I was so excited to request this book and it was such a pleasure to read! Betty Corello has given us a splendid debut summer romance!

This is such a fun and relatable romance that features realistic, believable characters. It’s a vibrant second chance romance, full of humor and vulnerability, engaging and entertaining, kept my interest throughout. The flawed, imperfect characters of Del and Eddie are three dimensional characters, with complicated lives and personalities. Side characters—Del’s best friend, her grandmother—were also three dimensional and fleshed out. The story pacing was great and kept me engaged..

This is an excellent debut! I’ll be looking for more by this writer.

Summertime Punchline was a wholesome book that took you from heart break to heart warming.
The pacing and the events that happen are a bit odd but so long as you don’t think too much about it - it remains enjoyable. A cute rom com.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Spice: 🌶🌶/5. (open door, but not super descriptive)

Pros
- loved the backstory
- loved the build up
- them being young and dumb was so relatable
- was crying by the end in the best way

Cons
- I skimmed some of the side plots because I lost interest but I tend to do that with any book

Delfina Silva-Miller is trying to make it to her comedy festival breakthrough when she loses her apartment, boyfriend and quits her job all in the same day. These three events take her back to her hometown of Evergreen New Jersey that she has been trying to avoid since graduating high school. Being back in Evergreen has her thinking about her dead beat dad and running into her crush , Eddie, from high school has caught her off guard. She starts to enjoy being back in Evergreen and being around her family and friends. Will she find a way to stay in Evergreen and accomplish her dreams or will she have to give something up?

I really enjoyed this book! Delfina, "Del" is hilarious and I loved the dual timeline that allowed me to better understand her relationship with Eddie, Nan and her father. Eddie is a sweetheart, but is kind of a tortured MMC that always had a hard time dealing with his feelings for Del. I loved Del's journey in finding her comedy again, starting to heal her relationship with her father and finding Eddie. This story is a romance, but I think it has many elements of women's fiction that I also enjoyed! Highly recommend! 4.5⭐️

So, this is 4.75 / 5 stars for Me, so to be far I’m rounding up.

I loved this book.

The FMC (Delfina) was realistic, she knew she wasn’t perfect, she knew she wasn’t what some would call “easy” to get to know. She was honest, had hard conversations and was talented.

The MMC (Eddie) was equally well written. I enjoyed the way he cared about the ladies in his life. How he withheld important facts until he was comfortable, this will make sense when you read it.

As someone who had a, let’s say strained relationship, with my father, I appreciated the way Del handles the situation. Having lost my dad in 2021, I don’t have the option of fixing things and it’s nice when adults can see growth and can forgive someone.

Ya girl loves a good solid ending.

The spice wasn’t ghost pepper level, but it was good.

Great summer read.

LOVED this second chance rom com that takes place on the Jersey Shore. It gave Emily Henry vibes, in that there was a MC who I wanted to be friends with. Del, a comedian from NYC, is jilted by her boyfriend and overnight loses ALL of her joke material and is forced to move back home with her grandmother. Turns out that her high school friend/bully (she refers to Eddie as her childhood bully but it doesn't really jive with the flashbacks) still lives in town. They rekindle their friendship, as Del tries to understand how she's changed, how he's changed, and what on earth she's going to present at one of the largest comedy festivals in North America. She also grapples with her fraught family history, and the fact that her dad, with whom she's never had a real relationship, is also nearby, and maybe she's ready to get to know him after all.

My only complaint is that I wished the relationship with Megan was more fleshed out. It was a great twist, but she seemed so nice and in hindsight, I wish we would have known her better. I STRONGLY identified with the feeling of "you can't go home again," as someone who cringes to think of my high school experience. This was a quick, delightful read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

This book was a light and fluffy romance and the perfect beach read. Like the description of the book says, I do believe this book is perfect for fans of Carley Fortune. I am definitely going to be adding Betty Corrello to my must read list!
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Beautifully written and exquisitely atmospheric, this enemies-to-lovers second-chance romance is an exceptional summer read. Chef’s kiss. Five stars. Wouldn’t change a thing!

I enjoyed this debut. I love a good comedy and second chance romance and this was a very enjoyable one. I definitely would recommend,

Second chance, small town romance 💓💓

I loved spending time in evergreen with Eddie & Del!!

My only complaint is that the ending was a little abrupt.

Rating: 3.75⭐️

Overall, I enjoyed the book and I really liked the sub-plots in the book. However, I just felt that the story was just too rushed. Meaning, all of a sudden the main character is going back home and then she gets back together with her childhood crush/ enemy. I felt that the relationship with Eddie and the main character just went too fast after all the history they had together. It seemed that the main character was very hurt with Eddie's actions back in high school, and I felt that their past history was never fully processed. One character that I really enjoyed in the book was the main character's grandmother, and I would've liked to see her in more scenes. Despite, my feedback I enjoyed reading this book, and it's definitely a perfect summer read.🍉☀️

3.5/5 stars:

This is the PERFECT beach read for the summer. A second-chance romance that actually made sense.

In a lot of 2nd chance romances I find myself frustrated because it’s all led by a lack of communication. However, in the instance of Eddie and Delfina it was the case of two young kids who just didn’t know how to reconcile their feelings. So, it felt natural and romantic the way they’re able to rekindle that love 10 years later when struggling comedian, Delfina, finds her way back to her hometown of Evergreen.

