I was looking forward to reading this book for the longest time, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint!! When I read the synopsis earlier this year I was so, so excited.

Never Ever Getting Back Together is a story about six girls who attend a reality tv show called Second-Chance Romance where they try and rekindle their love with their famous ex, Jordy Miller. A complete and utter douche bag of a man.

Two of the girls, Skye and Maya, end up falling for each other instead.

As someone who used to watch the bachelor every week with my mom growing up, I was invested from the very beginning. The characters are so well written and the bisexual rep is amazing. I haven’t had a good laugh from a book in a while and this one definitely delivered!

Being the same age as both Skye and Maya, I was really cheering them on! I love seeing the power of teenage girls and I kept thinking of that new movie that just came out, Do Revenge.

Also, can we talk about how beautiful this cover is? And the title!? It’s just perfect.

I love bisexual women. Sophie Gonzales never fails to deliver, and NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER was so much fun to read. This book has reaffirmed my hatred for fuckboys, and now I desperately need some girls to fall in love on The Bachelor.

I was so thrilled to be approved for this book on NetGalley! Not only was the Taylor Swift wink in the title enticing, but the plot made me so happy. This book was a great vacation read and a fresh romance novel for people on the millennial / gen-z cusp.

The last thing Maya wants to do is reconnect with her evil ex, Jordy. But when she gets a call offering her a spot on a reality show with all of his exes, she contrives a plan for revenge. Sure, this means facing the girl that Jordy cheated on her with, but Maya knows (thinks) she can handle it. With a mix of classic tv tropes, a sprinkle of something new, and helpful friends and producers at every turn, Jordy’s going to get what he deserves, and Maya just might find love where she least expects it.

This book lived in a strange world between YA and adult, where most of the time I was reading I pictured the two as grown women yet knew they were younger.
That being said, this is a great book for those looking to get into YA books without a strong feeling of the intention for a younger audience.

Our two main characters and the supporting cast are really likable characters. Maya and Skye alternate perspectives and it did get a bit jumbled at times. Maya and Skye have wonderfully fleshed-out and clear backstories, but their voices aren’t really distinct enough. That being said, barring the mild confusion at times, the POV shift really made for an enhanced love story.

Nothing makes a book more binge-able than a really evil antagonist. And Jordy, our guy, is so fucking hittable. End of point! I’m a hater at heart!

I love when I get to simply read reality tv. It’s great. It’s the best form of leisure (see: The Charm Offensive, D’vaughn & Kris Plan A Wedding, Patricia wants to cuddle, etc….)

I thought that the enemies to lovers trope is done SO well, and while there was room for their characters to grow, their miscommunication was short-lived and felt realistic.

Overall, if you’re looking for a fluffy, heartwarming romance with characters that you’ll love to sink your teeth into, this is the book for you!

I did not like this book at all, and DNFd a little over halfway through. The writing felt stilted, the characters thin, and I HATED how the first half of the book hinged on women disliking each other. Not even just the two main characters, but all of the women on the show. This was definitely not for me.

Did I gravitate towards this book because of Taylor Swift? Yes....
Was it worth it? Absolutely!

Who doesn't want to read about a reality tv contest where you get to have a second chance with your ex. Except your ex is literally trash, but who cares about him when you have better chemistry with one of his exes who's also competing. Maya came for revenge, Skye came to rekindle her lost romance for Jordy but they both didn't expect to pull the ultimate twist on him and fall for each other.

" 'Make it to the end...' Rosie shoots onto her knees as it clicks. 'And reject his ass on TV.' "

Aside from it's spectacular title (which fits the book PERFECTLY well) this book pleasantly surprised me and is now a comfort rom-com.

This book was honestly just a fun read, with funny quirks and dialog. I have not watched the bachelor or bachelorette but I do feel that if you like any kind of "trashy" reality tv this book will be a lot of fun. The dialogue is just too much, had me actually laughing out loud.

