2.5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to Wednesday Books abd Netgalley an eARC to review!

I’m gonna be honest here: this was a miss for me. The premise is great and I was really hoping to be wow’ed by the fresh concept, but unfortunately, I wasn’t the target audience. It’s not so much a “this book was not good”, but rather, “I didn’t personally like this book.” I think it’ll hit more for younger audiences, and maybe people who like reality TV a bit more.

The characters were fine, if a little unmemorable, but I didn’t feel like the main couple had any chemistry, and I felt like they were a tad bit insta-lovey.

You win some, you lose some. 🤷‍♀️ If you like reality TV, such as Love Island, and are a fan of cheesy rom-coms, though, you might really like this book and it would be worth it to give it a try!

Never Ever Getting Back Together is super witty and laugh-out-loud funny. The writing of Gonzales is engaging, and it was a breeze to get through. Although the premise was what hooked me in, I definitely enjoyed the novel due to the writing style.

As mentioned, the premise is what hooked me in initially - one guy's two ex-girlfriends meet up as contestants on a reality dating show and fall in love. Although the premise is great, I thought the execution was a tad off-base. Firstly, Skye and Maya's romance stems heavily from their shared dislike of the ex - Jordy - which I found slightly off-putting. They barely talk of anything but the ex for the duration of this novel. Due to this, I couldn't feel the romantic connection between them. Another contributing factor to the lack of connection felt was the way they initially hook up. It all happened super quickly - to the point where I wondered how I missed the romantic build up between them. It felt a bit too quick to form and contrived, which was a shame as I think a bit more flirting and engagement without mentioning Jordy would've cemented their romance.

All in all, it's a fun and funny read. Definitely recommended if you like your YA with an intriguing and crazy premise.

Many thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Wednesday Books for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

While this is labeled YA, it kind of feels as though it should be changed to NA, and the ages of the characters adjusted up slightly.

I had a hard time with the first part of this book, Maya comes off as very unlikable. And the amount of wine seemed very excessive.

Overall it fell mostly flat for me, the timeline of the book was over 6ish weeks, but we kept jumping ahead one week at a time, which felt a little disjointed.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an eArc of Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales.

Let's be real - this is the love story many of us queer people want to see on a dating show. Maya has been burned by her ex, Jordy. He cheated on her for two months then spun the story to make her look like a crazy, jealous ex-girlfriend who couldn't accept when he moved on. So when she gets a call asking her to be on a reality TV show designed for Jordy to reconnect with his exes and see which is the "one the got away," Maya obviously wants nothing to do with it. At least until she realizes that this is her chance to tell her side of the story.

Skye knows all about Maya. But what she doesn't know is that Jordy was cheating on Maya with Skye. Skye thinks Jordy can do no wrong and believes him when he says that Maya is a woman scorned. She's invited on the show and jumps at the chance to reconnect with Jordy.

Naturally, the two of them end up rooming together. Things are off to a rough start when the other girls start picking sides. However, soon enough, the truth about Jordy comes out. Each girl has their reason for being there and not surprisingly, most of them are not there for Jordy.

Both girls have so much to bond over and both identify as not straight, so it's no surprise that a romance blooms between the two of them. They make it to the final round and a difficult decision has to be made by one of the girls: the woman she loves or revenge on Jordy.

This book kept me hooked most of the read and I would definitely recommend it. The only reason it doesn't get 5 stars from me is because the characters are just so young. I would've appreciated characters even just a little bit older. I just couldn't get behind the whole idea of these girls who dated Jordy when they were like 16 going on a show at 20 to find true love.

This book was okay but I really hoped it was adult books. I think this story would've been better with adult women and men and more adult conversations. The love story was cute and the plot was wonderfully unique.

