B.K. Borison has once again delivered a book that feels like a warm hug with First Time Caller! I adore the fresh take she offers on Sleepless in Seattle and I was completely drawn in by the undeniable chemistry between the characters.
The characters are what truly made this book shine. They felt so incredibly real, flawed yet lovable, and their journey had the perfect mix of humor, longing, and heart-melting moments. The slow burn was done masterfully, making every interaction between them feel electric. I found myself grinning like an idiot one moment and clutching my heart the next.
The side characters added so much warmth and charm, making the story even more enjoyable. And the romance? Pure magic. It’s cozy, steamy, and emotional in all the best ways.
Borison’s writing is effortless and immersive, and was everything I wanted—sweet, funny, and full of heart. I loved the witty banter, the emotional depth, and the small-town charm that Borison writes so well.
If you love cozy, feel-good romances with just the right amount of spice and heartfelt moments, this is a must-read.


Thank you so much Pan MacMillan for this! ♥️

4.5 ⭐️

If you enjoy a book where the romance is full of sarcastic banter, then this is the book for you. Lucie and Aiden are great together, and I've always loved the radio talk show on love gets a new cohost thing. They both have tough backstories involving cancer, teen pregnancy and disowning. I think these were handled well, especially aidens struggle with a fear of losing people.

While I enjoyed our romantic couple, the side characters made this for me. Maya with her meddling. Her dad and his partner are so supportive and demanding all the gossip. I would love to read how grayson and mateo got together. Having seen the title of the next book, I'm hoping it's about Jackson, I'd love to see more of our weatherman.

This book contains one of the longest smut scenes i have ever read. Honestly, maybe a little too long, but I think a lot of people will like that. Don't get me wrong, it was well written but quite late in the book, and I was concerned about there not being enough space for the romantic development after it.

I do feel like the romance took a back seat to lust for most of the book until you realise a lot of the romance was happening in the little things. I think on a second read, you'll probably pick up on those more. The comedic value of our pairing added to the sweet moments keeps you refusing to put the book down.

All in all, I enjoyed it, and I'll definitely be checking out more of the authors books.

I received an advance review copy of this book, and this review represents my honest opinion. Thank you to netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Yes please!
This was amazing! The banter between both of them, the jokes, the side characters are amazing...
Pfff, a great contemporary romance!
I found the beginning to be a bit slow... But I was quickly very invested and read it super quick.

Maybe mini spoiler incoming...

The third act "break up" I fairly short and the ending is very satisfying.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for access to the ebook against an honest review.*

Absolutely glowing, easiest five shining stars!! I loved everything about this book - it felt like the warmest, coziest hug. Everything about this was just pure romance, and I was intrigued the entire read. Highly reccomend for anyone looking for a true romcom read!

Becs can do no wrong!!! Once again she wrote a perfect book that made me complete obsessed with the mmc 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨🤭🤭🤭 I mean AIDEN??? MY GOD!! He keeping a list of all her favourite things made me actually feral.
I loved the representation of the “unconventional” families and all the love that comes from all the the different forms of family structures!
I loved how romantic it felt ( I was giggling, kicking my feet and blushing throughout the whole book) but at the same time how different it felt from Lovelight farms, just proving further the TALENT Becs has.
It was the perfect love letter to love and love stories, the perfect 90s romcom vibes 😭😭💗

Thank you Pan MacMillan and NetGalley for the arc of this book in exchange of my honest review 💗

Heartstrings features a cute concept - a young girl rings up a romance hotline on a radio station looking for advice for her mum. A clip of it goes viral and soon the mum and one of the main characters (Lucie) is invited onto the show for a regular segment on her dating life. The radio host is Aiden Valentine, a cynic who's fallen out of love with love. Until Lucie walks into his life...

So, cute concept. And I liked the characters a lot, secondary ones included. The daughter is on just the right side of sweet instead of annoying. There's a nice slow burn to the plot - though warning, it may be too slow for some.

Towards the end, I did want to shake Aiden a bit - he has a serious case of the tortured inner conflict going on. But ultimately this is about Lucie and her search for magic, and I was very keen for her to find it!

I don’t know how BK Borison does it, what she puts in her books, but as always I love it. I fully expected to adore First Time Caller, and it was perfection.

