Review: ‘The Kiss Countdown’ by Etta Easton
I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Kiss Countdown
by Etta EastonPublished by Berkley on April 4, 2024
SubGenres: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy
Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
Source: the publisher
Audience: 18+/Adult
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A struggling event planner and a sinfully hot astronaut must decide if their fake relationship is worth a shot at happily-ever-after, in this starry debut.
Risk-averse event planner Amerie Price is jobless, newly single, and about to lose her apartment. With no choice but to gamble on her shaky start-up, the last thing she needed was to run into her smug ex and his new, less complicated girlfriend at Amerie's favorite coffee shop. Panicked, she pretends to be dating the annoyingly sexy man she met by spilling Americano all over his abs. He plays along—for a price.
Half the single men in Houston claim to be astronauts, but Vincent Rogers turns out to be the real deal. What started as a one-off lie morphs into a plan: for the three months leading up to his mission, Amerie will play Vincent's doting partner in front of his loving but overly invested family. In exchange, she gets a rent-free room in his house and can put every penny toward her struggling business.
What Amerie doesn't plan for is Vincent's gravitational pull. While her mind tells her a future with this astronaut is too unpredictable, her heart says he's exactly what she needs. As their time together counts down, Amerie must decide if she'll settle for the safe life—or shoot for the stars.
Etta Easton’s debut novel, The Kiss Countdown, is a delightful, fun, and sweet romance with a STEM theme. As a self-professed science geek, I was immediately drawn to this book. It also included one of my favorite tropes, fake dating, which is why I couldn’t pass it up.
The fake dating trope may always be predictable, but for this reader, it’s the way the characters meet, agrees to a fake date, and eventually realize they are in love with one another that always makes me love this trope. Etta Easton did a great job on her debut novel, making me fall hard for Amerie and Vincent and root for these two to become more.
The initial meeting between Amerie and Vincent was far from ordinary, with a coffee mishap leading to their first encounter. This unconventional start sets the stage for their journey of character development and growth, which I found particularly engaging to read about.
Amerie is a character who is going through struggles in life, but she is handling them, and she has Vincent there to help her, even when he first meets her and doesn’t know her well. Vincent is also going through struggles, but he is dealing with family issues. This is when the fake dating between Amerie and Vincent can help with one another’s struggles, and this is why these characters complement one another. They were destined to meet in that coffee shop.
The Kiss Countdown is a sweet, slow-burn romance that is full of tension and family drama that definitely kept me turning the pages. It is told solely from the FMC’s POV, which means you won’t get the MMC’s POV, but the way Etta wrote the story, you already know his feelings for the FMC through her POV and his actions. He was such a ‘Cinnamon Roll,’ and I loved him for it.
I give this book four stars, and I can’t wait to read more books from Etta Easton.
Trope(s)/Element(s):
🚀Fake Dating
🚀Forced Proximity
🚀Family Drama
🚀Astronaut Hero (Cinnamon Roll Hero, too)
🚀Event Planner Heroine
🚀Slow Burn Romance
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About Etta Easton
Etta Easton is a certified hopeless romantic who now writes contemporary romance. Her stories are full of humor, relatable heroines, swoon-worthy heroes, and Black joy. She lives in Central Texas with her husband and two young kids.
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