This is a very fluffy read! Just what I needed as the weather starts to change and get cooler out. The story was cute and hockey romance is very popular now so this is perfect if you want to get into sports romance without the spice. I didn't realize it was a part of a series so now I'd like to go back and read the others!

The sweater series has been so much fun. This book didn’t disappoint. I loved the characters. I didn’t feel her hate for hockey like I wanted but I loved his love of music. Not your typical combination but worked well.

Absolutely Not in Love was my first Jenny Proctor book that I have read and I can not wait to read more of her books. This book was also my first hockey romance book but I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and will read more hockey romances. Reading about Gracie and Felix's chemistry was so enjoyable and I loved reading about them. Grace was hard to like to in the beginning but she grew on me a lot. The author did an amazing job and I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. Highly recommend to others! Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for this book.

I absolutely LOVED this book!! We were introduced to Felix Jamison in the first Sweater Weather book, Just Don't Fall, and in Absolutely Not in Love the spotlight turns to Harvest Hollow's goalie extraordinaire in all his classical music-appreciating, book-loving, heart of gold glory. The object of his affection? Gracie, the classical cellist who lives next door, in the building Felix happens to own on the DL.

I love the way Jenny Proctor writes sweet, wholesome, and swoon-y romances, and this one quickly became a new favorite! It was pure joy to read about two people who are so devoted to their craft and also have full lives outside of their professions. Theirs was a true meeting of the minds, and it made for a very compelling story on the page. I loved all the threads that bound them together, and it was fun revisiting other characters from this series and Proctor's Hawthorne brothers. I highly recommend reading this book for all the feel-good fall coziness it imbues.

BIG thank you to the author via JPC Publishing for gifting me with an ARC to review. I adored it!!

A truly sweet and PG love story about two people who are both meant to be and meant to never meet🙂 Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

I absolutely loved reading this book. It made me feel very warm and fuzzy, great for an evening read with a hot drink.

A sweet and enjoyable story about neighbors becoming friends and then falling in love, “Absolutely Not in Love”, by Jenny Proctor, is a tender slow burn romance with two very relatable, lovable characters.
The process through which Felix and Grace connect, get to know each other, enjoy each other’s company, do things together and start dating is such a wonderful journey.
I loved that we get to watch the hero longing and craving for Gracie, and how she was also attracted but trying to resist. How they both have a kind of a secret crush on each other was endearing, as was the honesty about their feelings and emotions.
Felix is such a sweet, thoughtful hero in that sexy hockey player persona. The combination of the big, strong goalie (a “dark-haired Thor”) with the nerd who loves music and reading is awesome.
He’s the antithesis of the vain, self-centered and full of himself stereotype one would expect a fictional hockey player to be (the “bad boy hooking up with random women in whatever city they’re playing”).
There’s much more to him than hockey, and he seems like the perfect boyfriend, even with the natural flaws and insecurities.
I liked how the social anxiety is handled and that it’s an everyday battle and doesn’t go away miraculously. The fact it has several manifestations throughout the story is also interesting.
Gracie’s tumultuous relation with hockey has its effects in the romance and carries a lot of hurt. She’s a great heroine, too, caring, honest and with a sense of humor.
It’s great watching them overcoming their issues, some rooted in family dysfunctions, and built a relationship of trust, affection, and love.
I liked the role music and hockey play in the leads’ lives and their passion for their jobs. The side characters are complex, too.
Goodreads - 16/10/2023.

First things first, I could not love Felix Jamison any more than I do, he is perfection rolled into a book boyfriend! Hockey player and book nerd, yes please! Just take me now Felix, I’m yours! Now as to Gracie, I love her too! I’m no musician but I appreciate the art and I love that this book included her profession so much (and she’s a teacher too which I also love).

This flirty, forced proximity, neighbors to roommates to lovers romance is everything! It was the perfect bow on top of the rest of the sweater weather series. It was steamy without the spice and I loved every minute. The texting, the banter, the jokes…

I love that Felix is both quiet and reserved but also confident and sexy. I love how he knows just when to use both. I loved the conflict of the story and how it all played out. I just loved it all around! A+ from me!

Loved it!
Pick up this gorgeous hug of a book and get transported to your happy place… wraps itself round you like a cosy blanket. It has warmth, charm, laugh-out-loud moments and a wistful nostalgia. I absolutely loved it.

