10 Things That Never Happened is a sweet queer romance with lots of banter. If you enjoy a silly romcom premise with lots of Alexis Hall’s signature quips, you’ll adore this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Samwise is working at a soulless bed and bath superstore in Sheffield, trying to cover up for his inept staff with Jonathan, his uptight boss. But when Jonathan summons Sam to London to account for his store’s lackluster production, Sam accidentally hits his head after Jonathan tells him he’s going to be fired. So naturally Sam pretends to have amnesia so that Jonathan will feel bad and not fire him and his staff after all. In true romcom fashion, Jonathan ends up taking care of concussed and amnesiac Sam, along with his grumpy cat Gollum during his recovery. But when the two begin to develop feelings for each other, how can Sam admit that he remembers everything?

This premise is the kind of ridiculousness that only happens in a romcom, but if you suspend disbelief, it works. How else would this pair be in forced proximity together? I’ll admit that it took me a little while to really get into the story, but once I adjusted to the slower pacing, I settled in for the enjoyable story.

This book is filled with the best banter and quips, which are Alexis Hall’s forte. And Jonathan’s entire extended family is hilarious while feeling realistic too. But, I think this book has a more wistful tone than Boyfriend Material. The romance is a slow burn, and once Sam and Jonathan do get together, it’s definitely closed door.

There is a lot of England-specific geography and observations packed into this book. I loved that it immersed me in Sam’s point of view, but I needed my friend Google’s help a few times to clarify details. It was refreshing, too, that homosexuality is a nonissue in this story. Both Sam and Jonathan are completely comfortable with their identities and the people around them couldn’t care less. Clearly they both have other issues, but their sexuality isn’t one of them.

10 Things That Never Happened is a slow, slow burn queer romcom. I think it’s a much quieter and introspective book than Boyfriend Material, though. It’s a charming book, and it’s always a treat to spend time with Alexis Hall’s witty and slightly damaged characters.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was my first Alexis Hall book so I was very appreciative to have this opportunity! I didn't really enjoy this one which made me sad because this was my first read by him. But, I appreciated the attention to detail to where the characters are based and came from. I also liked the premise so I think it was a decent execution that was a bit lost on me. I also liked the side characters and the idea they were the stars of the show in a way. I didn't particularly care for the other main characters but I enjoyed this. It was different from what I expected but in a good way.

I really enjoyed this book! I though Sam and Jonathan's relationship was really fun to watch unfold, and I enjoyed learning about both of them. The amnesia thing could've seemed a lot cheesier and unrealistic, but somehow it worked. I enjoyed hearing about the workplace antics, and I feel like there's room for another book from Claire's point of view, or something like that. I really loved hearing about what was going on at the store. I am curious to learn more about how Jonathan started the store. I understand his motivations for working hard, but I'm still a bit confused on exactly how successful he is and how he started the company. I will definitely recommend this book, especially to people who are looking for a romance with little spice. Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for this ARC!

This is the Christmas Rom-Com that needs to be made into a movie, like immediately. Sam is so funny and adorable. Jonathan is so buttoned up and bottom lined. They make no sense until they make perfect sense and all it took was a real concussion and a some fake amnesia. To be fair, I absolutely adored Boyfriend Material and Husband Material so I suspected I was floating back into a world I was already in love with. There are so many wonderful, sweet, hysterical, heartbreaking moments in this story, but I don't want to ruin any of them for anyone. So you'll just have to trust me - READ THIS BOOK!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. I'm so damn excited that there are going to be more in this series.

A lovely Hallmark-esque novel. Sam tries to save his job and those of the employees he manages by taking amnesia after an accident involving the owner of the company. Great summer read! For Fans of Red, White and Royal Blue.