The main characters were wonderfully flawed & lovable. The supported characters such as Nan and Sam were just what the story needed. The believable small-town of, Evergreen, was a perfect backdrop for this happy ever after.

Overall, a beautiful story about 2nd chances and finding your way home.

Easy read, had me hooked from the start. The sub plot was meh . Good Summer read

Thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and the author for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A great breezy beach read. I loved the small-town setting and could really feel the boardwalk. Love letter to a place vibes. I enjoyed Del and Eddie’s romance, and the dual POV only added to the angst. I was a little nervous about the MC being a stand-up comic, as that feels like it could easily veer into cringe, but the brief sets we witnessed weren’t bad. Seeing Del and the dad she had major issues with growing up start to mend their relationship was the highlight of the book for me.
There was a subplot that was really set up for firecrackers that ended up fizzling out. The explosion I’d been waiting on was not only a dud, it veered into comically positive. Still, this romance checks all the boxes.

"It's not enough to read it, I need to snort it." - Actual quote from me as I was reading this book. It! Is! So! Incredible!! Del and Eddie are everything to me. It's so funny, yet the emotions are so deep and personal, with Eddie's feelings about his daughter and his divorce to Del's feelings about both of her parents. Every character in this felt so real to me, and the book itself felt like one of Del's jokes--vulnerability offered to us with a palatable punchline, making everything easier to swallow. I could not get enough of the whole story, but I truly wanted to dive headfirst into the flashback scenes and never come up for air. So many romance novels fail us in teenage flashbacks, but Betty Corrello makes Del and Eddie complicated, two teens who make mistakes and hurt each other, whose relationship is absolutely fraught with misunderstanding and angst and, underneath it all, incredible tenderness. So many books have made me say, "Honey, you don't love that guy from high school - you don't even KNOW him anymore! He's been 10 different people in the last decade, and so have you!" But not these two. Eddie and Del have spent a decade shedding their pasts just to become the versions of themselves that can be unguarded and in love with each other. They! Are! Soulmates!!

I absolutely adored Summertime Punchline! I was so shocked that this was Betty Corrello’s debut novel, the writing was amazing and so captivating! I loved the dual timelines and learning about how Eddie and Del’s past impacted who they are now! The two had great chemistry and the slow burn was so good! The side characters, like Sam and her Nan, really brought the world to life! I thought the story between Del and her father was fantastic and handled so well! With all the summer vibes, it is the perfect book to read this summer!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC in exchange for this honest review!

Thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and the author for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great summer read. I'm familiar with the eastern shores and connected with the landscape.. I couldn't fully connect with the characters but over all I did enjoy the book. I give it 3.5 stars...

Dels life blows up right before a big career opportunity which forces her back to her hometown where she reconnects with local bar owner Eddie. The present timeline offers them a second chance, while the story’s past timeline unfolds and gives readers a glimpse at the two of them navigating high school and difficult upbringings.

For me this story was take it or leave it. I mostly enjoyed Del and Eddie, but I didn’t feel any real urgency or tension in their relationship (I actually felt more moved and that her character shows more growth by her relationship with her dad). I also felt that some of the other characters could have been developed a little better.

Overall I don’t feel that this book was poorly written, but it also didn’t feel super memorable. Will it change your life and make you keep thinking about it? Probably not. Is it a good option for throwing in your bag and reading at the shore? Yes.

Summertime Punchline is a delightfully funny debut novel which follows Delfina, an up-and-comer who’s finally receiving her big break in comedy…. Meanwhile everything else in her life is falling apart. She’s lost her job, her apartment and her boyfriend all in the course of the worst day ever. Forced to move back up and face her past, she reunites with an old flame. Can the fire burn a second time?

Told in alternating timelines of present & flashbacks to the past, this story packs the comedic punch it claims but also brings the feels with it. This second chance romance shows just how much love is worth fighting for!

Great beach read! 3.5 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley & Avon and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read this digital ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

Summertime Punchline by Betty Corello is a fun enemies to lovers romcom.
Del’s life has just imploded. She walked in on her boyfriend and friend in a compromising position, now she has no place to live, and her comedy career revolves around jokes about her and her now ex boyfriend. So where do you go when the world is falling apart? The place that means home, even if it’s a small town in New Jersey that is a ghost town in winter, and a tourist trap in the summer. Del makes the trip to Evergreen NJ to stay with her grandmother, unfortunately she has some not so pleasant memories of her home town, or more of a certain person that lives there.
Evergreen hasn’t changed all that much, although Del sees some positive changes, like the Ferris wheel being repaired. But when she runs into her childhood bully, Eddie, she goes down the path of remembering things she didn’t want to remember. I love the way the author goes from the present to the past, painting their story from memories and giving them both a new perspective.

Living in a small shore town in the very southern part of New Jersey, I loved the picture the author painted. Her description is accurate describing how the short tourist season can make or break a business, and the way the scents and smells are so nostalgic. I have never been to Evergreen, but it easily describes towns like Ocean City or Wildwood.

I truly enjoyed the characters progression, both as individuals and eventually together. The interactions with other characters were great, loving Nan Roger and Sam. Eddie is definitely swoon worthy. Definitely an enjoyable story. I will definitely check out more books from Betty Corello, especially if her future books are as sweet and heartwarming.

fun romcom
enemies to lovers
Second chance romance