Eric Smith’s “With or Without You” falls into the YA meet-cute genre. Jordan Plazas runs a cheese steak food truck in Philly. All he wants to do in life after high school is buy a food truck and travel across the U.S. His rival, Cindy Ortiz, runs her family’s food truck, a healthy alternative to cheese steaks, right across the street from Jordan. All she wants to do is return to Boston. Their rivalry draws as much attention as their food. So much so that a TV producer wants to create a reality TV show about Jordan and Cindy’s food truck a as they prepare for the city wide contest. How will these enemies cope?

Overall, the premise of the plot was cute but incredibly repetitive and a bit unrealistic. I found myself not invested in their stories, but I do think a young teen would enjoy it.

With or Without You by Eric Smith is a heartfelt and emotionally charged story about friendship, love, and the challenges of growing up. The novel follows the journey of best friends Meg and Ray as they navigate the complexities of their senior year, their dreams for the future, and the strains these ambitions place on their bond. Smith does an excellent job capturing the bittersweet nature of young adulthood, particularly the push and pull between holding on to old friendships and embracing change.

What makes this book stand out is its honest portrayal of the messy, sometimes painful, reality of evolving relationships. Both Meg and Ray are deeply relatable, flawed characters, and their journey feels authentic. Smith’s exploration of loyalty, self-discovery, and the difficult decisions that come with choosing your own path will resonate with anyone who has faced the crossroads of adolescence. With or Without You is a touching and compelling read about how growing up sometimes means growing apart.

This was cute. I liked the characters and the story, there just wasn't really much of a wow for my to set this apart from other YA novels. I struggle with YA and very rarely come across one that I love anymore, so that probably contributes towards my lukewarm feelings towards this book. Just wasn't really for me.

This book.

I really wanted to like it.

Feuding food trucks with secret love?? Yes please.

However reality is fell a little flat and a some (one specifically) characters were just the actual worst. Like almost made me want to DNF.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

I will forever give recommendations for my students to read Eric Smith in my classroom. He has a way of writing characters that students will look up to them and see themselves in the story. Also, since I teach in the School District of Philadelphia, it is nice for my students to read stories from local authors as well. I love the enemies to lovers trope and the idea of the story of rival food truck families. It's so unique! There were some times were the story slowed a bit, but overall, it was a very enjoyable read!

I will be completely honest, I tried reading this a couple of different times, but in the end I couldn’t do it.
I don’t think it was badly written, I just am not a fan a lot of the tropes that I started seeing in what I did read.
Food truck Romeo and Juliet just isn’t for me

Have you ever read a book where you don’t totally understand who the target audience is?
This isn’t quite romantic enough to be a romance, but it has the vibe of one. I think where I struggle is that the relationship in question has already been well established by the time the book starts. For me, the most exciting part of a relationship is the beginning, so without that I’m not very invested.
Ultimately, I think this is a coming of age story that is marketed weird.
There is some pretty cool content surrounding reality TV and the food truck industry.
Overall it isn’t the book for me, but I can see it being the perfect fit for someone looking for a quick YA family drama.

Thank you, Eric Smith, NetGalley, and Inkyard Press for my advanced review copt in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

Plot - 3
Writing and Editing - 3
Character Development - 3
Personal Bias - 2
Final Score - 2.75

This had all the things I love fake dating, fake rivals, and a reality tv food show. However, I think this was meh. I couldn't stand Cindy she really annoyed me and there was something about the way things unfolded that just didn't do it for me. There were also points where I felt it dragged, which left me feeling like, "Is this over yet?"

*I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher. This is my honest review.*

I'm kind of torn on this book. On the one hand, I appreciate that it's a YA book free from sex and really harsh language (yes, there's some swearing). Books like that are becoming more difficult to find, which is really quite sad. For that reason, I want to give it a really good rating. But I found myself frustrated throughout much of the book and didn't feel completely satisfied by the ending. So here we are at three stars.

Reality television is not my thing. (Okay, I enjoy cooking shows, but mostly I just like the recipes.). I connected more with Jordan than I did with Cindy, and I suppose that was one of the reasons--though Jordan's recipe for cheesesteaks does not appeal to me (meal, cheese, onions, salt, pepper, and bread). Honestly, though, I was bothered by Cindy's selfishness, her lack of trust in Jordan, and her frustration with him over things that she had never even told him. I don't fault her for having dreams separate from Jordan's however, she allowed him to make plans with the assumption that she was on board when she was actually making her own plans. He based so much of what he did on the combination of what she wanted and what he thought she wanted. She based everything she did on what she wanted, never doing anything for him. In my opinion, Jordan was a giver, and Cindy was a taker. Their relationship bothered me, and I couldn't decide if I wanted them to stay together or break up. That's a huge reason I struggled to like this book more than I did; good relationships are important to me, and I just wasn't a fan of theirs (mainly because of Cindy).

The writing flowed well, and dialogue felt natural. I think the characters were pretty well developed. Reality television was broken open a little, too, which was good. It's not all unscripted or unplanned, and it's important for people to recognize that as well as the real troubles that it can cause.

Note: Some swearing.

This is my first time reading a book by Eric Smith. This is the romantic comedy of Cindy, Jordan, feuding families, food trucks and young teen romance. Cindy and Jordan’s family own food trucks and are rivals who both sell Philly Cheesesteaks. Cindy and Jordan are young teenagers. The two have been faking being enemies and feuding but in actuality the two are privately in a relationship. Cindy and Jordan’s family are in The Truck Of competition and Jordan has his reason for wanting to win the competition. The family has agreed to appear in a reality TV show to boost business. As the show is filming the competition progresses things are being revealed along with secrets. I so enjoyed reading about Cindy and Jordan’s faking their relationship, their feuding families and secrets.

