first of all thank you Netgalley for this e-ARC.

this book is about tv vet show that literally forced two college enemies into a fake romance. AND he’s the sunshine and she’s the grump. THATS IT.

i literally read this book without any thoughts. i just want some cute and wholesome plot and I DID GET THAT. i absolutely ate this book up. it has a lot of entertaining story and characters which is why i can’t stop reading it.

amber. who is a veterinarian and specializes in surgery and has a reality tv show about the emergency vet. she’s so badass. i love her personality so much. she’s strong and has a big ego. i love her so much.

ian. amber’s college nemesis. people called him “sexiest vet” NGL I AGREE SO MUCH. he has a job to fake dating amber on her show. amber hated ian for what he did to her back in Valentine’s Day during their time at vet school. SO IF YOU GUYS WANT TO KNOW MORE PLS READ IT. bcs i’m obsessed with this book.

what i love about the plot is we got to see the dual pov. so i can know what they thought about each other and what they misunderstood about each other. the writing was perfect. the side characters and adorable animals are just so fascinating to read more. they are incredible. they’re also have some of difficult topics such as foster system, gambling addiction, loss of a family member, mention of loss pet, parental manipulation and more. BUT somehow this book managed to get and keep the contemporary romance aspect. like i still got the fluffy and wholesome and sexy romance in this book.

this book will be release on 9th January so PLS BUY OR ADD THIS BOOK ON YOUR TBR!

Thank you to netgalley and the author's publisher for providing me with an ARC.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. A reality tv show about an emergency vet? YES. PLEASE.

This follows Amber and Ian, two vets who have known each other for quite some time. They met in vet school together, and lets just say they were always at each other's throat. They had crackling chemistry from the very beginning, but this chemistry was shown as their deep 'hatred' for each other for years.

They are now back in the same place as Ian is now in the same emergency center as Amber, and they are being told to fake date for the TV show's ratings. But they hate each other, and they have for as long as they knew each other...how is that going to work out?

The chemistry between the characters were explosive. I was screaming, laughing and kicking my feet through the whole book. You are probably thinking "if you loved this so much why only 4.5 stars?" Well I am nitpicky.

My one downfall for this book was the rushed ending. I felt that the author took the end that could have been developed into 3 solid chapters and squished it into a quick one chapter. I love the endings of books when they realize they made a mistake, and I was a bit left down by this one.

BUT that small detail aside, this book is one to definitely pick up ASAP!!

4.5/5

Loves this books, it´s noe og tre best books I´ve read in a long time. It got all the god stuff, enemies to lovers AND fake dating! I loves the writing, It was easy to read, and wery good writen.
Two vets Are om a reality show in the place Amber works, and them her «enemy» Ian from school comes to work with her.
I recomend this book to everyone that have a chance to read it!
I think I have found a nes favorite author

Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐️ (rounded up to 4⭐️)

Publication Date: January 9th 2023

Author: Zoe Forward

Review: So so cute. I am a sucker for the animated covers like this one so that was the first thing that drew me to this book. I also really liked the banter between Ian and Amber it was the perfect amount of back and forth. It wasn’t the type of “love” that you get bored of it was an easy read and everything just melded together perfectly. I really liked they gave back ground about the couple too .. goodie too shoes boy and girl from the “wrong side of the track” (that’s how I pictured amber) which is different from typical rom-coms I think normally it’s the opposite.
All around a fun and easy read.

Unfortunately, I got to 25% and DNF. I had to put the book down. Here's why.: the way that they spoke to each other was so aggressive, rude, and honestly annoying and then in their POV it would shoot back to, "he's so cute" or "she's adorable when she's mad" and it made my brain want to scream. I totally like enemies to lovers genre but this was just too aggressive. I will say though, that this plot had so much potential and I did like how much she cared for the animals she was working with. But, once they got to the diner scene, I had to stop.

Dnf after 28%

This book wasn't what I was expected. I never read the synopsis before I requested this one, my fault. I should have done that... I think a lot of people would enjoy this one, but just not me. I struggled a lot.

I really, really wanted to love this book. It had SO many tropes that I love and the description of it was really enticing to me!

Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. I had a really hard time connecting with the characters. Right away I found the FMC off-putting. She was the "I'm edgy and not like other girls" type vibes, which I normally don't like. We also were told that she had something bad happen with the MMC in the past, yet every time she sees him has to *remind* herself that he did this thing because he is just oh so good looking. That was just really unbelievable to me. If someone did to her what the MMC did, his attractiveness wouldn't matter.

The MMC was, fine. I liked him more than the FMC when we were introduced, but similarly, his whole thing was how he was in love with her but played this prank on her and then couldn't tell her the truth. This happened when they were in Vet school. As adults. These events sounded like something that happens to 16 year olds, not 24 year olds.

