In the small town of Honeybrook, love isn't left to chance—it’s left to the lottery.
Zayna has zero interest in signing up for the Love Lottery. She likes her peace, her routines, and her drama-free, man-free life. But her best friend isn’t trying to hear that. Next thing she knows, Zayna's in the running to get matched up with some random dude for seven dates. Seven. Dates.
Evan Blanchard, Honeybrook’s handsome new dentist, also wasn’t checking for love. He moved here to escape city stress and a messy breakup—not to get thrown into a small-town matchmaking spectacle. But when a pushy patient and a sneaky QR code get involved, suddenly, he’s got a ticket in the game.
When Zayna and Evan get paired, things get... interesting. She’s skeptical. He’s intrigued. And Honeybrook’s nosy matchmakers won’t let them breathe. Between tandem bikes, town scavenger hunts, and undeniable chemistry, they just might find themselves catching feelings when they least expect it.
The Love Lottery is a warm, funny, and swoon-worthy romance about taking chances, getting out of your own way, and realizing love doesn’t always play by your rules.
I really enjoyed this small time romance. Would you do something like this? Enter a town tradition of being matched with someone and you go on 7 dates. They are already preplanned and prepaid you just choose your adventure for the day. It was instant connections but super cute.
Trope: Small town romance, strangers to lovers , he falls first and hard
General thoughts: Swoon worthy love story ,the drama felt like an over reaction. A general good time
Book overview: Zayna is an introverted virtual assistant, who has been single for the last two years. She gets forced to enter this year's love lottery, a traditional at honey brooks, the small town she resides in. Evan is the new dentist in town, who gets told to sign up to love lottery to get to know the town and meet new people. When Evan and Zyna get paired they are asked to go on 7 dates over two weeks.
Will they be compatible and become the latest couple in town or will they go their separate ways due to lack of chemistry? Read this swoon-worthy story to find out
This book was cute, and I really enjoyed the whole concept of the love lottery. I did find it a little odd how pressed Miss. Coral was about having Evan sign up. Though it felt like she’d known him forever, in reality he’d only been in town for three weeks and she’d only known him as her dentist during that time. The timing of how people interacted with each other felt a bit off to me.
That said, there were a lot of things I really liked while reading. I appreciated that the author shined a light on chronic allergic reactions and what it’s like to live with a chronic condition. Allergies often get overlooked, but for some people they can truly change your entire lifestyle from day to day.
One of my favorite moments was the game night scene. It was so cute, I actually put the book down and went to play board games with my husband after reading it lol! While I thought the FMC came off a little cringe at times, overall, I really enjoyed the concept and the heart behind the story.
I don’t do a lot of cute romances anymore so let me start off with that. I didn’t love this… the FMC worked my nerves and I found myself rooting against her cause she had an issue with everything. I thought that the big issues or conflict of the plot was very forced and didn’t make sense to me.
I really enjoyed the story, but there were several mistakes. Zayna was repeatedly called the wrong name. For two pages, the author confused her with the dog's name. Another time, a completely different name showed up when talking about Zayna. It started with an N, but I can't remember it right now. Also, sentences were repeated multiple times. Lastly, why the heck was the other dentist (the one from the city...who liked him) introduced? We never heard her name again. I wish I could give this higher than a 3, because the storyline was good, but those mistakes took me out of the story completely each time.
Featuring: Fictional Small-Town, Café, Matchmaking, Newcomer, Dentist, Virtual Assistant, Dates, Gossip, Phone App, Activities, Excursions, Friendships, Dog - Golden Maltipoo; Allergies, Drama, Sex - Detailed; Grandmas, Social Media, Thank You - Newsletter Link, Bibliography for Nina High
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🍞🍯🦷🤳🏿💖💕💘
My thoughts: This is what I'm talking about!! This is officially my favorite Romance book for February. This story was amazing I love the plot and the strategy for the love lottery. The only issue I had with this book is that there is no mention of when the next installment is. Surely this is a series and this story is a year old next month.
Recommend to others: Yes! Definitely run to read this book. It's sweet and spicy.
