DNF at 21%

I hardly ever DNF a book, and when I do it is usually from technically bad writing with lots of errors and that was not the case here as the writing was of good quality. I originally wanted to stop at 10%, because nothing had grabbed me and I was turned off by the hero, but I made it to Carmen's first article about their one-night stand and that made me continue on to read his rebuttal article. Those two articles were the most enjoyable part of what I read - I was drawn to that aspect just as much as their fictional readers were in the book. That concept was what had intrigued me from the blurb and made me request the ARC from NetGalley to begin with. Unfortunately, everything else in the book did not appeal to me - it was either boring to me, or there was something I outright didn't like. I didn't find the hero attractive at all, and most of what I read was from his POV. I know I didn't read far enough to see what was really going on with some of the side characters and those stories, but I just can't bring myself to spend any more time on this book. I encourage readers to read a sample to see if they are hooked by the story, as maybe it will be more to their liking.

1 Star on Goodreads scale ("didn't like it")

This was an interesting read. Lucas is an overeager guy trying to make his way in the magazine world in NY that is extremely different from his home down South. Carmen is a seasoned magazine reporter that is stuck in a role that she's wanting to get changed to more of a challenge. They end up randomly hooking up at a bar & she writes about their encounter in her sex column. It's not the most flattering description of him & the encounter, so he counters anonymously & signs it "Mr. Nice Guy." This takes off like wildfire & gets them paired up to have sex weekly & write about it from each point of view. This leads to many ups & downs in their relationship & their lives in general. I would recommend reading this book to see where it leads them.

This book has a lot of potential to be as good as the books it compares itself too, but unfortunately the characters aren't very likable. Its hard to fall in love with a contemporary book when you could care less about the characters.

I wanted to love this book.  I really did, but I just could not get there.  Now did I like it?  Well yes and no.  I liked the story plot line, but disliked the deliverance.  The book was very, very slow.  I had a hard time finishing it. 

The characters although interesting were somewhat maddening as well.  I wanted to fall in love with Lucas and Carmen, and at times I thought I might, but then when I finished the book I felt unsatisfied.  As for the supporting characters, well I did not care for many of them.  I especially did not like the part in the end where Lucas, his ex and her fiance' met to talk.  I felt like that was a forced issue in the story, more like a selfish act on Lucas's part.

At times in the story I felt there were tidbits that just did not belong or useless information.  Like the bag of ties.  What was the purpose of the ties being left behind but never returned?  The big finale was not what I imagined it would be.  I was expecting Lucas, being a journalist, to do a huge write-up in Noser to out  his boss, with pictures of proof and all.  Or I expected jail time for Nick and Jays. 

With the expectation of this being a rom-com book, I would have expected a happy ending, declaration of love or so some sort.   The ending of this book just left me feeling meh.  I was neither excited, happy nor content.  I just think it fell flat leaving me unsatisfied.

Overall the book has a good base line story.  Some characters were interesting.  There were some key parts of the story that were meaningful, even though they were not delivered well.  It did have some life experiences that made the book feel somewhat relatable.   I liked it well enough, but it was not a favorite.  Overall I have to give this book a 3 star rating.  

*ARC provided by Netgalley and St. Martin's Press

I have to say, this threw me quite a bit. Just going by the description, I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, I was even more unsure if I would like it or not. Hell, I'm still not sure. I will say it was not was I was expecting at all, which is kind of refreshing. I say kind of because, I'll be honest, I'm a sucker for a happy ending, a cheesy ending and I didn't get that persay but I was whole entertained by the characters interactions and how they all fit together. It started out a bit slow for me, but once it got going, I needed to see where it went. The premise got me from the very beginning but as the plot gained momentum, it really became so much more. I read it in one night, if a book can make me devour it in one go, you know you're doing something right.

While I found the premise very intriguing and promising, "Mr. Nice Guy" failed to deliver. Although it sounds like a fantastic rom com, it felt more like the miseries of Lucas. Lucas has come to NYC to work for Empire, a high-profile magazine, after breaking up with (getting dumped by) his girlfriend of six years and quitting law school. He feels that he is finally where he wants to be. Right now, he is working as a fact-checker, primarily for restaurant pieces, but he dreams of being a journalist.

