*2.5/5*

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book. Well, I do. I didn't really like it.
I thought the blurb was interesting, and the plot seemed good, so I had a couple of expectations. however, I was not expecting anything that actually happened.
-by 40%, the main characters hadn't even met yet.
-by 75%, we're already at the third act conflict.
-by 85%, they're saying I love you but then breaking up?
-by 90%, everything is resolved.
-the romance felt like more of a subplot, even though I don't actually know what the actual plot was. The romance didn't feel big enough to be the main plot, but neither did that "mystery" or whatever that was.
-i don't really know anything about the mmc Noah. He was just there. and then they were in love? idk.

the few things I did like:
-i really did like the fmc Ella. She was confident and knew what she wanted and fought for it.
-i liked the project manager aspect of it all, it was way more interesting than I thought It would be.
-i loved the dynamic between all the workers at the construction site. Especially Ted. he was my fave.

The pacing of the book was extremely odd. it also went by so fast. I read the entire thing in maybe 4 hours maximum. If you don't mind a super fast-paced book and a bunch of random characters just being there, then I guess you can read this book?

Unfortunately, I didn’t really love this book. There were definitely things that I enjoyed about the book, but for a romance novel, the relationship took a back seat to the rest of the plot. The book had a lot going on and because of that everything seemed a bit rushed or condensed, which I think was part of the reason I didn’t feel that invested in Noah and Ella’s story. I also found myself a little too stressed when reading this novel because of everything Ella was juggling, between her shitty ex, work drama, and battling unemployment, this girl couldn’t catch a break.

My rating: 2 stars

I’d like to thank Pheobe MacLeod and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this ARC.

**Spoiler warning**

Things I liked:

I liked Ella as a character. I thought she was a strong independent woman, even if she at times was a touch too stubborn.

Pheobe MacLeod also did a great job describing visuals throughout the book which really helped me picture the story as I was reading along.

Things I disliked:

One of the main things I disliked about this book was the fact we don’t get to meet Noah’s character until halfway through the book. By then there wasn’t a lot of time to really develop his character and I didn’t find myself that interested in their relationship because it wasn’t really developed. Honestly, I wouldn’t consider this book a romance novel. It was more of a fiction book about Ella’s life that had romance as a subplot. There was so much going on in the book from her ex scamming their company to the queen bitch embezzling from her new job. There also was so much backstory leading up to Ella meeting Noah that this book sort of had two phases each with full plot arcs and it forced everything to be a bit too condensed for my liking.

Overall I think it wasn’t my cup of tea, but I enjoyed the overall concept.

A light hearted book and a perfect beach read, funny and heartwarming, I enjoyed every minute of this lovely story

a cute and charming romcom that was delightful.

thank you to netgalley and to the publisher for this review copy.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

Part love story, but more than that a story of self love and discovery. Ella’s self obsessed boyfriend Lee, pulls a quick scam at their job resulting in her getting fired. Now Ella is stuck job hunting, while Lee gloats about his new job. Nervous, but ready for a change Ella interviews and accepts a job as a Project Manager… at a construction site. Leaving Lee in her rear view mirror, she sets off full of excitement for her new role. The more time she spends at her new job, and with the site foreman Noah the more comfortable she becomes. As we watch Ella grow more confident in herself, we also get to see her and Noah become closer too.

This was a quick and sweet story, and I must say the setting and material of the book was refreshing. So often with this genre of books the settings are just repeated, so I loved learning and ready about the Construction world!

I enjoyed this book was a cute and quick read with likeable main characters. I thought the construction aspect and having to pivot careers was interesting and could relate to the FMC. Giving this one 3 starts while I liked it there wasn't much to make it stand out to me. I want to thank NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not sure if I actually liked this book or not. I think I enjoyed it to an extent, but I do have a lot of issues with it.