I received an ARC via NetGalley and Inkyard Press and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

Eric Smith and I have known each other since 2012. I'm always so excited when he announces that he has a new book coming out and With or Without You was no exception. The idea of a food truck rivalry where the main characters are actually secretly dating? Count me in!

Cindy and Jordan are seniors in high school. Each of them work in the food trucks their families own. These food trucks are vastly different as one focuses on healthier cheesesteaks while the other makes classic cheesesteaks. Yet somehow a rivalry has started between the two families causing Cindy and Jordan to be stuck right in the middle. The two of them play along with the idea of hating each other during the day but at night their time is more about planning their future together. 

All of this seems to be relatively smoothly until a producer catches wind of their food truck banter and wants to do a reality show based around their two families. Bringing reality tv into the picture really changed things. Old issues are rebought up by producers as they do for these types of shows and it creates so much tension. I really liked the behind the scenes breaks between chapters. It really felt like you were getting a view into each of the characters minds.

Cindy and Jordan are at the age where because they are in love so they think they are going to stay together forever. This is why they've been planning on road trip together after they graduate. They are very sweet together but they also don't always communicate. And of course, this lack of communication leads to misunderstandings. Plus there's a new boy who has possibly caught Cindy's eye. All of this helped create the perfect amount of teenage angst.

The ending of With or Without You honestly felt a little bit rushed. I was glad that things worked out the way that they did but, I felt that there needed to be more closure for the reality tv show. It just felt kind of abrupt to me at points. I really did enjoy the book as a whole though and am already anticipating whatever Eric Smith writes next!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Honestly, I found Cindy super annoying and it was hard to get through this book because of that. I love the idea behind the book, but the execution wasn't there for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving this ARC, and this doesn't influence my review. This book had a good plot, and I loved how they had to pretend to hate each other because of family rivalry.

I wanted to love this book from the summary - rival cheesesteak trucks in my beloved home city - but I just didn’t.

Cindy and Jordan just never seemed like they were a good match. Too many parts of the story were too neatly tied up to get the ending the author wanted but it wasn’t right one for the characters. A massive suspension of disbelief was required to get through the book.

My biggest problem with the book though is that it reads like what it is - a transplant to Philadelphia dropping tons of Philly place names and terms to get some cred. I would’ve let it slide more but there were multiple misspellings of local brand names. (Also there were a few glaring grammatical errors but that’s on the editor)

Thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the opportunity to read and review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the eGalley to review!

If you love romance, drama, and food, this is a book for you. The main characters, Jordan and Cindy, are from rival food truck families, but their families are actually friends and the two of them are romantically involved. The rivalry and feuds are all for show to drive up sales. Everything seems peachy keen and the two are even getting ready for a road trip together, until a reality TV executive wants the families to be the stars of their brand new show. This sparks actual feuds and tension between the two families and Jordan and Cindy's relationship ends up on the rocks.

Basically a public service announcement for how "reality" TV can seriously ruin relationships, the book goes into the details of how fake the filming process is and has transcripts for the show's pilot and extra scenes interspersed between the Jordan and Cindy's points of view (which I enjoyed). By the end, the families are trying hard to reclaim their own narratives and get their friendships back on track.

I largely enjoyed the book and think that it would be a great hit with teens who have grown up surrounded by reality TV shows and a rising food truck culture. It never once lost my interest and while I cringed at some characters' decisions and actions, I think everyone was pretty well-written and relatable. It was a good read!

Feuding families with rival food trucks and two teens who are in the middle of it.

I was expecting the romance to develop over the course of the book between Jordan and Cindy and by the end of the first chapter, it was clear that’s not what was happening. The two were already not only together, but deeply in love, pretending to be enemies for their families and everyone following their viral videos.

This book was a little all over the place for me. I think it would have worked so much better without the “we’re making a TV show based on this feud” storyline. The problem is that this was… most of the storyline. I think that if we got to see how these two tried to hide their relationship from everyone without also, you know, trying to hide it from tv producers, it would have been much better.

There’s such a good story in here. It just wasn’t the one I read.

Familiar elements here: star crossed lovers; food trucks; reality tv. The major plot elements are well trod territory but they've been combined in unique ways. IT leads to a plot that is inevitable but engaging. A solidly entertaining read that has a little depth behind it.

Okay, I requested this book on NetGalley because as a kid from the Philly area, I loved the premise!
Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for my ARC of this story!

I will say, it was really fun to be immersed in all of the Philly hot spot mentions. I think the blue collar nature of Philly folks and our very open and honest personalities were well captured. Also I loved the emphasis and love for food weaves into the story (and of course a proper Philly cheesesteak)

This is a YA romance with dual POV, fake rivals, secret dating, and a food truck reality tv setting.

I think this story was fine enough, but there was something about the plot and how it unfolded that just didn’t fully work for me. I think the youth of their relationship and the common miscommunications suffered with young love was well captured in many ways, but the execution made it feel frustrating and irrational instead of connected and coming-of-agey.

I didn’t love the way our FMC handled her conflicts, and while our MMC could have been more communicative, I’m sad to say that I felt she handled things very poorly overall in terms of their relationship.. but also.. she’s young and that’s probably really normal?!

The ending was realistic and very sweet. I loved the friend and family dynamic, and I loved the Philly essence, but I didn’t feel particularly compelled by the love story, and so much emphasis was on the fake rivalry that the actual relationship fell flat. But also, maybe that’s just the portrayal of a young love and I’m missing the point.

I would say this is a YA story intended for the younger side of the genre, and I would say Philly kids, food lovers, reality tv lovers, and angsty romance lovers should 100% give this a try!

3/5⭐️

I liked it. I thought it was a story proven that people will flock to but still want to see if its worth the read and it definitely is worth the read.