A lot of the background information about the MCs felt pretty spoon fed and we were kind of plopped in the story. I struggled to get into the book as I find this style of storytelling to be a little subpar. Some things in the plot seemed pretty far fetched too: her being forced to fake date or basically lose her job, yet she worked for the vet, not the TV series, her calling a patient's owner and throwing another vet under the bus (this screams malpractice to me), and basically all of their interactions at the beginning with how they interact upon seeing each other for the first time after years. The parts with the surgeries and more veterinary aspects were described well, but the rest didn't click.

So unfortunately, while I had a lot of hope for this one, I just found it really isn't the book for me. I could see other people enjoying it, but the characters and writing style are not my cup of tea. I think it had great potential for plot, but was executed poorly for my taste.

I am a sucker for the fake dating trope AND second chance romance so I was super excited for this book, but sadly it really missed the mark for me. I thought there was a lot of cheesy dialogue poorly disguised as back-and-forth, and the agonizing ‘you’re sooooo short!’ moments stuck out to me because of the otherwise rather lackluster plot. I felt like the two main characters were never explored at a deeper level so by the time there was real conflict at the 77% mark but I honestly didn’t really care what happened because they both felt surface level and rather cliche. This apathy towards the characters was the real sticking point for me which sadly led to me not enjoying this book, which is disappointing because the premise sounded truly inviting!

This was a book I looked forward to reading and it did not disappoint! The romance was beautiful. But I truly enjoyed the interactions in the vet clinics! If you love romances and you love animals! You need to read it!

Really cute romance between two vets. The best parts about this story were seeing the inside of the vet clinic, and how the characters interacted with their jobs and patients. The resolving between supposed ‘enemies’ was way to fast paced and this book could do with slowing down the section between I hate you to I love you. But overall it was a very fun quick cute romance read, nothing extraordinary but very enjoyable.

Thank you to the Netgalley and the publisher, Xpresso Books, for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy. This honest review was based off my experience reading this eARC, which in no way biased me. All opinions are my own.

CW: FMC was in the foster system, gambling addiction, loss of a family member due to gun violence, mention of loss of a pet in the past, blackmail, mention of MC getting drugged and framed for an affair, mention of past stalking/ attempted SA/murder, parental manipulation

Long story short, HELL YES.

This somehow managed to get the contemporary romance aspect while also bringing some difficult topics into the storyline, and it did it well.

This has a beautiful blend of tropes:
- former academic friends/friendly rivals to enemies
- Enemies to lovers (one sided)
- Obsessed Boy
- Fake dating
- Celebrity romance
- Reality TV Veterinary Medicine Show
- Coworker/Workplace romance
- Dual POV
- Grumpy Girl / Sunshine Guy
- THE BANTER

I absolutely ate this book up, I struggled many times PUTTING IT DOWN. I wanted to know more. It also has a very entertaining cast of side characters. Amber’s foster siblings, I’d love to see stories for each of them.

I would have liked to see more development for Marino’s gambling addiction.

Having this book be dual POV made it that much better. Being able to see in both of their heads at any given time, especially during jealousy scenes was *chef’s kiss*.

I love Amber and Ian. I had a great time reading this. 4.5 stars overall, rounding down for GoodReads.

This is my first book by this author and definitely will be picking more of their stuff up.

A escrita da autora é bem gostosinha e fluída. Amei os bastidores do reality show (apesar de algumas situações serem bem nonsense). Amber é maravilhosa e muito meu espírito animal, adorei sua lealdade tanto para com os irmãos quanto os seus pacientes animaizinhos. Ian também teve bom desenvolvimento e gostei de ver que ele é mais que um rostinho bonito e gostava de verdade da Amber.
O único problema é que da metade em diante eu senti que estava acontecendo muita coisa ao mesmo tempo e tudo era muito atropelado. Mas fora isso uma boa leitura para passar o tempo.

It was my first time reading and having the female be a grump and male being the sunshine. I enjoyed everything about this book loved that it was reality TV/fake dating trophe. There was also more to each character Amber and Ian both had amazing character development. I loved the fact that Amber took care of her family and that Ian can distinguish that although you can't always choose family you're allowed to step away from that. Read this book if you want to finish it in a day like I did couldn't put it down.

I have never read a book with vets and so I wanted to give this book a chance.

I liked everything that is related to the vet environment, although here we find a workplace that is also occupied by television cameras and people who try to assemble and disassemble things to their liking in order to get a rating (nothing too far from the reality); and our protagonist, Amber (why does it happen that in many romance books the name of the protagonist does not appear? that bothers me a little), she does not like that. Not at all. And on top of that his arch enemy comes, worse.

It was a fun, fleeting reading, where there were themes that could have been developed a little and made the story have another color, but they were overlooked. It's not a bad thing, it's a personal taste. I feel that there was a lot of potential in certain situations (specifically things that have happened to the protagonist) that could have been a different touch.

