Do I Know You follows Eliza and Graham, a couple who got married young but are now experiencing marital problems. On their weeklong trip for their 5th anniversary, they pretend to be strangers as a way to find their way back to each other. The rules: they stay in separate rooms, they can’t break character except for emergencies, they must spend time with each other at least once a day, and they can be whoever they want to be.

I loved The Roughest Draft, so I was really excited to read another book by this writing duo, and it did not disappoint. I really liked the way this book explored marriage and relationships. Both Graham and Eliza had insecurities within the relationship and I liked how they both worked through them to strengthen not only their relationship with each other but their relationship with themselves. I also loved how through role-playing as strangers, they got to experience the playful banter, the tension, and the excitement that they felt when they first fell in love all over again.

I do think the ending was a little rushed, but I still really enjoyed this book overall! The writing was incredible and the plot was a unique way of exploring marital problems.

Thank you to @netgalley @berkleypub and @berkleyromance for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to @prhaudio for a free download of the audiobook.

Graham and Eliza have been married for five years and have found themselves in a rut. They still love each other, but neither are happy. Graham’s parents gave them a getaway for an anniversary gift, only to find that two reservations were booked under their names. Desperate to try something new, Eliza suggests they each take one of the rooms. To further the separation, they action like strangers when around the resort. This will end up being what they need or a total disaster.

I really enjoyed this book. I have not read anything by these authors, but I am sold on going back to read The Roughest Draft. They dual timeline blended well together. I have been married for almost 24 years and can related to the ebbs and flows of a relationship. Losing touch is hard, but the victory of reconnection gives me all the feels. Highly recommend!

5 stars

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I had high hopes for this one. I loved the premise. I think anyone that’s married or in a committed relationship can relate - it’s easy to fall into a rut and it’s important to find ways to reconnect. And let’s be honest, pretending to be different people sounds like it could be kind of hot. 🤷🏽‍♀️ But this book was not hot. It was kind of whiny instead. The first half of the book had my attention and then it seemed to stall and was longer than necessary.

Now that I’ve read the second romance by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, I have to go back and read their first one, The Roughest Draft. They handled the relationship beautifully in Do I Know You?

Graham and Eliza Cutler have been married five years. They still love each other, but they can’t seem to communicate any longer. When Graham’s parents give them an anniversary gift of a stay at a romantic luxury resort, the seven hour car ride is long and uncomfortable. It’s so uncomfortable that when they arrive and learn there were accidentally two rooms reserved, the honeymoon suite and another room, Eliza impulsively says she’ll take the key to the other room. They have seven days to decide what happens next.

That night in the bar, Graham’s new friend David doesn’t realize Graham and Eliza are married, and he introduces them to each other. Again, it’s Eliza that grabs that opportunity, and creates a new person named Eliza, a woman who lives in Boston and has a business with her sisters. Graham plays along, and tells her he’s an investment broker from Santa Fe instead of a lawyer from California. Eliza and Graham agree to be strangers for seven days, to date each other, and to get to know each other all over again as if they were strangers.

Graham has a harder time with the role-playing than Eliza does. Eliza is actually a voice actress, so she plays different people all the time. But, Graham has a hard time striking a balance of being real and surprising Eliza. And, he worries that Eliza is falling for the pretend Graham, not her husband. At the same time, Eliza is enjoying this escape from the reality of the problems with her sister and her parents before her sister’s upcoming wedding. When those issues start to interfere, Graham insists Eliza doesn’t trust him enough to let him know what it bothering her.

Do I Know You? is a romantic story of a married couple who have lost touch, but they’re desperate to find each other again. Both characters get to tell their stories, to express their feelings. The novel works as these two people love each other enough to try to keep their marriage together. They’re interesting characters, and Graham’s friend, David, just adds to the story. He’s necessary to continue to offer support to both of them.

Do I Know You? puts a different slant on a romance. And, it works.

Cute romance with a fun conceit, though I wish the pacing was a bit quicker. I appreciated that the exploration wasn't just about the relationship, but also about re-discovering themselves as individuals.