I found both Lucie and Aiden so relatable. They may have different views and expectations on love, but it’s easy to resonate with some of the things they both said. She’s hopeful and doesn’t know whether to throw caution to the window or not, but she finds the strength to take a risk in order to find her magic. He’s… well a lot less hopeful. But as they work together, maybe he’ll start believing in magic too. Just with her.

Their chemistry was there from day 1, but their different views mean they won’t act on it until really late. Prepare yourself for a slow burn, and to not want to put down the book until they get their happily ever after.

It’s also a story of chosen family, and Lucie has found a good one. Grayson is hilarious and clearly wants what’s best for Lucie. Their daughter, Maya, brought a dose of adorableness and lightness to the story. Their side characters added a layer of fun, and their support and dedication into seeing Lucie happy was heartwarming.

I will be obsessing about Lucie and Aiden for the foreseeable future. I wish Heartstrings was real, because I wish I could listen to them.

this unfortunately wasn’t for me but I’m definitely in the minority! I just found this slow and uninteresting. It felt like I had read double what I’d actually consumed and none of it gripped me or excited me, and that’s coming from a huge romantic who used to work in radio. The MMC Aiden wasn’t just “grumpy” he was miserable and dragged my mood down and I think the FMC (I cannot even remember her name) deserved better.

This is a valentines day inspired romance book and I ate this up!
The grumpy sunshine dynamic, the single mom trope, radiostation hosts and just everything? Love!
Absolutely adore and can't wait to tell anyone who's listening to buy this one!

4 stars

This was so freaking adorable 😍
The way I swooned for these two.
I related to Lu and her trying to trust someone enough to date. Her inner monologs and the way she saw herself even when people who cared about her told her how amazing she was... ugh, I felt so seen.
Aiden was such a grumpy cinnamon roll... I adored him.
I love the built-up to their romance and that it was mostly friends(?) To lovers. So cute.
I love the side characters 😍 especially Grayson and Maya... my babies.
Also, the spice was soooo good.
Overall, this was another amazing story by BK.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this so much! It was everything I wanted it to be and more! Desperately praying that we get a book on Jackson too

It was a fun read. A bit too long in my opinion, I think it could’ve been 59 pages shorter. I still have a great time reading it tho!
The characters were likeable and I loved the setting!

It has been over a week since I DEVOURED and I mean DEVOURED 𝙵𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝙲𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛.

Did I stay ups way too late finishing this book? Yes
Did I swoon? Yes
Did I kick my heels and giggle? Yes
Did I cry? Yes
Did I highlight most of the book? Yes
Did I fall even more in love with Bec’s writing even though I didn’t think it was humanly possible? Yes, 100% yes
Did I immediately start listening to the audiobook (ALC) after I have finished my e-arc? Yes - and did I binge listen to it in about 24hrs absolutely!!
Would I give anything for a physical copy from XX / XX? Absolutely

I honestly don’t know how to start because Bec has encapsulated all the feelings of your favourite 90s romcoms and bundled it up into this fabulous book!

Lucie and Aiden both spoke to me on different levels and I love how their story came together. Honestly, watching them fall in love was a joy!

But it was wider than that - the ENTIRE supporting cast were just fabulous and I think I fell in love with each and everyone of them - cannot wait to see what they get up too!

Tropes: 
☎️ grumpy/sunshine
☎️ workplace romance
☎️single mom
☎️ opposites attract
☎️ forced proximity
☎️ red string

Phew
I was really invested in the story for first 40% but after that it just went to nothing, the spice didn't work out for me, it was too cringe for my liking and then there is weird reasoning for 3rd breakup act. Aiden should have communicated better!! I liked lucy a lot, the things she said on the first call were so relatable , it straight hit home but idk where did I lose her on the way as story proceeds. I had a hard time rating this book bcoz I was still contemplating what was that?? Bcoz I was so so excited for this book and has been dying to read it since November.
This was like trying too hard to give that the perfect cheesy romance but failing midway at it.
Now about the part I loved, literally all the side characters were amazing!!! I loved each of them. Grayson, Mateo, maya, patty, jackson, maggie and the garage crew😍✨ They really brought such a heartwarming vibe to the story. Even though I didn't have a good experience with this one, I'm excited for the other books set up in Baltimore world❤✨

Basic info:
- Contemporary Romance.
- 1st person, double POV, single timeline.
- Part of a series of standalone books.

