Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Rounded up from a 3.5

Who wants to read about a love triangle when you can read about a love square!

Marcela has been in love with her best friend, Ben, for years now; the only problem is that he is about to propose to his long-term girlfriend, Alice. Enter Theo, Ben’s older brother who has been in love with Alice since childhood. When Marcela finds Theo pacing around and practicing a speech at Alice and Ben’s engagement party, professing his love for her, she knows she has to step in and stop him from causing a scene. After leaving the party together and showing up to a family brunch together the next morning, Marcela and Theo now find themselves in a fake relationship of sorts and continue the ruse so that they can get over their respective feelings for the future bride and groom.

I loved the setup of this so much! Like I knew it was bound to be messy and it delivered on that. Marcela and Theo’s relationship evolved so naturally to me and I loved how they gave each other the space to open up to one another about everything and anything. Theo is such a sweetheart and he falls so hard for Marcela! He did so many little things along the way that just made me swoon (kissing her knuckles when he held her hands, participating in her library’s teen book club, buying her favorite books, and more).

I do wish we would have been able to see more of Theo’s professional life, he’s a recently retired football player because at times I felt like his profession could have been anything else and the story would pretty much be the same. And I do understand that football and his injuries played a huge part in the brotherly dynamics between him and Ben. I just wish we saw more of it firsthand on the page.

Overall it was a very quick and easy read and I will read more by this author in the future.

rep: plus size latina
cw: abandonment, emotional abuse, toxic friendship, fatphobia, body shaming, injury

4 Stars

The premise for this book was such a fun one! Two love interests who have been pinning over people they couldn’t have, an engaged couple, finding one another. While there were a couple of tropes featured in this book that I am not a huge fan of, like third act breakup and lying, I flew through this book because I loved the MMC; THEO!! He was so bomb, like the gold standard!

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

this was a miss for me. i was really excited about it because it was about a librarian, marcela, who falls in love with her best friends brother, theo. but there were too many aspects of the book that i didn't enjoy that disappointed me overall.

marcela is the epitome of the 'not like other girls' trope and i couldn't handle it. she acted very immature and juvenile for her age. that fact that she was pining for almost a decade over a man who was in a relationship but also a complete asshole? girl GET UP. i couldn't believe that she remained friends with (and fell for) a manipulative narcissist for most of her adult life. girl.

from the get go, theo had no personality. he literally spoke to her in "grunts"??? and he was also pining after his childhood friend for years. like what???? aside from that it was obvious that he definitely had alcohol problems. most of the book he was drunk, she was, or they both were. there was instalove between them but zero chemistry. they were brought together by circumstance but didn't actually fit each other's personalities.

the drama and the conversations were annoying. the amount of miscommunication made me roll my eyes multiple times. the plot keping going on and on in circles, repeating itself until i honestly almost dnf'd the book lol. i really did enjoy the plus size rep in this and the fact that marcela was a librarian!

Thank you to NetGalley & Gabriella Gamez for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for a review!

The Next Best Fling was an absolute rollercoaster - our two main characters are fighting unrequited love… and use each other to do it! Our MCs are a curvy librarian girly + an ex NFL player to boot 😍

The events of this book were like a tele-novella - love triangles (squares?), daddy issues, sibling drama, and not quite getting over exes. I enjoyed reading it a lot!

This book releases on July 9th, so be sure to give it a read!!

What a page turner! I could not put this book down! The Next Big Fling was spicy, swoon-worthy, angsty, and just fantastic. I related so much with a heartbroken plus-sized FMC and am so glad to see characters like her get a happy ending. The two main characters both experienced so much personal growth together and because of each other, it was evident that the chemistry was there and the love was real. The love they shared felt so mature and patient and healthy, I wish I had a support system like their's! This book gave me all the right feelings and I cannot wait to see what the author writes next!

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read an arc of this book!

I was expecting to like this or at least enjoy my time reading it. I feel bad that I came out of it thinking it was just okay and I didn't really enjoy myself much.

