First things first, this is for all intents and purposes, a Christmas book. This combined what I loved about Boyfriend Material (every character in this book was funny, I cackled frequently) and made it poignant. The plot twist the end had me sad and heartbroken, but also explained a lot about Sam. His journey of self discovery and well, honesty, with Johnathan and also with himself was fun to be a part of. Johnathan also had me in tears at some points. I love characters figuring out why they are the way they are while also falling in love. As far as romance, there wasn’t a lot, but I can easily see how opposites Sam and Johnathan could fall in love. Adding in Johnathan’s entire family bearing witness to it made it even better. All in all, I loved this wayyy more than Husband Material and cannot wait to see what comes next in this series.

I will continue to read anything Alexis Hall writes. Their books are so funny and smart and swoony, and this one was no exception.

- 10 THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED is an expansion on the world of the BOYFRIEND MATERIAL books, and basically, if you loved those books, you're gonna love this one too.
- The premise is bananas (fake amnesia??!) and I was very into it. Hall is so good at writing bumbling characters, whether that be physical or emotional bumbling. And, as silly as this book is, it also deals with some very real feelings and relationship dynamics.
- The supporting cast of this book is great as well, and I hope we get some of their stories in future books.

This might be might second favorite Alexis Hall book (behind BOYFRIEND MATERIAL of course). While I thought the synopsis would bring quite a bit of cheesiness, while cheesy, it was very heartfelt. It made my smile grow as I kept reading the book getting to know the characters as well as I did.

I think there’s something to books where characters have amnesia. Even though Sam was faking it after he fell, there was something sort of mysterious to the story. We, as readers, knew a little about Sam, but because he doesn’t want to let him guard down in front of Jonathan. Because Sam’s guard is up, the reader is sort of in a similar boat as Jonathan.

There’s so much to unpack and a lot of the story revolves around trauma. Handling trauma, figuring out how you heal best, and of course, life as you begin to grow and learn to live with this new trauma. While the cover may not scream this, it’s definitely a major theme.

I really enjoyed this one and I’m glad it’s out in the world. Big thank you to LibroFM for the ALC and Sourcebooks/NetGalley for the ARC!

Content warnings: toxic relationships, bullying, death, car accident, grief

Sam Becker manages a branch of a bed and bath retailer. The job wouldn’t be so bad, except for his horrible boss, Jonathan Forest. Jonathan is so focused on the bottom line that he doesn’t care about his employees and micromanages everyone to death. With Sam’s store not keeping up with Jonathan’s earnings goals, Sam knows he is about to be sacked. And when Jonathan calls Sam down to London for a meeting, it’s worse than he imagined, as not only does Jonathan want to fire Sam, but the whole team as well.

When Sam accidentally trips and hits his head in the store immediately post-firing, he ends up in the hospital with a concussion. And when Jonathan and the doctors mistakenly think Sam has amnesia as a result, Sam sees his opportunity. Someone needs to watch over Sam while he recovers and, if he pretends he really has lost his memory, Jonathan will need to take on the responsibility. That means Sam may have a chance for Jonathan to get to know him better, hopefully learn to like him, and ideally change his mind on the whole firing thing (especially since Jonathan doesn’t realize that Sam remembers he has been fired).

It all seems like a good idea when Sam is in the emergency room dealing with a concussion, but it is becoming less so as Sam is living in Jonathan’s house. The two men do not get along at all and the whole situation is uncomfortable. It becomes even more so when Jonathan’s loud and enthusiastic family descends on his house as they start preparations for Christmas. But soon Sam begins to see that there may be more to Jonathan than he first thought. The two are actually slowly becoming friends of a sort. Of course, Jonathan still isn’t an easy person to deal with by any means, but Sam is starting to see that there may be a softer side to him.

Sam is realizing that this may have been a really bad idea, as he has to continue to fake amnesia while navigating his growing relationship with Jonathan. Now that he is beginning to think he may want more with Jonathan than just keeping his job, Sam has to figure out how to navigate the fact that he has been lying to Jonathan and hope there is still a chance of a future together.

I love a good amnesia story and the enemies-to-lovers trope is another of my favorites, so I was eager to check out this latest story by Alexis Hall. Ten Things That Never Happened turned out to be a book that I really enjoyed in many ways, but had some issues for me as well. What I liked here the most is the tone of the story and I found it fun and entertaining. I am a sucker for good banter and, when Sam and Jonathan are clicking, their dialogue and interaction is snappy and amusing. This is a very long story and I felt engaged throughout and moved through it quickly given the length. The set up is absurd, of course, but in a way that I found entertaining rather than frustrating. Sam has a very distinct voice as the narrator and for me he carried the story well.

