I had so much fun reading this book! Nicole and Dylan had such great chemistry and banter. Portia MacIntosh has such a wonderful writing voice, I felt like I was living the story with the characters. Rowan was such a toxic partner, Nicole was a saint to help him. And the moms! My heart was going crazy the night of the fundfair when the others showed their true colors. It’s wild that the people with the biggest secrets were the ones to try to bring Nicole and Dylan down. I’m so happy with the ending of the book, I just need a bonus epilogue of Nicole and Dylan in the future!

This was one of those books that I wished I loved, but in the end I just didn’t feel the connection to the characters and story that I was hoping to. Don’t get me wrong, the story is written well, flowed well, had character growth, and was a quick read. I think I was partially put off by Nicole sticking around with Rowan (her ex) even though the relationship was over, and it took a bit to learn exactly where things went wrong with them. Plus I think I would’ve liked to see Dylan arrive in the story sooner and more of a relationship with him and Nicole. While this wasn’t quite the right book for me, it’s something I think other readers may enjoy, so definitely don’t write it off just based on my feelings about it.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I loved this book.

It’s been a long time since Nicole was living her wild days.

Now, she’s living a less calmer life, but her relationship isn’t smooth sailing at present.,

Then, her old life comes back in her life, Dylan, who was a lead singer of a band. There were some very funny moments along with twists to keep you hooked.

I recommend this book.

I love Portia’s romcoms! Quick reads that are always enjoyable. This was a second chance, rockstar romance. Nicole Wilde used to be wild but has since settled into the suburbs with her boyfriend and his children. When her rockstar best friend Dylan comes back into her life asking for help, he comes when she is already in a tough place in her relationship. Dylan makes her feel alive again and is such a sweet guy.

I definitely enjoyed Ex in the City! I highly recommend this one. Nicole is someone who has been hiding in the suburbs thinking it is what she wanted. But Dylan shows her that the spark felt between them all those years ago is still there. This is a story of finding oneself and also finding the love that you deserve.

I would like to thank netgalley and Goodwood Books for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Enjoyable, but a bit more woman's fiction than romance.

Portia's books are truly some of my favorites! They are light, fun, breezy, frothy and LOL worthy. I love the writing, characters and stories and the way that you feel like you are a part of the story with the characters!

A fun read, I liked the chemistry between them and thought it was a cool twist with the current social media celeb versus the old school rock God!

I'd pick up another book by the same author for a fun beach read

Not sure how the editor missed Squashed instead of Quashed! Please change, this one always annoys me!

Nicole plays the part of influencer, Rowan's, partner and step mum to his children alongside her career limiting damage to others' reputations. Her life is upended when former friend and rock star Dylan appears and asks her to help him relaunch his rep for the bands pending reunion.

A pleasant engaging read.

Ex In The City is a second romance about Nicole, who 10 years ago left the glamorous life behind and is living in a small village with Rowan and his two kids. Nicole is not happy with her relationship with Rowan and wants to get out of his house and village. Nicole sometimes reminisces about her past with the rock bands Burnout and Dylan King.

Both Nicole and Dylan are likeable characters. Nicole is living a dull life and wants to get away from Rowan and the village, while Dylan wants to focus on his personal growth. Nicole and Dylan reunited when they needed each other the most. Both Nicole and Dylan help each other; Nicole starts working with Dylan to improve his image in the media and public, and Dylan takes Nicole to musical gigs and shows. They both are supportive of each other.

This book is fast-paced and easy to read.

This began as another one of those romances where the heroine is in a relationship or coming out of a relationship with a totally unworthy guy. Nicole’s present guy makes his living posting about himself and his parenting on Instagram. Apparently, people like watching his videos. And he uses Nicole as a prop in those videos. But he was involved in some financial shenanigans so she’s going to leave him just as soon as she helps him earn enough money to pay off the people he defrauded. And he has two adorable sons that she’s grown very close to.

In pops a former rock star, Dylan King, whose band Nicole used to travel with and help keep out of trouble. He wants her help to plot his comeback. And he’s rented the house across the street from Nicole and her bad soon-to-be Ex. Apparently, nice woman-of-the-suburbs used to be rather wild and hung out with rock bands, not as a groupie, mind you, but just as a good, helpful female friend.

