Thank you Penguin Random House for sending me an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My first impression of this book was that it’s another story where the main character fights to save their small family business and takes on the attractive broody son of rich business man. It read very much like a Hallmark movie which is fine when you’re in the mood for it but a little repetitive any other time.

I also did not really feel any genuine chemistry between the two main characters, and I felt that the MMC’s arc needed more details. Even at the end of the book, I still felt like they barely knew each other and they just needed a lot more chemistry/time for their relationship to work [like any real relationship].

The tropes in this book were not my favorite/ones that I would read normally but I put aside those opinions and the writing was good, although the pacing of the book was strange. I read this book while sitting in an airport so it is a super light read and really fast paced!

This book is definitely perfect for someone [year round Hallmark movie lovers or small town romance lovers!], but that someone is not me : )

This was a super fun uplifting romantic comedy that made me laugh. I enjoyed the fake dating, fake engagement, and forced proximity. Elle wants to save her family deli when rumors fly of a big box rival moving into town. She agrees to plan with Theo but they find opposites really do attract each other.
If you enjoyed while you were sleeping or sleepless in Seattle you will love this fun rom com.

This was an alright read.
Two people. Two legacy.
Rich/ middle class trope
Enemies to lovers

Classic amnesia turned fake fiancée.
All hallmarks of a classic romance story that left little individual marks. I felt that Ellie came off too brash and her personality rubs me the wrong way. She takes an opportunity from a freak incident to try to save her family deli. All the while in this game of pretend I did not really vibe with this couple.

Overall I think it was a decent read.

I liked the fake dating with a high school acquaintance angle and the white collar / blue collar contrasts, and I really loved the grandmother and the deli and the small town outside of Boston. I liked the premise of how a town would be changed with the arrival of an Eataly type mega-market, not just for the food businesses that directly compete but also with shopper traffic, rents, and infrastructure. I didn't love how judgy Ellie was. She makes assumptions about everyone and then is constantly surprised that people are nicer or more sincere than she expects.

(I spent a lot of time trying to figure out where this imaginary town is and landed on it being south of Boston like the Foxborough area since characters take 93 and the tunnel into the city even though the author is from the North Shore. Jilly Gagnon if you see this, I'd love to know!)

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the advance reader copy. I am required by federal law to disclose this.

I liked the premise of the story, I liked almost all of the characters but the main character who seems to disappear in the story. Ellie after standing up to Theo's father seemed to just disappear and she keeps telling herself that she wasn't up to par with the people who Theo associated with which was very irritating. I also didn't like that the part of Ellie that made her special (make exquisite clothing) and made her stand out in Theo's crowd was downplayed, but instead we hear about her disaster as a costume designer on Broadway and then that's it. The story would have been better if Ellie had more self confidence.
I did like that Theo, who seems to know more about Ellie than she expected; seems to say he likes Ellie from the beginning of the story, but that was downplayed too and made their relationship lose it's steam. I loved the strong and straight forward character Sam who was fun to see at work or playing tennis. I also liked Bella who was always on Ellie's side and playful Everett who made me laugh.
All in all it wasn't bad but wasn't great.

I want to thank Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Dell and NetGalley for the advance copy of this novel.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Random House, as well as Kathleen Quinlan for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC.This book was very inconsistent for me. Part of the time I couldn't put it down and part of the time, I just could not keep focused. The plot is clever, if a bit derivative. It hinges on someone claiming to be engaged to a person who has amnesia. It quickly moves past that trope and does have some interesting angles. Ellie Greco left her home in a city outside Boston to move to New York City to become a costume designer. She came back when her father, who ran the family deli , died. Ellie gave up her dreams and ran the deli. Now, 5 years later, the Taylor family, who own a lot of property in the town, want to turn an old store into a Mangia-a store/food hall/ restaurant that will surely put the family deli out of business. Ellie decides to talk to Theo Taylor, the son of the head of the Taylor family, whom she knows from high school. The meeting goes from bad to worse when Theo is hit on the head at the building site and needs to go to the hospital. Ellie wants to go to the hospital with him, so he is not alone, and tells everyone she and Theo are engaged. She plans to tell the truth once they get to the hospital, but Theo has forgotten the last 6 years of his life.Luckily, the amnesia is temporary, and Theo is fine. Theo and Ellie realize that neither of them want Mangia to buy the building, and so they join forces. They pretend to be engaged to try to change the minds of the rest of the Taylor family about the sale of the building. It rapidly becomes much more convoluted.It is an interesting premise, and actually some of the supporting cast are very interesting. Ellie's family is a hoot, if a bit stereotypical Italian, her cousin Bella is witty and the customers in the deli are fun and realistic. Theo's family is not as well drawn , and seem to be out of central casting-tycoon father who is not concerned with his family, with a younger second wife . There is Samantha- Theo's ex girlfriend and co worker who was more interesting at times than Ellie, sad to say. Theo was hard to understand, and a bit dull. All in all, there was a lot of promise, but it just kind of fizzled for me.

When I requested this book, I thought it would be like a cute Hallmark movie. However, after the first few chapters I was very disappointed.
There is nothing cute or sweet about convincing a hurt man with memory lost that you are his fiancée. I honestly couldn’t even finish it.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC for this honest review.

Initially, I really liked this story. Although some of the descriptions went a bit long I liked the characters and the way things unfolded. It was more of a slow pace but I still found myself enjoying it. At around the 80% mark it sort of lost me. It changed my opinion of the book and I found myself losing interest at the end. I was really liking it for the most part but I had a hard time believing the way things turned out.


Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the arc.

Fake dating with a nod to 'While You Were Sleeping'? I was intrigued!

