Betty Corrello takes you to life on the Jersey shore in this summer romance! Delfina couldn’t wait to leave her home in Evergreen, NJ since the men there had only broken her heart. First her dad, then her high school crush, Eddie. On the brink of an amazing opportunity in her NYC world as a comedian, Del’s life comes crashing down – losing her job, boyfriend and home all in one fell swoop. Forced to return to Evergreen to regroup, of course, the first person she sees is Eddie.
With dual timelines between the present and the high school years of the past, the story of Del and Eddie begins to unfold. With many swoon worthy moments in both time lines, I couldn’t help but fall for both of these characters! Del’s vulnerability and Eddie working at being a better man, friend, lover, father. The side characters in their lives only add to the warmth of this story. What comes through is that as high schoolers, neither character was mature enough to properly express themselves or commit themselves to any walk in life yet. But, also, those friendships and loves do shape us and impact our decisions moving forward.
I loved the characters, the banter, the interactions and the side characters. I loved that Del, although cautious at first, will put herself out there and not drag things out. I do wish we spent more time in the past, truly understanding what really transpired and why. It’s probably me, but I think I needed it spelt out a bit more.
This would make a fun summer beach read!
This will give you Second Chance Romance, a bit of Friends to Lovers and Enemies to Lovers, and returning home. And while it’s a great summer rom-com, its also the story of Del’s journey to finding herself.

This summer romance was such a fun time! The writing was quick and easy to get through. This is a really great beach read that I will be recommending to anyone that needs a good book to read on vacation. There was not as many summer vibes as I was hoping but I still really enjoyed it. I wish there were more past timeline chapters and where they were placed seemed a little disorganized to the point where it was a bit hard to follow the references to the past from the present timeline. The things happening to both of the main characters in the book made them feel more real and got me attached to the characters individually AND together. I definitely recommend if you're looking for a fun and easy romance!

The story follows Delfina Silva-Miller, who has always wanted to leave behind Evergreen, New Jersey and never look back. She's had enough of her deadbeat dad and her ever-temperamental crush, Eddie Rodriguez.

However, after years of hard work, Del has finally landed a spot at a huge comedy festival, where she plans to turn the often-tragic raw material of her life into comedic gold. But when she loses her job, boyfriend, and apartment in the span of a few hours, Del is forced to return to Evergreen.

Determined not to let her past distract her, Del is focused on perfecting her new comedy set and starting a new life. But when she runs into Eddie Rodriguez, she realizes that he's nothing like the boy she left behind ten years ago. As the comedy festival draws closer, Del is faced with the terrifying possibility that everything she's ever wanted might not be as far away as she once thought.

What I loved about this book was the way the author managed to create relatable and well-developed characters. Del's struggles with her past and her desire to move forward were poignant, and Eddie's transformation over the years was heartwarming.

The book also explores themes of love, friendship, and the complicated relationships that impact our lives. The setting of the Jersey Shore was vividly evoked, and I felt transported to the boardwalks and beaches of Evergreen.

Overall, Summertime Punchline is a hilarious and vulnerable love story that will leave you feeling uplifted and inspired. I highly recommend it

🖤🖤🖤🖤
4/5


Intimacy is something that in rare circumstances do I feel come off of pages in books. It’s easier (in my mind) to write love, steam, 𝘴𝘮𝘶𝘵, if you will. But intimacy is harder (in my opinion) to convey. And wow, Betty Corello did such an amazing job at bringing intimacy to this story & these characters. Also, I feel like I must go visit Coney Island now because of this book.

I throughly enjoyed the premise of this book. It’s why I requested it on NetGalley in the first place. Our main character Delfina finds herself jobless, homeless, & recently single she is forced to go back home to Evergreen. And of course, while looking and feeling an absolute mess, she runs into Eddie. Her enemy/was friend/maybe more than a friend of her past. Did I mention she’s also a comedian that is trying to prep for a big comedy show that she now has to rewrite all her material for?

