There are a lot of good things to like about The New Me. It was refreshing to read a book that was more about female friendship than flirting and dating. I love a good romance as much as the next person, and I certainly enjoyed the flirty parts in this book, but it was nice that dating/marriage wasn't the end goal here.

There was an excellent contrast here between the type of relationship between friends we've known our whole life and friends we meet as adults. Anna and Marley have been friends for so long they've become trapped in playing the same roles and acting the same way they always have. When Marley meets Reese, she gets to be the person she wants to be. Disregarding the whole mistaken identity thing, for the most part, Marley gets to be herself. The way these contrasting storylines came together was an excellent example of what female friendships can be with open communication and honesty.

Unfortunately, the whole 'mistaken identity' trope threatened to ruin any enjoyment I got out of The New Me. I honestly almost DNF this so many times because Marley was so obnoxious. It was like déjà vu how many times we have to read the same internal monologue. I don't know how anyone could stand to be around her - the number of times another character had to bring her back to the present because she'd gone off in her head on another tangent would've driven anyone crazy. She came off as ditzy and self-centred, and on top of all of that, it was just so unnecessary. It's not like she pretended to have Anna's job or life; she literally just swapped her name and pretended she was engaged. It made literally no sense and served no purpose - she could've turned to anyone at any time and said, 'Oh sorry, my name is Marley, and I'm single. It's actually my best friend Anna who's engaged,' and the whole story would've still worked out the same way.

I'm glad I finished The New Me but it would have been much more enjoyable without the whole 'withholding information to make the plot more interesting' thing.

A wonderfully warm-hearted and wickedly witty tale, The Mix-Up is a delightful romantic comedy guaranteed to make readers laugh out loud.

Anna and Marley might be the best of friends, but the two of them are like chalk and cheese. They couldn’t be more different if they tried – which is why Anna is a high-flying career woman about to marry the love of her life and Marley is single, unemployed and has no idea what the future holds. The two best friends might be polar opposites, but there is absolutely nothing they wouldn’t do for one another – which is why when Anna calls Marley in a panic because she cannot make an exclusive tour of a wedding venue, Marley doesn’t hesitate. But little did Marley realise that her one act of friendly generosity was going to get her in a whole heap of trouble!

When Marley arrives at the wedding venue, she is ignored by the glamorous receptionist. However, hotel manager Cameron is anything but cold or indifferent. Cameron is kind, attentive and drop dead gorgeous – however, he mistakenly thinks that Marley is the blushing bride and that she has a fiancé at home about to walk her down the aisle! Sparks immediately begin to fly between Cameron and Marley, but the more time she spends with him, the bigger the hole she has dug herself in gets!

Marley cannot remember a time when she was this attracted to anyone. Cameron has made her feel things she hasn’t experienced in a very long time and she is slowly but surely falling head over heels in love with him. However, living somebody else’s life could very well end up costing her the happiness that has long been denied to her. Is there a way out of this mix-up? Or will Marley’s lies end up costing her everything she has always wanted?

The Mix-Up is an absolutely adorable read from Elizabeth Neep. Fun, feel-good and so addictive that I simply couldn’t stop reading it, The Mix-Up is a hilarious romantic comedy about the power of friendship, life’s unexpected surprises and falling in love with the right person at the wrong time that sparkles with plenty of charm, heart and wit.

A superbly told romantic read that will brighten up even the most miserable of days, Elizabeth Neep’s The Mix-Up ticks all the right boxes.

A fun book about friendship with a little romance mix in. From the very first page I was instantly interested in Marley's story. She is a very realistic and relatable character with a problem that may not be that common but I'm sure many people can relate to her generalized problem of getting in over your head and struggling to get out.
Actually, all the characters are realistic, well written and relatable. I loved how all their relationships were intertwined in some way and how they evolved throughout the book. There was a slight romantic feel about a couple of the relationships but this book was more about the new and established friendships in Marley's life and how one simple lie affects them all.
Over all, this was a lighthearted story full of friendship, laughter, betrayal, and love that left me wanting more. I highly recommend this book and am grateful to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the publishers for sharing this book. I loved it! My full review appears on Weekend Notes.

I enjoyed this one very much!
The beginnig was a bit slow and I was on the fence with it whether to DNF or continue, but Im happy I did go on.
It's a lovely story about frienship and love, but mostly about the first. It's about how sometimes we just outgrow our childhood frienships, but also sometimes this freindship can grow with us and change with us.

