Overall, a very easy, enjoyable read. I would recommend it to patrons that enjoy rom-coms and fiction books concerning family dynamics. I would read work by this author again!

This was SO GOOD! An absolutely interesting troupe as I’ve never really read anything like it! We love the “get under to get over someone” but the dynamic / family dynamic with these two was SO GOOD! Such an enjoyable read & I can’t wait for everyone to get to read it!

I was able to read an ARC of this story through NetGalley courtesy of Forever Publishing! This book will be released July 9, 2024.
I really enjoyed this book! Immediately I was engrossed in the character that is Marcela Ortiz. I saw so much of myself in her and her personality was so fun. Gabriella did such a great job writing Theo Young! She made me fall in love with him from the very beginning.

Throughout the book, I would catch myself being upset with Marcela's indecisiveness but I think that is real life haha! We all have those friends who ask us for advice and do the opposite or they can never make up their mind. That put a real world aspect into this story and what it is like being in a sisterhood. All that to say it may have taken "Marce" a long time to make up her mind but I am so happy she chose the right brother in the end. I give this book a 3.75 (rounded up).

This really pains me to write but unfortunately this book put me in a slump and was really hard to finish. The premise was so creative and I loved the plus size representation and diversity but the writing ultimately fell flat. I will say I absolutely loved the background of the story. It was so cool to see Gabriela and her passion for work at the library (as I feel like sometimes women in romance novels have the same types of jobs). That was great to see.

A couple of things made this hard for me to finish. I wish the main character had stronger boundaries with the bullying and meddling from Alice and Ben. It was just so much to get through in the beginning and middle. I also thought her connection with Theo was a bit too insta-love for me considering how she was genuinely scared of him at first. I had to flip back a few pages to see if I missed something in their connection. I think the author fell into the trap of telling us instead of showing us the journey. This is Gabriella Gamez's debut novel and she has so much potential as a writer!

Thank you Forever Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Fat representation? Cute couple? The story was relatable, lighthearted when it needed to be and deep when necessary. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next installment of Librarians in Love and other Gabriella Gamez work.

Gabriella Gámez's 'The Next Best Fling' is a sizzling romance set in the heart of San Antonio. With plus-size librarian Marcela, as the relatable protagonist, the story offers a refreshing spin on the fake dating trope. The chemistry between the leads is electric. But it's not just the romance that shines; Gámez tackles some more serious issues of trust, healing from the trauma of past relationships and family conflict. The supporting cast adds depth and humor, making this thoroughly enjoyable. I found myself rooting for Theo and Marcela every step of the way." Thank you to Forever and Net galley for the eARC.

wanted to try a new-to-me author and the cover of this book really grabbed me.

Overall, I would say this makes a compulsive reading and while I enjoyed a lot of aspects, there are other elements that didn't quite work for me.

Starting with the positives in no particular order - fat rep that I found relateable, accepting one's body but also not being happy with it all the time. I liked the romance, staring as fake going through casual sex reaching true feelings/love. The progression felt natural, some setbacks and wrong moves coming from the baggage both MCs carried.
I really liked Theo, everything about him worked for me. His angst and his family and career issues made sense. His love for Marcela was just the sweetest - they way he cared for her, wanted her to be happy, wanted for her to take a chance on them despite everything.

On the negative side, I absolutely hated the main premise of Marcela and Theo being in love respectively, with her best friend (who is his brother) and his childhood friend (who is now his brother's fiance). This all seemed so convoluted and made little sense. This whole plotline was overly dramatic for me. I especially didn't like how Marcela's relationship with her best friend/LI developed. He seemed so nice, a true best friend and then gradually we see more and more of him being an ass and by the end he was truly evil.

There moments when this story brought me so much joy and happiness but it also brought me so much frustration at times, that I have really mixed feelings about it.

I would say the good things about it prevail, and overall, I have no regrets reading it.