Everything about this book felt surface level to me. Nothing had any impact. The characters had no chemistry of any kind; best friends weren't shown as best friends, we were just told they were. It didn't feel legitimate. The drama between the brothers was supposed to be angsty or have an impact of some kind but it didn't hit the mark for me. Probably because it all felt flat/surface level. I did like that Marcela was a librarian and that was used in the story a lot.

I thought the book was entertaining I kept reading for the messy drama honestly. it was cringy at times, but I enjoyed it. I liked Marcela and Theo how they supported each other when they needed it. I look forward to reading more from Gabriella

"The Next Big Thing" by Gabriella Gamez is a super cute rom-com with a heroine you can't help but root for. Marcela's been in love with her best friend forever, but when he gets engaged, she finds a surprising distraction in Theo, his ex-NFL player brother. After a drunken mix-up leads everyone to think they hooked up, Marcela and Theo decide to roll with it. But as they hang out more, their fake relationship starts to feel way too real.

Marcela is an extremely relatable character - nerdy, anxious, realistic body type, and totally adorable. I LOVED that she's obsessed with the "An Ember in the Ashes" series - same girl, same! Theo is the perfect guy - he gets her and thinks she's amazing just the way she is. They've got that fiery chemistry, and the rest of the characters add to the laughs and drama.

The only thing that bugged me was that Marcela's overthinking sometimes made her create unnecessary drama. But honestly, that's a pretty small complaint. "The Next Big Thing" is basically the perfect read if you're into friends-to-lovers and fake dating. It's got all the feels, and you won't want to put it down.

What a delightful and fast read — a romance where the reason for the rift contains real depth and is about so much more than miscommunication. Just the feelings and fun and romp I was looking for

- Best friend's brother
- Friends-with-benefits to get over their unrequited feelings for his brother/his fiance.
- Plus-size Latina FMC
- Angst/pining

What to expect in The Next Best Fling:
- A very relatable heroine (hello, a plus-size librarian who loves books).
- A cinnamon roll, ex-NFL player hero who's honest about his feelings once they develop.
- Multiple hot, spicy scenes. The tension and chemistry between them was palpable.
- Characters that support one another and grow as the book progresses.
- A messy, complicated love story with lots of drama. Like watching a telenovela!

You just might have to suspend belief in the love square plot.

I love a good fake dating/ mistaken couple trope, and this story starts out strong. I was even okay with the toxic quadrangle that started it all. It’s the type of ridiculous drama that only works in books and seems reasonable to ignore red flags for the sake of good plot. I loved how Theo and Marcela interacted and held each other up, building a friendship alongside and independent of the chemistry they felt. Strong setup.

But it didn’t progress well beyond that. Despite all the effort I never felt like I got enough depth and detail to the two leads. The secondary characters were annoying and the interactions with them never felt satisfying or even cathartic. It was all too messy, with thoughts and actions just going around in circles like a holding pattern. It filled the pages but not my enjoyment.

In the end it was just okay. Not bad, I’d still be curious about more from the author, but slightly frustrating.

THE NEXT BEST FLING was a book I was so excited for - a plus size heroine, a broody bulking blonde hero, truly my own personal brand of book heroin. Unfortunately, this book was an infuriating read. The writing felt way too juvenile for the content matter, and I could not get into it for that reason. It read more like published half-thought-through wattpad than something I'd spend money on at Barnes.

A rom com of the CW variety (as described by the FMC herself 🤣 two people trying to rebound with each other to get over the ones they love and end up falling for each other is always a good time. Marcela was complex and boy howdy did she need to grow and she did. Overall enjoyable!

3.5

I loved the plus size rep and the insecurities and experiences our FMC had. I loved the big hunky football player falling first and falling HARD for our curvy & nerdy librarian. Mainly I really enjoyed Gabriella Gamez's voice. Her sense of humor and bookish references were on point. (and her spicy scenes were HOTTOGO)

However the story was not my favorite thing. A lot of the drama and conflicts felt overly dramatic, juvenile, and unrealistic. A lot of drama, descriptions, and internal monologues were stretched out and repetitive to the point that I put this book down multiple times (it took me 4 months to finish it). (the first third I plowed through like cotton candy - I eat cotton candy really fast).

