The Buy-In

Love Stories in Sheet Cake Sweet Rom Com Series, Book 1

By: Emma St. Clair

Narrated by: Stephanie Rose, Rock Engle

Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

"You can't Schitt's Creek a town, Tank."

"And you can't verb a noun, son."

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...

This is a small town, marriage of convenience romantic comedy with plenty of sizzle while keeping the bedroom door closed. It's the first in a spinoff series following Harper's brothers (from Falling for Your Best Friend). You don't need to have listened to the Love Clichés series first to enjoy this book.

©2022 Emma St. Clair (P)2023 Podium Audio

4.5 Fun story

I found myself looking for excuses to listen. I especially liked the football game. 😏

All’s well that ends well??

I believe that I might have enjoyed the story more if there was a different female narrator. It seemed as if she was trying to channel Mae West. ADHD may be more desirable than I thought. After all, Pat was able to coach football, complete 1/3 of a long “to do” list, and remodel a two bedroom loft while shopping for all kinds of items and cooking. THERE WAS SOME education about Autism, ADHD, self-destructive behavior.

cute and squeaky clean

Amusing. Fit for very young readers. Female lead held on to her gudge way too long. I live in the area the book is set in. The narrators accents were terrible!

Hilarious and sweet story with great voice actors

I loved The Buy-In as a book and possibly even more as an audiobook! The voice actors are absolutely perfect for Pat and Lindy’s characters.

Good story!

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more in this series. Good characters and plot line.

I enjoyed the storyline, the narration not so much

I enjoyed the story for the most part. It was nice to catch up with the characters from the previous book. I also like that we get to see into the heads of both the guy and the girl so things aren’t so one sided. I also like the twist of how they got together. The narration detracted from the script. If I hadn’t been so OCD about finishing the book, I would have quit early. The continual repetition of the marvelous physical attributes of the “male lead”, extolled in a snarky voice was irritating, and made me disrespect the girl. It was in most respects a clean novel, but all the sweating and heavy breathing every other scene, even though they restrained themselves from going too far, was off putting. The one thing I did appreciate was the emphasis on good communication being key in any relationship. A lot of heartache could be avoided if only hard conversations were not avoided but attacked head on.

Cute story but

Most of the book is slow and a bit boring. I don’t know if it’s the male narrator or what. I liked his voice but it sort of made me zone out and it didn’t keep my attention. It was a cute story though! It’s refreshing to listen to a book that has no unnecessary cursing or very descriptive sex scenes. Will listen to the next book in the series.

Like the male narrator…

It was an ok listen, I finished it, but it never sucked me in. I didn’t particularly like the story. There were too many points of argument that could’ve been easily better argued. And the female narrator started to sound super staccato and forceful with her characters. I liked the male narrator. He was the only reason I could keep listening. I knew he’d make the characters more likeable and turn things around.

Great small town setting and great characters

I loved this one. Who wouldn't love a story set in a town called Sheet Cake? From Lindy's inner monologues to Pat's giggling, it was great from beginning to end.

Great story!

Funny and clean. Makes me want to go find a small town like Sheetcake. Excited for the next in series