When the line between love and loss blurs, the only certainty is that nothing will ever be the same.
Olivia looks at Astor Hill as her next challenge, a canvas upon which she’ll paint the perfect college experience. She envisions capturing the heart of Will Chapman, the school’s star shooting guard, securing her reign as editor of the prestigious newspaper, and navigating campus life hand-in-hand with her lifelong best friend, Lily. But one fateful night tragedy strikes, shattering Olivia's carefully constructed world.
Two years later, the wounds of the past still linger, casting a shadow over her present. Just as she begins to question if being society’s darling is all it’s cracked up to be, a destructive force arrives on campus, threatening to disrupt the fragile equilibrium she has so painstakingly created.
Ben Cabot, the enigmatic basketball star with a bad reputation and a devastating smile, returns to Astor Hill after a long and mysterious absence. His presence ignites a spark in Olivia, a dangerous attraction that challenges the very foundation of her carefully crafted life. Torn between the comfort of her familiar path and the allure of the unknown, Olivia must confront her deepest desires and make a choice that will change everything.
Sydney Madison is a best-friend writing duo based in Orlando, Florida, that blend heartwarming love stories with a captivating edge. While they revel in the lighter side of life—like sushi dates and book chats-they dive deep into the complexities of love and relationships in their writing. Balancing heart and intrigue, they craft stories that explore the shadows of relationships not typically explored. When they're not conjuring up their next novel, you can find them plotting their literary escapades over spicy tuna rolls and plenty of caffeine!
I'm going to keep this one really short and to the point - I wasn't expecting much going into this one. I'm not sure why lol, I just anticipated that it was going to come across a little shallow as far as the plot was concerned especially with the comparison of 'For fans of Magnolia Parks, Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill'
I've read a good amount of love triangles and cheating tropes and I'll say - as long as I feel like there's some depth to the characters and there's an extenuating circumstance for the cheating (please don't come for me) then I can rock with the story and relate in some way to the characters. Hey, we're all human and make mistakes, right?
But the way this story is laid out ... no. The cheating and the lying all for literally no reason other than the other tells us this is the way it's going to be. Everything is all very surface level and formulaic. It's predictable. All telling and no showing.
I didn't care about a single one of these characters because they were all cardboard cut outs. There was no depth to them, no life to them. I really wanted to poke them and say come on do something.
This story was messy for the sake of being messy. It didn't need to be. The 'reveals' and 'gossip bits' aren't even juicy. It was like, all of this bc of that? Meh. Not impressed.
Anticipated Release Date - 2/7/25
╰⪼ 🍁Boyfriend's Brother ╰⪼ 📚He Falls First ╰⪼ 🧡Love after Loss ╰⪼ 🍁Lies & Secrets ╰⪼ 📚Found Family ╰⪼ 🧡Mental Health Rep ╰⪼ 🍁Messy & Full of Drama
✨ Many thanks to NetGalley and Sydney Madison for the advanced digital copy - all thoughts are my own. ✨
i’ve decided to be stricter with my ratings, hence the 2.75 stars.
this book turned out to be quite different from what i anticipated. to start off, this book primarily focused on the topic of toxic relationships, which didn’t trigger me in the sense of causing distress or trauma, but rather pissed me off. will was a walking red flag. while i understood why he acted the way he did by the end, it didn’t excuse the pain he caused olivia, and it was really messed up how she was involved without knowing the truth the entire time.
secondly, i really didn’t like olivia. i’m sorry, but she was plain rude and gave off major “i’m not like other girls” and pick me vibes. ben, on the other hand, was literally a green flag, and how he fell for olivia at first sight was beyond me. i just don’t see the appeal, no offence.
thirdly, i’m not a fan of the ‘(ex) boyfriend’s older brother’ trope. i felt a little uncomfortable whenever olivia and ben flirted with each other while she was still in a relationship with will, aka ben’s younger brother. i get that being in a toxic relationship can create emotional confusion and vulnerability, making someone seek emotional validation or affection somewhere else, but flirting and developing feelings for someone else doesn’t resolve the core issue.
fourth, the third-act breakup.
overall, while the writing was good, this book really frustrated me.
thank you netgalley and ps published for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!!
pre-read 🍁:
EEEEE!!! i just requested for an e-arc of this book and it was approved immediately 🥹 this seems like a perfect read for the fall season, and the cover is absolutely stunning 🧡 the mmc is also a basketball player?? SAY LESS ☝🏻
I had fun reading this one. It was a rollercoaster that’s for sure. There were some ups and downs with the way this was written, very simplistic but managed to keep me interested.
