The Retreat: A Sweet Romantic Comedy

Falling for Franklin #1

by Hailey Gardiner

Keep your enemies closer… I may or may not have accidentally started a war with the guy who owns the place next door…who also happens to be my boss’s recently returned golden child. Battling against Luke Ward and his arsenal of charms makes me start to fear for my lawn, my livelihood, and my heart. The annual retreat I’ve planned for the investment firm we both work for (okay, he’s technically one of the owners) is the biggest event of my career, and I vow to not let Luke and his shenanigans get in the way of its success. But when he somehow weasels his way onto the trial run of the trip, the pranks start to feel more like plays we’re both calculating in an effort to hide our true feelings from each other. So here’s my how does one not fall in love with her sworn enemy? Especially if said enemy might actually have a heart of gold hidden under his designer suits and well-timed insults (gotta give credit where credit is due). Asking for a friend. A hilarious enemies to lovers closed-door romance with witty banter and swoony kisses. Books in the Falling for Franklin series are full length stand-alone novels and can be read in any order.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Enemies To Lovers, Rom Com, Clean Romance, Fiction, Contemporary Romance

268 pages, Paperback

First published July 27, 2022

About the author

Hailey Gardiner writes cheeky, sweet romantic comedies in an effort to finally put her wildly active imagination to good use. Hailey is a master at quoting movies, will eat any dessert that’s salted, and loves raising two book-loving boys with her husband.

www.haileygardiner.com

@authorhaileygardiner

Reviews

[Sarah | Kerosene.Lit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my! This was adorable. There is nothing I love more than two characters finding pleasure in aggravating each other. The pestering, playful banter between Lainey and Luke was pure joy. The burnt eyebrows scene is forever etched in my brain. Hilarious!

Immediately getting the wrong impression of her seemingly uppity neighbour, an enthusiastic battle of pranks begins between Lainey and Luke. And the story keeps on giving when Lainey unexpectedly discovers Luke is the son of her boss, leading the two on a business trip to view the annual company retreat location in Asheville, North Carolina.

Filled with forced proximity goodness and planned activities that hilariously fail, I loved the sweet, gentle way Lainey and Luke come together. Their dialogue and text messages flowed so well, never failing to make me smile. It was delightfully lighthearted. I am very much looking forward to book two!

[Suzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Steam Level: 🔥 (kissing only)
Trigger Warning: brief mentions of death of a parent

When Lainey Helms meets her new neighbor Luke Ward, it's definitely NOT love at first sight. He may be good looking, but he's obviously a stuck-up, rich jerk. And apparently he's also her boss's son and her new co-worker. As Lainey and Luke go back and forth pranking each other, they start to reassess their initial impressions of one another. So it's only natural that Luke would volunteer to accompany Lainey on a weekend trip to plan a retreat for their company's wealthy clients. Soon these two realize that the passion they feel around each other is actually love. Can they open up their hearts and admit their feelings for one another?

What a delightful debut novel from Hailey Gardiner! I immediately fell in love with the back and forth pranks and tension between Luke and Lainey. The nicknames and flirty texts were pretty great. I don't know if I'd really call them enemies in the beginning, but that didn't make the story less enjoyable by any means. It felt natural for them to fall into a relationship easily when they went on their trip together, and their almost kiss that first night was so good 🔥❤️ I liked how Luke was honest with Lainey about his past and how he was willing to give her space to process. And thank goodness she was able to tell him how she felt and move on pretty quickly. I'm so glad it didn't turn into a big miscommunication mess. I think things did progress a bit fast near the end, but I still enjoyed how open they were with one another. And the epilogue was oh so sweet. I'm really looking forward to book 2 about Luke's brother and his friend Chloe!

[Bree · Rating 4 out of 5]

“𝐀𝐥𝐥'𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐥 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫."

Hailey Gardiner has been on my TBR for quite some time, but after her tragic passing I quickly bumped her books up closer to the top of my list. I decided to start at the beginning of her published books so I purchased the Falling for Franklin series. I will say this book definitely felt like an author’s first published book, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing because I did enjoy it!

