What I’ve loved about Sophie Gonzales’s writing in the past is the unexpected depth, whether that’s in the humor or in the vulnerability. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel that same depth in this book. This book felt driven by the plot much more than the characters, and miscommunication was a major part of the story, which I found frustrating. I also think this book would have benefited from the characters being slightly older because it was disorienting to me that they were supposed to be so young given the premise of the story and how they behaved.

I still consider myself a fan of Sophie Gonzales, but this one just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Maya's heart was broken by her now famous boyfriend Jordy. He cheated on her but made her out to be the crazy, stalkerish ex girlfriend. When Maya recieves a phone call to go on a reality dating show about Jordy, she refuses at first. But then she realizes now could be a good time to tell her truth and embarrass Jordy the way he embarrassed her. Skye is another one of Jordys exes who goes on to the dating show. She believes Jordy and her could work so she is hopeful about their reconnection. When Maya and Skye are to room together, they immediately hate each other. By the end, they both find love, but the question is, with who?

I LOVED this book. It was so cute and funny. I really like reality shows like the Bachelor and Bachelorette and I found myself wishing a show like this existed. Maya is a strong willed character but she is sensitive and I liked that. Skye is more adventurous and watching their friendship grow was nice. My only negative about this book (as with any romance book) is how predictable the story is going to be. But in all, I highly recommend this one to others and will definitely be reading more of this authors work. I give it a 4/ 5 star rating.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of this work in exchange for my honest review. All reviews are entirely my opinion.

Cute queer romcom, the only struggle for me was their ages. Bachelor style dating show but they were all barely out of high school???

Two girls competing on a reality show fall in love with each other.

What a fantastic premise! But it gets spicier: Jordy Miller, a minor royal, is hosting a dating show and inviting his exes to win back their hearts. The exes include Maya, who he cheated on for months, and Skye, the girl he cheated on her with.

That’s not the way the public sees what happened. The way Jordy told the story, he and Maya were already broken up when he started dating Skye, and Maya is just the crazy ex who couldn’t let him go. Why would Maya agree to go on the show, you ask? Revenge, of course! Her plan is to show the world the truth about Jordy.

Things I loved:

1. Jordy was a realistic (and scary) villain, which made me care a lot about the outcome.

2. Both protagonists are bisexual disasters. (I relate.)

3. Supportive female friendships!

This book is a fantastically juicy read, and I highly recommend it!

I really enjoyed reading this book!
It was such a refreshing love story and I didn't expect it to end the way it did, but I really was happy for the characters.
It showed red flags in relationships without harping on them and also how we can move on and forgive ourselves for making poor choices in the past but in a kind and gentle way.
I would recommend this book for teens on up. Well written and fun to read.

3.5 stars rounded up ⭐️

This was a unique premise that the synopsis grabbed my attention immediately.

A group of women go onto a reality show about second chance romance with one guy, just to fall in love with eachother. Sign me up, screw that guy❤️

That basically is what the story is about. We get to follow main perspectives Skye and Maya as they battle to be Jordys rekindled love. I'm reality they hate him and what revenge for being such a crappy bf and honestly just human being. Like a seriously he sucks.

It was interesting following the story thru each episode of the show basically and how each contestant gets widdled down.

I feel like this book could have easily been adult rather than young adult. I really struggled relating to the women characters cause all their crappy experiences with Jordy happened when they were young teens 15/16. They only dated him for less than a year. It felt like just a highschool fling.

This book though might really relate to better with the intended younger audience. I could see this book easily being on the top of young adult romance. As it was fun and I really had a great time in the last 1/3rd of book.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martins press, and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read this advanced copy. My review is voluntary.

I will be posting my review on my Instagram the.floofs.booknook close to publication date.

5 STARS

Oh my god! I loved this! First of all, it already got an automatic bonus from me because of the Taylor Swift reference in the TITLE!! But overall I just loved this so much and how this was a perfect sapphic love story. My heart was so full after finishing this and I'm so glad I got to read this before the release date.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!!

