was the bi character), not enough comeuppance for the bigoted parents, for a story set around the holidays not enough of a holiday vibe.

Overall the story is well written and fast paced. Hooks get resolved through out the story keeping you interested. The characters are not the most likeable but they are fleshed out. its a quick easy read that follows Anna and Louise. Anna is home for the holidays on the tail of her business collapsing. Unfortunately her parents are classist, homophobic bigots with zero redeeming qualities. Louise is meeting her boyfriends parents for the first time, however she already has one foot out of the relationship. A chance meeting in a small town dive bar before either knew who the other was, and a brief stolen kiss before they thought they'd never see each other again, kicks off the story. But when Anna comes downstairs to meet her brothers girlfriend she find none other than Louise. A series of near misses and misunderstandings happen until all three of them get their happily ever after.

Stolen Kiss is a story following Anna, who is home with her parents for the holidays, and that makes her right about miserable. As she is drowning her sorrows at the local bar, she meets a beautiful stranger who she ends up kissing. The stranger's name is Louise, and she is in town to meet her long-distance boyfriend's family. To make an awkward situation even more awkward, Anna soon discovers that Louise's long-distance boyfriend is actually her brother, Clay. So now Anna has to deal with the fact that she kissed her brother's girlfriend, and try her best to suppress the feelings she is developing for Louise. Louise on the other hand, is burnt out from medical school, and rethinking her and Clay's relationship as a whole even before she kisses Anna. Now, all under the same roof, it seems everyone has their own issues, and Anna and Louise need to figure out what to do.

Overall, this book was a fast and enjoyable read, I finished it extremely quickly. It was entertaining, and it was exactly what you would expect given the synopsis. I am not the biggest fan of the cheating trope, but there are novels that make it perhaps not okay, but understandable. This novel, however, did not accomplish that for me, I didn't really appreciate the even broader secrets that everyone kept and how no one communicated a single feeling they had. Anna and Louise fall in love extremely quickly, to an intensity that I don't really find believable, and I really didn't like Louise especially. I feel like such a plot needs a better backstory, and better explanation for why the characters are acting the way they are.

I did feel sympathetic for Anna, she was probably the most developed character. I was slightly frustrated with her at times, as even by the end I didn't truly understand why she was spending these holidays with her family (yes, it was explained to an extent, but no, I still don't think it was really explained). Other than Anna, I really enjoyed her best friend, Rachel, I think they were a great friend and great addition to the story, and I truly loved George and only wished he had more time on the page, and I would love to read a story starring him.

I think the story somewhat struggled with pacing, there would be quite a bit of repetition, a situation would happen in one character's POV, and then it would be retold over the phone (or in a similar manner) in the next chapter. And as I said, I really struggled with not liking some of the main characters. Both Louise and Clay were characters I didn't really care for the majority of the story. Given the big reveal at the end, Clay's situation is understandable to an extent, but the amount of lies and miscommunication and the whole drama he and Louise kind-of-accidentally-but-not create is just making it very hard for me to root for them. Louise literally refused to break it off with Clay, even though the very premise of the story is that she is mentally done with the relationship, she thinks she and Anna shouldn't sneak around, but she instigates the majority of their sneaking around, and I was more annoyed than anything reading from her perspective.

I will say, I did like that Anna and Clay's parents were told off and left behind in a way. They were terrible to both Anna and Clay (but especially Anna), and while I would like to think that everyone can grow and learn, I think it's also important to emphasize that sometimes you have to just, plain and simple, leave some situations and people. I think it's healthy to recognize that sometimes you need to know when to cut your losses and look out for yourself. Not every situation and relationship can be fixed, and I'm glad that this book didn't choose the 'easy way' out.

All that being said, I did think this story was fun and interesting, and some of the characters made this story worth my time. I would for sure be interested in reading more from Spencer Greene, and if you're in the mood for something that reads fast with some redeemable (and some less) characters, I would recommend this book! :)

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Louise is in medical school and eternally exhausted. She agrees to spend the holidays in her boyfriend's hometown with his aggressive-at-best parents. Upon her arrival to town, she goes to the local bar to decompress where she is met with a beautiful stranger who ends up sharing an earth-shattering kiss with Louise.

When Louise's boyfriend picks her up and brings her to his family's home, she is introduced to his sister Annabelle, who happens to be the stranger from the bar. What's the worst that could happen?

Stolen Kiss by Spencer Greene was a cute, emotional, holiday-esque romcom that navigates heavy topics such as grief, cheating, abusive parental relationships, and coming out with grace.

Thank you immensely to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the ARC and the chance to read and review Stolen Kiss prior to its release date.

I was hesitant at first given the synopsis of this work book. But I was taken in by Greene's delicate handling of the situatuon.

Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Unfortunately, that wasn't my book and I'm having a hard time rating it. I don't mean to badmouth the book, but I don't have a lot of good things to say either.

