Fun little break from life. Theo and Ellie have nothing in common except for the goal of keeping the new store out of town. When they team up as an engaged couple to put a stop to the company coming in, laughter is sure to follow…. After all, what could go wrong?

I liked this love story—even though it was chucked full of familiar tropes. They simply worked for me. Ellie Greco was failing at her New York City career search as a costume designer when her father died leaving the generations old family Italian deli with no one to manage it. Because family meant a lot to Ellie, she felt obligated to return and take over. As in many Hallmark movies, things grew desperate when a Boston based organization was rumored to be preparing to move in the town and this business would compete with and likely drive the Greco family deli out.

Theo Taylor, the eldest son of a very successful real estate management firm was in charge of the project. The thing is that Ellie discovers that Theo is no more thrilled about the new business than she is. Naturally the two team up to save the deli and the town. Ellie’s problem is that Theo’s suggestion that the two undertake a fake engagement as a way to protect the deli.

What follows is Ellie struggling against her growing attraction to a man whom she sees as far out of her league. Even though Theo initially agrees, we see him slowly becoming more and more attracted to his fake fiancée.

I enjoyed this light, quick read even though it felt as though it were a literarily Hallmark movie with all the familiar story lines and images. It was not the best book I have read so far this year, but it was a very long way from the worst. I appreciate the chance NetGalley gave me to read it.

Meat-based humor and tricky relationship gymnastics mix well in this romantic comedy! Ellie and Theo just keep making things more complicated while, well, making things more complicated…

I think you’ll love the humor, the flirty looks and the badass grandmother! This was a fun read!

Story ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice 🌶️

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for my copy. These opinions are my own.

I was excited for this book and I really wanted to like it but….I struggled to get through this, physically cringing at how awkward some of it was.

We have zero chemistry at ALL between the MCs. I don’t know how to explain it but none of their interactions felt like there was any spark at all. Their first kiss was one of the things I cringed at.

There is too much “telling” not showing, literally like there is WAY too much dialogue. Speaking of which, the MC and the LI have the same voice / personality like there was nothing unique about either one of them.

Additionally, Theo does not read like a man and I don’t know how to explain it. His dialogue and personality was so….unbelievable? Unrealistic? The way he speaks and acts felt very unrealistic and made it hard for me to connect with him as a character. For example the guy says in regards to his position at his father’s company “Now . . . I’m trying to make changes from the inside. I have more clout than when I started, and Ted’s much less involved.”
The use of “clout” in a conversation about a professional business position just does not fit and again, made things cringeworthy.

The writing is very easy to read but something about this novel didn’t resonate with me. I really tried to enjoy this or find something redeeming but it was disappointing and uninteresting.

Thank you anyways to the pub for the e-arc!

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝐸-𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀

𝐌𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐦-𝐜𝐨𝐦! 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡, 𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦! 𝐏𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞, 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲, & 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬? 𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞! 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠-𝐨𝐟-𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞. 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝!

𝐻𝓊𝑔𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒥𝒾𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒢𝒶𝑔𝓃𝑜𝓃, 𝑅𝒶𝓃𝒹𝑜𝓂 𝐻𝑜𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝒫𝓊𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 - 𝐵𝒶𝓁𝓁𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑒, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

🩷 ᗷOOK ᖇEᐯIEW 🩷

Love You, Mean It by Jilly Gagnon
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Ellie, while trying to save her family’s upscale food store comes face to face with Theo. Theo, is the property manager where the store is located. During their first encounter, a ceiling tile falls hurting Theo. Ellie takes Theo to the hospital, as they are waiting for treatments she mentions she is his fiancé to be able to follow him in. 😱
Theo has short term memory loss. As he starts to remember little by little that he does not have a fiancé he plans to keep the lie. he comes up with a plan to trick his dad!
Will their plan work to convince Theo’s dad and save the gourmet store ?

This enemies to lovers story had some funny moments and some not funny moments. I felt like Theo cared more about how he looked to others than helping Ellie save the gourmet store and although I love some spicy he was too much. It did remind me of one of my favorite movie “While you were Sleeping” with the story line at the beginning.

DNF at 50ish%. I couldn’t care less about Ellie or Theo as main characters and they had no chemistry. I was looking forward to this based on the author’s previous works (thrillers). This one sadly just did not work for me.

Ellie Greco moves home when her father passes away. She was trying to be a costume designer in New York but could not get her foot in the door. She takes over the family deli to feel closer to her father. Meanwhile the Theo's family is trying to be a new Italian food store to town. This will put Ellie's store out of business. She tries to talk to Theo but he has a construction accident and his memory is gone. She pretends to be his fiance. This could help both of them.

