I'm bummed that I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would.

Never Ever Getting Back Together follows Maya and Skye, two ex-girlfriends of Jordy. Jordy is the star of tv's newest reality show, Second Chance Romance, where six of Jordy's ex-girlfriends compete to prove that they were the girl that got away. Maya and Skye both want revenge, but along the way to the finale, the two girls fall in love with each other.

There were a couple of things that didn't work for me:

1) I really don't think this should have been YA and instead it should have been reworked in New Adult. There's absolutely no reason why it should have been YA and I felt like this book required a lot of suspension of belief. You're really telling me that this boy has dozens of ex-girlfriends at 18? And most of these romantic relationships were genuine/had the emotional depth to allow for a show to be made about "the ones that got away"? It was just a weird setup that I think would have made more sense if most of the characters were in their 20s.

2) The characters were rather...boring? Most of them felt like cliches or cardboard cutouts of themselves. I feel like we had so many characters in this book and I couldn't tell you any of the defining features. I think I remember only one detail about each of the other contestants but even that felt hard to differentiate them. Even Maya and especially Skye felt hollow and I was craving more depth from them.

3) The pacing was a bit hard and I got bored about halfway through and almost DNF'd but I had gotten to 75% so I pushed through. I didn't find the ending that satisfying in the way that it needed to be for this book to be worth the effort.

Overall, I don't think this book was terrible but maybe it just wasn't for me. Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the arc!

This was a fun read! I really enjoyed this. The only thing I will say is that I wish it were a full Adult or New Adult book. Making the characters 10 years older would have really added the depth and emotions I was missing. Having said that, I still loved this and would recommend it for anyone looking for a fun fast paced sapphic read!

"Let me be clear, Gwendolyn. I would rather be swallowed up into the bowels of hell and enter an arrangement with the fallen angel Lucifer than date Jordy Miller again."

In honor of The Bachelor season finale last night…here’s a book review about a girl out for revenge and a girl there for a second chance on a reality dating show with their ex. The twist? While teaming up to take the leading man down, they accidentally fall in love. What could go wrong?

I adored Maya! She was so funny and determined but could also be soft at times. I thought her revenge plan was genius, and Jordy definitely deserved it. To be honest, I didn’t feel a ton of chemistry between her and Skye, which I think was because the relationship happened so fast, but it was still super fun to read! Books based on reality shows are a favorite niche genre of mine so I had a great time.

Thanks NetGalley and Wednesday books for a copy of this book!

What worked for me:
-The Bachelor setting! I am absolute trash for it and I loved the reality TV setting

-Skye and Maya's chemistry! They had palpable chemistry especially as the book moved on and their relationship developed. It was a high point for me

What didn't work for me:
-That this was YA. This book felt like it should have been New Adult and would have made a lot more sense with characters in their twenties. How does a teenager have enough exes for a Bachelor style show? And it just kind of threw the whole thing off for me. It felt like it should have been NA and there was no good reason this should have been YA

-Not enough atmosphere. There was never much of a strong sense of setting for me and it was disappointing

I ended up switching to the audiobook to get more into this and that helped a lot because the pacing was meh. But the audiobook was quite good and helped me get more into the story.

A fun YA that will capture your attention from the beginning. An easy read to that’ll make you laugh and have good feelings!

I enjoyed the plot and writing style, however, I read the first half of the book and did not pick it up again. I say it was 3.5/4 for what I read of it, and I may pick it up again in the future.

Never Ever Getting Back Together is a fun, fast-paced, and delightfully queer revenge story with just the right amount of drama for any reality TV lover.

I’m not much of a reality TV person, but I absolutely love reading about those kinds of shows. Naturally, Never Ever Getting Back Together immediately caught my attention with its setting and, of course, being hella gay. And Sophie Gonzales delivers on all fronts!

The dating show setting made for an interesting background as it provided natural stakes as well as points of conflict and cute date opportunities alike. Personally, I found the difference between the reality Jordy and the team are trying to manufacture and what’s actually going on delightful. Nothing like a reality TV dating show to amp up the drama! The setting also meant the plot kept moving and there was never a dull moment.

Admittedly, I would’ve wished for the world-building to be explored just a bit more because it felt incomplete in some aspects, particularly the whole royal family situation. However, Never Ever Getting Back Together more than makes up for that with its incredible characters!

Maya and Skye are exactly the kind of main characters I like to read about. They’re headstrong in their own ways (Maya in particular), smart, and full of life and personality. The dual-perspective narration makes it easy to root for them both and get to know them very quickly. Needless to say, Maya and Skye won me over after just a few pages!