This book was wonderful! I started it only a few days ago, but just had to finish it. As an avid Reality TV-watcher, I can say this is the ending I have dreamt of each season. I am glad to see I am not alone in that. It's super sweet, and the interactions between Maya & Skye are cute.

Cute set up of second chance romance meets Bachelor-style reality tv show. I liked how Gonzales managed to make the characters less predictable than expected. Jordy was a tool, of course, and Maya and Skye were both strong girls who had the typical emotional outbursts befitting of recent high school graduates. Their get-together wasn't exactly slow burn, but it wasn't insta-love either. I'm a Sophie Gonzales fan and she's great at creating bi-love triangles (see "Perfect on Paper") and I always find her representation earnest.
Thank you for the ARC!

This is another super cute read from Sophie Gonzales. I absolutely loved Perfect on Paper, and this wasn't quite as strong for me, but it's still such a fun, delightful read.

I think the conversations about how scripted and manipulated reality TV is great to examine and I also really enjoyed the conversations about college and how it's just not for everyone.

It feels a little like a new adult plot with YA characters which is a little weird to me, but I think it's great for readers who are transitioning between YA and NA.

I do wish there had been more scenes with the royalty though

I thought this book was so great! I love love love an enemies to lovers and I think this book did a good job with making it believable (I was a little concerned by the early behavior that it wasn't going to get there). Would definitely love to read more from this author!

I'm giving this 4 stars but I actually think it's more like 3.5.

I liked a lot of things about this. I love the bachelor and I love wlw romance, and I think Sophie Gonzales is a great writer. I just found Maya to be SO ANNOYING for so much of the book that I had trouble getting through it. I know it's part of the plot, but GOD her obsession with getting revenge on Jordy was annoying. Skye is a sweetheart though, and when she and Maya were together NOT talking about Jordy I loved them.

Overall a very sweet YA romance

What a funny book. I liked the premise of having exes on a reality show trying to reconnect with their boyfriend. It’s always a fun dynamic when people are forced to live in the same space. In a classic he said, she said there is a bit of confusion as to who might be lying. The witty banter was refreshing. I liked the girl power in the end where everyone worked to take down a jerk. A very sweet romance blossoms out of a bad situation. Easy beach read.

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order this year and will recommend it to students.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The first half of the book was so strong and I devoured it. The characters were interesting, the premise was so fun, and the shenanigans were hilarious. I genuinely felt like I was watching a reality tv show, which is perfect considering that was the setting. I hate characters and I love them at the same time. It truly reminded me of my days watching reality tv shows.

But the second half started to slow down, and I lost interest as the main characters got closer to their end game. I am a huge fan of revenge and I fully wanted the characters to complete their revenge, so the ending was a bit of a let down for me. I prefer revenge stories to be unhinged and wild, and while the first half promised this, the second half went back on its promise by bringing in that stupid moral compass.

It was still a fun and easy read with great characters. I loved the LGBTQA+ representation and that it was normalized as opposed to making it a huge deal. Overall, a solid read and other than me not liking the ending, it was a great book!

Two girls set up to be enemies fall in love during a reality show about second chances with an ex-boyfriend who is not worth their time. Jordy broke Maya's heart when he cheated on her with Skye. Skye's heard all about Jordy's stalker ex-girlfriend. No one knows what really happened and someone is lying to everyone.

The premise was a little out there, but the characters were alive and the book was a fast-paced. There is a balance of perspectives - with chapters narrated by both Maya and Skye. In addition to it being a cute teen showmance, the book provided some interesting insights about the value of perspective and how stories can be twisted in the retelling. Strangely enough, this would make a great book report book especially with the social media twists within.

Wow, wow, wow! I have never read a storyline like this before. As a pretty big Bachelorette and Love Island fan, this was super exciting to read just to get insight into how that all works. This is a story I know so many of my students would adore because teenagers so often confused about themselves and their situations, and to read Maya and Skye's route to love lets them know it is okay to be open to anything - not confused - but open to all people. Maya and Skye fell into an easy love and it was so believable, the slow burn to a final igniting and declaration of love. It is everything young people could dream of. I also so appreciated the character growth and how Maya decides in the end to know give Jordy the punishment she so believed he deserved. I kept cringing at the thought of how that would go down, because I felt it would make me think less of Maya. Talking about it and planning it all out was exciting to follow along with, but I was hopeful in the end she would take the higher road. How the information leaked in the Epilogue seemed much more natural.

