Make the Cut by Nicole Lam: Book Review

   *Book received for consideration. All thoughts are my own.

He's a player, and she's sworn off dating. They're just friends... until they're not.

Poppy Black, a fashion assistant, moonlights as the writer behind popular gossip blog, Muse Unmasked. Too bad her pop star brother hates her for writing about his personal life (oops), her other brother is a white-collar criminal… and she’s just been fired for revealing her boss’s secrets on Muse Unmasked. With her life in tatters, Poppy turns to her old friend Naoya Sugawa for help.

Playboy pop star Naoya is about to embark on his next great venture: judging and producing a new talent show, Make The Cut. It’s a music and fashion show, in which contestants compete to see who can style the best outfits for the best singers. It’s going to be great… until his stylist goes on early maternity leave.

Poppy and Naoya make a deal: she’ll help him with the show, and he’ll get her a job as his stylist. But as the two grow closer, they realize that what’s at stake isn’t just their careers, but their hearts…

Buy now to dive into a romantic tale of drama, high stakes, and fashion, with swoony kisses but no explicit scenes!

Nicole Lam is a romance author who loves nothing more than, well, love. In her books, you’ll find emotional twists, heart-rending drama, and two broken people who find each other and choose happily ever after in spite of their problems. Her books feature heartwarming, relatable characters, swoony kisses, and no explicit scenes. When she’s not writing, you can find her staying in her house for three-quarters of the year to avoid the Canadian winter, curling up with a good book, or learning yet another language.

You can find her on Instagram @nicole_lam_author or on her website, www.nicolelamauthor.com

Make the Cut is the third book in the Sweet Hollywood romance series. I had not personally read the prior books in this series, and I found that I had no problems reading it as a standalone. 

Right from the start, this one drew me in with a fun meet-cute that made me laugh out loud. I enjoyed the friendship between Poppy and Naoya... and the slow burn of their romance? So, so good! Throw in a stalker, a feud, family drama, and a reality show... well, there was just a lot to love. While there was a lot going on in this story, I thought it all worked together very well. It kept me entertained from start to finish. I didn't always love Poppy's character, but she grew on me as the story went on... mostly anyway!

The romance in this story was clean. There was a small bit of language, but it was very mild (and very little). Overall, this was a fun read and one that fans of friends to more are sure to want to read for themselves.