This was my first read by Melonie Johnson and I look forward to catching up on some of the backlist that involves other characters mentioned in this book!

While I enjoyed the book overall for the most part, and really loved the unique location for a meet-cute being a funeral home next to a casket, I did find myself becoming impatient with the characters, especially the FMC. The chemistry between Kat & Mick, and their attraction for one another, was obvious. I feel like too much time was spent Kat denying her feelings for Mick or not even giving him a chance because he didn’t fit the criteria, instead of just going with her feelings! We know that Kat notices the way Mick reacts to her pretty early on so it was kind of frustrating dealing with her constantly pulling back or trying to ignore it all.

I loved Mick’s character and his family dynamic, and how seamlessly Kat fit right in with everyone. I thought he was great at respecting Kat’s boundaries and being her friend, although the drama towards the end was a bit much and thought it could’ve been better handled with more communication between the two. The miscommunication trope was a bit over the top in my opinion, especially given them time that passed in between but I did love the way they came together in the end.

There were a lot of swoonworthy moments and moments that had me giggling at my e-reader, and was pretty lighthearted, considering the MMC works at a funeral home ha. I do love the way Melonie writes and am looking forward to any future projects, hopefully an MK book is in the works?!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I will agree with a previous review and say that some parts did seem a bit redundant despite it being a slow burn. The secondary characters needed a bit more hashing out.

Kat and Mick were a good coupling. Perhaps they did require a bit more romance for me to fully believe their chemistry, but they made sense. My issues were with the way Kat reacted towards things. Much of my frustration came as a result of her! I suppose I should say that getting a rise out of me means the author did a great job fleshing out her character.

Overall I say that this is a solid quick read. I did enjoy myself and related to parts of the story. More specifically the fact that the characters lives were changing/evolving which unavoidably leads to traditions having to come to an end or adapting to those changes.

I wanted to say thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me the privilege of reading an assortment of wonderful stories.

I couldn't get into this. The characters felt really flat for me, and the plot didn't move like it should. The tag is correct - this is a very slow burn. The chemistry between Mick and Kat didn't work for me at all, and I was kind of weirded out by all the funeral home stuff. Secondary characters were very one dimensional.

YA OK I loved this!!?? The main character is a bit immature and at times I was like girl!!! But both characters are also kind of hot messes so I guess it's fine! It's a dual POV novel. But overall, the story of the dating the wrong guy, having a list, doing the whole shebang was really cute and I liked the story.

I received a free ARC copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Kat Kowalski has the perfect man, the best of friends, and a plan to launch her own business as a florist. But then her perfect man dumps her to move to Canada, her friends start moving on with their new partnered lives, and Kat wonders if she’s destined to be left behind. She decides she needs to date differently. Someone responsible and empathetic, not just another hot jerk. So she draws up a checklist and swears off the wrong kind of man forever. But then she meets Mick, the youngest brother at a family owned funeral home, and he feels like the best bad idea she’s ever had. But she has a list, and Mick’s older brother checks all the boxes. The trouble is that her heart doesn’t seem to care about lists.

This was a fun, tropey, friends-to-lovers/wingman-to-lovers romcom that did a good job balancing the shenanigans and angst. Kat is a pure girly girl, both pretty and smart. Her flaw is that she reacts from fear and has trouble distinguishing the symbol of a thing from the thing itself. She doubts her own instincts when it comes to a lot of things. Mick parallels that with his own defensive self-doubt, which makes them a good couple for clashing fears that keep them apart for most of the book.

There’s a solid secondary cast, with vivid wacky characters and both found and actual family bonds. The pets steal the show, though, from the sweet hedgie JoJo to the foul-mouthed cockatoo Seamus. I’ve had to talk myself out of a pet hedgehog twice since I read this.

If there’s a flaw, it’s that a few moments felt rushed or involved convenient coincidences to push genre beats. There was also some pretty messy messaging about boundaries.

But overall it was a solid, fun, escapist romcom with a few tearful moments between the laughter. I was able to enjoy it without having read the previous books in the series, but there were some moments where I felt like I was missing a reference or subtext that might have meant more if I did read the others first. It didn’t hurt the main story, though. I enjoyed the book enough to put it in my “rereadable” pile, and it should appeal to romcom fans. I’d give it 3.5 stars, but I can tell it’s going to be a lot of people’s favorite!

This book was cute. I enjoyed it and it’s quirkiness. It was an easy read and the characters had chemistry. I felt the book could have been a little shorter as it was a bit redundant in some parts. 4/5 stars.

I was given an Advanced Reader Copy by NetGalley for an honest review.