Do I Know You has a really unique premise for a romance, a marriage in trouble for a couple very much in love who've lost the spark and don't know how to rekindle their relationship.

The story started out strong. We get a solid glimpse into the struggles and insecurities of both Graham and Eliza, and I was fascinated with their role-playing approach to work out the said issues. But after the 35-40 percent mark it all fizzled out and things started feeling very much forced. I was also disappointed with the abrupt ending, one can't just resolve years of misunderstanding as quickly as these two managed, or maybe some can, who knows! Overall, it was okay, I sort of liked it but didn't love it.

Having said all that, I do enjoy this author duo's writing style, and their last book The Roughest Draft still remains one of my favorites, so I'll definitely be reading whatever they write next.

A great, new take on the second-chance romance trope! I loved how this writing (and married) duo approached Graham and Eliza's characters. I also loved how the book centered a married couple trying to work on their communication and a couple that was highly dedicated to each other. It was such a nice change to read about a couple who is in a healthy marriage and working on improving themselves and their partnership. I also found parts of the book to be very funny.

Unfortunately this book just didn't work for me. part of the problem is probably that marriage on the rocks trope hardly ever works. It doesn't make any sense for a couple to just not sit down and talk about their issues.

I wish this book would've leaned into the humor and the lightheadedness of it. Dating your partner and getting to know them again? That could've been so funny! But instead they tried to go deep and emotional.

And the reason the sisters didn't talk anymore? Such an eyeroll moment. It was childish and immature and not plausible.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and sadly I was very disappointed.

A fun little twist on fake dating, but instead of two people that need something from each other, this is a married couple that is growing apart. Or at least they both believe this, but based on their inner dialogue they just might be supposing the other is.

I liked both Eliza and Graham and I am always a fan of second chances and fake dating. I would hope that separate rooms at a resort is not how I’d want to spend my anniversary, but it does make for an interesting read.

While this is a romance, it is also a little more real than most romances. Not just because we are dealing with a married couple, but the thoughts and reactions bring a rawness to their relationship.

Told from both Graham and Eliza’s points of view, we get a real look at their effort to patch up their marriage.

I loved the way the author set up the plot of this book. Eliza and Graham go on a getaway vacation for thier 5th anniversary hoping to reconnect with each other. A chance encounter leads them to introduce themselves as strangers with a whole other persona. I found this concept to be fresh and the book really did immitate real life in it's feeling. Not knowing if the reconnect they found in each other was going to be enough to last once they got home was a problem many have faced before and I throughly enjoyed the trip with them.

I found my way to husband and wife writing duo Austin Siegemund-Broka and Emily Wibberley’s Do I Know You? by way of HBO’s The White Lotus. I was hoping that this novel would give off similar vibes, and was pleasantly surprised to find that in many ways, it did! However, luxury resort aside, that’s about where the similarities end. Do I Know You? is a candid look into one couple’s stagnant marriage and how they use role playing to rekindle the spark between them.

Eliza and Graham have hit a stalemate in their five year marriage. The thrill is gone, the thrill has most definitely gone away. To celebrate their anniversary, they book a week-long trip at a luxury resort, but how romantic will this vacation be when Eliza and Graham can’t even find their vibe?

Their trip quickly takes an interesting turn when a hotel guest mistakes Eliza and Graham for strangers, prompting them to beg the question, “What if we WERE strangers meeting for the first time? How would we do things differently?” This little scheme kicks off a week of role-playing in which Eliza and Graham rediscover each other through their alter egos. But will the chemistry brewing between them be enough to save their marriage?

Do I Know You? is a refreshingly modern novel that takes actual problems that married couples are dealing with and shows a couple working through them without getting ugly, mean, or vindictive. This novel isn’t scandalous, and it is not suspenseful, but it is real. Graham, a high-powered attorney, is surprisingly deeply insecure in his marriage, whereas Eliza, a voice actress, struggles with putting her work second to the people she loves. These fatal flaws impact Graham and Eliza’s marriage in dire ways, and their process of working on their marriage is the focus of this affirming romance novel.

