What a wonderful debut novel! I really enjoyed this book! It’s nice to see more books where the FMC is plus size. I loved Marcela and Theo so much! They are definitely opposites but have one thing in common. Through it all they form a friendship and kind of an alliance so they can both get through it. I like how things started to shift with them and they started to truly get to know each other! I honestly don’t want to spoil anything but please give this book a chance!!

Thank you @readforever for the free advanced copy of The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez which is out now.

Librarian Marcela Ortiz, secretly in love with her best friend, finds herself entangled with his older brother, Theo Young, an ex-NFL player. As they fake a relationship to cover their true feelings and navigate complex family dynamics, Marcela and Theo unexpectedly discover a deep, mutual attraction that complicates their lives further.

I initially heard of Gabriella Gamez’s debut novel, The Next Best Fling, through the rave reviews from Dana at Forever and Cookie, which influenced me to pick this one up. Although I’m usually not a fan of love triangles, this book was delightfully fun to read! The story is told entirely from Marcela’s perspective, and the writing style is filled with pining, angst, and complicated feelings. I loved how we see Marcela and Theo grow both individually and together. While there were a few frustrating miscommunication scenes, they felt necessary to build the full angst. However, there was some inner monologue that seemed excessive at times, and I would have liked to get an idea of Theo’s perspective on some situations. The supporting characters were fun to read and helped move the story along. I can’t wait to see what Gabriella Gamez releases next!

The Next Best Fling was such a good time - I read almost the whole thing in one go. I loved how much both Marcela and Theo had to grow, how they brought out the best in each other to get there, how they had to really lean in and learn to trust again. They were both such nuanced characters with things in their past and present that made the choices they were making feel right. I loved their chemistry and I loved the way Marcela loved her body, but sometimes felt a normal amount of anxiety about it.

And Ben. Whew. Hurt people hurt people and that guy needs a good therapist.

There were a few things that I wanted a little more closure on, but overall, such a great spicy sweet story!

Being friends with your ex is rare but being in love with your ex and witness them be plan their wedding is brutal to say the least. Marcela is down bad for her friend Ben, who keeps her close to him, even though their romantic relationship period didn’t work out.

When Marcela tries to get over Ben with a fling, she didn’t expect it to be Theo, Bens older brother. Theo is an ex-NFL player who is struggling to find a place for Ben in his life.

Theo is such a sweet guy! I love how he pushes for communication and not let things go without talking about it and coming to a good standing. He makes Marcela be more herself and love who she is without the influence on naggy Ben.

I really enjoyed this book, but I wish there was a bit less of Ben at the end, it got to the point where he was not necessary in the story anymore.

I can’t wait for the authors next book!

How can I resist a book that involves a librarian and a best friend brother. This story is a bit messy with Marcela's friend who she has been pinning for Ben is getting married. Marcela catches Theo practicing his declaration for Ben's fiance and stops him. They decide to be fake date and their story starts there. I love the plus size representation and the insecurities of Theo as well. I really enjoyed the two together with great banter and steamy scenes. I wasn't a fan of Ben and Alice's relationship and how it turned out seemed abrupt. Overall, this was a great debut and I will look forward the next book Gamez writes.

Thank you @readforeverpub for a copy of this book.

Marcela has been in love with her best friend Ben since college. When Ben and his longtime girlfriend Alice get engaged, Marcela is crushed. She is determined to move on, but when Marcela runs into Ben’s older brother Theo as he’s getting ready to confess his love for Alice at the happy couple’s engagement party, Marcela steps in to make sure neither of them make a fool of themselves. After sleeping off the almost humiliation, Marcela and Theo decide to get over their broken hearts by starting a friends with benefits relationship that slowly turns into a sizzling attraction neither can deny.

Complete with messy relationships and unrequited pining, The Next Best Fling focuses on the gritty and embarrassing sides of first love. I thought this novel was endearing and enjoyed Marcela as a heroine. The plus size representation and discussions about body were refreshing. Author Gabriella Gamez created a nuanced discussion around fetishization and the negative treatment that often surrounds larger body types.

