Thank you to NetGalley for a digital ARC.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The characterization was good, although one of the characters annoyed me quite often (probably the point, though). The storyline itself was also good, but I did find myself skipping over some details about where secondary characters were. Very Spicy! I don't care for reading bad language, and this one had quite a bit, but I know that's personal preference. For a romance, it kept me entertained.

I will be leaving a review on Goodreads today.

I felt like I need to recoup after reading this book. Ava Wilder takes her reader on a wild ride through Hollywood and fame and the intense relationship between two of TVs sweethearts. The problem was had this been a TV series it would have run two season too long. It dragged on, the tension between Shane and Lilah went on for so long I almost didn't care if they got together. To be honest the relationship felt somewhat toxic, I didn't even know if they should stay together. Lilah was not terribly likeable and the book didn't spend enough time developing what they shared initially to make it seem like that even had anything worth fighting for other than sexual chemistry. Despite so many self revelations in the book I still don't think we ever saw who these two people were and why it was so imperative they end up together. Some of the descriptions were too long and drawn out and it felt too long. I was frustrated by the end of it. Still going to give it 3 stars because I liked the Hollywood setting, it had a lot of really great moments as well. The rehearsal of Kate and Harrisons long awaited kiss was very powerfully written. If you love Hollywood romances then read this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dell Publishers for allowing me to receive an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

This was one of the releases of 2023 I had been most excited for, and it was completely worth the excitement!

I love second chance romance books, but it’s hard to find one that feels authentic - where the characters are realistic, communicate, and have their own development outside of the relationship. But this ticked every box for me. It’s very well-paced - even the time jumps were perfect. I didn’t want to put it down and was 100% invested in Shane and Lilah the entire time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really, really, really loved this book! GAHH!!! I adored Ava Wilder's previous book, How to Fake it in Hollywood, and I somehow loved this one even more! This was an expertly done enemies-to-lovers, second chance romance with really compelling and complex main characters. Wilder doesn't make it easy for these characters to find HEA and that's what I loved most about it - they had to work (hard) and it took a while for them to find their way back to each other, which just makes it all the more rewarding for the reader. The chemistry between Lilah and Shane leapt off the page!! And Shane - he was vulnerable, and caring, and prickly in just right way to be totally real - what a hero to root for! The TV show reunion setting was really interesting and fun to read about too!

Cannot wait to read more from Ava Wilder!! Wish I could go back and read this one for the first time all over again :)

TLDR: Funny, honest, sexy. I’m in love.

Ava Wilder thoroughly stole my heart with her debut, which was my favorite romance of 2022 and the best debut I've ever had the pleasure of reading. I could rant for too long about social media’s bias for certain publishing imprints (and the injustice that served against How to Fake It in Hollywood last summer), but instead I’ll rant about how much I loved Wilder’s sophomore triumph.

You ever read something so vivid and relatable that you feel like the author has a direct line to your psyche? Or, like, you’re not reading a book that came from someone’s imagination but are watching something play out in real life? I’m not overstating when I say that’s how I felt reading Will They or Won’t They.

We’re in a time when romcoms are so much more than shenanigans and innuendo and I’m glad for it. Don’t get me wrong, I love shenanigans and innuendo, and we get plenty here, but Lilah and Shane both have real shit to work out, and the author doesn’t shy away from exploring it. I really appreciate honest depictions of insecurity and self-destructiveness in romance, because we’re all a little bit of both, and working through it to be a good person, friend, partner, etc. is hard. When an author can take a character to the lowest lows and still finagle a well-earned, satisfying happy ending… swoon.

The chemistry between Lilah and Shane was sooooo good. I don’t normally fuck with second-chance romance, but these two had tension from being together at one point that really elevated the enemies-to-lovers sexiness. I feel like I got a nice drip-feed of steamy suggestiveness from the very beginning, which made the whole ~vibe~ incredibly sexy.

Two other things I don’t have much to say about but want to shout out: 1) I legitimately cackled aloud too many times to count over details and references I won’t mention so that you can find them yourself, and 2) Lilah is tall!! I suspected as much from the cover, but can confirm. As a fellow tall girl, that’s fun to see.

Will They or Won't They tells the story of Lilah and Shane, two former costars who have had a contentious romantic history over the last nine years. Their relationship was perfect in the beginning - two young, fresh-faced actors who were eager to make their big break into Hollywood and found solace in each other's company. Now, they can't stand to even be in the same room together.