This story is told in first person dual point of view from Maya and Skye. While I normally don’t care for revenge themes or reality dating shows, I’ve enjoyed this author’s novels in the past and thought I would give this one a try. The story immediately pulled me in. I enjoyed hearing about the “dates” and the backstage reasoning behind most of the choices being made by the production team. The backstage stuff was fascinating from the way they twisted all the girls’ original dating stories to the competitions that supposedly played to a particular competitor’s strength.

The characters were fun, snarky and emotional. Jordy’s self-absorption and manipulations were both humorous and unpleasant. I loved the comradery that most of the contestants settled into once the initial cattiness was out of the way. There was female strength and character growth flying all over the place. If I had a quibble, it was that there were only 6 contestants and while that seems like it would make a rather limited series, it also seemed like a lot considering their age. Fun and entertaining!

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for a copy provided for an honest review.

I highly recommend this to fans of rom-coms and trashy reality shows! There were some inside jokes that continued throughout the story that had me laughing so hard. The premise of the story is a bit silly, but the characters are very real and fully fleshed out. I also think it was a perfectly paced contemporary romance with gradual character development - I was never annoyed at possible regressions and supported 98% of Maya and Skye’s choices.

One thing I love about authors is when they can really make me hate a character. Like yank them out of the pages and punch them square in the face type of hate. And boy do I hate Jordy Miller. I think we’ve all known a Jordy, a misogynistic, emotionally abusive, well spoken prick. The way he is written is remarkably terrible and I commend Sophie Gonzales for making me clench my teeth so many times.

Maya and Skye on the other hand are leads you can get behind. Their voices are so unique and their motives and choice make sense. I didn’t feel like anything they did was added for the sake of it and the book’s profession felt very natural to me. I definitely want a physical copy of this book, it seems like it’ll be a great and cozy reread.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this lovely eARC!

This was everything I expected and more! I'm not a big fan of reality tv but when it's portrayed in books, I cannot get enough. I have read a few this year but none compare to the sheer girl power revenge that this book has.

What I loved:

The drama! Reality tv has a lot of it, but this touches upon the out-of-context clips they love to show just to create said drama. The women are aware of this and they tip-toe accordingly.

The social media aspects. I recently watch a reality show with my friend and after we finished I immediately went on Instagram to check up on the cast members I wasn't shocked to find out all the awful things they've had to deal with after being on the show. This book touches upon lies and bullying.

Maya and Skye's relationship. Once they got the hurdle out of the way, their attraction bloomed and it was so nice to see

The manipulative, cheating bastard gets what he deserves. You can take that fake accent and step off a pier, my friend.

The revenge. It is oh so sweet.

That's all I have to say about this book. I don't have any qualms at all because I loved every moment. Happy reading!

Thoughts and Themes: So I was prolonging reading this one because here I was thinking it was some straight romance. Don't let that part fool you and just keep reading through the book, trust me this isn't straight at all. I kept thinking oh no this is going to be a second chance romance and I just am not a big fan of those especially when the guy didn't even redeem himself. I was quite surprised how wrong I was in thinking this and loved the way things ended up for all of our characters.

Something that I really enjoyed about this book was how their is almost no character growth for Jordy and for a while you are led to believe it will be the same case for Maya. You hope that she gets her act together and just lets this feud with Jordy go because as Skye points out, he really is living rent-free in her mind so technically he is winning. I love the character growth that we get to see with Maya from the start of the book to the end so don't worry if you don't like her too much immediately.

Characters: In this book you get introduced to the the two main characters, Maya and Skye along with several others that they interact with. You get to meet Jordy who is the star of the reality TV show that all the girls are starring in, you get to meet some of Maya and Skye's friends from back home, and their family members.

I love so many of the relationships in this book even the ones that Jordy is involved with but that isn't because of him but because of the girls. I really liked the relationship that develops between all of the girls who are staying together for the sake of the filming of the reality TV show. I like how their dynamics shift throughout the book and how we see competition changing their attitudes towards each other but then how they join together when truth is revealed.