The characters were what drove this story forward and what kept me reading but only to a certain point. Then i got invested in the story and that was what made me stay to the end. I started to lose interest I think halfway thru but the book took a turn a couple chapters later and i was sucked back in.
The greif and complexity within each character was written really well. It had me crying at 2am for like an hour 😭❤️🩹
I was eating up the drama and meltdowns lol. Got sooo frustrated with some characters but also loved it.
The fmc has certain tendencies which I thought weren’t fully fleshed out or addressed properly.
The mmc was good and I liked him but he just was a bit bland to me I’m sorry.
I can see where the comparisons are coming from between this and MPU and it’s there but only *very* slightly.
ೃ⁀➷ Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the ARC! ♥︎
***
For fans of magnolia parks?? That’s some big shoes to fill, now I can’t wait to read itttt
I had a good time with this one! It was messy and all things drama which i love!!
I think this started off super strong and had me immediately hooked! I was so invested in the story, the characters, and uncovering the mystery of why ben left. the tension between ben and olivia was so good too!!
i think it started to lose me when there were around 50 pages or so left in the book. the characters were all switching up and changing their personalities completely. i was so confused because im like… wait i thought we hated them?? none of the characters by the end acted like the ones we knew in the story and they started to annoy me:/
i still enjoyed this for the most part and was super invested in it!!
thank you to sydney madison and hambright for the arc!!!
2 stars ✰ ꕀ this was not my cup of tea.. unfortunately.
tbh. im not going to fault the author for why I could not entirely connect with this—it’s more so a me problem, and my personal taste. the tropes were not for me, I don’t like cheating or lying, or lack of communication between characters. and that’s literally all this was.
🤎 my thoughts 🤎
🍂in general. obviously, when I heard it was going to be similar to ‘gossip girl’ and ‘one tree hill’ I know I was gonna deal with some controversial complex characters, but i expected them to have a redeeming quality. something to make them likeable or make me root for the couple and see that they’re meant to be, but i genuinely had no hope. they were just horrible people, and I did not want to see them happy 😭
💔the cheating. okay so there wasn’t any actual cheating, in terms of physically, but olivia knew she had feelings for ben, but whenever will (her literal BOYFRIEND) called her out on it, she would gaslight him into thinking he was crazy for even thinking that and would LIE, LIE, LIEEE. also ben is not the best brother considering he was literally pining over his bro’s gf with no shame. flirting endlessly, trying to get close to her.. what is wrong with them ohmygosh.
🩰 the romance. im not gonna lie, the cheating wasn’t even worth it. like sometimes you’ll see it in a show or something, and they cheat but they’re so clearly made for eachother, im just like they’re clearly soulmates and while they shouldn’t have done that i still want them to be together. but I didn’t even see the love between ben and liv. IT WAS SO DEAD. atleast give us a good couple if you’re gonna make them shitty human beings 😭😭 idk it definitely lacked.
📚writing & world building. this was the only good part of the book. for 200 pages, there was a lot of story. I don’t wanna spoil but I just expected the depth of the story to be very-surface level and shallow, but in that aspect the author really excelled. the writing also wasn’t cringe at all, I think it was really done well for a debut (??) author. I just didn’t like the characters, the couples, or anything really LMAO or I would’ve appreciated it a bit more bc I think she has potential. so if u like the premise of the book definitely go for it!
