I enjoyed this book! A great summer read, this book had me laughing at several points throughout. It took me a while to get into this book but once the fake dating kicked in I couldn’t put it down!

Minnie Maple is an enemy to lovers of contemporary romance. I am a sucker for enemies to lovers. Minnie Maple is a religious kindergarten teacher, who also is a virgin. Minnie Maple is Mary Beth's publishing name. She publishes steamy romance novels. Mary Beth's celebrity crush wants to meet Minnie Maple. Mary Beth is afraid people will find out she is the bestselling author Minnie Maple. Mary Beth goes on a journey of self-discovery. The steamy parts with Drew are very good. The chemistry and banter are well done. Also, religion isn't forced onto the reader. Thank you netgalley for an arc.

This book will make you feel all the feels! I was laughing (a lot), crying, gasping, hoping, anticipating and just feeling it all. The author does a fantastic job with both the external and internal dialogue, it was super witty and hilarious. The chemistry between Drew and Mary Beth was palpable and so so good. I loved the journey the characters went on in discovering themselves and each other. It was just an overall delightful read that sucked me in from start to finish.

I'm sorry, I just couldn't with Drew. I needed a redeeming arc. I needed groveling. I needed to not hate him so much right away because I then couldn't not hate him. I saw where some people were able to look past it for the second half of the book, and I'm glad for them, but I definitely wasn't one of those people.

I received this book for free for an honest unbiased review from Netgalley.

I wish more books were this well written. Characters were witty and the setting fantastic.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this novel!

I won't lie, the plot summary drew me into this novel in a big way. Secret small town author meets her crush actor in and is forced to interact in her daytime persona? What a fun opposite of Win a Date with Ted Hamilton plot! I had the same issue as many other reviewers, the absolute weird focus on how innocent and "young" looking the female lead is. There were a few times I wanted to skip over Drew's PoV entirely! It took me a while to get into the book (a not uncommon event), and had to pick it up a few times, but once I got into it, it was a smooth read. While the leads have good chemistry, it was interesting how much they were in conflict given their initial shared goal.

Overall a good read!

Thank you to the publisher for this arc.

Unfortunately, I am going to DNF this book for now. This is really more "it's not you, it's me". I can not continue the book for now. I struggle to pick this book up and once I put it now, I never feel the urge to pick it up. Please pick this book up if you are interested tho. I am only rating it due to Netgalley.

I have to start by saying the cover is absolutely gorgeous!!! This book is fun, sexy and funny!! I loved the chemistry between Mary Beth and Drew. Their banter was so good! I definitely recommend this book!


Thank you NetGalley and C. Edward Press LLC for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest opinion.

I wish they would have just kept this in Minnie's POV because Drew was not fun to read at all. Sadly as much as I love enemies to lovers this one went into the DNF pile. I was hopeful for this story since Enemies to Lovers is my jam. But lord was this a mess.

3.5⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this early!

Mary Beth is a preachers daughter, kindergarten teacher and romance author. Drew Coyne is a Hallmark movie actor, aspiring producer and womanizer.

After drunkly publishing her series of romance novels, MB finds herself in the middle of a social media storm. Drew is on the search to find the author of Swallow Manor to buy the movie rights. Only problem? No one can find the allusive Minnie Maple.

Okay.. listen.. the first half of this book was really rough for me to get into. The enemies part was really difficult to get into and they were just down right mean to one another for the first 45/50%. The main conflict of the “enemies” being that Mary Beth can’t come to terms with Drew being a normal person. Whereas Drew can’t come to terms with Mary being a virginal kindergarten teacher.

Drew talking about how small and “teenager” like in the first half made me so uncomfortable. Like okay we get it, she’s like five foot tall and 100 pounds. And it seems like Drew was written in the beginning to be as utterly unlikable as possible, that way when we did start liking him, it makes it worth it.

But once the fake dating started??! 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨 man oh man that was the good stuff. But once they got back to LA and staying in his apartment, I was in it.
Chemistry? A+
Forced proximity? A+
Emotional vulnerablity? A+

When the spice started happening and you could see them falling in love? Absolutely.

PS I hated reading this grown woman calling her mom “Mama” the whole book

This wonderful story will be bought in paperback and placed on my to keep shelf forever!! I loved this so much!! This should definitely be a GAC or Hallmark movie!!! I love this! I can't stop thinking about it!
I just reviewed Minnie Maple by Mandi May. #MinnieMaple #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

“Minnie Maple” is a book that falls into the realm of being good, though not quite great. The story revolves around a cast of characters who bring a touch of silliness to the narrative. While this lightheartedness can be appealing, the male main character unfortunately comes across as rather insufferable, which slightly detracts from the overall experience.