When Lilah is unexpectedly brought back into the show that she left behind, old memories, tension, and unresolved feelings with Shane resurface. What results is a soul-searching journey for both characters to reflect on their shared past and determine what the future holds, both professionally and personally. This is a true second-chance romance that tugs at your heart and explores the benefits of being older and wiser in a relationship.

Ava Wilder writes some of my favorite characters and I love that she chose to include another Hollywood romance. The witty banter between the characters did not feel forced and their chemistry was evident throughout the entire book. And that ending! The last chapter was the icing on the cake for this book. Well done, Ava!

I loved this story! I read this authors debut novel over the summer and was thrilled to see another title by her. I enjoyed learning about the characters, the hollywood trope and second chance romance!

I love the way Ava writes her characters and her dialogue. Her prologue is top notch and really sets the stage for the rest of the book! The characters are flawed but relatable. They play actors on a popular supernatural TV show that has a cult-like following. They despise each other and tensions are high on set together. I really appreciated seeing their growth and revelations through the couples' therapy sessions and seeing their friendship develop. There is almost too much angst between the two and this was a very slow burn! The ending was so good and so satisfying!

Recommend if you enjoy
Celebrity romance story / Hollywood setting
Second chance romances
Enemies to lovers
Flawed and relatable characters
Supernatural shows like The Vampire Diaries
Jewish rep

Will They Or Wont They
By: Ava Wilder
Review Score: 4 Stars


Five Key Feels
-You can feel the tension between Shane and Lilah from the get go.

-I loved how the story flows, jumping back and forth in time to tell the story.

-The chemistry between Shane and Lilah is palpable, and it makes sense why they were on the show for so long.

-Lilah has a really great group of friends, it was fun to learn how they met.

-No spoilers, but there are some really good plot twists in this story.


———


Will They Or Wont They was kindly provided as an ARC by Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine . Thank you for allowing me to read this wonderful book!

Release Date: 6/27/23

Yall. This book. It was intense. I loved following Shane and Lilah’s journey, and trying to determine what happened to them to make them hate each other (especially when their on screen chemistry is just off the charts).

This book pulls you in, and makes you want to know what happened! I was hooked, and sad when it was over.



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I inhaled this incredible book in one day. Lilah and Shane have a complex relationship full of history, and I loved getting to follow them on their journey to figuring it out. As with HOW TO FAKE IT IN HOLLYWOOD, Ava Wilder does great things here with the Hollywood setting. It's fun, but the characters still feel grounded, with real vulnerabilities. I wanted to keep hanging out in their world long after I finished the book. Such a great read!

Ava creates some of my favorite, messy characters! I love a celebrity romance and when I read How to Fake it in Hollywood last year it quickly became a favorite. I knew I had to get my hands on this book immediately and I read it in under 24 hours.

I will forever be obsessed with second chance romances! I loved the writing style. I loved the flawed, relatable characters and how the author can take a Hollywood setting and create real people with real problems. Lilah and Shane are co-stars with a very complicated past who despise each other. Lilah left the show after season 5 but is returning for a final season. The tension and banter between these two were top notch! The ending was perfect and satisfying!

I loved the enemies to lovers trope and it was done perfectly! One of my favorite things about Ava’s writing is how she always incorporates mental health representation and it’s so wonderful!

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this book!

<i> five stars! </i> ʚïɞ

ava wilder does it again! she is quickly becoming an autobuy/autoread author for me. i absolutely adored her debut,<i>how to fake it in hollywood</i>, last year and was so stoked to find out that she was writing another novel! i genuinely let out a scream when i got the email that i had been approved for the arc of this, and i almost quit reading my current book to pick this up then.

despite all of my excitement for this book, i never actually read the synopsis before starting it so i really had no idea what this book was about. <i>will they or won’t they</i>had me hooked from the prologue though, and i immediately fell in love with lilah as a main character and the spark between her and shane. and then i realized this was a second chance romance and i was so giddy with excitement because the set up was just so good. i think this has to be one of my favorite second chance romances now! <3

this book follows lilah and shane, two actors on a very popular television series where they essentially play star-crossed lovers. during the initial first couple of seasons on the show, lilah and shane very quickly develop feelings for each other and have a secret relationship, until that blows up in their faces. ten years later, lilah decides to join the show again for their final season, and the emotions between her and shane are still as raw as they were when she left.

