Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Love You, Mean It follows deli owner Ellie Greco as she teams up with Theo, the heir to an affluent real estate company, to fake an engagement that will hopefully save her family deli and preserve the historical value of their New England town.

This book was a fun and quick read that had a lot of potential. I loved the fake engagement, and while cheesy, the temporary amnesia lead-in to it had my While You Were Sleeping fangirl heart screaming with excitement. Theo was a compelling male lead, and I did find a lot to love in Ellie's own internal conflicts regarding her family's deli and her long-lost dreams of fashion design. I did struggle a bit with the conflict between Ellie and Sam, mostly because neither was really a villain but both were kind of sus the whole time, as well as some of the pacing of the story overall. I think what it comes down to is that the relationship with Theo and Ellie, and their own internal and familial conflicts, felt like enough without the addition of the Sam curveball. I ended up liking her as a character, but I often felt that she was filling up screen time I would've preferred to see dedicated to our main couple.

In all, I think this was a pretty fun and light read, a solid choice for a beach day or a sunny weekend.

This was cute. I wasn’t a fan of Ellie but I loved Theo; I found him more authentic whereas she was self-sabotaging and petty. The chemistry was there but what I liked more in the book were the sections where she was discussing the areas where she would brainstorm with Sam (and others) on how to grow her business. Otherwise, it’s a good story with a happy ending.

Love You Mean It was a sweet fake engagement, relationship of convenience book. It had some cracked door spice (just a little detail not too much but more than fade to black). I would recommend this to anyone who loves a small town romance with some fun banter and big families. I could totally see this being made into a cute Rom Com
movie.

I feel like it took me forever to get into this story. Might have been my frame of mind or it might have been because I didn't connect with Ellie at all through much of the story. I enjoy a good fake dating story and I also enjoy (might not be the right word here lol) and good amnesia story. I might have enjoyed the story more if the amnesia had lasted longer which would have changed the dynamics between the main characters and perhaps lay a foundation where their relationship seems real. In the end though I felt like the story pulled together nicely and gave me the HEA I'd hoped for. 3.5 stars

This was a cute, spicy romcom with an overly large amount of miscommunication frustration. It kept things interesting, but I found myself annoyed at a couple of points that Ellie wouldn’t just tell the truth. The Italian deli setting was super cute and I wish the author had included a recipe for red pepper ricotta, but I am going to try some myself anyway with some Trader Joe’s focaccia.

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I recommend Love you, Mean It by Jilly Gagnon. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy reading!

Ellie Greco has spent the last five years working at the family deli. She had been in New York City, trying to get hired as a theater costume designer, all up and down Broadway. And off-Broadway. But she just could not figure out how to get her feet in the door. So when her father died and she had to move back to the small town of Milborough where she grew up, she accepted her place running the deli so her grandparents didn’t have to come out of retirement to take it over.

And Ellie enjoys her work. Mostly. She’s updated the products they carry in the store and offer customers ready-made packages, for when they’re in a hurry. And the days are better when the customers know what they want and don’t keep asking for samples while they try to decide, Ellie is happy to be back among her big Italian family and to have access to Mimi’s lasagna.

And then she finds out that the Taylors, a rich real estate family, were planning on bringing Mangia to their town. And Ellie can’t have that.

Mangia is a big gourmet grocery store that would put Ellie and the family deli out of business. It would put several other local, family-owned businesses too. No one would be able to compete with all they have to offer. Ellie knows she has to stop this. And she thinks that the way to get through to the Taylors is through Theo, the son.

Ellie gets his number from her cousin, who dated him in high school, and sends a text. He agrees to meet with her the next morning, in his office in the building they’re currently remodeling for Mangia. Ellie finds that Theo is open to what she has to say, about stopping Mangia. He says that it’s his father’s idea. But before they can get much further in the discussion, an electrician working nearby has a bit of an accident and is hanging from the ceiling by his fingertips. Theo runs to help, and he gets the man down safely, but then he gets hit in the head with a metal box and is knocked out.

