This was a great debut novel filled with enemies to lovers and that slow burn (this was the slowest burn I’ve read yet) but I loved it! The only thing I found a little awkward with the writing was the last act where everything feels like the stakes were so high when Eva takes the money and runs and we think Chuck is going to save the day. That was short lived when he lets her basically drive away without a chase scene. Oh well, just a missed opportunity to nicely tie everything up business wise, but the way it was settled in the end works too.

I was not a fan of the bonus chapter called Wedding Day, I could have done without that. Overall, I was rooting for Isadora and Chuck and I’m glad they got their happily ever after! Can’t wait to read Raina’s future works!

This book was fine. A literary bar and a sports bar are set to open on the same day and the two owners don’t get off to a great start and become rivals. While I wanted to really enjoy this, I couldn’t get behind the pranks that the two owners would do to each other since they were way more destructive than friendly. It made it hard for me to believe they could fall in love with one another after that. I wish the side plot with Eva either took up more of the book or was left out completely.

Isadora knows what she wants since she was a student at the university and that's to be the owner of a literary bar. She has worked for a lot of time to do so and now that it's finally open....
Chuck is the son of a famous quarterback and he knows nothing about life. He does every little thing to please his parents and forgets about his own feelings and needs. Daddy wants to open a sports bar and he will be the manager. Guess where is this sports bar? Next to Isadora's.
Read the book if you want to know how their relationship evolves from 'I don't want to see you' to 'I don't want you to leave me behind'. It's quite a ride.

I really enjoyed this book and found it a delight to read. Make Me a Double by Raina Joy Wilder is a dual POV romcom with laugh-out-loud hijinks, pranks, and witty banter that readers will throughly enjoy. Add this to your TBR, it’ll be a great read even after the summer is over!

Meet Isadora. She scrimped and saved to open Gertrude's her Literary Bar. Meet Chuck. He’s the only son of an American football millionaire and is gifted a sports bar called Brady’s. The problem? Chuck’s bar is next door to Gertrude’s AND they’re opening on the same day. He thinks she’s pretentious, while she thinks he’s living off of his father’s money. Will their feud disrupt business and get in the way of the two business owners getting to know each other?

I really enjoyed how Wilder portrayed the growth and change in both of the main characters. It really left me wanting to read more of their story when I came to the final page. I read this in one sitting and found it hard to put down, so I only paused while I went to church. Tea, a cozy blanket, and Make Me a Double were waiting for me when I got home. I’m looking forward to rereading a physical copy and having it in my home library.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mirror House Press for a temporary e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Xpresso book tours for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.
*2.5/5*

So, I really did not like this book. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it either. It was fine?

I was really excited because the blurb made this book sound so cool. Like Book Bar versus Sports Bar?? Um yeah???
Unfortunately, this book did not deliver.

I couldn't get myself to care for the main characters as a couple. I liked the FMC; she was tolerable. The MMC was so bland? All he did was complain and drown in his sorrow of "my parents don't listen to me, i hate my life"
Now, between the two, I just did not feel the chemistry. They both talked so much about their exes it got hard to root for them as a couple. They were also super childish. Like the pranks were stupid, and it just kept getting out of hand. Out of hand in the sense that they could've done things that were much funnier without literally jeopardizing each other's businesses. It basically felt like two teenagers taking the pranks so far just to one-up the other without caring about who gets hurt in the process.

They also just randomly started liking each other. like, I was super confused when their thoughts would just shift from hate to love. like did I miss a chapter?

Also, the whole other side plot of the Eva character was just so weird. like what purpose did it serve exactly?

Overall, it was a super quick read, which is why I finished it, but it's definitely not my favourite of any sort.

Chuck's cat, Betty, was the highlight of this entire book.

I loved this! A book bar needs to happen! I would so be there. But I quickly read through this and it was a very good and cute Rom-Com that I love. It was perfectly paced and I loved the banter between Chuck and Isadora. I fell cofor their love story! This was so good I couldn't stop reading this. Perfect!
I just reviewed Make Me a Double by Raina Joy Wilder. #MakeMeaDouble #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Make me a Double was a completely adorable enemies to lovers romp- our two main characters are rival bar owners who couldn’t be more different. Or do they have more in common than they can see? Loved seeing their rivalry turn into real feelings. Isadora’s bar, Gertrude’s, is a place you’ll wish you could hang out on a Friday night. Super sweet and I can’t wait to read more from this author!