over the course of the novel, the two characters realize that the bickering and tension between them is not healthy and, with the help of couples therapy sessions, they form a sort of truce and eventually develop a friendship. we also get to see a bit of what happened in the past with them, which just added to their relationship and dynamic. seeing how shane would stand up for lilah, and how they learned how to communicate with one another, ugh they were just so perfect for each other. everything was so meaningful and genuine. and the angst and tension between the two?? *chef’s kiss* times a million. there was even a scene that slightly resembled the hand flex scene from the iconic <i>pride and prejudice</i> movie and i was living for it!!


this book perfectly does a realistic job at the whole “lovers to enemies to friends to lovers” thing and i ate that up the entire time! their banter and arguments when lilah first comes back was so entertaining and reminded me a lot of naomi and nicholas from <i>you deserve each other</i> in the sense that both couples intentionally would do or say things to get on the others nerve in a slightly comical way. i loved both shane and lilah’s characters so much, they were both insanely realistic and flawed yet still completely lovable. i definitely had heart eyes for shane (not to mention he’s from oklahoma… i’m from oklahoma??? where the hell are the men like that??) and there was some amazing anxiety rep with lilah, i saw a lot of myself in her!

overall this was such a great novel, and i’m so thankful i got my hands on it early! i’ll definitely be preordering a physical copy, as i can’t wait to get this in my hands to reread and annotate! i can’t wait to see what ava wilder does next, but i can imagine i’m going to be loving it just as much as i’ve loved her first two books! <3

<i> huge thank you to netgalley and random house publishing for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review! </i>

I can absolutely see the hype behind Ava Wilder’s writing style. It’s fun and easy to get pulled in. While the writing pulls you in, for this book, I really struggled to connect with the characters. And it’s absolutely possible that was intentional because of the way they each guarded themselves. But as a reader, I wanted a little more time to understand and get to know them them. I feel like the breadcrumbs we did receive were still too vague to connect.

There were definitely parts where I was like “awh, that’s cute” or was mad for each of them. But I feel like once they started working together again, there was an immediate shutdown of emotions to the readers. It didn’t make me feel as much as I want to out of a book.

I like the way the plot plays out. I wished the “will they or won’t they” came a bit earlier. The pop-up at 92% really left everything else to play out in a rush. Right when my heart was starting to actually pitter patter for them.

Lastly, if you’re gonna do flashbacks you gotta commit. There were at least three chapters that listed things out instead of using a flashback where it would have been perfect. I struggle with listing because it feels like I’m being talked at instead of immersed in a story. I want to experience it.

Again, the plot - yay. The story as a whole…I also really liked it - DESPITE the miscommunication. I just think my personal preferences in a book got in the way of me enjoying it as much as others.

(4.5) Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for sending me an eARC of this novel! I adored Ava Wilder's debut novel, so I was extremely excited to get my hands on this one. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I am a sucker for stories about famous people, and Wilder does it so well. I thought there was an insane amount of chemistry between Lilah and Shane, and I was literally on the edge of my seat waiting for them to get together. It was that palpable. I thought that the best part was them practicing their scenes. It was the only time they'd let themselves give in to the palpable chemistry. I just didn't want to put it down — it was a great mix of light and fluffy without being unbearably cheesy.

read this overnight! Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

honestly I have been in a reading slump and this pulled me out. at first I was worried that our heroine was unlikeable throughout but she really redeemed herself for me as the series progressed. i would have liked to see her anxiety explored a little more. i wish in addition to the last chapter we got an extended epilogue as well.

i really enjoyed this book! i liked all the characters, felt like they were well-developed. i loved the slow-ish burn pace; I didn't even mind the time jumps that much - they were well placed and not overwhelming.

the formatting errors were really distracting -- every few pages reading "vOQ2" - at first I thought this was the name of a bizarre therapy technique? but nope, just a typo.

Lilah and Shane have played on-screen love interests for almost a decade, but their behind-the-scenes relationship is a bit more complicated. After an instant connection at their auditions and a season of hooking up, the two have a disastrous break-up followed by unhampered animosity that reaches a head when Lilah decides to leave the show after five seasons. But after a failed movie, Lilah is back for the ninth and final season, and somehow these two have to find a way to work together--perhaps with the help of couples counseling and a bit of liquor.

