After her father’s death five years ago, Ellie Greco stepped away from her dreams in costume design to return home to run her family’s deli. Now, after settling for an average, uneventful life, a threat emerges in the form of a competing chain grocery with local landlord Theo Taylor. She decides to meet with him to negotiate the survival of her business. However, an accident on the job site leaves Ellie with a rival with amnesia, some questionable choices and ultimately an engagement. How will she manage to get herself out of this mess with Theo and still save her family’s deli?

This was a fun fast-paced romance. I liked Ellie’s fiery attitude and the banter between her and Theo. I enjoyed the softer, self reflecting moments too. Ellie’s family and best friend also add a fun dimension to the story seeing what she cannot while the slow burn romance progresses. I definitely recommend this cute read. 5 stars.

Review based on a digital Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine/Dell Books and NetGalley. Thank you!

I struggled a bit with liking the characters in this one. I understood why Ellie was stressed but I felt like she was a bit judgemental of Theo and amnesia and then pretend amnesia was a bit much for me with that particular trope. I felt like they could have communicated a little better to start with an no amnesia would have needed to be included. This one wasn't ultimately for me but if you don't mind out there story lines you might enjoy it!

I love an engagement of convenience moment where something wild happens and they blurt out the trope. It’s a favorite and this book does it really well.

The amnesia of all was REALLY well done. That trope can go south quickly and it didn’t here.

I enjoyed Jilly’s writing a lot and I loved both Ellie and Theo. The side characters also added a lot to the light vibe I got from the book.

The ending felt a bit fast and forced, but overall I had a great time!

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

the writing was excellent, i just wasn’t as sold on the romance aspect! i’d definitely read the next one put out by the author because there’s absolutely potential there

Fake dating? Say less. I mean who doesn’t enjoy a good we have to do this oh wait now I want to do this. I had a little trouble liking Ellie but she grew on me and I was rooting for her and Theo to get a HEA.

Ellie is trying to convince Theo to help save her family deli when there’s an accident. In order to make sure he’s okay, Ellie tells everyone they’re engaged…

I always like and appreciate when there’s more of a plot to a romance beyond the romance and really enjoyed the small town feel of this. I also liked all of the characters (besides Theo’s dad, but he’s the obvious villain). The only thing I didn’t really care for was the Sam subplot, but overall really enjoyed this novel!

Love you, Mean It by Jilly Gagnon is a unique and satisfying rom-com. The story started really well. Two rivals (sort of), one gets a little amnesia, the other decides to lie in order to get into the hospital, and a silly fake dating adventure proceeds from there! Don't worry Theo's amnesia doesn't last long so there are no consent issues. I was thoroughly enjoying this for the first half. It was charming with nice character development. The story lost me with the ex-plot. It might work for others. Overall, it's a 3.5/5 for me.
Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for this eArc.

4.5 stars rounded up! Two 🌶️ open door scenes

I ate up this book like a good deli sandwich (seriously, don’t read this book hungry haha). I am a sucker for a fake dating plot plus a woman trying to save her family business? Say less. I also appreciated the light touches of grief intertwined with both of the main character’s growth arcs. Didn’t care for the two passive pandemic mentions - not necessary in my opinion.

It was cliché in all the right places, feelings, and the third act breakup actually really worked for me. My only complaint was that I wished I got an epilogue because I really wanted to have a little more conclusion with Theo & Ellie as well as see what she was doing as far as costuming.

Release date 4/30/24 - great book to stuff in your pool bag or bring to the beach! Thank you to Dell/Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Dell Romance for my #gifted advanced copy and thank you PRH Audio for my #gifted listening copy of Love You, Mean It! #PRHAInfluencer #PRHAudioPartner

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮, 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐈𝐭
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐉𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐧
𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫: 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐑𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐢
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟑𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

Love You, Mean It was my first Jilly Gagnon book and it was a fun fake dating novel with so many other great tropes! I loved the premise of this book and thought it was such a cute concept for a book!

Ellie Greco has always wanted to be a costume designer, but when her father passed away, she was called home to run her family deli. Now, her landlord is planning to rent to Mangia, a gourmet food department store, which will threaten the existence of Greco’s Deli. In an effort to put a stop to the deal, she meets with Theo Taylor, property manager, to try to plead her case. Before long, the meeting goes from bad to worse and Ellie ends up fake engaged to Theo. Will the engagement help Ellie end the Mangia Deal and save her family deli? Or will it spark a new romance that she never expected in the first place?