The book is a bit of a mess at times and it would benefit from some editing, but it's a lovely and enjoyable story overall.

What a super fun book! I loved the characters, the plot and just everything about this book. It's a great beach read.

I knew when I took the opportunity to make some selections on which books looked interesting to my eyes -sometimes in Cover, Blurb or even simply it's Title- on NetGalley and then get final approval to read an e-Arc that I was taking a crap shoot.

There would be some wonderful surprises... some not-so great Mehs and then there could be some Wished-I-Never-Started. I kind of made a small promise to myself that I would be a little less harder on the content and try to keep as much of an open mind as possible. I would also push-through and persevere when it would be so much easier to DNF and walk away.

I was making such Blind Choices, never truly guaranteed an outright "approval" from the minute I request a book that I would enjoy reading so yeah every book I will get is going to be read, by ANY means necessary.

Not all these manuscripts will be hidden gems or bonafide goldmines, no matter how hard the PR department tries to sell them.

So, hmmm...when a book like this one rubs me wrong from the very start, I get tense because, "my god, what's the next 200+pags going to look like?"... and "Can I tolerate the set-upon atmosphere for 80% of the book?" Certainly I ask myself this when most of my problem is the POV voice chosen for an MC a reader will be walking alongside of the entire story as her perceived judgments coat all-over the very First Chapter.

I want to fathom a goodness in every character, major or minor. These are utter strangers to me and maybe I am thrown into their lives mid-range where I am unsure of exactly where they are at. In Bookland, if an Author is savvy enough, we can make a snap decision in the first couple of pages---getting to know someone is different in Real Life. But when a reader gets a bad-feeling on the main protagonist, from the get-go, there is a serious problem.

I want to believe, too, that sometimes we become jaded by our markers in life that have bent and shaped us; we grow dents in our body armor over time to protect ourselves from people in our lives, during certain situations and hopefully protective coating allows us to bear the brunt of Life's foibles.

An MC who has a judgmental view of everything in her world, especially what makes her most insecure...even as a "working Actress"... yikes, alarm bells want to ring constantly that, " This is not a great jumping off point. " A reader will hope that this outlook on same-sex counter-parts, whether they be friend, foe or complete stranger would tone-down judgments and preconceived notions and not decide that because someone looks a certain way, one gives them a "name" from the past walks of life and sits in condemnation without even knowing who that person is, deeper, on the inside.

Not a good sign of maturity when we are judgmental of other women we come into contact with. Even when it's our own close collection of people. Like someone who is under the moniker of Best Girlfriend and you are part of her Wedding Party.

I am also wondering...why is this "Mix-Up" Plot being carried out for such a long time when it could be resolved fairly quickly? Especially since the BFF our MC was "faking" for is almost ready to QUIT her own wedding. Why, exactly, is Marley STILL pretending to be Anna when... we really should be postponing the actual event and making DAMN SURE the Groom is not cheating?

I understand we need some Plot to move story, but when the whole point of our Title and our Story CAN BE FIXED... why are we still in the Mix-Up? There is enough now to contemplate a NEW PLOT or "drive" for Marley.

Why is she so stuck in a rut with pretending to be Anna and leading a Falsified Life...especially if she is coming into major contact with possible Love Interests? This really seems kind of... unneeded/unnecessary at this point.

It also really makes Marley appear horribly calculating and childish...the fact she will not own up to the "faked" persona... and keeps allowing people to call her "ANNA" and think she has a fiance named Jake. Look, half the time Marley has to remind herself she is STILL FAKING BEING ANNA... yeah, it's time...like now...30% in at the Chapter 10 mark.... to let go of THE MIX-UP and be brave enough to be YOURSELF, Marley.

It had taken me quite a long time to figure who Marley was. She is kind of Eeyore-esque to me. Just as an example... while FAKING being Anna, Marley meets two people, Reese and Will who went to a formal "acting/entertainment" school...and Both of them graduated. But Marley has to tell us, The Reader, in her own foul mind that OF COURSE she tried to get into this same school. And The Faculty rejected her application... TWICE. So, yeah... never gloss over the little details that tell you so much more about a protagonist. Especially when she has such a negative outlook on Life and The World you will be in for 200+pgs.

