After Olivia moves in with her brother and his roommate Colin, she receives a text from unknown number. Trying to pull her life together after everything goes wrong, Olivia finds companionship in Mr. Wrong Number and continues their playful banter. Once Colin realizes he's Mr. Wrong Number he begins to see his childhood friend's little sister in a new light. I really liked this book after I got about a third of the way in. At first, I was not connecting with Olivia. I am not sure when I started shifting my perspective on her, but by about half way through I liked them both. The banter in their texts, and IRL absolutely make this book. The chemistry between Olivia and Colin was really great. I feel like this book cemented Lynn Painter as one of my favourite contemporary romance writers. Can't wait to read anything she wants to write next.

When Olivia Marshall loses all her belongings in a fire (which she may or may not have caused...), her only option for living arrangements - besides her parents, no thanks - is with her brother and his best friend, Colin Beck. Olivia and Colin have always hated (hah) each other. Cue sassy banter under the guise of dislike. On her first night in the apartment with them, she receives a text from a wrong number, and even more witty banter ensues. How will Mr. Wrong Number stack up to Mr. Here in Real Life Colin Beck?

Olivia is one of the most chaotic - and funniest - characters I've ever read. Everything in her life just keeps going wrong and she finds herself in the most impossible situations, but no matter what happens, she takes it in stride and is able to shrug off the bad. She made this book worth reading and it was nice to see her flighty chaoticness not only accepted by Colin but seen as her best attribute. He knows she's not just 'chaotic' - she's drinking the nectar of life. That's a saying, right?

Two chaotics don't make a right, so while Olivia is a bit of a mess, Colin is a bit more serious and seemingly has everything figured out. Their opposite personalities made for fun banter and a really sweet relationship once they got past tripping over their own feet. I definitely recommend this one for a quick read and I look forward to whatever Lynn Painter writes next!

Lynn Painter has a fan for life now!

Having read and loved Better Than the Movie last year, Painter's upcoming books have been high on my list of anticipated reads. I was a little afraid I'd be disappointed given how much I loved Better Than the Movies, but turns out I had no reason to fear. It was just such a fun, light-hearted quick read. Exactly what I needed at the time.

While BTTM is a YA, Mr Wrong Number is an adult romance. There is a bit of open-door scenery, which is unlike her YA read, but I had a sense we were heading in that direction early on in the book. I adored the text relationship between the two main characters, the opposites attract chemistry and the brother's best friend trope. And so many fun giggles. I was pretty relieved that the mystery of their identities didn't carry on too long and a good portion of the story could be dedicated to their relationship, particularly given their opposite personalities and the tension with keeping everything a secret from her brother/his best friend and roommate.

I devoured this book in pretty much one sitting and am clamoring for more from this author.

I absolutely loved Mr. Wrong Number! This romance was just what I needed.

“You aren’t a hot mess at all, Livvie. You’re just this . . . this . . . human tornado who is so alive, so filled with the energy of the moment, that there occasionally is a little collateral damage.”

The concept was so fun . . . our male lead and his accidental misdial leads to a flirty anonymous texting relationship. Only it doesn’t stay anonymous when the woman turns out to be his best friends little sister. And said sister is currently staying in his guest room.

Mr. Wrong Number was light, entertaining, and FUN. It also had some of my favorite tropes . . .
- Enemies to lovers
- Brothers best friend
- Forced proximity
- Opposites attract
- Slow burn / tension
- ALL THE BANTER

I loved Olivia and Colin. Olivia is hilarious and such a hot mess. She has the worst luck, but she’s so full of life and joy. Colin is d r e a m y and totally swoon worthy. I adored Olivia and Colin’s chemistry and their banter. The two of them had to me laughing out loud!

“I would never rush you, Marshall. Take all the time you need, because I could stay in here for fucking ever.”

Was it totally cheesy and completely predictable?? Yes! Do I care? Not at all. I flew through Mr. Wrong Number and I had such a great time reading it.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group for sharing this e-arc with me!

