Audiobook Review

I loved it. The audio really brought this book to life, I couldn’t get enough.

I swear I was drooling the whole way through over hayes.

The friends to enemies to lovers' aspect was done perfectly, and the characters were extremely easy to connect with.

But the highlight for me was the letters. They had my whole heart.

This was cute. Light, angsty and emotional. I love a good second chance romance and even though I came in on this series at book 5, it read as a standalone quite well.

Liked the pacing, the spice, and really loved the strong male friendships. Some of the more nuanced dynamics were confusing at first but it didn’t take away from the story at all.

There hasn't been a book in the whole MAGNOLIA FALLS series that I've not loved. Laura Pavlov is fast becoming one of those auto-buy authors for me - she really can do no wrong. Listening to the story through audio really elevated the whole experience and brought Savannah and Hayes's romance to life.

Dnf at 42%

I’m the completely wrong fit for this title, it’s all big muscly sweary fireman and a returned to town for an inheritance girl, fake marriage, with huge innuendos, lots of really bad nicknames and a lot of erections 🤷🏻‍♀️ and somehow it’s 5th in a series 🤯

Shortcake has a carrot tattoo and the big dude has a pea 🙄 boakfest.

The review rates are high here, so there’s obviously a massive audience, I’m just not part of it.

I appreciate the opportunity to review this title from Harper Collins Audio U.K. and NetGalley.

This book held so much promise. But some of the sentence structure did not flow at all and also the accidental pregnancy? There could’ve been so much more to this book and a better third act conflict.
This book also dragged for too long.
This book did have good parts.

I found this to be a bit of a jumbled mess.

The storyline follows Sav and Hayes as they reconnect as former best friends 10 years after breaking contact. The miscommunication about why they drifted apart lasts about 35% of the book which made the first half drag slightly (not even the reader knows what the other thinks).

The pacing was a little bit all over the place and I found their romance to be hard to believe - she needs a fake husband and he doesn't even think to volunteer until his friend suggests it. There seems to be no sexual chemistry or feelings until they are already married and they both want to go in completely separate directions in life. There are a lot of dramatic elements that felt slightly over the top for me.

I very much disliked how the twist at the end occurred and was written.

The characters were well fleshed out and the story was somewhat engaging hence the 2 stars.

Thankyou to NetGalley and the publisher for an audioarc in exchange for an honest review

Rated 3.5 Stars

I was very much on the fence with Finding Hayes at first, I wasn't sure if I was going to love it or hate it but ended up enjoying it. Hayes was one of my main reasons for being on the fence. I wasn't fond of him but he grew on me. The miscommunication/misunderstanding was another of the reasons as I found it a bit off putting. I was very happy when it was resolved. It's one of my least fave tropes. That said I found this to be a really sweet read with a bit of steam. It was also cute. I liked the narrator's and thought they did a wonderful job with this book. I enjoyed it and definitely look forward to reading more by this author.

I've really liked the previous books in this series, and this was no exception.
Finding Hayes was a really good grumpy/sunshine, marriage of convenience romance.
I really liked the way their past and present were tied together.
And I just have to say that the found family part of this series is amazing.

The narrators did a great job with the audiobook.

This series has opened my eyes for Laura Pavlovs books, and I will definitely be reading more from her in the future.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK Audio for the opportunity to listen to this book.

Thank you so much to Harper Collins Audio for the ALC and NetGalley.

I absolutely loved this book from the start. This was the perfect grumpy/sunshine and marriage of convenience small town romance. I listened to the whole thing in one day and loved the narrators, they felt perfect for the characters.

I felt very invested in the characters as well as their relationship together. Their backstories and personalities felt very fleshed out and real, making these characters relatable but mature at the same time. I love how they dealt with their baggage and roadblocks in their relationship and how they ended up coming together in the end.

An amazing end to the series and one of my favourite Laura Pavlov books for sure.

Finding Hayes was the perfect conclusion to this series that I love so much. I was super excited for Hayes' story, since he was the character that caught my attention and captivated me the most when he was introduced in the first book of the series, Loving Romeo. I love a grumpy and overprotective man. Especially when he doesn't realize what a big heart of gold he has and needs a strong woman to smack some sense into him and show him how worthy of love he is. And that's exactly what we have in this story.

Savannah was a great main character and I fell in love with her as soon as she appeared on the page. She's extremely charming and has a unique and strong personality. Savvy isn't afraid to do whatever she sets her mind to and she's a very fun and funny person. She was one of the girls in the series that I liked the most. I believe that the creation of her personality was top notch and is up there with Ruby in my opinion.

Hayes needs no introduction about how much I love him, since I've mentioned him in practically every review I've done for this series. I think he was the guy who had the most responsibility thrown at him even though he was young, followed by Nash. His life wasn't easy, he had a terrible environment at home, he had to give up on his dream in the sports industry to take care of his younger sister, he had a toxic relationship and, the most terrible of all, he even lost his best friend. Our guy suffered a lot and his closed off and grumpy personality comes a lot from that, but it's only when Shortcake comes back to town that he starts to soften up.

