I truly enjoyed the energy of this book. It was a cute romance that was a quick and easy read. I did struggle at times when words or language were used that seemed to make the story feel a little pretentious. During these times the language didn’t even fit the characters, it seem like the author just used a thesaurus and picked random words.

3.5 stars! This was a super fun romcom. Love You, Mean It follows Ellie Greco, who abandoned her dream of being a costume designer in NYC to return to her hometown and work at her family's beloved deli after losing her dad. Years later, Ellie is stuck in the same place, but determined to fulfill her duty to her family. When she finds out that a local family is planning to bring Mangia, a fancy gourmet grocery store—and huge competition for the deli—into town, Ellie knows she needs to take action. Enter Theo Taylor, who's part of the family that's working on the deal. After an important meeting, a precarious fall, and a few misunderstandings, everyone believes that Theo and Ellie are engaged. A fake-dating scheme could be the perfect way to help save the deli...but what will happen when real feelings start to develop between Ellie and Theo?

The plot of Love You, Mean It definitely hooked me—it reminded me a little of While You Were Sleeping, one of my ultimate favorite romcoms, and I am always a fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope. I thought the writing style was great and so engaging, and the small-town setting was very well-developed. Ellie and Theo were both really fleshed-out characters, with palpable chemistry that practically jumped off the page! I ended up liking Theo a lot, but initially struggled to relate to Ellie and her personality. She had some "not-like-the-other-girls" moments which I didn't love, but I did feel like she grew a lot throughout the book. The side characters were also always entertaining to read about, and I especially loved how close-knit Ellie's family was. I really liked both Bella and Sam, but wished they had gotten a little more development as individuals instead of in relation to Ellie and Theo's love story. Overall, I thought Love You, Mean It was such a sweet read, and even though I wished a few things had been expanded on, I still found it enjoyable! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Ellie Greco runs the family owned deli in her small hometown. Having rushed home from NY to take over, after her dad died, she left her dreams as a designer behind. Working the deli can be a lot at times, especially when some of her older regulars come in and talk her ear off. However, this is what her family needs her to do and she is very loyal to her family. When she hears about the plan to bring Mangia, a huge grocery shopping super store into her town, a fire is lit under her to save the family deli. It’s this fire that brings her into connection with Theo Taylor, whose father, Ted Taylor is behind the plans to bring Mangia into an old department store space, that has recently become vacant. Theo agrees to meet with her, at the building where Mangia is set to move in. All appears to be lost, and then Theo has an accident and loses his memory. Through a series of misunderstandings, suddenly, Ellie is believed to be his fiancée. Could this be an opportunity to change Thor’s mind about this business plan? Ellie has to try…

Love You Mean It, is a fun rom-com. Almost all of the characters in this book are so wonderfully created and easily to fall in love with. (The only exception is those characters you are meant to dislike.) The story moves quickly with a lot of fun moments, along with moments that make you think all is lost for our heroine and her family. Of course, you are hoping the whole time that all will work out. Mum’s the word on how the story ends, but it is absolutely worth your time to read it and find out. I’m really glad I did!

Ellie Greco's dream of designing theater costumes was put on hold when she returned to her hometown to run her family's deli. When the threat of a glitzy food department store jeopardizes the deli, she inadvertently claims to be engaged to the property manager's son, Theo Taylor, who has amnesia. They agree to maintain the ruse to save both their interests, but complications arise when Theo's ex-fiancée returns. Ellie must choose between friendship, family legacy, and an unexpected romance.

I really loved the intertwinement of romance and them discovering their life purpose. The author did an excellent job of describing the emotions and process of figuring our hometowns, friendships, and vocation. This is the author’s first romance, and while this is not a suspense novel, there were emotional moments where I was actually questioning what was going to happen. This of course does have classic romance novel quirkiness; amnesia, opposites attract, and fake engagement. There isn’t an epilogue which made the ending feel abrupt. I also didn’t love the MMC right away (I’m pretty sure we didn’t even meet him until about 10% into the book). But by the end I was swooning over their heartwarming story of figuring out their dreams and if they can fit together.

Perfect for you if you like:
Opposites attract (wealthy/common)
Figuring out your dreams
Family businesses
Fake-dating

Similar to:
Love Interest by Clare Gilmore
Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey
A Winter in New York by Josie Silver

⛔️chapters 15 & 21 contain explicit romance scenes (open door)
⚠️explicit language, sexual content, previous death of family members

The synopsis provided was enough to capture my interest, unfortunately, once I began reading, the story kind of just fell flat. I didn’t feel any real chemistry between Ellie and Theo that would make me believe that either would fall for each other. Overall, the story was too plot heavy and didn’t provide enough character development to fully understand how the two would ever get together.