This is a fun and quick read. Ellie is a mess and trying to figure out her life. Theo works for his father and does not like the business. He also has an ex who works for the company. What a complicated mess Ellie finds herself in. If you have read a lot of heavy topic books, this will be a bit of fresh air. It will make you feel better about life.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #JillyGagnon and #Dell for a copy of this book
#LoveYouMeanIt

Enemies to lovers isn't my favorite romance trope because it is predictable, but they always are fun and flirty! And I liked that this turned into fake dating because I do like that trope. I didn't love the main character, Ellie-she just wasn't my favorite. But I did love that she took over her family business and I loved that it was a deli because that is a little personal to me. The romance was good! And I did really like Theo. So some things were a hit but some were a miss, for me. Also, the writing style wasn't great-just pretty basic.

This is unfortunately one of those romantic comedies that just didn't hit the mark with me. The amnesia aspect of this book is over pretty quickly, which I think helped with the story. I struggled to connect with either Ellie or Theo, or really understand how their arrangement would help either of their situations. I think the ex=girlfriend getting a pretty big starring role just didn't sit right, as on one hand the writing made it seem like we should be weary of her, while also Ellie was fawning over how amazing she is. There wasn't a great flow and many of the plot points seemed fair fetched and quite fantastical. I think if you like very silly, non-realistic romance you may enjoy this more than I did. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.

Love you, Mean It is a cute romantic comedy that is perfect for fans of While You Were Sleeping and You've Got Mail. A solid fake dating/opposites attract storyline, Jilly Gagnon's latest novel centers on Ellie Greco who has returned home after her father died to take over the family's multi-generational family deli. Her adversary is Theo Taylor, the son of the town's real estate magnet who is looking to sell a large property to a rival Italian specialty store called Mangia (basically a fictionalized version of Eataly in Chicago). Theo ends up with temporary amnesia and agrees to a fake engagement with Ellie in order to help her save her deli and in return, get back at Theo's sleazeball father.

Although predictable, this one had just enough spice and humor to keep me interested. I liked the evolution of the characters, although I think Ellie's family could have been featured more as they seemed like a bit of a hoot. Perfect for a fun, quick read to satisfy anyone's missed love of 90's romcoms.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jilly Gagnon, and Ballantine for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

I grew to adore the mess that the main FMC made. Ellie is a hot mess but I enjoy seeing a woman in that role. Usually, it's the man that is a mess and has to grow and change to win over the woman but Ellie is messy and makes hilariously big mistakes which showcases that everyone is a multi-dimensional person.

The romance aspect *swoon*. Get me a boyfriend like Theo *double swoon*!

Laugh-out-loud situations that I could only see someone like Ellie getting themselves into but Theo matched her toe to toe, showcasing the part of romance, that has always appealed to me...romance shows that the right person matches who you are.

Comes out on April 30!!!

This was such a fun premise and I was hooked by the You’ve Got Mail meets While You Were Sleeping description.

The beginning was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed meeting the characters and seeing how they got into the predicament they’re in.
Unfortunately that’s where my enjoyment pretty much ended. The characters weren’t very likable, and the third act breakup was absolutely awful. Theo was horrible, especially. It’s really easy for me to root for the main characters of a book but I couldn’t find myself able to do so at all.
The romance fell pretty flat for me since I wasn’t able to connect with the characters.
The fake dating aspect was fun, and the concept of saving the deli was as well, which was what kept the book afloat for me.

This may not have been my favorite, but I’m still excited to see what the author does in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dell, and the author for this ARC.
Publication date 4/30/24

Love you, Mean it was a fun and quick read centered on one of the least romantic places- a family deli. Ellie's family has run a deli in town for decades. It's her family legacy she is passionate about especially after the unexpected death of her father. Trouble comes to town when a property management firm starts discussions of bringing in a large high-end grocery store. Ellie is determined to stop the move and decides to meet with Theo whose father owns the property management company. Theo happens to be a handsome former classmate and her cousins ex-boyfriend. Their meeting goes beyond bad though when the ceiling literally caves in on Theo leaving him the amnesia. In a panic, Ellie does all the wrong things and ends up claiming to be Theo's fiancé. Later on, Theo and Ellie decide to keep rolling with the engagement story in hopes of ending the talks of moving the high-end grocery store. Ellie is obviously skeptical and struggles to balance her desire to keep her family deli open with her distrust and questions about Theo. This was a really quick read that I was quickly invested in. I really enjoyed the deli setting since it's not somewhere you'd normally expect romance to bloom.