This book started off really strong with an absolutely hilarious meet-cute between our main characters, Luke & Lainey (don’t they just sound perfect together 😄) It was so funny to watch the whole “working at the same place” plot line play out and I loved the prank wars! It was amusing watching what each character would come up with next to exact their revenge.

The banter between Luke and Lainey was fantastic! They had me laughing on more than one occasion, that’s for sure 🤭 I felt like the whole enemies-to-lovers trope was written so well and it definitely kept me entertained!

I’m excited to see how the next book in this series plays out with Hunter and Chloe! I really enjoyed the scenes with their characters in this book and I’m sure that their story is going to be just as entertaining as Luke & Lainey’s 😆

Top Moments:
🌸 Garbage meet-cute
🌸 Fireball/death by grill
🌸 Prank war
🌸 The “bummed” cake
🌸 Testing out the retreat
🌸 “Mowing” the grass

[rose ୨୧ · Rating 1 out of 5]

the annoying insta-love and the fact that i was bored for 90% of the book did not mix well

[Emily (biblioblondes) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 ⭐️✨

After the very first sentence where Lainey is out running to “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You” from Mulan (the ultimate work-out pump up song 💪🏻) I had fallen in love with this book! That’s all it took and I just knew this was going to be amazing! And it was! I can’t believe this was just Hailey’s debut! It was so good! 💗💗💗

Lainey was an absolutely delightful MC! She was relatable, funny and had a great inner dialogue! We have the trash can explosion “meet cute” and then we get Luke’s POV and I loved his voice too!

Luke and Lainey’s dynamic and banter was perfect! There was never a dull moment between them two. 😂 This is another book with the prank trope and I just loved it! They were lighthearted and funny, not mean spirited at all. It’s amazing how these authors can keep that balance! My favorite prank (the lawn) actually had real life inspiration from her grandfather! That makes it even better! 😊

The romance was beautiful and just seemed so natural. I loved the quiet moments between the two and seeing how open and communicative they were with each other.

I wholeheartedly recommend this for maybe one of your last summer reads? It would be the perfect ending! 😉 Then you can be ready for her Fall release, The Make Up! I’m so so excited for our “uncouple’s” story! 😁😍

Extra things I loved:

All the Broadway love!!! 🎭
Eyebrows 😯🤭
All the pranks!
The Butt cake incident 🍰
Taking care of her ticket 😍
The ride to the airport
Zip lining 👃
Dinner date 🍽
The fake out kiss…
The Biltmore and the real kiss 😘
Yoga! 🧘🏼‍♀️🧘🏻‍♂️
Stargazing 🌌
I’ll take your elevator kiss and raise you the loft/apartment kiss 🥰😍
The cutest proposal!

[joy evangelista · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Right. Because who would be interested in someone who brings you warm donuts on a Saturday morning? Or helps you out at a party when you destroy the cake? Or looks at you like you’re a goddess divine?”

“No one,” I say. “Nobody wants that. Everybody wants the bad boy. A nice project to fix.”

This is a sweet book with zero spice✨
kinda boring in the end but it put smile on my face most of the time.

[Dikshya Pattnaik · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Lainey starts a prank war with Luke, who owns the property next door AND who also happens to be her boss's son, things get wild & messy.

This was such a sweet & fun book! The enemies-to-lovers, proced proximity, neighbor wars was to die for. I love a good prank war & this turned out to be delightful.

Lainey & Luke's banter was highly entertaining & humorous and so was their chemistry. Especially a scene involving burnt eyebrows was my favorite.

Fans of Jenny Proctor & Katie Bailey, you'll enjoy this one so much!

Thank you so much for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of The Retreat - thank you, Hailey! I’ve been a silent supporter of the Gardiner Sisters for many years, and it’s great to see Hailey thrive in her foray into fiction. Luke and Lainey are very sweet and endearing, and Hailey captured the way they match and balance each other well. Also appreciated the dual perspectives. Looking forward to reading Chloe’s story next!

[Tricia Anson · Rating 5 out of 5]

When two of your bookstabesties recommend a book, it gets bumped to the top of the TBR pile. They both told me how great this book was and it was a definite #bookstagrammademedoit win!
I loved this fantastically sweet, swoony, banter-filled love story so much! It was such a fun read.