If this was just a contemporary fiction, I think I would have liked it so much more. I loved Ella as a main character. She was strong and confident in her self-worth. I loved that her career was as a Project Manager and I was way more interested in learning about that than I had expected. I also loved her dynamic with the employees at the building site, particularly with Noah when they were just coworkers/friends, amd with John and his nicknames for everyone. And I was so happy that she realized how big of a walking red flag Lee was and didn't go groveling back to him.

My biggest issue is that it's marketed as a romance, but that seemed to be such a miniscule part of the plot that it was almost nonexistent. We don't even meet Noah, the love interest, until halfway through the book and it took until almost 75% of the way through before we got any sort of romance and it wasn't even that much at that. The entire romance seemed to move in fast forward, and all of a sudden they are saying they love each other and I have no idea how we got there because barely anything had happened between them. I almost wish Ella and Noah stayed friends because their chemistry was so much better. There was so much else going on in the plot that the romance seemed unnecessary.

My other issue is the pacing of the book. For me, I felt like we spent entirely too long with Lee and the Orchestra/Harmony drama. I know it was important backstory for Ella, but thinking back, it felt like I read two different stories. I wish that whole conflict was cut in half and we got more time seeing Ella and Noah build their relationship (pun fully intended). I came away knowing more about Lee than Noah, which is annoying when Noah is the main love interest and he had so much potential.

I also didn't super enjoy the undercurrent of tension that ran through the entire thing. Between Lee, the Orchestra/Harmony drama, Ella losing her job, Ella feeling out of her league on the building site, and the Deborah drama, I felt like the whole book was way more stressful than it needed to be. I would have preferred more romance and less tension, but that may be a personal preference.

Overall, I think this was a good read for what it ended up being. But it was disappointing as a romance, which is what I was expecting. It was a super quick read though and I'm not mad that I read it, I just wasn't blown away.

Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for giving me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Ella gets fired from her job when her boyfriend, well ex-boyfriend, gets caught helping a competitor and kinda throws her under the buss. She moves for a new job that she has no experience in, being a project manager on a construction site. On the construction site, she meets Noah who helps her learn her way around the site and her boss who Ella thinks is doing illegal things with money.

As someone who works in the construction industry, I love when books focus on that story line. Ella did a great job of trying to enforce rules and procedures that sadly don’t get followed normally in a construction world. I loved Noah and thought that he was sweet and I loved how he let Ella have her time figuring out what she wanted. Overall, a cute, light hearted read.

This was a sweet story that is perfect for an airport holiday read. The plot is quite niche and focuses a lot on the details of Ella's job. I found the first quarter of the bookk to be quite drawn out as we didn't even get to meet Noah until later on.

A great and compelling book with well constructed characters (oh Noah You're the best!) and a female Main character strong and assertive about her life, even when She felt a bit lost in the journey(Ella, You rock!). I also appreciate the subject of women in employments considered men kind of job, because it's a content pretty relevant these days. Liked a lot!

Cute. My main issue is that Noah, the love interest, didn’t appear until 49% in the book. That is too little time to get to know him and like him. The ex was a douche and I knew way too much about him. Too much exposition and not enough ice story.

A cute, fun, light hearted read with a strong, smart FMC. Funnily enough, this story weirdly hit close to home - if you bid for contracts, work with project managers and in construction - which I do/am!

'She puts the husky voice back on. 'Come and see my scaffolding. There is a really long pole I'd like to show you''.

Synopsis
Working as a Project Manager, Ella loves her job and her boyfriend. But when a big deal comes crashing down, and her boyfriend hands in his resignation to move to their rival company on the same day, Ella can't help but think he had some involvement in their failure.

It's then that Ella starts seeing his true colours and the narcissist he is. Accepting a job down south as a Construction Project Manager, Ella wishes for a start fresh. It's here she meets ruggedly handsome Noah, who is one of the construction workers.

As Ella navigates her new role as a construction Project Manager and her romance with Noah, something doesn't sit quite right with the orders.. and her new boss.

Thoughts
I started reading this and I thought 'this is strange' with how similar it is to the role I'm in! It's definitely a niche concept to write a story about construction and Project Managers, but I really enjoyed it.

