Thank you to Entangled Publishing for this ARC! I’m a sucker for romance books and this book did not disappoint. It is raw, emotional, and heartwarming all at the same time.

Rayah and Jake have stolen my heart. I love how stinking cute they are. Their banter is top notch as well as their endearments to each other. Eve Siedler does a great job of making you feel for the characters. Going on this journey with Rayah, you could feel all of the emotions as she deals with her past while also figuring out her future. You could also feel everything with Jake and what he was going through. I love how these two dealt with everything together and didn’t judge each other.

Also the side characters! So many great moments with them. Maybe a sequel with Vickey and Pierce? Or Samuel? Not sure where either of those relationships were heading but I need more!

And Hogrid!!! I have always wanted a pet pig and when I get one, I’m definitely naming it Hogrid! That’s the greatest pet name in existence.

“She really was the strongest person he knew, but even Captain America needed Peggy Carter. He could totally be her Peggy Carter.”

A really fun, refreshing contemporary romance! Loved the chemistry and banter between the leads and the found family aspect.

4 stars

This book was so much fun to read & I absolutely loved the concept of it when I first picked it up. The characters were cute and they were sweet together. I loved their dynamic and their story throughout the first bit of the book. I did find that about a quarter into the book, the pacing started to pick up and at one point it felt too fast paced for their romance and story.

By the end I felt that their story and romance was a little too rushed for my taste, but overall it was a lot of fun to read!

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted ti love this book so much! I loved the characters, the story, the fun of the hunt, the background and the show of a pots within in this story. But I did struggle to read this. It was very jumpy between scenes and who was talking. I often found myself getting confused and did struggle to finish this book.

I really enjoyed this romcom. I loved how strong and brave the FMC was. I also loved how the author portrayed male vulnerability with the MMC and his POTS condition. The banter and humor between the two main characters was top-tier. The small town antics and found family brought a lot of humor to this story. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was that I sometimes had trouble following which character’s POV I was reading. Overall it was a great story and I look forward to reading more from the author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I fell in love with the crazy characters in the town of Bigbone while Rayah and Jake fell in love. However, I felt like there was more character development for the bit parts than there was for the stars. Both Jake and Rayah had to deal with tough situations, but the book just skimmed over them. I feel like it would have been a better story if there had been a little more editing.

*I received an advance copy of this book for review. This is my own opinion.*

I would like to start off by saying I strongly appreciate the use of trigger warnings here!

Our MMC, Jake (who I picture as a Parks & Rec era Chris Pratt— the dude’s name was Chris before he chose a stage name) is up for a superhero role and needs to get fit fast. Rayah is a former gymnast with serious RBF and a fancy gym, and she and her team of trainers can whip him into shape. Except Jake has POTS and neglects to tell her, and Rayah’s gym is this close to going under.

Can they get past their pasts and lift the weight of their new relationship together? (Ha. Bad gym pun. Sorry.)

Anyway, Work It Out is cute and mostly fluffy, but do check the trigger warnings before reading. Jake and Rayah are SUPER horny for each other right off the bat, but they obviously aren’t supposed to act on it, so there’s lots of lingering glances and near misses. There’s a fun local tradition that they have to take part in in hopes of saving the gym. Granny Jean is my favorite.

Finally, I’m not 100% certain, but the inspo for the fmc seems to be a real person, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Overall, this was a cute read. 3.5 stars rounded up.

Thanks to Entangled publishing, Eva Siedler, and Netgalley for the arc.

This book was amazing! I love the setting and the characters! I would definitely recommend this book to another romance lover.

Work It Out follows a guy next store TV star looking to transition to hot action movie star while dealing with a chronic illness. To achieve this vision he heads to an exclusive fitness club in his hometown run by a former gymnast. The premise is certainly interesting. The main characters and all their friends are great. The issue for me is that there is too much going on. Both characters and some of the side characters are working through obstacles and past traumas. Every time I thought we were getting somewhere there was some new element throw in. This made the book unnecessarily long and complicated. In my mind 3 stars is not a bad rating, just means the story didn't work for me.

Thank you, NetGalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC, Entangled: Amara for sharing this ARC!

I picked this book due to the cover. Immediately I was drawn in as I read due to the representation of a Potsie. I too, suffer from POTS and it felt so freaking good to feel seen.

The FMC is so feisty, yet has a soft heart. These characters are so well written as well as the story in general.

This is the first book I’ve read from this author and it won’t be the last. Such a great read!

I found the premise of the book quite interesting but throughout the story I felt like it was a bit rushed, and I was kind of disappointed with it. The humor and the setting were right on top.