CW: messed up families, abandonment issues, excessive drinking

Marcela and Theo are a very cute couple that go from total strangers to lovers. They begin fake dating after almost ruining the engagement of Theo's little brother Ben and Alice, who happens to be Theo's love interest for years. Marcela saves Theo from potentially making a huge mistake and a fool of himself. When Theo and Marcela show up the next morning together after Theo sleeps over at Marcela’s couch rumors start! They are dating each other! Can they keep up the pretenses without falling in love? Can Marcela keep her secret love for her best friend, Ben a secret from Theo? Can Marcela keep her feels in check? Will the blonde ex-football player make her forget about her feelings for Ben?

This was so good! I love Marcela’s and Theo's story. The Latina representation was on point and using Texas did help a fellow Texan fall in love with the characters. I wish we had more steamy scenes but the ones we did get were so hot! The plot was on point and just really did tug at the heart strings in more ways than one! Marcela's insecurities are relatable to those who do have self-esteem issues. Theo is the kind of boyfriend that I would love to have! Thank you Gabriella and NetGalley for this wonderful read!

Vibes: hooking up on the low, getting over the Worst, big guy/plus size heroine, librarian joy!!!

Heat Index: 6/10

Marcela has been in love with her best friend Ben ever since he decided they were better as friends after a few dates in college. Now he's engaged to his longtime girlfriend, and she's struggling. Until, that is, she realizes Ben's older brother, erstwhile ex-NFL player Theo, is in even worse shape when she overhears him practicing a speech... Confessing his love to Ben's fiancee. Marcela prevents a disaster--and everyone now believes she's in a hookup situationship with Theo. Hmm... while they're there and they both need to get over people... might as well, right?

Aaaah, this was such a good debut! Gabriella Gamez has a real touch for a romcom--and she knows how to bring the heat too. Like, this is an actual romcom; it's funny and it centers the romance. And there's an edge of the illicit to it as well. The best way to get over someone is to get under someone else, but what if that someone is the other person's brother...? It's kind of delicious.

There's a lot of heart here, and the dynamics of longing for someone you've built up in your head versus the real opportunity right in front of you. And like, of course, the idea of being with someone who actually values you for who you are and puts you first. There's a real sense of "so that's what it's supposed to be like" in this book that I think a lot of people can relate to.

Also--the writing is snappy and I swept through this super fast. I'm so excited to read more from Gabriella!

Quick Takes:

--I'm actually a big fan of a "girl has been longing after dumb man for far too long and then Good Man comes along" moment. I think we have way too many stories in which it's like... oh, he's finally noticed you (or run out of other options) hooray, the boy is yours! And I don't know. To each their own, but I always feel like the heroine is settling for someone who never actually valued her. I don't want the heroine to finally get the attention of someone who should've seen her early on; I want her to get someone who doesn't need to be convinced to want her.

And Ben is just such a tool in the best kind of way. I loved watching him lose. Frankly, I also loved that Theo was this BIG STRONG HOT MAN and Marcela basically went from wasting away over the nebbish brother (largely because she didn't get closure and always wondered about what would've been) to this giant dude who is SOOOO physically about her, and then gets to know her and is also mentally tapped in.

Because I also like a story in which the couple is initially all physicality and catches feelings more gradually. And you definitely get that here. In a lot of ways, Theo awakens Marcela; she's not a virgin heroine by any means, but she hasn't really had someone... light her fire, as it were. There's this vicarious quality to it all. You really feel like you're reading about someone who's finally getting the opportunity to be THAT GIRL. And it's so great to see that happen not through Ben finally Seeing Her, but through another man having his moment with her and going "all I CAN see is her".

--I've talked about how I find the way heroines' insecurities about their weight often really doesn't work for me. As such, when I read that this book gets into Marcela's insecurities, I was... worried. However, this was one of my favorite portrayals of a plus size heroine. Marcela is hot, and she does know it; but she doesn't always know it. I found this deeply real, and I so appreciated the honesty in this narrative. Additionally, there's a moment in her past with Ben that reads as something that could happen, and that would also be one of my own personal worst fears.