This book was something, I'll say that. I was not a fan at all. I didn't like ANY of the characters. I did not find the jokes funny, example after he gets in an accident in the building his family owns and is renovating. He makes jokes of suing her (someone who has nothing to do with the building or caused his accident) for getting him hurt.

Also, I think it's a bit gross and weird to sleep with someone and then try to fix them up with their ex. It's just not for me.

I got an e-arc of this book on NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ellie Greco gave up her life of pursuing costume design in NYC to come back home to Milborough to take over the family deli when her father died. She is determined to continue the legacy and family heritage of the business, but that is threatened when her Mimi learns the town mogul is planning to bring in a high-end, grocery superstore that could run them out of business. Ellie decides to turn her charms on the son, whom she vaguely remembers from high school, to see if she can convince him to change their minds. But there is an accident, memory loss, and perhaps an opportunity to seize the moment and get what she wants.

This take had While You Were Sleeping vibes, but there are several twists you would not expect. This was a steamy opposites attract, enemies to lovers story that had some funny and serious moments. You find yourself cheering for the couple and wanting the deli to prevail!

This is definitely a light hearted and wonderful love story. Jilly Gagnon hit this one out of the park.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

LOVE YOU, MEAN IT

Amnesia leading to fake relationship which actually turns out to be an extended meet cute sounds fun and it was.. but along the way I was expecting more but it kinda fell flat for me.. wanted more from Ellie..
Nonetheless it was quick read for me.

Ellie Greco runs the family deli. The deli has been in the family for many years. They get word that a big gourmet department store is potentially coming to town called Mangia. They fear Mangia will cause the deli to close up shop.

Ellie tries to do everything she can to stop this from happening. She goes as far as pretending to be Theo Taylor’s fiance. Theo Taylor is the son of the property manager who is selling to Mangia. She claims to be his fiance after Theo has a rough accident where a ceiling collapses on him causing him to lose his memory for a bit.

They go into a mutual agreement where they pretend to be fiances. Ellie does this in hopes of saving the family business but in comes Sam, Theo’s ex-girlfriend. Sam is convinced this relationship is not right and tries to get to the bottom of it. I felt that the story picked up once Sam entered the scene.

The only downfall I felt was that there wasn’t much growth from Ellie. I was rooting for her to go out and pursue her dreams but that part seemed to fall short.

This is a good spicy enemies-to-lovers story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Not sure the title works but the story does. Cute romance even though they jump into bed rather quickly. Liked the side characters. Would be fun to have a sequel where she works to get her designs off the ground.

Ellie Greco had to return to the small town she grew up in after her father's death to run the family deli. Their landlord might rent out the place to a gourmet food department store, so she tries to plead her case to the landlord's son Theo. Unfortunately, the ceiling caves in and knocks him out, and she panics in the aftermath, claiming to be his fiancée. His amnesia immediately afterward means the ruse works, but he does get his memory back. He wants to use the fake engagement to get what they both want, and it works until Theo's former fiancée returns and sees right through them.

If Jilly Gagnon's name sounds familiar, it's because she's written really good thrillers. This book is her first rom-com, with "just the right amount of amnesia." If you've seen the movie "While You Were Sleeping" imagine that mashed with "You've Got Mail" and you have an idea about the premise. (We'll handwave my old rom-com references, yes? Yes.) At first, Ellie lies so that the hospital will let her know that he's okay after the accident, but initially, he has amnesia and she rolls with it. He gets his memory back quickly, but he also doesn't want the big mega-deli to come in and essentially take over downtown. Theo has fond memories of the building and didn't want it to become yet another soulless store gutted of character. Ellie wants to save her family deli. The former fiancée Sam is smart and sees that Ellie's story doesn't quite add up, and the two are actually really friendly with each other. She's another strong personality and still has feelings for Theo, so she's willing to help them sell the fake relationship and is hoping to have a second chance with Theo as long as Ellie doesn't have any real feelings for him. While Ellie says no, she and Theo of course catch feelings as the ruse progresses.

Fake relationships turning into real ones is a great trope and is done really well here. In addition, Ellie is working class and Theo has been more upper class in town, adding to the tensions between them from the start. Aside from those differences, each really do value family and hard work, and aren't as caught up in appearances as some of Theo's family members. Sam isn't a villain in the story trying to break them up, and there are other characters who make notable appearances throughout the story. Ellie's family members are really fun to see on the page, as much as Theo's father is hateful. Ellie has to do a lot of emotional work to be ready for a relationship, which makes for a somewhat sudden turnaround in that beat of the story. Still, we reach our happily ever after, and even some of the side characters get a positive future as well.