However, despite enjoying the book overall, there are some key areas where I struggled here. One major issue is that while I love the set up, with Sam faking the amnesia and ending up as an unplanned houseguest, I didn’t feel there was enough follow through to carry this set up through the rest of the book. The idea is that Sam is concussed and needs someone to watch over him for two weeks, but since he supposedly has amnesia and the doctors are in too much of a hurry to really bother with him, he gets pawned off on Jonathan. Sam figures this is his chance to get Jonathan to like him and ideally then not fire the team after all. So as I said, absurd but fun, and I could go with it. But it doesn’t really hold up after that. Sam never seems to actually have any problems remembering anything, and Jonathan is never suspicious or even curious. Sam is also supposed to be there for two weeks to recover, yet that time comes and goes and Sam is there about a month and there is no discussion at all about when he is going home or how he is recovering. It is just like they seem to forget he is supposed to be gone already. Not to mention that there is zero effort to help Sam regain his memory or to connect him with literally anyone in his everyday life. To be clear, this isn’t like Sam is some amnesiac (or fake amnesiac in this case) who turns up and no one knows who he is. Jonathan knows Sam’s name, where he works, and where he lives. Sam has his phone and ID and everything else. Why wouldn’t he be contacting people in his phone if he really had no memory of who he was to try to find out? Or why wouldn’t Jonathan be helping him by talking to Sam’s co-workers or trying to reach family or friends? Obviously, from a plot perspective, Sam needs to be happily ensconced with Jonathan, but I wanted to at least feel like the story acknowledges and accounts for why everyone is just ignoring his recovery timeline and any attempts to re-enter his regular life.

I also struggled here in finding both main characters not particularly likable, as well as not really connecting with their relationship. We are told clearly at the outset that Jonathan is a dick (dubbed “His Royal Dickishness” by Sam’s team). All his employees at every branch hate Jonathan and we see him be overly pushy with customers and quite demanding with his staff. He is pretty self absorbed and so focused on work to the exclusion of his family and friends. We also see him fire Sam and his team for not meeting their earnings projections and I guess this makes him a jerk of sorts, but also, I kind of don’t see why the fact that he wants his stores to make money is such evil incarnate. However, Jonathan does have some pretty awful moments on the personal side that made me struggle to warm to him, though he does have some growth over the course of the story, both with his family and Sam.

Sam is our POV character and the set up is him trying to befriend and get his evil boss to like him so he can save his co-workers’ jobs. So he is painted as the hero of the story, yet I found him problematic as well. Part of it is that most of Jonathan’s bad behavior, at least for much of the book, is focused on work issues that we hear about more than see. The biggest work-related issue that happens post “amnesia” is when Sam is working on a project for Jonathan and gets a budget that he ignores. It turns out there is a very important reason for that budget and when Sam finds out, I thought we’d see him acknowledge his mistake. Instead, he is mad at Jonathan because Jonathan should have explained to him his reason for the budget and why it was important if he expected Sam to follow it. Which.. really? I mean, does your boss need to tell you reasons behind everything they ask you to do? Or when you get assigned a task and a budget to follow, isn’t it just your job to do it?

At home, Sam’s first major complaint about Jonathan is that he doesn’t cook or keep enough food in his house. There is nothing wrong with being a person who can’t or doesn’t like to cook. And I say this as someone who cooks a lot and bakes desserts for every occasion. But why does it make Jonathan a monster because he is rich and busy and would rather order take out and grocery delivery? It made Sam look more dickish to me than Jonathan to be living in Jonathan’s house complaining because he wanted cooked meals and thought Jonathan should shop at the grocery store. Sam’s other big issue is he is unhappy with how Jonathan interacts with his family and just jumps on in and inserts himself into their family arguments after living there about two days, like it is any of his business. Sam seems to have lots of opinions on how Jonathan should live his personal life that are really not his concern. Not to mention the whole moving into Jonathan’s house and joining his family buying Christmas trees and planning holiday dinner, while he is totally lying about why he is there. So I didn’t find him particularly likable either.

I think if we had seen more growth from these guys along the way, it would have helped. Or if we had seem them really work through the ultimate conflict with regard to the fake amnesia. But for a very long book (almost 400 pages), nothing seems to really happen until the very end. The relationship is a super slow burn and they are just barely tolerating each other for much of the story. The resolution to the amnesia conflict comes very late. And the revelations about Sam’s past that are alluded to but never explained come with barely a moment to spare before the book ends. So the pacing felt off with long periods of not much happening and then without enough time to for the resolution to really breathe.

I know I probably sound like I didn’t like this book at all, and that is definitely not the case. I found the story had great banter and a nice energy that kept me engaged and interested to see how it would play out. When Sam and Jonathan click, they really worked well together and I enjoyed their interaction most of the time. However, I think this story was too long, but with not enough time given for the resolution to play out, and I struggled with Sam and Jonathan too much to fully fall for them or their relationship.