Gosh, Wilder manages to put forth yet another fantastic celebrity romance. The celebrity romance trope can be tricky to manage in a believable way--particularly when so many authors force a random person into a relationship with a star. But Wilder avoid that pitfall but working with not one, but two celebrities, who could (and should) actually be together. Lilah and Shane are presented as kindred spirits, broken apart by youthful fears and then pushed apart by their own petty actions. With several flashbacks, we begin to understand where it all went wrong and how it got to the point where we begin the book--hatred. I don't know how many more unique celebrity romances Wilder can pull together, but I will read all of them--or anything else she writes, for that matter.

Thanks to Dell Books for my ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 10/10

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for this advance readers copy, in exchange for an honest review. Will They or Won’t They is a story about Lilah and Shane, two people who fell in love after being cast as the lead characters in a hit TV show. However, as the book opens, we learn that Lilah left the show after a few seasons and is now returning, with the added pressure of having to prove herself professionally and also confront Shane after so many years apart. Throughout the book, we learn more about the path that brought them to where they are today and what their undeniable, still existing chemistry might mean for their future.

This book is a true romance through and through and I loved every single minute of it! I read the book in one sitting and couldn’t get enough of it. In my own reading experience, romances can be either a hit or miss in that some are just too far fetched and unrealistic to buy into. However, that was absolutely not the case with this book and I was sad when it ended!! I was so waiting for the “will they or won’t they” trope to fully play out and the wait alone was so satisfying to read. Both Lilah and Shane were characters to root for! Another element of this book that I loved was the incorporation of mental health topics and anxiety, as experienced by Lilah. I appreciated the delicacy with which the author handled these topics and also appreciated how she showed how anxiety can manifest itself at any moment.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely be interested in reading more works by this author. I would highly recommend this story to any romance and contemporary fiction fans!

Summary: When Lilah Hunter and Shane McCarthy are reunited for the final season of their long running tv series, sparks fly. After their secret fling imploded at the end of season one, they spent the next four years hating one another - until Lilah left in search of a bigger career. Now back in each other’s orbits, the two struggle to put their feelings aside to finish out their filming, they are forced to confront feelings they thought they had left in the past.

Thoughts: There is just something so easy about reading Ava Wilder’s books. Going in, you know that each and every character, including those in supporting roles, will be fully developed and relatable. You know that the pacing will be steady throughout without the dreaded “drag” that can happen especially in romance novels. And you know that by the time you reach the conclusion, you will most definitely have a vested interest.

The lovers to enemies trope was done exceptionally well and it was so much fun to see the progression of our MC’s relationship both in the present day as well as through flashbacks of varied time periods. Some of my favorite scenes were Shane and Lilah’s counseling sessions where we were able to gain a glimpse into their very repressed emotions.

Read if you like:
•second chance romance
•forced proximity
•lovers to enemies
•hollywood setting
•jewish rep

Thank you Dell Publishing and NetGalley for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

A highly anticipated read for me, and once again Ava Wilder did not disappoint. I couldn’t get enough of Lilah and Shane’s slow burn, second chance, enemies to lovers romance. I can’t pick my favorite part: the therapy, the very, very good steam, the longing and near painful buildup, and the lack of third act breakup. I devoured this in one night and then immediately started rereading scenes. This is a new favorite. Thank you for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This is out in June and you should run, not walk, to preorder it.

THE ANGST IN THIS ONE WAS ALMOST UNBEARABLE.. I just needed to start the review by warning everyone how angsty this was. This was not a romcom. This was very dramatic, almost too dramatic at points.

Lilah is almost unbearably immature at times as the story progresses and throughout the novel I am pretty much entirely on Shane's side. Like Shane is almost a saint compared to Lilah. Lilah would have you believe that Shane did some really unforgivable and cruel things, but as the story unfolds and Lilah begins to tell the truth and you realize what SHE did, yeah, I really didn't feel much for her other than I liked Shane so much I wanted his happy ending for him.

I felt a LOT of stuff reading this novel. I read it in one sitting and it took me about three hours. I couldn't put it down. I was simultaneously in shock of how unselfaware Lilah is, why Shane stills puts up with her and then also perturbed that I still would rate this a five star read despite disliking the heroine so much.

I think it's because I felt sooo much while reading this book and knowing it's going to stick with me. Also when the spice happens it's very, very well written. There's that too.

Yes, I recommend this novel for those who love angst and spice in books.

There are some other tropes in this well: enemies to lovers, second chance romance, rivals to lovers (workplace romance), and sunshiney male x grumpy female. All of these tropes work well in this.

Thanks to Ava Wilder, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for the ARC for a review!

Check it out on June 27th, 2023!