The scenes between Marcela and Theo were very romantic, and I enjoyed their banter. Theo was a swoon-worthy love interest — a sensitive former NFL player with his own insecurities. The two were a lovely match and brought out the best in one another.

I am a big fan of the rebound/fake dating/best friend’s brother tropes in this book and was excited to see how they would play out. Unfortunately, the plot felt slow overall and the inner monologues became redundant. The length of Marcela and Theo’s pining for Ben and Alice continued for too long, putting a damper on the growing chemistry between the two leads. Maybe it’s because I also thought Ben sucked, but I couldn’t understand why Marcela was infatuated with him when Theo continuously proved how much better he was. Additionally, there was a negative decline in Marcela and Theo’s communication from the beginning of the novel to the end which was disorienting. It felt like this shift occurred strictly as a device for a third act conflict and it didn’t coincide with Marcela and Theo’s established personalities.

All in all, The Next Best Fling was a very cute and quick read with the depth and complexity necessary for such intricate dynamics.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. These opinions are my own.

Marcela and Theo have a unique relationship: both of them had their hearts broken when Theo's brother Ben announced his engagement. From the synopsis, I expected that Marcela and Theo would fake date and fall in love with each other, as they got over their previous romantic interests. And fake dating is one of my absolute favorite tropes.

So I was disappointed that the book instead leaned in hard to not just a love triangle, but some multi-sided messy figure. There were lots of secrets, lies and miscommunication between all the main characters. I really disliked some characters and never came to like any of them much.

There were a few other aspects that made the book not a great fit for me. The first person POV for Marcela meant that I was left wanting to know more about Theo, especially his relationship with Ben. And his income after retiring from the NFL didn't make much sense to me. While I generally enjoy reading about a plus size FMC and a MMC who appreciates her, but there was too much fatphobia for me.

Where this book really shone for me was the library setting, the love of YA books, and the support for diverse reading. And I also greatly appreciated the character growth from both Marcela and Theo and their neat grand gestures.

So I was ultimately quite mixed, but I would recommend this for folks who enjoy love triangles.

3.25 stars

2.5 stars

This sounded like a fun take on fake dating and instead it's filled with loads of drama.

I liked Marcela and Theo well enough. They're both good people with big hearts and desperately in love with one half of an engaged couple. I did like the idea of them leaning on each other to get through it; however I never really got the feel of a connection between them. Oh and Angela was the best and Ben is straight up the worst.

Plot wise, it's sort of bland. There's a lot of push and pull, loads of inner monologue, and forever pining for the wrong person. I wanted chemistry, banter, and open conversations, sadly none of that happened.

Overall, it was a quick read with a lot of potential. It just didn't work for me.

**Huge thanks to the publisher for providing the arc free of charge**

4.5⭐️

"I'm in the middle of CW's most overused subplot - a familial love triangle."

This steamy romance was quite an impressive debut! I loved the messiness of this love "square" - the FMC (Marcela) is pining over her best friend (Ben), who is engaged to someone else (Alice), and starts a fling with his brother (Theo), who is in love with his fiancé - what a doozy!

I appreciated the realistic portrayal of internalized fat phobia through Marcela's character. I hated BEN with a passion. He was a toxic friend and brother! My favorite character was undoubtedly Theo - the better brother for sure! How he wore his heart on his sleeves was so endearing! How he made Marcela feel sexy and expressed his feelings for her made my heart swoon.

Absolutely obsessed with this book from beginning to end. Marcela and Theo are the kind of characters you're constantly rooting for, to the point where whenever Ben was on the page, I felt like I was going crazy. It's hard for me to finish any book if I'm not 100% into it, but I was 150% into this one, eating it up in less than a day.
I really loved the plus size and Latina rep in this one. It was so authentic, but it wasn't dragging, or treated like a novelty the way I've seen so many other romances do. Marcela's insecurities were valid, were real, and her passion as a librarian for more diverse reads was inspiring. Loved loved loved this one, can't wait to read it with my bookclub at the store!