The author showcases a talent for crafting an amusing atmosphere through the characters’ antics. The silliness adds an element of fun and whimsy to the book, providing moments of levity and entertainment for readers. This aspect can be particularly engaging for those seeking a light read or a break from more serious narratives.

Ugh, this was so promising. I mean, a shy author, a hot protagonist, a cute neighbor?
The story was nice, the writing is fluid and nice to read. But thee characters didn't work out for me. I didn't really liked them? I mean, I guess they're good but I don't empathize with them. And I don't see chemistry between them?

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up
Mary-Beth is a religious kindergarten teacher who takes a dip into the spicier side of life after her best friend discovers she writes smutty romance books in her free time. After a night of drinking she publishes her book and blows up instantly becoming a best selling author under the pen name “Minnie Maple” to keep her identity hidden from her strict religious family and small town. After Drew Coyne, a famous hallmark romance actor finds her book he decides he must have the right to make the movie a book and he will do anything to get it, not knowing this book was inspired by the actor himself.

Seeing these two characters throughout the book was an amazing flow of who they were to where they got after being in eachothers lives. The story is clear and easy to read while keeping your attention. There were very rarely any parts of the book where I felt it was dragging and you do get lil surprises here and there. When I started reading this I was expecting a silly lil romance but it ended up being so much more! It was funny with a lil spice trinkled in there. A very modern telling of the book with some text message dialogue, but that isn’t the main chunk of the book which I was happy with. I was a bit worried about the religious aspect of this book, I didn’t know how big of a part it would play but it was important enough to be mentioned throughout but was more there to explain why Mary-Beth is the way she is rather than being the most important part of the story which I enjoyed.

What I didn’t like was the mention / comparison of the main character to a child/teen. I think the innocence of her is what was meant to be highlighted but it came off the wrong way and maybe just could’ve been executed more differently. I also thought the beginning was a little slow? But not terribly. I personally loved seeing both of their POVs and that helped add to hating Drew to seeing his growth although it was a bit unrealistic in that aspect of the story.

Thank you to the author Mandi May & Net Galley for having me as an ARC reader! 🖤

Disclaimer: my enjoyment reading the book weighs higher than the writing itself in my ratings & before you read ANY book I recommend looking into it to see any potential triggers that could set you off. 🖤

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc of Minnie Maple.

If you want a story that includes,

• Virgin smut author
• Bad boy Hallmark actor
• some great spicy scenes

Then this might be for you!

While I liked this book, I didn’t love it. It took about till the halfway point for me to actually enjoy the story more. This is one book where I think the dual POV maybe wasn’t necessary as Drew’s first half of the book made me not like him and cringe a lot. I did warm up to him after the halfway mark but he never actually won me over. I will warn that there is a heavy amount of religion mentioned in the book so if that’s not your thing then this book may not be for you. I didn’t mind it but I do think it was mentioned a bit too much for my own liking.

Overall I enjoyed the book and it was an easy and quick read, perfect for summer reading.

Absolutely fantastic plot! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. I will recommend it to everyone I know!

Toothachingly sweet and sauna level steamy.

There are definitely some bumps and lumps in this book (ex: mentioning Harpers perfume by name in nearly every scene she was in, Drew’s initial comparison to MB as a teenager, etc.) but the actual book was great!

I was initially afraid it would be too meta but it’s the perfect blend of including a romance lover/author without pandering and being cringey.

The cover for this book is so gorgeous and the blurb so promising that I had to read this despite the fact that Christian rhetoric makes me deeply uncomfortable and personally upsetting but it was minimal and bearable so that was great!

Hilarious and witty enemies to lovers rom com! Defintely one of my favourite reads of 2023. Publishing date 30th June,2023.
I received an ARC from Net gallery in exchange for an honest review.
I requested an ARC as the plot really intrigued me and I hadn't read a storyline like this previously. Very spicy book which I love!
Mary Beth is a 23 year old pastors daughter and kindergarten teacher who has a very dirty secret indeed. For a virgin she may be, but her mind is far from pure and she writes erotic books in her spare time. Cue a loveable best friend, vodka and then publishing the book which then leads to Mary-Beth meeting her celeb crush. Drew is a Hollywood playboy actor and he wants to buy the rights to Mary Beth's books to turn into movies. How far will he go to win the rights?
There were so many witty banter between Drew and Mary-Beth that had me laughing put loud. The author is certainly talented at writing and making the reader feel the chemistry. Favourite quotes: "Egotistical pig headed womaniser", "She's a smart ass with a black heart and closed mind".
There is more to this story that the characters finding love. They also go in on a journey of self discovery and life reflections. Making changes for the better with the help of each other. I did have a teary eye when I finished the book. Highly recommend!