Honeybrook 1. The Love Lottery (2025) 2. TBA
Songs for the soundtrack: "Check On It" by Beyoncé, "Rock-a-bye Baby" by Mother Goose, "Let Me Love You" by Mario, "U Got It Bad" by Usher, "Cornbread, Fish & Collard Greens" by Anthony Hamilton "Caught Up" by Usher, "Brown Sugar" by D'Angelo
Books and Authors mentioned: Cinderella by Charles Perrault, Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley, The Holy Bible, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Memorable Quotes: “I slipped a flyer in his bag.” She tells me. “Miss Coral told you to put one in everyone’s bag. Don’t act like you’re doing something special.” “Hush! He is new in town. He’s our new dentist.” “He told me. That’s why his teeth are perfect.” I say, nodding. “Oh, we’ve noticed his teeth, eh? Must have been from all that grinning in your face he did when he sat down.” She brushes her shoulder against me, and I didn’t realize she’d sat down so close to me. I scoot my chair away from her and sip on my latte. Mr. Tall, Muscled, and Perfect...excuse me. Dr. Tall, Muscled, and Perfect glances back at me through the window before he walks down the street. I have no time to wipe the shock off my face before he sees it. “He’s definitely into you.” Charmaine declares.
The Love Lottery isn’t the way out of it, though. Not even close. It’s a leap in the opposite direction.
“So, what do you do?” I try to make conversation. Her arms are crossed, and I can’t tell if she’s cold or annoyed. “I’m a virtual assistant for a couple of big-name authors.” “Any I would know?” I ask, genuinely curious. “Any interest in alien romance?" she asks, eyebrow raised like she’s testing me. "Didn’t know that was a thing," I admit. "Do they have... human love interests?" "Sometimes. Sometimes, they’re just tentacles." "Okay, see—that was too much information. Now I have questions I don’t want answers to."
“I’ll talk about her if I want to. She’s a busybody who needs to focus on that perfect granddaughter of hers.” I cross my hands over my chest. “Josie is a perfectly sweet girl. You’re nervous and being rude because of it.” She shakes her head at me, and I glare at her. “Mind your damn business. I’m not nervous at all.”
“Miss Coral and that damn app. She's really trying to be modern.” “It's cool though, right? Especially at her age trying to keep up with everyone. I like it. I want to be like her when I'm old, just all up in the young people's business and running the town.” This gets me another laugh. I think I'm collecting them at this point.
“Good evening, I’d like a ham sandwich on sourdough, no cheese, please,” I tell her as if she doesn’t know my favorite sandwich on her menu. Charmaine narrows her eyes. "Girl, if you don’t—" “What’s my total?” I ask, readying my card. “$25.42.”She puts her hands on her hips and stares me down. “What the hell, Charmaine? Did you raise your prices?” “I did for raggedy best friends who come in after their date and don’t give me any details at all.” She narrows her eyes at me. “Damn, it was nice, okay?” “$7.52,” she replies.
“Evan, I always have time for you. How have you been? Are you enjoying small town life in Honeybrook?” She laughs. “That name. It sounds like something from one of those old black-and-white TV shows my grandparents used to watch.” I chuckle, playing along. “Yeah,, it does. And I love it here. Everyone’s so friendly and kind. It’s is like living in a tv show.”
The Love Lottery is about two people scorned from past relationships who are forced into a small town couple matching lottery. Will Evan and Zayna find that their attraction to each other is more than just skin deep?
For me, this book screamed hallmark movie from page one. The small town shops, community, traditions and vibes bring so much more to the story. Honeybrook is a town I would love to live in. A former resident who recently returned, Zayna is not looking for a new relationship drama of any kind. Even if the new dentist in town is super attractive.
A messy break-up brought Evan to Honeybrook and he's still adjusting to the small town life and all its quirks. A relationship could not be farther from his mind, but a lovely woman in a local cafe catches his eye and he rethinks that theory. Neither of them would anticipate fate, aka Miss Carol, stepping in to give them a hand in Honeybrook's Love Lottery event.
The plot of the story is straightforward but the charm of Zayna and Evan getting to know each other will captivate readers. Evan and Zayna have a lot in common in terms of personality and the easiness of their interactions made this a really cozy read for me. There's some drama that happens in this book but thankfully it's not caused by our MCs. The romance has a slow build up but the payoff is intense.
Romance readers will love this book. It has characters who communicate, there's flirting, there's genuine building of an emotional connection and feelings and nearly every person in their orbit wants to see them together. And Evan is a MMC for the charts.
If you like cheesy Hallmark movies then you'll enjoy this small-town novel about two people who are thrust into an annual matchmaking event.
The main characters were cheesy, especially the MMC, and I think a lot of that had to do with how he was written. The FMC was damn near insufferable with all of the over-thinking she did with every little thing. The townspeople were even weirder, and it fed into the stereotype of what some people would imagine small-town America to be. That's not a good thing.
It was cute for what it was, but without any drama it started to get a little boring. I pushed through it and skipped whatever chapter it was that was a full sex scene. The main characters weren't sexy enough to me to have a full sex chapter.
