The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez was SO FREAKING DELIGHTFUL! And the fact that it was set in San Antonio, a city that holds my heart, made it even more special. It's steamy, and sweet, and the main character is a curvy Latina librarian. What's not to love? Marcela has been in love with her best friend for years, but now he's getting married, and she knows she needs to move on. She just doesn't expect to move on with her best friend's older brother--an ex-NFL player who has recently moved to town. Turns out Theo has been in love with his brother's fiancée--what a tangled web, right?--and he also needs someone to distract him from what could have been. Their immediate connection deepens beyond what either of them expects, and they realize they may just have a chance at something real--together.

All the little Texas easter eggs made this Texas ex-pat so happy. I may be a Pacific Northwest girlie now, but I spent my first 31 years in the Lone Star State, most of those in or near San Antonio. It's safe to say that Gamez accurately captures the south Texas ethos and spirit--I'm extra critical of books set in familiar settings, and she knocked it out of the park.

Thank you so much to Forever and Netgalley for my advance reader copy in exchange for my review.

Plot: Marcela has been in love with her best friend, Ben, since they started dating her freshman year of college and even though they've been over for years, she's never been able to move on. Now Ben's engaged. When Marcela overhears Ben's brother, Theo, practicing what he's going to say to Alice, Ben's fiancé confessing his love for her, she stops him. Long story short, this leads to some assumptions about the idea that the two of them hooked up and they decide that's a useful fiction to maintain to get them through until Ben and Alice are married. Of course, things don't always go smoothly.

What I Loved: Theo makes literally one of the sweetest grand gestures that is so tailored to who Marcela is and it shows how well he pays attention, that I just really loved it. Marcela, unfortunately, was very thick headed and seemed incapable of recognizing for a while that Theo is actually the best thing to ever happen to her, but fortunately, she eventually got there.

What I Struggled With: Well, I guess I already said, but Marcela. She drove me nuts. Now, admittedly, I would also be absolutely that obtuse so it's not like it was unrealistic, but I wanted to shake her sometimes.

Who Would I Recommend this to: Anyone, really! I think if you like books and bookish main characters, you will also enjoy this one a lot. I do think you need to be a person who understands a person who pines even when they realistically should have moved past the person they haven't moved on from though.

3.5

I started this book and immediately questioned the past version of me that requested this book because in what world do I like this set up. Marcela has been secretly in love with her best friend for years, and when he gets engaged she knows it's time to move on (one could argue it's been time to move on but we get there eventually). It gets worse when at the engagement party, she runs into Theo, the best friend's older brother, who is planning on confessing his feelings to his brother's now fiancée, who was a childhood best friend. Basically, it's really messy and both Marcela and Theo make arguably questionable decisions. Like I get that brains are weird but this couple that they're in love with different halves of have been together for 8 years so like... there's holding a torch and then there's being ridiculous.

That being said, I went in fully expecting to DNF and ultimately found myself finding reasons to keep reading. Because yes, Marcela and Theo have got to get their shit together but the relationship they form together is so sweet and I think the whole story highlights that there so many people stay in situations and hold on to relationships that are, clearly from an outside perspective, toxic to them and their mental health, but it's what is easy and comfortable and leaving feels too impossible or scary.

Overall, I found this to be a really solid debut and a quick fun read. Gamez is clearly a reader and pours so much love for books and diversity in books into Marcela and I loved that. Was it a favorite of the year? No, but Book 2 is going to be sapphic featuring an asexual main character and you can bet I'm going to be sat for that.

I enjoyed this cute and spicy read with plus-size rep! I like how quickly Theo falls for Marcela, and how hard he falls for her. I really enjoyed the character journeys and the growth we get to see in both leads. A quick read with sweet moments, and heartfelt dialogue!

I was so intrigued by the premise of this book, but I could not accept how quickly Marcela shifted from fear of Theo being an angry drunk to drinking with him and letting him stay in her house.

A cozy long angst romance despite both of them pining over someone else. A lot of real book names dropped, but this shouldn’t be a shock when this is the start of a librarian romance series.