Thank you @netgalley for my #gifted e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this book! A bookish, classical music-loving pro hockey player + a music teacher and professional cellist? Amazing. Jenny Proctor does it again. 🥲

Read this one if you like:
💕 forced proximity
💕 he falls first
💕 slow burn

After a childhood all about hockey - not to mention a dastardly hockey-playing boyfriend - Gracie has a firm, unbreakable rule: she doesn't date hockey players. She's a cellist and focuses on her music, ignoring hockey to the best of her ability in a hockey-obsessed town, with a hockey-obsessed family and a hockey-playing neighbour. But that neighbour? After he comes racing to her rescue one day, she seems to be seeing him everywhere. And the more she sees of him, the more fragile her rule seems to become. It doesn't hurt that he enjoys classical music, either. But dare she let go of her rule, or will she live to rue it?

I've read several book in this series so far, and they've set a high bar. Well, this didn't disappoint (except perhaps in being the last book!). I've been looking forward to seeing Felix get his happily ever after - he seemed to deserve it - and it was worth the wait. I loved watching these two together, but I also appreciated seeing some mending of the battered relationships they each seemed to have with their families (particularly Gracie). In fact, that side of things was possibly what really made the story for me. The problems with the relationships were what made their relationship difficult, and seeing their relationship able to start healing the other relationships brought it full circle. All in all, recommended - and I'm curious to see whether Summer gets her own story next.

Note that I received a complimentary copy of the book from NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review and this is my considered opinion of the book.

Literally, this is EVERYTHING I wanted in a hockey romance. Thanks to Chloe Liese getting me hooked after
Always Only You. I wanted something that was more than insta-lust which seems to be a theme in the hockey romances I have found. I dont mind a slow burn but I wanted some real issues and a story line. I liked the conflict in Always Only You because it felt real. Absolutely not in Love was the first book I have found since that did that. I read it in ~4 hours (only because I had to leave in between) because I count not put in down. I LOVE Felix and Gracie and I love that their issues were not completely resolved with a nice little bow but did have some growth/closure to it to make their relationship seem viable.

Love love love this book so much!

Absolutely Not in Love – Jenny Proctor

Review summary: A wholesome, sweet ice hockey meets classical music romance. A wonderful book that within one chapter has turned me into a Jenny Proctor fan.

Rating: 3.5/5

Thank you to NetGallery and Jenny Proctor Creative for the opportunity to review this book. Absolutely Not In Love will be available for purchase from 16 October 2023 exclusively through Amazon.

A new ice hockey romance was enough to get me interested in Absolutely Not In Love, and the first few chapters left me wanting more. The book didn’t deliver the ‘spice’ factor that a lot of popular ice hockey romance books are currently offering, but it made this book stand apart.

The book explores the ‘will they won’t they’ against the backdrop of the female protagonist who hates hockey thanks to family and a bad boyfriend. What makes this book so delightful and something I had to devour was the authentic connection and flow between Grace and Felix. Was I expecting spice in this novel? Yes, thanks in part to the surge in ice hockey spice dominating the romance market. However, the spice would’ve detracted from this.

Grace is a teacher and classical cello player – she is warm, intelligent and anti-hockey.

Felix is the hot ice hockey player equivalent of Lucas Scott (for all my fellow millennials. For gen Z – One Tree Hill still hits). Well read, articulate and a gentleman who does not have lots of lady friends, he is the right amount of ice hockey and Mr Darcy, with some unfortunate social anxiety.

They are both likeable, relatable characters with some issues. However, the novel is not melodramatic, it is realistic and fun and a great read.

At the end of the book I realised this is the 7th and final in ‘The Sweater Weather’ series and I can’t wait to read the others. It’s a standalone book, but I have no doubt that reading the other 6 books in the series will capitalise on the developed secondary characters that pop up in Absolutely Not In Love.

This is a must read wholesome romantic comedy that couples classical music and ice hockey beautifully (and I never thought I could combine these two ‘opposite’ things I love in a romance book!).

This was a cute read with likeable characters. Low key drama with some kissing scenes. I was a little surprised the intimacy didn’t develop past kissing given the evolution of the relationship. But I enjoyed how the romance between Felix and Gracie developed. I would have liked more interactions of both MC’s with their parents to fill in some background information since those parents had greatly affected Felix and Gracie’s perception of themselves. A sweet read without being too sweet.