🫂 conclusion 🫂
i really don’t like being a hater, and i hate writing negative reviews they make me feel so guilty. but in the end, i said I would give an honest review and i definitely did! im not opposed to checking out this author’s other future works bc i did like the writing, but this book was not for me sadly ❤️🩹
thank you to netgalley and PS published for this arc in exchange for an honest review!!
I'm going to go out on a limb and say this book and soon to be series will be the talk of romance readers this upcoming winter and spring. It's totally giving gossip girl vibes. Some people will love these characters and others will have issues with their morality but it will no doubt create buzz and chatter.
Olivias lifelong best friend, Lily, suddenly passes away after their first college party at Astor Hill. This leaves Olivia isolated and reeling as she finds comfort in Will, a boy she meet at that very same party. Their relationship over the years is tumultuous, often causing Olivia to doubt herself, that is until she meets the mysterious Ben who has returned to Astor Hill after a hiatus. Turns out Ben is Wills older brother and he has secrets. Hello drama!
Although the writing is a bit choppy, these characters are perfection. Olivia is witty and smart. She is simultaneously confident and insecure, something I found relatable and endearing. Her friendship with Lily was confusing. I wish there were more flashbacks between the girls as I think it would have provided a more in depth understanding of their dynamic. The relationship between Ben & Will is heated, intense and combustible. The shining star of this story though is Ben. His patience, understanding and continuous growth is exactly what I want to see in a book boyfriend. He's super sweet with Olivia and I love how he helps to elevate her perception of self.
Overall, I really liked Astor hill. There's conflict, there's sports, there's fashion. It's fast paced and fun but also explores difficult topics like grief and anxiety. It's well balanced and I can't wait for Gen & Grants story in the second book of this series!
Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
The blurb said Magnolia Parks, Gossip Girl, and One Tree Hill vibes, so I was excited. Unfortunately, I didn't get those vibes. Maybe because of the blurb, I had high expectations because Magnolia Parks is my jam. Idid get Gilmore Girl vibes, though. Tbh, I was sold on the cover alone. I'd buy it blindly for the gorgeous cover.
✨️Slow burn ✨️He falls first ✨️dual pov ✨️mental health representation ✨️sports romance
A big thanks to Netgalley and PS Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
‘[...] i don't want some fictional, finished version of you. this version of you is my fantasy. i want you now; i want you tomorrow; i want you always, anyway that you are.’
just ben cabot being possessive with olivia since day 1 after he came back at astor hill. like bro, you didn't met her, yet you loved her??? next, their love triangle stresses me tf out. like yes, olivia has a boyfriend; and that's will. then she girl, can you calm your hormones down??? that's why i'm getting bored after i read this part. also, about , i still have no clue what is reason behind this scenario.
at least ben reads books and he's at the literature class; the same class as olivia 🤭
───────────────────────
pre-read:
update: 10-28-24 guess who's back at reading romance after i read my whole fall tbr? 🤭
update: 10-17-24 so i saw cherie requested this then approved after a few hours so i try it for myself. and yep, it works! 🤩
the description got me a bit emotional and i really want to read this asap before the expiration date for the arc ends 😭
thank you to netgalley and ps published for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review
I'll start by saying I loved the cover – it's amazing! But this isn't a light sports romance about college students, as you might think. There’s angst, intrigue, and secrets. The heroine is dealing with loss, and then she falls for her boyfriend's brother, who has anxiety. By the way, mental health rep is one of my favorite tropes, and I really liked Ben. As for Olivia, her relationship with Will had a lot of toxicity, and I wish she’d left him sooner. I also would have loved more heartfelt moments in her friendship with Lily, as I didn’t feel much connection to her. Anyway, this is a good debut novel! It gave me Gossip Girl vibes, so if you enjoy that show, this book is for you. I’ll be waiting for the sequel about Grant and Gen!