What made the story enjoyable was seeing how the new, sober Dylan King is perfectly comfortable hanging out with Nicole as she takes care of the two boys and makes the ride run to their school. He just seems like a very nice guy and it’s hard to match him up with the portrayal of the drunken rock god who slept around with so many women back in the day.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

Roses: Nicole is a rockstar herself. She is strong-willed but not stubborn, empathetic and selfless but not like a pushover. She sticks to her guns and doesn't allow people to manipulate her choices, which is great to see in a lead female character. Dylan is the best reformed bad boy. He changes for the better, and seeing him trying so hard to show Nicole that he's different and not how he used to be was super sweet and endearing. Their relationship was a great second chance/friend to lovers. They are the definition of meant to be but just at the wrong time. However, their second time around was worth the wait to experience, and they deserved the HEA.

Thorns: I thought the Rowan situationship was annoying and drugged out for too long. In the beginning, it took five chapters to explain what he did that finally made her want to leave him. I also thought because of this, I started to get turned off by the story cause it made Nicole look like she was willingly this guy's fake girlfriend or something weird. I don't know; it just didn't sit well with me. Also, the whole mean-girl mom pose was a bit blah. I know they added to the drama later, but at the same time, they were pointless. I didn't particularly appreciate how long it took Nicole and Dylan to own up to their feelings for each other, especially Nicole. Dylan was dropping little hints about how he felt but never fully said, but Nicole never caught on, which was annoying. Cause with other parts of her life, she is super smart and notices things; however, when it comes to herself, she misses the mark.

Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for giving me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved this book. It ticked every single box for me, as to what a romantic comedy should be. I actually picked up this title due to the author. I haven't read any of her books previously but noticed her last name was Macintosh like my own so it seemed like a safe bet. She is definitely going to be on my reading list going forwards.
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Nichole Wilde is living a quiet life with her partner Rowan and his children, trying to keep the children safe as her life implodes around her, she is contacted by an old friend and rockstar Dylan. He needs her help her clean up his image and once again take to the stage with his band. They had been best friends and one of her jobs back in the day, was alway to look out for him. Each of them obviously still have feelings for each other, and are meant to be together. Picking up where they left many years before they navigate what went wrong with their friendship and build on making a life together.

I really enjoyed this book, the book is well written and flows really well. The characters are interesting and likeable even Rowan, who redeems himself in the end. The book had me literally laughing out loud whilst reading and left me with a smile on my face by the end.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really really enjoyed this one, I felt like it was back up to the Portia writing I LOVE! I really enjoyed that the beginning of this book had so much mystery added in at the very beginning of this book it had me guessing before the romance really kicked in.

I liked the adventure but also loved that the family aspect that was woven into this book, The plot was fleshed out, the characters were infuriating but loveable and I just couldn't get enough. In fact I flew through it in one sitting on a train journey. Absolute perfection.

This is a brilliant story . Nicole has left her wild days behind and has settled into suburbia with two sort of step children then her past comes back in the shape of Dylan an x lead singer of a band. The story is fab. You get the star struck and cliquey PTA . Lots of fun moments and twists and a nosey neighbour.. I really loved this. Read it

I always enjoy a Portia MacIntosh rom-com and this was no exception.

I was vaguely aware before I started it that this was a follow on, to a book release many years ago that I have sitting unread on my kindle, and thus it took me a bit longer than normal to settle into properly enjoying this, as my mind kept wondering what I was possibly meant to know already.

i can safely though say it does work as a standalone and once I settled into the characters and had a grip on what was going on, I absolutely loved it.

Both of Nicole's two worlds are so exceptionally described. I felt as though I was there in the small competitive village that she lives in, but also was totally on board with the rockstar (or groupie) life once Dylan had got back in touch with her.

And I loved Dylan an Nicole's friendship, re-ignite and grow, and I was just hoping they would get the ending I was hoping for. But since Nicole had started the book in a relationship she was trying to leave, with a man she can no longer trust and that she is only still hanging around for her fabulous step kids... well I was never completely sure which pull on her life would win.