The best of Hallmark movies meets Goldie Hawn in Overboard, this was a delightful read – harsh, workaholic businessman Jonathan meets too-kind-for-this-world Sam and amnesia-related shenanigans ensue. Maybe it’s because I’m such a fan of Christmas, but this might be my favourite of Alexis Hall’s books.
The good:
Jonathan is faceted and not just your usual “all I am is a business-y businessman” character. I like that along with Sam, we keep getting surprised when he acts “out of character” or when he shows a softer side. (His attachment to Gollum is ridiculously endearing). Jonathan’s rambunctious family never feels like it strays into caricature when it very easily could. Instead, they come off as maybe the most normal family ever – a little too loud, a little too much, but family all the same and full of love for each other.
The growing feelings between Jonathan and Sam are so well written and fantastically paced to torture the reader just enough without it being too drawn out or too out of the blue.
I also enjoyed that Hall doesn’t fall into the saccharine nonsense that makes Hallmark movies what they are – Jonathan doesn’t have some kind of sudden personality change just because he has feelings from Sam and is making an effort to be a kinder person. It’s a very realistic shift for the character.
The turn when Jonathan finds out that Sam has been lying about amnesia the entire time was well done in my opinion, too – I honestly was waiting for Jonathan to say that he knew the whole time, so his actually being fooled came as a little bit of a surprise to me.
The not-as-good:
I wish that we got more of Sam’s backstory sooner. I think it would add a lot to his character to know a little bit more about why he is the way he is. Learning at the end that he lost the majority of his family in one fell swoop makes his focus on people-over-profit make a lot of sense. There are little crumbs about his relationship with his Nan too, that might make his protectiveness of Brian (who has his own grandmother to care for) make a lot more sense as well. Sam comes off feeling a little two-dimensional in comparison to Jonathan because we get so much more background and context for why Jonathan is the way he is. It would have been nice to have similar attention paid to Sam earlier on in the story.
Overall:
On the whole, like I said, my favourite Alexis Hall book by quite a bit.

Love love loved this book. Sam was a great narrator and I grew to love grumpy Johnathan and Gollum, along with the rest of Johnathan's family. So much fun and really happy to read another great Alexis Hall book

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca for this eARC! If you liked Boyfriend Material, this book is 100% for you. It's smart and witty and will make you giggle and kick your feet quite a bit. It's not fake dating - it's accidental dating because everyone around them insists they are dating so much that it becomes not worth fighting it. And who doesn't love a good old fashioned fake amnesia storyline. It was nice to reenter the same vibe as Boyfriend Material with "Guy who is pretty okay at his kind of horrible job but he cares about people so it's all gonna be alright'. Overall a super fun read!

It was cute. This was my first Alexis Hall and I will be trying another one.

What I loved: The love interest not completely changing his whole personality once meeting the MC.
The zany family and coworkers. THE CAT, Gollum.

What I didn't like: The lying and lack of communication. On one hand I GET that it's THE STORY but also JUST TELL HIM....ya know?

Overall I enjoyed it. I found myself losing interest the second half of the book but I felt like it wrapped up nicely.

Thanks #NetGalley for the review copy.

I cackled and giggled my way through this until close to the end, where I was punched in the feels and almost brought to tears. No one, but no one, writes a better rom com than Alexis Hall.

Two far-from-perfect men. An even further-from-perfect cat. (I don’t usually like cute cats in romances but this cat was terrible so it was fine.) A large supporting cast of co workers and family, drawn sharply, but with such a light touch. A swoony, slow burn romance, which as always with Hall, has a lot to say about wider issues—class, wealth, poverty, family, and loss. Loved it.

Alexis Hall is an auto buy author for literally everyone, me most definitely included. I was pleasantly surprised to find out this is a Christmas book. Samwise Becker ("call me SAM!") is an employee of Jonathan's at a bed and bath retailer (think Bed, Bath, and Beyond). Faced with mounting costs and falling profits, Jonathan calls Sam into headquarters to inform him that he needs to fire a few employees and get the store in shape ASAP. But Sam has a heart. A too big heart at that. He can't fire any of his employees because he knows all of their lives and the reasons they need their jobs so badly. After a Hallmark movie-worthy fall into a shower at the showroom, Sam quickly decides to fake amnesia. Because he has nowhere else to go, he figures staying with Jonathan will allow the man to get to know him better and realize him and his employees all need their jobs. In usual Alexis Hall fashion, hilarity ensues.

