This gave me major sisterhood vibes, and while I absolutely loved Chelsea and Elizabeth and their friendship, the ending of this novel fell flat.

The emotional growth was there and very well written but this book just simply did not do it for me. It unfortunately did not hook me in and I ended up DNFing it. This book looked really promising and heck — that’s disappointing even for myself who loves, lives and breathes romance novels.

Hoping to give this author a second chance with a new release later on.

This had a lot of potential and I liked the leads mostly but it sort of petered out in the end and lost me.

I was really excited to read this book, but unfortunately, it fell flat for me. I loved the friendship between Chelsea and Elizabeth and how they both pushed each other to be the best versions of themselves. The chemistry between Chelsea and Basil just didn't feel genuine to me. It made it difficult to continue reading.

The synopsis of this book reminded me of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 and the vibes were definitely there. I had such a fun time reading this I will definitely be adding it to my physical shelves soon.

Mary Ann Marlow writes fabulous and unexpected romances. This I've is no exception. I adore her writing style and this another wonderful treat. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review.

From the cover to the characters, I just had a good time with this one. The lemons on the cover were perfect, I found it endearing to learn the symbolism behind them in the story.

The concept of the yearly challenge created by Chelsea (FMC) and Elizabeth (BF) was so fun! Marlowe’s integration of each activity/goal into the story was so clever. I was eager to see how the character’s experiences changed as the book progressed shenanigans and all. Overall, it was zesty, spicy, funny…it had all the ingredients of an entertaining romcom!

I spent most of this book trying to decide how I felt about it. lt took me a few tries to really get into it, but I am glad that I stuck with it!
Chelsea is such a complicated FMC, and one that I related to on her personal level, so a lot of her issues and insecurities I understood, even if they frustrated me.
Basil was such a delicious (he would appreciate the pun) MMC, and I loved that he was flawed too. He had become stagnant and unhappy and had to figure out how to move forward and get what wanted.
What really solidified this book for me was the emotional growth that both characters have, and that everything was completely perfect.
Also, I adore cooking and loved reading all the food descriptions! And the spice that was in here(it wasn’t a ton, some would say just right) was great.

I really this would've been the book for me! It took me months to get through this and I never really felt all that hooked into the characters or storyline. I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but this definitely wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting Greece to play a much larger plot in the setting than it actually did.

The characters also fell a bit flat for me. Potentially because it seemed like they just weren't communicating properly at all. It seemed like they just wanted each to read their minds the majority of the time.

Bonus points for the punny title, I will always gravitate towards a book with a cute cover and punny title.

This book has dual POV: (1) Chelsea, who suffered from severe emotional abuse at the hands of her father, and carried the damage from that childhood into her adult life. That early experience naturally impacts all of her relationships, but especially with men; and (2) Bas, a Greek American who has felt like a disappointment to his proud Greek parents.

As you might expect with that backstory on the MCs, this book is not a full out rom-com, so it’s better to not go into it with that expectation. With that said, this book has stellar and copious use of puns, which are laugh out loud funny, and also the cause of a lot of eye rolling while reading, but in a good cheesy way. I felt that this actually helped lighten the story up, since it does actually involve some otherwise heavy topics.

Can 2 commitment-phobic individuals, albeit for different reasons, find any common ground? Is home a place, or a person? What would you be willing to risk for even a chance at a forever love?

My thanks to the team at Entangled and NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review, and my rating, are entirely my own.

Excellent book, love it! Looking forward to more from this author! Apologies for the lateness of my review

A laugh out loud romcom. I enjoyed the story and the romance. I found both MCs to be funny and witty. The book had good banter and sass. It is a perfect feel good romcom guaranteed to have you laughing.

I had high hopes for Holding Out for a Gyro after a promising start, but it ultimately didn’t meet my expectations. Chelsea and Basil's relationship felt overly repetitive and frustrating; their back-and-forth left me exhausted. While both characters had their stubbornness, it often turned into misunderstandings that dragged on too long.

I found myself more invested in Elizabeth and Evan’s relationship, which felt more balanced. Additionally, the cover suggested a strong Greek setting, but most of the story took place in the US, with the Greece element only appearing late in the book.

The ending felt unconvincing due to the constant bickering over commitment, making their resolution hard to believe. I also took issue with a line comparing Charlottesville to a dangerous neighborhood in Beirut—it felt unnecessary and out of touch.

On the upside, the incorporation of Greek culture and endearments was a nice touch, showcasing the author’s effort in that aspect. Unfortunately, despite its charm, the book didn’t resonate with me as I had hoped.

Out today, a fun romcom with reverse Grumpy/Sunshine (She’s the grump, he’s the ☀️). The story starts with best friends Chelsea and Elizabeth and their Yearly Challenge list. Each chapter starts with one of the challenges from the original list and I loved that part of the story. While the story is focused on Chelsea and Basil, there separate bit of a love story with Elizabeth, and brings together a great friendship vibes for these besties. It’s a perfect read for the last few weeks of summer. 💛

There was alot of filler and the story could have been shorter but overall it was a fun little rom-com with relatable characters, good chemistry and a cute love story

Oh boy, do I wish this was the book for me! I actually did like it at the very beginning and thought it seemed promising, maybe even a four star read, but then the guys were introduced, Chelsea and Basil started their not-dating-but-kinda-dating thing and their back and forth with each other became exhausting.