Additionally, I appreciated that the book resolves their differences and Jordy-manufactured rivalry relatively quickly. It was much more fun to read about their tentative friendship than watch them have a billion misconceptions about each other.

There were so many moments during reading where I laughed out loud at their plan to take down Jordy. I just love a good revenge plot! Additionally, their romance was so sweet! There were enough swoon-worthy moments to fill my sapphic little heart for at least a solid month.

Both Skye and Maya get plenty of opportunities to grow as characters throughout the story and reevaluate their values and plans for their lives. This proves to be necessary for Maya in particular, who is possibly one of the most stubborn characters I have ever met! Personally, I adored her determination, but your mileage may vary. I can totally see how her obsession with getting revenge on Jordy could get a little tiring as the story progresses.

Finally, I appreciated that all the girls on the show got to develop friendships and have each other’s backs. Never Ever Getting Back Together shows that you can have realistic conflict and complex relationships between female characters without falling back on the “ew, I’m not like other girls” trope.

Overall, Never Ever Getting Back Together was utterly delightful and made me want to read more sapphic romances with reality TV settings!

I loved this game show sapphic story! The story was taken in a different direction than I thought it would regarding the two main characters. I am a sucker for enemies to lovers! I think it is hard to find sapphic YA romances and this is a great one. I am excited to read more of Sophie Gonzales's books in the future!

1st things first. Female bisexual representation not being used in an exploitative way! YAY! I'm SO happy. It's amazing, and I love it.

2nd thing. No one reacting in a homophobic way to the thought of beautiful sapphic love! Again, so so happy.

I didn't know how much I would enjoy this book but yes, I ended up loving it so much. Jordy however? As bad as you think he is in the beginning? He gets much, much worse, just trust me on this one. It's bad. So so bad.

His ex girlfriend's are interesting though, and sadly their common denominator seems to be insecurities he knew exactly how to prey on. So when revenge is the order of the day against Jordy, I have to admit I was quite happy to see how it would unfold.

This book is seriously entertaining, though I would've liked it to delve a little deeper into the other exes not just Maya and Skye, but I was so happy to learn more about them.

Also, not everything is as it seems with the characters in this book so keep that in mind, and keep your opinions fluid.

My recommendation: Read it. Especially if you don't like reality dating shows (I know, weird, right?)

Told through the alternating character Skye and Maya. They are both contestants on a reality dating show. The show premise is the guy is dating exs to see if he could find a second chance with one. I struggled to finish this book. I wasn’t a fan of any of the characters. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

After loving Only Mostly Devastated and If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales, I was excited for this one! I love the way Gonzales writes and this one was no different! The humor in this book was fantastic and I was entertained the whole time! I did think it was interesting to have the reality show airing as they were filming which I don’t know if a reality show would actually air like that but liked it for the book. There were some twists at the end that I wasn’t expecting! The queer rep in this book is fantastic! I loved Maya and Skye and seeing their relationship evolve throughout the story.

I do wish this book would have been more new adult then YA with the characters a few years older. I feel like the dating reality show would work a little better with characters in their early 20’s. I also wish at the end the epilogue would have had a bigger time jump so we could have seen how the events at the end played out a little more!

Overall, this was a 4.5 for me!

This was a cute YA romance where two girls go on a reality show with 4 other girls to try to get the same ex, Jordy, back. Skye knows they had chemistry, and she thinks there might be a chance they could find their spark again.
Maya on the other hand, wants revenge. She wants to expose Jordy as the jerk she knows he is.
As the competition goes on, Maya and Skye find that they’re attracted to each other, definitely not part of the show! 3.5 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

I've never been a huge fan of shows like the bachelor, but in a written format this really works. I think it's because we get a better inside view of the character's minds and not just what the producers want. The characters were quite memorable and it was a quick and enjoyable read.

Maya just wants her side of the story told but its hard when your ex is Jordi, the most eligible bachelor and America's sweetheart. Even worse he has spun a narrative that has Maya as the bad person. So when she get the opportunity to set the record straight she jumps head first. Never Ever Getting Back Together encapsulates the revenge songs of Taylor Swift with the staged romance of The Bachelor. Gonzales pushes the reader to understand there is always 2 sides to every break up.

A really fun take on the reality dating world - two contestants who fall for each other while in the middle of a revenge plot on the 'suitor' who is also both of their ex. It was so easy to immediately like the two main characters, Maya and Skye. Though they hate each other at the beginning, i was so happy that this didn't linger too long and we got to watch them become friends and then eventually fall for each other. It really helps this whole plot that the ex is so horrendous that the entire time you're just waiting for him to get destroyed. I loved seeing how all the contestants eventually became friends and grew close with a common enemy. I also really enjoyed seeing how in the end the producers saw the truth and allowed it to come out. I just really enjoyed this book.