Tropes: ✓slow burn ✓mental health rep ✓he falls first ✓new adult ✓boyfriend`s brother ✓secrets
Thank you to NetGalley and PS Publishing for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Guys, this book unlocked a new trope love of mine - boyfriends older brother?!🫣🤭
This book is simply a delight! Liv chases her dream of being a journalist and writer while navigating her trauma of losing someone dear to her. Her boyfriend Will also has to figure his identity in college while also competing against his older brother’s reputation upon Ben’s return to school after a mental health leave. I loved the mental health rep in this book!
TROPES ✨ 💔 Forbidden love 💘 He falls first ⚔️ Brothers’ rivalry 🔺 Love triangle 🎓 College romance 🏀 Basketball player x student journalist
3.5 ⭐️ A dramatic romance with many problematic characters and toxic relationships. While intentional, it enraged me a bit too much and no amount of character development could redeem these people in my eyes. Plot was also a bit all over the place. But college kids do be messy, the chemistry was good, and I couldn’t stop reading the train wreck. Gave strong season 1 of One Tree Hill vibes.
So this cover for starters is absolutely gorgeous, it gives me strong fall vibes all over and I’m here for it.
This book generally wasn’t what I was expecting and that is a good and a bad thing. I generally weren’t expecting the toxicity between will and Olivia but as we’ve gotten into the book I generally love it more for the fact I will see more ben and Olivia scenes and the mental health representation was amazing. Sydney Maddison portrayed anxiety in her male character really well and it’s such a hard and tough thing to do as it can have a fall flat or it can be top-notch. She made the representation perfect and top-notch for me as I actually loved reading and I felt a strong connection with Ben. however with Olivia I didn’t feel such strong connection with her. I felt her character was a bit more complex and I feel like that her complexity wasn’t written about entirely such as with will and Lilly therefore it was hard to connect with her, but altogether she gives me Laurie Gilmore vibes.
Release Date- 7th February 2025. thank you to NetGalley & ps published for gifting and allowing me to read an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest rating and review.
ARC review This story was everything!!!! The story revolves around Olivia a student journalist trying to navigate her way in early adulthood and two brother Ben and Will who are rivals! I don’t normally go for love triangles but this one was executed perfectly!! The subtle sports and journalism undertone added a unique dynamic to the story. Forced proximity will always be a weak spot for me and I loved that element in the story!! The setting in an elite college brought me back to the times I’ve visited Boston and was the perfect vibe. I really, however, loved the way Sydney navigated grief it was beautifully written and really showed how different people process and manage grief and their emotions.
Okay I honestly didn’t know what to expect with this one. So it definitely follows a toxic relationship which isn’t an issue for me but may be for s9me. It had a fall vibe. I gave it a 3.5 Thank you to Hambright PR for this ARC
Cutesy book. Loved Ben he was so gentle and sweet, although I didn’t understand his instant love for Olivia. Their relationship progression was very nice. Although i think the betrayal was overlooked by everyone like Will had the nerve to try and gaslight the situation??
I’ve given this 🌟🌟🌟🌟/5, because I could barely put it down after I picked it up! It is a college romance sort of along the vibe of gossip girl, with the lives of some of the ultra wealthy. There is a lovely triangle with two brothers, a trope which I hadn’t read much of previously but found to be brilliant!
The book was a quick, easy read although it did cover some complex themes such as elements of domestic abuse (verbal), control, anxiety and grief. Considering how heavy some of these topics are I think the authors did a really good job of covering these.
There were some spelling mistakes and grammar points along the way throughout the book which probably need to be picked up, but overall the writing style was good.
It was told from two characters interchanging perspectives, which is a favourite of mine as I love that you get to see into more than one characters mind. I think it makes you form a stronger bond with both of them.
The start of the book is all I would say was a little slow/confusing. I found it took me a while to get into the book and pick up on who all the characters were. Once I had, probably about 15% of the way into the book, I loved it but getting to that point did just take a minute.
Overall, a really good read I would recommend! Thank you to NetGalley and PS Publishing for the opportunity!
Olivia Beckett has planed her entire college life to the smallest detail. But everything fell apart when an unexpected tragic event occurred in her life. When the pain was too much to handle, she chose to fall in the arms of basketball player, Will Chapman. Only their connection was defined by loss and love, becoming something toxic for Olivia. Unfortunately, she couldn't really see that, considering everything normal, even if things were clearly wrong.