Anna is back in her hometown where she bumps into a stranger in the bar on her first night. The chemistry between them is intense, a kiss is also exchanged quickly. With the thought of never seeing each other again, they say goodbye to each other. Not knowing that the stranger is Anna's brother's new girlfriend Louise.

Stolen Kiss is Spencer Greene's debut. This is not only noticeable in the writing style (unauthentic dialogues), but also in the plot (very little happens other than the family reunion) and characters (very one dimensional). Those aspects are not very sophisticated nor special. Especially the characters are unsympathetic (most of all Louise and Anna’s parents). A bit impractical considering that such a love story would need likeable characters.

It’s a fast pacing story and more importantly a quick read, told in third person, focus on Anna. Just a few chapters focus on other characters . Since it is not a particularly demanding story (neither in terms of language nor content), it is also suitable for non-native speakers. The last third went even faster than the parts before. I personally did not like this rush. However, I expected the plot twist near the end, but didn't long for it. Overall, I was really looking forward to a believable excuse for cheating, but that was not it.

I would have expected a well thought out and contemporary romcom. The premise would have been there. You kiss a stranger in the bar and the next day find out that this is your brother's new girlfriend? Yes, this screams a 2000s movie starring Cameron Diaz as Louise. (Yes, CD would probably come back into showbiz for a role like that, I'm pretty sure!)

All in all, this was not my book. Too many chlichés and a not very remarkable story. Nonetheless, I hope that Greene will do well in the writing business.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bold Stroke Brooke for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, even though it started with a cheating kiss! I liked both main characters and the push pull dynamic. I could see why they both behaved like they did. Even though it was irritating at times!!
I LOVED the side characters - especially George ! I even loved the way the parents were written (though obviously not the parents themselves)
It was totally predictable right from the start but I thought it was written well and was enjoyable reading!

Even though this book is about cheating I could actually get past that, especially with the promising start of this book. Unfortunately after that it turned into a lot repetitive thought processes, misunderstandings, no communication between the characters yet also a case of instalove. All this overshadowed the promising start and interesting storyline and dampened my enjoyment of the book quite a lot. Not to say this was a bad book perse, but not one of my favorites either.

***Thank you Netgalley and Bold Stroke Books for the chance to read and review this book***

<i>Thanks to Bold Stroke Books and NetGalley for this eARC</i>

I don't know if I've ever encountered a title that I enjoyed this much that also nearly made me rage quit reading it! I honestly have a bit of whiplash from it.

I was loving this book. It was giving me a lot of the same vibes as [book:Kiss Her Once for Me|60321485], which was among my favourite books last year. I really enjoyed Anna and Louise as characters, and the story had a great mix of their POV's. On top of this, their chemistry is off the chart, when they get along (more on that in a bit)...also, the spicy scenes are written SO well, super hot.

The supporting cast is really interesting...I would die for George, that big marshmallow deserves the best in the world. Josh is nice, a non-toxic cishet white dude who readily accepts when someone tells him that they're gay and doesn't push. Even the 'Heathers', who you expect to be the same old mean girl-type stereotypes they clearly were in high school. I cannot express how much I <b>loved</b> the expectation subversion with Gina, how it seems like she'd going to be the standard toxic rival for Anna's affections while trying to remain closeted, but we get pretty much the exact opposite of that. Rachel when they are on page is the consummate incredible best friend, Louise's mother what we get of her is also an incredibly accepting voice of reason. Even Clay is decent a lot of the time. It's all so sweet and so good!

Unfortunately, it's all nearly completely undone by the 3rd act. As I said above, I was so angry I nearly rage-quit the book, and those feelings lingered throughout much of the rest of the book. Big spoiler filled rant: <spoiler>It was not a surprise that Clay was queer and involved with George. It was telegraphed pretty heavily, but I was totally fine with that. I also expected to be a marriage proposal. But the way it was handled made me fume. And then nearly everything afterward felt like putting a bandaid on a gaping wound and calling it healed. It felt very forced. I was pissed that Louise said yes to the proposal. I know, I know, she didn't want to embarrass/out Clay, I don't care, there were ways to do that without outting him. From a catharsis standpoint, we the readers deserved to see the Nelson sibling's parents get put in their place, publicly. Instead, the last we see either of them is Anna trying to give her father a piece of her mind and him getting the last word in, worse than ever. In theory, Clay ends up telling the parents off, but we only hear about it second hand, from a non-POV character who has a habit of lying and kowtowing to his parents, so it is utterly unsatisfying. The solving of Anna's money troubles was both given a ton of weight, but then also happened on the page in a blink and you miss it manner, and I'm not sure whether I wanted more details, or for it to be less of a big deal. Also, all the various apologies ended up feeling so circular they all started to blend together, and they needed to be better. Especially frustrating was one aspect of Louise's apology: she apologizes for being mean, and for implying Clay should have told his parents everything, but she makes no such implication, at least to me. She says <i>'You're good on your feet. You'll figure it out.'</i>, which to me is totally a 'you've been bullshitting them, I'm sure you'll come up with more bullshit'. And very minorly, but Anna's Breeder's tshirt felt a little Chekov's gun-like...it's pointed out a few times, and when Louise finally puts it on after Anna leaves, you think it'll come up SOMEWHERE with other characters, either Clay, or Anna herself when they reunite, but nothing. And because I was having trouble with all the aspects of the apologies, the final reunion and reconciliation between Louise and Anna felt...unearned. Like it was happening because this is a romance and needed a HEA rather than feeling satisfying.</spoiler>

