When I heard BK Borison was coming out with a new series based on all of our favorite Nora Ephron Rom-Com movies of the 90s I was ALL IN. And when I say that, I hope you realize that I mean I felt fully take-my-money feral. Book #1 in what she’s calling the Heartstrings series is First-Time Caller, based on the Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan classic: Sleepless in Seattle.
Lucie’s daughter calls in to a late-night radio show based around love, and hosted by a man who no longer believes in it.
After the impressively accomplished Business Casual, Borison’s previous release, I had the highest of hopes for this book. It was good, but it wasn’t on the same level. More than anything, First-Time Caller felt indulgent.
Aiden had character, but for me it wasn’t nearly strong enough. I’d have vastly preferred more scenes with character development for Aiden than have the two of them locked in storage closets for far too many pages dry humping and ignoring their problems. Were there great scenes in this book? Of course. And I enjoy the prose style. The struggle for me this time was all story. It just felt unbalanced, focusing far too much on the sexual tension, and eventually, the actual sex. It’s something Borison does well, the almost visceral sexual tension, but too much of even a good thing eventually sours, and that’s how I felt about First-Time Caller.
Still, BK Borison remains an auto-buy author for me…for now. We’ll see how I feel about her next few releases, beginning with an October release titled Good Spirits. Personally, I’d rather have one great book release a year instead of two mediocre ones. I hope my fears about that are unfounded and this was a fluke. And hey, many others seriously adore this one. Unfortunately, I can’t call myself one of them.
Details
Title:: First Time Caller (Heartstrings #1)
Author:: BK Borison
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Berkley
Length:: 448 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 54m
Audiobook Narrator:: EJ Bingham & Hathaway Lee
Published:: February 11th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 3.5-Stars
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