Things I Loved:
-Disney running songs
-Operation: Humble Luke Ward
-Eyebrows
-“You guys were so cute I think I threw up a little bit.”
-Butt cake
-“This is the moment when I decide that I am going to win Lainey Helms over.”
-Mutually favorite laundry detergent
-Zipline
-“That weight that I felt like I was shouldering for so long isn’t burying me anymore. And I don’t think that’s because it disappeared. It’s because I’ve gotten stronger. Strong enough to carry it and still live my life.”
-The bear hug
-Yoga outfit
-The kiss 😘
-Family dinner
-Hunter—and Chloe & Hunter
-Such a fun and swoony HEA! 😍

I laughed, I swooned, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of reading this book. Their playfulness and teasing is a lot like my husband and I, so I just love their dynamic. And, I am SO excited for Hunter and Chloe’s story now too! Definitely grab this sweet read, it is a perfect pick-me-up!

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 30 pages. A slur? Seriously?

[Zaza · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐

Le pitch de départ de ce roman m'a tout de suite tapé dans l'oeil, alors je me suis précipitée pour le lire et ... j'ai plutôt bien aimé ma lecture.

J'ai surtout adoré la première partie (je me suis enfilée la moitié du livre d'une seule traite), pour tous ces moments de joutes entre les deux héros, qui passent leur temps à se chercher et à se chamailler. C'est très amusant, c'est mignon, on rit, et on sent que peu à peu ils se tournent autour pour d'autres raisons que pour trouver la meilleure crasse qui soit, et ça, c'est vraiment le genre de truc que j'adore lire.

Côté tropes, on pourra coller l'étiquette "slow burn" à cette histoire, et j'ai même vu sur Goodreads que ce roman était classé dans la catégorie "Clean romance". Comprenez, pas de gros mots (mais genre pas un), pas de scènes de sexe explicite, on est donc dans un registre assez sage, qui colle assez bien avec le fait que le roman se déroule dans le sud des États-Unis, avec tout le côté Southern Belle qui colle à la peau de l'héroïne.

J'ai passé un bon moment avec ce livre, mais je trouve que l'ensemble est assez inégal, la première moitié étant très bonne, drôle et rythmée par toutes ces taquineries, et ensuite, ça s'essouffle et, pour moi, manque vraiment de tension sexuelle/amoureuse une fois qu'ils se sont embrassés pour la première fois. Et quand je parlais de "clean romance", c'est vraiment rien.du.tout (ce qui en soi ne me dérange pas).
Le héros tient à ce qu'ils ne couchent pas de sexe avant le mariage, car il veut faire d'elle sa femme et il préfère attendre qu'ils soient mariés.

Pour moi, la transition entre "tu me sors par les yeux, je vais t'en faire voir de toutes les couleurs" à "tu es l'homme/la femme de ma vie" est trop abrupte, ils se projettent très vite dans la vie maritale, avant même d'avoir été en couple, mais j'imagine que ça colle avec le côté "clean romance". Il y a peut-être aussi une différence culturelle entre nous et eux, sur ce coup-là.

Un peu dommage donc, mais j'ai quand même passé un bon moment, disons juste que je ne suis pas habituée à ce genre de dynamique qui me paraît peu réaliste à notre époque.

[Jen (jensdreamylittlereads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is just a burst of pure joy, laughter and sass! The enemies to lovers, the neighbour wars and the pranks was the perfect setup for this utterly delightful love story. And I refuse to believe that this is Hailey Gardiner's debut book...I am in awe!

This story captivated me from the start. I love when a book can keep me fully engaged, and this did just that. The characters are endearing and their back and forth was top notch. I loved Lainey and Luke’s story. They were just hilarious whenever they came into contact with each other. The quips, the sarcasm, everything, just made me LOL throughout the entire book. Plus, the writing was strong and witty. Both characters had loveable characteristics that lead to many hilariously entertaining and embarrassing moments but ends with the most genuine and tender love story. I couldn't put this one down. It was emotional, hilarious, sweet, fun, and just everything I wanted. It was definitely a rollercoaster of a love ride that I would get on again.