Note: While the covers share a lot of similarities, this book is not part of Hall’s London Calling series (and is instead the first book in the Material World series). The two series do share the same world, however, and Jonathan appears as Luc’s friend in Husband Material. However, this book stands alone completely and you can definitely start here.

It took me a while to get into this book, but once I did I enjoyed it. I've read some of the author's other works, and this one was somewhere in the middle for me. The plot for me felt fun and fresh, with just the right amount of Christmas, but I just never really felt all that attached to either Sam or Jonathan? I can't quite put my finger on why, but I think that definitely affected my enjoyment of the book. Despite that, still a fun read at the start of the holiday season, and I would probably recommend this to fellow rom-com lovers.

I always try to finish ARCs I receive, but this one was just...not good. I've been trying for three weeks before throwing it in.

I have read other Alexis Hall books and enjoyed them. I do not see how this could be a romantic book at all - Jonathan was an actually terrible person and, for that matter, so was Sam for pretending he had amnesia.

Do yourself a favor and read this author's other works. They're great!

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

Silly, cute, sweet grumpy-sunshine romance, with very funny banter and lots of hilarious inner monologues. Not always believable, but definitely very entertaining!

It’s probably not the best idea Sam ever had, but he had nothing else in the moment. He needed something to buy time to save his job and those of his team. That’s how Sam finds himself living in the home of his prickly boss, pretending to have amnesia and looking for a way out of the mess he’s gotten himself into.

Jonathan Forest, owner of the semi successful bath and bedding stores Splashes and Snuggles is laser focused on success. Nothing is more important to him. So how did he end up with his least successful manager living in his home, hoping to avoid a law suit by caring for his injured employee.

They are complete opposites and Sam is currently living a lie, so why is he so attracted to his grumpy boss who is much more than the person he lets the rest of the world see?

Sam and his team at the Sheffield branch of Splashes and Snuggles may not always like each other, may get completely frustrated with their different personalities, but they are always supportive of each other and Sam is like the father figure to them all. Jonathan finds it a flaw that Sam cares so much for his team. Sam prioritizes people over profits. That’s precisely the characteristic that allows him to see the real Jonathan, to get under Jonathan’s skin and to open his eyes to the fact that all the success in the world doesn’t mean anything if you have no one to share it with.

I absolutely loved the satire and the sarcasm of this book. Having never read any of Alexis Hall’s other books (no, I haven’t yet read Boyfriend Material, though my daughter tells me I have to) I was not prepared for his quirky sense of humor, but it made the book for me. The characters were real and relatable. I loved the way the descriptors of some of the characters became a part of their name. I could see their behavior in my head and have even known some of them in both my working and shopping life. Even Sam’s cat, Gollum, had his place as the first character to see beneath Jonathan’s cranky exterior.

There were so many laugh aloud moments in this story. But also, so many quiet tender moments that led to the emotional impact of the end of this book.

5 stars!

I absolutely loved Alexis Hall's "10 Things that Never Happened." I did not need to think twice before giving it 5 stars! It's full of heart, hilarity, pop culture references, and Hall's signature humor and banter. I am not kidding when I say I laughed out loud dozens of times while reading this novel. I adored both of the main characters, Sam and Jonathan. They are such complex, wonderful characters who balance each other perfectly, even if they don't know it yet. I had such a lovely time getting to know them both separately and together. I loved reading all of their interactions, be they catty or serious or sincere. Their romance is so, so sweet and beautiful. All of the secondary characters are fabulous, too, but Gollum the cat steals the show. There is a touch of heaviness in this story, too, but it is not heavy-handed or out of place. In fact, I found its commentary on family, friendship, and finding love absolutely delightful and super important. These flawed characters are worthy of love, even when they think they aren't. I feel like I am gushing, but I am obsessed with this book. This is one of the best audiobooks I have ever listened to. Narrator Will Watt's versatile voices and fantastic cadence made this a truly terrific listen. I can't wait to see where this series goes next. Alexis Hall hasn't disappointed me yet!

Thank you to NetGalley, Alexis Hall, and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for my review.

I didn't read anything about 10 Things That Never Happened, by Alexis Hall leading up to starting, so I didn't have any expectations. At first it was kind of giving me The Office (TV show) vibes- ragtag bunch of employees, a manager named Sam that may not fully know what he's doing, and the possibility of shenanigans ensuing. And at just the wrong (or maybe right) moment, in the middle of a difficult conversation with the boss, Sam stumbles, hits his head... and fakes amnesia. This was a funny, fast paced, rom-com to add to your holiday TBR.

