If you're looking for an enemies to lovers 15 years after high school, then this might be the book for you. Abigail and Freya have butted heads all through high school. Flash forward over a decade, they run into each other at a reunion and it's almost like no time has passed at all. Their hatred of each other starts to fade when each of their BFF's, Naomi and Will, fall in love. Now having to begrudgingly deal with each other, will their friends wedding go off without a hitch?

This book wasn't what I expected. The main characters are actually side characters as their BFF's relationship becomes more important than Abby and Freya's. This was confusing to me as that is the main plot of the book. This is more of an ensemble/group of important characters and Abby and Freya just happen to be included. I think the book is written well and the friends are fully formed characters. The author does a good job going between chapters with Abby and Freya's point of view. There is very little romance for them, everything that happens between them is closer to the end of the book. I thought it was odd that a certain situation that should have been something that happened in the middle of the book was very close to the end instead and then had a quick fix to wrap everything up. The book has some funny moments and pop culture references but personally, it just wasn't for me.

An enemies to lovers story with a cast of fun side characters and loads of hilarious banter.

I received an advance review copy for free from Netgalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

It wasn’t the proudest moment of Abigail’s life, but one that turned it on its axis anyway. At her high school reunion she comes eye to eye with her arch nemesis, Freya Jonsson. The popular girl who grew up to be a famous journalist. While Freya snarls about how Abby turned out exactly as she expected: a lone loser, Abby is just intoxicated enough to see only one solution: throwing her cocktail in Freya’s face. What she didn’t expect to come out of the night though, was her best friend Naomi hooking up with Freya’s producer Will. That means Freya will now be a constant part of her life.

It was fun to watch Abby and Freya hate on each other high school style and then see them all mature in all other situations. The banter and bond between Abby and her friends and sister are both hilarious and heartwarming. It’s fun to see them b*tch at each other in such a way and then close ranks and stick up for one another in the next second.

When their friends conspire to get Abby and Freya to see that they actually can’t live without each other, things happen fast. The actual coming together happened so abruptly it felt a little strange. And when things get spicy, finally, the lights go out. I would have liked to keep those lights on, if you catch my drift 😉 but you’ll have to be content with your own imagination.

Another detail that became a little annoying: there were more than a few typos and missing words in the e-book edition.

That all being said, Keep This Off The Record provides a fun way to spend a few hours!

I didn't feel the romance between the main characters AT ALL. The supposed subplot (Will and Naomi's love story) has more impact. In fact, it felt like it's their story, not Freya and Abby's. I didn't feel the enemies-to-lovers bit either which <i>I think</i> was supposed to be the main trope of the story.

Besides that, I do find Arden's style of writing quite engaging. It really helped me reach up to the end of the book. I just wished that the problem with Freya wanting to keep her sexuality a secret was expressed even more because that was her big secret but it felt like it was just glossed over and moved on to the next problem and then suddenly everything is okay.

The middle part of the story felt stagnant too. It was hard to read and somehow I found myself skimming through some parts because it was that uninteresting.

Keep This Off the Record-a standalone

By - Arden Joy, new author for me

Publication date 1-30-24, read 1-24-24

📃 Page count: 346 kindle

Quick Summary: Abigail and Freya have been enemies since high school. Both jealous of each other, they can't stand to be in the same room together. When they attend their high school reunion 15 years later. Abigail's BFF Naomi falls for Freya's associate producer, Will. They are forced to be in each other's orbit.

🤷🏾‍♀️ What to Expect:

⭐ ️modern-day Shakespeare twist of Much Ado About Nothing
⭐️ enemies to lovers
⭐️ LBGTQIA+
⭐️work romance
⭐️ found family
⭐women's fic

⚠️DV-not h/H

🤔 My Thoughts: I liked the friend group of Abigail, Freya, Naomi, and Will formed reluctantly. It's also a case of matching makers from friends who care and just them happy. The main couple takes a back sit to the foursomes hijinks. I wished Abigail and Freya's relationship and rivalry was explored more.


Rating: 3/5⭐⭐⭐
Spice level 2/5🔥🔥 (off page)

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley and Rising Action Publishing for this ARC 💜! I voluntarily give an honest review and all opinions expressed are my own.

Abigail Meyer and Freya Jonsson can’t stand one another.

But could their severe hatred be masking something else entirely?

Girl enemies-to-lovers, wedding drama, Judaism, cats, therapy, best friends, Chi-town, social media, public declarations of love, a nosy old lady neighbor, wine, texting which turns to sexting which turns to naked ladies in bed, and sneaky friends...what more could you ask for? This book was such a fun read and I love a good alternating POV.

