Do you like watching the Bachelor? Do you like when someone comes up with a revenge plot on their ex? Do you like a fun romance? This may be the book for you.

In Never Ever Getting Back Together, Maya is asked to go on a reality TV show for a second chance with her ex boyfriend, Jordy. Maya takes them up on the offer not because she wants to get back with Jordy, but because she thinks she can use the show against him. Once there she finds herself in the company of women who are all trying to get their second chance, including Skye, who Jordy cheated on her with. Tensions are high and Maya finds herself struggling with her desire for revenge and new feelings that are surfacing.

This was a fun romance with a fairly unique concept in a genre that tends to be very formulaic. ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 It wasn’t a total standout but I did enjoy it overall.

Thanks to Netgalley for the E-ARC.

A few years ago, Maya was dating Jordy. He cheats on her and the relationship ends. Fast forward to now, Jordy is doing a bachelor-esque show where he’s dating women from his past to find “the one” including the firm he cheated on Maya with, Skye. What could go wrong?

I have to admit I’m not a huge fan of reality TV, or dating shows in general. Obviously Jordy is a huge jerk, and Maya is originally shown as a villain.

Skye and Maya’s love story was sweet albeit a little predictable. I really liked the producer Isaac. There is a lot of representation in this book which I really liked.

Overall, the book was fine. It wasn’t my favorite but they can’t all be, right? I’m glad I read it but I wouldn’t pick it up again.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I used to watch a lot of reality TV during my formative Teenage and College years, so this premise combined with the title of a Taylor Swift song definitely intrigued me.

I picked up the book yesterday and I couldn’t put it down after reaching the 50% mark.

The character development was great, and the build up was perfect for the type of close proximity both female leads had to deal with throughout the book.

There were also a few lines that had me laughing out loud, always a sign of a good time.

Thank you so much for the e-arc opportunity!

4/5 stars

I was so excited by the premise of this book! It follows Maya and Skye who have both been selected for a new reality TV show called "Secondchance romances" where they have the opportunity to potentially get back together with their ex-boyfriend, Jordy.

I loved the tenseness of this book. I feel like the enemies part of the book was so angsty that watching their chemistry build was so satisfying as a reader. My one critique is that I wish that Skye was more fleshed out as a character in the first third. I understand that she was the love interest and was made to be unlikeable because of what she did to Maya, but I do wish that we could've gotten more depth from her in her POV chapters because it would have least made me feel a bit of empathy for her.

Overall, I would give this a solid 4 stars if you're looking for a good sapphic enemies to lovers! Also note this is a fade-to-black book, but I'm okay with that because they're still so young (at least Maya is like 18) so anything else would've made me a little uncomfortable.

NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER was a fun, lighthearted read. set on a bachelor-style reality TV show where two girls team up in order to take down their ex—only to find themselves falling for each other—this book’s pitch had my attention from the start & i had so much fun reading it. there was so much humor & heart in this book, and i loved the hate-to-love sapphic romance at the center. seeing the two leads fall for each other amidst all the chaos of the show made for such a compelling story, and i loved seeing two bi girls find love & happiness in the most unexpected of places.

Never Ever Getting Back Together is a lover scorned romance. Is there anything better? This book is the definition of “I’ll date you, then steal your next girlfriend.” And it’s a Taylor Swift reference. Can you get any better?

I love a love triangle and this one delivered. I did find the parallels to the Bachelor a little too on the nose but definitely read this if you’re a fan!

First saw this title and immediately a Taylor Swift song popped in my head! Never read this author and was reluctant. A good read if you are a reality tv drama junkie! lol Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for a review.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was so fun!!

Never Ever Getting Back Together follows two girls who are given a second chance to win back their ex-boyfriend among several other contestants. It's been two years since Maya finally dumped Jordy for cheating on her, but everyone else believes she stalked him. When she is invited on a show to try and date him again Maya comes up with the perfect revenge scheme. Win the show, make Jordy fall for her again, and then break his heart and reveal the truth at the end of the season. But all Maya's plans don't account for Skye.

Skye is the girl Jordy cheated on Maya with. But Maya can't seem to keep being angry at her, especially when it seems Skye is willing to listen to Maya's side of things. If the two can forge a reluctant alliance, they might have a better chance of taking Jordy down.

I do enjoy TV competitions, but Jordy was gross and I hated all the interactions the girls had with him. He is just the worst (and was written this way on purpose). But the joy of this book was Maya and Skye. I was so thrilled when they started working together, and it happened so easily and much quicker than I expected. I really loved them teaming up. They are devious and I live for it.