It was not the easy romance book and I really like that aspect of the book; it was quite raw and emotional between our main characters Rayah and Jake. While the scenario takes place around the Hollywood glamour, we have so much more to it. The fact that this book touches the importance of the family we choose was so good.

Overall, I think there’re a lot of good points through the story and the writing was good, but I would wish it was maybe split in two books, so it didn’t feel rushed. Still I’m keeping an eye for the next books from Eva because there’re still very good parts to the story.

Thank you, NetGalley & the publisher, for approving me to read this arc and write this review.

This was just okay. I really like the cover and think it's so cute and the right choice. I also think the premise had promise but it fell really flat. It felt rushed, but at the same time, very little happened of substance. I do have to give props to the author for the representation of an unusual and more rare medical condition. I myself have POTS and I loved that I finally am reading a book with this representation. I was floored and really happy that it is getting more recognition. There are some heavy topics discussed in this book, so be aware of that. I think the author handled these topics very well, given their severity. Overall, I think this was a letdown and that disappoints me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the eARC of this book.

I had no clue what I was stepping into with this one. But it had a blurb that promised big things. Alas I was let down. I think this book had so much potential but it felt rushed and at times, two dimensional. I think if the two mains had more time together, we could have seen their relationship blossom more. It did feel like they met, loved each other, broke up and then got back together. There wasn’t much to root for.

The sense of found family is what really made this book for me though. The way Rayah’s friends rallied around her in her time of need was so lovely to see and the author did really well here. Although Blaine was a bit much for me.

Another thing I wasn’t that fond of was the potential to delve deeper into the SA that Rayah went through as a young woman. It kind of got mentioned during a *spicy* scene, then put away and then brought back out when it was released in a newspaper. But we don’t really get to see how it was handled and got a brief summary at the end.

And don’t get me started on someone in the two believing they’re an alien and everyone going along with it. Oh, and the pig.

This had the chance to be a strong book and it’s sad it didn’t reach its potential.

I was so excited for this book when I read the synopsis, especially because there aren’t a lot of books about gymnasts/ex-gymnasts. But for me this wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be.

I loved the banter between Rayah and Jake. I loved the found family aspect. I loved how much Jake wanted to do whatever was best for Rayah.

I did not like the other woman/other man drama. I didn’t feel like it was necessary for the story and while everyone is over 18 in the story, I didn’t like that feelings occurred when some were underage (no feelings by our main characters). I felt like there were a lot of different story lines happening, without all of them getting resolved/the attention they deserved. I wanted a deeper connection on page between Jake and Rayah.

I would give this author another try but this book didn’t hit the mark for me unfortunately. I am excited to see what the author comes up with next.
I did receive an early copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

What can I say, I loved it. It was raw, sweet, sassy, funny and so much more. I really enjoyed all the characters and their personalities. The slow-burn relationship between Rayah and Jake was so fun to read. If you’re looking to smile while you read the book. This is it.

Sadly this just didn’t work out for me. The beginning 15% was promising but from there, as some other reviews have noted, the tone and pacing and overall intimacy changes drastically without much having transpired between Ray and Jake.

He starts calling her cupcake after 3 days on sight (2 of those spent with altitude sickness) and heavily flirting with her which felt very abrupt and odd. Then you have Ray who until then has been described as very independent and spunky seemingly melting for Jake and accepting physical touch in front of clients…it felt wholly against her character and demeanor.

As the romance progresses I felt it just swung too much into being overly familiar without enough character development to support a true relationship.

It took me several tries to get into this book and it was a struggle to finish. It started off cute and funny. The "Bingo Harem" was hysterical. However, that was the highlight. There seemed to be a disconnect and I struggled to finish what I thought was going to be a cute and fun read. Rayah and Jake seemed like they were going to be fun getting to know.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Cute banter, interesting setting and storyline that goes beyond the typical. I would’ve appreciated a more thorough trigger warning for some of the more difficult content.

I really loved the chronic illness rep in this book it makes me feel so seen as someone with this type of disability. I also adored that it was the male lead with this difficult circumstance- it’s great to see male vulnerability in a book like this.

While the premise of this book was great, I had a hard time getting through it. The writing was well done, but it didn't click for me. However I will be buying this for my friend that I know will love it!

Thank you Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC!

I enjoyed Work it Out. One doesn’t see many books with the gym as a setting, so it was a nice change of pace. I think the romance between Rayah and Jake was sweet, but I found the pacing of it a little fast by the end of the book. The supporting characters were fun and added some levity. I also appreciated the depth of the story - this story goes beyond what you see on the cover.

Thank you again for the ARC!