This book was not what I expected but it was a very cute, fresh, new outlook to a romance. I loved the dooms day engineer that was following her dreams and the good hearted guy trying to make a bad situation better. The all inclusive resort was perfect and I loved noticing the changes in their relationship during the trip. She had the overthinking that many people had and I loved the reality check there. Also, bringing up the woman/men ratio in gaming and engineering and so on was a good highlight.

This one really surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. It’s a beautiful story of two people finding each other and themselves after a horrible heartbreak. The way Charlie and Slone connected and challenged each other was exciting to read. They truly supported each other in ways they’d been desperately looking for and saw each other in a way no one else has seen them before.

My only issue with this book was the incredibly illegal hiring practices of the fictional gaming company Catapult. It was so incredibly obviously illegal that it made it so hard. I know this happens in real life, but it seemed like this was used simply as a plot device to keep the main characters apart, when they actually had enough other issues they individually needed to work through, mainly getting over their exes and taking time to explore a relationship outside of paradise.

This is a perfect summer beach read for fans of Emily Henry.

In all the very best ways, this felt like
FUNNY STORY (Emily Henry)
+
LOATHE AT FIRST SIGHT (Suzanne Park)
with
a sprinkling of Alisha Rai vibes

A win for those of us whose friends know we have already planned for every potential emergency, and who love:
- Pretend-couple on vacation in a tropical paradise
- Navigating the reality of long-held dreams
- Complicated mother-adult daughter relationships

Grab this one for by the beach or during work time lunch breaks.

Sweet, swoony and relatable to anyone faced with the unexpected twists life likes to give us.

✨In a Not So Perfect World by Neely Tubati Alexander✨

Genre: Romance
Pages: 352

📚Sloane Cooper is up for her dream job as a designer for a top video game company. During the interview, though, she somehow promises the all-male panel that she’ll remain single and fully dedicated to the work. It’s actually fine—after her last boyfriend cheated on her, she vowed to focus on her career anyway.

Enter Charlie, aka Hot Neighbor Guy, a near-stranger who shocks her with the offer of an all-inclusive trip to a Turks and Caicos resort. The catch? Charlie originally planned the trip with his ex, and asks Sloane to pose as his new girlfriend to make his old flame come running back. Against her better judgment, Sloane says yes; she can use the time away to develop a game design that will dazzle the Catapult team and get her a job offer.

Despite sparks flying in paradise, the trip can’t lead to more. As their connection deepens, Sloane is reminded that she can’t fall for Charlie and get knocked off her professional path. Besides, he’s trying to win back his true love.

Can Sloane figure out a way to move past heartbreak, land the job of her dreams, and avoid catching feelings? The zombie apocalypse would be easier to solve—at least she’s prepared for that.

📝This was not for me🙃 Charlie and Sloane were not compelling characters, which made it hard to invest in their development and relationship. They instantly fell for each other and there wasn’t any solid buildup or chemistry.

The plot had a major issue that I wasn’t able to overlook. During Sloane’s interview, the men at Catapult encouraged her to focus her entire life on her job. I’m sure that happens, especially with “tech bro” start ups, but for Sloane to go as far as actually believing she has to stay single is just stupid.

💫Thanks to @netgalley @harperperennial for my egalley💫

I would rate this 3.5 rounded up to 4. There were several things I enjoyed about this book. I loved the romantic relationship that developed between Sloane and Charlie. It was sweet and fun with a perfect amount of spice. I also loved the tropical setting, perfect for armchair travelers needing a beach getaway. However, the plot device that drives most of the conflict in the book is troubling. The idea that Sloane’s potential new bosses tell her during her interview that she must stay single to get and keep the job is over-the-top, misogynistic and downright illegal. Those parts of the book were a miss for me, but the book really shines in the middle portions during Sloane and Charlie’s vacation and burgeoning relationship. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was fun and light-hearted. Not extremely steamy. A quick read. It was very surface-level, preventing me from getting attached to any of the characters. The ending was a bit of a letdown. BUT this book did have me giggling a few times which was exactly what I was looking for.

Thank you Harper Perennial and #netgalley for the free ARC! #oliveinfluencer

I enjoyed this read!
I loved the first chapters when Sloane lays a lip lock on a complete stranger in a bar who turns out not to be such a stranger after all. I love how she uses nicknames for some of her characters, a habit I share.
In fact I continued to call Hot Neighbor Guy HGN because I liked it bette than his actual name.
I loved Sloane’s game prototypes were hilarious, Arsonist Betty made me howl!
I’m not a gamer but I understand the appeal of the plot for the games.
I adored the cover because it drew me in.
HGN and Sloane were not each other’s rebounds but each other’s finds!

Just finished this book, 2nd by this author. While I knew that I was reading "chick lit", and a romance I felt it was light on the plot. I also didn't love Sloane's vacillating on Charlie. While they were at Turks and Caicos, I felt it was really wild ups and downs on Sloane's part - She'd resist and then on the next page you were taken aback a little by the level of dirty talk and her saying "fuck me" to Charlie......just too much.

Not sure I'd recommend this one......but I would read another book by the author in hopes they hit their stride.

Sloane, a video game designer (and doomsday prepper), and Charlie, a guy who does spray-on abs commercials (among other things), share a random kiss in the bar before discovering they’re neighbors. To make his ex jealous, Charlie invites Sloane on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Caribbean, which sounds like the beginning of a horror novel, but I promise you that this is a romance! With fun banter! And apocalyptic video games! And lots of rum punch! A lot is happening in this story, but it somehow works. It’s quippy and sexy, and Sloane’s commitment to sharing fun facts at the most random times soothed my soul.