While I loved both of the girls, Maya really stood out to me. I loved how angry and righteous she could be. She was supposed to be the villain of the show, but I loved seeing an angry female character WIN for once. Then there was the way everything played out in the end and it was so satisfying.

Rep: white bisexual cis female MC, white sapphic mspec (not specified) cis female MC, South Asian cishet female side character, various cis female side characters, BIPOC gay cis male side character, white cishet male side character.

CWs: Toxic relationship, emotional abuse, infidelity, misogyny, sexism. Moderate: Biphobia/bimisia, abandonment, alcohol consumption.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a digital arc :)

More of a 3.75 rounded up.

To start off I loved the reality tv show vibes it had, it reminded me so much of The Charm Offensive, and the revenge plot. I liked both maya and skye as mcs, the rivals to lovers trope!! and the writing was great of course seeing as it's Sophie Gonzales.
Onto the things that I didn't particularly enjoy... why was there so much girl hate. I understand that this show is basically like The Bachelor and it makes women compete agaisnt each other but the internalized misogony really bothered me and I just wished it wasn't there at all. One of the tropes I hate hate hate the most is love triangles and it had a lot of those dyanmics, which I guess I should've known from reading the synopsis but still it gave me the ick numerous times. Also this book would've been better as a new adult in my opinion because making all the mcs such young people didn't really fit with the plot. I would still recommend to anybody who likes the premise of the book though!! it was a good read.

Romance novels with a reality show set up are becoming so commonplace, it feels like it's the latest trope. (No hate - I love a good trope). Here in Never Ever Getting Back Together, the set up works really well for the story and sets up a delightful romance with a satisfying ending.

A book about a dating show where the ex-boyfriend is not the best thing since sloced bread? Sign me up! Add an a Taylor Swift reference and some bisexual enemies to lovers!

Overall I had a good time reading this. The plot was definitely fun and easy to compare with a reality tv show. During the filming portions, I liked how it included the “behind the scenes” aspects of reality.

I would have liked to have more romance. There were a couple of cute scenes, but not enough to really build up the ending feelings for me. It might have helped if Skye’s character had been more developed.

So this was fun. It lived up to what I was expecting from it, but unfortunately I just wanted a bit more. Like more over the top I guess? And I wanted a little more background about Princess Samantha. I think even just a news article at the beginning of the book, mostly focused on Jordy but giving background on Samantha, could have helped a lot. Other than that, I do wonder why this was YA. There didn't seem to be a real compelling reason for it, all of them were at least 18, and I think maybe it would have been better/more could have been done if it were (new) adult. But anyways, I did really like this!

This was such a fun read!! It's one of my later ARCs (Dec 2022) but it was calling my name so I dove in 6 months early! 😄

Our MCs, Skye and Maya, have something in common: they both previously dated a-hole-womanizer Jordy... unbeknownst to them, he dated them at the same time!! 🙄

Two years later, they're invited to participate in a Bachelor-style reality dating show specifically tailored to Jordy and his exes. It's a "second- chance-at-romance" show, aimed to rekindle a romance between Jordy and one of the women from his past.

After being forced to bunk together on the show, Skye and Maya find out they have two more things in common: They're both bisexual, and they're both developing feelings for someone on the show... someone who is NOT Jordy. 👀

I adored this book! If I had to give a criticism, it would be that Skye and Maya didn't have distinct enough voices for the first half. I kept mixing them up. They 'sounded' (in my head) like the same person. 🤷‍♀️ No distinct mannerisms or tones to set them apart. In the last half of the book I began to see their differences a bit more and their individual voices became more apparent. 💕

Even so, I give this a solid 4/5 stars because it was cute as heck!!!

This was my first Sophie Gonzales and it definitely didn't disappoint! I am excited to read "Perfect on Paper" next! 🙌

Thank you NetGalley, Sophie Gonzales, St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for my eARC in exchange for my honest review. 💕

i think sophie gonzales is going to be a permanent fixture in my shelves now.

i absolutely devoured this book. it was such a fun and quick-paced read, with the same charm & great characters her other books have. there was drama, romance, friendship. i loved the girl supports girls message here, especially how it developed from them having “catfights” (i use that term loosely) to them bonding over how shitty men (or more specifically, one man) could be. and honestly, who hasn’t been there?

this was such a great read. you’re going to be hooked from start to finish, i sure was. it swoops you into the world of this bachelor-esque show and you can’t help but feel as if you’re actually immersed in it. and i was HOOKED. i want jordy (the ex-bf) to pay and seeing the girls band together to make sure he does was *chef’s kiss*. the tender moments had me internally sobbing and i LOVED the ending. it’s what we deserved.

i will say i kind of wish the characters were aged up? i’m not sure if my math was correct but the two MCs are around 18 - 19. i feel like aging them up to be around early 20s would have worked so much better for the plot. and i didn’t give a full 5 stars because the reality aspect really wasn’t for me, no matter how well-executed it was.

anyways, yes i highly recommend this and if you’ve never picked up a sophie gonzales book, do it NOW.