I absolutely adored this book! I read it in one day because I couldn’t stop reading. As the mom of a toddler, that rarely happens. After an accidental fire and a breakup, Olivia is down on her luck and living with her brother and his his best friend, Colin. He’s always thought of her as the annoying little sister. Right when Olivia moves in, she receives a text from a Mr. Wrong number and begins a virtual friendship. Of course we know Colin will be Mr. Wrong Number, but I still loved this anyway. If you loved You’ve Got Mail, this is a more modern version. I’ve seen it done a few times, but this was my favorite. Olivia and Colin had great banter, especially in their texting relationship. They also had a sweet supportive element to their relationship. I adored it enough to immediately preorder myself a physical copy!

I will update when I share on my bookstagram page.

4.5 Stars

Mr. Wrong Number is a fun, humorous and sexy read. This is the first book that I've read from this author and now I'm a big fan of hers. I need to go back and read other books from Ms. Painter.

I absolutely loved the characters in Mr. Wrong Number. Olivia Marshall and Colin Beck has the best 'frenemies' banter. Their non-friendship/hate relationship is one of the most entertaining reads in a rom-com.

Olivia is kind of a hot-mess, but she owns it. After a break-up and some mess, she moves in with her brother and his best friend, Colin, in order to get back on her feet. Olivia and Colin go way back, she's Jack's younger sister and was also known as the annoying kid to Colin. But fast forward, Olivia is all grown up, but, yes, a mess!

In a weird chance, Colin ends up texting a Olivia by mistake not knowing it was each other. Their fun text exchange become flirty and anonymous and soon become Mr. Wrong Number and Ms. Misdial.

Olivia Marshall is a hot mess. After breaking up with her cheating ex-boyfriend and accidentally burning down her own building, Olivia is forced to move back to Omaha and room with her brother, Jack and her brother's best friend, Colin, who looks a lot like Ryan Gosling. Cue the snarky banter between Olivia and Colin which inevitably leads to lustful glances and longing looks. Matters are complicated by the fact that the two are unaware that they are texting each other as Mr. Wrong Number and Ms. Misdial. I enjoyed this light-hearted, escapist rom-com along with the snippets of bromance between Colin and Jack. It didn't give me the feels but it was just what I needed after a long, tiring day.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I must confess, I stayed up WAY too late reading this book. But it was so. much. fun.

I absolutely love how Olivia embraces her identity as the hot mess express, and doesn't let it cause her to doubt herself. Rather, she just picks herself up and keeps going. She's confident and clever, and goes after what she wants.

Colin is the weak link. Though there is fun and witty banter between the two of them, and I really enjoyed their story, he is just *too perfect*. The man has no faults. And that's frustrating. Because one can't help but compare him with Olivia, who experiences one disaster after another. There's a huge misbalance between the two of them, and I didn't like that it was almost as if he was set up to be the good guy just for accepting her for the mess she is. Another thing that bothered me was how everyone in Olivia's life continually talked about what a screw-up she is. It seemed a huge disservice to the character.

That said, I did really like this book. The premise was fun, if unoriginal, and there was just the right level of conflict to resolution. Would definitely recommend.

Cute book’ when a wrong number turns out so right! I enjoyed the banter in this book but got a bit annoyed by how many people treated Olivia. She needed some support! Definitely some chemistry with her brothers best friend- a forbidden romance for sure.

This was such a Totally binge-worthy and laugh out load read.
Olivia is a clumsy, take life by the norms kinda girl who can’t seem to catch a break. Most recently, She got dumped, fired and burned her apartment down in the span of a couple of weeks. Since she’s broke and unemployed, she’s forced to move in with his brother and his roommate, which turns out to be her brothers long time best friend, Colin, who has also been her nemesis all these years.
As she’s getting settled into her new life with her air mattress and job hunting, she gets a text from a random number asking her what she’s wearing, which starts a relationship that neither saw coming. There’s lots of miscommunication, silliness, heart and even some steam.
I love that Olivia is sarcastic and can laugh at herself. I like that her family, while hard on her for messing up so often, still support her. And Colin and Beck’s relationship, while being totally “bro” had levels to it that I didn’t expect but totally am here for.
This was my first book by this author but it for sure won’t be my last. Thanks to Berkley Books and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my review.

