3.5/5 Marcela and Theo. Theo comes back in town because his brother Ben is going to marry Alice. The problem is Theo has always had feelings for Alice. Marcelaa wants to stop Theo from making a mistake because she knows from experience. Marcela has always had feelings for Ben. Marcela and Theo team up to get over Ben and Alice and discover each other and what they need in a relationship. I love the library aspect. Marcela is a librarian and there's lots of book related discussions. Healthy relationship conversations.

I just finished reading an early advanced readers copy of The Next Best Fling and I absolutely loved it. Gabriella is a wonderful writer and author and this story was beyond cute, sweet, emotional, and funny at times. If you love these tropes/feelings: angsty emotion, best friend's brother, love square, pining after someone, librarian centered, book lovers, ex-NFL player status.... then this book is certainly for you and one you will love. Potential spoilers but I believe the synopsis on the back of the book says much of this: This book embodies what it means to try to move on after there is no hope left with the one you loved for a decade... or thought you loved. There are strong "fake dating" vibes in this book in order for two people to attempt to get over the one they pined for, for far too long. In doing so, they find they are getting more than they bargained for, but maybe that isn't such a bad thing.
All in all this book was wonderful and I am secretly hoping it is part of a series or connected to another book soon because I LOVE these characters. 5 star, 5 heart read for me! Just a girly in her romance reading era!

If you're rebounding with your crush's brother, but that brother is pining for the crush's fiancé, is that a love square? Yes, you read that correctly - a love square. Let me simplify:

Marcela loves Ben.
Ben is engaged to Alice.
Theo (Ben's brother) is in love with Alice.
Marcela & Theo agree to be each other's rebound fling.

Is that a love square? A love Venn Diagram? What I do know? THE NEXT BEST FLING serves like a telenovela / CW network drama with secrets & lies, steamy attraction, miscommunication, and grand gestures.

Seriously can not over emphasize the melodrama of it all. I wanted to cry when Marcela self-sabotaged. Had to restrain myself when Ben showed some toxic behavior. Was absolutely baffled by Alice's choice of brothers. Meanwhile, if I could protect Theo from all harm, I would.

This is the book you buddy read with a bestie or a club. Because you'll have opinions about who was right or wrong in each conflict. And sometimes its not so easy to judge when you know the deep history and hurts of these very real-to-life characters.

A critical note, I feel the story was hampered by repetitive conflicts. The number of times Ben & Alice gave Marcela the same cryptic vague warnings drove me crazy. Theres also a few bookish references that elicited a LeoPoints.meme reaction that took me out of the story. But! If a book can inspire more reading - diverse reading - then yes please give me more name drops and help me build a TBR.

Thank you Netgalley & Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I always enjoy a “Best Friend’s Wedding” theme, but this situation was beyond messy to say the least. I enjoyed the fact that Marcella had no desire to try to stop the wedding between Ben and Alice. Maybe it was she was the fact that she was too busy trying to stop Theo (Ben’s brother) from declaring his love for Alice.
Even though Marcella had been friends with Ben for a long time, she didn’t know much about his older brother. She did know he was an ex-NFL player, and it wasn’t until this situation that they learned more about each other. I enjoyed Marcella and Theo getting to know each other. I loved that Theo really listened to her; he got her. He knew of her love for books, her friends, and her job as a librarian. I love how honest Marcella and Theo are with each other and that her curvy body was not an issue for Theo. She was used to the opposite.
This is a love story, but it is also about fear of abandonment, of being heart broken, inexperience, and body image. There were twist and turns in both Ben and Alice’s relationship as well as Marcella and Theo’s. The fact that this book kept me guessing about the outcome of these relationships was a pleasant surprise. I can’t to read more of the Librarians in Love Series.
** I have posted to Goodreads. I am going to post on Instagram tomorrow 5/8/2024.

The Next Best Fling was a great debut - a fun fake dating/friends-with-benefits story featuring a librarian and an ex-NFL player. Marcela and Theo find themselves in a very complicated situation at an engagement party. Theo happens to be in love with the bride Alice, his childhood friend. And Marcela is in love with the groom, her best friend Ben who she dated briefly in college and who also happens to be Theo's brother. After Marcela drags Theo away from the party to prevent him from confessing his love for the bride and everyone at the engagement party assumes they hooked up - they come to an agreement to keep up the charade and help each other get over their unrequited love. There is plenty of chaos, hilarity, and angst to go around. Marcela's love of books and her job as a youth librarian was so sweet - I loved the scene where Theo tries to have her pick her favorite book. She is incredibly relatable as she deals with insecurities about her body and her own trust issues. And despite his less than favorable reputation as a player - Theo is adorable and genuine, doing what he can to push past Marcela's insecurities. I'm definitely excited to read more from Gabrielle Gamez - looking forward to the continuation of this series. Thank you to Forever/Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the chance to read this novel in advance.

This feels like a book teenagers would love (except the spice makes it too inappropriate for a high school library). I did not enjoy this romcom as an adult, as the characters weren't compelling or authentic.