I also loved that the author didn't allow the side characters to go unnoticed. They play a huge part in the book and are very fun and colorful.

This is a light, fun read that will not be regretted.

Come through, enemies-to-lovers! I might’ve preferred a bit more hot happenings between Freya and Abby, but their dynamic was still really fun to follow. The friend group was so fun and I loved them all. While this isn’t a crazy deep and emotional ride, it’s still a cute and lighthearted story! I truly enjoyed reading this, and would give it around a 3.5 (rounding up to 4!) ⭐️

This was a fun, quick read! In particular, Abby's close-knit friend group is vividly depicted, and the dynamic between these characters is a highlight. Representation of several LGBTQ identities is done well as the characters feel real & multi-faceted. I found the petty rivalry between the two leads hilarious, though the shift to romance is a bit abrupt and lacking in build-up. The pacing is inconsistent, with not much happening in the middle, and a rushed ending--perhaps a result of the number of characters and subplots in this short book. However, I overall found this fun and did finish the book easily even as a reader who doesn't pick up a lot of romances.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

school enemies Abigail Meyer and Freya Jonsson still havent gotten over their hatred of each other and at the school reunion things dont go well as abigail throws her drink over freya

but their stumbling block is that their best friends fall in love with each other and that only means one thing they have to somehow manage to survive in each others orbit as the wedding looms

but what nobody expected was for abbie and freya to actually fall for each other and for an ex of the bride to make an appalling scene

what a mish mash of characters there are but so lovable it was a joy to read and to read the exploits of all the main characters as they were all so funny

but its the characters of abbie and freya that have you guessing what is going to happen next and this one doesnt disappoint...

I wanted to love it, I really did, however the writing was a bit juvenile. I also found it hard to relate to any of the characters. I actually really disliked most of them. This was definitely not the book for me.

This starts off with a very funny scene at a 15 year class reunion. Abigail Meyer is a licensed therapist with two bff’s, Naomi, Riley, and a wacky sister. Freya Jonsson is an award winning journalist for Nightly Global News. She brings her friend and associate producer Will to the reunion where hits it off with Naomi. Fast forward a few months and now with their friends involved Freya and Abby keep running into each other. With a nod to Much Ado About Nothing, the friends allow both Freya and Abby to overhear them discussing how their antagonist actually is in love with them.

The story spends almost more time on the friend group and their actions than on developing the relationship between Abby and Freya. Things go more bonkers as the plot moves forward and I don’t want to give spoilers. Usually with high school enemies there is some flashback or storytelling about how they came to dislike each other and that is missing here. Essentially Abby was jealous that Freya was the most popular girl and Freya was jealous that Abby could be who she wanted to be. So the beginning animosity scene seems silly and pointless given the background. The story is good and the friend group banter is fun. But I wanted more time with Freya and Abby. And being closed doors didn’t help in seeing their connection. I really enjoyed the beginning of the story but as it went on my interest waned. The author can write very funny scenes, characters and dialogue. (3.5 Stars)

This book was frustrating with the limited amount of spice that felt like it needed but lacked. Whenever there was a spicy scene it was cut way too short or cut to the next day

This one felt a little unbalanced to me. The author clearly spent a lot of time thinking about her main couple and even the secondary couple, but the rest of the cast seemed like caricatures of real people. This was a light romance so I'm not expecting the best writing, but I think because the main characters were fairly well fleshed out, the ones who weren't really stuck out. I also think that the domestic violence storyline could have been interesting, but was just not developed enough to be respectful. It was also a fade to black romance, as in no spice. This is not my jam, and I am always disappointed when we get to what should be the spice and we cut to the next day. I'm sure there are readers who like this, but really who? The story was not strong enough to carry this book without a little spice. There were fun aspects to the read, but overall a bit of a miss for me.

I'm going to recommend this cutesy, lesbianic romance. It was not earth-shaking and no molds were broken, but it's a nice addition to the genre. Most of the readers who enjoyed this book highlighted the side characters and I heartily agree. This includes a nicely portrayed non-binary person.
Did some things not make a heck of a lot of sense? Heck yeah, but I smiled a lot and laughed (out loud) a couple of times so that's pretty good!
If you are looking for something quick, easy, and silly (though there is a weird abusive ex part) give this HEA a try!
#NetGalley

I love enemies to lovers trope but I don't think that this book went about it in the right way. This book had a lot of misses for me which is unfortunate because I wish I could have gotten into it and enjoyed it.