Ellie Greco can't catch a break! After her father's death crushed her dreams of costume design in NYC, she found herself living in her hometown and managing the family deli—a place she never imagined she'd end up. When a gourmet food store threatens to steal her customers by building a store in town, Ellie devises a plan to save her livelihood. Enter Theo, the rich guy from high school who owns the property. After their first meeting results in Theo getting amnesia, Ellie finds herself faking an engagement to see him in the hospital. Even after Theo regains his memory, they decide to keep up with the fake engagement in hopes of both getting what they want. But Ellie comes to a crossroads: will she start fighting for what she truly wants instead of living as a placeholder in her own life?

Note: There are A LOT of architectural descriptions throughout that I ended up completely skipping. While I liked the overall premise of this story, parts fell flat for me or felt rushed.

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and Jilly Gagnon for allowing me access to this book. All opinions are my own.

Ellie came home from New York ton run the family deli and when a big corporate shop is set to move in, the future of the deli and her family legacy looks bleak. After and accident causes Theo, the man who could help save the deli, to get amnesia, and Ellie to blurt out a lie to get to the hospital, she becomes tied to Theo so they can both get what they want. Or what they think they want. Enemies to lovers, fake dating, fun supporting characters, and a bit of cured meat, this is a cute novel that was fun to read and just a little spicy.

*Will be posted November 29th, 2023 @ 9 am GMT

Hello Fellow Readers,

I am an absolute sucker for the fake dating trope, like frothing from the mouth, zombie wants brains kinda obsessed with the trope, so I'll pretty much read any book that has it. Love You, Mean It is basically made for me (not really but I feel like it is) If I wasn't a sleep-deprived mom, I would have read this in one sitting.

The book is through Ellie's POV, which I love as it keeps the mystery of what Theo is thinking and lets us (the audience) pick things up with his words and actions. I don't mind dual POV sometimes it works out, but in this case, I think it worked well. Ellie is very entertaining, but she is also very stubborn. There were times I wanted to get the power to reach into the book and shake her, but it's only because Gagnon makes you care about these characters.

The side characters were great, I wish they were in the story more as I think it would have helped Ellie more and also provide insight and comedy. I love Sam (Theo's ex) but I do admit that I kept waiting for her to turn into a backstabber but am I very happy that Gagnon did not go that route. We get too many times where women are pitted against each other, especially in romance novels, so the fact that I wanted Sam and Ellie to be friends gives this an extra thumbs up.

Overall, a very entertaining Romance must-read.

Low key, dry reading experience. Could not get into the story. Ok read, just disappointed. Others may enjoy this book, it was not one of my favorite reads.

One of the best romcoms I've read in a long time. I'm not familiar with Gagnon's other works, but I'll be looking them up. The characters were vibrant, interesting, and full of life. The chemistry between the main character sizzled off the page, and it became clear early on how perfectly they complemented each other.

Absolutely loved this delightfully layered plot that kept serving new angles the whole way through. Relatable independent Ellie and corporate rich kid Theo are nuanced, lovable and surrounded by a great cast of supporting family and friends.

I need an epilogue and I need to know if Theo liked Ellie in high school!!!!!!! This was really well done-i had my reservations about the amnesia plot point. But it truly worked well, especially how Theo showed Ellie his memory came back. Swoon! I couldn't put it down, reading at 3am when I couldn't sleep.

I love a fake dating trope and this one is done so well! It is a small town charm meets wealthy society type of story and felt like a movie to me as I was reading. It had a bit of a slow start but really picked up when the fake dating started.

"Love You, Mean It" by Jilly Gagnon left me wanting more. Despite the promising premise of dueling delis, fake dating, and unexpected twists, the execution fell short for my taste. The characters lacked depth, and the forced engagement plotline felt too contrived. While the humor attempted to lighten the mood, it often felt forced, and the romantic elements lacked the genuine connection I was hoping for. The storyline, although unique, seemed to drag at times, making it challenging to stay engaged. Unfortunately, the novel didn't resonate with me, leaving a sense of unfulfilled potential and a desire for a more compelling narrative.

What a cute fake-engaged / enemies-to-lovers book! It took me by surprise how much I found myself enjoying Love You, Mean It after having some just ~okay~ rom-com reads earlier this year.

But, I actually found myself really enjoying the characters and the inner-growth the main character, Ellie, has throughout the novel. While the romance was delightful, I think that character development really pushed it from maybe a 3 star rating to a 4 star rating. Jilly Gagnon captured that small-town drama/gossip as well as the pressures from your family/yourself to meet certain expectations.

I found Ellie and Theo's banter fun, the tension dragged out deliciously, and I also loved watching the fake-relationship play out in relation to the side-character (who I also found enjoyable).

I did find the pacing a bit off – I felt like we could have expanded on certain parts, especially in the second/third act. And I do feel like we could have delved a little bit more into Ellie and Theo's relationship and gotten deeper, but I found it super enjoyable and read it in about two sittings.

This was a super easy and cute book to read! It moved a little slow for my taste, but the banter and Ellie’s family were really funny. I really enjoyed all the tropes used in this book, but again, I think this could of been a “me” thing, but I just needed more to keep my interest. That being said, if you want something funny and low risk, this is the book for you.

Ellie used to dream of leaving her small town, but when her dad died, she came home and took over the family deli. Ellie begins to realize just how much the deli means to her when the town considers bringing in a chain store that would put the deli out of business. Ellie goes to confront Theo Taylor about it but when there’s an accident and Theo wakes with amnesia, Ellie finds herself deep in a lie about being Theo’s fiancée. Time is running out and Ellie is willing to do whatever it takes to save the deli.

A fun romantic comedy! Enjoyed reading.

Thank you to @netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

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