Lucie Stone has spent so much of her life convincing herself she is fine that she doesn’t know how to believe anything else. A talented mechanic and mother to a chaotic twelve-year-old, Lucie is content with her situation, yet she can’t help feeling stuck in place. Aiden Valentine has spent so much of his career steeped in romance that he has fallen out of love with it entirely. Working for Heartlines, Baltimore’s late-night romance hotline, Aiden fields calls from the infatuated and heartbroken citizens of Baltimore and offers up advice live on the air. Every late-night call drives him deeper into cynicism, and the passion he once had for his work is now gone. Everything changes the night Aiden receives a call from Lucie’s determined daughter Maya, seeking dating advice for her mom, and Lucie’s impassioned call for real romance and magic makes the segment go viral. Lucie’s words have resonated with many, and they all want to see where her search for real romance leads, including Aiden. Now Lucie and Aiden are getting up close and personal with a new Heartlines segment all about Lucie’s quest for romance. On air, Aiden and Lucie have an unmistakable chemistry and their joint quest only brings them closer. With Lucie piloting her love story and owning up to what she wants it could be that the love she’s been looking for is just one call away.
B.K. Borison calls forth the magic in her series debut, First-Time Caller, a romance that pays homage to Nora Ephron and the romantic comedy classic, Sleepless in Seattle. Featuring her signature banter and sizzling charm, Borison pits a cynical radio host against a dreamy romantic on a late-night radio dating segment to test if love without reservations is truly attainable. Main characters Lucie Stone and Aiden Valentine fight the growing sparks on the air and the fact that the love they’ve been denying themselves is just one seat away. If it’s possible to fall in love with a group of characters in just one book, left hopelessly hanging for more, then B.K. Borison has done that with First-Time Caller. I want to soak in all the workplace gossip at the radio station, hang out with the Heartstrings crew in the studio, and get far too caught up in Jackson’s antics and his feud with Delilah. First-Time Caller brings everything into focus for this brand-new romance series encapsulating all the best from classic love stories and it’s left me entirely too excited for what Borison is delivering us next.
First-Time Caller is a comforting and familiar romance that somehow feels entirely different – like slipping back into an old coat to find it still fits yet has nevertheless changed. After falling head over heels for B.K. Borison’s Lovelight series I was reluctant to say goodbye to Inglewild and trek into her new romance, but I needn’t have been. First-Time Caller completely stuns with that wonderful community atmosphere and charm that she captured back in her first series. The lesson here is to never doubt B.K. Borison’s ability to leave you lovestruck no matter which book of hers she is writing. First-Time Caller made my heart flutter, caught up in the endless potential of charting my own destiny as its protagonist Lucie rediscovers the dreams she had not even realized she left behind. On a dating segment with the unfortunately jaded Aiden Valentine, Lucie gets the chance to find love and chase the magic she’s been longing for if she can be brave enough to reach for it. The key with this romance is BANTER. Lucie and Aiden spend an inordinate amount of time recording their radio segment and tap into a repartee that is quite simply divine. The romantic tension builds and dissipates again and again as these two fight the feelings and remain caught in a constant state of denial of the fact that they could love one another.
What always stands out to me with B.K. Borison’s romances are their lived-in feel – it’s as if you could step onto the page and for a moment be a part of the community she has captured there. In First-Time Caller there’s the radio crew and the extended family unit with Lucie and her daughter, Maya. The unconventional family aspect oriented around Lucie, Greyson, and Mateo co-parenting Maya was really sweet as was their staunch support of Lucie throughout her romance journey. The task of searching for romance live on the radio is daunting enough, but Lucie is supported by so many people in her life. Lucie’s fear in putting herself out there was terribly relatable and Borison does an incredible job revealing all aspects of that vulnerability, the fear that comes with everyone knowing your business but also the courage in knowing that you have to change.
There’s a lot that stands out about Lucie, but it was her unshakable commitment to standing by her truth in all aspects of her life that I deeply admired. Lucie’s decision to raise a daughter and not marry Grayson alienated her from her family, who chose to force their daughter out of their home and sever all future connections. Knowing Lucie persevered and created an extended family of her own is comforting. Yet Lucie has gotten far too comfortable and must get back to finding the magic she’s been missing. Borison adopts “magic” as that rightness in romance, but exposes how magic isn’t just something you find, it’s something you create. The love Lucie discovers with Aiden is scary because it is imperfect, but it’s everything she has been looking for all the same. Aiden shows himself to be the right partner to Lucie almost without realizing it. The scene where he runs to the restaurant after she gets stood up, and the reveal that he keeps a list of her favorite things in his glove compartment in case he forgets were everything to me I fear. First-Time Caller expertly reimagines a Nora Ephron classic and twists it for the modern day while retaining all of its heartwarming charm and unforgettable chemistry. While it attempts a lot, its centering of change is so profound and is further proof that it is never too late for any of us.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.
Trigger warnings: cancer
Literaryrobin 