Dnfing this @ 42%. I made it so far so this is kinda ruining my brain rn but this book and I were NOT getting along!!!! I didn’t love the writing, the FMC was so annoying to me. And so nosy. And so annoying. And the mmc was just there? Like he was so boring to me. And they had zero chemistry (in my opinion) and read more like friends? And not love interests??? I don’t know, it was just not my favorite. But I loved the poc & plus size representation!!!!!!!!!!!


Thank you NETGALLEY and Forever for this arc!!!

Brother’s best friend/best friends brother meets fake dating in this steamy slow burn romance. Beautiful love story featuring diverse characters and lots of character development/growth!

What a fun fake-dating-for-a-wedding romcom! I enjoyed this one so much, especially the main protagonist! Love to see a librarian come to life in the pages of a book! Will recommend!

Theo is a retired NFL player who is in love with his brother’s fiancée. Marcela is in love with her best friend Ben who is Theo’s brother. Marcela stops Theo from confessing his feelings for Alice, and they decide to fake date to survive this difficult moment. The premise had me hooked. I loved that these two flawed, hurting individuals begin to lean on each other, and slowly help each other heal. Theo is such a great book boyfriend, who takes the time to learn Marcela’s likes and who plans what may be the world’s best date. Get ready to swoon ladies. I love that this book normalizes the struggle to attain and keep a body positive attitude that most women struggle with. It also speaks to the fear of being vulnerable and taking risks with our hearts. Difficult sibling dynamics are also included, to make this romance an emotional, complex and entirely enjoyable reading experience. (Review from my Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/170711010-mom-likestoread)

this is my favorite Arc that ive read to date. Gamez’s writing is perfection. this book was cozy, sweet, and spicy. i loved it so much and i cannot wait to see what else this author writes in the future - the next book in the Librarians In Love series is on my tbr yesterday. thank you so much @gabbywritesalot for this arc 🫶🏻

rating : 4.5 stars

🌞 the details :
- plus size FMC
- NFL MMC
- slow burn
- fake dating
- bipoc author & characters

I enjoyed this book. I thought the characters and the narrative structure were very interesting. I would recommend this book to those interested in this genre. I would be interested in reading more from this author.

This was really cute - is did read a little juvenile in some places, but I think it has potential to blow up on Tik Tok for sure, it follows the formula of spicy romcom with multiple tropes.

This was a cute story that reminded me of the YA shows I loved to watch in my youth. The complicated relationship between Maricela and Ben, Ben and Theo and Maricela and Theo kept the story going. I found myself rooting for a happy ending for Maricela and Theo. I loved the spicy scenes between the two. I think that the Maciela was overly in her head which was frustrating at times in the book. If looking for a read with 90s YA Rom Com feel, this is the perfect read for you!

I came across this book on social media and decided to give it a read! There are some hiccups story wise and there were some moments that left me cringing but the characters are interesting (despite odd motives). If you love your romance tropes, (there are multiple ones in this book) this is definitely for you!

Overall: 3.5
Spicy 2

This was a slow start, and it was hard to get into but as go through the book it does get better and picks up. This is fake dating turned into love by forced proximity.

Cute romance about a librarian who ends up fake dating her best friend's brother to keep him from announcing his love for his brother's fiancee. It was messy, situationally, and ended up being a cute romance.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for the eARC.

All in all, The Next Best Thing was a light and fun read, but lacked some of the emotional punch I was looking for. As the main characters hashed out the “lovers square,” that defined their relationships, too many of the issues relied on the miscommunication trope, rather than any deep conflict. While this has hints of being a sports romance, the football factor remains mostly past tense, so for those looking for more sports action on page may be disappointed. I appreciated the curvy girl representation and all of the library love. The grand gestures that play out, are truly swoony! Thank you to NetGalley and Forever Books for my gifted ARC!

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

Marcela Ortiz is in love with her best friend, Ben, and has been for years. Unfortunately for her, he's just gotten engaged, and she has to put on the pretence of happiness for him, and try to move on. So when at the engagement party she overhears his brother, Theo, drunkenly plan to announce his feelings for the bride, she knows she has to stop him from making a mistake which will destroy all of their lives. Bringing Theo back to hers to sleep off his drinking, they cause a scandal arriving at brunch together, and decide to go with the flow and pretend there's more to their night together than there actually is. The plan works perfectly, until the fake feelings and romance start to develop into something a lot more real, and it's hard for them to decide whether to take the leap, or if it's just a rebound waiting to fail?

I loved this book! It grabbed my attention from the first pages, and I couldn't put it down until I knew whether Marcela and Theo had a happy ending or not. Marcela being in love with her best is not a new plot idea, but the fact that she didn't go for him in the end, and instead found that his brother was his better in every way, and loved her as she was, not wanting her to change at all, was refreshing! Theo was honestly such a sweety pie, and he fell for Marcela hard, and did not shy away from his feelings in the slightest. The fact that he was so open and honest with Marcela was perfect, and the way he waited for her to be comfortable enough to open up made it all the better. This was one of the best romances I have read in a long time, and when Gabriella releases her next book, I will immediately rush out to get a copy!

I really enjoyed this book. Being honest though, it almost lost me a few times with all of the miscommunication. Even though I caught myself rolling my eyes quite a few times, I liked reading the relationship building between Theo and Marcela. It was cute. Kicking my feet, blushing cute.