Book Boyfriend — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Emily Wibberly & Austin Siegemund-Broka
Published Year: 2025
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 384

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Jennifer Worth lives to escape into the world of her favorite romantasy series Elytheum Courts, where the romance is sweeping and the men are brave, chivalrous . . . and winged. Newly single and craving connection, she travels to an immersive fan experience celebrating all things Elytheum, only to see the last face she expected—Scott Daniels, her work nemesis, whose disinterest in Jennifer’s favorite series and standoffishness have made their publishing jobs feel like a feuding fae court.

Except the Scott she encounters there, in his secondhand cosplay outfit, is . . . different. Swaggering, flirtatious, confident. Unlucky in romance himself and inspired by Jennifer’s love for the swoonworthy men of Elytheum, Scott is determined to remake himself into the perfect book boyfriend.

Jennifer has no interest in helping the man who vexes her every workday and dismisses her fictional fantasies, but as the immersive convention activities force them together, they’re surprised to discover magic like none Jennifer has ever read about. But is enemies-to-lovers romance only for books, or can Jennifer and Scott bring the trope to life?

First Impressions

I have always enjoyed this married duo’s novels. I was excited to see they were coming out with a new adult novel and intrigued by the concept of a girl who is into romance novels and has the ideal fantasy of a boyfriend in her head.

What I thought

Maybe I shouldn’t have read this after Onyx Storm?

Jennifer works in publishing. She is a romantic and believes her true love is out there. Scott works for the same company and believes Jennifer is living in a fantasy. After he rejected her friendship, they immediately became enemies and have not liked each other for a year. When Jennifer gets broken up with at work, she decides to attend a Romantasy immersive experience her friend helped to create about her favorite book series. She goes to escape her reality for a week and heal, but then her dreams are crushed when Scott, who has forever dissed her favorite series, is there too.

I really wanted to like this book. I have enjoyed so many of their other books but I could not with this one. Part of my issue was the romantasy series stuff. Now, I had just read Onyx Storm which is part of the Emperyium series, so reading about a fact Elytheum series felt too close. It also felt very A Court of Thorns and Roses which did not enjoy. I just felt like I was trying to read two books at once because Jennifer and this experience are so Elytheum heavy, that you feel like you can’t connect with the experience if you’re not an Elytheum fan. Maybe if this had been written more like the book Fan Girl by Rainbow Rowell where in between chapters were snippets of the Elytheum series? That might’ve made it feel more real than Jennifer just referencing it every once in a while.

Also, I am not convinced at all that these people like each other. It’s supposed to be enemies to lovers but I just did not get it. She asks him to get a drink to become friends the first time they meet, he says no, and then they continue to harass each other at work for a full year. Then once they’re out of the work setting at this experience, she finds him attractive? And apparently because he say her checking him out he realized he also finds her attractive? I kept thinking maybe he had had a crush on her the whole time and went to the experience to understand her more and win her over when he came back to work, but that was not the case at all.

She pretty much spends the whole time harping on why she dislikes Scott and it boils down to not liking him just because he doesn’t like her. I don’t find that very solid. I actually ended up skimming the whole second half of the book because I could not with these characters anymore. I found her to be whiney and overly tied into her fantasy world (which all of the characters accused her of) and I found him to be flat and have no personality other than the fantasy character whose traits he was trying to emulate.

I’m so disappointed because I have previously really enjoyed this duo’s books, but the last two have just not done it for me. Maybe their magic has worn off for me? I don’t know. I’d be willing to give them one more shot if the concept strikes me, but definitely not the top of my list anymore.