"All of our contestants are paid in memories, laughter, and, if they're lucky, a healthy dose of romance! How can you put a price on the chance to find true love? It's worthless!

'I think they mean priceless," Rosie stage-whispers.

'That, or they've gotten to know Jordy," I say lightly."

The fact that the author was able to make Jordy so insufferable is truly admirably. The shocking factor of some of his gaslighting, backstabbing and manipulation really makes you get on Maya's side. The need to expose him is too strong!

The person who gets their version of events out first is the one who gets to author the history books. Writing history is easy. Rewriting it is the tough job."

My biggest critique is that I wish this was an adult book instead of a YA one. I forgot multiple times that these characters are actually 18, fresh out of high school and it honestly didn't add much to the story. If anything I think it held it back. The fact that the show featured a main guy having a second chance with his past girlfriends, but everyone is between 18-20 so most of his girlfriend's where in highschool? And he's had 6 exes that all had some kind of connection?? It was easier to just read the story and forgetting about the ages, otherwise it really threw me off. (Although the book sometimes made this hard to forget T^T)

"And he's hoping to re-explore every inch of you! What in the unholy f*ck is this?"

ever seen a love triangle and just thought, "those two boys/ two girls should just cut their losses and date each other?" sophie gonzales wrote it.

this book was hate mail to all the ex-boyfriends out there who think all their ex girlfriends still want to date him when really they just want to date eachother. the book version of "Me and your girlfriend playin' dress up at my house". when your ex thinks you want him but you really want his girlfriend.

Thank you, Net Galley and Wednesday Books, for the advanced copy!

When her now famous ex-boyfriend, Jordy, reaches out to ask Maya if she would participate on a tv show that is being described as a “Second-Change Romance” to try and reconnect while doing so in front of the whole world. When she agrees to participate, she didn’t realize that her “nemesis” Skye would be participating as well.

If you are into reality TV (think The Bachelor, The Bachelorette), this book is for you! This has everything you want in a book about reality tv…..cattiness, gossip, drinking, love, ex’s, competitions and laughter! A good read if you need a laugh and love reality TV!

Maya was cheated on at 16 by her boyfriend Jordy, who is now a royal-adjacent pseudo-celebrity setting up a bachelor style reality TV show where he goes back to date his exes. May agrees to be involved in the hopes that she can get revenge on the boy that hurt her, but ends up finding a connection with the last person she would have expected...

I do love Sophie Gonzales - she has a real talent for relatable characters and coming of age romances. This one is a definite favourite with plenty of drama on top!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

4/5 stars


This was such an enjoyable read. Absolutely hated Jordy from the start but all the girls and other side characters were amazing and the humour was perfect, the relationship between Maya and Skye was incredibly cute. Overall this book was amazing and would definitely recommend.

I am not a fan of reality shows but if I had to watch one it would be this.

Never Ever Getting Back Together - By Sophie Gonzales
5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I love a good sapphic romance!!

Synopsis:
It’s been two years since Maya's ex-boyfriend cheated on her, and she still can’t escape him: his sister married the crown prince of a minor European country and he captured hearts as her charming younger brother. If the world only knew the real Jordy, the manipulative liar who broke Maya’s heart.

Skye Kaplan was always cautious with her heart until Jordy said all the right things and earned her trust. Now his face is all over the media and Skye is still wondering why he stopped calling.

When Maya and Skye are invited to star on the reality dating show Second-Chance Romance, they’re whisked away to a beautiful mansion—along with four more of Jordy’s exes— to compete for his affections while the whole world watches. Skye wonders if she and Jordy can recapture the spark she knows they had, but Maya has other plans: exposing Jordy and getting revenge. As they navigate the competition, Skye and Maya discover that their real happily ever after is nothing they could have scripted..

This book brought me so much joy, laughter and tears at one point I’m an emotional Pisces and get attached easily okay.

I loved the way Sophie wrote the characters.. I love the girl power I’m obsessed with Maya & Skye and couldn’t get enough of them. I was so excited to find out that there are Bi-Representing characters. The revenge plot was planned out and so perfectly unpredictable in the best way possible.