Marley spends so much time... pretending and hating on her own life and wanting Other People's lives...one cannot pin her down to really know who she genuinely is.

One thing is...she is way-too attached at the hip with her best friend, Anna, and wishing she had everything Anna does. And it really mars how we can ever view Marley. Without the fog of Anna clouding our way. Even Marley comes to a head, eventually, and realizes how jealous she has been but only because Anna is angry and yelling at her that this is what Marley has been doing for so many years.

But not before this story becomes really REALLY convoluted and messy-as-hell. I cannot even fathom how small a scope of folks it becomes when the core number of characters in this story manage to bump into one another AS STRANGERS and then everyone is keeping secrets from everyone, and it is not just Marley who is LYING anymore.

I'm not certain what the core lesson is here because when Marley had to fess up to her lie [about being Anna] it was weighed down by 3-4 other lies behind it and then we have a FULL-ON Revenge Plot against a Big Bad Guy Villain...

It feels, once again, like we are childish and nasty-for-no-reason. I understand we needed to "teach" Will a lesson but like Michelle Obama says... "when they go low, we go high"...No one forced or coerced Marley and her cohorts to sink to The Bad Guy Villain's low. They ALL conspire to get back at him... Will... in a mild form of revenge that mostly falls short.

More important than anything is that this book is more of a back-burner Romance than a full-on Romance. Even though Marley acts like a horny pre-teen throughout the book...mainly with Cameron and then with Will.

This book may not even be classified as a Women's Fiction or a Chick Lit... because I am still unsure of what important life lessons ANYONE in this book heard or will adhere to.

Most importantly the so-called Life's Journey an MC is supposed to go on feels... unequal to the lengths this story went to not just hold out Marley's lie to nearly THE END, but also wrap her in not one, but 3 mysteries and lies that began to overlap each other, where she simply went deeper and deeper into a rabbit hole of...one miscommunication after another. Never admitting to the Original Lie butterfly effects the next 6 lies and then... when it all comes to a boiling point... man, the resolution or solution to solving the modern problems is just... dumb and a huge let-down to a degree.

Marley messed up BIG TIME. But her mess never would have begun had she never been so jealous of her Best Friend Anna and seemingly wanting to DO AND BE EVERYTHING for Anna because of some ridiculous idea their friendship is in any kind of synchronicity. I never saw Anna giving Marley any equal Best Girlfriend Time because Marley was Anna's BFF about 110% of the book, and maybe even more.

This idea that Anna is ALSO jealous of Marley? Nope. Not buying it. Mainly because Anna was never off the page ONCE... and just in the background... in Marley's life--this whole entire book. Readers spend half the book IN Anna's hijacked headspace because Marley cannot get out of her own way. Marley wants to be the BEST GIRLFRIEND and Wedding Helper she can be, but it is to her detriment and it fouls up and ruins every opportunity for ANY meaningful moment with Marley or ever sincerely learning who the hell she is without...someone else.

I cannot even take Marley's Apology to Cameron for the Mix-Up, who turned out to be her true Love Interest. Because yeah... Marley got sucked into the HUGE VORTEX OF HER LIE... and ended up sleeping with another guy [Will, the Bad Guy Villain] who was NOT-CAMERON...

And, sorry, I have to say this but, man, Marley's whole "Acting thing" is a real problem for me, if I really want to be serious.

I will not be ashamed of admitting that I had long-ago dreams for myself about "acting" and getting the good ole Acting bug bite of my own. It's why I love tropes that involve Hollywood-esque atmospheres and Actors/Actresses... Directors and Screenwriters. It an old secret dream of mine.

The thing is...because I was unable to figure out who Marley was and I can only work with what I am given...I put people who want to be Actors in 2 different categories: Those who want to ACT and LOVE the form of "acting"...and then there are those people who simply WANT TO BE STARS. Ya know Hollywood or Broadway Standouts without ANY hard work nor efforts.

For me, at this point and even by the end... Marley falls into the latter category. She seems to have some kind of Acting talent... an urge and burn for Pretending to BE...but then she seems to WANT STARDOM... and here is where she will never be a long-term working Actress nor will she have a longstanding career. Because she wants INSTA-fame and fortune to get out of her shit hole life. The one she keeps finding issue with because she wants so desperately to BE SOMEBODY ELSE... mostly to BE ANNA.