The romance with Noah and Ella was adorable, and i was routing for them from the start.. especially after her ex boyfriend!

Really light hearted, fast paced and an enjoyable read.

'I can't believe I ever told him that I didn't belong here, because the truth is that I don't belong anywhere else'.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this copy. This review is voluntary.

I really enjoyed this book. It was an easy holiday/weekend read.
Such a lovely story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

Love at First Site by Phoebe Macleod

3.5 ⭐

Ella is a Project Manager in a company called Orchestra where her boyfriend, Lee, works in a Sales position. One fine day, Lee hatches a plan to screw Orchestra and join it's rival Harmony without Ella's knowledge. Finding out that Ella and Lee were in an relationship from years even when it was against the company policy, Orchestra suspends Ella, suspecting her to be involved in Lee's fault- who has now joined Harmony.

The story was pretty decent, however it was kinda technical. I got to know a lot about how the office worked and about construction jobs.

I didn't love the characters but they were cool. The plot was amazing, but I didn't really find it engaging. I was mostly disconnected from the story except for a few bursts of frustration on the antagonists.

I don't know why but Noah didn't really appeal to me from the beginning. That maybe the reason for my disinterest.

Anyway, it was overall a pretty good read and the author has potential.

Phoebe McLoed is an author you will not want to miss! She is the queen of writing logical, smooth first-act break-ups. This story was a quick read that I couldn't get enough of. The easy friendship between Ella and Noah was sweet and they just naturally feel together. The work dramas were believable and brought a level of intrigue that kept me reading into the night. Another great book from this author!

This book is great, it hits all the right buttons and is actually really rather funny. The characters are great and the storyline is heartwarming.

I want to start by saying the title and cover really drew me to the book. This book was SOO good. I didn't expect anything that was happening. It was a great amount of heartwarming, sweet, romantic and spectacular. The character Lee did push every single button and nerve I had but other than that the characters were great!

the cover alone sold me on this book. I had to read it. I was not disappointed and loved it. Really good read and must grab book.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I got an email from Boldwork Books saying that Phoebe MacLeod had a new book on NetGalley and asked if I was interested in her reading her next book. So I would like to thank NetGalley and Boldwork Books for the opportunity to read an ARC of Love at First Site in return for a review.

Play-by-play thoughts 👇🏻

I have a bad feeling about Lee.. for some reason I'm getting 13 going on 30 vibes where he is going to take this work and go to Harmony with it. 🫣

I'm not sure I love how she all of a sudden is talking to the reader "You may be wondering why Lee and I have to keep our relationship a secret." Also, this is our first time learning Lee is the boyfriend. I don't think it would have sounded weird if it just said "Lee and I have to keep our relationship a secret" and then explained why..

I feel like hiding a relationship would be so much work.

Lee seems like a controlling asshat. I'm getting 🚩🚩 vibes when she is getting dressed and putting makeup on after getting out of the shower.. the only time someone goes through all the trouble to redo all the things after a shower is if their significant other makes a point to desire it.. when you're at home for the night you should be comfortable after a shower.

Ahh! Lee is a liar! I knew he was no good. I wonder if the NHS people wanted to work with Lee regardless of where he worked, or if he had been in cahoots with Harmony before the pitch.

Poor Ella.. freaking Lee pulled her through it all too. That explains why he didn't want her to look over the pitch one last time the night before.

Holy hell. If he couldn't tell how properly pissed she was by that conversation he is either really dumb or he just has such high esteem for himself he doesn't think he anger will last.. honestly it could be both.

If she doesn't break up with Lee soon I'm going to freak. Let him sulk because you don't want to have sex, he has been a freaking dick!

I've never heard of the term redundant in terms of cutting people from work.

Oh snap, they fired Jonathan too!?

OMG! He lost that sale on purpose?! Ugh!

Oooh, she better be recording him talk about how he botched his sale on purpose!

Yasss!!