Thanks to the publisher for this ARC provided via NetGalley for an honest review.

Cute, predictable story of girl meets boy from other side of the tracks knowing their backgrounds are not compatible, yet try to make it work. In this case the twist is that he belongs to a family who owns most of the town and who will be bringing in a major restaurant/food shopping experience to a building they own. She is running the family deli after her dad died and it will be forced to close if the new place is allowed to open there.

She tries to convince him that local business is better for the town, but he isn't having any of it. Then he is injured and she tells a few white lies, like she's engaged to him, so she can get him medical care. The story takes on a life of it's own from there. They make a deal to pretend to be engaged so that his family business won't put her family business out of business.

They have to pretend to be "into" one another for appearances and of course one thing leads to another....
His father is awful beyond words and his stepmother is close to him in age. Her family is loving, warm Italians and her grandmother can give as well as his father can.

Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy. Honest opinions expressed here are my own and are freely given.

This book was ok. I found the side characters to be likable and the leading man, Theo, was easy to sympathize with. Ellie, though, was not an enjoyable character for me. She was not relatable and I quite honestly found her irritating for the majority of the book. She did experience character growth, which was a relief.

If you enjoy snarky, slow burn, romcoms you may enjoy this one.

I received an ARC of this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of Love You, Mean It, in exchange for my review.

This book is a change of pace from the other book I’ve read by Jilly Gagnon, All Dressed Up. That was a thriller, but this is a more lighthearted story of two people, Ellie and Theo, getting acquainted in the service of chasing mutually-beneficial outcomes.

The story starts a bit clichéd, but quickly starts to feel more real and the characters become more believable as the plot develops. I had a real sense of the main characters as well as the other characters surrounding them.

I enjoyed this book better than All Dressed Up, so I hope that Gagnon keeps working in this genre. I recommend this quick and uplifting read.

I loved this book. Theo and Ellie are such great characters and Sam and Bella were great as well. The character development was awesome. The scenes so well developed that I felt I was right there in the story.

Ted and Paul were two people I could have definitely disliked very much they were just those type of people.

This had such a great story line and it kept me glued until I finished the book. I would highly recommend this book.

I received this book as an advanced readers copy from Netgalley and Randomhouse Publishing House Group - Ballantine, Dell.

I was HOOKED from the beginning. Charcuterie love aside, the complete exasperated thoughts about Ruth had be laughing my butt off. If this isn't small town customer service is in a nutshell, I don't know what is. This has me super hooked and I enjoyed the journey this took and was super happy with the ending. Will there be a sequel?! Please say yes, would love to see what Sam's life is like and how she conquers life!

》ARC Review: Love You Mean It《

This romantic dramedy began with a bang (quite literally!). If you’ve seen the movie While You Were Sleeping you’ll get just the perfect taste of it here—but with a twist! Our heroine, Elllie, accompanies our unconscious hero, Theo, to the hospital after he’s hit on the head. In an effort to enter alongside him, she announces she’s his fiancee, which snowballs when those in his orbit enter the scene. Unlike the movie, Elie definitely isn’t in love— she just wants Theo to regain his memories so she can move on. What happens next, well, you’ll just have to read and find out! But the book definitely has a great start, with a fun twist on a favorite trope for many, adding a great deal of originality to the familiar.

Unfortunately, this is where my positive feelings for the book begin and end.

The leads are not very likable, especially, which was disheartening. I always root for the heroine above all else, but here I could not muster rooting for her— rooting for anyone. It really diminished my reading experience when the romance fell flat as I could not connect with the leads.

I genuinely wish I could say I loved this, while I cannot say that, I can say that the writing kept me engaged and interested in a way I will gladly follow the author’s future endeavors.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I loved "All Dressed Up" by Jilly Gagnon which is a murder mystery and was interested to see if she could cross genres.

I would give this 3.5/5 stars.
What a beautiful cover. The writing was pretty good, but the overall plot line/ execution was not my favorite.
I didn't love the female protagonist and found her hard to root for, though I did admire her desire to help her family. I also didn't love the romance between Ellie and Theo, to me they didn't ever get to "lovers" vibe for me. I also could not stand how Ellie treated Theo's ex Sam who really seemed to be a decent ex who just wanted to know if Ellie and Theo had anything and if so, SHE WOULD KINDLY BOW OUT... and yet Ellie continued to lie to her over and over again. Like most people's ex wouldn't be so gracious!!