I’m now on a mission to own and read every single Proctor book!
Absolutely Not in Love is book 7 in her Sweater Weather series by Jenny Proctor and y’all this story was a sweet, tender and humorous hockey romance.
She has written a swoon-worthy hockey sports rom-com.
It was everything I want in a rom-com—excellent writing, tangible chemistry between the main characters, funny and witty dialogue, a great storyline, characters that are relatable and lovable, and romance that is intense and sizzling but clean.
Jenny Proctor’s writing was very engaging and she kept me sucked into the story.
I couldn’t put this book down and read it in two sittings because the storyline takes you in right from the first page and kept your attention throughout and it completely hooked me and was so addictive.
Jenny certainly knows how to pull her readers in.
All of the characters in this book felt incredibly real and I became emotionally invested rather quickly.
This book was everything that I love about romcoms! Jenny does such an amazing job developing characters with phenomenal chemistry that you root for from page one and her style of humor is so entertaining and has me smiling all the way through!
Jenny Proctor has definitely made a forever fan out of me!

And can I just mention her cover art!. They are so gorgeous and I’m now I’m dead set on owning every single copy!

I would like to thank NetGalley and JPC Publishing for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

Want a new book boyfriend? Check out ABSOLUTELY NOT IN LOVE by Jenny Proctor and fall in love with Felix, the pro hockey player who ticks every single box

Felix has gone straight to the top of my all-time favourite book boyfriends - he's kind, hardworking and understanding. Even the conflict at the end was understandable because he's just a damn good person.

Often I find closed door romances too sickly sweet, but this was the perfect balance of passion, softness and the sweet, healing kind of love. Both characters are likeable, adorable and bring out the best in each out!

READ FOR:
🏠Forced proximity
❤️Slow burn
❤️Closed door romance
❤️Fluffy
⭐4 stars

Thanks to @NetGalley and @JPCPublising for the ARC! Opinions are my own

#rochellereadsit

I was already in love for this series before this book, so When it came with a Hockey player guy head over heels inlove for the main girl and She being the person with romance issues and insecurities, I was totally caught up! Ihave enjoyed everything about the story and how the author developed all the scenes with softness and romance well balanced! I more than recommend this book for everyone! <3

Absolutely Not in Love is probably my favorite read of the last six months (and I average 5 books/week)! Felix is an absolute dream of a book boyfriend and Gracie is a wonderful female lead. I could not be move in love with their story and their characters. This is a truly slow burn, clean book and I can easily lose interest when reading those, but not in this case. Jenny Proctor keeps your attention from beginning to end in this book and I've already gone and downloaded How to Kiss a Movie Star since I got a sneak peak at that in the Epilogue. I give this book 6 stars out of 5, I enjoyed it that much! Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy.

Absolutely Not in Love
By Jenny Proctor

This is my first time reading anything by Jenny Proctor and this book did not disappoint! It was a very sweet chick lit. Sometimes when reading sweet romances, they can almost be sickly sweet, but not this one! This one was well done without being over the top.

I recommend this one for anyone who's looking for a sweet, cozy read this fall!

Thank you to #netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and comments are my own.

Absolutely Not in Love is the last novel in the Sweater Weather series - and what a way to end it!

Both Gracie and Felix are wonderful, likeable and adorable, and they bring out the best in each other - once they begin to open up to the idea of wanting to be more than just neighbours you bump into every now and then in the hallway.

Both Gracie and Felix have issues in their backgrounds they are still dealing with - Felix has always felt like he doesn't measure up to his parents' expectations and his father doesn't support his choice of career as a pro hockey goalkeeper, whereas Gracie's family has always been all about hockey and gone to every single one of her brother's hockey games when they were growing up but missed a lot of Gracie's performances and don't really understand her passion for classical music or being a cellist. Eventually, even though she has sworn she'd never date a hockey player, Gracie starts to realize there is more to Felix Jamison than just the sport, and Felix, well, he needs to realize that it is okay to want things just for him and not try to please everyone else.

This is a sweet and quick read, and if you are looking for a fall romance with swoony and heartfelt moments and main characters with great chemistry then this is the book for you!