Name: The Buy-In
Rating: 3.739130434782609 (23 reviews)

Emma St. Clair

When a family of former pro football players buy a small Texas town, they didn't intend to start a war with its residents ... or to fall in love. 

Ever since his career-ending injury, Pat has bounced from job to job, idea to idea, short-lived relationship to short-lived relationship. But when his father purchases the town of Sheet Cake, Pat suddenly sees his life with clear purpose: get his brothers on board with his dad's wild idea and win back the one woman who got away.

Lindy was supposed to be traveling the world, not stuck in a small town, caring for her niece. But she would do anything to keep custody of Jo--even if that looks like a marriage of convenience with the man who already broke her heart once.

Now if she can only keep herself from falling back in love with her husband...

The Buy-In 

alya adlina

wow! okay i give this book 4.5 ⭐️ i really love it!! this is my first time reading a book from Emma St. Clair and yes i already in love with her writing. you can expect anything from her. such as, a cute banter moments, A CLEAN ROMANCE, and it’s a little heavy but there’s something that could make you smile nonstop. this book didn’t disappoints me at all. i really enjoyed my journey in the town of Sheet Cake and Pat and Lindy’s story. yup it’s a second chance romance. i know some people might don’t like it, same goes to me. it could be a hit or a miss. but for me this book is really well-written and was okay. not only that but there’s also marriage of convenience. very absolutely my top tier trope ever. i literally loving it. the way i mouth closed screaming bcs of the banter between Pat and Lindy. they’re are the cutest. i really adore how hard Pat worked to win Lindy’s heart again. he’s the MAN. maybe he is a bastard before this but he changed become more matured. for Lindy, she’s a very strong and dependent woman ever. she works so hard and gave up everything just to tak care her niece, Jo. i love how Lindy learning to lean on someone and having someone that could take care of her after all she’s been through it. i really really ADORE this book so much istg. did i already say that it’s a clean romance? yup we got a lot of kissing scene (a very clean romance) in this book so the tension between them is just 🤌🏻 idk what to say anymore bcs if you guys like:

-small town romance 
-second chance romance 
-marriage of convenience 
-sweet banter between mcs
-closed door romance

go read this book everyone!!

Elisa Almonte

You can feel the love!!!

My favorite part is that, is that story is real! It could totally happen to any of us! So much pain and happiness, all rolled up together! The kid is the cutest!!

sydney

This book is so freaking cute!!! I expected the marriage of convenience to happen earlier in the book but it happened at just the right moment. Pat was just so perfect. He did everything to show Lindy that he still loved her. I also really loved seeing Pat develop a relationship with Jo. I love the single parent trope so much.

I received an arc through netgalley

I absolutely loved this book, Pat and Lindy’s relationship is so cute and I love a good marriage of convenience book. The plot along with the romance was really good, but I do wish we got a more climatic scene with the court case because the book had been leading it up for a really long time. However the characters amazing even James, I can sense some change with him in the next book of this series. How was the best and I still can’t believe she’s not 5. I can’t wait to continue with the rest of the Graham brothers books and see what Emma has in store for this series. 

Princess Twasam 

Emily Cutler

I adore this book. It’s one of the funniest books I’ve read in a long time. I had a huge, giddy smile on my face the majority of the time I was reading this. 

Pat is now my new book boyfriend and it’s going to take a lot to knock him off that top spot. He is honestly perfect. 

Firstly, Pat loves romance shows. Need I say more? He also does the most adorable giggle (well, it’s adorable in my head) when he’s nervous. It makes we want to reach through the book and squeeze him. 

I’d say Lindy’s character was fine. There wasn’t anything particularly special about her. However, I did appreciate how strong she was. She had a lot of things she was dealing with and she handled it all so well. 

My favourite thing about this book was the mental health representation - Pat had ADHD. I feel like the author handled it so respectfully. It wasn’t done just to tick a box but rather it actually played a part in the story. It also taught me a lot about the condition aswell which makes me really respect the author. As a mental health sufferer myself I always think it’s important to raise more awareness around mental health conditions. 

I was addicted to this book from the very first chapter and if I didn’t have to face the real world (essays…you suck) then I would have finished this in a day. I highly recommended you go read this book right now. 

✦ Tropes included: second-chance romance, single parent, marriage of convenience 

Thank you to NetGalley and Emma St Clair for this e-Arc. 

𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵:

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘶𝘺-𝘐𝘯 - https://amzn.to/3s1HYAr

𝘈𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘐 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴.

Larissa zavala

I kept waiting for this to get better but I feel like there was way too much going on. 

Synopsis: 

Lindy and Pat were a couple in college but one day instead of saying goodbye on their final date he decided to avoid it (enneagram 9 or 7?) and leaves without even a phone call. Now Lindy is a single mom to her niece and pat is a ex-athlete when pats dad buys the town Lindy lives in (Sheet cake, Texas) they finally see each other again. With an unexpected custody battle at hand Lindy and Pat get married to make it seem like jo is more together. 



Review: (slight spoilers)



This whole thing could've just been fixed with a honest conversation 

Pat: I love you and I'm sorry let's work on this 

Lindy: I love you too, and I may not forgive you right away but I want to. 

But no, we get a "custody battle" that seems like it's gonna be a huge deal that gets side lined. Some rude residents of sheet cake that apparently don't want better roads? Lindy doesn't want a home that is live-able? Pats offering to help and all and I get she doesn't want him to think she's using him but the husband isn't gonna cover up the fact that jo (her niece) is living in a tiny closet and the house is falling apart. We don't even get to them meeting again until 50% of the book and most of the information that was thrown at us seemed unfinished or irrelevant. The mom also had dementia and I just think there was too much going on and a lot of loose-ish ends. 

Pat and Lindy have barely made a life together and they are acting / expecting things that don't make sense. 

The author also included adhd info which is cool but it was waaaay too much stuff going on that my mind was just spinning and confused. 

For some reason I can't stop wondering about the tv in the barn... like how much money does this dude have?

My most favorite part was the ending with Lindys mom. And the adoption. And verbing nouns. (Sorry tank)


Thank you NetGalley for providing this arc.

The Buy-In

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