I've really enjoyed a majority of Alexis Hall's books, but I will say some of his more recent works (Husband Material and Mortal Follies) got lower stared reviews from me. That being said, 10 Things That Never Happened was a delight. You have proper (workplace setting) enemies to lovers, faking amnesia, the special kind of chaos that is expected in any Alexis Hall book, a wonderfully sweet slow burn, and some very specific names of bed and bath units/decor. The thing I enjoyed about this book is when all was revealed and the cards were all on the table, the reactions were kind of reasonable. Considering the situation and how each of the characters are presented I would have been surprised if it became very dramatic to try to get back together, all-in-all I'm happy with the resolution of the story. The narrator of this book also did a lovely job.

thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Casablanca, and Dreamscape Media for the eARC and audiobook ARC!

I received an eARC of this book for review from Dreamscape Media via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.
• The Brief: Samwise, a loyal manager but not necessarily a great leader, goes to extreme lengths to keep his staff on the payroll. This primarily consists of accidentally faking amnesia and grudgingly moving in with the owner of the chain of stores he runs. It’s all fine… until Sam starts falling for his distant boss.
• Anyone who enjoyed the good-natured, fast-paced, rumpus romance in Boyfriend Material is bound to enjoy the tone of 10 Things That Never Happened. Good thing too, it isn’t a direct sequel, so you don’t have to read the London Calling series first.
10 Things That Never Happened is a joy to read.

This is a single POV romance featuring forced proximity, caring for injured protagonist, and fake amnesia. I’m don’t particularly like romances featuring lying between the couple or single POV. Still, Hall was able to write a story I loved enough to overlook those preferences. The laugh-out-loud humor provided wonderful reading experience. I did this one as a blended read - listening to the audio book while reading the text. And, almost as important as the prose is the the narrator, Will Watt, who did an impeccable job giving voice to Sam and the entire cast of characters. If you are on the fence, give this one a try! I don’t think you’ll regret it.

3.5 STARS
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC of this book. All thoughts of this book are my own.
First of all, right from the hop the plotline of this story was wild. Our narrator - on page - is chaotic as hell, a little bit crazy, a lot desperate, and for those reasons its kind of hard to keep up with this type of narration because not only is it purely run by the thoughts of our MC, but his thoughts are not always linear - which is normal, and honestly its how I talk to myself and clearly how I write most of my reviews - in my own thoughts, in my own words. But it makes it difficult to stick to the flow of the story when the narrator is constantly breaking up the information with their thoughts, it just gets a little jumbled. Add into that the accent, turns of phrase, personal dialect and slang constantly used by the narrator and it becomes a little hard to focus on the story. I did get used to it, but right from the beginning it was a lot to take it. <BLOCKQUOTE><B>My mam called me Samwise, but I’m beginning to think she should’ve called me Frodo. Because I’m starting to feel invisible. Or like something got stuck in me and didn’t heal right.</B></BLOCKQUOTE> Sometimes our MC is a bit of a try hard in the comedy area, and sometimes he is just naturally funny. The inner dialogue is pretty funny once you get used to it. There were some more serious parts, I wish they had all been explored. It felt like our MC tried to be more emotionally invested at times which was nice. As for our secondary male lead he was a complete ass - the only really emotion our narrator could pin down from him was anger and irritation for most of the book and “uncertain emotions”. This is really why every romance needs dual POV - without it you are at risk for a lot of misinformation and miscommunication which really puts a damper on the story for me. <BLOCKQUOTE><B>Jonathan’s giving me a look that quite hard to describe. It’s sort of about 20% betray, 10% resignation, 30% resentment, and 40% straight up what are you talking about.</b></blockquote>
The plot of the story isn’t one I’m used to reading so I can’t say for sure if I like or dislike amnesia (or fake amnesia) as a trope. However I am a fan of forced proximity and although I thought it was super unnecessary to have the two MC’s be in a forced proximity scenario, there would be no book without it. Despite the ridiculous reasons these two were forced together in the first place, I thought the aspect of our MC bullshiting the extent of his injury just to try and save his ass was ballsy, hilarious and completely ridiculous. I liked his whole thought process of “well if I am around him in a weakened state he will see me as a person and feel bad for me”. <BLOCKQUOTE><b>”You can just be you. Y’know, the you you are when you’re with me.”</b></blockquote> You could see the building blocks of this relationship and although the secondary male lead was an absolute dick for most of the book, I did like seeing our MC try to get under his skin and make him act like an actual human being and learn to be more gentle and come out of his shell (and by shell I do mean brick citadel) . It took a while for the SML to seem interesting to me - he was such a hard ass and he was honestly kind of boring. And though I liked the amount of growth he went through I thought his reasoning was super confusing and he honestly didn’t feel very deep. <BLOCKQUOTE><B>When it’s just you and the nothing it’s easy to feel like you don’t exist, like you might as well have never existed. Like you’re nothing at all</b></blockquote> I did, in the end enjoy the story and the book. But it did remind me a lot of how <i>Boyfriend Material</i> was set up and executed. The characters also felt very similar to Luc and Oliver (whom I love to bits) so I wish author had tried just a little harder to make these characters feel difffernt than characters they have already portrayed.