Flowers and funerals. Friends and family. A hedgehog and a cockatoo...? Add in a Chicago winter and some crochet cock cozies, and you have this charming story!

I really enjoyed the side characters in this book. Kat's grandma, Babcia, was adorable and sweet. Mick's parents were wild and wonderful. They, along with the siblings, friends, and coworkers, made the story sparkle. I found myself laughing many times, whether at the antics of Seamus the cockatoo, or conversations with Kat's coworkers, or the glib and sass between Kat and Mick.

It's a really fun read, perfect for a summer beach day or snowy winter weekend.

*I received a digital ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review

Such a fun read! I loved this book and the main character. It was such a great sweet romance!!! Thank you so much for letting me read :)

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

I will start by saying that the overall story line was cute. However, I had some trouble with this book. The biggest problem was all of the spelling mistakes and the poor grammar throughout the entire book. It made it really hard for me to keep reading it. Smaller issues I had were that the chapters were titled with the names of the two characters and whose point of view they were in but the title didn’t matter because the writing was the same throughout (always third person). Next, this book has a very slow start that leads up to a very very short event that starts and ends almost instantly. Lastly, Kat was relatable but some of her choices didn’t make sense. The whole Joe situation was weird and not necessary.

I really struggled with my rating of this one because the overall story was cute and a lot of Kat’s character was relatable but the grammar and spelling made me lose interest so many times.

This book was fun and silly and churned out the romcom feels. And, oh the quirkiness! Dressing hedgehogs up in little outfits! Cockatoos with potty mouths!

Kat meets Mick as ya do, in a "Meet Ewww" at a funeral home. She's the freshly umped florist with a fear of funeral homes but forced to deliver flowers to a service as a favor to her colleague. She meets Mick, owner of said funeral home, over a corpse. (side note: is there something in the air? I feel like I've read quite a few romances lately where the main character is a florist or works at a funeral home). Anyways, there is insta-attraction (in spite of the whole, you know, corpse thing) but Kat has put herself on a dating hiatus because she keeps falling for the wrong guy. And her immediate attraction to Mick must mean he is...Too Wrong to Be Right...So she resolves to become friends with Mick. And we know were that goes...

This book was light and breezy, low on angst, and had lots of fun side characters. I didn't swoon much, but there is something soothing about romance novels like this.

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First off, I’m giving this book 3.5/4 stars out of 5. I did enjoy the writing style and the story itself. The side characters were great and offered many laughs when needed. However, there were points in the story where the main female character just go on my nerves and I wanted to pummel her.

Overall, I did enjoy the story and the book. Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Publishing and Melonie Johnson for allowing me to read this.

⭐️⭐️2/5

Ugh. I tried so hard to like this one, and I just… didn’t.

This story follows Kat who is determined to change her ways after repeatedly dating the wrong guy. Enter Mick. Their immediate attraction is clear, but Kat is determined to keep Mick in the friend zone to avoid falling into old habits while she finds her Mr. Right.

Okay, so let’s get through the hard part first. This book really just didn’t work for me. Kat was immature and somewhat self-centered. She was so adamant that she wouldn’t let herself fall for Mick because she didn’t want the same guy she always went for, yet the entire story highlights how different he was from the guys she dated in the past. And when it came to the point that Mick and Kat finally admitted their feelings to themselves, it felt like neither was willing to put in any effort to fight for the relationship. Unfortunately, by the end, I didn’t really care if they ended up together. Also, who wants to stop in the middle of getting frisky to talk about your grandmas!? Awkward.

But wait! It wasn’t all bad! There really were some things I enjoyed in this story!
I loved the side characters - Kat’s coworkers and Mick’s sister added so much. I loved that the characters were diverse and inclusive without it feeling forced. I loved that it included quotes from some of my fave romcoms in the dialogue, these were fun little Easter eggs in the story. Plus, the cover is super cute!

So while this one just wasn’t for me, it might be for you. Happy reading!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an eARC of this book.

Posted to Goodreads 12/5/22
Will post to Instagram (ashlie_overbooked) date TBD

I really enjoyed Too Good to Be Real so I was super excited for Johnson's newest novel Too Wrong to Be Right.
Melonie Johnson has written another amazing, unputdownable rom-com.
I loved every second reading this book.
This book was a lot of fun.
Perfect, brilliantly, very well written.
The details the author described throughout the book was so done so well.
The characters and storyline were fantastic.
I could not put down nor did I want to.
Truly amazing and appreciated the whole story.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

St. Martin's Press,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC!

I really love the fact that it was a dual perspective book so you not only get the viewpoint and the inner dialogue of Kat but you also get Mick's perspective as well.

Both characters are a little bit of a mess, but that's pretty realistic to life. The best part of this book for me was honestly the side characters. They were hilarious, including the pets.