That sort of brings us to the other minor qualm I had with the book, the one that honestly would be almost forgettable by comparison: This book needed another pass with an editor to help with the flow, particularly with the dialogue. There are a lot of instances where a character will be speaking and Greene will break their dialogue up by putting the next sentence or two on a new line, seemingly randomly, without any descriptive text to explain why, like <i>Anna shifted uncomfortably</i> or <b>something</b>, and also she'll have characters having conversations where she has line after line of dialogue without clarifying who is saying what. When she does both of these in one conversation, it was really hard sometimes to figure out who was saying what.

All in all, I was loving this book, and fully ready to give it a 4.5 stars, but my annoyance with the 3rd act was so extreme, it takes a full star off and so I've giving this a 3.5 stars.

4.5 ⭐️

The drama was so good. It gave off a "Delilah Green Doesn't Care" vibe in the best way.

Anna was going home to her small town and Louise headed to meet her boyfriend's parents for the first time. They meet in a bar and obviously, the rest is history because after an impulsive makeout session after leaving the bar thinking they would never see each other again, right?

The story was interesting from the start. The setting was done nicely and the characters were lovable—minus Anna and Clay's parents I don't think anyone could love them. The romance hits quick and while everything happens within less than a week it doesn’t actually feel like it. The characters were written well and with flaws and backstories. I will say all the back and forth was a bit annoying even after learning about their past/reasoning. I just wanted to lock them in a room and force them to talk. I guess I just don't do well with the miscommunication trope.

I was really happy with how this ended. Even if I wanted to scream at Anna to look at the situation differently there for a moment (it does make sense that she misunderstood the situation given her family but still had me wanting to yell at my phone as I read).

And lastly, George is the absolute best and I can not express that enough, he deserves all the best vibes.

2 stars, Two strangers meet in a bar and feel an instant connection. Annabelle Nelson is back in her hometown after he life falls apart. She is embarrassed and not sure how long she is going to stay. She finds out the stranger she kissed was her boyfriend's girlfriend. She must now interact with the person she was attracted to for the next two weeks,

This book is okay. It was not terrible but forgettable and i thought the end was kind of weird. I did not feel like everything was resolved. The chemistry between the two characters is okay but. i feel like there was not enough interactions. The whole concept was a little weird to me and the way it ended was not my favorite. I am not sure I would recommend this one.

It was an easy read but quite predictable. The parents on the other hand were appalling.

3.5 stars

I tend to typically avoid books which are centered around the cheating/unfaithfulness trope but the combination of instant attraction and forbidden love really drew me into the plot so I decided to put my reservations to one side and I’m so glad I did.
Stolen Kiss is told through a dual POV narrative, with chapters alternating between the different perspectives of Anna and Louise. This was really well executed and the insight into the thoughts, feelings and background of both women it gave us really added depth to their characters and made us really want to root for their relationship.
Anna and Louise were incredible instantly-likeable protagonists with off the charts chemistry who both have real depth to them. I loved how unapologetically herself Anna was and through the character of Louise we were given a beautiful exploration of grief and the difficulty of allowing yourself to be vulnerable enough to open your heart to a new relationship following the death of a partner.
We also had some really strong supporting characters through Rachel, George and Louise’s Mum (who is an absolute gem). I’d really love further books on this gang as I feel they have so much more to give and it would be lovely to see some of the potential relationships hinted at towards the end of the story play out.
As you would expect from an LGBTQIA+ romance, Stolen Kiss has a really diverse set of characters and we have lesbian, bisexual, gay and non-binary representation. There’s a great coming out scene and we get some wonderful spicy scenes which were some of my favourite I’ve read in queer romances.
I liked the simple choice to set the story around the holidays. The description of the Christmas market made me fall in love with the fictional town of Trenton and it added a real cosy element to the story.
In Anna and Clay’s parents, Spencer Greene has successfully written two of the most intentionally unlikeable characters I’ve ever come across, which is no mean feat. They honestly have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I did like the choice to give the parents no reprieve and focus more on the characters cutting ties and focusing on their found family instead as this isn’t something I’ve seen a lot of in other stories despite it ultimately often being the reality for LGBTQIA+ people with unaccepting families.
Towards the end of the book there is a twist involving the character of Clay and I will say that this was something I predicted very early on and I’m in two minds of whether or not I think it was a necessary twist.
I would also have liked an epilogue to give some closure on how their relationship played out. They do have a real whirlwind romance so it would be really interesting to get some insight on how their relationship is months or even years down the line.
Overall, Stolen Kiss is a strong, heart-warming queer romance which is hot and flirtatious from the first chapter and very difficult to put down. It would be the perfect holiday read.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
I have posted an extended review on my blog www.yourschloe.co.uk and the post is linked.