It's such an enjoyable story and I was just loving everything about it. A really fun book to read.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Publication Date; February 27th, 2024
-Second Chance Romance
-Celebrity Romance
-Music Lovers
-Emotional Rollercoaster

A huge thanks to Portia MacIntosh, Boldwood Books, and NetGalley for providing me an Advanced Readers Copy of this book in return for an honest review.
I think many of us dreamed of being plunked from obscurity by our favorite band, joining them on tour, and getting to know the frontman intimately. Nicole Wilde also had this dream, but she made a career of it by becoming a music journalist and joining the popular band The Burnouts on tour. Nicole becomes best friends with the popular frontman Dylan King and after an untrue scandal rocks their friendship, she returns to obscurity.
Ten years later, Nicole is dating and living with social media influencer Rowan while she assists him in parenting his young children, Ned and Archie. She’s left her career as a music journalist and is now a fixer (think a smaller-scale Olivia Pope). However, now her life needs fixing, and right when she’s getting close to her matter being fixed, Dylan shows up, reigniting the flame she previously had for her.
This book was sooooo much fun to read. As a music lover, I really enjoyed getting the inside perspective of life as a rock star/close friend of a rock star. The characters are pretty relatable and easy to love. I even found myself trying to find excuses/love for Rowan until the end of the book, but then he redeemed himself. I loved Nicole and Dylan together. They really gave off the OTP vibes, and it was beautiful to watch them fall back in love with each other and bring the best out of one another. It was also incredible to see characters loving and treating kids who were not their own so great. Ned and Archie got two bonus parents and there was never a time where it was forced or something Nicole or Dylan had to do, they just had great love for the boys. This book does a great job of keeping the reader interested. There was never a lull in reading or moments that felt like fodder until the next big event happened.
This was my first Portia MacIntosh, and it definitely won’t be the last.

Ex in the City by Portia Macintosh

4.5 ⭐

Nicole Wilde was a former music journalist 10 years ago, who enjoyed her life by touring with bands, attending their wild parties, and going to gigs. But after a scandal with her rockstar best friend, she decided to leave behind her party girl self and start anew. She now lives with her new boyfriend of 3 years, along with his kids from a previous relationship. She hadn't imagined her life would be this boring. However, everything becomes bright and colorful when a certain rockstar ex turns up on her doorstep.

It was a cute, lively, and fun novel. The story was built up gradually and nicely, providing pieces of Nicole's past along with the present events. I admired Nicole's character a lot for what she was doing for the kids. Rowan just annoyed the hell out of me. I felt she was being a pushover when Rowan was around. She didn't exactly communicate her intentions properly, possibly avoiding a confrontation.

In some scenes, I felt the important parts were cut out, like- <spoiler>how did she break the news to Rowan that she wanted to be with Dylan? Rowan was acting very stubborn even before Dylan came when she said she wanted to leave him, so this might have been an important scene to show. It might have shown the character development in Rowan, but the epilogue made it seem like he was a totally different person because of how understanding he was being. He wasn't understanding at all before that</spoiler>. So I felt that scene was necessary. Similarly, there were some more places where I felt an additional scene would have made the story smoother.

Dylan's character was very cool. The changes in his personality were constantly shown through Nicole's memory of him from a decade ago. Since the story was entirely in her perspective, it gave an idea of how she felt about the positive changes in contrast with the mess he was previously.

Also, the cover is very pretty!

Aside from Rowan and a few spelling mistakes in between, I felt the story was portrayed very well. I'd recommend it if you are into rockstar, small luxurious town romcoms.

I really enjoyed this book. It had a few unexpected turns, a little dram but still light hearted. I really liked Nicole and Dylan and learning the little bits from the past too.

Here you will find:
- Special connections
- Unexpected neighbors secrets
- A love of music

Really cute contemporary romance.

Thank you Netgalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me this ARC book in exchange for an honest review. Ex in the City is the second book by the author that I have read. This was a 3 star read that took me three days to read. This romantic comedy is about growth, life changes, and the main characters finding themselves. This was such a cute story and i adored Nicole & Dylan's journey.

I love Portia's books and this didn't disappoint either.

As with all of Portia's books there are some real laugh out loud moments. I really liked Dylan's reformed bad boy character and he was just so lovely.

Nicole faces up to some of her past memories and her journey is one that plenty of readers with be familiar with and it really makes her character shine.

Another wonderful read from Portia ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️