But to make it more fun, Siegmund-Broka and Wibberley insert a little role-playing into the game, and we soon find ourselves going on dates with Eliza and Graham as they rediscover why they initially fell in love with each other. This concept is an intriguing one to ponder - what would you do or say if given the chance to reintroduce yourself to your partner? How would you do things differently this time?

While I really wanted to love Do I Know You?, I found it to be a mixed bag. The novel starts off really strongly and completely had me hooked, but as it moves into dating territory, it starts to lose some steam as Eliza and Graham go on date after date without much plot development. A lot of this book was not memorable to me, yet it seems to be without consequence because I still got the general gist, which tells me that either parts of this novel were underdeveloped or they could have simply been written out. That’s not to say that it is bad, because I did generally enjoy the majority of this book - I just wish it had a more compelling plot.

This book was truly fantastic —between Wibberly and Siegemund-Broka's writing and the unique story, I highly recommend it. It's the story of Eliza and Graham, who have been married for five years and have totally lost their spark. When they end up at a resort for their anniversary, they decide to act as if they don't know each other and in the process, figure out if they can get their spark back. It's a story of renewal and love and re-meeting the person you love as the person they have become. As they play the game, they're roleplaying transforms them, but is it enough to save their marriage? The chemistry in this book is extremely well done and it hits all the satisfying points. I really loved that it was a romance novel not about the start of a relationship, but about one that had been going on for years and years. That set this book apart from the pack for me.

Extremely dull. I hated that this couple couldn’t just talk to each other that would have literally fixed everything. Such a weird premise.

A stellar look at how relationships transform over time. I loved this concept from the moment I read the blurb and I think it was executed very well. The reader gets to experience both the newness and excitement of a new relationship but also gets to intimately feel the deeper emotional connection they have because they have been married for awhile.

Emily Wibberley and Austin Seigemund-Broka are a wife/husband writing team that seems to know how to realistically write married couples. They did a great job in their latest novel, Do I Know You?
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Five years into their marriage, Graham and Eliza are more like roommates than lovers. Things seem a bit stagnant. They were gifted a week long romantic getaway at a Northern California coastline resort for their anniversary and take it warily, both hoping it sparks things but not knowing how.
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When a mix up puts them in two rooms instead of just one, they decide to take them both. Then another guests, not knowing they were married, introduces them and they play along, pretending as if they just met. Voila, spark!
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They keep it up with banter, actual conversations and getting reacquainted with each other. There is still miscommunication and second guessing the other, but what I absolutely loved the most is that this couple didn’t just call it quits. They worked to get back together, they knew the value of their relationship.
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Genre: Contemporary Romance

Format: Audio/Ebook

5 stars - I loved it!

Thank you @netgalley and @berkleyromance for the gifted E-ARC and to @prhaudio for the complimentary audiobook!

I loved the Roughest Draft last year, so I was so excited to read their newest! This one felt so fresh to me! It was giving major Unhoneymooners vibes but with a marriage in crisis twist! I don’t think I have read many books with this trope so it was a nice change of pace for me.

The vibes were just right, and I especially enjoyed the audiobook with dual POV and different narrators! There were so many light and funny moments paired with more serious themes, and it really worked for me!

This was a fun read although maybe a TINY bit longer than it needed to be. I haven't read their first book but now I'm tempted to go back and check it out!

I loooove a marriage in crisis! I loved this creative twist on the trope. The duo writing this book really had the trope and the twists down pat. I love reading a book where the characters are desperate to find their way back to each other, but have no clue how to get there. Also, it's a dual POV, which I love!

This was a really cute book. When a husband and wife start to feel a bit like they don't know who they are each other... they pretend to be strangers, reigniting their relationship. It was a fun, fast read for me, and anyone who likes this genre is sure to enjoy it!

This book has a fun premise about a married couple wanting to spark their love. Graham and Eliza go to a resort to celebrate their five-year marriage but feel they need to rekindle their connection. Together they pretend to meet for the first time and rediscover their love. I enjoyed this novel and was entertained. The narration was excellent as well. I’m glad there was a dual POV for this book.