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.

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.

Giving this 3.5 ⭐️s!

Let me start by saying I really enjoyed the premise of this book. I also found the writing style very easy to read, and quite enjoyable. I thought it was a fun, quick read. I breezed through this one quickly.

Having said all that, I have to admit that the MCs were not my favorite. I found the FMC very judgy. And the MMC wasn’t exciting enough to carry the weight of the entire book. He was quite sweet, though, I have to say that. I understand the whole character growth aspect of it all, but when you are not endeared to one or both MMCs, it’s not as easy to root for them.

I did, however, really like all the side characters. I thought they were more well-rounded and they all added interest to the story.

Would I still read books by this author? Absolutely. In fact, I hope we get the books of some of the side characters here. Fingers crossed!

Thank you for the ARC!

Honestly I ate this up! With the weather turning warmer, I’m ready for light fluffy romances, and this fit the bill!!

I had a great time following along on Ellie’s quest to save her family deli by pretending to be engaged to a local businessman’s son. I do wish that we had more relationship time vs scheming/plotting time, but it worked out well in the end.

Overall, exactly what I was in the mood for! I didn’t love this author’s thriller release last year, so it is nice to know that I enjoy them writing in the romance sphere.

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like a broken record lately with how many romances I've chalked up to boring, but I've gotta say it again. I finished the last page, closed the book, and literally thought to myself, "Boring." Theo and Ellie's chemistry was super off for me. The build-up was lacking and it just felt dull. The intention of this book was great and I think it had great potential, but the execution missed the mark somewhere.

This was such a classic and fun romance! When her business rival gets a head injury, Ellie pretends to be his fiancé to be able to go with him to the hospital and make sure he is okay. But when his amnesia wears off and he realizes that they are not actually engaged, they come up with a fake engagement scheme to save her family business. It had all the sweet and tension filled moments of a classic romance, and I loved the main characters. It was very predictable since I'm sure I have read this plot before, but the writing style was so fun I didn't mind.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dell for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

<i>I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

3.25 stars, rounded down

I thought the synopsis sounded cute and fun, with some intriguing stakes. But this fails to deliver on so many fronts. There are so many better fake-dating romances out there.

The pacing of this is all over the place. It starts moving along at a good clip, flounders in the middle, and then goes breakneck speed to the end. And to get ahead of myself: the ending was such a cop-out. I get that Ellie and Theo needed to grow but the strings Theo needed to pull were there the whole time. We didn't have to go through all this to get the majority of the ending.

The main characters need more work. Ellie wallows too long in her self-doubt and judgement. The chip on her shoulder is massive and clearly heavy but she treats it like a treasured heirloom. And it annoyed the crap out of me that she didn't do more to try to boost the deli. She's given great opportunities to make connections and she doesn't do anything with them! If you're only going to have one PoV carrying a story, readers need to care and connect with that character. And I don't think that's the case here.

Theo's better but he's a bit of a caricature. Straight, handsome, rich white boy who actually has a heart, unlike his cold, calculating, money-grubbing father? It's tired and forgettable.

Ellie's narrative has moments where it's overly descriptive. If it's about clothes, I buy it because Ellie tried her hand at costume design. But the overdone building or room descriptions? It doesn't so much create atmosphere as bog down the plot and make me skim. All the architectural details? Those would've been more at home in Theo's PoV.

On a personal note, I hated when Everett described himself as being "mildly OCD". Neurotypes are not jokes or an excuse for questionable behavior or character traits.

I realize now that if you read the synopsis, you'll honestly have most of the bones of the story. And the details holding those bones together aren't as interesting as you want them to be.

Love You, Mean It was a sweet and spicy romance with a fake engagement trope. After a head injury, there is some confusion and stories that come out, leading to the fake engagement trope through 2 strong willed individuals, with some extra twists. I enjoyed the family involvement of this story, and really wish I had been able to read both of the main character’s POV because they both seemed to think deeply of their thoughts throughout the book, but I felt like only having the female’s perspective had me missing a piece of the story. This story leaned into family roots, familiar small town feelings, friendship, and romance.

Enjoyable rom com read, elements of it reminded me of a mix of While You were Sleeping and You've Got Mail, a homage to the great rom com movies of the 90s. And there was plenty of charm to Love You, Mean it, but I didn't feel enough tension between the leads. It went from tense to falling for each other in what seemed like a matter of pages. The chemistry and the characterization was there, the plot just felt a bit scattered. Overall, a fun, solid edition to the rom com genre. 3.5 stars
Thanks to #NetGalley and #Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell for the ARC.

This was a really fun read! Ellie’s father died so Ellie went back home to look after the family’s deli business. A rival was looking to move in near them which could mean the end of the family business. Ellie tries to negotiate with the landlord and while doing so, the ceiling literally falls in, knocking him out resulting in amnesia. Sne panics and pretends to be his fiancee. What follows is hilarious!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

DNF halfway because I just didn't love the characters so I couldn't get into the story. This may work for other romance readers!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC of Love You, Mean It!

I really enjoyed this one! The blurb stating that it is the perfect amount of amnesia is spot-on. I enjoyed the beginning with the amnesia but once Ellie and Theo were working together is when the magic of the book started. Ellie is a mostly likeable character but does spend a lot of the book in her head and pushing people away for no reason. She doesn't think people like her when they are practically throwing themselves at her feet. I thought the fake-dating trope was well executed and really enjoyed watching them fall for each other.

I will say I usually really like cartoon covers for romances but this one is awful. And I think more imagination could have gone into the title of the book.