The other great thing about this book is watching as the relationship between Maya and Skye develops. I really love an enemies to friends to lovers trope when its done well. I also liked that the miscommunication piece in this was all due to lies that were pushed by Jordy and the messaging that it sent across when this was revealed.

Writing Style: This book is told through dual point of views going back and forth between Maya and Skye's perspectives. I really liked that we get to be inside both of their heads as this story unravels and this becomes a huge part of the story as time goes on. Something that I did keep forgetting while reading this book was the age of the characters but I do not think this matters much beyond knowing that they are young adults.

This was such a good time! Very fun premise and well executed. I love Sophie Gonzales's bi rep and this was no exception.

I absolutely loved this book! I have been a fan of Sophie Gonzales other books, so I was excited to see if this book lived up to her other books and it did! I especially liked the enemies to friends to lovers,. I would definitely recommend!

This was a big disappointment DNF. I know the characters are 18 but I just can't get behind the premise of a young adult dating show. It should have just been aged up to be older characters. I honestly didn't know the book was categorized as YA when I requested it, which I probably should have considering all of Sophie Gonzales's books are YA. But after the major disappointment of If This Gets Out and now this, I think she may have been a one hit wonder for me (Perfect on Paper is an absolute 5 star).

I really enjoyed this sapphic rom com!

Maya and Skye both dated Jordy and are not being asked to date him again on a reality TV show called Second Chance Romance. For Maya, this is her opportunity for revenge after Jordy cheated on her and them embarrassed her publicly. For Skye, This is her chance to find out why Jordy ghosted her and if the spark between them could be rekindled. Little does either girl know that they will fall for each other as they spend more time with Jordy and the true extent of his grossness becomes clear.

I was really into this story. I appreciated the relationship arc between Maya and Skye - from enemies to friends to something more. I was into the big conflict within Maya, to focus on revenge or to focus on her relationship with Skye. It kept me guessing and I was honestly into both outcomes too, so I was curious how she would handle it in the end.

I will definitely add this book to my collection and my teen readers will love it!

Maya and Skye are invited to join their mutual ex boyfriend’s reality TV dating show where he tries to reconnect with his past girlfriends. Maya and Skye join the show for different reasons, but they end up working together to secretively control the narrative of the show and may start to develop feelings for one another…

I absolutely adored this book! I love dating shows and the fact that this story has a queer twist is so satisfying to me, especially as someone who wishes there was more LGBTQ representation on reality TV (even if it’s accidental). I thought the bisexual representation was very well done because both Skye and Maya were confident in their sexuality and no one made a big deal out of them being queer in a heterosexual setting. I also appreciated how the other female contestants formed strong friendships despite “competing” against each other.

This book is basically like reading a season of the bachelor, but from the inside, so you get all of the insider information and secrets. I love the “man-hating” energy and the revenge plot line - it was so entertaining watching them scheme because I live for the drama in reality TV. I had such a fun time reading this book and I would recommend to anyone who loves dating shows, watching men get played, and sapphic romance.

Super cute. Maybe a bit predictable but sometimes those are needed. I enjoyed reading it even knowing where it was going. The teens will enjoy this for sure. Just waiting for the library to receive its copy so I can start recommending it.

A group of exes vying for the same guy on a reality TV show? Seems up my alley!

Something about me is that I am a lover of reality TV and even more so I love reality dating TV shows. So, of course this book immediately caught my interest.

This book was a fun read. I loved the revenge plot, I loved Maya coming in guns blazing, I loved getting the different perspectives of both Skye and Maya espectially as their romance progressed and I loved the inclusion of many reality TV show tropes (the villian, the girl here to gain an instagram following, etc.). It wrapped up in a satisfying way and I had a good time reading it. Lovers of the Bachelor franchise should definitely pick this one up.

Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. { partner } All opinions are entirely my own. My reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog

I was so excited about this book when I first heard about it pre-publication. John Tucker Must Die meets The Bachelor with a queer romance at the forefront? With a Taylor Swift-esque title? Sign me up so fast! And I am very pleased to report that I LOVED this book! It really lived up to those expectations that I had for it, and I want to read it all over again.

The characters (with the obvious exception being Jordy) were all so much fun! Obviously Maya and Skye, our main characters, were favorites since we spent the most time with them. They were strong and spunky, but still felt true to age, since they are both still so young. I think it can be easy when writing characters in the 18-20 year old range to either make them read really young or incredibly mature - and while there are definitely folks in real life that fit into those camps, it isn't always the norm. So I really enjoyed that both characters felt true to people I've known around that age - the age when you think you're an adult, and try to act accordingly, but you definitely still have some of that young kid in you.

And I would be wrong not to mention all of the secondary female characters. Obviously, with a Bachelor-esque setting, we get a ton of female characters - and I really enjoyed them! They all felt like they had really distinct personalities, and again felt true to how young they are. And I really enjoyed seeing the interactions between all of the girls, and how those relationships changed throughout the story.

And as far as our primary romance goes, I found that really sweet as well. I love an enemies to lovers, so I was already off to a good start there. I think that their relationship progressed in a really realistic way and timeline, which I feel like we don't always see in YA novels. And I also enjoyed that I could really feel what would bring these two characters together. I guess, it didn't feel like the romance came out of nowhere, or like it wouldn't last past the last page.

Overall I would absolutely, highly recommend this book to my friends and fellow readers. I read it in two days, and if annoying adult-things like work hadn't gotten in the way I think it would have been in one sitting. I think that the perfect way to read this book would be with a cold drink (or perhaps a jello shot?) while on vacation somewhere warm and lovely, sitting out by the pool and working on your tan.

Yes, I have read this twice before it came out because I'm a (queer) brat.

Maya is a crazy psycho with jealousy issues. Well, no, but that's what Jordy, her ex, says and he's pretty famous, well-liked, an extremely good liar and a cheating dirtbag.
It's been two years since they broke up but it still follows Maya to this day.
When she's called by a producer to be on a Reality TV show where six of Jordy's exes will date him again for him to figure out who's the one who got away, she doesn't say no, she says hell no. But then she figures it might be the perfect occasion to show the world what Jordy is really like...
To Skye, Jordy is the one who got away, so she goes to Second Chance Romance to see how the guy she once almost loved became. But, it's not going as planned, her roomate, Maya, is more than hostile and keeps saying that Skye stole Jordy from her. But that's ridiculous, Jordy is one of the good ones and he would never cheat, right?

I loved this one so much. It made me angry, made my happy, made me laugh, etc.
I fell for Maya instantly and while I needed a bit to properly fall for Skye, I really loved her in the end.
I just really loved the reality tv setting, it hooked me from beginning to end and I was rooting for Maya and her revenge the entire time.
I really enjoyed getting to know the other contestant too and they all felt layered and had their own personalities. i just had the best time from beginning to end and flew through the pages. Also, i love that title and covers with all my heart and I cannot wait to own copies of this.
Another big hit from Sophie for me, I cannot wait for her next book.

Follow Skye and Maya as they have been invited to a reality TV show where they explore dating their ex-boyfriend again. Maya is hoping for revenge, while Skye is more open to a relationship again, but the two discover that they might be in for more than they bargained for. I really enjoyed this read! It was light and fun, with all the characters well-written. Jordy was the perfect villain as he's portrayed with softer moments and others where you can tell he's manipulating the situation. The reality show setting really worked for this book as well! I thought seeing those behind-the-scenes moments and how friendships/relationships grew in that environment was fun. There were also so many twists and turns, so it was fun to be kept guessing by this book!

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

GENERAL INFO

Year Pub/Re Pub: 29/11/22

Book's cover: Title a little long but love the guy with all the girls in the back.

Format: Kindle

Source: "Thank you Net Galley and (publisher) for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own."

