Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for my complimentary copy of Love You, Mean It.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a fun rom com read with a dash of amnesia thrown in for good measure.
Ellie and Theo have an interesting meet-cute (cue the amnesia), but that was about all I enjoyed.
Once Theo is on the road to recovery, they decide to keep the fake engagement ruse going.
They each have their own agendas.
While fake engagement is a favorite of mine, I just did not have a good feeling about Ellie and Theo's relationship. I kept waiting for something bad to happen.

I was reading another book at the same time (also a fake engagement featuring a rich man/poor woman) so maybe it was just too much of the same story.

A light romcom and perfect beach type read. I enjoyed the story even though it was predictable.

Thank you #NetGalley, #PenguinRandomHouse, #JillyGagnon and #LoveYou,MeanIt for the arc for my honest review.

Love you, Mean it by Jilly Gagnon is a fun, eventful, yet sweet romance novel featuring Ellie and Theo. This is a wonderful novel about the importance of relationships and what success really means in life. The characters have great chemistry and are realistic and dynamic.

Ellie left New York City and a blooming career as a costume designer to take over the decades old family deli, after her father’s death. Ellie has worries about her families deli surviving, when she finds out that a huge marketplace may be moving into a vacant building in town.

The marketplace announcement comes from local businessman Trip/Theo Taylor, her cousins ex and wealthy local man who is insufferable. Ellie doesn’t know how she or her family will survive if the deli does close. It’s more than just a job, it’s the last place she feels the connection to her late father.

An accident leaves Theo and Ellie fake engaged and Ellie convinces Theo of a few random things which could save her deli and their relationship.

Will business win or does love have what it takes?

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Thank you Random House Publishing Group and Netgalley for a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a new author to me, so I was excited to give it a shot. I enjoyed the first 30% of the book and then the rest felt meh to me. I love a fake dating romance trope so I was pumped that it was included. I thought that Theo and Ellie were decent characters. Ellie was a little too uncertain of herself for my liking. I liked Theo a lot more than Ellie, but I also did not like the random twist with Theo's ex. It felt forced and unnecessary. I can see a ton of potential in the writing and the plot and would be interested in reading more by Jilly Gagnon, but this book just wasn't my favorite.

4 stars / This review will be posted on goodreads.com today.

Cute, cozy fun romance novel.

Ellie escaped New York City and a failing career as a costume designer to take over the family deli after her father’s unexpected death. While Ellie would like to say that the deli was her calling, at the pit of her feelings is that she did the right thing by not forcing her grandmother and grandfather out of retirement.

Yet now the deli might be forced to close when it’s announced that a huge Italian marketplace might be taking over the old department store in town. None other than Trip Taylor, her cousin’s once boyfriend, and third generation wealthy dude, releases the information at a town meeting. Ellie’s grandmother is spitting mad, and Ellie doesn’t know how she’ll survive if the deli does close. It’s more than just a job, it’s the last place she feels the connection to her late father.

Ellie hatches a plan and ropes the former Trip, now Theo, into it. Can they convince everyone that they are in love to prevent Theo’s dad from selling out to the giant conglomerate?

Such a fabulous book about figuring out your weaknesses, your strengths, and what success really means in life. Ellie is a challenging woman with just a few thorns. Theo is a silver spooner with the softest heart. I loved these two and their chemistry. Really great by the pool or fireplace novel.

I found myself skimming a lot of the chapter descriptions. There was a lot of detail regarding buildings and food that I did not really care for. I thought the romance between Theo and Ellie had a ton of potential but other than sexual attraction, I did not feel like the two connected all that much. I would have loved to see more of the two building that connection, but most of the book felt more plot-focused than character driven.

Ellie was a hard character to connect with as well. She spent so much time focused on her and Theo’s differences when they had so much in common.

Read if you like:
• fake dating
• small town family businesses
• opposites attract

A well execute book but I just can’t stand the fake dating trope. I found the FMC to be super annoying and very difficult to like. I’d rather just watch while you were sleeping instead

Love You, Mean It is my first book by Jilly Gagnon.