I was intrigued when I read the synopsis of this book and decided to give it a chance. I'm glad I did because I enjoyed it. It was slightly unbelievable but it's fiction so it doesn't really matter because it's pure escapism and just fun.

The plot starts with the male love interest wanting to break away from Hallmark movies and he is looking for a new project that interests him and changes how people view him. Enter the female main character, Mary Beth, or her pseudonym - Minnie Maple. Her book series has became a viral success on BookTok and caught the eye of celeb Drew who launches a search to find her and get the rights to the book and adapt it.

A lot of popular tropes were covered so if you enjoy the below, this might be for you:

- Dual POV
- Enemies-to-lovers
- Fake Dating
- Small Town
- 🌶 scenes

Other reviews mention Drew, the male lead, being a jerk but he is a celeb who doesn't need to work for anything and has women throwing themselves at him so it's easy for him to be this person, but I'd say stick with it if you find you like the story and the author's writing and hopefully the character will redeem himself for you, the reader😊

4⭐

Thank you to Netgalley, C. Edward Press LLC and the author for the review copy, provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

I was very excited to read this book. As the weather warms up, I find myself itching to read fun romance books and I was ready for Minnie Maple to be exactly that. there were just a few glaring problems that made it difficult for me to read. In fact, if I hadn't received this book as an ARC, I likely would have put it back down by Chapter 9 and not picked it back up. My major hang-up with this book was the inclusion of Drew's perspective. Right from the jump, I disliked his character and knew that, no matter the direction the book took, he'd be irredeemable for me. If I had only ever seen him through Mary-Beth's perspective, I actually think I would have enjoyed the book. You don’t see how completely awful he is through Mary-Beth’s eyes, but when you read his perspective, it’s a whole different person. Through Mary-Beth, we understand that Drew is kind of an asshole in a don’t-meet-your-heroes kind of way. He’s disappointing, and definitely misogynistic, but not entirely irredeemable yet. When you get to Drew’s perspective and read his thoughts, though, everything changes. He ends up being really gross and creepy and he leers at women constantly.I found his perspective genuinely difficult to read because his thoughts and attitudes were so off-putting and truly discomfiting.

This is a tricky situation for all enemies-to-lovers books - how do we make the reader hate the enemy at first and then redeem them enough that that hatred turns to love? In Drew's case, I just think that the douchebaggery was taken too far. The character ultimately read as fetishistic, pedophilic, and extremely misogynistic. At every juncture in the book, Drew describes Mary-Beth as childlike. He describes her as looking like a twelve-year-old, then a fifteen-year-old... and those descriptions almost always directly precede him describing his lust for her. In one particularly horrific instance, he describes Mary-Beth's hair as being in two braids and says that, in addition to her looking like a fifteen year old that way, she also looks all the sexier for it. His perspective was so wholly off-putting that I actually felt, at several times while reading, like I couldn't stomach much more of it.

When the relationship evolves, he stops using childlike descriptors for her, but makes the switch to describing how tiny she is constantly. In fact, much of the book is repetitive this same way. The amount of times that Harper's Billie Eilish perfume was mentioned was a little bit strange and also didn't really add much to the book. The second half of the book was far easier to stomach than the first half, but was ultimately extremely unrealistic. And don’t get me wrong, I’m very capable of suspending my disbelief - especially when I know what I’m getting myself into. I expected some level of unreality based on the blurb, but it really got taken too far at the end. I’m not one for spoilers, so I won’t go into heavy detail, but the way that their relationship evolved was entirely too fast and very unrealistic.

The problem I have with this couple is that I don’t care about either of them individually and I don’t really like them together either. We learn very little about either character throughout the book, and what we do learn isn’t enough for me to believe in their relationship. I didn’t root for them, I found their chemistry to be lacking, and I simply could not get past the constant “she’s so tiny, she’s like a little kid” commentary littered throughout the book.

Overall, this book just wasn’t for me. I think that in some ways, it may resonate with people who grew up in very religious and sexually repressed households. I think that people who have struggled with their faith and how it interferes with their sexuality may find this book comforting to read. There are some sweet moments throughout the book that I did enjoy reading, but I think they were just outshined by my distaste for Drew. If I could change anything about this book, I would omit Drew’s perspective and take the time to really flesh out the main characters more, dive a little deeper into who they really are. I would give Drew some more redeeming qualities, and I would absolutely forego mentions of how tiny and childlike Mary-Beth is.