Ben Cabot has been under the radar for a couple of years and now he has returned to Astor Hill College. His absence was a mystery to everyone and made people curious about the reasons why he was MIA for all that time. Ben will also steal Olivia's attention with his mysterious personality and outer beauty, which will ignite a forbidden attraction between them. But will Olivia be willing to let the comfortable life behind and dive into this unknown, but attractive one?
I was enraptured by this book. It had those college vibes, which I really liked because of all those uncertain moments from the characters' lives. All of them had their own issues and demons to fight against and their journey hasn't been that easy. I have some mixed feelings about Olivia, who was a little naive at times, thinking that she was living a steady life, but it wasn't like that at all. She let herself drowning into sorrow, ignoring the signals which were clearly sent by the people around her. I liked Ben, who was trying to overcome the anxiety which captured him. He was pretty sure of his feelings and mature enough to think things through before jumping into something on the spur of the moment. That forbidden feeling is something I always enjoy in a book. Because it played a big part into this story, I fell in love with it. I desperately wanted for Olivia to make the right decision, to open her eyes to see what was, in fact, right for her.
There were a couple of points which I haven't touched in this review, not wanting to spoil anything from this book. I was captivated by these characters and their complicated lives. There was some drama included, but it was something important and necessary in the overall picture, creating that intrigue into the plot. Now I'm super curious about the next book of this series, especially after I saw who is one of its main characters🤭 - someone I became fond of after reading this first book and about whom I want to learn more. This was a story with a very low spice level but I still enjoyed it so, so much! 💙
I must thank Hambright Pr for offering me this e-copy🤗.
✨ Thank you to Sydney Madison and Hambright PR for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. ✨
At the start of the novel, Olivia Beckett appears to be living the perfect college life at Astor Hill University. She’s dating Will Chapman, the charming and popular basketball star, and seems well on her way to achieving her academic and social goals. However, this polished version of Olivia is built on fragile ground.
Two years earlier, Olivia’s best friend Lily dies suddenly, and Olivia never fully processes her grief. Instead, she finds comfort in Will, but their relationship becomes tumultuous over time, causing Olivia to question herself and her worth. One night, she meets Ben—who turns out to be Will’s older brother. It’s revealed that Ben has always cared for Olivia but kept his distance out of respect.
Sydney Madison’s characters are well developed, with strong themes of growth, healing, and self-discovery. The story gave me One Tree Hill vibes—and I wasn’t mad about it!
Read Astor Hill if you love emotional college romance filled with slow-burn angst, basketball players, and drama. 🏀🎓💔
I think it probably comes down to me not being the right audience for this book. Which is unfortunate because some of the comparisons like Gossip Girl and Magnolia Parks are favourites of mine. I found I had a hard time connecting to the characters and the characters weren’t really likeable? I never felt invested in them. It’s hard to write flawed characters and make them still likeable in the way Jessa Hastings does in Magnolia Parks, so I think the comparison was just huge shoes to fill.
But ultimately the biggest issue for me was it felt more YA than New Adult. The school, characters and drama were giving high school vibes for me. For younger readers than I, who love over the top angst and drama, I have no doubt this book will have it’s audience.
4.0⭐ this book was so gossip girl/magnolia parks coded and i was living for it
i kind of just expected a cute little college romance going into this but i was so wrong. the drama the love and the characters in this book were so complex and exceeded my expectations. although the relationships were *slightly* unconventionally i still loved them and i feel like every ironed out in the end
i feel like the characters really stuck with me in this book. olivia was such a relatable and flawed character like most of them especially the "second fiddle" part of her character that helped her develop so much. ben was a less complex characters but also was shown struggling so much with his mental health and his love for olivia was so pure and adorable i couldnt help but root for them at all times. will is trickier because i really hated him at the beginning when he was with olivia but once you learn his trauma and his backstory and he makes up with everyone he becomes so much more understandable and you just feel for him even though he acted out.
im so excited to see more of these characters in gen and grants book especially to see more of sloane! thanks to netgalley for this arc!!