I think i will stick to reading mystery books by this author.

This includes the following tropes: Fake dating, amnesia, family business, grumpy sunshine, enemies to lovers.

When Ellie Greco's family deli is threatened by the impending move of a Italian mega specialty store, she decides to go to the source and plead her case. Theo Taylor's family is the property manager for the building where the new store will go and she rushes there to meet Theo. Unfortunately as they are talking, a piece of ceiling falls on Theo and he winds up with amnesia. Ellie seeing her chance tells the emergency workers she is his fiancee and she is allowed to visit the hospital. The amnesia is short-lived but Theo wants the "engagement" to continue because he is against the new move and hopes he can convince his father to let it go. Complications occur when Theo's former fiancee appears on the scene.

This book reminds one that how we choose to live our lives and despite the repercussions of fear and other emotions,forge ahead knowing that something is better on the other end. Yes, Ellie hid behind the deli and claimed she wanted to save it only to protect the Greco legacy; however, what she actually wanted is to protect herself and do what she was most proud of which was the life she led when she ran the deli. When doing so was when her creative juices flowed and she could whip up items that complimented those in the store and the designs she wanted to produce for herself. It is hard to read about a character that despite is so talented is so very stagnated because she refuses to realize that this is where she is meant to be and truly 100% herself. The conversation between her and Theo when she guppied was necessary to really realize how they were perceived and needed to live to move forward in the right direction. I enjoyed the witty banter between Ellie and Theo as they developed feelings for each other as they created a life together beyond what they had previously fabricated. An enjoyable read.

Girl novel! Main character wasn’t too fantastical A genuinely solid feel good romance novel for a rainy day.

I received a free copy of, Love You, Mean It, by Jilly Gagnon, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Ellie Greco is in trouble she lied about having a fiancee to save her families deli. I just did not find this book believable, or likeable.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Ellie is happily running her families business. When she learns a company maybe moving to the area. She is not happy. She meets with the landlord, and the meeting does not go as planned. This was a quick read.

The first quarter of this book was SO promising. My heart it broken that it didn’t play out the way I was expecting. I wanted a fluffy rom-com with the fake fiancé/amnesia trope. Instead, I got burning enemies to lovers who were just terrible people at their core. Our FMC, Ellie, is so insecure and obtuse and just plain mean. I can see why she doesn’t have any friends.


Meanwhile, our MMC Theo, is the most vague approximation of a person I’ve ever read. He didn’t really stand for anything? Other than falling in love in record speed with a woman who truly didn’t care about anyone but herself. It was totally unrealistic for these two to fall together because Ellie never gave any of herself away to Theo, in the emotional sense. But in the third act break-up- Theo somehow knows everything about Ellie that she can’t even see about herself? I’m not buying it. These two hardly spent any time together that didn’t involve them scheming or having sex.


But, I do believe the true downfall of this book was the inclusion of Theo’s ex-fiancée Sam. There was already the inclusion of uncertainty and angst without her being added into the mix. The worst scenes from the book occurred because of interactions between the main characters and Sam.


I feel like this book needed a little more meat added to the bones and some re-workings of the FMC.


On a positive note, I LOVED this author’s style of writing and would 100% give another one of their future works a try. The author was very witty and I liked the flow of their writing. I would just be looking for something fluffier. I think I wasn’t expecting this book to be as cut-throat and depressing as it was. But, it was a realistic portrayal of human beings and their flaws. I just don’t want to read about the bad when I’m trying to escape from it IRL.


Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing as always for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Actual rating: 2.5 stars

I kind of expected a bit more from this book. But overall it was cute.

Ellie and Theo got along well, and their scenes were cute. Ellie, however, was annoying at times. Your typical “mean and cynical” FMC that even had a “not like other girls” moment, but apart from that she wasn’t that bad.

The MMC, Theo Taylor, was a decent and all around nice guy.

The third-act breakup was resolved a little too quickly for my liking…

Love You, Mean It is a cute romcom about Ellie Grecco and her desire to save the family deli that she runs. When a big company threatens to buy the neighboring building, Ellie is forced to deal with Theo who used to date her cousin in high school.

Ellie and Theo have a lot of preconceived ideas about one another and let’s just say they are not big fans. The freak accident leads to a fake engagement.

Overall, this was a very cute story and if you are looking for a quick, easy, and feel good read, I think this is definitely it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for the e-arc. All opinions are my own.