Two years ago, Maya, broke up with her cheating ex-boyfriend Jordy who she would happily never see again. When she receives an invitation to be a contestant on “Second Chance Romance,” a new reality show where Jordy will re-date his ex-girlfriends in an effort to find “the one that got away,” she's astonished; there is nothing that could interest her less. As she thinks it over, Maya comes to the realization that this could be the perfect opportunity to enact revenge and expose the truth. But when she gets to the set, she’s confronted with the one person she hasn’t accounted for: Skye, the girl Jordy cheated on her with.

“Never Ever Getting Back Together” is the perfect example of seeing a love triangle where you wonder why the two girls don't just date each other instead of ~fighting~ over a lesser man and it was BEAUTIFUL. The perfect mix of “UnREAL” and “John Tucker Must Die.” I also appreciate how the author jumps right into the story which is how I was hooked from the start and it only gets when the sapphic love begins.

I applaud Sophie Gonzales for creating one of the most horrible characters to ever exist in Jordy. However, I feel as though there's some inconsistencies with this being a YA story rather than New Adult. While the cast is 18-20 years old, this feels way better suited for an older audience; more like “The Charm Offensive.” Maya and Skye's non-platonic relationship could also use a bit more development in regards to their common traits being more than their shared ex-boyfriend.

Overall, I think “Never Ever Getting Back Together” is a fun, light, quick read and I would love to see this as a television series. If you enjoy books with semi-forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers and the classic misunderstanding tropes then this is for you. Extra points for the bisexual representation as well!

~never ever getting back together review~
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2.5/5
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obviously i’m obsessed with every and all sophie gonzales books so i had to request this one right away! also queer reality dating competition shenanigans sounds right up my alley this pride month
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Pros:
+love the concept of second chance romance but i too would make fun of this silly little slideshow
+FINALLY. WE REALIZE THE MAN IS A LIAR IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE
+when the sapphic stuff begins it gets good
+yay two bi girls
+love
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Cons:
-jordy is a trash bag man and i hate liars
-classic misunderstanding trope.
-also like why would we believe a man isn’t a liar that’s kind of their thing
-also getting a little too close to girl on girl hate for me. feels inevitable with the concept of the book but i wish it didn’t exist at all
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i honestly can’t decide how i feel about this book. i feel like there were a lot of ways i could have loved this book but i just couldn’t ignore some of the things i didn’t like. i would still say give it a chance but it’s definitely not as good as perfect on paper.

If you've ever watched a show like The Bachelor, Second Chance Romance will feel awfully familiar. I wonder if the author talked to any in the business, though everyone pretty much knows how reality shows operate. This is a fun story about love and revenge with a narration that alternates between Maya and Skye. Their relationship could have used more substance beyond chemistry and looks to make it more plausible.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC.

A bisexual 18-year old enters a reality TV show, ala the Bachelor, to get revenge on her cheating ex-boyfriend, only to find herself falling for someone on the show...

Strangely enough, this was my third reality-show love story and I thought I might be tired of it, but it appears to be the exact opposite. I absolutely loved this book. It had everything I needed from well-thought out, complex characters to the diverse rep to the little sprinkle of spiciness and a healthy dose of revenge.

I thought it was a really cute love story and with some of my fave tropes (forced proximity, enemies to lovers, love triangles, oh my). I thought this would have been better suited as a new adult novel vs. young adult. Something about the thought of six 18-20 year olds on a dating show to date their ex feels very un YA. Like, how did Jordy even have six exes at such a young age?? How did so many parents let their 18- year-olds go on a show like this with such a glaringly toxic man?? I think with a new adult book, we could have seen a little more spice and depth from the characters that we just don't get in a YA book. That said, I really liked it and thought it was a solid read!

This was such a fun book! There's lots of banter, lots of drama and of course a queer romance between two bisexual queens. I laughed multiple times while reading this. I do wish Jordy, the ex-boyfriend, would've gotten more development, because even though he's a delightful narcissist villain, there is no nuance or depth in his character.

If you're into the dramatics of reality dating shows like The Bachelor or just love drama all toghether, I'd definitely reccommend this book!