I read several holiday romances this year, and I'll Get Back to You by Becca Grischow was one of my favorites. This queer love story has charming characters, and the dialogue is full of wit and heart. It's easy to fall for Murphy and Ellie.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

i’m too old for college aged romances.
This was fine. I just couldn’t really relate to their problems. The romance was cute. A fake dating that benefitted both of them and love queer stories so much but meh. It won’t stick with me.

A cozy holiday romp with fake romance, real romance and life long best friends figuring out how to fit into a new mold. What else could you want to read next to the fireplace and holiday lights!? Murphy is ready to transfer out of her hometown community college and leave the job she’s had since high school. The one thing that stands between her and doing so: Accounting class (relatable!!). Her professor doesn’t seem to like her that much, and she’s struggling to figure out how to pass. Her solution: a drunken night with her daughter on the night before Thanksgiving that turns into a multi-day extravaganza. To figure out whether she passes accounting, and all the other chaos that happens in the book, you need to keep reading!

I enjoyed this feel good, seasonal book. It was a great representation of female friendship during college, and touched on a lot of different storylines and topics, never getting too deep into any of them. I wish there could’ve been more of the romance highlighted, and more of the “falling in love” process, as I felt it jumped pretty quickly to in love rather than the process of getting there. Regardless, a very fun read, and highly suggest adding to your holiday pile!

This book on the surface has everything i usually go for in a book, but it lacked the spark I was hoping for. It was still cute and fun but was not a book I could rave about. I really enjoyed the plot but the characters and structure didn’t win me over.

Thank you Penguin Books and NetGalley for the eARC of I'll Get Back To You! All opinions in this review are my own.

Okay, I loved this fake dating sapphic romance! Not only did I love Murphy and Ellie together, but I also love that it is about Murphy navigating her friendship with Kat as it is evolving based on the life decisions they are making. My only complaint is that it is more of a Thanksgiving romance than a Christmas one so I would have read it sooner.

"I'll Get Back to You" by Becca Grischow is a lighthearted holiday romance featuring a fake-dating plot and relatable characters. The characters are easy to like, and the small-town setting adds a nice touch. While the romance feels believable, it didn’t pull me in emotionally. It’s a good, light read for the holidays, but it didn’t stand out as much as other books in the genre, given how many holiday books were released this year. If you're a mood reader who only has so much time to enjoy wintery books, I'd skip ahead

A phenomenal take on the long-loved theme of a holiday romance and an incredibly strong debut. Grischow has a talent for writing lovable but incredibly messy characters.

Overall: 3

This was a light cute fake dating while they actually have feelings for each other's. It was a cute cozy read for the holidays. Like a hallmark movie in books form.

I don't usually seek out holiday books, but this one sounded fun.

I liked Murphy. She's messy and unsure and I liked reading her inner monologue while she tried to figure things out. There are several characters here, but it's definitely the Murphy show.

Plot wise, it's okay. It felt really low stakes and was just meandering towards an ending. This is a specific slice of the time, so the epilogue is only a couple of weeks after the final chapter. And while I would have liked just a bit more, it worked.

Overall, it was a quick and cozy read.

**Huge thanks to the publisher for providing the arc free of charge**

Setting: Illinois
Rep: lesbian protagonist; bisexual love interest

72% of the way in and realised I just do not care. I don't like any of the characters, Murphy is an insufferable protagonist, Ellie is a mercurial love interest, Kat is a shitty best friend, and why is it so rushed?

If this were a YA / new adult book then it would be a good one. Lots of drama, super immature characters (understandable for 21 year olds), but writing that keeps you reading. However, for adult romance - no? There is just no attraction between these character that supposedly fall in love? I don't see any angst, no chemistry at all. Also they are way too immature (again totally normal for a 21 year old) in their decisions that I thought it was YA/NA the whole time. A solidly interesting story, but nothing that blew me away.

Eh, this was fine. Truly, I don't feel strongly about this book either way. It was a really quick read though, so at least there's that. If you want a sapphic Thanksgiving romance this definitely is a good time. Yes, you read that correctly, this is a Thanksgiving romance, not Christmas as I feel like this was advertised as. Anyway, it doesn't make much of a difference but I thought I would mention it nonetheless.
I think my main issue with this book is that it just felt very surface level, and underdeveloped. Basically the entire romance (meet cute, crazy fake dating idea, actually catching feelings, and a "third act" conflict) all happens in less than 24 hours, and that's just a little bit more than half of the book. Because everything just happens so quickly there is no room for things to be properly developed, or even to just actually focus on something. So yeah, I just felt like I couldn't fully get sucked into this because we were just kept away from it all.
After that we mainly focus on Murphy's life crisis, and to be fair I didn't really care. It's such an overdone storyline, and I don't think it was very well executed in this book. Especially because I don't feel like Murphy grew at all throughout. I mean, that could be contriubuted to the fact that we never really delve into her feelings or add any depth to it all. I also feel like the resolution was a bit rushed, and we don't properly wrap up quite a lot of important threads either.
So yeah, I did think this was a really quick read, and definitely enjoyable and maybe a great holiday palet cleanser. However, I just feel like this just needed way more depth and developement in quite literally every sinlge aspect of this book.