Ellie is worried about him and about saving the deli, so she decides she has to go with Theo to the hospital. But when they refuse to let her in, family only, she says that she’s his fiancee. When Theo awakens later at the hospital, he can’t remember what happened. Actually, he can’t remember the last 6 years. But the nurse reminds him that Ellie is his fiancee, and also tells Sam, Theo’s ex-girlfriend who was listed as his emergency contact. Ellie wants to tell the truth, but she can’t without opening herself up to rejection, or possible litigation.

When Theo does get his memory back the next day, he realized that Ellie’s fib is just what he’s been looking for. He’s been wanting to get out of the deal with Mangia that his father had set up, and Ellie is the key. If they’re engaged, the Taylors can’t be bringing in a business that will cause Ellie’s shop to close. This little ruse gives them the excuse to save the town from the big business that would ruin its charm, so they both win. But as they go around town pretending to be in love, who are they really fooling? Is it everyone else, or is it just themselves?

Love You, Mean It is a fun rom com with a hefty nod to While You Were Sleeping with its amnesia/fake fiancee story. But these characters are also smart and funny and far from perfect, and the journey they take on their romance is filled with sweetness, snark, secrets, and fantastic food. It’s easy to see how these characters bring out the best in each other, even as they seem like an unlikely pairing, which makes them that much more fun to watch.

I really enjoyed Love You, Mean It. I’m a sucker for a fake relationship story, and this one was lots of fun. There is secret scheming, inner growth, spicy chemistry, and amnesia. What more could you want? If you’re like me and missing those great rom com movies of the 1990s, then you need to consider picking up this book. It will feel like a Sandra Bullock hug to your soul.

Egalleys for Love You, Mean It were provided by Dell through NetGalley, with many thanks.

I was provided a free advanced copy of this from @netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
Ellie had a few years to follow her dreams in New York before she moved back home to take over her family's deli. But now that is being threatened by a possible deal with a big box store being brought in by the Taylor family real estate business! She hopes she'll be able to convince Theo Taylor (the boss's son) that the deal wouldn't be in the best interest. However, at their meeting, Theo gets knocked out and in a spur of the moment decision she tells the EMS team that she is his fiance. But when he wakes up in the hospital, he has amnesia and assumes she must be his fiance! Will his memory come back? Will she be able to convince him to not go through with the deal? Will anyone believe that they are really engaged?
This was a quick cute romance story. I dropped it a few stars because I didn't connect well with Ellie. In a lot of ways I felt she was trying too hard without reason. She was blessed to be surrounded by forgiving people! If you like romance and fake dating trope you should check it out! I'm a little behind on the review, so it's already published!
#NetGalley #LoveYouMeanIt

📈Final Rating: 2.5 out of 5 🌟🌟🌟


💕Would you recommend this book?
It was okay. I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this to someone out of thin air.


🪶Favorite Quote:
“News flash, Ted, Theo and I get along precisely because I’m nothing like the people you’d choose for him. And I love him because of who he is, not how much money he’s set to inherit. Not that you’d understand anything as quaint as that. ”


🌶️ Spice Level: 🔥
Maybe two three scenes? It was very mild and innocent. Quite adorably, the author is even hesitant to spell out the genitals of a man.

——
Rating Rubric:
🌟 Horrible - “Why did I even waste my time?”
🌟🌟 Unimpressed - It could have been better.
🌟🌟🌟 Good/Average- I would recommend this, but nothing was too out of the ordinary; it’s what’s expected.
🌟🌟🌟🌟 Great! - There were some good surprises, but not enough to blow my mind.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Outstanding - Above & Beyond, It left me wanting more and thinking more about it.
——


📝Writing Style: 2.5/5
The writing is descriptive enough to paint a picture of the surroundings. However, it did become a little unbearable reading this strictly from a first person point-of-view. Sometimes the main character’s thoughts mid-conversation are paragraphs and paragraphs long that I forget what the original conversation was about.


🗺️Plot: 3/5
The plot starts off a bit silly with a brief amnesia episode but makes for a typical rom-com and luckily doesn’t drag. The main conflict revolves around a family-run deli shop possibly going out of business because of a tyrant chain grocery store possibly replacing small town businesses.

