Greg is a TikTok mixologist and Julian is a sommelier. When they both end up working at the same restaurant, things don’t start off well. They get thrown together to host some themed nights to bring in more customers and ultimately spend more time together outside of work (and become friends with benefits).

It’s third person dual pov, but it reads a little stilted/choppy due to the lack of pronouns. Names are used most of the time instead of pronouns, so it reads like “Greg did this because Greg…” That took me out of a story a little bit.

It’s short and sweet with great representation, and touches on some tough topics (like OCD and erectile dysfunction).

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced digital copy!

Having recently read The Fake Dating Game, I was looking forward to delving into this story of two men - Greg, a TikTok mixologist, who takes a job at a restaurant, Martin's Place, in Bethlehem PA, a step-down from his career in NYC - and Julien, the sommelier at Martin's, with plans to leave the restaurant he basically grew up in after he gets his master sommelier certification.

Julien is neurodivergent and has OCD, while Greg has chronic anxiety and as a result of his medication, is dealing with ED. Each had a difficult childhood, details of which are alluded to briefly without fleshing-out. And while Greg is more quickly relatable, getting to know Julien takes longer ... perhaps because the first time we meet Julien, he is discouraging a customer from ordering the wine he wants in a tone-deaf scene that just won't quit, and he has a very prickly demeanor.

Greg and Julien eventually begin a friends-with-benefits relationship, which spectacularly derails when Julien goes to Dallas for his master sommelier training, and Greg goes to NYC. And at this point, I almost DNFed because it was an almost total reversal of what we thought we knew about each man and their aspirations. We do get a HEA at the end of the book, but personally, little of the book really worked for me. 3 stars.

The plot synopsis sounded so good, but the book, overall, just fell flat for me. The central enemy to lovers trope felt underdeveloped and rushed. I wish their had been more nuance to the main relationship. I did enjoy the supporting characters, as well as the representation of real-life health issues. Overall, I just wish more time and care had been taken with the book.

If you asked me to describe this book, I’d say it’s about unlikely bedfellows who meet as co-workers before working on a project together ultimately leads to them falling into a friends-with-benefits arrangement that evolves into more.

Julien’s a grumpy sommelier with big dreams, biding his time working for his aunt and uncle in their floundering restaurant. A debt of gratitude and obligation keeps him there, scrimping and saving, waiting for his opportunity to get out of the Lehigh Valley and take his skills to the next level. But Julien’s entire script is unexpectedly flipped by the sudden hiring of Greg Harlow.

Greg’s also looking to make a clean break, but his journey is the yin to Julien’s yang. He’s had the bright lights, big city life but found the sparkle and shine of social media success isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. He’s a little bit flirty and a lot handsome, and sees the chance to start over as a gift.

When their paths collide, things get interesting. Both guys are particular in their own way, and each has an expectation for how life should be. While Greg thinks the restaurant is his saving grace, Julien sometimes sees it as a life sentence. Working together to host the restaurant’s happy hour, however, changes everything.

What begins with a little interest and obvious attraction blossoms into a strong friendship and more. It’s a sweet transition from co-workers to friends to lovers, and you feel each piece of their connection slotting into place. I enjoyed every moment of their journey and can’t recommend it enough.

I love that this is the kind of story where the MC’s are perfectly imperfect. It’s a character Timothy Janovsky writes very well, and these two are relatable, sweet, down-to-earth guys just trying to find their way through life. They have hopes and dreams — some things work out and some don’t — but along the way, what’s most important is embracing who they are and staying true to themselves.

“𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞. 𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭.”

Timothy Janovsky is on a roll, having published his first adult romance earlier this year and is back with another!

I loved that reading the dual perspectives of Julian and Greg, many times within the same chapter. This allowed the differences and similarities of both to be shown as they navigate feeling directionless in their lives. The mental health representation, Julian with OCD and agree either anxiety, was presented well and with care. I really appreciated how Janovsky highlighted the common side effects of taking a SSRI for anxiety and how it can affect self-worth and confidence. Julian is a loveable grump, partly due to the past with his parents and feeling like people won’t understand him, while Greg gives total golden retriever energy in his care for others. I loved the variations on the supportive adult and best friend characters: Julian‘s aunt and uncle who raised him, alongside Rufus and Jessica, Greg’s cousin and girlfriend. Janovsky’s trademark humour and pop song references are out in full force, and also gave a variation on the spice, including exploring with toys, helping Julian show Greg that the side effects with his SSRI don’t have to mean no sex. There are no surprises with the plot, just a lot of feel-good energy as Julian and Greg’s relationship grows, which was exactly what I needed when reading.

You Had Me At Happy Hour is a story of dreams, new friendships, vulnerability, earning trust and making a home. It is another winner from Janovsky who continues to be a go-to author for warm & fuzzy (and hot & steamy!) LGBTQ+ romances. Thank you to the author himself, Harlequin and NetGalley for the ARC!

