4.5 stars rounded up

For anyone who watches or has watched The Bachelor, loves messiness, and wishes they had sapphic representation, this is a must read. I thought Here for the Wrong Reasons was delightful and it has a ton of nods to the setup of The Bachelor. It follows two women who come on the show- one is a closeted lesbian looking to grow her social media, the other is a rodeo queen who has never had a serious relationship. They're supposed to be falling for the hero of the show, but instead they're falling for each other...

I thought this was a blast to read, as someone who watched the Bachelor franchise for many years. There is definitely some bad behavior, but I liked how it came together at the end and the way amends were made where they were needed. Definitely recommend this for fans of the show! Also, yes it is quite steamy once you get a little ways in! The audio narration is excellent. I received an audio copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

This was a fun Sapphic romance debut perfect for fans of the Bachelor that sees a closeted lesbian influencer and a sexually confused barrel racing star falling for each other when they find themselves rivals competing for the love of a man on a reality dating show. Steamy, heartfelt and very relatable, this was great on audio and perfect for fans of Sophie Gonalez's Never getting back together. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio and digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Loved the drama and excitement that came with the reality TV setting. Reminded me a bit of The Ultimatum but thankfully less messy.

I wanted to like this more than I did. I thought the Bachelor premise would be fun. I think I just did not like either main character. They were both written very young which I should have expected. The spice was ok, but overall this was just ok for me.

A big thank you to netgalley for the arc!!!!

As much as she made me cringe sometimes I think if Krystin was a competitor I might genuinely watch dating shows (funfact I have a coworker who used to be on a dating show).

I always try not to give any spoilers in these but I fucking love how Lauren is painted as kind of a villain at first and then you find out why she's even on the show and it just makes so much sense when you recontextualise her behaviour.
This is also definitely for the slow burn fans (like myself) but not to worry once we finally get a kiss it just keeps going 😉

A super fun read over all and for a romance book (meant positively) I love how both the girls had their somewhat morally grey moments.
Also (and let's pretend this was on purpose) its perfect for lesbian visibility week! I definitely think this storyline works best because they're both lesbians and its so well executed all the way through. It also definitely shows that a couple wrote this and I love it! Can't wait to see more from them!

In conclusion I might not be a fan of dating shows but I'm definitely a fan of this book.

I chose this book because sometimes I need the mindless entertainment of shows like "The Bachelor". As expected, some of the characters (true to reality TV form) were self involved and annoying, though it had lots of funny moments. It is a light and entertaining read and perfect for fans of reality TV (with a queer spin).

Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for sending an eARC of Here for the Wrong Reasons for review consideration.

This did not do anything for me. The relationship felt very forced and not organic. I also could not get a feel for any of the characters. I think this would be a good lifetime/hallmark type movie but it fell flat as a book.

A cute discovery romance between two dating show contestants, who are supposed to be falling for the main guy, but actually fall for one another. I've never been into dating shows, but I was intrigued by the premise of this book. I had a hard time initially getting hooked, but I thought the love story between Krystin and Lauren was cute. It was interesting seeing the contestant side of a dating show, rather than the viewers side!

Thank you Alcove Press and NetGalley for the eARC!

I love this! Finally, a story about dating shows that doesn't center the boring male character. Both Krystin and Lauren are utterly loveable and relatable in their slow realization of what they really want from the show.

Well this book came as a complete surprise. First of all, the premise is a dating show called Hopelessly Devoted, as the song in Grease says.
As I have , believe it or not, never watched The Bachelor, the whole premise was all new to me.
Josh Rosen is the first Ashkenazi Jew to be on the show. I do wish they had made more of this premise, especially when he brought home a Montana rodeo riding girl who his parents immediately loved. Even for being on camera, that seemed a stretch.
I don't want to give too much away,but this is sort of billed as a lesbian Rom Com and the reason for my 4 star review is that I think the book really showed how difficult it is for woman to come out and accept themselves, and I loved how this played out.
So, as a straight, Jewish, 75 year old woman who doesn't watch reality TV, I really enjoyed this book. It gave me a glimpse of life I have never considered.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the EARC. I l9ve getting ARC'S of books I may never have picked on my own, and I give my honest reviews so others might also look for books outside their usual choices.

Despite its promising premise, 'Here for the Wrong Reasons' struggles to fully engage readers due to its formulaic approach and lackluster character development. While the backdrop of a reality dating show adds intrigue, what I anticipated to be the central romance between Krystin and Lauren is very slow and lacks depth. As a Bachelor lover, 'Here for the Wrong Reasons' offers a decent escape but falls short of leaving a lasting impression.

Thank you to Alcove Press and NetGalley for a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 26%

I found the plot of this book moved too slowly. At the point I stopped, the two romantic leads had barely interacted and I didn’t feel like they had any chemistry.