Their relationship is beautiful, although it was built since they were children and went through a huge blow after being separated for 10 years, I feel like it was fast paced after they met again. The circumstance of having to get married quickly definitely helped speed up the process of them seeing each other as a real couple. This ended up affecting the plot a bit for me, because after 40% to 50% of the book, I felt that the pacing slowed down and there wasn't much happening other than the cute scenes between Hayes and Savannah. Even so, I continued to be entertained by the story of these two, I was just reading more slowly. However, the last chapters brought back my enthusiasm after the little twist, which I must admit I saw being built since the beginning, but it might surprise some readers. I LOVED the last chapters, it gave me all the feels.

Hayes and Savannah's interactions calling each other "husband" and "wife" and its variations were wonderfully sweet. And the moments when they wanted to call each other out on something, and they would go, for example, with Hayes saying only "Savannah" with a warning tone and her responding "Hayes" in the same way and vice versa, were very cute and funny.

On the other side, the miscommunication bothered me a bit, because I thought Savannah should've known better, but I understand she was in a fragile moment.

Meanwhile, I loved seeing all of our known couples making cameos here. One of the things I love most about Laura is that she knows how to create a group of friends and a spectacular friendship dynamic. Everyone there matters in each other's lives, they're truly like family. There are many connections between the characters, from small details to being a huge part in something in each other's lives, and I think that's wonderful. The characters that Laura creates are truly the highlight of all of her books. They have very distinct personalities that charm you in different ways and they stay with you long after you finish reading the books. They're the ones that keep me coming back to read everything Laura writes. Besides loving the romance stories she creates for each one, of course. Oh, and I love seeing that all of her series are connected, at least the ones I've already read. I think it's really cool that we have cameos even from characters from other series.

Overall, I loved Finding Hayes and I'm sad that we won't have any more stories in Magnolia Falls. However, I'm already SUPER excited for the Rosewood River stories. Emerson's brothers and cousins will definitely make me swoon a lot in their series, I'm sure, as they already did in the cameo they made in Beating Heart. In Finding Hayes, we have Easton making a cameo again, and I must say that I'm already falling for him and dying to see him fall in love in the first book of the Rosewood River series.

P.S.: As I usually do, I also listened to the audiobook of Finding Hayes. I was really happy and thankful to be approved to the ALC. The narrators were incredible, I already knew them and knew they usually did very good jobs narrating. Andi Arndt and Lee Samuels brought Savannah and Hayes to life perfectly and reading the book while listening to them narrate gave an even more special and unique touch to the story.

Thank you NetGalley, HarperCollins UK Audio | HQ for providing and approving my ALC!

✨ RATING
- C (characters): 10/10
- A (atmosphere): 10/10
- W (writing): 10/10
- P (plot): 8/10
- I (intrigue): 8/10
- L (logic): 10/10
- E (enjoyment): 10/10
↬ TOTAL: 9.43 = ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

💦 SPICE: 🌶️🌶️

🔖 TROPES:
- Marriage of Convenience
- Childhood Best Friends to Lovers
- Grumpy x Sunshine
- Forced Proximity
- Second Chance Romance
- Miscommunication
- Firefighter Hero
- Interior Design Influencer Heroine
- Small Town
- Found Family

Can I just move to Magnolia Falls? This series has become one of my favourite reads this year, and Finding Hayes was the perfect goodbye to Magnolia Falls.

I have been wondering who Hayes was going to end up with since the start of the series, and for ages I was sure it was going to be Payton! 🙈 But I just loved Hayes and Savannah’s story! It was the perfect story for our loveable grump!

You know I love Grumpy x Sunshine, it’s one of my all time favourite tropes! And I especially love when the grump has a soft spot, or two soft spots in Hayes’ case - Beefcake and Savvy! 😍 Hayes was such a fierce protector. He had to grow up too fast and take care of Saylor, all when he was still just a kid himself. He’s so quick to make sacrifices for those he loves, and is the first to step up when needed.

I love that Savannah was a new to the series because their relationship gave so much more depth to Hayes’ character! I’m not typically a friends to lovers fan, but I do love when the friends become strangers and then become lovers! It’s the best twist on the trope! 😍 Savannah was pure sunshine, and I loved how easily she slotted back into Magnolia Falls. She had so much on her plate, but she never stopped smiling and supporting Hayes. She was the perfect happy to his broody, and I loved watching them transition from fake marriage to “this feels real” 😍

I’ve said it in my other reviews and I’ll say it again, but the Found Family in this series is NEXT LEVEL! The ROD crew have my heart, and I love how much Beefcake looks up to them. 🥹 Speaking of Beefcake, I love how we’ve watched him grow up in the series. He is the cutest little kid, and I love the truth bombs he drops and makes all the guys stop and think! I hope one day he’ll get his own story 🤞🏼