I absolutely loved this book so much. I read it all in one sitting. It was definitely one of my favorite reads of the year. I would recommend this book to anyone

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for this ARC copy.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun, light-hearted, girl-power read. I love the bi representation within a TV reality dating show environment. My only drawback is that I wish this hadn’t been YA, as I think the storyline would’ve worked better with adult characters. However, it was still a great book that left me fired up in the best way possible!

(ᵒ̤̑ ₀̑ ᵒ̤̑)wow!*✰

The only other Gonzales book I've read is Perfect on Paper and I absolutely adored~ it the moment I read it. In fact, it had become one one of my favorites upon its release. Getting this arc meant that I was tuned up and pumped to start reading this. A sapphic love story between two bi girls competing over their cheating ex-boyfriend on a TV show with forced proximity and feminism? Count me in.

There's a lot of good to say about this, and there's some minor grievances. First I will cover the good. I didn't go into this expecting to love most of the characters, but oh boy did I FALL.

I will admit up front that Skye was my favorite character, she really shined. Her entire arc came full circle in the end and I couldn't help but relate to her in a lot of ways. Not just her fear of heights, but mostly the abandonment issues. Yikes. We've mostly all been there, right? Thanks mom.

Anyway, to point out a grievance it was unfortunate that Maya's character went on plot autopilot and Skye took over. The issue I have? That transition happened at around 40% and didn't change despite the narration flipping between Skye and Maya every few chapters. While I liked Maya a lot, I felt like most of the complications and mis-communication felt unnatural.

And that sucks because grievance two: The second part DRAGS. As in Drag Me To Hell. I wouldn't say I yawned or anything, but things didn't really pick up until the third act. Even thought here was, of course, drama. I really felt like the story went its predictable way and dawdled until it got to the really good, meaningful parts. That's not an insult, hopefully.

The fact is, a lot of this was good. Gonzales has a particular flow to her writing and a way of creating an artful, fun and sometimes messy cast. The romance was beautiful and really touched on a lot of important things about relationships. The tiniest spicy scene with fade to black which included consent...Gosh. Thank you.

Anyway, this story was fun, uplifting, and the novel entertained for the most part. I wish maybe that it was a bit shorter and wasn't so heavily focused on dialogue and shot by shot scenes of every little activity. While it was the main point of the show, and the novel itself, I felt like there was something that could've made this story set itself apart in a way. It's on the tip of my tongue. My point is, there's something here that's missing, and for that, most of the time I felt I was reading a book instead of experiencing it. The good news is that when I was into it, I was REALLY into it. And the ending had a good message.

Four stars to say well done, it was fun, now shoo!

Another great book by Sophie Gonzales and I like the voice in this one. I liked the characters and their dynamics plus I liked the reality show element in this too.

Love a pandemic lockdown bound written book’! So much representation and plenty of moments where I actually laughed out loud. Jordy elicited such a strong reaction from me I had to walk away at some points hahah—wild make a great movie!

I won’t lie, i was VERY sceptical getting into this ARC. It’s been so long since i’ve enjoyed reading YA. However, knowing I LOVED Perfect on Paper, I had hope that Sophie would spark my interest with this book.

AND SHE SURE DID.

Maya wanted to get revenge on Jordy, her cheating ex boyfriend, while Skye wondered if he was the one that got away. So when they both get invited to the love reality TV drama “Second Chance Romance”, they both believe they’ve been given the perfect opportunity.

But why bother with the love triangle trope when the two girls can just date EACH OTHER? Genius.

The setting in which this book took place made it SO incredibly fun to read. A dating show where the contestants are exes of the man they’re trying to conquer, but the guy is actually an asshole and everyone slowly start to realize it? SIGN ME UP!

I also loved Maya and Skye’s relationship, despite Jordy’s intentions to set them up against each other. Their transition from enemies to friends to lovers had be HOOKED. I couldn’t put this book down.