Plot Tropes-
* Fake Dating/Engagement
* “Rich x Poor”

⚠️Possible Trigger Warnings:
* Grief over deceased family members
* Rich Family Expectations


👨‍👩‍👧‍👦Characters: 2/5
I genuinely liked most characters except the rich arrogant Boomers but they were realistic to the plot so I appreciated that.

Female Main Character (FMC):
I liked Ellie’s feisty “no bullshit” personality. However, for someone that fronts that type of personality, she is not honest with herself the entire book. It also pissed me off how she continually lied to people who were genuine to her.

Male Main Character (MMC):
Theo didn’t sweep me, as a reader, off my feet. I feel like he has minimal charm to him. He couldn’t even stand up for Ellie; it’s like he had no backbone the entire book. Sure he has a sensitive/deeper side hidden away from his outer persona, but it’s not enough to win my heart over.

The two main leads were lacking romantic chemistry if anything; I wish we got to dive deeper into their insecurities straight on rather than they keep pretending their relationship is mainly a business transaction.

——

🗯️Overall Impression:
I feel the ending was a bit rushed compared to the rest of the book— like all that build up for what?? Most of the “character development” and conflicts were squeezed into the last two chapters. I wished the climax happened sooner so that we can see it slowly get resolved and we can see the characters “grow” over that timeframe. It felt like the author put a slap of a bandaid at the end.

This was adorable!! I loved Jilly's debut YA novel and this was so much fun! I loved how natrually Ellie and Theo's fake dating turned into something more. The last 30 minutes of this book did have me wanting to shout because I HATE a third act breakup but this was a lot of fun!!

Love you, mean it” is a super cute fake dating romance! I honestly love the characters and even the side characters. The plot was cute, but maybe a LITTLE far fetched at times? I brought down my rating because I felt we spent a little too much time in our MFC head. After awhile, I found myself skimming over those parts and getting to the dialogue between characters. I think a good novel walks the perfect line of world building, inner voice of characters, & dialogue between characters. This one was a bit too heavy on the inner voice of our main female character. But the banter, playfulness between the characters, the Greco family dynamic was so much fun! I really like this one, although the writing style kept me from loving it!

This may be unrelated, but the text in the physical book seemed too small. It made it hard to read and I’ve never had that problem before!

Love You, Mean It is a delightful tale by Jilly Gagnon. Ellie Greco entertained dreams of becoming a Broadway costume designer. Although her work is exquisite and her imagination has no bounds, she met nothing but defeat in her years in New York City. When her father suddenly passed away from a massive heart attack, Ellie returned home to Milborough, MA, to her family and to take over running the family’s delicatessen.

When her civically minded grandmother returns from a commission meeting worked up about the impending move of the food magnet Mangia into the old Taylor’s Department Store, the family concludes this major competition would be the end of Greco’s Deli. In a ploy to circumvent this, Ellie visits Theo Taylor, heir to the Taylor real estate fortunes, to ask him to reconsider this plan. During the visit, which takes place in the old Taylor building, there is an accident caused by the workers in the building and Theo suffers a head injury leading to unconsciousness and a 911 call. In a last ditch effort to be there when Theo awoke, Ellie identifies herself as his fiancée.

With initial amnesia of the past six years, Theo doesn’t correct Ellie, but when it becomes obvious that he has regained his memory Theo makes a very surprising offer, launching the pair on a journey to thwart his father,Ted Taylor, and his plans for Mangia.

This is a very interesting study of people from different walks of life with a shared goal and more in common than they would have guessed. I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it!

I really tried with this one. I got about 22% in before I made the choice to DNF. I didn't love the base of the plot with it being based on a lie and when I read some other reviews to decide if I want to push through and people said the main character was annoying so I decided to not finish.

I was offered this book by the publisher having never read this author before. This was a cute story, but the language was a bit too vulgar for my liking. It took away from the story, in my opinion. Without that, the main characters made you want their happily ever after.

