In the Case of Heartbreak by Courtney Kae

I love the fact that Courtney Kae wants to imagine a world that is kinder to queer people and to create escapes where we’re sate to examine the messy, painful, hard things and learn to believe how very worthy of love we all are. And the blurb sounded right up my alley! I therefore had such high hopes and really really really wanted to love this book. But unfortunately, even though it was a truly sweet story, I had hoped for more in regard to the plot, the characters and the romance.

In the Case of Heartbreak is the second book in the Fern Falls series, and the main characters here have been part of the first book in the series as well. Ben Parrish is the local pastry chef, who’s been baking his grandma’s cinnamon rolls at the family café for years, while secretly pining for his neighbor, Adam Reed, the musician and local car mechanic guy. When Ben is a finalist on a reality show, his absent father decides to show up and make a claim to the famous cinnamon recipe, at the same as Adam rejects him on national TV. Broken-hearted Ben takes the opportunity to hide at his grandma’s 80th birthday party, only to find out that the hired musician for it is… Adam.

Unfortunately, I haven’t read the first book in this series, which might explain why I felt that the characters and their romance were a bit underdeveloped. I never really felt their pining nor any real tension or the promised “steamy nights” from the blurb. And I usually like the miscommunication trope, but here it was just too obvious to keep me engaged. All in all, the story felt quite directionless and eventful no matter how cute it was and how much I rooted for the badass G-ma and wanted Ben to get revenge on his evil father. But there were some truly great representations though, with characters with mental health issues as well as different gender identities and sexual orientations.

So even though In the Case of Heartbreak didn’t live up to my expectations (which might have to do with the fact that I jumped right into the second book) it was nevertheless an entertaining, adorable and sweet read with great representation that I recommend for anyone looking for a quick, queer small town romance!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

Rating:
3 stars

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Author info:
Courtney Kae