Wow, how did she not see the 🚩🚩 when he didn't want her name on the lease also?

Does Ava send the recording in? Oh I would love it if she did. Ava is my type of person. No beating around the bush, upfront..

Haha! Yes! She emailed the recording!

If it weren't for watching Bluey I never would have known what dob meant and I would have had to look it up when she said "dobs Lee in"

Oof. I would have accepted it just because it was in Kent and he had the attitude of not wanting to be a weekend boyfriend.

Good for her for leaving him!

Oh I'm nervous for her and what the living situation will be like..

Oh no. She took this job and she's going to end up losing money with the way Noah is describing it.

What the fuck! Lee is an absolute ass and I want to punch him in his face for the way he talks to Ella.

I know she ends up with Noah, but I hope it doesn't take long for her to realize it. I typically like a slow burn, but homegirl got shit on in her last relationship, she needs a better man ASAP.

Michael?

Oh this John is going to be a thorn in Ella's side until she does something to impress him. He's going to be one of her biggest fans by the end of the book I'm guessing.

Deborah is doing something shady with this building site, that's why she will only work with that particular supplier and why Christopher's daughter isn't a fan of her.

I had to Google repointing. I thought it was a possible type-o that was supposed to say repainting.

Scaffolding sounds like a euphemism 😂

I don't think I've ever been attracted to a man who could construct a house from the studs before, but hot damn is it a turn on reading Noah describe the work he's doing in the house. 😂

I'm so glad that Ava thought the same thing about the scaffolding

Awe, "John" admires Ella! I knew he was going to warm up to her. Also, I love that he gave himself a nickname..

Okay, maybe John is his real name and Ted is the nickname..

This day that Noah planned definitely screams date to me.

Noooo!! That kiss was spectacular. Why did she have to come up her senses?

Oh gross. If someone talked to me like Lee talked to Ella during sex I'd never have sex with them again.

Lee never drove her to work even though work knew they were flatmates?? Ass.

She is way overthinking the whole meeting his family thing. I met my husbands family only a few weeks of us knowing each other, before we were even boyfriend/girlfriend.

Look at Ella and Noah making moves. It's going to piss Deborah off, but I like it!

😳 Oh Deborah! What does she have cooked up with Williamsons that she NEEDS to be working with them?

😭😭 Her reaction to him asking her to move in. The fact that he isn't asking her for rent like she expected.

Her blaming this situation on it being an office romance is bullshit because none of it has to do with them working together.

Yess!! Christopher! I'm wondering if either a) the workers on the project went on a strike or b) Noah reached out to Christopher because of her being fired.

Oof awkward Christopher wants to meet at Lee's families pub.

Lee told his family Ella wasn't taking the break up well?? Meaning they think he broke up with her?? Of course he did. Narcissistic ass.

Lee works at the pub now?? What happened to his awesome wonderful job at Harmony? Oh that's golden.

Ooh. The recording lost him his job I bet.

I don't understand why she dislikes Christopher so much when he wasn't the rude one she dealt with during her employment.

Deborah was stealing the bonuses!! 😮

Yesss!! I guessed they went on a strike!

Ahhh!! Yes!!

Does she move in with Noah or back into the caravan? When Abby comes to stay is she going to stay in the caravan? Does Christopher know how bad the caravan was?

I love that the last chapter answered 2/3 of my questions. Ella moved in with Noah and Abby stayed with John and Roberta.

I love that Ella and Noah are keeping the house they worked on together.



Overall opinion:
Okay, so here's what I think, I think that Phoebe did a phenomenal job. Lee was a dick from the beginning and I didn't understand why Ella was with him, but isn't that what makes it realistic? My last relationship was with someone many people didn't understand why I was with. Ella taking a job where she was unsure of and trying hard to stick to her "no office romance" was enjoyable. 5/5 would recommend.

This was my perfect book to take outside in the sun and read!

It was an easy read and yes predictable but that didn't take away from the story. I enjoyed the little twists it had as well as the romance!