I devoured this romance. Fake romance is one of my least fav tropes so I was coming to this with judgy eyes. The author took me by surprise on how organically she made them enter the scheme. I enjoyed the chemistry the two main characters have from the start. The mmc is perfection. Fmc was a bit annoying with her thinking process and insecurities. She was a powerhouse and didn’t see it. It’s so frustrating. She’s endearing though so it evens out. I enjoyed their romance.

Oh boy, I was on the edge of nervous anticipation during this entire book. The big reveal made me so anxious. However, I think the author pulled this off wonderfully! What a fantastic way to include so many wonderful things in one book!

I definitely would read more of this author! Thank you Forever for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this title to read and review. A 4.5 star read for me! This was such a delight, and I really enjoyed getting to know Theo and Marcela. I adored Marcela as a librarian who shares her own YA novels with teens at her library, and Theo seemed like a big ol' teddy bear that's impossible not to like. I would say that there was a bit of repetition in their story, in their insistence that they would just be each other's rebounds, and that I can't believe how long they were still hung up on their respective first loves - but overall it made for a fun scenario that brought them together and me into their lives for the ride. If this ends up being a series, sign me up!!

Let me tell you, I was INVESTED. Can you imagine being in love with your bestie for ten years but he has now gotten engaged to his girlfriend of 8 years, and you intercept his BROTHER from confessing HIS love to the fiancee?? My friends, I was hooked, I could not stop reading. I loved Marcela, I love the plus sized rep, the friendship with Angela, and the library (!!!)/being a librarian. And can I just say, I felt SO SEEN with the favorite book scene!! Also, Theo is such a cinnamon roll, I love him. Loved this book!!

I really enjoy a romance with many layers and The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez delivers.

Marcela has always been in love with her college best friend, Ben, but now that she's engaged, she realizes that it is time to move on from her perpetual broken heart. While at his engagement party, she stops Ben's brother, Theo, from confessing his love for Ben's fiancee. Marcela takes a drunk Theo home with her to avoid a scene at the party. The next day, at the engagement brunch, everyone assumes Marcela and Theo hooked up and they correct them.
So begins the romance of Marcela and Theo.

I really enjoyed the chemistry between our two main characters. It was very clear that if they had met first then they would have always been together. They are so sweet together and their communication is pretty good, except for the secrets that they keep from each other.
Theo is a cinnamon roll, this book is a slow burn, and Marcela is able to break free from a toxic relationship.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for a complimentary eARC of The Next Best Fling for my honest opinion. I honestly really liked it and I can't wait to grab a copy on July 9.

I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn't get into the characters. They both really annoyed me from the start and the whining and miscommunication was too much. Maybe it was the mood I was in but i just hated all these characters. Not for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever for ARC of this book.

Total romcom vibes!

What first drew me to this book was the art work on the cover and the fact it featured a plus size FMC.

Marcela and Theo take us on a cute, faking dating, let's stay away from the person we're pining after rollercoaster lol! As they grow closer as friends and being to navigate their growing feelings, we get to see how Marcela learns to look at other possibilities in love besides her best friend Ben, Theo's brother.

I really enjoyed the build up and interactions between the MMC and FMC. There was a good mix of funny, angst, passion and self-reflection within this debut romance.

As a new to me author, Gabriella Gamez definitely kept me interested and hooked the further I got into the book. I was definitely rooting for Marcela and Theo!

This was such a quick read I loved it! loved how this book touched upon real life issues along with being cute and funny. Fell in love with the character Marcella, quickly became one of my fav books characters ever! I’m always a sucker for the fake dating trope and would definitely recommend this! Really enjoyed how the story did not feel rush and I could see the character development!

I know it's only a couple months into the year, but this book is going in my top reads.

I COULDN'T GET ENOUGH!!

The plot, the characters, the steam, THE MESS. I absolutely love a messy story and this gave me all the messiness. So damn good.

📚 Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for honest review!

— fake dating
— love square
— unrequited love
— librarian / retired NFL player
— plus size fmc

Next Best Fling was super cute, fun, and easy read! I loved Gabriella's story telling and how light it felt, but also appreciated how she handled the more sensitive subjects for her characters. I haven't read a story with this kind of complicated love square (if you can even call if that?), but it was certainly interesting and I personally think she handled it really well! I also appreciated how she integrated the Mexican heritage into the story.

Marcela was such a fun character, I loved her librarian side and that her whole personality wasn't revolved around her being plus sized. I did, however, get a little lost when it came to why she pushed Theo away and was really struggling to completely understand her reasonings. Theo was also so good, though I wish we would've maybe met a friend or two of his from his NFL career? It felt very Marcela friends + family focused and I would've like to have seen more from Theo's side, at least in terms of friends.

Also the spice hit just right in this book. Some of the scenes had me fanning myself I was feeling a little warm 🥵 but it wasn't overplayed, either.