I am reading quickly to find the resolution in a difficult situation. One of the mains I haven't really taken to, which always puts a book at a disadvantage. I also find some interactions stilted or at least not so much the interactions as the descriptions around the interactions.
I got irritated by the whole a conversation would have avoided all the drama. I realise the drama is needed to keep the book interesting but that only works for me when I am immersed in the drama and I cant be immersed when I’m thinking “why didn’t she just tell her?”
For me the lack of communication as well as my not really liking one of the mains as well as even the sex scenes not working for me meant this was not the book for me. There were some lines I did like and I kept reading but this wasn’t the book for me but it may be the book for you! 2.5 rounded to 3 because it was potentially an interesting plot dilemma.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy of “Stolen Kiss”.

Premise: Louise is going to meet her boyfriends family in Trenton, VA for the first time. Louise has a few hours to kill once her plane lands so she heads over to “the Bar” (the only bar) in the small town. It’s there that she meets Anna, who is dealing her with own stresses and just left NYC for what she thinks is the last time after her company went belly up. The two commiserate over drinks and as the day goes on, the two feel ~something~ for each other. As they are about to leave Louise kisses Anna (thinking she’ll never see her again). Welllll, guess what! Anna is Louises boyfriends sister who she had not met yet. All the chaos ensues.

Opinion: I thought the premise of this story was a good one, I’m not into the cheater trope but it worked well for this story. I liked the small town trope and how everyone and everything was connected in the end. BUT I felt the story was repetitive, the details were nice but I heard most of the story twice, one while it was happening and then again when someone was recalling it. I was also not impressed with the brother/boyfriend Clay, he was a very blah character. The drama I expected in this story just … wasn’t there and the HEA felt rushed. Not a bad read but not sure its one i’d reread either.

Stolen Kiss is always going to be one of those books that people either love or hate on principle. The plot centres around someone cheating, which can be a sensitive topic for many readers. In my opinion, though, good on Spencer Greene for writing the story she wanted to write, and not baulking away because of what others may think. After all, it’s a story, its character arcs and learning curves. But most importantly, everyone gets their HEA. Stolen Kiss has it all.

Anna is dreading going home for the holidays to a family who judges every aspect of her life. To make matters worse, she has to admit defeat in her most recent enterprise and suffer through all of the ‘I told you so’s.’

Louise is in town to meet her (long-distance) boyfriend’s family and knows it is a mistake. She is ready to move on, but the time doesn’t feel exactly right.

When Louise and Anna meet in a bar and divulge parts of themselves they wouldn’t usually, both find the other too easy to talk to and the mutual attraction grows all the way to a kiss goodbye. When the two women meet again a couple of hours later only to discover that Louise’s boyfriend is Anna’s brother, neither knows how to react. Add in a shared bedroom and lots of bonding; the initial attraction can’t be denied.

Stolen Kiss is well-written and fast-paced. The chemistry between Anna and Louise is sizzling, and it isn’t long before the story opens up and a few puzzles are cleared up. There is a bit of angst, but the support of family and friends balances it out nicely. Stolen Kiss is a great debut novel, worth checking out.

This was a bit of a mixed bag - on one hand I liked certain aspects of the plot, but on the other it was difficult to enjoy as some of the characters were extremely unlikable.

Anna is having a tough time with work and life when she heads home to stay with her parents over the holidays. Said parents are absolutely awful to her, and at times their behaviour was difficult to read. She meets Louise at a bar in her hometown, they share a connection and a kiss, then lo and behold she soon finds out that Louise is her brother's girlfriend.

I love a forbidden romance plot and at times, I really enjoyed it in Stolen Kiss. The one aspect that I found difficult though was Anna's attraction to Louise. For me, Louise was another unlikeable character and I couldn't see how Anna had such strong feelings over her after such a short period of time.

The amount of unlikable characters in this novel is a lot, which distracts away from the novel itself. Thankfully, there's a few gems and I liked the storyline of Anna's work-life.

I thought the ending was a little rushed, but overall its a decent debut and I'm keen to see what's next for Spencer Greene.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.