I’m leaning towards a 3.75 for this book. I will say the it was easy to read and I definitely enjoyed it over all! I was only frustrated sometimes with Marcela and the way she would get in her head about things but honestly with her background it did just make it more realistic. I loved Theo and how much of a sweetheart he was! The scene where he planned on their date and intertwining their interests was super cute! I also loved how I know the author is Mexican and included tid bits of the heritage in the book such as the food and the relationship with the FMC and her mom. Overall this was a good read and again I really enjoyed it, love it all wrapped up really nicely.

WOW! This book was a fantastic debut. Marcela is in love with her best friend, Ben, but he's engaged to Alice. Theo is in love with Alice who is his brother's fiancée. Theo has plans to confess, but Marcela intervenes and their story begins.

This is exactly what great rom coms are made of and I loved every single page of this book. I absolutely loved Marcela and Theo, their friends with benefits relationship, the banter, spice, their dates.. ALL OF IT- it was soo good! I also loved that the FMC was a plus sized Latina and a book lover. The character development and emotional growth was fantastic and I have to admit that Theo Young has become one of my new favorite book boyfriends.

Gabriella Gamez did such a great job and I'm so excited for the next book in the series.

This was such a cute fake dating story of going into a fake relationship to get over someone.

Marcela is trying to be supportive of her best friend's (who she is secretly in love with) engagement. Well turns out his brother isn't too happy about the engagement as he is in love with his brother's fiancé. I mean who doesn't love a love square?!

The two decide to fake date for a nice little rebound. Lots of messy things happen but it was great to see Marcela find her voice and confidence.

Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author for an advanced copy!

Some of the back and forth and miscommunication made the pacing in the book feel uneven, but it was very cute and charming despite this. I absolutely loved Theo- he's beyond precious. Solid debut!

I was a little skeptical about a romance in which both parties had feelings for someone else. However, I'm happy to say that Gabriella Gamez made it work! It was really interesting to watch Marcela's perceptions change as she got to know Theo better.

I loved the connection Marcela and Theo had. He paid attention to her and was vulnerable with her. I liked watching her learn to do the same. While their beginning made everything complex, I felt like sometimes people don't meet in perfect circumstances and it was fun to watch it all get untangled.

It was also really fun to read about how much Marcela loved books. I liked reading about her work at the library and liked that Theo supported that.

If you love stories about book lovers or a steamy romance with some emotional complexities this one is for you! I am interested to see who will be the next couple in this series! There are a couple of characters we got to know who I really liked! A wonderful debut overall!

Read if you like:
💪🏾Strong FMC
👯‍♀️ Best Friend’s Brother
💋 Fake Dating
🔺 Love Triangles

Marcela is in love with Ben, and Theo's in love with Ben's fiancé…. So of course we have DRAMA! And what’s the solution… obviously to fake date to make them jealous and see what they are missing, right?!

If you love tropes and drama and swoon worthy fake dating where he falls first, you really need to pick this one up!

Thank you so much to Forever for the ARC & Finished copy in exchange for my review.

Getting over your first loves with a no-strings attached relationship should be fun!

The Next Best Fling was such an incredible debut novel. I had so much fun reading about Marcela and Theo.

Marcela, our gorgeous plus size, Mexican librarian fmc was incredibly relatable to read. Being secretly in love with your best friend for over a decade is already hard enough, add in the fact he’s been with his girlfriend for years and they’re now engaged to be married, yikes! Marcela is patient but she had such precious character growth. Healing herself, realizing the toxic environment around her. I adored her friendship with Angela!

Theo is an ex-football player who has daddy issues. He’s been in love with the same girl since they were children, waiting in hope she’d feel the same way someday. Theo is incredibly mature and I loved seeing how he treated Marcela and how easygoing and loving he was. Adored his character growth as well!

