First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison Review

A hopeless romantic meets a jaded radio host in this cozy, Sleepless in Seattle-inspired love story from beloved author B.K. Borison.
 

Aiden Valentine has a secret: he's fallen out of love with love. And as the host of Baltimore's romance hotline, that's a bit of a problem. But when a young girl calls in to the station asking for dating advice for her mom, the interview goes viral, thrusting Aiden and Heartstrings into the limelight.
 

Lucie Stone thought she was doing just fine. She has a good job; an incredible family; and a smart, slightly devious kid. But when all of Baltimore is suddenly scrutinizing her love life-or lack thereof—she begins to question if she's as happy as she thought. Maybe a little more romance wouldn't be such a bad thing.
 

Everyone wants Lucie to find her happy ending... even the handsome, temperamental man calling the shots. But when sparks start to fly behind the scenes, Lucie must make the final call between the radio-sponsored happily ever after or the man in the headphones next to her.

A cute and refreshing take on the jaded romantics premise, First-Time Caller is a near perfect contemporary romance novel that should be a required read for all sappy romance fans, end of this review, Jeff signing off. Just kidding on the review part but all joking aside, B.K. Borison’s First-Time Caller is a masterclass example of an excellent contemporary romance novel that’s solid across the board. Featuring a fun and unique premise, charming and well-developed main characters, and lowkey great comedic chops, this book seems to have everything pitched just right. However, what sets First-Time Caller apart from the rest of the crowded contemporary romance genre is its charming honesty and spot-on relatability with the feelings and doubts its romance-adverse characters experience.

“It feels like every time I get my hopes up for something good, reality comes out swinging. I don’t know how to be a hopeful person anymore. It’s easier not to be.”

While Borison’s prose isn’t the most lyrical or poetic style I’ve read, the biggest highlight of her work is undoubtedly the amazing dialogue and reflections presented in the story. A jaded grumpy man complimented by an honest hopeless romantic is common territory, but right from Aiden’s opening chapter, First-Time Caller hits the reader with outstanding reflections on romance. From that first unexpected call in the middle of Aiden’s Heartstring late-night radio segment, Borison’s discussion and commentary on modern dating and struggles are nothing short of perfection. The back and forth chatting between Aiden and Lucie as they walk through her love life, worries, history, and his self-deflection, their on-air conversation is one of the realest yet casually understated discussions on dating I’ve read in quite some time. While the story’s plot and tone are quite predictable and cozy (that’s a good thing in this case), the poignant, relatable, heartwarming feelings keep the novel from feeling cliched and is perfectly crafted for its premise. Its predominantly late-night setting and rather limited locations also give it a unique flavor and an almost intimate and romantic feeling. Throughout the novel, the story has a constant unhurried ease to it, all while delivering quote after quote of relatability without being overly poetic convoluted or distracting:

“No, that’s not what I mean. I don’t want to try. All I do is try. All day long, I’m trying and I’m so tired. Why can’t this be the one thing I don’t have to try at? Why can’t it be a thing that just…happens? I don’t want—I don’t want to think about what I should say or how I should act or…or have talking points in the notes app of my phone for a dinner date at a restaurant that I don’t really like. I want to feel something when I connect with someone. I want sparks. The good kind, you know? I want to laugh and mean it. I want goose bumps. I want to wonder what my date is thinking about and hope it might be me. I want…I want the magic.”

Besides making its romance readers feel seen, the other best asset of First-Time Caller is its wonderful two main characters Aiden and Lucie and Borison’s outstanding character writing for them. Like many contemporary romance novels, First-Time Caller is presented via alternating dual-perspectives and strategically switches to the character perspective best suited for each scene. While it’s common having two perspectives for each of the main characters, I’ve grown to expect the vast majority of romance novels out there inadvertently favor or prioritize one character over the other in terms of development and on-page screen-time. As the romance genre is heavily dominated by women authors and readers (at least in F/M romance stories), it’s very typical for female main characters in romance novels to be far more developed and more realistically portrayed compared to their male counterparts. Whether it be due to shallow character backgrounds, too perfect boyfriend material, unrealistic 180 personality shifts, or frankly dialogue that doesn’t sound at all like how men talk, there’s often a notable lack of nuance or realism which is partly to be expected for romance reads doubling as escapism reads.

