Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first foray in years into modern romance fiction - usually I dwell in the land of corsets and carriages, but the concept of this book really drew me in. As a long-time fan of romantic comedies I have lamented the lack of really good romcom movies since the age of Notting Hill and Love Actually.

This book is a RomCom inside a RomCom themed resort which is a really fun idea. Julia and her friends take a trip to this interesting resort so that Julia can write an article about it and save her career; but when she meets one of the organisers in a meet-cute straight out of a movie the line between work and play becomes blurred.
I really loved the witty, funny dialogue between Julia and her friends, the loving relationship between Luke and his sister and the romance, which was plenty steamy enough to keep me reading. A very entertaining book - as soon as I finished I wanted to read more from this author.
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Loved this book. So much more than a rom com. The story is not only fun but has depth and all the feels. We meet Julia, Luke and the supporting characters and their side kicks, which include sweet corgis and a conniving pair of sea gulls. Add this one to the top of your TBR list, it is not to be missed.

It has become traditional thing for me (and I believe many others) to read a cute romance on Valentine's Day.

Too Good to be Real showed up in my life unexpectedly, but I am so glad I had the opportunity to read it prior it's release, because it was a perfect pick.

It is a book for rom-com fans, and reading it felt like being at home. Even though it is a new story, because of all the references about popular romantic movies, I felt like I was re-reading one of my favourites.
Here I have to stress out that the story itself was not predictable.
Ok, let's go all the way in with philosophy: Do you know that feeling you get when meeting someone for the first time but feel like you know each other for centuries? Well, that's how I felt about Too Good to be Real.

The writing style was good. It is written in third person following Luke's and Julia's perspectives.

This was an enjoyable story, light and perfect summer read.

I like the idea of staying in a place with all the rom-com references, but I also appreciate how the author showed us how unhealthy it can be, if we don't know how to separate real life from the simulations (or however you call it).

In the end, I want to phrase the book cover, as it show cute little parts of the story: Bonnie and Clyde the squeals and a corgi (even though there were many in the story).

One more thing: the opening line made me laugh out loud.

This started out promising but after the beginning I just couldn’t get into it. I didn’t like the whole premise and there was way too much going on to get invested. Thank you to netgalley for the arc.

Welcome to the dreamy vacation in Wisconsin to live your own rom-com story in real life: the estate team provides anything you’re looking for to help you find the real one to fall for while you enjoy the activities based on favorite romcom movie cliches!

Heartbroken writer Julia who is about lose her faith in love makes her last attempt not to get sagged from her full time job at popular website ! She’s writing entertaining Cosmogirl style quizzes, entertaining articles about modern woman’s love life. But she needs to find a brilliant idea to keep her job which means she’s due to make earth shattering pitch to her boss Chloe till Monday. Clock is ticking!

As she makes searches about how it’s impossible to find love like romcoms in the real life, she finds the advertisements about this new opening new place providing real romcom experience which gives her opportunity to convince her boss about writing her brand new article for Take that which is also popular travel section of website!

Her idea gets approval and the best part of it: she’ll have all exclusive vacation for one week to experience the romcom taste of the estate and she can also bring guests! She chooses her besties Kat and Andie to accompany her for this dreamy vacation.

After that we’re introduced to our a little control freak, geeky but cute, protective brother Luke who is the game developer of this place. His sister Pen helps him as event planner and his bestie Jay is working on marketing side. They’re just like three musketeers working together for this brand new enterprise and the best thing is Luke is promised to get a bonus if the launch turns into a success.

Luke didn’t plan to meet with Julia at the beach when he was get attacked by the seagulls which steal his notebook and poop on him! Their awkward-ish romantic encounter pushes Luke to join the game as Lance character. His plan was simple! He heard a journalist will write a review about the place so he has to do anything in his power to control everything goes as planned. He also thinks Julia’s friend Kat is the writer!

Julia also hides her identity to write an objective review. But when love is on the way, both of our MCs will be forced to get rid of their disguises and fall for each other!