This one took me a few pages to thoroughly get into the story. Sam is such a sweetheart character with definite pain in his past. Jonathan is married to his work and sees his eclectic but loving family as more of a nuisance than an enjoyable addition to his life. The dialogue was just hilarious and I want to sincerely be adopted into Jonathan's family. This is a typical grumpy/sunshine trope and of course includes a HEA, but isn't that what we're all here for?! Oh. And CHRISTMAS!! This is a truly enjoyable rom-com and as usual Hall doesn't disappoint.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I received an advanced review copy for free and am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you to NetGalley, Alexis Hall, and Sourcebooks Casablanca! ❤️

I thoroughly enjoyed this. I love Hall's writing and his hilarious banter. I'm also always caught off guard by how emotionally invested I get in his characters' relationships. Every fight is emotionally devastating and every reunion makes me want to jump for joy.

Thanks so much for sending me the ARC of this!

Unfortunately, I think this book by Alexis Hall fell a bit flat for me which makes me so sad. I’ve loved every other book from them that I’ve read, but this one in particular, I just never felt the chemistry between these two AT ALL.

A fun story about love and navigating lieing to your boss/boyfriend. Sam is a fun character and Jonathan is cute in a bossy/ kill joy kind of way. Easy book to read. Good for the holidays

This book was an entertaining read. It was funnier than a lot of romance books. I loved Jonathan's family especially. They were so over-the-top, yet believable. I also enjoyed watching Jonathan's frosty exterior slowly melt the more time he spent with Sam. The fake amnesia thing is not very believable, but suspending my disbelief on that, it made for a quick enjoyable read.

In all honesty, when I first began reading this book, I didn’t really expect it to be especially good. In the past, I have read quite a lot of Alexis Hall books, and to me they are the type of books that I dislike enough to not want to stop reading in fear of missing something hilariously bad (which has only happened once) but I like enough to start reading (his good concepts might be the reason for that). This book fell on the better side for me personally, I liked the narrator’s voice and personality a lot, although he made some very questionable choices. The fact that he had a hobbit name probably also helped as a lord of the rings fan. It was not an amazing book by any means, but it fulfilled the romcom that I expected and was better than the previous ones in the series (is it a series or just connected? idk) for me personally. I did still find the love interest slightly annoying, but I liked Sam’s narration enough to find it funnier.

Getting to go back into the world of boyfriend material is always a good time. In 10 things that never happened we meet grumpy Jonathan and sunshine Sam(wise) yes, you read that correctly. Hall is pretty much a master at romcoms. Heavy on the com. And like in his others, this book played out in my head like a movie. Taking place at Christmas time and with a hilarious cast of side characters, I couldn’t help but think of Christmas Vacation. And where most of the romcoms I read are heavier on the rom, the films I watch are not, but Hall’s witty banter had me laughing through the entire thing. Then he hits you with the sweetest, softest, declarations of love and my heart just explodes. Also, the delicacy he takes with his characters existing in this world always touches on something internal within me, kind of telling me it’s ok. Seeing Jonathan accept his wants and needs with Sam’s care did exactly that.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks providing the arc and giving me the opportunity to review this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for an ARC, all views are my own.
I am an Alexis Hall stan. I love everything they write, and this is no exception. I adored this book, the MC Sam Becker and surly love interest Jonathan Forest. It was filled with humor and I was laughing out loud in public when reading this. If you like the London Calling series, you will love this. All the characters were exceptional with Hall really making the side characters essential to the plot, humor and just overall story. And the cat, dear lord the cat Gollum.

This is definitely grumpy sunshine, but you do discover throughout the story that there are things in Sam Becker‘s past that definitely are not happy. There is underlying sadness that you are slowly seeing and as you unravel it, it leaves you feeling all the emotions. 5 star read for me, it hit all the boxes of a well rounded romance.

I loved this book! Alexis Hall is an auto read author for me, and this book is a reminder why I fall in love with his writing every time. You do need to just accept the basic zany-ness of the fake amnesia plot, but if you do then the emotional heart of the story really shines through and you can't help but fall in love with the characters.

As usual, I love everything Alexis Hall writes. I'm not usually a fan of amnesia stories, but I really liked the way this one was handled. I love Samwise, he's a real sweetie, and I fell just as hard for his grumpy boss.