This was such a cute and sweet small town romance. I liked the concept of the love lottery and even that Zayna and Evan weren’t completely sold on the idea of finding a mate through it, but signed up at the urging of friends. Their love story wasn’t without its ups and downs because Zayna was a bit skittish about relationships in general and sometimes got into her own head too much instead of just living in the moment, but Evan showed her he was all in and that she could trust him and be safe with him and got her to let her walls down.
If you love a small town romance that is so sweet but with a bit of spice, this one is an enjoyable read.
If you’re looking for a good matchmaking story with a little heat then this read will keep you entertained.
Both recovering from past heartbreaks, Evan & Zayna are forced to participate in the small town matchmaking contest. Legend has it that many of the town’s residents met their significant others by participating in the Love Lottery.
Zayna, a local who recently moved back to her hometown Honeybrook is skeptical about the town’s tradition. Evan, the new dentist in town has nothing to lose so he joins the contest.
A cute fun read about two people taking a gamble at dating again.
This was such a cute Lifetime Movie type of Novella! A small town has a longstanding matchmaking tradition that brings hometown girl Zayna and the towns new dentist, Evan, together. Both are coming off breakups but Zayna is far more guarded than Evan. They only have 7 dates in the lottery to see if they can become something more and the whole town is rooting for them. The way Evan handled Zayna’s allergic reaction was swoon worthy. And Zayna gave him the same in return when he got injured at the dog park. I love them together!
Solid 3.5… I know she was tryna protect her heart but Miss Zayna was pissing me off in the beginning. And oh my goodness this need to be re-edited, i ain’t never been so mad at the errors in a book lol. I loved the small town feel and how they came together and i was giggling and kickin my feet some of the time. Dr. Cutie showed out but i didn’t get why ole girl (the dentist he had the awkward date with) was brought up if she wasn’t goin bring just a smidget of drama to the event.
So I’ve read a few books from this author that were 4 and 5 star reads. I have no clue what this was. It was missing so much life in this story.. there was no real plot and I just couldn’t continue to the end past about 65% I’m really upset that I continued up until then because it was a literal drag.. the FMC annoyed me and the MMC was a awesome.. this book had so much potential but was too flat and going nowhere
Dr. Evan and Zayna are the perfect match for one another. This book was amazing to read i love Mrs Carol nosy bossy self real bad because she kept it real and knew what she was doing. I’m glad Zayna past with guys did not make her heart stop being open to love. Having a friend like Charmaine who checks you when you’re hard on yourself is necessary. Here are your flowers Nina because this book was amazing for start to finish.
Okay to read if you're between books. It needed more editing. I also didn't understand the introduction of Haven (or whatever the dentist's name was) when we didn't see any conflict with her at the health fair. Same thing with Lisa; there was never a follow up after the dog incident. We never heard from her again. Those missing elements made the book incomplete. It could've used a run in from one of their exes as well.
I enjoyed this read. Zayna was a little irksome at first but not in a terrible way...I could actually relate to her on a few levels. And I really liked Evan. Their connection was cute and Honeybrook seemed like a cool small town to live in. There were some editing issues throughout; they weren't egregious; just noticeable.
The OG of match maker’s (decades before the internet, social media, app’s & DMs 🤭), Chuck Woolery (#LOVECONNECTION) would be proud 📺 😍of Zayne & Evan‼️The Love Lottery (A Honeybrook Romance) - Book 1 was a delightfully entertaining rom com with typical reticence about a blind date or worse community match making event 👀😬but no overt ghetto/urban drama👏🏿👏🏾👏🏽…with a HEA in progress😊‼️
I enjoyed this story. It was refreshing and gave you the feels. Dr. Evan was a catch. Very much husband material. Zayna was reserved but it worked out for her. I hope they get married and have kids lol.
A cute short story that really dives into the characters, the community characters and small town charm. Really nice story of two love skeptics finding their way through a different type of love connection.
Really enjoyed Evan and Zayna’s story. Neither was looking for love but they found it in the Love Lottery. This story was steamy, funny and romantic. Can’t wait to read who else falls in love in Honeybrook through the Love Lottery.
This book has such good bones and had a lot of potential, but I think the execution fell short. The story started off really cute, but began to feel rushed and at times even forced - I honestly had to reread some parts because I thought I had to have missed something (but hadn't). I do wish that it had been flushed out a bit more with possibly an additional editing cycle, as not only did the plot seem untidy at points, but there were some errors that snuck into the released version as well. All in all, I do think this was a cute story and it did have so much potential to be a higher star read.