This was a very fun debut rom-com that did what it was supposed to do: I laughed, I swooned, I rooted for them… I got hooked and ended up speed reading the second half. Fake dating isn’t my favorite trope, but the setup for this situation felt fairly natural—a fling for two people to get over the people they want but can’t have. I really loved Marcela and Theo as a couple, and I enjoyed that he fully accepted what she saw as a flawed body. The rep was great! I’ll definitely be looking out for this author’s future books!

The Next Best Thing is a fake dating romance. The FMC is at her best friend’s engagement party. She has strong feelings for her best friend but she hasn’t told him. The FMC runs into her best friend’s brother. He is giving a practicing confessing his feelings for his brother’s fiancé. The FMC convinces him to leave the party and people think they are together. These two characters fake date so the people they have feelings for don’t figure it out. This was a cute romance with spice. I enjoyed the characters.

this was a cute debut novel, the concept was different and took me a while to get into but the cute moments were great. I don't love the idea of people being each other's rebound but there were still plenty of swoon worthy times in this story. So overall, I enjoyed it.

Sad to say this but I did not finish this book. It didn’t keep me engaged. The plot is one I like and the writing isn’t bad at all, it just wasn’t for me. I’m sure others will love it. I hate giving a DNF review when it’s a me thing and not an author thing.

This was a fun, if slightly melodramatic debut novel by an exciting new voice. The characters were well rounded (although I wanted more of Alice and Marcela's back story) and it balanced emotion and spice nicely.

This was a wonderful story of a woman who is just trying to find love and finds herself in a tricky situation.

I enjoyed this book! Some points felt like they went on a little too long but I loved how the MMC let the FMC figure things out. This book did make me stressed though bc it had the miscommunication vibes and that always gets me.


Read this book if you like fake dating, best friends brother, sweet sweet book references, and plus size love! I loved that the discussions about her body were very realistic and never with the MMC.

This was so cute! Who knew that a love square would be a thing I enjoyed reading about?! It was messy but in the best way possible. Marcela & Theo had such amazing chemistry. I loved seeing them open up to each other. I was smiling from ear to ear with that bookish surprise. I loved Marcela so much. I could really relate to her especially when it came to dating as a plus size woman. I cannot wait to see what’s next from Gabriella Gamez!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a review.

Thanks to the Tswift references, book love, and football player MMC this book was a romp. The main conflict of this book is that Marcela and Theo are both in love with two halves of an engaged couple. Marcela has loved Ben her whole life and Theo has been in love with his childhood friend forever. To try and get over it, they decide to be each others rebound.
I guess my only problem with this is why would anyone do that? There's no way it ends well, and this story supports that theory to a point. I really liked the characters in this book, but I kept hoping their maturity would catch up to their bad decisions. Marcela and Theo are both emotionally mature, but act childish throughout a good bit of their relationship. Marcela's body issues seem to get shoehorned into the story and one minute she's confident and one minute she's terrified, and while I understand those feelings I don't feel like they were explored well in this story.

Librarian Marcela Ortiz has been secretly in love with her best friend for years—and when he gets engaged, she knows it’s long past time to move on. But before she gets the chance, she has a bigger problem to contend with in the form of Theo Young, ex-NFL player and older brother of the man she’s in love with. When she discovers Theo's plans to confess his feelings for his brother’s fiancée at their engagement party, Marcela is quick to stop him—despite how tempting it is to let him run away with the bride-to-be. She manages to convince Theo to sleep off his drunken almost-mistake at her place and when they arrive at a family brunch the next day together, everyone wrongly assumes they hooked up.
Since Theo needs a cover for his feelings for the bride and Marcela needs a distraction from her unrequited feelings for the groom, they decide to roll with the lie. Until one late night at a bar, they take it a step further and discover a layer of attraction neither realized existed. Soon, they find themselves exploring the simmering chemistry between them, whether in library aisles or Marcela's bed. There are no boundaries for the rebound relationship they form—just a host of complicated feelings, messy familial dynamics, and uncovered secrets that threaten to tear them apart before they can even admit to themselves that their rebound is working. Maybe a little too well.

I’m OBSESSED. This is my first book reading by this author and I ate it up. I was hooked from the start. The main characters going through the same thing was interesting to see. I loved watching it play out. The secret Marcela was holding from Theo made be nervous throughout most of the book. But Theo’s reaction when he found out was very refreshing. As a Latina, it was nice to be able to relate to a character on this kind of level. I rare read books that incorporate hispanic characters, not on purpose but there just aren’t many. Now that I’ve found this author, I plan on following her to see anything she releases in the future. I’m sad the book is over but super excited to have found an author that I now love!

This one was a love to hate book for me, featuring two brothers in love with the same manipulative but sweet girl, while the heroine Marcela is secretly in love with the unavailable one. There is no love lost between the brothers and opportunities to avenge a perceived wrong appear to have been the order of the day. Nerveless and presumptive Marcela gets caught up in the many aspects of the lives of the main players, and is irresolute as to what she truly wants. The author does an excellent job in moving the story along while introducing a smidgen of mystery, blurring the conclusion. The convoluted culmination was and wasn't predictable because of the many layers it was buried under. This was a compelling read that guaranteed everyone got what they deserved. Netgalley provided this ARC for my unbiased review.