Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Right on Cue

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Right on Cue by Falon Ballard

19 reviews

jeanaquinlan's review against another edition

lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Middle-of-the-road type of book. The romance is a verrrry slow burn. The female protagonist is an annoying, whiny nepo baby, but I found myself getting into it.

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sly_'s review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

It was a cute romance book. I liked the setting. The story takes place mostly on a movie set, with the main character Emmy being a screenwriter and actress and the love interest Grayson also being an actor. It's a refreshing setting, something out of the ordinary. The glimpses of how a movie is made and what's going on on set were cool - although in my opinion not very realistic, but for a fictional romance that's not so important I guess. The story follows the typical romance block. Emmy and Grayson start as enemies, who have a history together after their first ever movie tanked, but quickly work through this and become totally in love. After everything seemed too good to be true there is the third act conflict/breakup followed by the making up and happy ending. I would have loved a little more of their happy ending and especially how it went after they got back together at spoiler

their movie premiere

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witcheep's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The romance in this book is a cute not-really-enemies to lovers combined with forced proximity story. The premise for the enemity is unsatisfying, which hinders the whole plot. The enemity has begun in the main characters' teen years because of

a partially eavesdropped conversation

that resulted into the FMC Emmy holding a years-long grudge and hostility towards the MMC Grayson. She makes an effort to make up and be cordial with him, and

of course they fall in love

. Unfortunately, throughout the years, Emmy has held her childish habit and ends up eavesdropping a partial conversation, then ghosting Grayson because of what she heard. When they finally talk and

make up again, it is Grayson that says he has issues with his self confidence – not Emmy recognizing that she should work on herself as well.

That is utter bs. Emmy doesn't seem to learn the lesson that she should communicate and take responsibility for her own actions. That is a lesson she needs to face again and again in the book, but even in the epiloque she still thinks all is well with her status quo state of mind. Grayson doesn't really hold Emmy accountable for her shortcomings either.

This character mentality of no self-improvement makes the ending feel unsatisfying: the underlying issues are still there and no one is even trying to work on them. The separate instances of these bigger issues flaring up throughout the book get closure by some childish drama and then getting swept under the rug, where the same issues just keep festering and waiting to resurface again.

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shaunashares's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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readingonthefly's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I had the option to buy this book an entire week early at B&N in Florida and AGAIN I put it back because “I don’t love books with actors”. I really don’t know why I say that because this is the second one this year that I really liked!!

I think my only issue was the audio’s narrator for the tabloids was so high pitched and I did not like it. The main narrator was amazing though!

Just My Type was so so good, but I feel like Falon just keeps getting better 🤩 Love the orange cover too! Read this one!

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emmas_bookshelf's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I love Falon Ballard's couples and characters. In this book, while Emmy's inability to communicate sometimes irked me, I found her and Grayson to be lovable and believable enemies to lovers. I loved the RomCom of it all, Falon always has excellent pop culture references, and the book was really enjoyable! Would recommend if you're in the mood for a romcom!

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smill12's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I love her writing! Grayson is a golden retriever and Emmy is lovable and relatable. The third-act conflict kind of annoyed me (it could’ve been solved in one conversation!) but overall, another hit.

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tamsterdam_reads's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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readingwithjessica_w's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Heart racing, stomach flipping—these are actual feelings I had while reading Right on Cue. Falon Ballard has perfected the frustration, the sexual chemistry, and the tension of enemies to lovers so well that I could literally feel it myself. Like holy (insert curse word here) these two just are so perfect for each other, and the single point of view from Emmy giving limited insight into Grayson’s feelings makes the suspense that much stronger. This is one of my favorite tropes, especially when a character is in denial about their own feelings because how could they possibly rationalize having emotions for someone that frustrates them?

The set up is that Emmy has written a Hallmark-esque romcom set in a snowy little town and with no actresses wowing her director best-friend Liz, she must act as the female lead—a role she abandoned at age 15. When she discovers a last minute fluke has landed Grayson West, her first crush and teen failed movie costar opposite her, it’s all Emmy can do to even be in the same room with him. Working on a movie together is the perfect dynamic for the forced proximity of two costars who have amazing sexual chemistry, but let their own misgivings (Emmy’s mostly) keep them from discussing it.

The stakes are amped up even higher between Grayson and Emmy by forcing their characters to block a sex scene—ahhh! intimate touching!—amidst the awkwardness of even looking at one another. Although sex is what initially helps bind these two (an actor must do what an actor must 😉), it becomes pretty clear that feelings are inevitable and the major factor keeping Emmy and Grayson at arms length. This book is super steamy (my fave) and also very funny. Grayson’s sex puns had me rolling, but more than that, it’s about people learning how to be vulnerable with each other and learning to let someone into their heart when they’ve had it broken before. Here’s your warning, there IS a third act breakup that lays heavily into the miscommunication trope, but knowing Emmy’s character, it seemed completely plausible to me. Through it all I rooted for these two, laughed at them, and cheered them on when life got complicated outside the filming bubble. Fallon Ballard has become an autobuy author for me and I would strongly encourage you to give Right on Cue a read. I received an early copy from NetGalley and Putnam. All opinions are my own.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This is probably the most boring romance I've read. I've read one other book by this author and I also didn't care for that female MC in that book (but at least in that one the guy was interesting). These were just like the two blandest people with no personality. Truly do not understand what these people liked about each other. Insta-attraction, but it's also kind of second chance romance?? (they knew each other briefly as teenagers). They are “enemies” 🙄 (at least in her mind) based on a dumb teenager thing that happened and Emmy has held this grudge since then (like please get over yourself!). She just like decides things and jumps to conclusions which is why she “hates” this guy to begin with. Then they’re just f'ing (literally to get over how much she dislikes him, her solution is just to have sex with him) and all of a sudden are in love cause the sex is so good? I’ll be honest I skimmed the latter 50% of this. The third act break up was also incredibly infuriating, not even miscommunication because she just AGAIN overhears PART of a conversation bc she is dumb and just leaves without the full context and then ghosts him! Besides them being on a movie set together it's not even like a "celebrity romance" in any of the good way that trope usually allows either.

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