How to Sell a Romance — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Alexa Martin
Published Year: 2025
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 384

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Emerson Pierce loves everything about being a kindergarten teacher except the painfully low salary. It isn’t until she hears about Petunia Lemon—an opportunity to sell makeup products, make some extra money, and meet a group of skin-care aficionados—that she begins to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Sure, it sounds a little too good to be true, but what’s the worst that could happen?

Investigative reporter Lucas Miller didn’t always have a chip on his shoulder…until his wife joined Petunia Lemon, drained their savings, and filed for divorce. Now he’s a little bitter, a lot single, and determined to expose the company. After infiltrating their largest convention yet, the last thing he expects is to lose sight of his mission for one night with the gorgeous woman at the bar.

When Emerson and Lucas learn that she’s his daughter’s teacher, they decide to ignore their scorching chemistry. Until things with Petunia Lemon turn downright diabolical and Emerson turns to Lucas for help. They work together to bring the company down but can the two come out on top in this pyramid scheme of love?

First Impressions

This is not my favorite cover. I honestly would’ve passed it by if I didn’t know the author. Luckily, I really enjoy Alexa Martin so that overruled the cover. I think the summary would’ve caught my eye slightly more if I hadn’t previously read an MLM scheme book and felt meh about it.

What I thought

This book was cute!

Emerson is a kindergarten teacher. As is well known, teachers don’t make much money. When her principal invites her to a multi-level marketing skin care company event she decides to join up. After a few months with the company she realizes it might not be what it seems. On the night of the first event, she also had a one night stand with a very handsome stranger. They part on some rough terms and she gets the surprise of the lifetime when he turns out to be the father of one of her kindergarten students for the new school year.

Let’s start with what I enjoyed about the book. I really loved Emerson and Luke. I thought their romance was sweet, if a little bit quick on his end. I also just really liked Emerson. I thought that while she was a little naïve, she was genuine and kind. The romance side of the story was definitely my favorite. I liked the tension of him being the father of one of her students as well as some of the drama with his ex-wife.

The MLM portion of the story was a little harder for me. Earlier this year I read an MLM story that was a bit more of a murder mystery and the concept of these two stories with the “evil” skin care company preying on women just felt a little too similar to me. I get that these companies aren’t great and are lying to their companies, but these stories make them feel extremely evil.

I also got a little frustrated with how easily Emerson got sucked into the company even with her friends telling her not too. Personally, another struggle for me was her principal. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve had personal experiences with a manipulative and evil principal, but reading that storyline was a little stress inducing for me. I was a little frustrated with Emerson for trusting her principal to the extent of signing up underneath her in this company even with evidence directly in front of her as to how greedy of a human she was.