I enjoyed this book. When the amnesia was introduced I got a bit nervous because I don't really care for stories with that aspect but that concern was quickly resolved in an enjoyable way. I liked the chemistry between and Theo and Ellie. I thought the story was well written. I love fake dating and this one was really fun. From time to time I forgot they were supposed to be faking. Ellie made me want to scream with her denial of her feelings but I also loved her. I thought the ending was very sweet even though the third act break up did destroy me a little.

I received an ARC of this book. I really enjoyed this book. It's a fun romance with some interesting twists. As usual, this author writes a very captivating book!

I think I need to come back to this book at a later date and reread because I feel conflicted. Maybe it was just an off month for me, because romance is hands down my favorite genre ever. I literally devour any and every romance book. It doesn't matter what trope the romance falls under, I enjoy it. This book, however, has me conflicted.

I don't want to rate it negatively, because again, maybe it was just an off month for me. I'll come back to this book and read it again when my life isn't so chaotic. This was a crazy month for me, so that very well could be what stopped me from fully enjoying the book. It literally has tropes that I tend to always love.

Take this review with a grain of salt though. Don't let my review stop you from giving it a chance. I might even fall completely in love with it on my second read. Go into this book with an open mind and try to enjoy the ride.

I'll most likely be coming back and editing my review. Hopefully I'll be bumping the review as well. I still think others should give this book a chance. 3 stars for now, will most likely change though.

I am a massive fan of the saying, “Three times is a charm.” I like to apply to almost everything in my life, including reading. I have read (and reviewed) two previous books by Jilly Gagnon. Saying I wasn’t impressed with them is an understatement. Keeping that saying in mind, I read and reviewed Love You, Mean It. Well, the saying worked. The third time is the charm. I enjoyed reading Love You, Mean It.

The main storyline of Love You, Mean It is centered on Ellie, Theo, and their plan to stop Theo’s father from building a Walmart-type store in downtown Milborough. That would mean a slow death for the small businesses (including the deli that Ellie runs), and Ellie is determined to find a way to stop it. I found the storyline to be heart-grabbing, well-written, and poignant. Love You, Mean It kept me glued to the book until the wee hours of the morning.

I wasn’t a huge fan of Ellie but she did grow on me. She was a freaking mess at the beginning of the book. Her attitude sucked, and she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. She gets more bearable after Theo regains his memory and goes along with her fake fiancee scheme (all to get his father to stop his plans). But even then, she was forced to act a certain way towards a man she despised (Theo’s father). I felt that the only authentic glimpses of Ellie were given during her family dinners, certain moments with Theo and Sam, and when she was remembering what it was like before her father died.

I did like Theo. There was a brief moment when I wondered if he wouldn’t regain his memory, but the author pretty much takes that idea and stomps on it. Theo’s reasons for not wanting the business downtown were very personal. But I was surprised when he decided to team up with Ellie to stop his father. Also, Theo wears his heart on his sleeve, and I guessed his true feelings toward Ellie early in the book. Well, not so much guessed, but called it.

Theo’s father was the ultimate villain in this book. He used his wealth and upper-class manners to try to intimidate Ellie. He had the audacity to ask Theo if Ellie was pregnant during their first meeting and then inferred she was a gold digger. Both were shot down by Theo and Ellie, but still, I felt the need to clean my Kindle every time he appeared on a page.

Sam became a considerable part of the book fairly early on. While I liked her, what she asked Ellie to do was pretty low (knowing the circumstances of Theo and Ellie’s fake relationship). Also, I wouldn’t say I liked how Sam treated Ellie after the engagement party or when Ellie went to Theo’s house to make up. The whole I want to be your friend now so you can have him vibe at the end of the book frustrated me to no end because it wasn’t needed!!!

The romance angle was cute. I liked how Ellie was dragged, kicking and screaming, into having feelings for Theo. Of course, those feelings made Ellie’s mouth run, and I thought she had ruined her chance with him for a hot minute. I also do need to discuss the sex. Ellie and Theo have mind-numbly hot sex from the middle of the book on. I honestly wasn’t expecting the sex scenes to be so good.