🎧I alternated between the ebook and the audiobook, narrated by Amanda Ronconi. This was my first time listening to Ronconi and I enjoyed her as a narrator. I thought she did a good job bringing the characters to life. She was able to change her voice to adapt to some unique characters and I thought she did a good job.

🩷Meet Cute
🩷Fake Dating
🩷Amnesia
🩷Small Town Romance
🩷Grumpy x Sunshine
🩷Rivals to Lovers

Posted on Goodreads on April 28, 2024: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144922955?ref=nav_profile_l
**Posted on Instagram - Full Review- on or around April 30, 2024: http://www.instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem
**Posted on Amazon on April 30, 2024
**-will post on designated date

Ellie gives the impression that she has sacrificed her life in the city to come home and take over the family deli after the unexpected death of her father. She has put her heart into running the deli and making improvements here and there. When word is out that a large gourmet retail like grocery moving into town, Ellie hopes to persuade one of the property owners, Theo to stop the sale. Instead, an accident and a lie transcend into a fake engagement!
This one covers a plethora of tropes! Rivals to lovers, fake dating, small town romance. There were some very likeable and fun side characters and ones you will love to hate. I enjoyed the banter and would have liked more of it, as well as more focus on the development of the romance. It was a bit slow in the middle, Ellie was all over the place in what she wanted, and I found myself rooting for Theo more than Ellie. A good story resulting in a predictable HEA.

A new contemporary romance, Love You, Mean It covers many tropes - enemies to lovers/grump x sunshine/opposites/fake dating.

Ellie is an incredibly unlikable character - she's negative, not confident, acts surprised when she makes friends, and is highly judgmental. Her self-worth is based on what she doesn't have rather than what she does have. Her warmth is frosty at best. Questioned how Theo could even remotely find her attractive enough to pursue a relationship. This was not a believable romance, and the best character was Theo's ex.

Thank you, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell

If you are looking for a fun lovin' romance novel with an enemies-to-lovers trope, check this one out. 

Ellie has come back to this small town to help run the family deli. She has talents in other areas, but family means everything to her. So when the deli is threatened, she does what she needs to do to save it. What she doesn't expect is to fall in love and find her happily ever after.

Ellie is likable, and we might see something of ourselves in her. She is loyal to her family, but she is still something of a loner with few friends. Her journey in this novel helps her realize that she needs to learn to trust and seek out others that will enrich her life. When she ends up in a fake relationship with Theo (aka Trip from high school), she learns more about herself and what she needs to do to become a better person. 

I loved Ellie and Theo's interactions. It is obvious that they both have trust issues at different times, but they do make a surprisingly fun couple. And their relationship does sizzle at times.

I will admit that it took me some time to get into the groove of the story. But once I did, I enjoyed the banter, deception, and strong family ties. I really liked how Ellie wasn't afraid to speak her mind, even when she should potentially curb her tongue. Considering who was on the receiving end, it was actually probably a good thing. 

I liked Sam and Everett's characters. I don't know if they are going to get a book, but maybe they should! Their competitive nature draws them together despite Sam's desire to get back with Theo. 

I enjoyed reading about Ellie's clothing designs. I am not talented in this area, but reading the descriptions of what she designed for herself allowed me to envision it in my head. 

Despite the bumpy start to the book (for me), we give this 4 paws up.

With a magnitude of incredible tropes from small-town romance, fake dating (or in this case fake engagement), opposites attract, a bit of rivals/hate to lovers, and You’ve Got Mail vibes, Love You, Mean It swept me away and into a romance that I couldn’t help but gush over.

After moving back home and taking over her family’s iconic deli, Ellie finds out there may be a new department store opening up soon that would be in direct competition and possibly put her out of business. To fight for her business, she confronts the head of the property management, Theo—her opposite in every way and her ex-classmate. But what happens when he’s not exactly the opponent she thought he was?

This was such a cute read! I loved seeing the dynamics change between the two, and the chemistry was literally off the charts! *whew!* I also loved the aspect of struggling to find friends and take chances on your dreams as you get older, as well as the pressure of expectations.

If you need a great rom-com pick-me-up read, definitely keep this read in mind!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*

After putting her own dreams on hold after the death of her father, Ellie comes home to run the family deli. After a town council meeting, a big box Italian store plans to come in and run out small businesses. After learning that her cousin’s ex, Theo, is in charge of the new development, they develop a plan that mutually benefits each of them. From there after starts the fake engagement plan. But does it stay fake or do real feelings develop?
This is a fun sorry about finding your own dream and living for it. The romance is excellent as well. A little slow at times but overall, an enjoyable story!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book!