When I said I wanted a combination of friends to lovers and second chance AND enemies to lovers…the universe was like “oh hey, here ya go.” This book is totally all of three tropes & I am SO here for it.

🎶 the music combo with comedy was giving female Adam Sandler & I loved it!

🎤 Del was such a relatable character. I really loved being with her on her Saturn’s return journey. Also, it’s giving…No Doubt. Iykyk.

🖤 the chemistry between Del & Eddie like levitated off of these pages. I know I said it earlier, but like I can’t even describe how great their dynamics were. So on that note, pick this one up!

This book was like a warm hug for me. It invited me into it the story, introduced the characters, and then we all snuggled together. I know it sounds stupid but that's how I feel.

Delphina & Eddie are likely soul-mates, it's just taken them too many years to figure it out. I think Eddie is especially attractive in this book, in that he admits his wrongs and works hard to correct them. We love a self-aware man!!

Evergreen sounds like my kind of place and I hope the author revisits it in a future book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a fun read and I think it’s incredible for a debut novel. The main character was funny and relatable and I really enjoyed the Jersey Shore in this world the author created. Such and easy read and perfect for summer. The perfect beach read.

The pros: as a proud South Jersey girl, the setting of this book was perfect. Every description of the shore, the boardwalk, the little towns - it was all so familiar and wonderfully rendered in this novel. I loved everything about Del and Eddie’s adult storyline. And the snarky dialogue felt spot on for the characters and situations.

The cons: I have a love/hate relationship with flashbacks and unfortunately, I didn’t love them in this book. Structurally, it works. But it was frustrating to be reading a present day chapter and be charmed by Eddie, and then he immediately thrust back in time to something that makes you hate him. I didn’t think there were enough good moments shown in the past to make me understand why they were both still interested in each other 10 years later.

Still, it’s kind of encapsulates a perfect summer feeling at the shore, and for that, I applaud it

Thank you to Avon & Harper Voyage and NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a quick & fun debut novel. The author did a wonderful job really setting the vivid scenes on the Jersey Shore, it made me feel like I was really there. I also enjoyed the back and forth time lines between High School, and Current Day.

The storyline was good, but I would have liked to see it all go a little bit deeper. Yes important issues were briefly discussed (like addiction, death of a parent, divorce, absentee parent, a breakup) but it all felt very cliche and surface level. I will say I was a bit confused if Eddie and Del were enemies to lovers, or friends to lovers. Well come to find out they were actually second chance lovers LOL I also would have loved to see a longer epilogue giving us a a glimpse of what life was like for Eddie & Del once they were together.

Overall, it wasn’t my favorite book, but it was an enjoyable, funny, and easy read that will be great for summer time!

Summertime Punchline is fun second chance romance about a woman who moves back home when things fall apart. I really liked how relatable the main character Delfina was- her self doubt, humor, and even her slightly dysfunctional small hometown.

Del is an aspiring stand up comedian, and her wit comes out in the dialog and the way the other characters are described (I literally lol'd at the way she describes her awful roommate at the beginning of the book). The story takes place over the course of a summer while Del retreats to a small town on the Jersey Shore to focus on preparing for a once in a lifetime opportunity to perform at a comedy showcase.

After finishing the book, I immediately looked up the author and was surprised to see this is her first book. I look forward to reading more from her.

Summertime Punchline is a second chance romance set on the Jersey Shore. It centers on Del, a stand-up comedian, and Eddie, a bar owner, whose confusing on and off again high school relationship ended 10 years prior to the start of the story. The same time that Del left her hometown, Evergreen, with no intention of ever returning longer than a short visit with her grandma who raised her and her best friend. Then Del loses her job, her boyfriend, and her apartment all in one day and she has no chose but to retreat back to the shore to prepare her set for an upcoming comedy festival. But then she reconnects with Eddie, and things get far more complicated.