So, yeah... what I get from this book is... Marley always wanted to BE ANNA. She got to BE ANNA... and then her life went to shit and she almost put herself in serious financial debt, and possibly career ruin, because of her dumb, childish lie and... plainly, her jealousy and insecurities in her SELF... created a catastrophe she easily escaped from with the help of some minor characters.

I think because this book mainly focuses more on this really silly PILOT/Script TV Show competition and having Marley [AS ANNA] act in it ... that we never get to honestly understand or know who Marley wants to BE... besides an actress with subpar talents.

The reasons I say this is because... it seems like with her first "real break" [like everything else she did for auditions and old jobs was not even close to being AS BIG AS giving her quick STARDOM]...she really did all those naive foul-ups one does by sleeping with your Co-Star...allowing ONE lie to snowball into several...then signing "falsified" contracts and believing EVERY WORD that you are told by people who mean you harm or foul.

I cannot see her going far because I never saw a LOVE or a DESIRE for just acting and losing oneself inside of a role or a character because you love characters... and their backgrounds and motivations.

Marley seems to only want the Fame and Fortune and THAT to me is really disappointing and unfortunate. Plus, yeah... if you didn't figure it out by now, I never enjoyed being inside Marley's head or POV for this book...it was often a downer, even when it tried to reach a happier ending, for now.

**I received this e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

This is a perfect summer beach read. The story is light-hearted, funny, a little preposterous, and a quick story to read.

The tale revolves more around friends than it does around romance. The friendship theme certainly carries the story. You can dig as deep into the relationships as you want, or you can simply take the story at face value and enjoy a lovely couple of hours.

You can delve into the psychology of pretending to be someone or laugh at the unlikely situations these characters get into. Perhaps, you can do both.

This book will give you what you expect; quirky characters, lovely settings, sharp wit, bad decisions, and so much more.

This is a novel which caught my attention with the attractive and inviting cover. It is definitely one that catches the eye of the reader. This has been exciting because I have read this author’s previous novels and been converted as a fan of her work.

This is not only a Romcom but also a tale of the power of female friendship. I have adored this charming read and found that the tangled web weaved by the author has been great to uncover layer by layer.

I have definitely been left with a huge smile from this charming read. It is one that I have devoured in one sitting and been both unable and unwilling to put down.

I have been reading some dark books lately and I wanted something light and I am so glad I choose mix up. I loved the story it was light, easy to read and fully enjoyed reading it. The story is about Marley and she bridesmaid to her best friend Anna and Anna asked her to look at venue for her and that’s when life starts to change for the better and worse. The story is about friendship, love and jealously.
I really recommend this book . I will definitely be reading more of the author books.
Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book.

Anna and Marley are best friends. One seems to have her life sorted, while the other one seems nowhere near being sorted. Marley went to a wedding venue meeting and somehow pretended to be Anna. This lie got out of control and a lot of people were mixed up in it.

I found this a little too try hard because I honestly don’t get how or why Marley ended up keeping up the lie. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters until the end, that’s when the book got better, for me.

It was an easy and quick read, but not one which I will remember.

Anna and Marley are best friends. When Anna can't make a wedding tour for a venue she is keen on, she asks Marley to go in her place pretending to be her. This is where she meets hotel manager Cameron, who is not only handsome but also smart and funny. When sparks fly between the two, Marley knows she needs to stop the charade of being Anna. But things are finally improving in her career since she's become Anna...

The Mix-Up was a fun, easy to read book. I have to admit there were times when I just wanted to shake Marley to come to her senses, especially when things went too far. In saying that though, the book was enjoyable and I look forward to seeing what Elizabeth Neep writes next.

This was a DNF for me. I know the character is supposed to be unhappy and want a change but she also seems to be a bit anti-feminist and also just a bit *too* down on herself. I just felt like any change to come would be too dramatic and unrealistic.

I was a bit disappointed because the summary does sound super interesting but it's just not working for me.

Thank you for the opportunity to review.