It's about a woman named Ellie who is trying to save her inherited family business from a new development owned by the Taylor family. When Theo Taylor has an accident that causes amnesia she pretends to be his fiancé. The bout of amnesia doesn't last long but Theo agrees that a fake engagement could be mutually beneficial.

Ellie starts the book by making a questionable decision and she continues to make more throughout. I liked Theo well enough. The story was enjoyable but not extremely memorable.

The relationship twist that Sam adds was somewhat odd and unnecessary to me.

Overall this fell middle of the road to me. 3.25 stars.

I love a good rom-com, especially when it involves fake dating! This was a cute and fun read that I would recommend to anyone who loves a good romance story.

This was such a fun read! I couldn't put it down and read it in one sitting! If you loved "You've Got Mail" or "While You Were Sleeping" or just generally a fake dating/engagement trope, this one is for you! I especially liked the added wrinkle of the "extra ex" and the personal growth outside of the relationship we saw for our main character.

This was my first time reading a Jilly Gagnon book. The premise was cute. A woman running a deli business ends up in a fake engagement in an effort to save her family's business. There were some cute moments in the book, but overall it had a hard time keeping my attention. There was a lot of extraneous scenes and sub-plots in this book and I feel like it detracted from the main theme of the book. Overall, I was left feeling meh about this one. Thank you Netgalley and Random House for an advanced copy of this book.

I think I have decided that this is my favorite romance, trope, enemies to lovers. I really enjoyed the characters in this book. I was able to find them very relatable my mother dying from stage four cancer, and the idea that you can get stuck in a spot in your life because of grief is completely relatable to me right now. I know that Ellie and Theo’s loved ones passing was quick, but it still resonated with me.

* I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.*

This was uch a fun romcom! Fake dating is my jam and then you throw in food and it’s guaranteed to be a winner! I loved Ellie’s family and her relationship/friendship with her cousin. I really enjoyed the plot, pacing, characters, banter and the setting. The one thing that bothered me when in all of the dialogue there was never any “I said” “he said” “she said” included so I would lose track of who was saying what and then have to go back and reread to figure out whose line was whose. If that is t a deal breaker for you then I definitely recommend adding this to your tbr.

This book was so cute so fun! I loved the elements of continued grief, strong family, and always love fake dating. The characters are super lovable (most of the time) and there is so much beautiful character growth; plus some top notch spice 😉. The only thing that kept this at a 3.75 rather than a 4 for me was that it felt a bit rushed towards the third act conflict/ending. Other than that, I definitely recommend picking this one up!

Overall a cute story. The heroine, Ellie, was flawed but not a pushover or whiny as many MC are written today. There was an immaturity but she did recognize it and correct it. Theo was a little more puzzling. He started off being the rich jerk expected but then kind of did a 180. I just don’t completely understand his behavior in the beginning after who be was the rest of the book. I’m glad the amnesia storyline was short and just used to jumpstart the plot. Lots of witty sarcasm, likable characters and side characters (well, not Ted). The awful characters were not miraculously and suddenly made loving and pure which I greatly appreciated. It definitely kept the plot more realistic. Way too many (unnecessary) f bombs for me and somewhat steamy scenes that aren’t my preference but I don’t lower my ratings based on my personal opinion on those topics unless it affects the overall book and it did not. Just disclosing for anyone wanting to read this book and curious.

Four stars and I do recommend this as a fun, easy summer read. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing/Ballantine/Dell for the ARC!

Having read and enjoyed Jilly Gagnon's thrillers All Dressed Up and Scenes of the Crime, I was intrigued but hesitant about a complete about-face into romance with Love You, Mean It. I needn't have worried--I think the author has truly found her niche! Love You, Mean It is a sweet, just spicy enough enemies to fake-engagement romance that had me completely rooting for this adorable couple.