This book was truly fantastic and I couldn't have loved it more. The enemies to lovers, the banter, and the romance... le sigh. It was perfect for me. I'll be reading whatever else this author writes. Hailey Gardiner did an incredible job with these characters and their story, I was simply mush for them. I loved them so much! The setting, the characters, and the chemistry made this a fantastic and swoony romance. Love. Love. Loved it. I need book 2....stat.

[Amy Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh boy, this was good!!! This is enemies to lovers done the right way! I’m kinda in awe that this is Hailey Gardiner’s debut novel. It’s so well written. The characters, the plot, the CHEMISTRY… It’s all so so so good!

I absolutely adored the meet cute in this book. It was the perfect setup for enemies to lovers! Luke and Lainey are such great characters. Lainey is so fun. I loved reading from her point of view and reading her inner thoughts. She’s seriously hilarious! Luke is definitely “Book Boyfriend” material! They had the best witty comebacks for each other! These two had so much chemistry from the very beginning. I loved the progression from enemies -to sorta friend who pick on each other -to more than friends!!

Here’s just a few things I loved:
* Great Meet Cute
* Prank war (not cruel)
* Burnt eyebrows
* Butt cake in the face!
* Almost first kiss
* Matching turquoise yoga outfits
* Elevator security guard show 😉

There were so many laugh out loud moments in this book! If you like enemies to lovers romcoms, I highly recommend The Retreat!

The Retreat will be released on July 27th.

Thank you, Hailey Gardiner, for giving me the opportunity to read your book! I look forward to reading Hunter and Chloe’s story!

*clean romance - lots of kissing.

[Chelsea | chelseadennreads Dennison · Rating 4 out of 5]

So my friend @bookswithbethanyc raves about book 3 in this series, The Duet, so I decided it was time to bump The Retreat up on my TBR list and I’m so happy I did because it was so fun.

Things I Loved:
•Their (Not So) Meet Cute: I loved their meet cute. I thought it was so fun and really set the tone for some great tension.
•The Prank Wars: Honestly I have found I love a good book where the two main characters mess with each other (highly recommend That Fine Line by Cindy Steel). And this one was so fun. I loved seeing how Lainey and Luke would one up each other. And the pranks weren’t driven by malice (maybe a little revenge at the start) and became a fun thing they both looked forward to.
•Luke: I adored Luke. I thought he was just the sweetest most wonderful book boyfriend. He fell so hard and fast for Lainey and it was adorable.

This was my first Hailey Gardiner book and I really enjoyed it! I cannot wait to read the other books in this series.

This is a closed door romance with no language and very mild innuendo.

[Gayathri Maniratnam · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for a book that can be read as a little break or something, this one's good. It's worth the break.
Story seems a little fast-paced, but as a Slowburn lover, I did like the way things turn out.

It tells that this one's an enemies x lovers trope. But as most of the books are, this one's also, a 'not really-but-it is an enemies x lovers' bcz, it's just a bad first impression which building the whole 'animosity' between them or we can say 'the fmc's irritation towards the mmc' bcz......from the start to the end, from what I noticed, the mmc never seemed to be hostile with the fmc, but she was always making arguments out of normal conversations & trying to annoy him.
Maybe it was a "one-way enemies to lovers" 😅


ONLY READ ⚠️

The storyline isn't very deep or something, just two people meeting & falling in love. Very simple, & here we have NO crazy exes nor betrayal, hurting, crying, screaming & especially NO DRAMA.
It's just a simple love story with a little cuteness over here & there.

[Kimberley Mcclintock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness. I absolutely LOVED this book. Which is actually suprising if you know of my rocky relationship with enemies-to-lovers. The Retreat is Hailey Gardiner’s first romcom and I already know she will be an auto-buy author for me. This book was just that good.

There are so many things I loved. The pranks were really unique and for the most part done in fun. I did get a little annoyed at Lainey a couple times for not seeing Luke was unintentionally doing things. But, then again, that’s what makes enemies-to-lovers fun.