I really enjoyed You Had Me at Happy Hour - full of representation you don't often see: OCD, side effects from anxiety medication including ED, children of alcoholism, the tone was still so soft and gentle. I thought Julian and Greg were interesting and I loved getting to see them figure out how their differences could complement each other, both in their professional and personal lives. The book explored sex in an interesting, intimate way that felt true to these characters and the trust they were building. That said, the pacing didn't feel quite right and there were times in the story where it felt like we weren't pulling the thread of the main conflict enough or where we overindexed on it. I think if you are comfortable with the heavier topics in the book, this is a good read and Janovsky's voice always brings humor and heart to the forefront!

This book was so great. I like how the author wrote and described about mental health, diseases, and boundaries. Julien character has had a hard childhood. He also has mental health, and family issues. I like that his character goes out of his comfort zone to get what he wants. I also like that, he’s a hard worker and he will do anything to get his dream job as a sommelier. He’s worked very hard on his studying to get his dream job and have a stable life. They were parts where he does reach his breaking point from taking on so much, So he’s learning that he can’t take on so much and put so much stress on himself. Greg Character is outgoing But he has a mask that hides his real self. Greg worked on getting his life back together after everything that happened in New York. What I like about him is he moved to work himself and his debt. Also, like that, he is comfortable to be himself around Julian he doesn’t have to hide. The two together respect each other’s boundaries. I also like that they talk about the mental health and they have great communication throughout this relationship. They make each other a better person. There chemistries off the charts with one another after they open up to each other. There was a misunderstanding towards the end of the book, but they worked out that whole thing. I am happy that they both got what they wanted in the end.

A super cute romcom with just the right amount of spice. I loved the mc's and I really thought this was a clever take on the grumpy/sunshine trope. I'll have a longer review shortly, just didn't realize what the date was :).

I have been a fan of Timothy’s books for a while now, I’ve read three thus far and You Had Me At Happy Hour is the one I was actually the most excited for and it disappointed me. This book is about a grumpy sommelier named Julien who is desperately trying to escape his small town. He also lives soberly, due to familial history, and has OCD. Then we have sunshine in Greg who is a TikTok mixologist who Julien’s aunt and uncle have hired to revitalize their restaurant and help them land a spot on their local town’s best-of list. He suffers from anxiety and much financial distress after a stint living in New York. Together they wrestle with how to be a team despite their personalities clashing and their ever-increasing lust for one another that turns into love. I must say I really wanted to love this one and it didn’t quite work for me. Logistically the pacing felt really off with the best of list being made at the 50% mark it left me wondering what was next, what more could possibly happen, which then led me to learn that Greg’s Ex makes an appearance and the third act break up started at about 60% of the way through. The last 40% felt like something that needed to be shorter so we could see more of the growth and journey of our characters as they worked and slept together. Without getting into too much detail, I felt we missed a lot of character development in order for puzzle pieces to make sense, I can’t quite grasp what would lead someone who dealt with alcoholism growing up with his parents to become a sober sommelier, not that I don’t believe it could happen but I don’t think we explored enough of it for it to make sense to me, someone who is also sober. I appreciate that representation especially in a queer novel because so often alcohol consumption is depicted within the queer community that it’s good to see sober representation. Between the odd pacing and lack of character development, it made it hard to really fall in love with these characters as I have with Timothy’s books in the past, ultimately there wasn’t enough time in the book to address everything he wanted fully and I feel the story suffered for that. I am looking forward still to reading his next work and seeing if this is a one-off case.

I have had very hit or miss experiences with Timothy Janovsky's writing (really disliked You're a Mean One Matthew Prince but really enjoyed New Adult) and this one just kind of fell in the middle for me.

The story started out pretty good. I enjoyed these characters and really appreciated the anxiety and OCD representation- especially digging into how being medicated can affect other aspects of your life. These were refreshing conversations to see. I think where things fell apart for me was in the third act. The character's felt very inconsistent from what we were previously seeing, specifically Greg.

Overall I think fans of Janovsky are going to enjoy this one as well.

Listen - this is exactly what says on the bottle kids and it was A GREAT TIME. I cannot believe this is my first Timothy Janovsky. I must now go read their entire backlog.

Timothy Janovsky always impresses so I expected no different from this, and I was not disappointed. Both main characters were well written, charming, and loveable. They have deep backgrounds that make them feel genuine but time wasn’t wasted covering their pasts, it was masterfully woven in to the plot. It’s a must read for anyone who likes the genre.

I really enjoyed this book! Julien and Greg had such good chemistry even after getting off on a rocky start. This is definitely a grumpy sunshine book. I loved the way Greg was able to work with Julien’s extreme OCD. They really worked through each other’s situations so nicely.
The book wasn’t too plot heavy but the characters were so lovable that I didn’t mind.
4.25/5

Timothy Janovsky is back and spicier than ever! I adore this story about a grumpy sommelier and a sunshine-y mixologist working together to save a beloved family-owned restaurant. The setting and found family are really warm and inviting, and I'm a sucker for all the delicious drink descriptions. Even more, I love the mental health representation and how Janovsky builds trust between the two protagonists. YOU HAD ME AT HAPPY HOUR absolutely hits the spot!