The only reason I'm knocking a star off the rating is that Skye is portrayed as an innocent, shy young woman in the beginning and Maya as the outgoing one. However, about 25% into the book, as Skye and Maya begin to realize Jordy screwed with them both and they join in together, Skye becomes the more outgoing one and Maya less so. Then, all of a sudden Skye is making the first big move in their relationship, and making the declarations of love, and it just felt like as a reader, the switch in her personality was too abrupt and made it hard to follow which POV was Skye and Maya. I believe as a reader, multiple POVs means that there has to truly be a clear, clear, CLEAR distinction between the view points to ensure there isn't confusion. About 50% of the way, the shift in characterization for both girls felt unnatural and unbelievable.

But other than that, what a beautiful story and one I truly believe hasn't been portrayed yet in recent YA lit. Thank you to Sophie Gonzales and her publishing team for allowing me to have access to this reader early and accepting the thoughts I have on it.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an arc in exchange of an honest review.

Overall this book was good. Not amazing or totally outstanding, but not bad. I feel it's biggest drawbacks is that it's not particularly memorable. As a lover of sapphic romance, and being bisexual, I really enjoyed this story and thought it was a fun, witty read. The references in it weren't over the top, and didn't make it feel to dated which is something I really appreciated. Both main characters were strong and stood decently well on their own. I do wish there had have been a tad more emotional development for Skye, as she didn't feel as totally fleshed out as Maya. I also feel that some aspects of their characters took a backseat to the romance, which would've made a reader connect with them more. For example, Maya's motives/feelings behind university get mentioned but not fully expanded on and could've been edited out entirely.
Jordy was a very good antagonist, and this book was very good at drawing out emotional responses from me. Mostly anger at the audacity of this man, and being so excited to see him finally get what he deserves. The romance between Maya and Skye was sweet, but I never felt overly attached to them together. It went from them hating each other to all of a sudden being attracted to each other with what felt like very little development to get them there.
Overall I'd recommend this book to someone looking for a sweet, fast paced sapphic romance.

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(Thank you to NetGalley, which sent me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.)

Now, if you know anything about me... I'm petty. Like really petty. I love Maya so much.

Never Ever Getting Back Together is a book about a reality TV show where this douchebag of a guy has a few of his exes competing against one-another to win a chance to be with him again. Yeah. I know how it sounds.

Maya is one of Jordy's exes. So is Skye. It's just that when Jordy was dating Maya... he was also dating Skye, like a proper asshole. When Skye finds out, they make a choice to mess with him... and expose him for who he truly is. They weren't expecting to fall in love.

Never Ever Getting Back Together is a fun, sweet book that had me finish it in a single sitting. I think the characters are fun! My only issue with it is a YA book and not a new adult one. I think it would have been more interesting with this type of setting, considering that everyone involved in this are adults anyways. Regardless, the book was cute and I definitely recommend it to people who like silly romcoms.

“𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗼𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗹𝗶𝗻.” - Idk that other people in my life would describe me this way, but it’s definitely the way my brain operates. 😂 I feel you so hard, Maya.

This story is one of my favorite romances of the year. It’s a dual POV, but with a completely new and refreshing lens. Maya and Skye are two bi women who have dated the same man; Jordy the giant douche canoe. He’s the lead of a reality show about second chances, and Maya and Skye both show up from his past as potential matches for his future.

We get to know both characters through their own eyes and instead of the classic women vs women dynamic on a reality show like this, you end up rooting for every woman there. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of drama, but Skye and Maya are equally lovable and gorgeous humans, along with the rest of the cast.

Enemies to lovers, LGBTQ+, second chance love: ALL OF MY FAVORITES. I laughed out loud throughout and truly enjoyed getting to know both Maya and Skye from their own perspectives. It was a captivating, fun love story. 💕

Out 11/29! Go pre-order a copy, you will not regret it.