The last thing that Skye expected was a phone call about joining a reality dating show called Second-Chance Romance where she would compete for ex-boyfriend, Jordy who has not captured hearts everywhere after his sister married a crown prince, with a number of his exes. In a beautiful mansion she meets more of Jordy’s exes, amongst them, Maya who hates her and insists that she knew Jordy and her were together, but Skye still dated him. As the show unfolds, so does an unexpected surprise.

I was so pulled in by the premise of this one. The chaos of a dating show? Contestants falling in love with each other? It sounded so perfect and honestly it didn’t disappoint me!

The plot really ended up being everything I thought it would be. It had the chaos of the reality show. The dates that didn’t seem to make any sense at all. We really got to see the girls bonding which was lovely to see! The friendships that they managed to make were really lovely and sweet. They cared about one another and supported one another. I loved seeing that amidst all the chaos of everything else.

Maya and Skye’s relationship was magnificent. They really managed to balance one another out. Maya was always ready to act. She is the type to act first and think later, but Skye always got her to slow down and think about things. On top of the enemies to lovers route they kinda had, they also had an opposites attract that paired really well. They worked so well together and I loved them slowly getting closer with one another.

There are a couple of things that I wish would have been a thing. I do wish that we really would have gotten to see what Jordy deserved on page. I would have loved to see him get demolished (even though this was probably the more realistic end). I also would have liked to see these characters as a little older. I think if they were a little older this would have worked even better.

Overall, this was a fun read! I had such a good time seeing everything they had planned. I think that if you think this sounds even remotely interesting, give it a chance. It was such a fun ride and the romance was wonderful.

All the worst parts of Reality TV. I was on board but there was very little depth to the plot and the relationships. Entertaining though. Catty.

- The last person Maya Bailey ever thought she’d hear from again was her ex boyfriend, Jordy Miller, especially not after he cheated on her. But two years later, his sister has married a prince, and now he’s going on reality tv to see if one of his exes is ‘the one who got away.’ Re-Dating her toxic ex is the last thing Maya wants, until she realizes this can be her turn to break his heart and show the world who he really is. The only thing she hadn’t counted on was Skye, the girl Jordy cheated on her with. At first there is animosity and Maya can’t imagine spending one more second with her around, but after they have a moment to hash out how Jordy royally screwed them both over, they start to work together to take him down, and find each other in the process. What happens when you accidentally fall in love with the girl your ex cheated on you with? Well, it makes for great reality television.
- From a personal standpoint, this checks all of the boxes for me. The banter is witty, the premise is a little outlandish, but still feels very much like the type of reality show to exist, and the characters are endearing. Gonzalez does a fantastic job of making the reader care about each of the girls very quickly. I was concerned that I would feel bad for Jordy in the revenge situation, however it was quickly clear we were not supposed to root for him. This is romance with the game show and revenge plot that would keep teens really interested. The only possible issue I could see adults having with teens reading this is the depiction of the contestants drinking alcohol. All of the girls are between the ages of 18 and 20, and it’s made clear that in the fictional country of Chalonne where they’re filming, the drinking age is 18. It’s not unheard of for teens in countries with lower drinking ages to drink as long as they’re legal, but it is worth mentioning. At the heart of the story is the relationship between Skye and Maya. The relationship grows organically, and other than the miscommunication they have initially about how their relationships with Jordy overlap, there is not catty behavior to get over. They’re both justified based on how Jordy spun the events to them. And what’s really refreshing is that this is not a coming out story for either of them. Both go into the relationship fully aware and out as bisexual. For YA books, this isn’t always the case. There is absolutely a time and place for a coming out romance, but this story had so much more going on, that adding that would have made it feel over stuffed. I’d recommend this for readers 16 and up. It’s a fun, bantery sapphic romance set on a dreamy dating show. And it’s the epitome of a romance, it shows that love can conquer all.

This was fun! It was nice reading a YA book with college-age characters. The story was entertaining, and the two main characters were fun to follow. Though this isn’t a new favorite, I had a fun time reading it, and I’d recommend it if you’re looking for a queer, fun YA rom-com.

Thank you to Netgalley for early access in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed reading this but just didn't absolutely love it. Me and young adult just aren't looking for the same thing. Nothing against the book, it just solidifies my opinions of the genre for the future.