Tropes & hooks:
- Inspired by Sleepless in Seattle.
- She is a hopeless romantic, he stopped believing in love.
- She is an auto shop mechanic. He is a radio show host.
- Forced proximity. They have to work together to save his radio show.
- FMC has a daughter, FMC is not with the father of her child, but they are friends and maintain good and healthy relationships.
- Slow burn.
- Who did this to you?
- F*ck it.

Quick premise:
Aiden hosts a love advice show on a local radio station. Unfortunately, this show basically made him disappointed in love and lately, his show isn't doing that great. One evening a little girl calls his show on behalf of her mother and asks for advice on how to make her mother fall in love. This call goes viral and the radio station invites Lucie (the little girl's mother) to participate in Aiden's shows and answer calls with him. Little by little they get to know each other and inevitably fall in love.

My thoughts:
- I love Lucie's daughter. She is so much fun and she is so tender. Lucies relationship with the father of her daughter is a total green flag for parents who are not together. Talking about the father, can we have his book?
- There was a little bit of lust between them straight from the beginning, but they never acted on it and it ended up a slow burn.
- To say Lucie and Aiden are cute together is to say nothing. They literally made me believe in love again. We all need a man (out-of-context mention of MMC's romantic gestures until the next full stop) who brings us a pizza with pineapple when he hates it, who remembers everything we say, who holds our favorite things in his glove compartment. Many conversations between Aiden and Lucie literally warmed my heart. The tension and banter between them are delicious.
- Both Lucy and Aiden deal with some difficult family situations and it gives them more dimensions and development.
- The third act break up might not be convincing to everyone.
- I have a feeling the next book in the series is going to be an enemies-to-lovers between Aiden's friend and the weather girl from the news station. I'm so in for that.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thanks to everyone involved in ARC's distribution.

I hadn't expected to love this book as much as I did, but oh my goodness, it pulled at my "heartstrings" completely. I was so emotionally invested in both Lucie and Aiden. Their story was brilliantly told through a dual narrative. I loved how both characters were depicted as tough from the outside, but completely vulnerable from the inside. Their banter was fun and their chemistry was off the charts. The side characters were also quirky and entertaining.

I really enjoyed this book! It was exactly what I look for in a romance read. I liked the alternating POVs because I prefer getting into the minds of each character rather than seeing it from only one perspective. Lucie and Aiden are both likeable characters and I was rooting for them the whole way through. Don’t get me wrong there were times when I wanted to bang their heads together and make them tell each other exactly how they feel, but it also added to the tension between them. I also liked that Lucie was a mechanic and it was nice to read about a female character who was thriving in a male-dominated field.

And don’t get me started on the spice in this novel: dayum 🥵 Defo one of those you don’t wanna be reading on public transport if you get what I mean.

I will say I would have liked to have seen more of Lucie’s experiences on her dates with the radio callers, and maybe a bit more with Colin but I think that’s more from the expectations I brought to my reading rather than a comment about how it turned out. But overall, First-Time Caller is a really good romance read and if you’re looking for something to read with Valentine’s Day coming up then I’d recommend you read this.

I don't even have the words to describe my love for this book 🥹

One of my top reads of 2024 and a new favourite to add to my list of recommendations for anyone who asks!
I was gripped from the start and the banter between them both made it such a fun read

So if you’re in for a fun, cozy rom-com, this one is for you 😍

Everything this was immaculate and I could not stop reading. I loved Aiden and Lucie's relationship so muc and had so much fun. BK Borison is definitely a new favorite author for me and her next release sounds absolutely wonderful too. First Time Caller is a must read for romance fans and I highly recommend it. I would like to thank the publisher for my E ARC all opinions are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

And she does it again! Another book by B.K. Borison that I couldn’t put down! I loved it! It started off a little slow but once I got into it I literally couldn’t stop thinking about it.

The characters were all so loveable and also very relatable. The banter between the two MCs was great, and there were so many great supporting characters. I found myself giggling and kicking my feet quite a few times never mind bursting out in laughter!

Definitely recommend this book if you’re feeling for a cute Rom-com