Thank you Sourcebooks and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

How does Alexis Hall consistently write books that feel like they were written specifically for me?

I didn’t really like either of our main characters at the start, and that is literally the only slightly negative thing I can say about this book. And by the end I adored them, so disliking them a little at a time in the book when you don’t yet know them properly doesn’t feel like much criticism at all.

Sam is that working-class idealistic kind of nice that is great in theory but not entirely practical when it comes to running an expanding business. He’s caring and compassionate and has absolutely no qualms about telling you where to stick it if he thinks you’re out of line. He’s stubborn and impatient and honestly there were so many times I wanted to scream at him to tell the truth. I loved him. I loved this precious idiot so much.

Jonathan is a cold, stern, stiff workaholic who honestly cares more about money than people. Or, like, so it seems. What I love about Jonathan is that his dickishness stems from fear and trauma from his upbringing, and once he realises exactly how much he’s missing out on in not allowing himself to relax just a little, he…well…allows himself to relax a little, and we get to see who he is beneath his need to control everything always.

And gosh, his whole family was incredible. Chaotic, overbearing, loud, annoying, but absolutely brilliant. They were all so warm and welcoming and full of love and I loved that Sam was just instantly accepted as one of them.

Look, I laughed and I cried and I loved this book so much. Definitely one to pick up this coming holiday season.

I want to thank NetGalley for an arc of this book, it didn’t influence my opinion in any way.

Ive read Boyfriend Material from this author, which wasn’t my cup of tea, but this book really took me by surprise.

I was sucked into the plot right away and really liked Sam’s coworkers. Enjoyed the twist on the whole amnesia thing and the ending was quite satisfying.

There was a moment it thought there would be only one bed, but there wasn’t and that was a bit of a let down…

However I really enjoyed this book and would absolutely recommend it.

nope, wasn't feeling this one at all. The character development wasn't there and it took forever to get anywhere. Shame as I love the other books from this author a lot.

An interesting twist on workplace romance. I liked the idea of the fake amnesia trope and I do think it was done well. This book was quite slow to start for me as I wasn’t a fan of the MC and love interest. BUT, my thoughts on the book did change the more I read it.
If you want a cheesy Achillean romance, this one is definitely a recommended read.

I have been a big Alexis Hall fan (Husband Material, Spires) and was looking forward to reading this new one--and he did not disappoint. He does an excellent job with the enemies-to-lovers and grumpy/sunshine tropes. Sam is a kind, warmhearted soul who is lost and figuring out who he is and what he wants. Jonathan is an antisocial workaholic and takes "grumpiness" to a whole new level. He is also Sam's boss in a small bed and bath store chain.

There are two sets of wacky but likeable secondary characters--Jonathan's many relatives and Sam's co-workers. I have to say that both sets did wear a bit thin--and we spend alot of time with them, particularly the family--and there were probably a few too many members. Did we need both Aunt Jack and BJ? And why Johnny? I think these sections could have been pared down and the book could lose 50 pages or so.

I liked very much how Sam gradually grew to see the caring side of Jonathan and that Jonathan's slow thaw was believable and not insta and also loved the slow burn and the way the one sex scene was handled. The story is definitely low-steam which as a reader who reads MM romance primarily for the romance could appreciate.

I like the author's assured and witty writing style and often found myself chuckling. He does need to lose the annoying tic: "The worst thing I could do was X. I did X." This was overused.

Overall, it was a warm, romantic story about two very different people who give each other exactly what the other needs. Sweet, sweet ending.

This book was a gosh darn delight!! It took me a bit to sort of switch gears and settle into the very Britishness of this book, but once I got cozy in there I was literally laughing out loud while reading. I honestly want to go back and reread the book to appreciate everything that's in here. It's kind of over the top but in the best way possible. Our main characters are somehow extremely lovable even though they both are quite aware that they are kind of sometimes, more often than not, rather dickish. I love them, I love the family, I love the coworkers. Quirky and ridiculous with just the perfect amount of heart.