This story was only OK. It felt a little bit all over the place. The summary seemed to do a lot of heavy lifting, so after reading it prior to starting the book, it felt like the whole first quarter was a repeat and went by rather slowly. However, it somehow also felt like things were happening too quickly: The amnesia plot was over way too quickly, the real feelings came on too fast after they started to fake date, the Sam stuff came up at a random time when it felt like there were already enough obstacles in the way, and Theo and Ellie were hardly enemies at all in the enemies to lovers trope. I also felt like while the story was squarely about saving Ellie’s family’s deli, we didn’t get nearly enough time with the deli itself. Sure, there were scenes there, but I expected it to be a much bigger part. Maybe I shouldn’t have assumed.

Overall, the romance itself in this story was cute, but it didn’t make up for the rather unorganized and rushed plot of the rest of the book.

This book is humorous and witty, in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way. I saw it mainly as a commentary on family commitments and fake relationships, but it was so much more. Ellie Greco is reluctantly in charge of the family’s deli, and her reluctance is evident but her commitment to her family’s business is admirable. When a large chain is threatening to move into the area and put the Greco Deli out of business, Ellie has to resort to appealing to the head of the property management firm to hold steady and not let the other business get a foothold. While Theo is talking with Ellie, there is a big fiasco accident, he ends up with amnesia and she decides that the best way to solve her problem is to let Theo think that they are engaged. The action speeds up, the characters are funny and very irreverent in their conversations and there are a few surprises along the way. This book is originally entertaining but I did not enjoy all of the coarse language that was frequent and distracting. I did like the characters, at least for the most part, although I did not consider them relatable or particularly likable. The ending was predictable in a roundabout way…the ending was what I thought it would be but not how I thought it would come about. I give this book a solid 3.5 stars, rounding it up to four because of the entertainment value of a good rom-com, just not a great one.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16th CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Love You, Mean It written by Jilly Gagnon is a cute, but familiar, predictable book about "fake engagement" turning into true love. The book centers on Ellie and Theo. The supporting characters need to be more developed. Not my favorite rom-com but it did keep me interested. As previously stated the the outcome was predictable, but I did feel invested In Ellie and Theo's "romance". Thanks to NetGalley and Dell for the ARC!

Love You, Mean It is a cute enemies-to-lovers, fake engagement romance in which Ellie, the proprietor of a small-town deli, and Theo, the son of the town’s wealthy real estate developer, fake an engagement in order to save Ellie’s business, the deli she came back home to run after her dad’s untimely death. Following an accident that lands Theo in the hospital with amnesia, Ellie goes a la While You Were Sleeping and claims Theo as her fiancé. A brief bout of amnesia later, they realize staying fake engaged could get them what they both want: To stop a high-end food emporium from moving into a building Theo’s family owns - competition that would almost certainly spell the end of the deli, destroying the character of the downtown. It’s a perfect arrangement - fool Theo’s piece of work dad that Ellie is about to become family, and get the deal off the table - if only Ellie can keep from catching feelings for the rich bro-y guy who’s absolutely wrong for her. Right?

There’s a lot to like here. Theo is sweet and sexy, and Ellie’s Italian family is a hoot. There’s a nice thread of women standing up for other women that’s you love to see, with the unfortunate exception of Sam, Theo’s ex. Not that Sam isn’t great - she is! But I hate the trope when two people ostensibly work out between them which one will get to date a third, never mind the third person’s feelings on the matter. Sam wants to try getting back together with Theo, and Ellie - pretending to herself more than anyone that she doesn’t want Theo for herself - agrees to help Sam win him, no matter that Theo gives every sign he doesn’t want to get back with his ex.

Overall, a sweet, fun romance.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 3.5 stars rounded down

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine/Dell for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a big fan of fake dating, but this one fell a bit flat for me. Ellie and Theo are just not characters I gelled with and had a hard time rooting for them. This might be the first time I actually rooted for the ex-girlfriend, rather than the main character, to end up with the guy.

This could totally be a “me” thing though, so I encourage you to find out for yourself!

I almost didn't read this book. The reviews on it were divided. But I have to say, I really liked it. Ellie and Theo started out pretending to be together, but started developing feelings for each other. Her ex, Sam wanted him back,but not if Ellie was in to him. She didn't want to admit she was into him, so she agreed to help Sam. Theo was trying to help her save her family deli and a property he didn't want to see commercialized their small town. It was a good story. Some romance, some misunderstandings, and a HEA.

I got this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.