One night, after an emotional roller coaster where he was called into the boss's office (and had his tie commented on), he walks over to a beautiful woman in a bar, who then invites him home. He felt this upped his sexual prowess- until he finds out she writes the sex column for Empire, and has written a scathing column about him. He dashes off a rebuttal. Then, they are offered the chance to continue critiquing the other because it made such a splash (though no one at the magazine knows who Nice Guy actually is).

Most of the book is told from Lucas's point of view, and he is a little full of himself and entitled to really feel like he is at all a Nice Guy. The book is also exceedingly slow and focuses on other minutiae rather than the column and Lucas/Carmen's interactions. As the characters were hard to like and the story slow, this one fell really flat for me. I am giving it an extra star for the idea, but overall I found this a tough book to get into. I'd label it more as an in-depth character study than the rom com I was expecting.

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I think this will be a fun, light-hearted rom-com story that many will enjoy without taking it too seriously. It’s got quirky characters whose escapades in the NYC’s magazine and media world are exploited through a sex column in which each attempt to outdo the other in their critiques and criticisms of one another’s performances. The back and forth banter sizzles and some scenes are fiery. It’s over the top and somewhat outrageous, but brings to light some pertinent social media issues relevant today. The beginning was a bit slow and disjointed for my taste, particularly the office politics portions, as well as some of the rapid bed-hopping. It was, however, interesting to see things from a male perspective, minus the stereotypical male machismo, and see the characters discover more about themselves as the story unfolds. This won’t be for everyone, as it’s rather graphic and brutally blunt, but if you fancy a steamy, romantic sit-com type story, it might be right up your alley., .

While an easy read, I was a little suprised by some of the "more intimate" moments in the book. I found myself wishing I could "fast forward" through the love scenes and get back to the novel!

I liked this book. The characters are likeable and it was an enjoyable read. Part of the plot grossed me out a bit; two of the main characters have sex with each other for the sole reason of reporting on it for a magazine. The story around that and the character development made a worthwhile story. Mr. Nice Guy probably isn't going to teach you any big life lessons but is an entertaining and light hearted (mostly) book. I would read other books by these authors.

The basic premise of this book was interesting, and it had a nice tag line and cool cover art, but the execution was not as good as promised. The day to day writing was done decently, but the character interaction seemed poor, and the attempt at sex scenes were stunted and poorly executed. I liked the office setting, and I liked the MC sparring, but the chemistry just wasn't there for me

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. It was my first time reading anything from these authors who are, apparently, husband and wife. It will not be my last. I loved everything about this book: the plot and pacing, character development and growth, tension, writing style, and the fact that all of these things continue to stick with me hours after finishing the book. I won’t soon forget this book. I was intrigued by the plot, but it was much more impactful and significant than I had anticipated. It was intelligently written and addressed issues of motivations, altruism, insecurities, maturity, self-preservation, selfishness versus self-centeredness, and facing your darkest secrets. It is a deep dive into the minds of Lucas and Carmen, a study of their basest desires and motivations, their selfish hopes and dreams, and as such, you won’t always like them very much. They have all of the faults we like to think that we don’t. Cut them some slack because their thoughts are real and their actions, though perhaps over the top, are the logical conclusions to their perceptions of the world around them. Forgive their humanity because they’re doing the best that they know how to do.

Though this was an uncorrected digital gallery, there were some parts that were so perfectly written, I sincerely hope they were not edited out. Metaphors were poetically descriptive and, on more than one occasion, forced me to pause and savor them. Some observations were wise without being didactic. In particular, this was priceless: “....when you really knew someone, your physical connection was specific. It was, Lucas realized, the difference between having sex and making love. Sex, on the one hand, was something you did. You could do it poorly or well. You could practice and improve. But it was, essentially, an activity, like yoga or checkers. Love, on the other hand, was something you made. Something you fashioned with great care from the raw materials: your body and someone else's, your heart and theirs. Tonight, corny as it sounded, he'd made love to her.” To take corny even one step further, I'd venture to say that the authors fashioned this book with great care from raw materials. I loved it!

I had high hopes going into this book. It says it is "The Devil Wears Prada meets Sex and the City", 2 of my favorite things! I was disappointed it was nothing like either of those 2 things. It was very long and boring.