This was a cute, queer, holiday romance that was the perfect amount of cozy, queer panic, and wtf do I do next.

Okay, so maybe that wasn't as clear as it could be.

The whole book was a cozy hallmarky type book that made me relate to our MC. She's stuck in life and feels like everyone is passing her by and the one tradition she has is getting ripped from her hands. It's one of those feelings that you absolutely feel as you get older and everyone else is hitting milestones and your life ebs and flows to different places. But reading this really brought that out full force. You also get the queer panic of not being able to tell the ones you love what's really going on because you're afraid of the repercussions and how that might make you look when really you should be more concerned with being your most authentic self.

I was so mad at the situations that people kept putting our MC in but at the same time I was like girl you can't expect everyone else to pause their life for you either. Overall, this was a great read and was cozy without being steamy.

Becca Grischow’s I’ll Get Back to You is a heartfelt and relatable exploration of self-doubt and self-discovery. With a perfect balance of humor and vulnerability, she crafts authentic characters and a story that resonates deeply. This book is a comforting reminder that uncertainty is a shared experience and that growth comes with patience. A must-read for anyone navigating life’s uncertainties.

I picked up I’ll Get Back to You purely because I thought it would be a light and fluffy Christmas romance that would get me in the holiday spirit. Instead, I got a unique not-quite holiday romance that had a lot of heart and character development (aka my favorite kind of romance).

The book opens with college student Murphy dealing with the awkward moment of meeting her BFF’s boyfriend, while also sitting with the realization that her grand plan to transfer schools won’t necessarily work out. The night takes a turn when she meets a former classmate and winds up fake dating her – only to realize her date’s mom is her professor.

The set-up is a perfect comedy of errors, but underneath that is a story that is incredibly emotional and heartfelt. Murphy, while at times frustrating, was incredibly human and getting to see her work through her feelings about her love life and academic life, her friends and family was really emotional to read about. I wasn’t expecting to get so invested, but I adored this book.

In addition to the emotional elements, I really enjoyed the unique setting of the story. Setting it during the period between Thanksgiving and college finals added a very specific sense of time and place, and gave the story an undercurrent of urgency. It completely transported me back to that feeling of trying to see friends and get things done before finals and made for a really evocative reading experience.

I’ll Get Back to You is out now. Thanks to Penguin Books and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Becca Grischow, and Penguin Books for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This was fun!! I'm glad I gave this a chance after being severely disappointed by 2 other sapphic holiday romances that came out this year. I do want to mention that this was very sweet and reads more like a YA, even though both of the girls are in college. This is not a bad thing for me, just something to be aware of, as I think I would have enjoyed this book more a few years ago when I was an older teenager or in college myself. I thought Grischow did a great job of writing characters that seemed real and had chemistry. I really liked that she showed Murphy's path and emphasized that it's okay to not know your exact plans for the future/if your plans don't look like others. I thought that the timeline of feelings moved fast for my taste, but it is a holiday rom-com, so I'll let that slide! I had a great time reading overall, and I enjoyed Grischow's writing, so I will be on the lookout for more from her in the future.

“I’ll Get Back to You” by Becca Grischow is a heartfelt exploration of unspoken emotions and missed connections. It centers on letters written but never sent, delving into the what-ifs of relationships that drifted apart. The story balances nostalgia and regret with the possibility of reconnection, making it relatable for anyone who has wondered about the people they’ve lost touch with. It’s got that mix of bittersweet moments and hope that keeps you turning pages, but the pacing might feel a bit slow at times.

A charming story set in the midwest with a fake-dating trope, coupled with self-realization and the struggles of adulthood. Some scenes really dragged out and the plot was slightly predictable, but the chemistry between Murphy and Ellie shines! Overall it's filled with humor and heartfelt moments making it an enjoyable, festive, queer read!

Sincere thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was definitely a book I couldn't put down. It had the perfect amount of angst but also was the perfect amount of coziness somehow! I only wish the epilogue was a little bit more in the future rather than a month later.

I live in Chicago, and I should have loved this. However, I found Murphy to be infuriating and hypocritical. The character relationships felt superficial and fluffy. I didn’t feel like any of the resolution was earned.