This is a slow burn enemies to lovers, and when I say slow burn, I mean last 10-15%. I enjoyed reading this and loved the little pranks that Chuck and Isadora play on each other. This book had me laughing and wondering what they’d do next!
If you enjoy a slow burn I recommend this book! I am looking forward to the next in the series!

Isadora had worked hard for years to save up for her dream business, a book bar Gertrude. Opening day approaches as she renovates the new space but problems start occurring with the neighbor next door.
Chuck McCaffrey, is also opening a sports bar, Brady's the same day. Chuck is the son of a NFL star who has everything handed to him and is seen as a spoiled jock.
The book is told in dual POV. The conversations between the two leads were witty and quick banter.

Initially I was going to rate this book higher, but it ended up disappointing me.

I feel like Isadora and Chuck were annoying stereotypes at first, and generally when that happens in a story, you witness their paths to personal growth.

I do not feel like either of the MCs truly showed growth by the end, and the twist with Eva seemed unnecessary and did not benefit the storyline.

I appreciate the copy I received of this from NetGalley, and wish it had been a better fit for me.

This was a super fast and cute read! The banter between Isadora and Chuck had me laughing and picking it up to read as much as possible! It was a cute story of two bars opening up at the same time next to each other, and the owners end up in a feud (even though their bars are two entirely different themes)! There’s also an underlying best friend storyline I love, and had a very subtle LBGTQ+ back story (it made me feel it was a more realistic book!). Bonus: if you sign up for the authors newsletter, you get the bonus epilogue (it led much to be desired though), however the lack of a solid epilogue didn’t bother me as much on this book!

Make me a double

I’m sad to say I really didn’t enjoy this. Usually I love the classic enemies to lovers trope and the rival businesses setup should’ve been a recipe for success but it just fell short in a lot of ways.

I’ll start with the positive:
I really liked Isadora, most of the time. She was a great FMC and I wanted to root for her success whenever she wasn’t being pretentious.
Betty the cat. A late but delightful addition to this story that made me giggle and coo while reading.
In general, the banter was excellent. Isadora and Chuck, were both witty and hilarious and I loved their bickering.

Which leads me into the negatives:
Chuck was just, the worst. He spent the entire story whining about his life and situation, while outright acknowledging he’s privileged and fully aware he doesn’t make an effort to affect positive change for himself. Literally the only resolution to his lifelong suppression of “boohoo my parents don’t listen to my real interests” was to have a single conversation with his mother, about you guessed it, his real interests.
My next major gripe, and honestly the reason this is 2 stars for me, is that I just did not feel any chemistry between Chuck and Isadora. They bickered like grandparents which should’ve been an excellent setup, but honestly both spent so much time talking and thinking about how much they love their exes and how well they “just get me” that I just wanted both of them to give up on this romance and go be with the people they genuinely cared about. Sam seems delightful and Zofie is clearly in need of her own love story, so they should’ve just gone that route and explored second chance romances. Don’t be besties with your exes maybe.
Finally, and this is pretty minor compared to the other two negatives, Eva’s character was just so strange to me??? After the whole tofu allergy incident and missing the clues around Chuck being uninterested, I just assumed she was ditzy. But, then she turns around and is actually some undercover fugitive with a fake identity who randomly steals 20 grand? That whole part of the plot felt so rushed and nonsensical to me I feel like we could’ve just left it out since it didn’t really contribute anything to the story and just kind of left off without a resolution.

What I expected and what I got.

The cover looked cute and the synopsis was promising a romantic story with banter and some humor and honestly, I was excited! And the more I read, the more my excitement started to disappear. And I feel like this was a case of this book wasn't my type, but it might be yours. So let me tell you what I didn't like and you decide for yourself.

The humor was meh for me and if I ignored most of the jokes, there was one line I couldn't go past it. And I don't even know if it was supposed to be funny. Like what is this?

<i> "Believe me, I know. When I was modeling that tabloid Rumor put my picture on it after I had some tacos and circled my tummy and splashed me on the front page with the word PREGGO on it in all caps. That hurt."
"Tragic," I say.
She slaps my arm. "It was!"
<b>"Worse than the Holocaust."</b>
"You are such an asshole, you know that?" she says with a smile.</i>
(the quote is from the E-ARC copy I received)

Maybe others won't be bothered, but is ok to just throw around lines like that? Moving on.

If the humor wasn't for me, I also didn't buy the romance or the banter or the lil competition and pranks that the characters did. The characters and everything they did seemed so immature and almost cardboard cutouts that at one point I was so out of the story... like how much can you suspend your disbelief? But maybe I'm too grounded and that's why it was ridiculous in my eyes.

