"Not Exactly a Small-Town Romance" is a beautifully and enjoyable book. If anyone is looking for a romantic read that is both heartwarming and heartfelt, this book is a must-read. Highly recommended!

After taking the advice of a fortune teller at a company work event , Kelsey decides to go on a journey to find love. Zachery, who has had a hand in putting her on this trek feels responsible to watch out for her as she travels across the country. Although he has telling a for her he takes himself out of the running. Armed with a list of meet cutes she’s determined to find her man. Trading Hollywood for the country life isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for this free advanced copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily

I could see this being the cutest rom-com, Halmark movie spoof. I enjoyed every single second and it really did play out in my head exactly like a movie. I read it cover to cover and couldn’t put it down. Kelsey was annoying at times and obviously the miscommunication trope of “I’ll never be the one” could’ve been solved with a simple conversation, but then there wouldn’t be this 5 star read! Definitely read it if you’re a fan of cheesy rom coms and musicals. This is my first book by this author and I will definitely be reading more!

Kelsey has grown weary of waiting for love to come to her, so she is determined to find it for herself. She comes up with what she believes is the perfect plan which includes a road trip with her friend and co-worker Zachary, but she might just be surprised by what she finds.

Zachary has his own reasons for embarking on this adventure with Kelsey and it goes beyond friendship. He doesn’t believe that they can be together, so he is determined to ensure she doesn’t make the wrong choice but the more time they spend together the more he wonders what if.

This story is both fun and humorous as Kelsey’s search for romance is sure to bring a smile to your face and I enjoyed seeing them realize that what she has been looking for has been there all along.

This is a perfect fit for readers who adore lighthearted, feel-good romances with a strong focus on friends-to-lovers tropes, small-town charm, and a dash of humor, making it a delightful read for fans of romantic comedies and those who enjoy a sweet, slow-burn love story.

3.5 stars

This was a fun story about a girl on a road trip to find herself and love. I loved that Zachary, being Kelsey's best friend tries to support her by being there for her in a lot of different ways.

There is definitely some mutual pining going on throughout the book, but I really liked that he holds back so she can do what she thinks she needs to do.

Overall the book was fun, there was some great banter, but it felt a little predicable at times. I think my favorite part was Kelsey trying to be "less" California in the small towns she was going through.

This was such a fun read and I flew through it so quickly. I enjoyed Kelsey so much and wow she was an amazing FMC. She was just an amazing ball of fun to be able to follow and I wish I could have another book about her.

Kelsey loves living in California. She works hard for her boss even though she knows her boss is not a good person. Kelsey believes that casting the right people in the right movies makes magic so she’ll put up with her boss to accomplish that one goal. One thing that makes her job bearable is working with Zachery. He is a former star who now allows himself to be “pimped” out by his boss. The only thing that makes his job bearable is working with Kelsey. The problem is that neither one of them thinks they can be together. When a fortune teller informs Kelsey that she needs to go on a trip to find love, she takes it seriously and embarks on a plan to find her one true love. Will she find her meet cute or will she realize that love is right in front of her face?

Kelsey comes from Alabama but she never wants to return. She had some issues with her family after her mother died so she left to live in California. I really liked Kelsey’s backstory. I could understand why she would accept the abuse by her boss, Desdemona, because it’s what she grew up with. The journey to force a meet cute was kind of silly. The men Kelsey meets are not that interesting, and the author is a little bit mean spirited toward men. Kelsey’s unwavering belief that she can do a perfect casting to make an amazing movie is kind of cute and makes Kelsey more likable. Zachery works for Desdemona as man candy. He has little self-respect left after his acting career crashed and burned. He is so unhappy with the direction his career took that he can’t imagine trying to pursue an acting career again. He has a good journey working through to the realization that he is good enough for Kelsey and that he is worthy of more than the abuse he endures from Desdemona. Both Zachery and Kelsey convince themselves they can’t be together and that the other will be so much happier with someone else. Their journey to realizing that they are a perfect fit was really nice.

Desdemona is the bad guy in the book. She is kind of lame on all fronts. SPOILER: The end of the book was just short of totally satisfying. I wanted Desdemona to have suffered from losing Kelsey and Zachery because she is evil but the author stopped before that point. The author opted to just let Desdemona hang in the wind once Kelsey and Zachery moved on.