Mr. Nice Guy.... hmmm.... Ok.. when you have a delivery line that states "The Devil Wears Prada meets Sex and the City"... there is some big shoes to fill there.

Yikes... these shoes were definitely not filled!! I was super disappointed on this one :(. First off, this was very very slow... and felt it wasn't getting anywhere.

I had a very hard time connecting to any of the characters. I thought Lucas was a self absorbed ass on multiple levels. Everything was about Lucas... and if it wasn't he had a temper tantrum... literally lol.

Carmen wasn't the shiniest peach in this patch either. Yikes.. she was a bit of a stuck up b...! I guess in some ways Carmen and Lucas were a pair?... ehhhh

This wasn't really my cup of tea unfortunately. I felt like I skimmed the last half of the book.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest thoughts.

2 stars for me on this one.

Published to GR: 8/20/18
Publication date: 10/16/1

This book surprised me. It was super slow and anticlimactic to start but ended up sucking me in and I enjoyed it. A little disappointed at the end though

In my opinion, the book is a little too long and the story line move at a snail pace. It's not bad but it's not good either. It's a very forgettable book.

While the concept was cute, the characters didn't work for me. I didn't find Lucas or Carmen endearing. Personally, I find it hard to read books in which I don't like the characters because then I don't find myself rooting for anyone. The only upside was that there was an even greater villain and that was Jays. I wish that there had been more of a lead up to the relationship between Carmen and Lucas. Maybe some bantering back and forth through the newspaper before they started having to sleep together again. It felt forced (as I'm sure it was meant to) but then it just made me feel uncomfortable.

Mr. Nice Guy is written by married authors Jennifer Miller and Jason Feifer. The book is about what happens when a one night stand goes public. The good, the bad, and the ugly as Carmen a writer, tells readers all the details of her one night with a newcomer to town. Lucas, freshly arrived in the big city of New York..except let's call it The BIG CITY where dreams come true... He starts working on the bottom at Empire Magazine, as a research writer...double checking all the facts before the articles get printed.

One night he works up his nerve to approach a gorgeous lady at a bar and much to his surprise, she takes him home. The next morning he rushes out, awkward and unsure of what the proper etiquette is for morning after. A couple of weeks later, all the details are shared for the world to read in the magazine that apparently Carmen works for as well.. They wind up having to work together through their romantic and sexual adventures with each other.

What follows is paybacks and romance, with a few twists from their boss who is a real jerk. There were times where both characters disappointed me and there were times when I was cheering Carmen on or rooting for Lucas. Instead of moving into more of the plot details, I would rather share more about the writing. The pace starts off slow and builds with quirky and fun sex scenes as the two characters start to self reflect and grow up. Just as the pace changes, so does the writing from Carmen and Lucas. They start expanding more, giving the readers more..and learn so much about integrity and where lines should be. How much does the public deserve to know about their sex life and their romantic feelings for each other? Sometimes there was great chemistry....and other times not so much.. I bet this was a fun book to co-author with your spouse!

This is more of a lighthearted romance and definitely not for everyone. The themes the characters deal with aren't just about journalism...They are about pursuit of happiness and ambitious goals.. and how far they will go to achieve their biggest dreams. The humor is really engaging, there were times when I laughed out loud. I consider that a huge compliment to the writers...if you can get me to feel...to laugh or react, then you have done a great job!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader's copy for me to review. As always, my opinions are my own.

3.5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley for my free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This novel was cute, fun and STEAMY. I liked the overall plot, the characters were interesting too. I enjoyed the personal growth that the character's did, but I was not a huge fan of the ending. This would be perfect for fans of rom-com type novels.

DNF @10%
I just can't get into this book. I don't really care for the characters (especially the guy) and I don't feel it particularly funny or interesting. This book just isn't for me.

I'm not going to post this review on Goodreads since its unflattering.

I started this book over the weekend and I DNF it at 38% mark of the book. This is a rom com set in a magazine in NYC. The premise sounded promising as a couple needed to sleep together and write competing columns judging their performance.The execution left to be desired. The characters had no chemistry.

I didn't like Lucas as he lacked self-awareness. I didn't get the Nicholas Spragg character and subplot. How Lucas was getting notoriety at work even though he was writing the column anonymously.  I couldn't believe that his roommate didn't figure out he was Mr. Nice Guy.