I think this was creative and entertaining reading and I honestly say I loved Julia and her friends’ conversations more than the romance parts. I think if those characters have their own talk show about modern romance, I’ll be the addictive fan of them. Those conversations were witty, smart, enjoyable!

But the romantic elements of the book was a little overshadowed by the concept of romcoms. Both Julia and Luke’s characterizations are one dimensional. ( I can define both Kat and Andie with few words but I barely do that when it comes to MCs) And I couldn’t feel the real chemistry between them. Their love story is a little unreliable!

But there are still great things about my reading including the supporting characters Patrick and David ( they were amazing) ! Let’s not forget assassin seagulls! They made me laugh so hard!

Overall: even though the romance part was a little weak, I liked the clever dialogues, romcom references and supporting characters. It’s still feel good, enjoyable, creative, easy to read romcoms inside a romcom ( which is a brand new concept! )

Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Griffin for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

i honestly do not have much to say about this book other than its a pefect read for the relaxing evening. its entertaining and funny, and the main idea ( a getaway place straight from a romantic comedy ) was very original and interesting. there was a lot of references to iconic rom-coms which i really liked. so if youre a fan of films like 10 things i hate about you or notting hill youre going to love this book!<3

The premise of the book was a fun idea - a hotel based on the theme of rom-coms and set in a local "Notting Hill." Julia, a reporter for a magazine, visits the hotel with two friends with the double intent of writing up a review and experiencing the rom-com atmosphere for herself. During their stay they participate in simulated rom-com scenarios based off popular movies.

Unfortunately, the writing style just wasn't for me. I had trouble figuring out point of view in the first few chapters as it seemed to switch often. Based on the live-action game, the players were given fake names to get into character - but it made it hard to follow who was who in the story. Fake names/real names/characters/players - it was too much to keep up with. There was also a lot of unnecessary external dialogue. I found myself skipping over some parts because they just seemed irrelevant to the plot and the characters.

There were too many characters and personalities for me to feel invested in any of them. While the extraneous details were plentiful, it felt like any true character development was missing. I am a huge fan of rom-com's but unfortunately, this one was a miss for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Marten's Press for the ARC of this book!

As a true rom-com lover the concept of a resort where you can live that lifestyle is definitely intriguing. I liked the set up for the meet-cute between the main characters and there were definitely some cute scenes!! Unfortunately, both Julia and Luke had attitudes that made them hard to connect with, and their romance was lacking in chemistry. Julia also was often rude or biting to her friends who she dragged onto this adventure with her, and who are nothing but supportive. That really felt off to me, especially when she is jealous of one of them repeatedly.

It was a sweet, and emotional love story. It was wonderful. I can't recommend it enough. And this author is great!

Too Good to Be Real was a fun and enjoyable read.

Julia and Luke were likable characters and I found that their romance, while sweet, lacked some of the angst that I enjoy. I loved the friend group in this book, I need me a girl gang like this.

Check out Too Good to Be Real if you're looking for a cute, rom-com that you can escape into.

This book is perfect for anyone who loves RomComs!

The story centers around a role play game week at a hotel named Notting Hill where all of the characters have to pretend to be different romantic comedy characters that closely resemble their own personalities. Things get very romantic very quickly and even have the most skeptic participants falling in love like never before.

It is such a relaxing read and I highly recommend it!

DNF at 20%. There was too much contextless dialogue which made it very hard to follow and kept taking me out of the story. The beginning I couldn't figure out whose POV it was for too long.

This book was adorably cute. It is everything a rom-com should be! I loved all of the romance movie references and themes that played throughout the entire novel. Some of the movies were names while others weren’t. When they weren’t named, and only referenced, I’d use my rom-com knowledge to deduce the reference. It ended up being a fun game while reading this novel (and one of the reasons why this novel was a four star instead of a three star for me).

Needless to say, I loved the references to the movies. I loved the quippiness to the characters. I loved the punniness in the writing. It all mashed up to give a truly fun and enjoyable read.

The main character is a journalist who is reviewing a rom-com themed resort that will save her from being put on the chopping block at work. Of course she’s bringing her besties along for the ride and of course, in true rom-com style, shenanigans commence but will it end up in true love?