I already considered Timothy Janovsky one of my auto-buy authors and I feel like this only solidified him more as an author I can consistently rely on for interested LGBTQ+ stories. I really loved the characters of both Julian and Greg, who both have their own flaws that they can help each other begin to work through. While both of them are not fully healed from the pain they have experienced by the end, I feel like that makes the book more realistic as a whole, as the level of healing they are each working on is not typically something that happens within a few months. But as the reader you feel they by the end have better tools and ways of dealing with their issues and having more open conversations.

One of the things that I enjoy the most about Janovsky's writing is the spectrum of sex and pleasure that he discusses throughout his work. From Never Been Kissed, which has a main character who discovers his demisexuality throughout the book to this current book, which discusses the effects of medication on one's sex drive, I think that Janovsky is doing a wonderful job of showing how sex is not made up of a singular act.

The only issue I really had was that I felt like the dual POV didn't need to happen within the chapters. I would have preferred I think if it switched from chapter to chapter rather than in the middle of a chapter to give us each of their perspectives on the same scene. The book is fairly short and sweet and Janovsky touches on a lot of really important topics which I feel could have been discussed a bit more if we were going back and forth on what just happened in both Julian's and Greg's minds for the same scenario. I do think they both had very different thought processes though and being able to see that helped with the miscommunication trope that occurs at the end, because we as the audience know how they both think by that point.

Thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

Thank you to Afterglow Publishing at Harlequin for a digital advanced readers copy in exchange for a review.

You Had Me At Happy Hour follows two POV's, Julien and Greg. Julien is an aspiring sommelier and works at his aunt and uncle's restaurant. As time has went on, the restaurant has been struggling to be on the city's esteemed restaurant list, and one day, Greg, a mixologist with plenty of experience behind the bar and a charm that proves worthy on TikTok, is hired to help the restaurant meet the need to be placed on the city's best in town restaurant list. Julien and Greg have a bit of a rivalry, as Julien becomes confused because he thought he was doing a good job handling the wine route at the restaurant. As this rivalry begins to take place, Julien's aunt and uncle give both Julien and Greg the task of working together on making a happy hour experience that is special to the restaurant and they must put aside their differences in hopes of helping the restaurant succeed.

At the beginning of the book, there is an author's note detailing that the book contains themes and messages regarding debt, parental neglect, OCD, GAD, and Erectile Dysfunction. As a therapist in real life, I was intrigued to see how Timothy would bring these important topics to life and how well they would be portrayed. Unfortunately, I do think that the OCD was not done well at all, the GAD really only made sense when it was convenient for the story/plot, and the debt/parental neglect aspects could have been developed more delicately.

From the beginning, I was not buying or investing myself in the romance. It wasn't believable, and it things just seemed to convenient falling into place for the characters. The spice scenes also didn't do much for me. This book could have easily benefited from another 75-100 pages to help out with the construction of characters, romance, etc. It felt like this book was too rushed at times as well as the pacing was a little over the place.

Needless to say, I didn't love the book and was a little disappointed in some aspects. I have previously read New Adult and The (Fake) Dating Game and I thought those books were well done, and this one unfortunately missed the mark for me.

Quick fun read with representation that I really appreciate in romance books! With forced proximity, and a little opposites attract these two catch feelings real quick after their friends with benefits relationship starts. They have great chemistry but also comforting understanding.

This was my first Timothy Janovsky book, but I am hoping to check out some others now too!

Julien is our grumpy sommelier, and Greg is our sunshine mixologist. They meet when Greg is hired to try to improve business at the restaurant where Julien works (owned by his aunt and uncle).

While they don’t get off to the best start, they soon develop a friendship, which leads to a mutually beneficial “pact” between the two of them, and eventually leads to their HEA.

A few of my favourite things:

- Unique and loveable MC’s (even if they do make a few questionable choices)
- The mental health representation was well done!
- The clear communication around sex and boundaries.
- Loveable side characters!
- Found family.
- Forced proximity.
- Great epilogue!

3.5 rounded to 4.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me the ebook Arc of this book!

Overall my rating is a 3 to a 3.5 stars but not saying this is a bad book.

My favorite part in this is the representation. Both main characters to into depth in both of their POV’s and to each other the things going on in their lives and why and how that became. With Greg’s anxiety to Julien’s OCD.

What I didn’t necessarily like is how quickly they got into it. FWB isn’t really my cup of tea in books sometimes it can be down right but I’m more of a slow burn kinda gal. Doesn’t need to be a super slow burn but I don’t enjoy when the couple is getting it on or being intimate less than 50% of the book.

Another note is the big social media presence Greg has. Which is fine but I don’t like modern popular social media things in books. It’s too cringy for me. There was some TikTok references in the book and I was not a fan it kinda weirded me out. It’s fine that there’s social media in the book but once it gets too modern and the references you lose me.

But overall I enjoyed the story, workplace, grumpy sunshine ish, friends with benefits. I definitely recommend!

You Had Me at Happy Hour by Timothy Janovsky was so much fun!
Janovsky has created a delightfully funny, extremely sexy, and heartwarmingly emotional novel.
The characters are quirky and unique.
This book was really fun and had me laughing at all the adorable moments.

Thank You NetGalley and Afterglow Books by Harlequin for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!