It's like... not even that Theo is this hot guy, right? It's that he can pick Marcela up like she's nothing. It's that being with him makes her feel... delicate, in a way that she hasn't always with past people. That's so real, dude. I got it.

--This is a first person book from Marcela's POV. Sometimes, first person single POV romance novels bug me because I feel like I'm not getting into both sides. However, the way that Gamez writes Theo is so clear. He's a good dude, but he's not a flawless dude. He can be a little prone to fuckups in the beginning (I mean: see premise of the book). He's a little messy.

But all of this reads as so so endearing in this particular hero, and he's like... a good guy without being a boring guy. I mean, the premise of the novel in itself keeps him from being boring, right? He was thisclose to blowing up his brother's relationship.

--I think that if I was going to critique something about this book, it would be that Gamez could've gotten Theo and Marcela fully in the bedroom a little earlier. I mean, don't get me wrong, it doesn't by any means start late in the book. But when a book is pitched as center on a hookup, I do think you want to move that along a little faster. We had a couple of random interruptions, and I don't think we super needed that. But that's just a note; it doesn't take away from the story.

--There's so much love for librarians and libraries here. As there should be, as the series is indeed called "Librarians in Love". I so appreciated that. We need books about happy librarians and the happiness librarians help create--now more than ever.

The Sex:

While the sex here could've been a tad more explicit, is still is very much on the page, and quite hot. You get a few different scenes, and I loved details like Marcela being a little insecure about being on top (and Theo very much enjoying her being on top), fooling around as a totally valid substitute when condoms are forgotten... And dude, something you hardly ever seen in m/f romance! Theo doesn't come PREMATURELY, but he does come before Marcela couple times (well--before her last orgasm... she typically gets a few, yay for discovering multiples) and there's no weirdness or embarrassment. He just takes care of it. I found that realness super hot, personally.

I'm excited to read a new, fresh author in the contemporary romance space. It's a very crowded one right now, and I feel that there's a lot of repetition. Here, I feel like we got such a good combination of romance, character, and heat. It made me feel warm.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a great read! There are so many books in which poor communication, and not being true to your feelings can be a frustrating plot point, but Theo wore his heart on his sleeve without overdoing it and it made The Next Best Fling a delight to read! The openness and understanding in Marcela and Theo's relationship and their willingness to try hard things was inspiring.

As a woman who has struggled with my weight and body image, I loved how Gabriella Gamaz addressed Marcela's body issues without making it a central theme. I also liked how it touched on the different ways she was treated in the past, including how it may have been a factor in her relationship with Ben. There was one line in the book about how Theo wasn't attracted Marcela because of, or in spite of, her body, he just wanted her. That was really impactful.

I really enjoyed this book, it will make a great beach read with just a little spice.

I was very happy to receive a free ARC of this book, thank you to Netgalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and Gabriella Gamaz for the opportunity to provide my honest review!

This debut novel by Gabriella Gamez was absolutely delightful!

All of the characters were charming and there was a surprising depth to the story!

I related to Marcela so much! I grew up loving to read and calling fictional characters my best friends and this whole book was written for all book girls. She is a wonderful FMC who grows so much throughout the story and her representation regarding the ups and downs of what people experience/how they feel about their bodies was so well done. And Theo?! He captured me from the very beginning with his warmth and refreshing honesty. I’m pretty sure there is nothing I would not do for Theo Young.

One of my favorite parts of this book is that while Marcela and Theo had great chemistry from the beginning and their connection felt real, that isn’t the only thing driving their romance. Finding bravery to follow your heart, sharing insecurities, and embracing changes are all things the author addressed beautifully and made the main characters relationship stand out to me!