I also wanted to point out the amount of appreciation Gabriella wrote about libraries as a whole. As a weekly library goer, libraries are so so so important and deserve much more recognition than solely for books. They offer so many resources (free) that one can access. My library offers services like passport, printing/copy, classes, children time, a mini bookstore, study rooms, computers with specific applications (like Adobe), and of course books! A feature I adore is the bookstore of course, as I have found over 50 books for prices I can afford. Another feature is the suggest feature where you can literally request what book you would like them to order and they almost always accept within a few weeks/months!

If you enjoy library love, a man who is an act of service king, a woman who loves reading, and some angsty characters, then this is a must read! Thank you NetGalley and Forever for the arc in exchange for my review! <3

This was a lovely debut by Gabriella Gamez! I was hooked from the beginning, and could not put it down until I finished it.

🩷 Plus Sized Rep
📚 Librarian FMC
🩷 Latina FMC
🏈 NFL MMC
🩷 Romcom

She wants the bride, he wants the groom...what are these two to do other than fake date each other to get over their feelings! 😅 Marcella hasn't gotten over her love for her friend Ben who is engaged to another woman. While Ben's brother Theo has always wanted to be with the woman Ben is engaged to and it is just the perfect storm for a disaster...but in a fun chaotic way 😏

I instantly fell in love with Marcela, who is a plus sized, Latina woman who works as a librarian. I loved her bookish qualities, and how well written her passion for books was. Theo was hot and such a sweetheart as well! He was very swoon worthy from the beginning, but it did take me a while to trust that he wasn't going to be foolish and make some dumb decision. (Which both characters did at some point or another by the end 😅)

This was a very quick and easy read for me. I devoured it in less than 24 hours, which is quick for me! Which does say something about the quality of the writing to keep my attention for so long.

However I will say the first half was a lot more enjoyable than the second half. There was a lot of flip flopping, miscommunication, self sabotaging going on that sort of all dragged out for no particular reason. Along with the pacing at the end was just not great, all of which sort of ruined the ending a bit for me.

With all that being said this was a solid debut by this author. I would have no problem reading more from her work in the future 🤗

Thank you to Forever & NetGalley for the ARC of this one in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to ForeverPub and NetGalley for the eARC!
4.5 stars
This was such a fun romcom! I absolutely loved the plus size representation - I could relate all too well to the feelings Marcella experienced about her body and how she was affected by the reactions of past love interests. What I particularly loved is that Marcella was confident in herself (including her body) while being aware of how others had hurt her in the past. It was refreshing to see a plus size character who hadn’t internalized negative perceptions of their body, even if she was still affected by it (what human is immune to others judgments?!)

I adored Theo. What a cinnamon roll. The way he loved Marcella was just *chef’s kiss* I won’t spoil anything, but his actions, words, and gestures had me kicking my feet and squealing.

I loved this story, all of the characters felt dynamic and I appreciated that the author called out that CW love triangle (square?) and being torn between two brothers, so funny! I’d love more in this universe!!!

The Next Best Fling follows Marcella and Theo as they use each other to get over their unrequited feelings for another couple. I'm not usually one for too much drama, but I absolutely loved it in this book! The messy and chaotic energy worked so well with the romance and how Marcella and Theo fell in love. I loved that once Theo got over his feelings for Alice, he was 100% in with Marcella, the man was so sweet and willing to do anything to make her happy. The story flowed so well and while there was quite a bit of back and forth, I think it worked out so well in the end with how Marcella came to realize her feelings.

Read For:
📚Fake Dating📚
📚Friends to Lovers📚
📚Best Friend's Brother📚
📚Librarian FMCs📚
📚Grand Gestures📚
📚Fake Dating📚
📚Plus Size Rep📚
📚Cinamonroll MCs📚
📚Friends w Benefits📚