This is a friends to lovers story that takes place in quite a few different places. Both Kelsey and Zachery need to grow up a bit and open themselves up to change. I enjoyed this book even if I can’t give it a rousing endorsement. I will read more from this author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for the eARC of this book! This is a story about two co-workers that have always had a great friendship, Kelsey and Zach. She is a mid 20's assistant to a casting director in LA. He is a mid 30's former actor that has all the charm, and only works for the casting director to stay on the fringe of being relevant. The two of them takeoff on a road trip looking for the perfect meet cute in small towns across the country, and to hopefully find Kelsey's one true love. One of the best parts is all of the fake meet cutes Kelsey orchestrates along her journey, and it's so entertaining when they backfire on her. Zach is just there to protect her from anything that might go wrong, and finds himself in a predicament, letting Kelsey find her happy with someone else, or tell her about the feelings he's always had. Overall, this story was very cute and entertaining. I just felt like it lacked development of Kelsey and Zach's relationship, and wrapped up so quickly. The end was cute, but I definitely closed the book wanting to know more.

OMG!!! ONE OF MY BEST READS FROM 2024
Kelsey Whitaker knows every hit rom-com by heart and why they work. It’s her job. As a casting assistant to a fearsome boss nicknamed the Demon, Kelsey creates chemistry with perfect leads. where’s the meet-cute in her own life? That she’ll have to make happen herself.
With the help of her best friend and wingman, Zachery Carter, Kelsey trades in her big-city stilettos for small-town tennies and hits the back roads. Somewhere between Hollywood and her Alabama roots, she’s determined to strategically stumble into the arms of an all-American flannel-wearing, decent-hearted, rustic boy next door. It’s all a secretly smitten Zachery can do not to tell Kelsey she’s looking for love in all the wrong places. If she really wants a happy ending, they may have to do a little rewriting, town by town and mile by mile. Together.
OMG OMG OMG! So beautiful! This book is absolutely perfect from the very beginning! The characters are deep and caring. I fell in love with Zach and he took my heart hostage till the very end. Kelsey is adorable and super cute. They are just too perfecto together! I loved everything about this romance.
It’s well written, with a great slow-burn romance and a bit of spicy. I read it almost in one sitting. Totally addictived.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

4.5/5⭐️
Kelsey is a really good casting assistant though she is relatively new in her job. She works for a horrible boss, Desdemona. Thankfully, she has a good colleague in the form of handsome and kind Zachery.

After an interesting encounter with a fortune teller, she heads out of L.A. on a road trip hoping to find love. I loved all those lists which Kelsey creates, how her imagination runs wild during her road trip and how she learns from every stop.

The book was such a joy to read. Their banter was top-notch and their friendship and chemistry was blazing hot. Jester can just totally shout it out, “I told you so”. All the movie and song mentions too were so on point.

My only wish was that there were lesser misunderstandings, or that these parts were shorter. I would have loved the mood to remain light. My favourite scene was definitely the cafe scene at the end which was so perfect and apt for the theme of her road trip!

I really enjoyed the summary of this book and thought it would be a fun read. Kelsey Whitaker, is working as a casting assistant for someone they have nicknamed “Demon”. She is close friends and works with former actor and very wealthy Zachery Carter. Zachery has feelings for Kelsey, but he remains firmly in the friend zone. When Kelsey visits a fortune teller, she believes that it is time for her to seek the man she will love. To do so, she decides to return to her home state of Alabama by travelling across the country. Through a series of “meet cutes”, she hopes to find a lasting love with a small-town man. Her first meeting does not go well and when Zachery contacts her he decides to become her “wingman” to keep her safe. As they proceed to the next towns, will Kelsey eventually realize that her yearning for something real and lasting in her life may have been beside her all along? A fun read, but fairly predictable. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (paytonpuppy)

Usually an age gap romance is a turn off for me. But as this wasn't listed as one I went in a bit blind. Luckily you really couldn't tell despite the approx 10 year difference between our two MC's. I really enjoyed the nods to Hallmark movies and all the fake traditional meet cute attempts. The ones we all love to watch and hope to achieve in real life. I loved that Kelsey took her love life into her own hands after being frustrated at being stuck. Both in her romantic and professional life.

Small town romances are one of my fav tropes so I was excited for that aspect of the book. However I was a bit disappointed in how the townspeople were portrayed. Very back woods and uneducated. I also wish there were more back story scenes between Kelsey and Zachary showcasing their relationship to make the secret romance between them more believable. They don't have alot of scenes together to really show this. We're just told. I did really enjoy Zachary's big grand gesture at the end of the book.