Perhaps I’m not the intended audience for this book. While I’ve read and enjoyed other romance novels that dealt with reality dating shows, I’m not someone who watches “The Bachelor” franchise or similar shows. Maybe if I was, I would have enjoyed this book more. If you’re a fan of the “The Bachelor”, I’d still recommend you check this out, it will probably be more up your alley.

Here for the Wrong Reasons by Annabel Paulsen; Lydia Wang is hailed as "a swoon-filled lesbian romcom, two dating show contestants vying for the affection of the leading man fall head over heels—for each other.." The main characters are Kristin, who wants love, marriage, and a stable home. In order to find it, she turns to Hopelessly Devoted,, a reality tv show, where she will compete against dozens of women vying for the attention of Josh, this years' bachelor.. Her greatest competition is Lauren, who isn't looking to win Josh's love and affection. In fact, she much more likely to fall for one of the other contestants. Lauren's real interest is growing her social media clout. Despite her best intentions, she finds her attentions captured by Lauren.

Although we end up with a lesbian couple in the end, the book itself has very little of a building relationship between the two women. Because the show takes place within the real of a dating show, a lot of the book revolves around this. Therefore there is less about Kristin and Lauren than there should be in order to effectively develop the relationship between the two women. We don't' see a lot of inner work, especially on the part of Kristin who came in believing and wanting a hetero relationship and finds herself falling for another woman.

The book is technically well written and very well representative of how the reality tv show works, it fails to reach the point of a queer story.

As a longtime fan of both reality dating shows and sapphic romance, this book could not be any more up my alley. If you're looking for something profound and lifechanging, this isn't it, but if you want a lighthearted queer romance that throws a fair bit of shade at the Bachelor franchise, you'll enjoy this. I do think the characters could have been a little more fleshed out and likeable, but they all grew on me by the end of the story, even the bachelor himself. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I liked this way more than I thought I would. I don't usually go for reality show anything, but this really scratched an itch. It was cute, sweet, maddening and cringey, but only in the best ways.

I had so much fun with this. Just a delightful romcom romp. I think every romance novel with a bachelor spoof is hilarious.

Oh my gosh this was so FUN. If you are a fan of dating shows or just reality TV in general this is a great romance for you. It follows a Bachelor style show except the love interests of this book are two contestants, yay queer romance in the middle of a hyper straight setting! So we have aspects of the growing romance while also having dramatic TV side plots.

I loved both of these women. They are nuanced and individual and had their own unique growth journeys. So Krystin is a rodeo queen from Montana and I LOVED her whole backstory of how she is an athlete and capable of these really intense rodeo events while also having the knowledge and requirement of being hyper femme and seen as "available" for the other cultural aspect of her title/role. It is easy for others to see her as a clueless country bumpkin but she has so much secret fire but also secret vulnerability of wanting to find love and being one of the "right reasons" contestants.

Lauren is our secret villain. She is a super fan of the show and has her secret plan of getting just far enough for a followers boost. So she knows she can't be edited as the villain but has villain-y actions on the show. She is very confident and closed off, and secretly in the closet.

This has the mini tropes of forced proximity and roommates when at one location on the show they have to share a room. They bounce around from friends to rivals to dislike to lovers. There is open door spice and vulnerable feelings talks and a bit of angst but never over the top. This will leave you feeling happy for everyone even our forgotten male lead.

To be absolutely honest about the writing of this, I didn't like the first few pages because they are cast bios for several of the women. Look, I don't read them when I'm watching the actual Bachelor so I am really not interested in reading them about fictional characters. The ITM transcripts were truly cute and kept short but this first section is skipabble to get right to the action and I would recommend doing that because this easily was a 5 star read for me.

Thank you so much to Alcove Press for this eARC!

When the description said "Fans of The Charm Offensive will swoon for this sparkling debut romcom." They definitely weren't wrong!
The Charm Offensive is one of my all time favourite queer romances, so I was very excited to read this one after reading that in the description and this book did not disappoint!

This book is such a cute sapphic romance, that I really enjoyed reading. I felt like the main characters had a lot of development and growth throughout the story. I also really love the male main character and how he handled the situation.

However I really didn’t like how dishonest they both were with the male main character. I mean I get that TV shows like that are usually fake, but considering the male main characters history, I didn’t thing it was fair to him that they were being that dishonest with him. Both of them really made it seem like they were head over heels for him, when they clearly liked each other instead.

But besides that I thought it was a very cute and quick sapphic romance and I can definitely recommend it!

I think that this was a fun, quick read about a reality dating show. I liked Kristyn, but I couldn't connect with Lauren as much. I struggled with the story because both characters were there, much like the title of the book states, for the wrong reasons. I think that I couldn't root for them to be together because they were so dishonest with the bachelor, Josh. Everything about the reality show part of it was confusing to me. There were so many characters,and I couldn't keep track of all of the names.

I thought this was a fun and funny read that gave a queer take on a dating show, in a behind the scenes setting.