Prime Time Romance by Kate Robb

Rating: 4 stars

Recommended Ages: 18+

Release Date: September 3, 2024

Prime Time Romance is a fun, unique rom-com that combines the alternate reality space/time travel of the film Pleasantville with the nostalgia of late 90s/late 2000s CW/WB television shows. If you were ever a fan of Dawson's Creek, Riverdale or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there are plenty of Easter eggs to be found as our protagonists find themselves transported into a real-life version of a popular teen drama. Prime Time Romance is cozy, sweet and romantic.

This book is told in two points of view. The first is Brynn, recently divorced and nursing her grief by watching old episodes of Carson's Cove, her favorite teen drama from her childhood. Then there is Josh, Brynn's bartender roommate who is still dealing with feelings of failure after he couldn't keep his late father's bar afloat. Through a series of events and some unexplained magic, the two find themselves transported into a real version of Carson's Cove, where Brynn must give the drama's characters a happy ending before the two can return home.

I went into this book not knowing the premise, so it was rather jarring when it went from a standard rom-com into a supernatural, pseudo-romantasy. But I adjusted. I really enjoyed the movie Pleasantville (except the ending was a little weird), so I loved twisting the concept for the Millennial generation. The residents of Carson's Cove were a play on the archetypes that we often saw in those old teen dramas--the beautiful best friend/boy next door, the town bad boy, the high school mean girl, and the ride-or-die bestie girlfriend. But Prime Time Romance turned these archetypes on their head in a satisfying way.

Brynn and Josh have great chemistry. I did find myself, however, forgetting in the middle of a chapter whose point-of-view I was reading, as their voices sometimes weren't distinctive enough from each other. I also got a little frustrated at times when Brynn chose--for seemingly no reason other than pure storytelling purposes--to not communicate her intentions to Josh. I'm a big fan of communication in romance books.

That said, I had a lot of fun with this book and I think I caught most of the Easter eggs (I didn't watch Riverdale past the first season, though). If you're looking for a cute romance with a healthy dose of nostalgia, I would highly recommend.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.