Exhausted and grief-stricken LaRynn has just run out of options and must return to the scene of her greatest romantic disaster in order to settle the terms of her grandmother’s estate. Reluctant to see the man who spurned a much younger LaRynn when they were barely legal, she nevertheless has to figure a way forward to improve upon and sell the ramshackle property, which is metaphorical to her rocky relationship with Deacon.

Having failed to get any response from LaRynn regarding the repairs needed to bring the property he inherited with her up to code, Deacon resorts to threatening a civil suit to flush her out from her exile. As they continuously clash with each other, lines blur between loathing and lust.

What will become of them when the dust settles?

I love a difficult female lead, and LaRynn is certainly that, but Deacon isn’t blameless in all of what transpired which led to her trying to get as far away from him as possible. The chemistry between them is incendiary and I’m here for it.

I was fortunate to have received an advance reader copy from the author and NetGalley, and I’m sharing my honest thoughts.

4.25 ⭐️
I absolutely loved this! It has some of my favorite tropes from marriage of convenience, second chance romance, and forced proximity and it was SO well done. I think I highlighted ever other sentence in this book and I loved Deacon🤭 Watch them get to come back together and relearn each other was really touching and it felt like you could feel the war of emotions going on off the page.

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press for this arc!

While enemies to lovers is generally one of my favorites , something just did not hit right with me on this one! I found the characters harder to connect with and not as lovable! I do think there was chemistry and it sizzled!

These two did not have a relationship arc, they had a relationship rollercoaster. Between their history, their hurts, their intense attraction to each other, and the renovation, they EARNED their very sweet HEA! I enjoyed it and it felt different than books I’ve read recently which I appreciated. I loved the dual POV and being in both of their thoughts. LaRynn and Deacon were developed and likable characters and had so many relatable moments.

🛠️ Dual POV
🛠️ Second chance
🛠️ Marriage of convenience
🛠️ Bickering but make it flirty
🛠️ He’s grumpy but she’s grumpier (and mostly only to each other)

6 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You may THINK you know this book, but you DON'T, unless you've read this RENOVATED version!

I just had my socks knocked off by this book!!! It was my first Tarah Dewitt, but she's already become an auto-buy author for me. I listened to the audio for the first version of this while I was physically reading the ARC, then realized very quickly that the way this novel has been re-worked has made it FAR superior than the original. We get far more vulnerability, insights, and depth from the earlier timeline when they're first together.

LaRynne and Deacon are forced together after a contentious parting nearly a decade earlier. Their grandmothers have left them a house, and it has fallen on them to pick up the pieces. To make matters worse, the only way they can scrounge up the cash is a marriage of convenience so that LaRynne can have access to her trust. There's so much toxicity between them, so much bad blood, but the craving they have for one another seeps into every crack in their carefully laid facades. They'll need to learn to work together, play nice, when all they want to do is rip each other apart and jump into bed together, in either order. Happily (for a romantic like me), their are feelings humming beneath the surface that make everything worth it.

The way DeWitt unravels this story is absolutely breath taking. We meet two people who are stubborn and closed off, and get a ringside seat to their slow decent into vulnerability. This is a master class in slow burn. The tension ratcheted up at a PERFECT pace. The characters were all so richly developed, messy, and real. I was rooting for them and grew to really respect and care for them individually and as a couple. I loved the setting, which acts as a third main character.

Just do yourself a favor and run, don't walk, to this book! It's going to absolutely be one of my favorite reads of the entire year!!!

Trigger warnings: dysfunctional family dynamics/neglectful parents, cheating (by parent before story begins), death of father, death of grandmother(s), father grappling with cancer

I really enjoyed this book!! The character development and the pacing was great. I will definitely be reading it again

5 Stars

This was amazing!!! This book was so tender and beautiful, all while being a hilarious rom-com. This book was the song august by Taylor Swift, but with a happy ending.

