A fun read with lots of storylines to follow. In “too good to be real” We get to see into both Julia and Luke’s experiences and minds. It’s fun to see both sides of things, and they both have something they are hiding. Julia, trying to keep her job and review a romance resort. Luke, trying to ensure a good review and bonus so he can pursue his dreams. It moved a little slowly in the middle, I’ll be honest. It’s hard when a book like this is set over the course of a week basically, as opposed to others that can have more pace to them and passage of time. By being set at a resort during a week long vacation, it focuses the story to be on just what’s happening at that resort... which dragged a bit with a lot of internal thoughts instead of action, and that ever unrealistic falling in love in just a few days. Also “The rules of the game are hard to follow when you mix fantasy and reality” — a quote from the story that I think the book honestly struggled from a bit. But all in all it was a fun story with lots of fun references to romantic comedies sprinkled within!

Too Good to Be Real explores the world of LARP-ing - Live Action Role Playing for those of us unfamiliar. Journalist Julia pitches a story about a romantic comedy themed LARP-ing hotel in an attempt to save herself from the latest round of redundancies at her work. However, when confronted with the prospect of a relationship how do you tell the difference between real and role play?

Melonie Johnson has written the perfect beach read, light, airy and captivating. The characters are all fleshed out incredibly well making for a unique novel that is difficult to put down. This July when you are looking for a nice summery read I suggest you pick this up.

Thanks, NetGalley for the ARC.

A resort where guests participate in an interactive real life rom-com experience, what lover of rom-com’s wouldn’t want to experience that? Well that’s exactly what happens in “Too Good to be Real.”

Julia, a writer who doesn’t fully believe true love exists is in a desperate last ditch attempt to save her job. When she stumbles on an article of the grand opening of a rom-com resort, Julia grabs her friends and decides Notting Hill Resort is the perfect place to conduct the article to save her job.

Luke, a computer loving giant, has been hired as game director of the resort and making sure guest have the proper real life rom-com experience. But Luke’s priorities get twisted when he meets Julia.

Sparks fly when the two meet, and Luke decides to go undercover for the week to take part in real life interactive rom-com to be closer to Julia. Little does Luke know that Julia is also hiding her true identity. Let the classic rom-com movie moments commence.

I truly was head over heels in love with this book for the first 50% I couldn’t get enough. I loved both Julia, Luke and the side characters romances. Incorporating classic rom-com moments took me on a trip down memory lane.

What got me not giving this a 5 star review was the incorporated family drama that dragged on which eventually felt repetitive and took away from the romance factor.

Overall I truly enjoyed this rom-com way more than I was expecting. My favorite so far by Melonie Johnson. I highly recommend for rom-com lovers! I definitely wish there was a real life resort like this I could to experience.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC

A must read for rom-com fans! So many cute little Easter eggs in this one that will keep fans of romance movies smiling.

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 was such a cute book! I loved the two main characters and was very invested in their story! Julia is a skeptic when it comes to love but she is a reporter that has to write a review on a getaway that is based on rom-coms. Luke is a coder that created this rom-com fantasy at a resort but he is hesitant of love. Can they learn to love someone completely? This book would be a great summer read!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54860400-too-good-to-be-real

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.

I loved this book! It was heartwarming and strong. It was exactly what I needed with everything going on in the world! A happy little escape!

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.