When I tell you that I couldn't put this book down, I mean that I was growling at my family as they tried to interrupt me throughout the day. Mr. Wrong Number was so hysterically funny that I'm still chuckling to myself over parts!

We have enemies to lovers, best friend's brother, mistaken identity, and just everything that is good in the world of romantic comedy. The characters are polar opposites: heroine is a bad luck cursed, clumsy to a fault, say everything that comes to mind kind of person; while hero is perfectly coiffed, grumpy, well off, and always in command of the situation.

If you love sizzling chemistry, sexy text messages, and witty banter then you are going to fall for this book in a hard way, just like I did!

Thanks so much to Berkely Publishing for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I received a gifted galley of MR. WRONG NUMBER by Lynn Painter for an honest review. Thank you to Berkley Publishing for the opportunity!

MR. WRONG NUMBER follows Olivia, a woman who has all the bad luck. She’s managed to burn down her apartment building and is without the funds for a fresh start, so she’s moved back to her home town and has convinced her brother to let her move in for a month while she tries to find a job and a new place to live. When a random “What are you wearing?” text message comes through, she decides to shoot an answer back and a new friendship is formed between Mr. Wrong Number and Miss Misdial.

Olivia’s brother’s roommate is Colin, a guy who has always known Olivia as his best friend’s mess of a younger sister. Having her living in his office space is a recipe for disaster given her bad luck, but when he realizes that is Miss Misdial is actually Olivia, he realizes that he’s started to see her in a different light.

This was such a fun read! It’s a really cute story, fairly light on the steam. I don’t always love miscommunication in romance as a major storyline, but in this case I did really enjoy the banter between Mr. Wrong Number and Miss Misdial and the way it really opened Colin up to seeing the mess that is Olivia’s life in a different light.

Olivia is a really fun character to follow as she really tries to live life to the fullest and laugh at her own predicaments instead of letting her run of REALLY bad luck get her down. I flew through this book in only a little over a day and it was exactly the kind of pick me up read that I needed!

This is definitely one I’d recommend to the romcom fans! MR. WRONG NUMBER is out on Tuesday 3/1/22!

Original review at Smexy Books: https://smexybooks.com/

f you go into Mr. Wrong Number looking for tropey fun, I think you’ll enjoy it: Texting relationship between strangers; enemies to lovers; the old crush on the brother’s best friend. For one moment in the middle of the book, I thought the book was going to go Cyrano de Bergerac on me, but Lynn Painter reigned it. And of course, there is the trope of the rock bottom beginning where our heroine, Olivia, has lost her job, had her boyfriend cheat on her, and in this case, burned down her entire apartment building. Based on a misdial, she begins a meaningful relationship with “Mr. Wrong Number”

What we learn rather quickly is that Olivia is a bit of a schlimazel: highly unlucky and a bit of the klutz. The quantity of her misfortunes gets a little ridiculous After burning down her apartment building in Chicago (no one dies), she returns to her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. Rather than move back home, she bunks with her brother who happens to be staying in the apartment of his best friend, Colin. Olivia finds herself in a whirlwind of possibilities, romantically and professionally.

It’s hard not to talk about this book without giving things away. It is the kind of book that’s enjoyable because you read with your fingers half over your eyes, wondering, “What’s next?”

Some of the characters’ motivations seemed a bit fuzzy. For example, Oliva has known her Colin since childhood, and yet she still seems to not know him much at all, except to resent him for his snobby upbringing. Similarly, Olivia may be a hot mess, but she is an independent adult. Why does everyone, including her, think her brother gets a say in Olivia’s love life?