I would have liked to have seen a little more Spanish in the book and even more details from the Latino community. And there were some things I was questioning in the book like how Theo was part of an NFL team but had no friends or a coach reaching out to him or the confusing timeline. Like how did 6 months pass?!

Other than those little things, this read was so fun! I will definitely read more by this author in the future.

Thanks so much to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

- Points for plot, minus points for execution. Points for debut author. Double points for the cute cover. Points for easy writing. Minus points for a subpar romance.
- As inticing as the blurb made the book out to be, I didn't really enjoy this book. Yes. Some parts were cute
-adorable even, but other parts were cringey. And down right unsettling. (The sighs I sighed while reading this book)
- The FMC was insufferable and horribly insecure while the MMC was actually tolerable. (So points for Theo).
For once l'd like to to read a book where the FMC is plus sized and isn't shamed about her body. I know we all have our problem areas, but it's getting old.
- I won't harp about how there was a missed opportunity for Gamez to implement a dual POV so that the reader can actually care about the love story, because that's not the reality we got. Instead, we lived inside Marcella's insecure thoughts about her pining for a no good "best friend" she'd been pining after for the better part of a decade. I seriously grew not to care who she ended up with. also found this a bit wordy in parts that didn't need to be explained. (Why am I getting the recipe for empanadas?! Like I do not care).
- I skimmed thru the last 40% of the book because I truly feel like the characters had the same conversation every chapter. It was exhausting. Marcella, an almost thirty year old woman, couldn't make up her own mind about what she wanted in her life. Instead she turned to her friends to make the decisions for her and she'd finally have a "lightbulb" moment. The last part of the book was completely unnecessary, added drama for the benefit of a mediocre plot and vanilla characters from the start.
- I'm sad because I wanted to like this book. But they can't all be five star reads.
- Thank you to netgalley & Forever for an eARC in exchange

Where to even begin? The Next Best Fling is a book I read in one sitting. Like, started reading it in the afternoon and didn't emerge from it until well after midnight when I'd finished. Marcela and Theo on their own are complex and multi-faceted individuals, and thrown together by accidental circumstances causes them to help each other grow. If you've ever felt like a friend was breadcrumbing you, this book will help you think about that long and hard in the kindest way. I loved the representation, and the nods to the need for MORE representation in literature, without it being an overpowering plot element. Plus, the ending was absolutely adorable.

Marcela has been secretly in love with her best friend Ben for years. Ben's brother, Theo, has been secretly in love with Alice (Ben's fiance) for years. After a series of events, Marcela and Theo decide to let people think they have gotten together. Is that arrangement temporary or is it something more?

I really enjoyed this book. It was an easy read and an excellent slow burn romance. Marcela and Theo have great chemistry and are both trying to work some difficult emotions. I would have liked a little more self awareness in our main protagonist but Gamez made the characters very relatable to anyone who has ever experienced an unrequited love.

Plus Marcela is a librarian with a love of books - what is not to love!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! Cannot wait to read the second one!

Deliciously angsty and steamy debut centering a curvy librarian cinnamon roll newly retired football player who explore a shared spark to heal from their respective unrequited loves.

I liked how messy this was and was impressed and surprised by the sweet romance that grew from the chaos the book started with.

This read like a debut with some clumsy moments but I’ll be excited to see the second in the series and would recommend to any romance reader.

Did I drop all other books I was reading to read The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez as soon as I got the eARC? Maybe - alright, the correct answer is YES. How could I not based on the premise of your best friend who you've had a crush on forever is getting engaged, and then you find out that his brother has had a crush on the friend's fiancée. Instead of letting the brother break up the engagement, you end up pretending to be dating each other. Hello, hooked.

As someone that loves friends to lovers, I'm usually rooting for the two friends to get together, but in this story, I was rooting for Marcela and Theo as soon as Theo walked on the page. Marcela deserves everything that is good in her life, and her friend Ben just isn't it. Theo, his brother, is it.

The build up of the fake relationship. How Theo gets Marcela, and understands her, and LISTENS to her. So wonderful. The angst, so good.

