Ellie Greco runs her family’s Italian deli. When someone she knows from high school, Theo Taylor, wants to rent a building in her town to Mangia, a high-end, gourmet food store, Ellie will do anything to save her family business. Even if that means pretending to be Theo’s fiancée to get his father to stop his plans.

This was such a cute “meat cute” (pun intended!). I really liked Ellie. She was realistic and relatable. I thought the amnesia trope worked great for this story and loved how Ellie pretended to be Theo’s fiancée, but then he wanted to keep pretending they were even after getting his memory back. As a foodie, I loved the dueling deli theme and my mouth was watering with all the mentions of yummy Italian food. There was so much chemistry between Ellie and Theo, and I thought Theo was swoony! I wished Ellie had been more honest with herself and her feelings for Theo, but overall I enjoyed this story.

This was my first Jilly Gagnon book, but I did buy another after finishing this one so I look forward to reading more from her.

Read this if you like:
- While You Were Sleeping
- Amnesia trope
- Fake Dating
- Foodie romance

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you PRHAudio for the free audiobook, and NetGalley and Random House for an eARC.

I enjoyed this RomCom and found the audio well done.

Ellie is working to save her family business. Theo is part of the group trying to take it, but he's not what she thinks.

A ceiling falls in and causes her to get amnesia and think that Theo is her fiance.

It was a bit of a slow moving story, but still cute and enjoyable.

Ellie Greco realizes that Theo Taylor is way above her league, but she must confront him about his newest business project that will surely put her family deli out of business. Then an unfortunate accident leads Ellie to impulsively pose as Theo's fiancee. When Theo recovers from a brief spell of amnesia, he convinces Ellie that it would be mutually beneficial to continue the fake engagement. Naturally this arrangement turns into a relationship with real feelings, but each must finally admit that grief had forced them into sacrificing their true passions to work in the family business. This was an enjoyable romance with likeable characters and just the right amount of steamy scenes. Thanks to NetGalley, Random House/Dell and the author for an advance copy to read and review.

This one fell flat for me. The premise was intriguing, I love a fake dating trope. But at almost 90% in, I felt like nothing had happened yet. I wasn’t even entirely sure that Elle, the FMC, even liked Theo, the MMC.

3 stars – I was looking forward to reading this as the description looked good, but the story just felt a bit flat to me. It’s a little bit of the movie “While You Were Sleeping” in the beginning and then the 2 main characters (Ellie and Theo) join efforts in a common cause. Along the way they fall for each other. Without giving away more of the story, it is a fast read. This is the first story that I have read from this author and I do look forward to reading more.

A big “Thank You” to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Dell Publishing and Jilly Gagnon for allowing me to read an advance copy in return for an independent, honest review.

An engaging and entertaining romantic comedy. Serious life issues with a light-hearted and snarky touch. This was a quick read. I did skip over the intimate scenes and would have preferred the "f" word eliminated. The clothes she designed all sounded horrible to me, but she was wearing them, not me. The food sounded good. Grin! Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

A lighthearted romcom that kicks off with some amnesia and then quickly turns into enemies-to-lovers fake dating. For me, yet another book with lots of yummy food in it! I enjoyed the variety of family and friend dynamics in this book to highlight how opposite the upbringing of the FMC and MMC were. I did find it refreshing that the female friendship dynamics were not pitting them against each other in a competition for the MMC (staying vague for no spoilers). This is good if you’re looking for a quick fun read.

*Provided a DRC (digital review copy) from the publisher for review. All opinions are my own.

I was fortunate enough to listen to the audiobook while following along on my kindle! This was my first book by the author and I really enjoyed it!

Ellie comes back to her small town to help run her family’s deli. When the deli is threatened, she does what she needs to, to save the deli which includes fake dating Theo.

It took me sometime to get into the story but once I did I really enjoyed it! I loved the banter between Theo and Ellie! Ellie was always so quick with her comeback to Theo it was hilarious! I loved the family dynamic of Ellie and her family!

The audiobook was great! Amanda Ronconi is a new narrator to me and I think she did a great job bringing the story and characters to life! She was great at switching her voice up for each character!

Read if you like:
Fake Dating
Small Town
GrumpyxSunshine
Rivals to Lovers

This is a super cute story with plenty of banter and snark between the lead characters. They both have their different family dynamics and quirks. Thankfully neither character seems over-reacting in certain scenarios and both come across as real with just the right amount of complexity. If you want a good, easy read then this is one for you!

Cute but I don’t know if I was 100% sold on Ellie and Theo together. I enjoy a good fake dating, opposites attract story like any rom com lover but I can’t quite put my finger on what they were missing to be completely solid couple who could go the distance in my mind.

Also with Sam, Theo’s ex-fiancé, throw in the mix it was almost kind of like a love triangle angle and I’m not a fan of that trope so it kind of deterred me from really enjoying the story.