At times, Olivia’s decision making is cringeworthy and her mishaps maddening, but by the end of the book, the HEA has a bigger payoff than many: Olivia gets seen, really seen, for who she’s always been: not a walking disaster but a vibrant, risk-taking woman. I would have loved to have had this forecasted more throughout the book.

I really loved this book which is about Olivia who has to move in with her brother and his best friend but receives a text from a random phone number and everything goes wild. I love best friend's brother romance because they are always the cutest since the characters knew each other from their pasts. Painter also has incredible writing as I was absolutely hooked from the beginning of the novel. I couldn't stop reading because it was just that good. The storyline was greatly well done with amazing pacing and conflicts thrown into the book. There were so many memorable scenes in this book that I will never forget about. I also really enjoyed the setting and how one of the main characters was very obsessed with the Purple bed which made quite an appearance in the book. The writing was greatly done in terms of storyline, pacing, conflicts, etc.

The main characters in this book are Olivia and Collin. I enjoyed both characters as they were the complete opposites of each other. Olivia lost her apartment after the fire and has to start over from getting money to having furniture. Collin is Mr. Wrong Number which is not a spoiler by the way as it's in the summary and realizes he has been texting Olivia. He sees a new side of her and becomes attracted to her. Olivia is deemed to be bad luck and annoying while Collin is from a wealthy family with all of his life in order. I enjoyed how both characters were attracted to each other and how they both helped each other grow throughout the story. There are some side characters in the book but not many as it mostly focuses on Olivia and Collin which I don't mind. Though the ones featured were good. I do have to say that when I read the summary, it said steamy romance and let me say that the romance was not really steamy. It had a 2/5 level of steaminess. The romance in this book is a best friend's brother with butt dial trope and it was really cute but lacked the steamy.

The ending was a tad rushed but I'm glad there was an epilogue. I really enjoyed this book and would love to read more of Painter's rom-coms in the upcoming years. She is an incredible writer who knows how to get a reader's attention. The only problem I had was that the steam wasn't there when it was promised on the summary and blurbs. Though the romance was really cute and I just absolutely ship them so hard. Like I need a Collin in my life even though he can be a jerk at times but the mention of those abs, yes please. So I totally recommend reading this book especially if you love brother's best friend trope.

Thank you so much to Berkley Romance for an advanced copy of Mr. Wrong Number! I loved this book.

Star Rating: 5 Stars
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Pub Date: March 1, 2022

While I really enjoyed this book, I do want to be upfront about my feelings re: the gas lighting in this story. I don't think gas lighting is ever okay, and one of the MCs in this story does a whole lot of gas lighting. That being said, this is somewhat a retelling of You've Got Mail (which also included some gas lighting), so I knew what I was reading. If gas lighting is a trigger for you, this book comes with some major trigger warnings. Just FYI.

That being said...

I could not put this book down. I was hooked from the very first chapter, and honestly, this is one of the few (recent) times that I was hooked just because I was along for the ride. I wanted to know what was going to happen next, and I just couldn't wait. For a character driven reader, this was a somewhat new experience for me! I was completely engrossed in Olivia's woes and journey, and I was sucked in by Colin's rock hard abs and overall cuteness. I'm a sucker for a nerdy, hot guy. I have a finance PhD, and Colin was basically written for me to drool and swoon over, not going to lie.

I was super invested in Olivia's success, mostly so she could show her a**hole family that she wasn't a total disaster. I got mad at them reading this book, which was probably the author's intent, because they constantly treated Olivia like sh*t. They undervalued her, underestimated her, and under appreciated her IMO, and it made me really angry. Like, her mother can just go kick rocks as far as I am concerned because she was terrible to Olivia. To be fair, Colin's dad can also go kick rocks even if Colin was basically a smart aleck to him at all times because he wasn't happy with the amazing son he had.