Also I feel like there was no chemistry between them, they argued for like 90% of the book and then bam! I want you and let's be together and you're special, etc. Come on. And I don't say that you can't have this scenario and have them together just at the end. It's just how it was written and how they read to me, it felt like the ending was coming and something had to happen so let's just rush everything and put a bow on it.

Also, the whole Eva thing, cause why not throw more drama around? Myeah, you do you, book. It felt so forced, but I guess you throw yourself to a dude that your boss isn't interested in just cause he's nearby.

This book is such a no for me and I'm disappointed, cause the beginning was fine, but then it went downhill so fast. The only plus I think it had is that it read very fast and I didn't have time to linger on and think to put it down. Maybe is for you and let me be the unpopular opinion, but damn no.

I don't think I'll forget that joke mentioned above or the fact that <spoiler>someone put the female character's picture from a newspaper in an urinal, in the dude's bar bathroom and people pissed on her face.</spoiler> Like wow, cool, cool, on line with the enemies and all yeah? As if not the other pranks or stuff isn't ridiculous, but this?

I'll leave you another joke/funny line and maybe you're gonna laugh:

<i> "Knock, knock, brah," Brayden says, coming into my doorway.
...
"Please stop calling me 'brah," I say, putting my phone down. "I don't like to be referred to as lingerie."
</i>

Thanks Netgalley and Mirror House Press for the arc.

3.5 🌟
Make Me a Double was a super cute romcom about two bars that open directly next to each other that couldn’t be more different. I really loved the idea of Isadora’s bar — where are the literary bars hiding?! — after a lifetime of bars like Chuck’s. The tension between the characters was there but there were a few lines that just rubbed me the wrong way. I truly hated Eva’s character with a burning passion from the beginning (so, mission accomplished!). The dynamic between Isadora and Zofie was really great too!!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I enjoyed this story and would recommend to others who are looking for an easy to read romance. This is the first book I have read by this author and I would definitely read more in the future!



3 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 3.5 Flames 🔥🔥🔥❤️‍🔥

📚Disclosure: I received a review copy of this #book from the author/publisher via #Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, comments, and interpretations of the story are my own and bias free. I did not receive any money in exchange for this review. Thank you to the publisher/author for allowing me the opportunity to review. 🦄
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🦄

Isadora and Chuck have the opening of a great enemies to lovers romance: Competing bars with very different demographics right next door to each other. (side note: I'd really like to go to Gertrude's!) I liked the intro and there are parts of this I really liked. I liked their different but complementary personalities. I liked Chuck a lot. I liked his growth as a person and finding his way out from under his overbearing parents. His cat was also adorable. I found that I really liked the overall premise of the book. I love enemies to lovers. But... I had a few things that kept this at a 3star read for me:

-Isadora was kind of awful. Snotty and cruel instead of it being humorous.
-The side characters were underdeveloped.
-Eve as a character confused me.
-I found their hate t0 make up to spicy scene a bit rushed at the end and we didn't really get to experience their interactions together then.

Overall is was still a fun summer read though. I liked the dual point of view. I liked the premise.

It was a good read and I loved the idea of Gertrude’s. The ending felt rushed because the characters were fighting for most of the book and there were some things throughout that just made it “meh”. I did enjoy the banter between the characters.

Thank you NetGalley and Mirror House Press for this ARC. ~I was given this book and made no commitments to leave my opinions, favorable or otherwise~

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me an ARC in return for an honest review.

First of all, the idea of a book/reading themed bar is incredible and made me immediately like our main character. Make Me a Double is a story about Isadora, who is opening a new bookish bar that she has dreamed about all through college, until she meets Chuck who is opening a new sports bar RIGHT next door. This is an extremely entertaining and lovable story about rivalry, and this type of enemies-to-lovers is always a must read for me. I really loved the dynamic between the two main characters as well as their relationships with the other characters throughout the story. This book is a sloooow burn which I loved, even though I thought that the ending was a little rushed. This was a great debut novel by Raina Joy Wilder and I can’t wait to read more from her!

I loved the bantar from the two main characters. I loved the idea of a bar being all for books. I loved the whole book and the story of Isadora and Chuck.

Thank you to the author and the publishers for allowing me to read this arc.

Very cute romance book, enemies to lover’s trope. I did really enjoy this book, but I felt like the hate for each other could’ve been turned down a little and we could’ve focused more on falling in love. Other than that Isadora is a great character in the book was a great fast read.