Thank you to Sydney Madison for approving me to read this through netgalley! Rating 3.75 - 4.0.
I enjoyed Olivia as a character, she was at first seemingly your typical popular girl with big aspirations and a handsome/popular boyfriend. However, she wasn’t bitchy or stuck up like the stereotypical popular characters tend to be. Olivia was actually all heart, loyal, charismatic and intelligent.
Let’s get into Will, that man was problematic. He kind of had me on edge at times because I feel like we’ve all dated a Will, the guy who isn’t necessarily a bad person.. he just isn’t right for you.
What I think anyone will enjoy about this book is the relatability you will find. Like when you end up holding onto someone who isnt mean’t for you, but you also may have met someone who came into your life at the wrong time but fits you so much better.
This story will take you on a ride. There is grief and a love triangle all unfolding in a college setting. You also get some great side characters that I’m wholeheartedly hoping the authors will follow the next book with as main characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and Sydney Madison, and P.S. published for this e-ARC
A love story with complex characters, secrets, and traumatic childhoods.
Compared to magnolia parks, one tree hill and gossip girl. I would agree with one tree hill and gossip girl, but I’m not sure magnolia parks fits. Instead, I would say I got more maple hill series by Hannah Grace vibes. Just take hockey and make it basketball! 🏀
I love the mental health representation right from the get go and the love Ben had for Will, despite their upbringing.
I wanted more from the character development. The secret that was held onto by Ben and Will felt anticlimactic. But if it truly was such a big deal to Olivia, I would have liked to see some more groveling.
I’m also not a fan of love-at-first sight. Even still, I can buy into sometimes if it’s well explained. But then he left for two years right after? It didn’t fade after only meeting her one time?
For these reason the romance fell a bit flat for me.
There was some beautiful lines in this book about life, loss, and love that had my tearing up.
I went into Astor Hill with high expectations, but I came away feeling a bit disappointed. Right from the start, the constant bickering and banter between characters made me want to throw my Kindle across the room! For me, Ben and Olivia felt like a much better fit than Will and Olivia, and the first half of the book didn’t do much to change my mind.
The story dives deeply into themes of loss and past traumas, which added a lot of emotional weight to the book. And yet, I’m torn—I can’t say for sure if I liked it or disliked it. In the end, I just couldn’t finish it. This one wasn’t for me, but I hope others find the connection with it that I couldn’t.
this book gave me gossip girl/magnolia parks vibes which I love! if you want a drama filled read for fall, this is perfect for that. I really enjoyed the mental health representation and how grief was portrayed in this. I loved the drama and love triangle so much honestly. I’m a big love triangle girlie. there is also basketball in this for my sports girls.
While reading Astor Hill, I felt every emotion. I definitely want to continue reading this series!!! I’m so invested in these characters lives now!!!
I LOVED THIS SO MUCH!!! a mix of one tree till x gossip girl x boston aesthetics uhggg i loved how the authors painted the scene of astor college and how lily plays such an integral role in the entire book even so far away! i love liv so much- i hate lily and honestly i was happy she wasn’t here because she just dimmed liv’s light. i was so confused between will and ben but after everything you know who i am!!! 10/10 recommend
all opinions and reviews are my own - arc provided by netgalley and publisher for my honest opinion
thank you sydney madison & netgalley for this arc! a story filled with grief, self-discovery, and self-forgiveness bundled into one. astor hill takes an inside look into the it-couple of the college and explores their "more than meets the eye" story.
while I loved the story towards the end, it was almost hard to read about the toxic relationships in the beginning. but I LOVED how it wrapped up, not a perfect bow, but it is something that gives everyone a redemption (or potential redemption) arc! extremely excited for book two because I love LOVE the one character in it! ben cabot you are a literal gem of a human & liv beckett I am happy you found a way to love yourself! will chapman, you have some making up to do...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.