I alternated between loving Olivia and Colin and finding their actions immature and childish. They grew a lot as characters from the beginning of the book to the end, though, and for the most part, they outgrew their childish tendencies. Their childish actions were crucial to the story, though, and I felt like the author did a nice job of balancing them so that the reader could grow to love them as they grew into their story. I knew the crap was going to hit the fan when Olivia lied in her job interview, and when it did...honestly, it was a bit underwhelming. I thought it would happen in more dramatic fashion; although, the way it happened was a really realistic scenario. Same for Colin's little white lies...they were unveiled in a more realistic than dramatic fashion.

My biggest complaint is the constant gas lighting in the story, and that is honestly why I rated the book four stars. The fact that Colin kept up the ruse after learning the truth is what I have the hardest time with because he put Olivia in awkward situations (and one sided situations re: information). This whole conundrum is crucial to the plot, though, so I had to somewhat learn to let it go.

Ultimately, though, I LOVED this book. Everything I mentioned just worked, and the good of the story outweighed the bad (for me). I will definitely be buying this one when it hits the shelves!

I enjoyed this cute and witty romcom so much that I finished it in two sittings!

I liked this book so much because it had such a cute premise: a misdirected text gets Olivia and Colin chatting. They have great banter via text and notice they have instant chemistry. What they don’t realize is that they know each other in real life. So fun!

The story is enhanced by the fact that we get the POV from both Colin and Olivia. I really like to know what both characters are thinking in a romance novel. I fell a little in love with Colin just by knowing what he was thinking.


4.5 rounded up

first of all, imagine texting (or almost sexting) someone that you thought you don't know, but that person is actually sitting right under your nose. that's olivia's situation. she has been texting her brother's best friend, colin, all this time. the same colin that she always has arguments with. they're basically the exact opposite of each other. olivia's constant bad luck and banters with colin made me grin and laugh so much. most of the time, brothers get in the way of the relationship of the main characters, but i love how jack was so cool about it as long as her sister's happy.
~
the only thing that made me give this a 4-star rating is that i felt that the ending of the book was sort of rushed. i just wanted more chemistry and tension between the two. overall, i really enjoyed reading this book. i would recommend it if you're looking for a light romcom read!

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for giving me an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review!

What happens when a random number texts you and instead of ignoring them, you start texting them back?

This book was very fun! I could see how a lot of people would enjoy this book, there were a lot of things I really liked about it, and overall I did enjoy it, but some things were missing for me.

In the beginning I really liked the main character. Olivia was really fun, and I found her to be very lovable at first, but unfortunately, later on, I started to get very frustrated with her. She managed, to keep messing up, and she was just NOT learning from her mistakes, she was very quick to jump to conclusions, and a lot of the time I was frustrated because she was so hurtful, and didn't really let Collin speak. They broke up, multiple times, when they could have solved things, if they JUST TALKED TO EACH OTHER, the miscommunication in this one definitely bothered me. I feel like she just had a lot of insecurities, and held on to her childhood experiences and the idea of Collin, who is her brothers best friend, she refused to believe he was a grown up and had changed. I just found her to be judgemental, and her lack of respect for boundaries drove me nuts, I mean drinking his celebratory alcohol, and leaving his kitchen a mess, was just a big NO NO, and she never really apologized for that.

However, I adored Collin, he was a really fun character, and he had major character development. he was just very patient, and I found him to be really fun, I really enjoyed the banter that he had with Olivia. My favourite thing about this book was the fact that even though it contains the brothers best friend trope, this was the first time that the brother was actually cool and okay with it. Jack was amazing, because he fully understood Liv was an adult, and that if she wanted to be with Collin, it's not really his business to "forbid" her. I found that really cool, and he was just a really good friend.