First of all, what an incredibly gorgeous cover!! With this being from Del’s point of view, it’s really no surprise that much of it was incredibly funny.

Some flashbacks were frustrating because I didn’t feel like we had enough context to understand the timeline or what happened between Eddie and Del. I wanted to see more of Del’s standup too. But mostly what bothered me was that Valerie was not more involved in the story considering her importance to Eddie. I understand her not being physically there a lot but I would have expected Eddie to talk about her more. All that said, overall, I thought this was really funny and enjoyed the story.

3.5-4 stars.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Summertime Punchline is a frienemies to lovers, second chance romance between Evergreen, NJ lover Eddie Rodriguez and Del Silver-Miller who finds herself back in town after leaving as quickly as she could 10 years ago.

The story is told in dual timeline where we get flashbacks to Del and Eddie in high school together. We get a sense of their push and pull dynamic from back then which helps explain why they seemed to gravitate so easily to each other now. Post break-up, jobless, and with no place to live, Del returns to the hometown she swore off and runs right back into Eddie and they show that despite 10 years passing they can still grind one another's gears. But they can also see that one another is in a transition period in their lives and try to support each other in it. Del is preparing for the comedy gig of her career but finds herself at a loss for material when she realizes she doesn't want to just joke about herself and now failed relationship. Del's relationship with her father is also a big portion of the story. She grew up raised by her maternal grandmother with her father not coming around that often despite being in the same town. There's a lot of self discovery in the story which I enjoyed as a reader approximately the same age as Del.

Summertime Punchline reminds me of Romantic Comedy as they both touch on the female comedian often being at the butt of the joke in the industry and Georgie All Along with the main character returning to her hometown when growing up all she wanted was to leave. I enjoyed this book, but I feel like I didn't get a good sense of Eddie and Del as adults. Their dynamic seemed situationshipy at times and I struggled to see what besides their chemistry and enjoyment of music and the others company would keep them together.

Thank you Avon, Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for an arc of Summertime Punchline.

When Del left the Jersey shore, she didn't look back. However, after finding herself jobless and homeless, she returned home to prepare for the biggest event in her comedic career - the Brainwave Comedy Festival. Being back in Evergreen reopened wounds that had never healed. Will Del finally get the closure she needs to move forward?

"Have you ever heard of Saturn's return?" He shook his head. "It's this idea that in your late twenties you come home to yourself - your real self," I explained.

These books featuring heroines going home, facing their past, and getting a second chance at romance seem to be hitting my TBR lately. I found Summertime Punchline to be one of my favorites in the bunch.

Del was a standout character for me. She was a comedian with a sense of humor much like my own. There was no way I could resist her, and I was very sympathetic to the situation she found herself in. Fleeing one bad situation to be pushed back into her past was difficult. Del was fortunate to have the support and love of her grandmother and her best friend, Sam, but it was still difficult to deal with the two men who broke her heart - her father and Eddie.

"I'm not supposed to want to be here. I'm not supposed to see myself here. I'm not supposed to forgive my dad, and I am not supposed to fall in love.."

It was very satisfying to see Del make so much progress with respect to these two people. She was carrying around so much anger and animosity and working through that was freeing for her. As frustrating as the ups and downs she had with Eddie in the past, I still was rooting for them. When something keeps bringing a certain person back into your life, there must be a reason. Eddie and Del were young when they first felt those sparks, and maybe they just weren't ready for their "great love". Whatever the reason, I was ecstatic that they were getting another chance to see if they really were destined for each other.

"If Evergreen gets to move on, why can't I?"

The fictional shore town of Evergreen was very charming. It had been ten years since Del left her hometown, and it had changed quite a bit. The subtle parallels between this town that shaped Del and her life made an impression on me, and I liked that Del acknowledged it, too. Evergreen was enjoying a rebirth as a Jersey Shore destination, and if that town could change, why not Del?