Then we get towards the end, when Marcela really sees Ben and how Ben isn't actually good for her, and I feel like the novel took a strange turn. Spoiler-ish: Ben becomes unredeemable. He's basically burned his bridges, and hopefully becomes estranged from everyone. As this is a series, hoping he doesn't return. Or it's going to need to be one hell of a good redemption arc.

As this series is titled Librarians in Love, it would be remiss of me to not mention that this is an appreciation novel to librarians and library workers that work with teens and teen programming, and YA books. I wish I had librarians near me that cared that much for teen programming.

Excited to see future books in this series and more from the author.

Marcela and Theo had me hooked from the beginning! As they navigated through their feelings I was right there with them. Giddy at their “first” date to their real first date.
I absolutely loved this romance. Gabriella Gamez did an amazing job writing about the insecurities that plus size women feel in a relationship. It allowed me to connect even deeper to a book, than I had done before.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for a copy of this book. This is the first time reading a book by this author and overall I thought this book was okay. The story was cute with a little bit of a best friend's brother with some jealous elements. There wasn't anything in this book that captured my attention and made me feel anything. I thought it was a cute romance and was a nice read.

3.5
Thank you @netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

**Also, I have to shout out the dedication page in this book because it made me tear up**

This book was addicting!! I loved the librarian aspect, the best friends brother aspect, the Latina aspect, ahhh! It was just *chefs kiss*.

If you're looking for a romance that you can't put down then I highly recommend "The Next Best Fling". I loved Theo and Marcello's HEALTHY relationship. Did it start off the best? No, but their communication made it healthy imo. The spice was the perfect amount and did not overpower the plot of the story and I just found myself smiling at so many things. I also loved the growth of Marcello's character and just to watch her blossom into the person that she was by the end of the story. I don't want to give too much away but I will say this is a really good book to add to your summer reads.

Some of the things I wish would've happened:
- DUAL POVS!!!!!!!! This book would've been a four star with me if it had this, I am pretty positive on that. ]
- A little more closure with one of the characters (but maybe we will get that in book 2?)

I will definitely be reading book 2 when that releases and I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that I will get an ARC for that as well!

Keep your eye out for "The Next Best Fling" which releases on July 9, 2024. It is a perfect beach read!

This unputdownable, hot little romance!!!!!! Swept. Me. Away!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Excuse me, how does one pull off this magic!?!? Marcela and Theo are both pining for another person at the start of this novel and decide to have a fling to try to get over their long-term unrequited loves -- this should not have worked so well!!! It was so angsty and emotional. I can't remember a time where I was reading so fast, so immersed in this relationship, and so desperate for two imperfect characters to find happiness and peace together. I LOVE THEM.

• former NFL player hero 🤝 librarian heroine 🥰
• A 5 star debut!!! Ooh, that has me so excited about what's next for this author. This is book 1 in a series "Librarians in Love" (😱sign me up I cannot wait for the next!!)
• Marcela is a geeky librarian. She loves YA! She found solace in books during a tumultuous adolescence. (One of us! One of us!) You are going to absolutely collapse over the book related romance scenes in this book. The swoon is unreal.
• Excellent chemistry and the perfect slow burn pace.
• If you're like me and you're sort of sensitive/unsure when characters are pining for another in a romance, please rest assured that this one becomes sooooo convincing and everything is as it should be in the end! The missteps and angst are beyond worth it!
• Brace yourself for some messy starting ground...and a bit of an oncoming train wreck feeling, but know that I would never lead you astray--the HEA is just 🤌👩‍🍳💋
• In general, I love having both character's pov in a romance but this time I enjoyed the mystery of Theo's inner thoughts.
• Ridiculously hot on page steam, yes, of course, but also...... he signs up to get a library card on page and is there anything hotter than that???!

It's a new favorite and I already want to read it again. Thanks so much Netgalley and Forever