Chelsea told Basil what she was like early on, and he just didn't listen. They're both stubborn, but in different ways. I often got annoyed with how Chelsea treated him, but also got annoyed at the expectations Basil placed on her, knowing she wouldn't be able to fulfil them, but asking her to anyway.

I don't think they're right for each other. I feel like Elizabeth and Evan are a more balanced couple, and their romance was more engaging to me than Chelsea and Basil's.

I also feel a bit bamboozled, because, based on the cover, I was expecting this book to be set in Greece, or at least half of it, but the Greece part doesn't come in until 80 something percent. The rest of it is set in the US which is okay, it's just not what I thought it would be.

Plot wise, not much happened, I felt as if I was reading the same thing over and over again. The biggest focus was definitely on the relationship and there didn't seem to be enough room to explore anything else.

But I liked the friendship crumbs we got at the start, Elizabeth and Chelsea function well together and I'm certain that, if this had been a book about their travelling adventures instead, my rating would be higher.

I also liked the Greek culture and food, the way Basil's family interacted with each other...it was sweet.

The ending was okay, but still frustrating, because these two CANNOT go a few days without arguing over commitment or lack thereof. Yes, they do eventually agree on something, and it seems like it's all sunshine and rainbows, but I just don't believe it, I'm sorry.

Now, I have to mention this one line that rubbed me the wrong way. Basil is talking to his family on the phone and saying how there was a reason he moved to Charlottesville despite his family's protests and "You'd think I moved to the most dangerous neighbourhood in Beirut by the way my mom fretted and nagged".

I want to know if that line was really necessary??? And why say Beirut, why not say an American city, since he's in America? I do wonder if the author has ever been to Lebanon, or has friends/family there, because they'd tell you - there are no dangerous neighbourhoods in Beirut!

There are less safe ones, sure, but outright dangerous, no. Literally any capital city has areas where you wouldn't wanna be at night, for one reason or another, so why was Beirut singled out?

This line made it into the final copy, as far as I'm aware, so that was certainly...a choice. I'm surprised no one else noticed it, to be honest.

The rest of the book was vetted by a Greek-American, so you can be sure things are correct. I liked that the author chose to write endearments in Greek, and then after in Latin script. I'm used to authors just using Latin script straight up for languages like Russian that use the Cyrillic alphabet, so I'm glad that some effort was put in to write it as it's actually written.

That's about it from me for this book, I really was hoping I'd like it, but it wasn't meant to be.

2.5

*Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

I love the to do list- what a fun and quirky list it is! A man that can cook is the hottest thing ever. I dream of falling in love with a chef!

This was a super cute and quick read for me! I found the characters to be funny and Lovable

A super fun read! I'm a sucker for a good meet cute. Dual POV are my favorite type of romance novels, getting to see how both characters are thinking and falling for each other. A great read that I would recommend to anyone who needs a good romance!

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

3.5 ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! I really enjoyed this story, but maybe related to Chelsea’s stubbornness a bit too much!

Tropes: he fell first, he fell harder, grumpy/sunshine, miscommunication

TW: abuse and abandonment

When your therapist said challenge yourself everyday, she meant with dares? Right? For Chelsea, letting her walls down means defeat. So what does her best friend do? Challenge her to have an authentic conversation with a man at the bar. Who knew her refreshing honesty would capture the attention of a delicious Greek man, Basil Stavros. Watch Bas try to woo the commitment phobe Chelsea with promises to help complete dares, each completed dare equals money towards her dream getaway with her bestie. What’s the worst that could happen, a broken heart?

I really enjoyed the mix of fun and seriousness of this book, it was full of puns but also touched on trauma and the lifelong impact it makes. I hope to read more from this author soon!

I tried really hard with this one. Got to 55% and just couldn't do it anymore. This was my first book reading about a FMC named Chelsea. That's my name. I didn't know that going into it as no names were mentioned in the synopsis that I saw.

While her and I share a name and parental issues, that's where the similarities start and end. She was actually quite annoying after her and her best friend meet their men. I love the idea of a to do list or bucket list to do with your best friend. That's amazing and the idea behind it was great. However, the constant mention of therapy and Chelsea's therapist showed nowhere in her growth up to the point I got to. It seemed like it was just thrown in there ro try to add to the story but instead of trying to grow and push herself, Chelsea stayed stagnant and very stubborn in her decision to not date.

And then Evan, the best friends new man got mad when he found out about this list because it was what got Elizabeth to talk to him in the first place. But then turns out he was just jealous she was doing it with Chelsea and they end up creating their own list..... I don't know. Big huge red flags there for me.

Thank you so very much to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.