Though I didn't necessarily feel that the romance was the standout part of this story, I did enjoy seeing Eddie and Del's past and present attempts. It was really Del's personal story that drew me in and had me eagerly flipping those pages. I always enjoy a comeback story, and I wanted nothing but success for Del. Her reflections and discoveries about herself were highlights, and I was so happy I had a chance to accompany her on this journey of self-discovery.

Overall, I had a wonderful time in Evergreen and was left excited about what the future held for Del.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!

I loved how real the characters felt in this book. Del being a comedian of course meant that there were lots of witty remarks and humor throughout but she was also dealt an interesting hand from the start of the story. I would say the pacing wasn't my favorite only due to feeling like there were things brought up that remained unanswered but they weren't essential to the story either.

This second chance romance does feature a single parent which are already 2 tropes I'm not normally a fan of. We don't see too much of the daughter in the story but we do get a lot of flashbacks in the later half of the book. I felt like the flashbacks show a genuine side of high school romances in terms of emotional maturity but didn't exactly give their chemistry as much depth as I would have liked.

The story is told through Del's pov only which gave her a lot of depth but I do feel like we miss out on the deeper aspects of Eddie's perspective. We do get some scenes to look into his family life but I would have liked to learn more about his sisters which were vaguely introduced and more of his thoughts in the flashbacks.

Overall, I think this is an amazing debut and a fun but meaningful read.

This was cute and had shining moments! I think as a debut novel, Betty Corrello is going to knock it out of the park with her second novel. Overall, it was a quick read with a rushed reconnection but still had all the ingredients to put together the secret sauce 3.5 ⭐️ Thanks for the early copy!

The main character was so fun and relatable! I love this debut novel and its writing style. The small town feeling I got when reading this book was so strong because of how close the characters are, frendship wise, in this story! The romance was to. die. for.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. This was super cute and a very quick read. I do wish it were dual POV though,

I really enjoyed this book! It’s a perfect beach read.

The FMC was very witty and not too serious, but she also had moments of self-growth and eye opening moments. The relationship between Del & Eddie was well done, lots of chemistry. My only wish was we got to know Eddie’s history a little more.

Second chance romance, summertime vibes, comedy - wrapped into a quick, fun read.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc of this book!

The writing was fine and it was a quick read, but unfortunately wasn't very memorable. The love (re)connection felt rushed, and the ending abrupt. I didn't see how the characters could still be in love after that long, especially since their original 'relationship' began and ended in high school⏤the ten year gap of no communication made it all feel extremely disconnected. I wanted to root for them, but the reader is not privy to enough of either main characters seemingly complicated stories/background to feel any type of way about them. I feel like Del's family stuff, Eddie's ex-wife and daughter (that we meet once?) were all glossed over, because the love they shared from the past was concentrated on for too much within the dual timeline. Sadly, I ended up skimming the last 40% of this one to get to the inevitable love declaration that was rather anticlimactic.

Summertime Punchline is a debut novel by Betty Corrello will be a fabulous summer read.

The book is a little enemies to lovers, second chance romance, and it all takes place in the shores of Jersey. There were multiple laugh out loud moments.

Del and Eddies romance is unconventional, having founded each other and their love in high school. I really wish we could have delve more into what happened to break them apart but I loved seeing them come together.

Now that Eddie is divorced and with a daughter and that Del is giving Evergreen, the life she left behind, and her dad a second chance.

Loved this book. The comedic jokes at the cost of self-deprecation were on point for how most comedians thrive, but the twist of her not wanting to make jokes like that any more was such an eye-opening moment for her character development. I loved the reveal of who Megan the boutique owner is in the grand scheme of things and the fact that she helped Delfina in the long run was gold. I loved the complex background with Del's past and hometown as well as the complexity between her and Eddy. By the time I finished reading this, I felt like this had a subtle deeper meaning while reading through all of the character development and had me reflecting on my own journey as well.