I knew when I got this book that I was in for a fun ride, what I didn’t know expect was the amount of lol moments I would have. There were so many cute moments as well, but the banter, my gosh the banter is everything! And I do love me some good banter. Watching the chemistry grow between Jonathan and Sam at time was so vivid and palpable, that I felt like a voyeur. But there was no way I would look away.

Although the synopsis of faked amnesia wasn’t my favorite to begin with because I assumed it wouldn’t be well done, but this was so clever and entertaining that I guess I have one more trope to add to add to my must-read tropes!

A thoroughly entertaining must read!

I'm a sucker for British humour and Hall's Boyfriend Material is one of my all-time favourites. Hall's signature kooky characters are back in a story about Sam who fakes amnesia to avoid getting fired by his boss. It didn't quite live up to the charm of Boyfriend, but it came close.

I really liked the MMC Sam's character- very funny and charming and likeable. He and older boss Jonathan have an enemies to lovers/grumpy sunshine vibe going on that played out very well. As always, the cast of secondary characters were hilarious. Who knew a bed and bath store could be so exciting!

Also Gollum might be the best description of a cat/cat owner I have ever read. He stole the show and I could have read 50 more pages about him.

I definitely read this one with a British accent in my head (what you don't do it too?). Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for an eARC and physical arc in exchange for my honest review.

The plotting is rom-com gold, Hall’s typical wit is on display, and the eclectic supporting cast charms, but the heroes themselves feel ever so slightly underdeveloped. Still, fans of grumpy/sunshine romances will eat this up.

Alexis Hall's "10 Things That Never Happened" takes readers on a captivating journey through the lives of its characters, offering a unique blend of romance, alternate realities, and self-discovery.

The story unfolds with a fascinating premise: What if our choices led us down entirely different paths? Hall weaves an intricate narrative exploring parallel lives and the profound impact of pivotal decisions. Through vivid storytelling, readers are immersed in the intricate web of possibilities, each choice leading to a new set of consequences.

The characters are beautifully crafted, with their struggles, joys, and vulnerabilities laid bare. The emotional depth and authenticity of their journeys make it easy to invest in their stories. Hall's writing style is both lyrical and thought-provoking, making for a compelling and immersive reading experience.

The exploration of identity, love, and the roads not taken is a central theme in the book. It delves into the complexity of human relationships, emphasizing the importance of seizing opportunities and embracing one's true self. The narrative challenges us to reflect on our own choices and what might have been.

While "10 Things That Never Happened" may at times require a suspension of disbelief due to its speculative elements, it ultimately offers a thought-provoking and heartwarming tale of love, fate, and the infinite possibilities of life.

In conclusion, Alexis Hall's "10 Things That Never Happened" is a beautifully written and emotionally resonant novel that invites readers to contemplate the profound impact of choices and the enduring power of love. It's a must-read for those who enjoy thought-provoking romance novels with a touch of speculative fiction.

I genuinely wanted to love this book as it had potential to be everything that I was looking for, however, it just fell short for me. Sam and Jonathan's entire relationship is built on lies upon lies when there were multiple opportunities for Sam to come clean. I just wanted to shake him sometimes because he was being so silly in not telling Jonathan the truth.

I think the reason that I couldn't really love it was because it was only a single person POV. I was dying for Jonathan's POV and think it would have elevated the story that much more.

While I didn't love this book, I would definitely still read more of the authors work in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for an opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

10 Things That Never Happened is classic Alexis Hall - it's genuinely funny, clever, a bit zaney, and had me rooting for the characters the whole time! It's entertaining and once I started, I didn't want to put it down. You absolutely need to suspend your disbelief for this one but it is well worth it for a genuinely funny story! It's very evocative of the first book I read of Hall's years ago, Boyfriend Material.

Read this for:
- Grumpy/Snarky
- Fake Amnesia
- M/M Romance
- Workplace Romance
- Single POV
- Holiday Romance that isn't Hallmark-y
- Quirky Supporting Characters

Jonathan is the grumpiest grump to ever grump but seeing his softer moments - with Sam's cat in particular but also with Sam himself - was so cute to see! The scene of Sam and Jonathan in the store shopping for holiday decorations was so stinking funny and had me actually kicking my feet.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 10 Things That Never Happened publishes October 17th and was a 4.5 star read for me! Highly recommend checking it out.

Thank you to SourceBooks Casabalanca/NetGalley for a copy of 10 Things That Never Happened in exchange for an honest review. 