I 100% recommend this book to anyone who likes YA, reality TV drama, and WLW books.

*Thank you Netgalley for giving this ARC in exchange for an honest book review*

This was a fun concept with a teen reality dating competition with a suitor picking between his exes (a la The Bachelor). I wish the characters were a bit older -- the male lead Jordy having that many exes by age 20 felt excessive, and I didn't love all the drinking from the girls (even though it's legal where they were in Europe, it felt like a lot).

I enjoyed Maya and Skye's budding friendship as they pursued revenge on their ex and found unexpected romance along the way. It's a fun story overall that's good for fans of The Charm Offensive.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this Arc!!

Yes! Revenge against a cheating ex? Reality TV show? Sapphic romance? Yes, Please and Thank You.

This is such a fun read. It really had everything and more for a romance. This was completely unexpected and absolutely perfect.

Maya gets a phone call that at first seems like a practical joke. Go on a reality TV show to re-date her ex among other girls so the ex can choose the right girl for him? An ex that cheated on her and that she hates? And the girl he cheated on her with is going to be there too? Yes.... She grudgingly accepts not knowing the drama and surprises that await her.

This book is about revenge on that one person that holds a special place as the worst human ever. And, trust me, I have a few to choose from that I would love to serve up some revenge too! This is a girl power, friendships beat all, and whirlwind Sapphic romance that had me laughing and swooning.

Out November 29, 2022!

Can I just say: "I would NEVER!" This book was interesting and engaging because it was like reading about another species. I know people love reality TV and there are a ton of people who are into both wtching it and participating in it. I think this book seals the deal that reality shows and especially reality dating shows are not for me

Synopsis:
It’s been two years since Maya's ex-boyfriend cheated on her, and she still can’t escape him: his sister married the crown prince of a minor European country and he captured hearts as her charming younger brother. If the world only knew the real Jordy, the manipulative liar who broke Maya’s heart.

Skye Kaplan was always cautious with her heart until Jordy said all the right things and earned her trust. Now his face is all over the media and Skye is still wondering why he stopped calling.

When Maya and Skye are invited to star on the reality dating show Second-Chance Romance, they’re whisked away to a beautiful mansion—along with four more of Jordy’s exes— to compete for his affections while the whole world watches. Skye wonders if she and Jordy can recapture the spark she knows they had, but Maya has other plans: exposing Jordy and getting revenge. As they navigate the competition, Skye and Maya discover that their real happily ever after is nothing they could have scripted.

Can your sworn enemy become your romantic interest? In this very interesting book, Maya and Skye are those enemies. They both believe that they both hate each other. That is because of their ex-boyfriend Jordy, He is very handsome, close to royalty and very rich. He has called both women (and several others) to see if they will be on a reality show starring him called Second Chance Romance. It is a show that will have him going on several dates with his exes to see if they were the one that got away.
Once the women arrive at the mansion where the show will be filmed, Maya and Skye find out that will be sharing a room together. The women finally do talk and find out that Jordy lied to them both. They both want revenge and do all they can to survive to the finale so they can tell the world that Jordy uses women and lies to everyone. In all this planning, the women realize that there are sparks between them.
I really liked this book and read it in two sittings.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Sophie Gonzales has, once again, stolen my heart. This book was everything I could have ever wanted. It was funny, it was emotional, and it was absolutely fantastic. This has one of my favorite niche ideas and Sophie absolutely nailed it. If you've always wondered "why don't they just leave him and date each other?" then this is the book for you. It has reality dating, enemies to lovers, great banter, two bisexual FMC's, and a load of shenanigans. Also, that title? Anything referencing Ms Swift has my name all over it. I also loved the sprinkles of random Swift lyrics or references to lyrics throughout the book.

Maya and Skye are such an incredible pairing and I love how they go about navigating the reality show and their need for revenge against Jordy and what he did to them. What ensues is a brilliant YA contemporary that will leave you wanting more and more of the clever prose and witty banter.