All in all I would say this was just a really cute romantic comedy book. And I really hope that she does more books for Mick's siblings.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After just breaking up with her ex, Kat literally falls over a dead body into the arms of Mick O'Sullivan. The chance meeting strikes an unlikely friendship, that moves into a business arrangement: Kat does flowers for Mick's family's funeral home. The relationship blooms and the lines between friends and lovers blur. Should business be mixed with pleasure?
**
This modern twist of How Harry Met Sally was a light, and humorous read.

But Kat wasn't terribly likeable. She came across as conceited (always mentioning how beautiful she was), was kind of bitchy towards her friends all being in love, and had a weird brother complex when it came to choosing Mick or his brother.

Mick seemed like a sweet love interest. The "always coming in second" chip on his shoulder type of guy. I actually felt bad for how Kat treated him.

Overall, had some fun quirks, but wasn't sad when it ended.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This has to be one of the least traditional meet cutes I have ever read but it worked! Kat and Mick had great chemistry from the beginning and it was such fun seeing them let their guards down and their relationship grow. I think Mick was so sweet and his family really made the story for me! The author did a really fantastic job with representation in all of her side characters and I would love to read their stories in the future. My main issue with the story was Kat at times. I found it hard to relate to her and there were times in the story I truly was frustrated/annoyed with how she was talking to Mick. I would have loved to see a little more growth or character development from her.

All that being said, I adored the authors writing style and would be first in line to read another of her books. Kat may not have been my cup of tea but I can see other sides of her that would make people love her. If you’re looking for a fun read that will make you laugh look no further!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press/ St. Martin’s Griffin and Melonie Johnson for providing me with a digital ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am obsessed with the characters in this book. Too Wrong to Be Right is the perfect book to get you out of any slump that you are in. It’s quirky, fun, interesting at times with Mick’s family owning a funeral home. Kat had just gotten out of a bad breakup and separated from her boyfriend with a new hedgehog for a pet. I think this is the first time I’ve ever read about someone owning a hedgehog and I’m all for it. Those little guys are so CUTE!

Kat swears off the men she usually goes for and with a slight turn of events of almost falling face first into a corpse, she becomes friends with Mick. The friendship between the two at first was so sweet and caring. You can tell Mick wants nothing more than to date her but is respectful of her wishes to just be friends and help her find Mr. Right. With her dating terrible guys being a constant in her life, she is very focused on finding someone who ticks all of those boxes and is completely different from her past relationships. I felt like the relationship between the two grew at a good pace. It felt natural and was super sweet. If you’re looking for a good laugh, I highly recommend this book. Melonie Johnson does a fantastic job with this novel and I can’t wait for it to come out in February 2023.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins’s Press for the early arc in exchange for an honest opinion!

This book had the most unconventional meet cute but I think it was one of my favorites. Unlike other authors Malorie Really gives a story to each of the side characters from Ronnie to Seamus they were all written beautifully. This is the most representation I have seen for a non-binary character in a romance book. I loved the connection to they way that Mick’s grandparents and parents met to the way that Mick and Kat meet. I want to reread already and It hasn’t even been a full 24 hours. Also JoJo might be my favorite book pet.

This was the perfect combination of sweet and spicy. The characters had amazing chemistry and it was fun to watch them slowly let their guard down. Great humor, likable characters. I definitely recommend!

Kat Kowalski manages the local florist shop. Kat has goals .. to own her own florist business and to finally stop chasing the wrong type of guy. You see, her last boyfriend not only just dumped her he left her with his pet hedgehog JoJo, and he is not coming back for either. What she did not expect to happen was meeting Mick O’Sullivan, a crude cockatoo and almost colliding with a corpse at the O’Sullivan Funeral Home. Mick is not only attractive but charming and rather flirty .. a man Kat needs to keep at a distant, more of a platonic relationship. But here lies the question .. Can they remain just friends? Or will Kat finally realize Mick is the right man she has been looking for all along.

I really wanted to love this book, but it was just okay – it just fell flat. I had a hard time connecting with Kat and at times I found her not only annoying but unreasonable when it came to the Mick .. she treated him like a doormat and truthfully, I did not feel they had much chemistry. She had a great relationship with her grandmother and with her co-workers. Although the cooing over the hedgehog was a little bit much!

To Wrong to Be Right get a solid three stars. While this is my first Melonie Johnson novel I definitely will pick up another novel by her – I liked her writing style but have hopes her characters are more likable and have a better chemistry.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press/ St. Martin’s Griffin and Melonie Johnson for providing me with a digital ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Release date for To Wrong to Be Right is February 28, 2023.