Aiden Valentin, is not one of those generic or poorly written male characters. Going hand-in-hand with Borison’s great dialogue, Aiden is easily one of the best written romance main male characters I’ve read who actually thinks and feels like how a young man would. While obviously still rose-tinted for the sake of the genre and tone of the story, the execution of the jaded and grumpy, but not entirely cold or humor-less character trope is excellent and Aiden’s narration is memorable and distinctive compared to countless other male romance characters I often get mixed up over the years. Additionally, while both Aiden and Lucie’s character storylines are well balanced and the most of the Heartstrings radio station premise is focused on her romantic interests, in actuality, First-Time Caller actually feels more like Aiden’s story with Lucie bringing joy and warmth back to his stagnant and empty life rather than the other way around; a rare romance novel built around the male main character instead of the female character. I’ve read some reviews that criticized Aiden’s thoughts as giving them the ick whether it be due to his wandering thirsty gaze (most of the sex scenes are shown from Aiden’s perspective rather Lucie’s, another atypical narrative choice for the hetero romance genre) or his resistance to emotional feelings, but this instead should be an indicator of a realistically portrayed male character, how many non-fictional men do you know of who are great at discussing their feelings? Some of the later narrations past the half-way mark that feature his mental “brain error, cannot compute and say something” are spot-on and there were so many instances where I felt seen by Borison’s character work. I might also be a bit bias however, considering his sense of humor and wit is very similar to my own.

A lot of other reviews have previously covered her in far more detail, but Lucie’s character is a constant joy and a great mix of female empowerment and hopeful dreaming. She’s a young mother who is competent and skilled at her day job as an auto shop mechanic in a field dominated by men yet spends her evenings drinking wine on the couch and crying while watching crabs get stuck in cages on Deadliest Catch (if that is not a brutally hilarious and honest pop culture reference, I don’t know what is). She’s lonely and down in a rut but is more than willing to stand up for herself and metaphorically give toxic men what they have coming. She’s a great balance of being both romantically tired of love while still being an optimistic romantic. Even better, she and Aiden have wonderful platonic and romantic chemistry (as well as good open-door spice). The banter and dialogue are clever and lowkey really funny, which is particularly impressive considering how few exclamation points Borison uses in their numerous chats, proof that a book can be very comical without needing to be slapstick, over the top, or full of sarcastic one-liners that can get old fast. The humor is quite varied, my favorites being Aiden and Jackson best buds ignoring the studio intern’s distress or the old-fashioned physical body humor like the frequent miming through soundproof glass. Both characters also have great backstories, personal demons, and can go toe-to-toe with each other (Lucie has an applause-worthy monologue at the end that eviscerates Aiden in a well-spoken manner), not to mention the numerous subtle self-references or things they pick up from each other. This is also a rare example of a friends to lovers romance novel that pulls off the trope seamlessly, no insta-love here.

Besides Lucie and Aiden, First-Time Caller also has an amazing cast of supporting characters that I found surprisingly well-developed, memorable, and very entertaining. Co-worker/friend Jackson Clark and the radio station’s manager Maggie Lin provide so many great laughs while Lucie’s auto shop circle of men are also comical and endearingly supportive of her. However, what I found most unexpected is the way Lucie’s daughter’s father Grayson is portrayed along with his husband Matteo. Where so many romance novels would have had a bitter or ugly divorce conflict planned for Lucie’s ex-husband, First-Time Caller instead has a refreshingly unique take where they’re life-long platonic best friends while co-parenting a daughter together as a team of three. I can’t remember the last time I read a romance novel where a female character’s ex is her supportive best friend along with their unorthodox yet honestly sweet family arrangement between the three of them. Even more surprising, the story doesn’t even try to put a label Grayson’s sexuality (does artistically excessive count?), paint Lucie as a straight experiment pre-coming out, or any other type of tired halfhearted attempt at queer representation. Their family is what it is, and everyone is happy, not everything needs to have a tragic backstory to be interesting. It’s actually quite weird to realize how uncommon that is when most other novels would use these characters for additional drama or conflict, but it is. All this to say, the side characters are great, which is important considering this is the first novel in a new series based around the Heartstrings radio station programming. It’s already confirmed that the next book And Now, Back to You will be Jackson’s love story and I sure hope he will be paired with the bane of his daily parking existence Delilah from the office across the street. Maybe book three will be about their no-nonsense boss Maggie. Borison could pick just about any of her characters, and I’d be invested and ready to read about them.

Hopeful, heartwarming, cozy, First-Time Caller could easily have fallen into the predictably saccharine territory or lost in the sea of forgettable romance novels. However, with its honest relatability, outstanding character dialogue and development, and a well-planned and executed plot, Borison has crafted a standout contemporary romance novel that hits all the right checkmarks to be a feel-good read with a lot of substance and heart. Polished and solid across the board, the only minor nitpick I could come up with is the story slightly drags around the middle and perhaps is a bit longer than it functionally needs to be. However, its humor and colorful cast of side characters easily carry that section and it’s really only noticeable due to how amazingly written and compelling Lucie’s first-time calls to Aiden were in the early chapters. I don’t feel like I’m able to highlight just how good this novel is without this review turning into a full-blown essay, but this is definitely a new favorite romance read for me and Borison’s upcoming works are on my radar to pick up. Particularly for hopeless romantics or readers looking for a comforting hug in book form, you can’t do much better than First-Time Caller.