A hot librarian, a love square?, and a giant teddy bear ex NFL player - SIGN ME UP

Marcela has been in love with her best friend Ben for over ten years and she just helped him propose to his longtime girlfriend… so shes not doing so great. At the engagement party, Marcela finds Theo - Ben’s brother, about to declare his love for Ben’s fiance (told you it was a love square…) Marcela stops Theo and the two of them bond in an unexpected way and begin to heal together.

I loved this book and the journey of self discovery for both Marcela and Theo - I also ADORED Angela and can’t wait to maybe hopefully see her in a future book. Definitely turn to this one if you’re interested in love triangles/squares and unexpected romances.

She's a librarian. He's an ex NFL player. She's secretly in love with her best friend who happens to be his brother. He's in love with his brother's fiancée. They decide to have a no strings fling to get over the people they can't have, but can they really keep their feelings of wanting more at bay?

I absolutely loved this book! Marcela is a character I would love to be friends with and Theo is just a huge cinnamon roll who wears his heart on his sleeve. This is a he falls first and hard while fake dating and I ate up every minute of it! The banter, chemistry and mutual pining in this book is just so good!

One of the things I enjoyed about this book was the ability to be light and fun but also dealt with real and hard things. The care they had for each other and the relationship with Marcela and her best friend were just so sweet. I loved that while things got messy with his brother and fiancée, there was good representation of needing to have boundaries, even with family members and that sometimes toxic doesn't always look the way you think it does.

Is this book a little messy? yes. Is this book super cute? yes. Would I read this again? Also, yes.

Sadly, this wasn't for me.

I wasn't totally invested in these characters and I wasn't really rooting for them to get together in the end.

I loved the Latina representation and the spice was really great; however it wasn't enough for me to forget my main qualms with the love square going on. I am NOT a fan of a love triangle and honestly the two MCs being in love with other people truly annoyed me to no end.

Thank you forever publishing for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

one of the best books I’ve read so far this year! Had a love square (love orgy?). It spoke to real life problems/fears/topics. The writing kept me engaged the whole time! I couldn’t put it down! Great story telling all around!

I loved the library vibe and all of the bookish dates! The love triangle (or square) with brothers is not my favourite trope. I am also not a big fan of third act break-ups and I really didn't think the break-up in this book was necessary.

The perfect anti-friends to lovers! When we are first introduced to Marcela, she's head over heels in love with her best friend Ben. The problem? He's engaged to be married to Alice, his long-time girlfriend.

Marcela has nursed this unrequited love for years now, but as the love of her life is about to marry someone else, she finds herself in a dilemma. Ben's brother, Theo, wants to ruin the engagement. Should she let him do it and take advantage of the situation? Or should she stop him and let Ben have his HEA with Alice?

Marcela and Theo end up entangled when everyone seems to think they've had a ONS after Ben's engagement party, and they realize this little ruse could work on their favor as they both work towards their individual goals: getting over someone who doesn't love them back.

But as they get closer and closer, this thing between them that started as a rebound starts to feel less and less like just a fling and more and more like something real.

Gabriella Gamez' debut is a wonderfully crafted love story between two improbable characters. The author took a huge risk writing protagonists who are in love with other (committed) people, but it definitely paid off. Marcela and Theo's relationship is really well developed. Between moments of vulnerability and moments of high sexual tension, the readers are taken on a journey filled with uncertainties. But isn't life a huge question mark?

Highly recommend this book!

I wasn't sure if I was gonna like this since both the MC and LI spend a large chunk pining over other people but to my surprise, I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

The entire premise is that this woman's best friend is getting married and that's great, except she's in love with him. When she catches her best friend's brother monologuing to himself about how in love with the bride he is, she stops him from breaking up the pair and instead helps him out. A platonic night turns into everyone thinking they hooked up so they decide fake dating/fake flinging? Is a good way to get through the wedding of their nightmares.

But it turns out neither of them were ready for the hope and the promise of a new relationship. And neither one was ready for the brightness that each other would bring into their lives. Neither one was ready to admit that the decade (s) they spent pining was a waste of time until they were forced to realize it.