They say love and construction don’t mix... well, buckle up, because The Co-Op has the perfect recipe for all the angsty tension and steamy romance you didn’t know you needed in a reno project! 🛠️💍

LaRynn and Deacon are back in each other’s lives—and it’s messy. A decade after a hot-and-cold summer fling, they’re forced to team up to restore a crumbling Santa Cruz property left to them by their grandmothers. There’s only one catch: LaRynn has to be married to unlock her trust fund. And Deacon, with his construction skills but empty pockets, needs her cash flow just as badly. Enter: a marriage of convenience with all the emotional walls intact. But between tearing down the literal walls and sharing a roof, these two are about to learn just how hard it is to keep their hearts locked up.

If you’re into second-chance romance with sizzling chemistry, laugh-out-loud moments, and that perfect enemies-to-lovers vibe, The Co-Op delivers. Every moment drips with witty banter, angsty feels, and slow-burn tension as LaRynn and Deacon work on fixing a house while (unintentionally) renovating their feelings. It’s as spicy as it is heartwarming, and it’ll have you rooting for them with every chapter.

🛠️ For fans of romantic comedies with a home-improvement twist, or if you’ve ever wondered what would happen if HGTV were high-stakes and high-heartbreak. 💘 Packed with humor, swoon-worthy moments, and two lovable characters learning to break down walls—inside and out!

This one’s ready for your TBR!

Thank you to NetGalley, Tarah DeWitt, and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this amazing book.

Oh my goodness. This book was like settling into a warm bath after a long day. I love second chance romance mostly because you can feel the yearning, the baggage and the anticipation of hoping their relationship will work for a second time because the first time around didn’t go so hot. I loved reading Deacon and LaRynn’s story. I felt so seen by LaRynn’s character and related to her in the way of feeling as if you have to be perfect and can’t share parts of yourself. Ugh this was just such a delightful read.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of The Co-Op by Tarah DeWitt. This is being republished by St. Martin's in November.

This was not a book for me. The characters were immature and this was all about miscommunication and not talking. Their marriage made no sense and I couldn't stand LaRynn.

I've enjoyed other Tarah DeWitt books but this was a miss.

I just love Tarah DeWitt. Her writing is fantastic - her characters are nuanced and genuine and her romance scenes are off the charts.

I loved The Co-op. The backstory of LaRynn and Deacon's relationship overlaid with their present day predicament was a delight to read. How she managed to make the young adult and adult versions of these characters feel so accurate is beyond me. I loved the way that LaRynn and Deacon were brought together by their grandmothers and the way they worked through their baggage.

As teenagers they fell in love together and broke up after a summer fling. Years later, they both inherit and co-own a house that was left to them. They decide to work together to fix up the old house and sell it.

Rom-com, slow burn, second chance love story and living together while renovating an old house.

Thank you to NetGallery and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this book early. This was my first book by this author, and while I really wanted to get into it, I ended up DNF-ing at about the 30% mark.

The storyline had potential, with a cute premise and some fun elements, but I struggled to stay engaged. I found the main characters, annoying, and just could not form a connection with them. The timeline shifts felt disjointed, jumping around in a way that made it hard to follow. Ultimately, this one just wasn’t for me.

If you read the original version and loved it, then you NEED to read the newly renovated one too. You are in for a TREAT cause this is the version you didn't even know you needed.

If you haven't, then let me tell you about one of my favorite authors, Tarah DeWitt: she writes some of the most real, relatable, feel-it-deep-in-your-soul stories. Her characters feel authentic, layered with real problems and complexities that just make them feel so *human*, you know what I mean?

Thank you so much for the ARC.

LaRynn and Deacon had a summer fling as teenagers. They they went their separate ways. Years later, they find themselves the as the heirs to their grandmothers' shared home which is falling apart at the seams. Deacon has run out of funds to renovate the house, but LaRynn has a trust fund with enough cash to complete the project so they can sell the house. The caveat, she must be married to access it. What choice to they have but to marry and tolerate one another until the job is done.