A reading to pass the time, have fun, be outraged and enjoy reading.

I definitely enjoyed this book! For the most part, it was your average romance but I really enjoyed the veterinary and reality tv aspects that were added in. I loved medical dramas, and this one had just enough of those kinds of scenes - life saving surgery, awkward patient-doctor checkups, day-to-day life in a medical setting, with the added bonus of it being about animals not people. I've never worked in a vet clinic, but I did work at an animal shelter that had an onsite vet clinic so I have a bit of an understanding of what life looks like in those settings and I found this believable. The author is a vet herself, so that probably helped too. The reality TV part was good too, the added drama that the cameras and producers caused definitely helped keep the story moving and it was also believable and as realistic as reality tv can be!

I liked both Amber and Ian's characters. I think it was really great that Amber was confident and didn't lose sight of her motivation and values just because of the TV show or romance with Ian. I loved the contrast between their backgrounds, Amber was a foster child and worked really hard to get through vet school but also created her own family and community with other people who went through the care system. Ian, however, grew up in a very wealthy lifestyle but feels as though he is on the outside of his own family. They also demonstrate the importance of getting to know someone for who they are not just the persona they put forward when in front of other people - or a camera!

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a fun contemporary romance. I will also definitely be looking for Zoe Forward's books in the future! It was an easy read and had enough additional elements to keep me hooked and wanting to continue reading, so that is definitely a win for me when it comes to romance books!

Review:
Amber and Ian are first and foremost vetninarians and I love that about them. They went to vet school together and through their history became more rivals than friends. I greatly enjoyed their banter - it was top notch arguing and bickering without the often awful or hurtful things. Both Ian and Amber are aware of how their insults land and don't spend the entire book truly wounding each other.
Amber is #badass goals. She is an amazing vet who goes to battle for her patients, but she;s built her own family out of foster siblings and stands by them when needed and trusts them to be adults when needed. She cares about Ian and hides her feelings behind barbs about hor attractive he is, but she isn't walking around jealous and unbearable.
Ian is interesting and unique in his approach to the reality tv he finds himself starring in. He wants to work with exotic animals and wants a zoo job but takes on work at an emergency clinic and a showmance while trying to get there.
Ian and Amber are so well matched both as vets and professional adults and as people. Neither of them are looking for love but they sure do a good job of putting their rivalry aside when the other needs some backup, and it's inspiring.

Synopsis:
I would say Dr. Ian Todd is my archenemy. But that would require us acknowledging each other, which we haven’t done since we graduated veterinary school.
He’s famous. As in, he’s the world’s “Sexiest Veterinarian Alive” with his own wildlife TV show and a string of glamorous girlfriends.
I’m infamous as a reality TV emergency veterinarian with a snark mouth, take-no-crap attitude, and zero dating life.
When asked to fake a romance with him on TV to boost my ER show’s ratings, I want to say no-way, but the extra money will pay off my brother’s loan shark debt. Even though Ian broke my heart, playing his love interest shouldn’t be hard, especially if it means getting to watch him squirm.
Lines get blurred when the TV setups stop feeling fake. Can I chance this might be real love?

This was a cute story! Enemies to lovers and fake dating are my fave tropes so I love when they're combined. I didn't love Amber as a main character

Loved every second of this book! Lived for the banter between these two. And the chemistry? Phenomenal. This is one I’ll definitely be reaching for again.

Amber hates Dr. Ian Todd for what he did to her in vet school. The two cross paths years later while amber is working an emergency vet.

Amber’s vet clinic also films a reality TV show. With Amber as the bad ass, who takes shit from no one.

Amber and Dr. Ian are asked to fake a romance for the reality TV show. Will this fake romance turn into something real?

A great vacation read! While I did find some parts of the book to be a little cheesy, I did end up enjoying it!

Doc Showmance by Zoe Forward

Plot: Amber, a vet, specializes in surgery and is a reality TV star in a show about what it's like to be an emergency vet. Her college nemesis, Ian, who holds the title of being the 'sexiest vet', is blackmailed to fake date Amber on her show. Amber hated Ian, for what he did to her on Valentine's Day, back in vet school. So, will this on-screen love win her over in real life, or will she hold on to the grudge? Read the book to find out!

My thoughts: This book has all my favorite tropes, fake dating, enemies to lovers, workplace romance, grumpy sunshine, and forced proximity-- all in one. How can one not like a book based on doctors and a reality tv show with all the drama to spice it up?
I loved the energy of the main characters and the side characters lived up to my expectations by adding all the right amount of drama. Great plot, and well executed by the author, makes it an easy 4 stars for me


Thank-you NetGalley, the author, Zoe Forward, and the publishers for providing me with the ARC in return of my honest review!