Theo and Ellie are not a perfect match, in fact they are more of an opposites attract proposition, and Sam, Theo's ex-fiancee, is a much more suitable match, at least on paper. When they decide to pretend that they have gotten engaged in a whirlwind romance after Ellie pretends to be Theo's fiancee at the hospital, we all know where this is going...the fun comes in seeing how they get there. The story was not especially surprising or twisty, but the enjoyable characters made me want to keep reading and see how it was going to work out in the end.

I hope Jilly Gagnon keeps writing romances, as I enjoyed this one immensely. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House-Ballantine for the digital ARC of Love You, Mean It by Jilly Gagnon. The opinions in this review are my own.

I'll be the first to admit that after starting this book, I wasn't really into it, but I'm not a big fan of not finishing, and I stuck it out for a few more chapters only to realize I was enjoying myself the farther I got into the growing friendship and romance between Ellie and Trip. I mean, Theo 🤭 I love the mild enemies-to-lovers vibe they give off, and who doesn't love a fake engagement of convenience?

For me, the big issue I had was Ellie agreeing to help Sam try getting back together with Theo simply because it would have ended horribly either way, especially when the plan comes about after she's already started developing feelings for Theo, but I'm happy that in the end it worked out even though it really didn't. Another minor issue for me, at least in the beginning, was the over-descriptive detail on just about everything, which is what was throwing me out of the story in the first place. Once I got into it, though, I managed to finish the rest of the book in one sitting, and honestly, I might be looking into Gagnon's other works for another quick and enjoyable read.
 
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳, 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦-𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺.

Love you, Mean It started out pretty strong for me with the “while your were sleeping vibe”. I think the fake fiancé, fake dating was fun.
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Ellie runs her family’s deli and when Theo and his family consider bringing in a big business that could potentially close down Ellie and other small businesses, Theo and Ellie concoct a dating plan…
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This fake dating romance had some parts I enjoyed, but Ellie was a hard character to root for. I also felt the ending was a bit abrupt and unsatisfying for me. Please, please give me an epilogue!!
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Overall 3.5 stars.
I would, however, read more books from this author.
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Thank you netgalley and Dell for the opportunity to read this book!

This book has a lot to recommend it. The plot is interesting: Ellie runs her family’s deli but a big chain Italian eatery (think Eataly) threatens the business. She finds out that the building the new eatery wants to buy is owned by the family of a guy she went to high school with, Theo. There is a fake engagement, mild amnesia, and While You Were Sleeping vibes which are all things I think will pull in many a reader. I liked the whole David vs Goliath undertone; small town deli takes on big chain.
The main thing I had a hard time with were the characters. I didn’t really like any of them. I definitely didn’t feel a big connection to the two main characters, Ellie and Theo. Both of them make very selfish choices and are extremely poor communicators. It really brought down the book for me which is a shame. However, I think this book walked a fine line between being one I didn’t particularly enjoy and being one I really liked. Unfortunately, it fell on the former side for me. But, how we feel about characters is so subjective that I have no doubt some will find Ellie spunky and Theo charming.

Romance books are not my go to. There are a couple of authors that I will read in this genre but they are few. There was a lot to love about Love You, Mean It. I enjoyed the small town charm. It had all the hallmark-esq, feel good vibes without all the cheesy-ness. Well, there was some cheese as MC Ellie is a deli owner but none that made me roll my eyes. The banter was on point and I loved the side characters. It was refreshing to see women supporting women, especially with Sam's character. She could have been written in an unflattering way but you end up rooting for her even when it's not necessarily what you want. My main issue with the book and majority of romance books in general, is that it was open door and graphic in nature. It's just a personal preference. I honestly wish these things were disclosed up front so that you could make a decision about whether you wanted to start a book or not. Had I known, I probably would have passed on this book. It doesn't come into play until about halfway through and by that time I was invested in the fake dating between Ellie and Theo. The writing was well done aside from the foul language that was not needed and I would love to read more by Jilly Gagnon if things could be a little less explicit but I understand that I am not the intended audience.