Julia is a journalist who fears she is about to lose her job. Looking for a way to impress her boss, she suggests writing about places that people should visit. She finds an advertisement for a week at a hotel to enjoy a rom-com experience. She takes her girlfriends with her. Totally enjoyable with unexpected twists and turns that will keep you reading.

The description sounded fun, but it was a slow moving, drawn out. The characters didn’t click or have much chemistry

The premise and the concept was attractive and very interesting but I’m not sure the writing style was my taste. Some of the dialogue felt irrelevant to the story and ended up skipping a few pages.

I wasn’t able to connect with the characters and the relationship between Luke and Julia didn’t really click for me. The meet cute was fascinating but it felt flat to me for the rest of the book. It was hard for me to get through it and wasn’t able to pick up on the humor.

One thing I did like was the supporting cast and their relationship with Julia and Luke. I really wanted to love this one but sadly I couldn’t connect.

A lovely funny and witty story . Very good characters . A different concept .
I received this novel from net galley and the publisher as an ARC. Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

For a romance and rom-com fan, I was excited for this one, and for the most part, it didn’t disappoint. The premise reminded me of “How to lose a guy in 10 days” and “Austenland”, which are definitely two classics.

This was a pretty fun and easy read, and I did love all the different tropes going on, as well as the fact that we got so many different references to some of the all-time best romantic comedies. This may just be a personal preference, but I’m not too big on the whole insta-love thing, and right away we saw that with Julia and Luke. I found myself preferring the background stories that were going on with Andie and Kat, and even Penelope.

For me, the relationship between Julia and her friends and Luke with his sister were the two best parts of the book. Those interactions were always funny and heartwarming and were the true standout moments of the novel. Whenever it was Julia and Luke I found myself a bit bored since once again, it was just Insta-Love and they were all over each other and in “love” right away but I never truly understood why.

I’m rating this book 3 stars since there were quite a few fun and cute moments, but it felt a bit slow at times and I just couldn’t find myself as invested with the main characters as I wanted to be.

This book made me smile so much. I honestly felt like I had been transported inside the book. I loved the references of romantic comedies especially those of '10 Things I Hate About You'. This book kind of reminded me of another romantic comedy while I was reading it 'How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days'. For me, the seagulls were the highlight of the novel with the MCs but as the cover portrays there is less of the corgis and I hoped the book had more scenes with the corgis. Overall, I enjoyed this book.

The corgi on the cover and the similar premise to Austenland really sold me this story. Sadly there was way too little corgi cuteness in the story but I did get a kick out of it when the characters acknowledged the Austenland parallels.
Throughout the book my rating kept jumping between three and four stars and while my actual rating would be 3.5 I'll round it up to four stars to fit the star system.

I loved the relationship Julia had with her two girlfriends, they were fun together and obviously knew each other very well. Throughout the story they showed how supportive of each other they were and I especially liked that, even though the story obviously focuses on Julia, their friendship was not (unnaturally) focused the same way on Julia. Luke's relationship with his sister and best friend did not get as much attention but what we got had me really enjoying their dynamic.

The whole story obviously poked a lot of fun and played homage to rom-coms and I loved that, the characters were obviously enthusiastic about them and the way they were constantly referenced did not feel forced. I was positively surprised that some newer rom-coms were mentions, not just 'classics'. The story leaned heavily into rom-com tropes and had it's fun with that (and loved to get meta about them). The story succeeded very much on the 'com' part and the character dynamics.

What kinda failed for me was the 'rom' part of the rom-com. The romance between Julia and Luke had some great moments of vulnerable conversations, fun and when they got more physical they obviously had chemistry. On the other hand we get told that they had good talks with each other but the casual conversations we actually get play out awkward and don't linger long enough to actually develop into the good conversations that they apparently have off-screen. I just wish we could've gotten more consistency on this part.

This book could've been a good bit shorter and would've been better for it, in my opinion. There are several paragraphs and sometimes up to several pages that add nothing (substantial) to the characters, do not further the plot and are way too stretched out to be entertaining.