OK People Doing Bad Things

Alexis Hall's 10 Things That Never Happened is about very mid people. Not that they're mid in how interesting they are, but by their decency as humans. IRL, faking amnesia is probably not a forgivable trait. In a book, it can seem almost understandable. It likely works because we've all let things get out of control. A misunderstanding can quickly snowball. It's just not usually something as high stakes. If the plot puts you off, try not to let it: it isn't "as bad" as it seems. 

OK People Being Endearing

Of course, these characters, Sam and Jonathan, in particular, are ultimately endearing and move beyond "mid." Once you slowly understand what makes them tick, you start rooting for them. And the larger cast of characters is also endearing in the way only an Alexis Hall cast could be. Cheesy jokes, wordplay, and, frankly, mean people are all present in 10 Things That Never Happened. Hall takes it just to the limit without ever crossing -- another of his specialties. I suppose this humo(u)r could be grating to some, but I have a low tolerance for twee Britishness, and I love Alexis Hall. 

The romance, too, is quite sweet. Later bloomers or people who are generally insecure are in less short supply these days, but they are still not the usual suspects of the romance world. People literally tripping around each other is a nice change of pace. 

Should You Read It?

If you like ridiculous 90s British romcoms, you'll love 10 Things That Never Happened. Though it's part of Alexis Hall's London Calling series, it's only very tangentially related to the characters of Boyfriend Material. If you liked that book and its follow-up, Husband Material, you'll like this one. They're very much cousins with the same vibe. I just really loved this book, and I think most romcom lovers will, too. 

10 Things That Never Happened is out on October 17, 2023. Preorder a copy at your local indie bookstore or put one on hold at your library! 📚🤕🚿

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to receive this book for an honest review.

I was on the fence witht his book. I thought this was going to be more of a love story but I found it lacking in that area. I found it a little far fetched with the amnesia storyline.

I also felt like the story was missing something.

Although I finished this book I found it a struggle.

4.5/5*s

Super charming, Very trope-y. Surprisingly Christmasy- kinda surprised that isn't clearer on the cover. Sam was super loveable, which made it easy to forgive him for getting caught up in his amnesia story. Jonathan was a dick with Hidden Depths, and I maybe would have liked if there was more character development there.

A good pick if you like: found family, sunshine/grump, and regional accents. Great for a nice cozy read.

The audiobook (read by Will Watt) was excellent. Love the variety of accents and voices he did, including a goofy but not over the top kitty cat voice. Highly recommend.

Very grateful to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for early access.

Hmmm...not my favorite by the author.
I've come to realize that I have a hate/love relationship with Hall's books. Some like Glitterland hit me so viscerally in the feels that I can't escape the effect they have on me. Others, like Husband Material, I want to burn to the ground.
This book, while having Hall's trademark dry sarcasm, lacked for me in the romance department and in the general...feels? The characters felt a bit flat and I didn't really like their interactions all too much, they seemed almost forced at times. Nevertheless, it was a quick read and if you're a fan of the fake amnesia trope, go for it.

First of all, I’d like to thank the publisher for providing me with a advanced copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

This is a highly entertaining and enjoyable, if flawed, book. The things that worked for me worked really well: The ‘grumpy sunshine’ dynamic between the two main characters was pulled off brilliantly, the side characters provided good comic relief, the writing sparkled with the author's characteristic charm and wit, and the book went down as easily as a vanilla milkshake. Honestly, there are few authors out there who can make me smile with their writing as much as Alexis Hall. There is true brilliance here! But, as entertaining as the book was, there were also a lot of things that didn't work for me. The ‘fake amnesia’ storyline was, for lack of a better word, just dumb, not only introducing a whole set of implausible lies at the heart of book, but also preventing Sam from taking up the agency he needed to show Jonathan his value. It also made the dynamic between the two characters very one-sided: Sam learns all about Jonathan’s family, life, and background, but Jonathan learns nothing about what makes Sam tick. To make matters worse, this plot element was also completely unnecessary; if the confrontation between them had been even ten percent less intense, the concussion would have been more than enough to drive the plot forward. Also, while the grumpy sunshine vibe worked well, a lot of Jonathan’s behaviour went beyond grumpy and overworked into the domineering and abusive — something that was certainly addressed, but never adequately resolved. So in all, I’d definitely encourage readers to pick this up, but as nothing more than a fun, silly, highly enjoyable romp.

An edited version of this review (going into less detail about what I didn't enjoy about the book) will be posed to my dedicated Instagram account closer to the release date.