Page Count: 374

Book's Price: $10.99

Price I'd Value: $7.99

Setting: Connecticut and Chalonne/Loreux (France)

Genre: NA, CR

Tropes: fake dating, enemies to lovers,2nd chance romance

Standalone/Cliffhanger/Part of a Series: standalone

HEA/HFN ending: HEA

Epilogue Included: yes, h gets revenge

Character(s)POV Spoken: dual POVS w/ both heroines

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Synopsis/Plot Summary: Maya and Skye are recruited by ex-boyfriend "The Explorer" Jordy Miller to appear on a new reality show "Second Chance Romance." Show premise is the Explorer re-connects w/ group of selected exes (6 women).

M/F-M/M-M/M/F-etc: F/F

Representation: LGBTQ+

Contains Cheating: yes, Second Chance Romance is very "The Bachelor" meets "Amazing Race"

Contains Children: no

Flashbacks: yes. Both heroines remember their relationships w/ Jordy

Jealy/Possy/OTT H/h: yes, both get a little jealous when they go off alone w/ Jordy

Amount of Sex In The Book: none, plenty of kissing though

Overall Smex Rating: 1

CHARACTER DESCRIPTION

Heroine: Maya Bailey

Hero Description: 18, lives w/ mother and 2 sisters. Just graduated high school w/ plans to go to University of Connecticut pre-med until Jordy calls about the show. Dated Jordy @16 years old.

Hero Likability Rating: goes from 1-5

Hero loves books/writing: no but she wants her own radio show

Heroine: Skye Kaplan

Heroine Description: 18, close to her father, mother left when she was 7 years old. Backpacking through Europe, gets call from Jordy to join show with coarse warning about Maya.

Heroine Likability Rating: 4

Heroine loves books/writing: no, but blasts music every day on her dad's old iPod.

Secondary characters:
Jordy Miller-model, wealthy and brother to Princess Samantha of Chalonne.
Gwendolyn Bushman- has the production company
Isaac Kassab-producer who "handles" Maya and Skye's accommodations.
The other contestants: Kim-Jordy's girlfriend last year in Liverpool, Lauren-dated Jordy before Maya and Jordy was her first boyfriend, Perrie-only agreed to do the show for the exposure/more Insta followers, Francesca-just a holiday hookup w/Jordy, came for fun.

H /h RELATIONSHIP INFO

Endearments: none

OW/OM/Exes: yes, Jordy is both Maya and Skye's ex with some overlap.

Cheating Before/During/Outside H/h Relationship: yes, Maya believes Jordy cheated on her w/ Skye.

CONTENT WARNINGS/TRIGGERS: none

AUTHOR OVERVIEW: Sophie Gonzales

New or read before & any favorites: 1st time author for me

PERSONAL OVERVIEW

Technical/Editing Quality: 4

Writing/Content Quality: 4

Overall Rating: 4

Do You Recommend This Book: yes

Will You Re-read This Book: maybe

Would You Read More Books by this Author: yes

COMMENTS/NOTES: A slow burn romance with women who deal with their issues of self-worth, betrayal, revenge, and abandonment. Maya is focused on exposing Jordy, that she misses true friendship and love. Skye is the pessimist who trusts no one and never gets hurt. When she accepts Maya, the show becomes less important. I loved all the challenges. The kayaking was my favorite because of Maya "rescue." It's clear from Jordy's first conversation, he's no good. He is a great manipulator and narcissist. Maya used a lot of restraint not causing a scene on tv, but Isaac and Perrie the true MVPs!

Favorite line: "If one of you wins, you'll be sending me and my boyfriend to Phuket for Christmas." -Isaac to Maya and Skye

New Vocabulary/beautiful words: crinolines-a stiffened or hooped petticoat worn to make a long skirt stand out. The women were to visit the palace and learn about royal etiquette/history of the Chalonian royal family.