While this did not end up being my favorite book, I am excited to read the next book from Gabriella Gomez. I mean she had me falling for a blond man. Theo really scratched that itch of "I'm looking for a man in love with my body, who is tall, buys me books"

thank you NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 ⭐️

what i loved: the latina rep (i appreciated the mexican mom depiction and spanish lingo being so accurate)! the fact that marcela is a curvy librarian and theo is a giant retired nfl player! the way they were so patient, kind, understanding, and supportive of each other right off the bat! the way it was just easy to root for marcela and theo bc they deserved a HEA! of course, the super juicy and steamy spice! all the cute bookish moments! (i love when the fmc is book obsessed and looking for her irl book boyfriend just like the rest of us! hehe) the best friendship between angela and marcela! and omg the letter at the end!!! reading that made me so emotional!!!
what i didn’t love: nearly a decade is just a few years too long to be secretly in love with your ex/current bff. i wish marcela got over ben quicker— he never deserved her!!! (don’t get me started on ben— he’s such a hateful character and i guess that’s the point but ugh i couldn’t help but roll my eyes every time he was on page). the drama was messsssy. this was not a love triangle, but a love square. you can imagine the tea! over 60% in and we’re STILL talking about feelings for OTHER people.

i wish we got more backstory on marcela and theo to feel more connected to them as a reader and to see more of the intimate moments that ultimately made them fall in love. i would have loved a theo pov!

overall, this was sweet and fun and i definitely enjoyed a lot of it!

thank you so much to netgalley and forever (grand central publishing) for this eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts!!! <3

4.25 stars

This was messy in the best way. I actually expected the story to be more of them trying to break up the other couple and I was pleasantly surprised that wasn't it. I liked how they were fairly open with each other about their baggage (give or take a few pieces) and I think the communication was mostly good between the MCs. My only issue is the last 20% of the book was almost too much yes/no/yes/no back and forth, I felt that could have been a bit more concise. Overall, a good story and I really liked both MCs.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I’m obsessed. What better way to get over the guy you’ve been pining over than by faking a fling with his brother who also happens to be trying to get over his brother’s fiancée. I haven’t seen a book like this before and the premise is setting everything up to be hilarious and a giant mess. The banter is perfect, their relationship starts out a necessity and grows into something beautiful and it was amazing to read

I enjoyed Gabriella Gamez's The Next Best Fling immensely. As the romance genre grows with writers of color, more writers like Galvez have created protagonists that look like their readers, and I couldn't be more excited. I liked Marcela, and love that she was flawed and working through her own things. The male love interest, Theo, was also a flawed human being and both of them had growing to do and not in the exhausting trope-y way that most romance books fall victim to.

This was a good and quick read - I inhaled it.

There were a lot of things that I enjoyed about this book, but I could not get over the fact that the main characters were hiding unrequited love interests. That felt a bit icky and dishonest to me.

That being said, I did otherwise like the 2 main characters. Though their relationship felt a bit rushed for my liking, that's sometimes how things play out in real life as well, so I wasn't too bothered by it. Overall a decent read, but I don't think it hit quite right for me.

I loved this! I'm in love with Theo Young, because that is a man right there. Someone who doesn't blow the third-act breakup out of proportion and actually handles it like an adult, listening to the full story before reacting. I appreciate you, sir. You're refreshing. And his chemistry with Marcela was superb. They were adorable -- especially when she showed off her library and he reacted like all of us book lovers hope someone will react -- and you could tell he fell first in the relationship.

I didn't expect to relate to Marcela as much as I did, specifically around her history with dating and how those experiences affected her view of her body and her worth. I've had way too many dates go the exact way she described and yeah, it makes you really never want to date. I do wish she'd been a little more forthcoming with Theo, especially about her history with Ben, because she made such an issue of something they could've discussed and gotten past easily.

But at least she got over Ben because that guy <i>sucks</i>. Everyone deserves better than him.

This has already gone on my wishlist and I will definitely read anything else Gabriella Gamez releases in the future.