The end of Love You, Mean It was a happily ever after for now ending ( so, HEAFN?). I liked how Ellie and Theo ended up back together. I also hope the author has more books written in this universe. A few people were featured (secondary characters) that I want to see have their HEA.

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam, Dell, and Jilly Gagnon for allowing me to read and review this ARC of Love You, Mean It. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

This was such a cute rom com. Dueling delis is such a weird concept but it was executed so cutely! This book had so many of my favorite tropes and was an adorable enemies to lovers story. The characters felt mostly fully fleshed out and honestly, their backstories were the most intriguing part. I felt like I was able to get to know the characters and really care about them. There was a lot of "real world" in this book, which did lessen the enjoyableness, but it didn't make it bad. It was just jarring at times.

Thank you to Dell & Netgalley for this fun ARC!

I am rating this one 2.5 stars out of 5.

This is may first by Jilly Gagnon and I loved that the book took place in Massachusetts and centered around an Italian-American family. Having been raised in New York and deep in the trenches of Italian-American upbringing, I loved the nostalgia of Mimi being the strong-willed matriarch of the family.

This book was a classic enemies-to-lovers set up with a fake engagement thrown in to benefit both parties. Our FMC is Ellie Greco, (her full name is Eleanor and that warmed my heart because I have a daughter with the same name) and she has moved back to her small town after striking out in NYC for a career in fashion design. She now is the owner and sole proprietor of her families longstanding deli. After news breaks that the wealthier family in town, the Taylors, are in the works to sell one of their properties to a huge Italian inspired grocery chain ( think whole foods but all Italian) Ellie is desperate to try and save her families deli from going under if this giant moves into town.

She meets up with Theo Taylor, the son of the Real Estate Mogul Ted Taylor, and tries to convince him to not bring the giant chain store into town. Theo went to school with Ellie and even dated her best friend and cousin Bella (which seems weird to me later on). After failing to convince Theo to stop the sale, he accidentally gets hit hard in the head by crumbling infrastructure, resulting in memory loss. Ellie partly wanting to save her business and partly not wanting him to go to the hospital alone, tells the paramedic she is his fiance. After realizing Theo has amnesia, she tries to back out of her words but soon realizes he isn't so lost as she might think. The two strike up a plan to mutually help one another stop the big chain store from coming into town and hi-jinx ensue.

One problem, Theo's ex-girlfriend Sam shows up at the hospital and starts questioning whether or not if their engagement is real. Unfortunately, Ellie really likes Sam and wants to befriend her but once Sam realizes their engagement is fake, she asks Ellie to help her win Theo back. No big deal, except Sam is named the new CFO of Theo's dads company and the pressure is on to stop the big chain from coming to town but also has a risk of Ellie failing if she can't get Theo to fall back in love with Sam.

While I enjoyed this book, it felt at times like one big overly dramatic kids show. Ellie refusing to accept she has feelings for Theo and trying to help Sam, his ex-girlfriend, get back together with him felt just unnecessary. There were too many moving pieces at play that messed with the flow of the story. One minute Ellie is telling herself Theo is too different from her, she has to push him away, and the next they're engaged in intercourse and she can't accept she likes him. It felt like Ellie needed to just come clean and tell Theo she liked him rather than keep shoving her feelings down deep. Also, this man was dating her cousin Bella in high school and idk but that feels weird to me. I couldn't really see pass that.

Theo has his own trauma and baggage that he brings to the table. His little brother passed away in a tragic accident and he has a strong tie to the Taylor building they're trying to save from the big chain grocery store. He tried to break away from his overbearing father Ted, but after his brothers death he sort of gave up on his dreams. While I felt like Ellie's situation I understood because the Deli was her deceased fathers and grandfathers store before she took over, with Theo I wish he would have had a stronger background explaining himself more. It just felt surface level to me.

The friendship between Ellie and Sam was my main focal point. The two women complimented each other so well and Sam giving Ellie the idea to expand her business that allowed her to appreciate her life in her small town was truly heartwarming. I wish these two weren't pitted against each other over a MAN. Of all the things in this world...

The conflict resolution at the end with Ellie and Theo was satisfying and I am glad they got their happy ending,