There was so much to love about In a Not So Perfect World. First of all, Charlie is now my new favorite cinnamon roll/Golden Retriever! I need to find my own Charlie, he was so sweet. When the spice came in, it was amazing. The banter between them was perfect. Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes and it was really pulled off well in this book. I also really appreciated how Sloane was portrayed and her struggles in a male-dominated industry. The setting of Turks & Caicos was honestly magical and I now need to go there. I received an advance review copy for free and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.

This book was an absolute delight, tailor-made for lazy days by the beach. While it stirs up just the right amount of righteous indignation against those awful employers, the satisfaction of seeing justice served provides a welcome balm. The romance is a delightful blend of spicy and sweet, adding an extra layer of enjoyment to the narrative. With its fast-paced plot, it's the kind of book you'll breeze through in no time.

I ended up listening to this one on audio and it was the perfect binge read to finish in a day! I was fully engaged the whole time.

Sloane and Charlie just happen to be neighbors who share a drunken kiss at a bar leading to a Caribbean vacation due to both going through heartbreak. This leads to some forced proximity and miscommunication. The romance in this one was really cute and they make an adorable couple when they finally accept their feelings for each other.

I will say, the way Sloane is treated at her job interview and new job so frustrated! But I was happy that the video game premise wasn’t the full part of this plot and the doomsday prepper piece was more comedic relief than part of the storyline as well.

I love me a story like this! It kept me captivated from the first chapter. I just think a wide variety/range of people will really enjoy this! I recommend.

This book was SO enchanting, with a gorgeous setting (PLEASE I want to go there!), compelling protagonists, and an utterly swoony romance. Sloane was a great main character and I loved that Charlie showed vulnerability and wasn't your typical alpha male hero.

The thing I loved the most, though, was that this book wasn't about one of the love interests 'saving' the other... It was about them saving each other, healing together, and growing alongside one another. I feel like that's so very rare to see in romance and it was super refreshing! A wonderfully fun, delightful read!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Perennial for providing me with an ARC for review.

What a delight this book was! There's an AAPI female video game designer, a newly single hot neighbor, a trip to the Caribbean, and one of my favorite romance tropes: fake dating. Charlie (the hot neighbor) wants to make his ex jealous and get back together with her (does this ever actually work?), so he invites Sloan (the video game designer) on an already paid for vacation meant for him and his ex. It's a will they or won't they I couldn't put down.

This book was so cute! I loved the video Game Center, but also the romance in the beautiful Turks and Caicos. You feel like you are there in the story as well! The characters meshed so weak.

"Fake dating on vacation" is one of my favorite tropes. I eat it up every time. Some books with this trope are stronger than others, "In a Not So Perfect World" is solidly in the middle. I definitely enjoyed it, but it probably won't be something I'll return to.

I appreciated the backstories of the characters, especially Sloane's interest in game development. I loved the parts of the books that focused on her developing games and struggles as a woman in such a male dominated field. I wish we saw more of this. I also loved how her and Charlie were able to connect over both their career and personal histories. Last, I appreciated how the book addressed Sloane and Charlie's relationship outside the context of vacation.

The chemistry between Sloane and Charlie just wasn't there for me and the book was missing a lot of the tension building moments I look for in a fake dating romance. There really wasn't that much of the fake dating element at all. Even though this was addressed through the course of the book, due to Charlie's very very recent break up at the start of the book, I wasn't wholly convinced that he should be diving into another relationship so soon.

This one was fun! I wanted just a little more from it, though.

3 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Overall, I liked this story. The two main characters had good chemistry and the fake dating/vacay plot was cute. The writing was well executed and I liked the development and growth of the characters.
I would ve given it a 4 star, but I could not get over the job interview and the questions and innuendo about Sloane's personal life. The other characters did express the absurdity of it, but it just enraged me. The basis of that interview influencing Sloane's actions throughout the book just reminded me of how ridiculous it was.
Hiring someone under the conditions that they stay single and won't have children...just no...hard pass. Not only is that illegal, but it's just not something that Sloane should have accepted. The ending wrapped up a lot of my issues, but I was still rankled.

Love Buzz was one of my favourite reads of 2023 so I was very excited to dive into In a Not So Perfect World, Neely's second release. There was a lot that I liked.

First, the cover. I'm SUCH a mood reader and this cover had me wrapped around it's finger. Bright colours, bold text, it's so pretty!
I really enjoyed the slow burn between Sloane and Charlie. The build from strangers to friends to lovers felt real and made sense for the story. That Kix quote from Charlie had me swooning! (IYKYK)

One aspect of Neely's writing that I really enjoy is her ability to craft strong relationships between the MCs and size characters. I loved the friendship between Sloane and Tess, and one of my favourite parts of the book was meeting the other individuals in the resort competition. Neely really nailed the different people that can be found at an all-inclusive vacation!

A big part of the book was Sloane's experience applying and interviewing for a job with Catapult Games, a video game design company. The misogyny she faced was SO problematic to me. I know it is likely very prevalent in the male-dominated industry, but it was really hard for me to suspend belief in actual HR policies to accept that Sloane would just go ahead with their ridiculous demands for the job. I think this would have been four stars for me, but this aspect of the book was hard for me to move past.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Perennial and Neely Tubati Alexander for a review copy. These are my honest thoughts.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f contemporary romance
-vacation romance
-fake dating
-forced proximity
-forbidden romance

This is the perfect beach read, light frothy, but also femine range of misogeny in the workplace. I read this at the right time of experiencing it myself. Unfortunately I do not have a hot neighbor but maybe this is my sign of good things to come. I really enjoyed this one