The Mix Up was a cute Rom Com that was predictable but in a great way. At one point I was like “noooooooo” then a few chapters later, “yeaaaaaaaa”. I loved the plot and the characters, well all but one. Every romance has to include that one guy/girl who you can’t believe was really a rotten liar face. If your looking for a funny and fast read pick up The Mix Up!
When Anna sends her BFF to a potential wedding venue she assumes that once the appointment was done, it was just that, done. With a busy career in Real estate and thoughts that her fiancé may be getting cold feet, Anna doesn’t have time to do everything herself. Marley is her best friend and knows what Anna likes so if she can attend the appointment for her she’ll be one step closer to deciding where she’ll hold her wedding.
When Marley showed up at the hotel and the snooty receptionist looked at her like she couldn’t possibly have a fiancé or the money to rent such a beautiful venue Marley decided she’d fake it. How hard could it be to pretend to be Anna? Well Marley didn’t anticipate the hotel owner being so Irresistible and getting a leading role in an indie film! Maybe she could pretend to be Anna just until the pilot is filmed....or until everyone sees her acting skills and doesn’t care what her name is.....
Their will be a lot of pros and cons to being Anna, but in the end she will need to come clean and reveal the mixup!

Marley is a struggling actress, so when her friend Anna asks her to pretend to be her for a day to visit a wedding venue, she agrees to play the part.
Little does she know that she will meet people who will change everything for her, including Cameron who she really likes but he sees her as engaged, and Reese, who wants her to star in a pilot for the drama she is writing.
How will things end up when the truth finally emerges?

While I enjoyed the premise and humor of this women's fiction story, I struggled some with most of the main characters and their immature behaviors. They were annoying me I didn’t find them all that likable, yet I was invested in their tale and was curious to see how their story would unwind. I'm glad I stuck it out as it was well worth the effort when it all came together with some clever sleight of hand. The set-ups were often humorous with the characters' duplicities snowballing and compounding, as lies tend to do. There were a few unexpected twists and curveballs I would never have seen coming that were quite ingeniously contrived. My favorite of all was the caped crusader stoner, he was brilliantly developed to be underestimated.

My Thoughts: this was everything I wanted it to be and more, I couldn’t put it down and read it in one sitting! – the writing flowed nicely and just constantly left you wanting to know what would happen next?

Have you ever done something for a friend, but found yourself telling a little white lie to begin with and then finding yourself telling more to fit the story that you’ve now created? – that is exactly what happened to Marley when she pretended to be her engaged best friend Anna so she wouldn’t mind out on her dream wedding venue!

In Marley’s defence she thought it would only be for an hour, after all Anna has everything. (At least one Marley’s eyes… the perfect job, money to burn, the perfect fiancé..) what harm could it do to pretend that’s you for a day?

As it turns out it can cause a lot of trouble😂

What follows is an at times laugh out loud book that also found me cringing and hiding under the blanket for poor Marley at the situations she found herself in, I thought this was going to be a full on romance story and I guess it kind of was but nothing at all in the way I expected! – I won’t say anymore because I don’t want to spoil the story for everyone else, but please pick it up and find out for yourself! – I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Marley is a struggling actor. When her best friend can’t make a viewing at an excuse wedding venue Marley agrees to go in her place. And here is where the mix up and laughter begins.

I enjoyed reading this story packed with laughs and love.

This book was so fun! Marley is a down on her luck actress with plenty of time on her hands. So when her Bestie Anna asks if she can check out a the venue for her she thinks “why not”? When Marley gets there she’s feeling a little inadequate so she decides to take on the persona of BFF Anna. Of course this backfires. Not only does she meet The man of her dreams Cameron but she also is given the opportunity of the acting role of her life but everyone thinks she is Anna, and engaged. Marley was a likable character even though she was frustrating at times. I mean the girl got her self into a serious mess. Her roommate Xavier and screen writer Reese were definitely my favorite secondary characters. BFF Anna was a bit of a bridezilla and we didn’t get to know Cameron love interest as much as I would have liked. A fun uplifting story filled with loads of wit and charm!

*** Big thank you to Bookouture for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

Guys, what can I tell you, but Elizabeth Neep has done it again! I absolutely adored The Spare Bedroom, but this was something else.

I loved the concept of this story and the characters (although I loved to hate some of them). The friendship dynamics were wonderful and well written.

Seeing Marley squirm in some of the situations she found herself in and letting the facade go on for longer than expected/needed was entertaining and it kept me engrossed, as I wanted to know how things were going to pan out for everyone because I was so emotionally invested in each of the characters.

I don’t want to say any more because I don’t want to give anything away.

Let there be no mix up here - Neep is still on top form and this is one story you need to read!

Thank you to Bookouture
and Elizabeth Neep for allowing me on to the book tour, in exchange for an honest review..