It was an over all enjoyable read with a great concept, just some flawed execution.

Maybe it's not the book, maybe it's me?

I dont seem to have a lot of luck with NG arcs.
And I seemed to have read a different book then other people.

The characters read like someone's first ever fanfic attempt or first ever attempt of what a romcom should be( execution not withstanding).

There was potential but the writing and characterization didnt really pull the story through. The age gap factor was not really that big of a deal as it's made out to be for Zach and for someone dealing with the world of Hollywood, Kelsey is just dumb. Like, dumb. You would expect that kind of thinking and naivete from a sheltered pre teen mafia princess/medieval princess/veryverysmalltown girl...even though those characters are written much smarter most times.

the romance... I mean,one sided pining, sure... romance, maybe, if you squint hard enough?

Spicy, male female, dual point of view, friends to lovers, contemporary romance. (The spice is open door but neither super explicit nor too often.)
Super cute premise of trying to force a meet cute while on a road trip adventure. Lots of great moments and a happy ending.

Not Exactly a Small-Town Romance by JJ Knight is such a good friends to lovers celebrity romance story.
This book kept me entertained from beginning to the end.

Thank You NetGalley and Montlake for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

this is a fun road trip into the world of romance, blending heartfelt emotion with relatable fears and some of my personal favourite tropes. as a big fan of the coworkers/friends-to-lovers trope, this book was right up my alley.
this story revolves around Kelsey seeks her fortune at a fortuneteller, she sets out to orchestrate a meet-cute , like the ones we know from hallmark movies(saving the Christmas farm!)
her attempts to force a meet-cute leads to a series of hilarious and embarrassing situations that had me giggling throughout. J.J Knights ability to weave humour and heart into the narrative made this book a joy to read from start to finish and had me finishing it in just a few days.
in conclusion, " not exactly a small-town romance" is a beautifully and enjoyable book.

Kelsey and Zachery are a fun pair, and there are lots of laughs in this book. Kelsey is very entertaining, and her meet-cutes are funny. Zachery is a sweetheart who has gotten himself confused about who he is. I liked the parts of the book that were about them and their friend/coworker Jester. But there was also a certain amount of deception in what Kelsey is trying to do, and she just lights out of Wyoming like she isn't the one who created the situation. She is bothered by the fakeness of Hollywood, but she puts her toes right on the line of being the same way. I'm not sure Zachery ever confronts his fakery either. Overall, this is a fun romcom with a unique twist. But I'm not sure I would want to be friends with these people.

Kelsey is a casting assistant, an expert in perfect rom-com pairings, but she failing in finding her own perfect match. After a session with a fortune teller convinces her she's running out of time to find her own meet cute, she sets out on a road trip through small town America, searching for her own Hallmark story. Her best friend Zach, while secretly in love with her himself but knowing they're all wrong for each other, tags along to be her wingman and to protect her.
I like the banter between these two and the funny situations they run into on their trip. I felt bad for Zach and wish he would just tell her the truth. Especially at the end of the story when I was so frustrated with how selfish and shallow Kelsey was acting. But overall their friends to lovers story was fun and sweet and I enjoyed riding along on their road trip.

Kelsey is sick of being taken for granted by her odious boss. She has made some perfect pairings for Rom Com movies but her boss takes all the credit. Whilst the boss is away she decides to take romance by the horns and find her own HEA. She's going to have an epic, but long, road trip across the USA to see how man small town meet-cutes she can conjure up. All in the hope of meeting Mr Right.

Zac, her colleague and bestie, has had a huge crush on Kelsey. One he's refused to acknowledge or act on, after all he is over a decade older than her. When she floats her road trip idea he initially supports her and helps her to fool the boss. But then a little guilt and a lot of jealousy kicks in - can Zac make her see him as something other than her workhubby?

I have never seen so many meet-cutes crammed into one book, lol. I get the concept and I actually enjoyed all Kelsey's dating disasters. The dual pining was actually quite funny, especially as neither wanted to admit the pining to themselves!

The humour was strong and the array of secondary, small town characters were a colourful backdrop for the will-they-won't-they. I did feel we could have done with a bit more time with Kelsey and Zac together, I felt they could have done with more joint screen time.

Well paced romance with little spice but lots of pining and an epic "at last" big romantic gesture.