This was a very enjoyable read. Although it is marketed as primarily a FF romance, it is so much more. It's really an ensemble of characters with various romantic entanglements. You have a best friend (female) dating a character who is a producer for the other main character. Another best friend is non-binary (great rep), who doesn't have a romantic subplot, but mentions of their "conquests" occur throughout. The sister is having marital difficulties. All the characters are pretty fleshed out and you get a good sense of who they are. The comedic relief from the sister and the best friends are cute and made me chuckle a few times. All storylines are wrapped up nicely by the end and there are multiple HEAs.

My only gripe about the book is how the two main characters come together. It is clearly established that they have hated each other since high school. I normally love an enemy-to-lovers trope, but this one seemed too abrupt. It's almost like the side character relationships take such a center-stage that the resolving of differences is glossed over. There was little depth to exploring what caused the level of hate that each had for the other, and no real connecting of the dots as to how it was misplaced. They hate each other. Friends scheme to get them together. One minute yelling at each other, the next minute kissing. Literally. I get the sudden onset of desire to kiss, but would have appreciated more of a "stop, wait a minute, let's talk about how we got here". And the whole scheming of the friends to bring them together was totally glossed over with no fallout.

TL:DR: I did enjoy reading this and loved the characters and banter. Need a little more closure on the "main" romantic arc. 3.5 stars.

This book was super cute!
I loved it a lot! Abigail and Freya were everything! I loved their banter, and just loved the enemies to lovers trope with them! It was amazing!

“Keep This Off the Record” has everything you could want in a book: girl enemies-to-lovers, wedding drama, Judaism, cats, best friends, social media, public declarations of love, a nosy old lady neighbor, wine, texting that turns to sexting which ends up with naked ladies in bed, and sneaky friends. It was such fun to read from start to finish. The central queer romance was one of the most intense enemies-to-lovers I ever read. Abigail Meyer and Freya Jonsson really, really hate each other. But the second their lips crashed into each other the first time, I felt as relieved and giddy as they did, and by the end, their relationship felt delightfully inevitable. My only wish for this story is that there'd been less friend group and more Abby and Freya. But that might just be because I couldn't get enough of them. Abby and Freya's fiery dynamic keeps you hooked, and their character development is a joy to witness. As their layers are peeled back, we see beneath the surface of their hatred, revealing genuine vulnerabilities and hidden desires. The supporting characters, especially Becca and Riley, are a highlight. Their witty banter adds a delightful comedic element to the story, creating a perfect balance between the romance and lighthearted moments. I couldn't help but become invested in their lives too. The pacing of the story is spot-on. It keeps you engaged with its rapid progression, sprinkled with OMG moments that are both surprising and heartwarming. The alternating POV gives insight into the emotional world of our two main characters while fleshing out the often hysterical supporting cast of friends. The ending was epic and that’s all I’ll say because everyone needs to read it for themselves. Thanks to Arden Joy, Rising Action Publishing Co and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC and leave an honest review. I look forward to reading what Arden Joy writes next!

Rate: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (4/5)
Spice: 🌶️.5/5 (1.5/5) - close doors with some sexting and mentions of some sex scenes

Keep This Off The Record is a lovely and entertaining LGBTQIA+ romance novel. It follows the story of Abby and Freya, two women who have despised each other for a decade, but that now are finding themselves falling in love. It's a classical "enemies to lovers" that we all love with friends playing matchmakers. They banter with clever zingers, making the read both entertaining and full of tension. Joy's writing keeps things lively and absorbing, switching between perspectives to give us a glimpse into the emotional rollercoasters of the main characters.
I loved all characters except for Becca... she annoyed the shit out of me and overall I didn't like her behaviour and choices. Riley was okay despite getting on my nerves from time to time (which was expected since they are absolutely chaotic)!
The romance, the HEAs, the drama - loved it all!

Favourite quotes:
"You know who you are. You are royalty. Put on your crown and fight for your kigdom."
" And the Pope is an atheist now."


*Thank you NetGalley, Arden Joy and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

I am a big fan of sapphic romances and Shakespeare retellings, so I was very primed to enjoy this one. Unfortunately, it fell short by almost every measure for me. There were too many characters for me to keep track of, the characters are almost universally insufferable, the dialogue is juvenile, and I could barely make it through to the end. I think there was an attempt to recreate the prickly center of Much Ado About Nothing here, but the author unfortunately either overshot or undershot and we ended up with a bit of a mess.

This one was just not for me, I'm afraid. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is one of the best romances I've read all year!

This is basically two romances in one. The main story is between Abby and her high school nemesis Freya, but the whole reason their paths keep crossing is because Abby's best friend Naomi and Freya's friend Will have their own romance going on.

There are so many good elements to this story. Each character is dynamic, and the side characters are so vibrant. I love the shenanigans that Becca and Riley get into, and Naomi's journey in getting through her past with her narcisstic ex is so wonderful to see. I had so much fun reading this amazing debut!