This does have a fat main character but I really got the impression she was more midsize. And just going off the cover I would classify this as a mid-size representation not fat rep which is unfortunate. Not that we don't need midsize size representation but I just want fat characters. Genuinely fat characters. If you can find clothing in a store, you're not fat.

Anyway that's really my own personal gripe and unrelated to the book itself. Technically this has plus size representation if that's what you want to call it and there is some internalized and externalized fat phobia happening throughout the book. I do think this book would have benefited from a dual POV. I think that that is partly my own desire to see people be so unapologetically attracted to fat people and I absolutely die every time we get POVs like that. I think it would have added a lot to this book and to my own joy.

As a whole I think this is a really beautiful book. It isn't a favorite of mine but it is one I would recommend to people who like a complicated rom-com.

Overall this was a very sweet read. I thought Gamez did a great job of having the characters reacting in a very realistic way to a very absurd situation. While there is a third act breakup, it did feel like the right decision for the characters and not at all a miscommunication trope. A quick read, and I couldn't put it down!

This was a very fun and sweet read. What starts out as fake dating turns out to be so much more. I loved our main character. I absolutely loved all of the work she did as a librarian and it was so endearing to read how much she loved the her work with the kids.

These two. Loved watching their relationship develop. It was funny and fun and he’s such a cinnamon roll. But also the spice 🔥 Everything I want out of a romance.

The Next Best Fling was fun and lighthearted with a unique twist on love triangles. There were things I enjoyed and things I didn’t really like but for a debut novel, it was ultimately pretty solid.

The story flows really well for most of the book and the chemistry comes very easily with Theo and Marcela as they bond. Marcela was so passionate about her work as a librarian and I loved the scenes between her and her best friend.

HE BUYS HER BOOKS! That’s all you need to know about Theo.
”You should never be without your favorite books. If you’ll let me, I’ll make sure each and every one of your all-time favorites are always signed by their author. Because you deserve to have special books in your personal collection.“

The love triangle was more like a love square and could be pretty messy at times. There was a lot of miscommunication, which is personally my least favorite trope. It could be frustrating due the drama, unnecessary secrets and self-sabotaging behavior.

There were great forms of representation like Latinx and a plus-size FMC. As a curvy girl myself, I felt these scenes were very relatable. I liked that along with the romance this book was about embracing change and insecurities.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for granting me an ARC to review!

Just the collection name of Librarians in Love had me interested. I appreciated the growth in Marcela over the book and could relate to the idea of having that one ‘what if’ crush that you realize was better in your head than real life. Theo’s character arc was a bit confusing from being the playboy to saying he can’t promise he won’t develop feelings (combined with what Marcela stopped him from doing) felt disconnected.

Overall I thought this was a cute read. I have been recommending it to those looking for a bookish romance. For me, it was just alright.

I absolutely loved the concept and plot of this story, especially with a plus-size heroine at its heart! Marcela is in love with her best friend Ben—who just got engaged to another woman. Meanwhile, Theo, Ben's older brother, finds himself falling for Marcela, even though he’s engaged to someone else. Amidst all the juicy twists and turns, this book delivers a tender love story about trust, self-love, breaking free from unhealthy relationships, and discovering what real love looks like. One of my favorite aspects was how Marcela's relationship with her body was thoughtfully woven throughout the narrative. As a plus-size woman myself, I found the way her journey was portrayed incredibly validating. This book gave me all the feels, and I couldn’t get enough!

This was cute! The premise was a bit messy (they both are in love with one partner in a couple that is engaged, and the guy is the brother of the groom-to-be, yikes!) and I think it could have been handled really poorly but I actually feel like it worked. A bit too quick on the romance considering the set-up, and I think some of the conflict and the fmc had me rolling my eyes, but the resolution was really satisfying!This was cute! The premise was a bit messy (they both are in love with one partner in a couple that is engaged, and the guy is the brother of the groom-to-be, yikes!) and I think it could have been handled really poorly but I actually feel like it worked. A bit too quick on the romance considering the set-up, and I think some of the conflict and the fmc had me rolling my eyes, but the resolution was really satisfying!