Lastly, this book has fade-to- black scenes, which normally wouldn't bother me, but here it did because the characters put so much emphasis on sex. They state multiple times that it was incredible, but the way it was written, I honestly couldn't even tell it had happened, and considering how much the characters talk about it, it was weird to not get to read it, it just made everything feel a bit meh, I was like okay, like that's good I guess?? I Just really started to get annoyed with Liv though, because the breakups were all so irrational, if she would have just talked to him, it would be fine, and I honestly feel that he forgave her too quickly in the end. This book was okay to me, Im sad I didn't like it more, but I do think it has a lot of elements that most people will enjoy! If you are someone, who usually likes RomComs, and just want a book that is fun to read, then I would recommend this! It's definitely very lighthearted and a quick read.

What I Liked?
📱: Olivia’s life is not going so well so she temporarily moves in with her brother and his best friend, Colin. Brothers best friend trope- IM HERE FOR IT.
📱 One day, Olivia gets a text from a wrong number and she ends up developing a friendship with the person on the other end. Well, we all know who that person ends up being.
📱 The banter between Olivia and Colin is amazing. Good banter in a book makes me so happy.
📱 Colin is 100% a new book boyfriend. He’s 🔥 and I could not get enough of him. He might be way more serious than Olivia but she slowly changed that!

MR. WRONG NUMBER – Lynn Painter
Jove
ISBN: 978-0593437261
March 1, 2022
Romantic Comedy

Omaha, Nebraska – Present Day

Olivia Marshall seems to always have bad luck, whether it be in life or love. Her latest screw-up ends with her temporarily living with her brother, Jack, and his roommate, Colin Beck. Of course, Colin isn’t happy to see Olivia there since she’s sleeping in their office. Colin has always treated her with a barely veiled disdain, but she has to put up with it since he’s the one whose name is on the lease, and she has no other place to go. One night, Olivia receives a text message from an unknown number and decides to go along with it for fun, figuring the guy (it’s clearly from a male) will soon figure it out and stop. Or she will tell him the truth. But things soon snowball as Olivia begins a texting relationship with a guy whom she neither knows, not even his name.

Olivia would be shocked to discover that her MR. WRONG NUMBER is in fact…Colin. He realizes shortly afterward that he had sent his text to the wrong woman—and he doesn’t know who she is, but she sounds like a lot of fun. They have several nights of sexy bantering back and forth. Then one night in the apartment while both Jack and Olivia are there, Colin realizes—to his horror—that he's been texting with Olivia. He tries to break it off without revealing it is he, but not only is Olivia persistent and she’s entertaining. It isn’t too long before Colin and Olivia “discover” a mutual attraction. How will she react if—no, when—the truth comes out that he is her MR. WRONG NUMBER?

There’s plenty of hilarious fun in MR. WRONG NUMBER by Lynn Painter. Olivia recently broke up with her boyfriend and is forced to move in with Jack and Colin after she accidentally burns down her apartment building. She’s also without a job since she had to move two hours away. Colin puts up with Olivia, though she doesn’t miss him rolling his eyes around her. She doesn’t know what he does for a living, but she suspects it’s something nerdy since he dresses in a sharp outfit and wears glasses. Surprisingly, those glasses turn on Olivia. Jack has a new girlfriend and begins to spend time with her, leaving Colin and Olivia alone a lot in the condo. This leads to their bantering back and forth, and she soon discovers that he’s not a bad guy after all.

After realizing that Olivia is Ms. Misdial, Colin frets over how to tell her because he knows that she will be mortified. He makes the decision to “ghost her” in hopes that she fades away. Yet not only is Olivia persistent, but Colin is finding himself tempted by her. Meanwhile, she gets a job working from home, and with Jack gone a lot, they grow even closer. Colin knows she should leave before things explode—either she finds out the truth, or they end up having sex. Which happens first in MR. WRONG NUMBER?

If you love a good laugh-out-loud romance between a couple who not only are different from each other but are made for each other, then you will get a kick out of MR. WRONG NUMBER. Most of the tale is from Olivia’s point of view, but we get some from Colin’s. What happens between them will keep you turning the pages. Don’t miss this fun read.

Patti Fischer
Romance Reviews Today

Will also appear on our website at http://romrevtoday.com/