NetGalley Review: Beer Fest by Lilo Moore

Beer Fest by Lilo Moore

Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩

If you want a not-super-serious, but still heartfelt, friends-to-lovers contemporary, then this book will 100% be a winner.

I will open with the not so great part: I don't think the beer-fest challenge was necessary. I understand that it is the literal premise of the book, but the narrative of "university friends get together for nostalgi hijinks" would have worked fine without the forced fun of the challenge. Almost all of the events could have happened without the ever-looming competition and the constant truth-or-dare interludes existed purely to push the plot along when the narrative had lost its way. With some tweaking this could have been an elegantly written book about what happens when everyone grows up and learns what they really want. With the competition, it all feels a little forced and out-of-character for everyone. This may be because I personally find the idea of a live streamed challenge whose only point is embarrassing its participants to be my actual worst nightmare, so others may enjoy that aspect more.

That is however, my only gripe. As for the rest: brilliant. The characters were well developed, a situation helped by the way that existing friendship let our protagonists short hand the work of falling in love on page. The setting is lovingly described and absolutely drops the reader right into the heart of the festival. Millennial readers will relate so hard to all these characters and the crossroads they are facing. In this aspect the book is a kind and compassionate examination of what happens when you do everything "right" yet the results feel all wrong. The spice is delightful and well written. Getting to the good stuff at about the halfway point really makes the book shine because the intimacy is a good foil for how the relationship is growing and changing without being gratuitous (whatever that means, smut for smuts sake is also OK by me!).

Overall, this was a fun, fast, spicy and emotional read that should be on contemporary romance fan's TBR lists for sure.

Published on 1 September 2023 by LM Books

 Book #81 of 2023