Thank you publishers and netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback

Such a fun, steamy, opposites attract, enemies to lovers, fake dating, romcom with a touch of While you were sleeping vibes that I absolutely loved!! Great on audio, this was a pure delight to read! The chemistry between the two leads was FANTASTIC, the sexy scenes were HOT and I so enjoyed when things went from fake to real. Other than an annoying third act miscommunication break-up, this was a top notch read for me that I HIGHLY recommend! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Steam level: open door

This book was cute! It wasn't my favorite rom-com I've read, but it was pretty adorable overall. I will say, I found the main guy to not be my favorite? Also his ex was... super awesome? Like so awesome that I kind of pitied her and the FMC where it was like "he .... is what y'all are hung up on?"

But a quick and fun read.

Thanks to Dell and NetGalley for a chance to read and review!

I loved the premise of this story and fake dating is one of my absolute favorite tropes. Sadly, I didn’t love this book like I thought I would. I didn’t dislike it either. Was just very middle of the road for me. It didn’t have that extra zing that makes me want to keep reading. It took me a bit to get through and the reason why was that I just didn’t connect with either of the main characters. They weren’t likable for me. I felt like there was also a lot of miscommunication that could have been easily fixed between Ellie and Theo.

This was a cute enemies-to-lovers/fake dating double trope. It was a light, easy read, but I had the problem of not really being very invested in either of the main characters- or liking them very much (and couldn't exactly pinpoint why they ended up liking each other-- this is not a spoiler, this is a rom com, what do you expect?).

3.75 stars

If you're in the mood for a rom-com that's set in a small town and includes fake dating hijinks and spice, add this one to your TBR! 
After her dad died, Ellie put her costume design dreams in NYC on hold and moved home to Milborough, a suburb of Boston, to take over the family deli. Nothing is more important to Ellie than family, so when she hears that the Taylor family of real estate tycoons are considering bringing a huge competitor for the deli into town, she has to do something. 

But then in her meeting with the handsome but infuriating Theo Taylor, there's an accident that results in him having being knocked out. Because this is a rom-com, Ellie lies and tells the doctors that she's his fiancee. She doesn't count on Theo waking up with amnesia and believing her, though. His memories return quickly, but he manages to convince Ellie that pretending to be engaged could actually get them both what they want: out of this real estate deal.

This was cute and fun and I read it in a day, but it was rife with "are you kidding me" and "that would never work" moments that made me facepalm (usually at Ellie) but like I said, it's a rom-com. It was fast-paced and I could picture their town very clearly, and enjoyed all the details of the architecture and fashion. I also appreciated that when Theo's ex shows up, she's not "evil", and isn't a traditional rival for Ellie. It's 2024, if we meet a cool girl we can be friends with her instead of competition. Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and Kathleen Quinlan at Random House for the recommendation and the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

DNF'd at 30%. I was very excited about the premise as a lifelong While You Were Sleeping fan but that was dropped so quickly that it felt almost unnecessary. I kept putting the book down hoping to pick it back up.

Thank you for the opportunity.

Ahh I wish I liked this one more. I found nearly every character completely unlikable. I also didn't feel the chemistry between the main characters (I've already forgotten their names) and felt she went from hating him to having seggs very quickly. I almost DNFd and kept going, but it didn't get much better. I'm sorry. 😢

Appreciate the ARC, but this one wasn't for me.

Ellie Greco had a great job that she loved in New York until her father died. She had to leave her job to take over the family’s business, Greco Deli, that had been run by five generations of Greco family members. Ellie has done her best to improve the business by adding new items that people have come to want. She learns that the wealthy Taylor family that owns many businesses in town is planning to convert a large building to a Mangia which is a food department store offering all kinds of Italian food items. She is shocked and knows that if this happens, her family’s deli will end up closing.

Ellie’s cousin, Bella, once dated Theo Taylor in high school and she suggests that Ellie get in touch with Theo and explain how this huge store could put numerous stores in town out of business. As Theo is running this operation for his family, he agrees to meet with Ellie to discuss the situation at the building being remodeled. Their conversation isn’t going too well when Theo is hit on the head with a piece of falling metal. To explain her being there, Ellie says they are engaged. When he wakes up, Theo pretends he has amnesia and begins to play along with her lie. Soon, he admits he knows she was lying but suggests they have a pretend relationship that will hopefully end up with his father deciding against the Mangia idea. Thus begins their fake relationship.

There are lots of meeting up events with Theo’s awful father, Ted, which subjects Ellie to a lot of snideness from the rude man. Can they keep this up and hope that Ellie’s deli business won’t end up being lost in the shuffle?

Well, I can say first off that I did not like Ellie at all. She came across as hard and cynical. Why Theo continued to help her by keeping up this farce is beyond me. So, not quite a favorite of mine.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I love fake dating as a trope and was excited to dive into this one, but I struggled to connect with the main character. The story fell a little flat, so I think this book was just not for me. I hope others enjoy!

This was an okay read - kept me entertained with the enemies to lover, grumpy/sunshine tropes. Ellie is working back in her hometown at the family deli after her father passed. Ellie has to meet Theo Taylor of the Taylor family who may try to buy out the property and suddenly enters a fake relationship. Overall I had a little bit of a hard time fully supporting this relationship and seeing it's full potential.