There were also so many sweet moments. Of course the epilogue may have made me squeal and swoon, it was so sweet.

I really liked the way conflict was handled in this book. I don’t want to say more, since that is major spoilers, but it was done really well.

I cannot wait for the next book. The preview at the end of this book has me so excited. If you haven’t already checked this book out, you definitely need to soon.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars I am definitely attracted by this author's writing style and loved the romantic tension in this sweet contemporary romance. Luke and Lainey had major sparks and I loved the balance in their love-hate beginning. The kisses were SWOONY. There were a couple of slight discrepancies and a few moments that the insta-attraction felt slightly insta-love ish but overall, I was impressed and I enjoyed the story and characters so much that I call this a hit for me. I would reread this book and I recommend it to fans of clean romance. I will definitely read more by this author and I can’t wait for Chloe and Hunter’s story.
I read this in KU.

[Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me laugh out loud many times, and always put a smile on my face. I am not typically a romance reader, but this particular novel was a hoot! I loved the light tone and spot-on humor that the author used, and even caught myself swooning a time or two over Luke and Lainey's adorable romance. I appreciated the cleanliness of this book as well-- I never felt icky after reading it, which I can't say of many other romance novels I've read. The characters were well developed and there was just enough but not too much drama to keep me hankering for more. I'd recommend this book as the perfect summer read for all, though it may leave you single ladies out there craving your own Luke Ward...

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lainey and Luke's story was so fun. The romance was cute, even though it was a little sudden in the end. The humor is top-notch. There was some suggestive humor I thought was a little too much, but clean overall.

[Jessica Binkewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are such good feel books. They’re so darn cute. I’m only upset that there wasn’t more interaction with the MMC’s mother but I’ll get over it. These two are sweet as pie I’m excited to read more of these books in the future !!

[Lenae Rubey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! Normally I don’t like reading contemporary romance, but this book was an absolute HOOT! Lainey’s inner dialogue had me cracking up the whole book and I loved her and Luke’s banter. I laughed out loud so many times while reading!
I also really appreciate that there wasn’t an over dramatic moment of hurt feelings that tears the couple apart for a good chunk of the book—these characters had real concerns, and I was so relieved when they behaved rationally to potential problems that came up.
This was such a fun and short read!

[leima · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was so quick and SO fast paced?! LIKE SO FAST? however I think I will like the second book better because I prefer the troupe (BEST FRIENDS TO LOVERS?!) overall this was a cute funny book!

[Jamie Lee Orr · Rating 3 out of 5]

The banter between the 2 main characters is great and really helped me to connect to them. I love how it made their relationship grow in a fun cute way

[Sofia (‘s bookshelf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,75⭐️

[Alex Adame · Rating 4 out of 5]

So cute ❤️✨

[Sierra Krause · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite of the Hailey Gardiner books but still do love! ❤️

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute clean romance, which seems to be my genre of choice these days

[Laramee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this debut novel by Hailey! You get all the feels in this sweet romcom! I can't wait to see what comes next in the series!

I received an ARC from the author and all opinions are my own.

[Morgan Giesbrecht · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet, swoony, hilarious, and heartfelt!

I’m not a prank person, but I did enjoy getting a few laughs out of the stunts Luke and Lainey pulled in this enemies-to-lovers / grumpy-sunshine fiasco.

Also, I stand by Luke and Hunter’s twin relationship—SO GOOD!


Content: mild language

[Larissa Correa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very sweet and funny!

At first, the main charcters didn't like each other, especially the female main charcter, because of a misunderstanding.
The male main character fastly feels differently about her, but every time she's warming up to him, something else happens to make her think badly of him - that's when the pranks happen.
Then, they go on a trip together and that's when they get the confusions out of the way to really know each other - at the Retreat, that takes place during a little span of time and pages in the story, by the way.
I liked how they slowly got to know each other, but when they did get together, i think everything moved very fast for them.
The conflict was a bit frustrating, but believable due to the very little time they were together and I loved the resolution.
The ending so as every part after the conflict was very sweet.

*I've received an ARC of this book,from the author, in exchange for an honest review.