"The Co-op" by Tarah DeWitt has it all: spice, second chance romance, forced proximity, fake relationship, marriage of convenience. Readers of Emily Henry or Christina Lauren will love this book. It delivers just the right amount of sweetness and spice.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book prior to publication.

Tarah is a go to, instant buy author, and this just proves why. She writes amazing stories that you can easily find yourself sitting down and reading from cover to cover in the blink of an eye because you just fall so in love with her words.

This was a little harder to get into, but overall I did enjoy it. LaRynn and Deacon knew each other from their teen/early adult life, the ended horribly back then but ended up forced back together when they were left a house from their grandmas passing.
All in all, the constant bickering kind of annoyed me. It came over a little immature and repetitive, but eventually they came around to each other and those little pieces they gave one another was enough for me to want to know the ending!
Thanks to Netgalley, Tarah DeWitt, and St. Martin's Press publishing for this eARC!

I loved the second chance romance, marriage of convenience, and forced proximity- all set within a home renovation, The plot was filled with witty banter and lots of pranks - all that made me smile! Tarah is skilled at creating characters that feel like friends, I adored LyRynn and Deacon appreciated their hesitation to move on from the past and their openness to find a new beginning.

In The Co-op, Tarah DeWitt delivers a charming, humorous take on forced proximity and second chances as she introduces LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds, two former flings with unfinished business. When they were teenagers, LaRynn and Deacon shared a short, turbulent summer fling that ended in mutual annoyance — and it's hardly the kind of history that builds trust. But now, ten years later, they find themselves co-owners of a crumbling property in Santa Cruz, left to them by their late grandmothers. Both want to make something out of the inherited building, and it just so happens that each has what the other lacks: LaRynn has the money, while Deacon has the construction skills. There’s a catch, though — LaRynn’s trust fund requires her to be married to access the funds, so they strike a deal to marry temporarily and renovate together.

DeWitt explores the ups and downs of their unconventional partnership as LaRynn and Deacon move in and navigate the daily pitfalls of cohabiting with someone you’re supposed to be “pretending” to love. From the quirks of sharing a space to rebuilding a long-abandoned house, the story captures the laughter and frustrations that come from working side by side and, surprisingly, learning to cooperate. DeWitt develops each character with humor and warmth, especially as they struggle with letting down emotional walls in a home without physical ones. Deacon’s steady nature and LaRynn’s independence make for an electric contrast, and readers will enjoy watching them grow from skeptical partners to something more.

Fans of romance with a twist will appreciate how DeWitt uses the house renovation as a backdrop for LaRynn and Deacon to address their past misunderstandings and lay the groundwork for a real relationship. The Co-op is a heartfelt, enjoyable story that captures how hard work, second chances, and vulnerability can turn even the most unlikely “business” partnership into something lasting.

Five stars simply isn't enough, give this one 100 stars!!

"What if I told you I was scared I'd loose myself again?
That I'm scared of changing, too. What would you say? "

"I'd find you, and I don't think there's a verison of you I couldn't love."

I'm honoured to have been able to read this as an ARC! NetGalley, Tarah DeWitt, and SMP Romance... I am beyond thankful!

DeWitt has done it again with this beyond stunning masterpiece. LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds are soulmates. There's absolutley no doubt in my mind. Nor will there be a doubt in yours once you read this one. When their grandmothers have left them with shared ownership of their building (which is in a VERY poor state), LaRynn and Deacon have no choice but to come together after years apart to work on the building. The only problem? LaRynn needs to be married to access the money they need for the renovations. This modern day marriage of convienence, forced proximity, no third act breakup, second chance romance will make you laugh, cry, swoon, and root for the MC's right from the first chapter!

Both LaRynn and Deacon are also very relatable however, Rynn reminded me a bit of myself and many other women I know. These two remind us that it's okay to have both rough and soft edges, and that all parts of us can be loved by the right person. These two are so supportive of one another throughout the entire book and I truly cannot wait to display this book on my shelf with pride.