Thank you, NetGalley, Sourcebooks Casablanca and Alexis Hall for allowing me to read this early. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Sam Becker has an OK job managing a band of misfits in a bed and bath retailer. All is going sort of well until the infuriating owner decides that they have to “hit target sales” or else.
When Jonathan Forest shows up at Sam’s branch dead set on firing people, he ends up firing Sam and causing an accident in which Sam gets bumped on the head by the MERLYN 8mm Sliding Door Shower Enclosure. Sam gets a concussion, and as he seems a little fuzzy as to what happened, everyone assumes he has amnesia. Jonathan feels so guilty that he caused the accident that he volunteers to take care of him. Sam decides to go along with the amnesia stuff to buy them more time. But living with Jonathan, who surprisingly shows a caring side under the all the grumpy, ends up becoming a bigger problem than Sam expected.
With meddling family members, quirky shop assistants, a cat named Gollum and Scouse accents, we get a quintessential Alexis Hall band of characters. I had absolute fun with the shenanigans that ensued and this would have been a solid 5-stars if it weren’t for the lack of, well, ROMANCE. Sam and Jonathan are adorable together but things only start to resemble a romance novel around 70% of the book and I got a little frustrated. I wanted more of them together because when they were together they were utterly swoony.
Still a fun read, though a VERY SLOW burn and doors are closed shut.

I think it's time for me to admit that Alexis Hall is just not for me. I have not been dreading to pick up a book more. I'm 2 chapters in and I have not been more in a slump than I am not. I have read 5 books non-stop and now I can't seem to pick up this book.

10 Things That Never Happened is a very cute romance about a mean boss and one of his workers who fakes amnesia in order to save his other coworkers jobs. This story was unique and the plot line was a bit unbelievable just because I didn’t think the main character did an amazing job at faking amnesia. However, I really enjoyed the two main characters and the dynamic between them. Through out the book you see them teach each other lessons to better themselves. I also really enjoyed that the book was set around Christmas time and I’m a sucker for a cute Christmas romance! I think the two main characters being homosexual was nice too because most typical Christmas romance is based on heterosexual relationships and I think it’s important to provide visibility to all different types of relationships. It did seem that a few parts were kind of drawn out and could’ve been shortened up but that also may just be my personal preference.

I really enjoyed reading more of these characters. I enjoyed seeing where the story went. I have a soft spot for these characters. I will definitely be adding it to my library's collection.

I thought this book was silly and fun and a very enjoyable read, albeit very unbelievable — I found myself constantly in shock that the amnesia thing was still working. This book for sure doesn’t take itself too seriously, though, which I think is a must with a concept like this one. Sometimes, I felt like the plot was going around in circles, and the pacing was a little off, but overall, an enjoyable read.

3.75 stars rounded up

Put simply I thought this was a quick fluffy palette cleanser type of book. Hall's stories reminder me a lot of Sophie Kinsella books with the fluffy---usually ridiculous but endearing plots and characters. I really enjoyed our main characters banter and relationship. The cast of characters were quirky and quite enjoyed the British narration. Overall, a light and enjoyable read.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am admittedly not the biggest Alexis Hall fan, though I did like Boyfriend and Husband material quite a bit. This one fell short for me as I didn't feel like the romance was there. The characters were fine but Jonathan's character had too many shortcomings and aggressions for me to really get behind him as a character and root for him to find love. He would jump from tolerable to being overly angry and full of conflict for the sake of conflict and whenever he had to soften up it just felt forced. If the character had been toned down a bit I might have found it tolerable, but as this is supposed to be a romance, I just felt the characters lacked any real motivation for love.

I could not love this book more. Alexis Hall just does it right. These two characters are both loveable messes in their own ways. Sam has been made to travel down to London to meet with his horrid boss, Jonathan. In the midst of being fired by Jonathan, Sam trips, and somehow Jonathan believes that Sam has amnesia. Worried about any potential lawsuits, Jonathan offers to watch over Sam as he recovers from his concussion. Sam agrees in the hopes of saving his job as well as those of the employees at the branch he manages.

I laughed so hard in this book. Sam and Jonathan have a true enemies-to-lovers arc that is beautiful in its complexity and flawedness. I loved Jonathan's family in all their nuttiness and the way in which they instantly envelop Sam. Hall writes some of the best banter and dialogue I have ever read. The way they fell in love over conversation and small moments just melted my heart. Sam is honest to a fault and full of heart. Jonathan is super straight-laced and only sees in black and white. They really complement one another in the end. The cast of characters from Sam's branch brought so much delight. I loved every interaction with them. Most of all, I loved the real heart to this book. Hall manages to entertain you while giving you such depth to his stories. He makes you both laugh and cry and leaves you just joyful inside. Reading this book truly is the best experience.

In the end, this is a must-read. You will love the characters. You will love the message. You will love the feeling it gives you.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this ARC.

I'm so grateful that I got the chance to read Alexis Hall's newest romance! I loved the enemies to lovers and grumpy x sunshine tropes in this book. The problem was that I didn't really felt the romance between them. But when I got past the middle part I started to feel it. It was a really fun read and I just want to read more Alexis Hall books!