Over the last few weeks, between adjusting from jet lag, moving, unpacking, going back to work full time, learning to live both on my own and with my fiancé, and attempting not to set my kitchen on fire to feed myself, I have unfortunately had very little time to read! I feel the edges of a book funk on its’ way but the only thing keeping me from a full on reading funk has been the arc of The Co-Op by Tarah DeWitt. Unfortunately, because of all the previously listed life things, I haven’t had time to finish it yet but can say I am really enjoying it and keep coming back to the book with excitement (which is always an even more difficult fear during a time in which I feel susceptible to a reading funk)! This second chance romance is different parts friends to lovers to enemies and hopefully enemies BACK to lovers which are portrayed between the alternating past and present timelines! The constant banter, family history, and grumpy sunshine demeanor’s of LaRynn and Deacon makes this book all the more fun to read! It is an enjoyable, well written story that has all the good things a story needs and keeps you coming back for more! Now… I’m counting down to my next day so I can spend it continuing to read this entertaining new release which is a perfect addition to any book- lover’s romance shelves! I’m excited to keep reading this book and highly recommend it… this is my first book by Tarah DeWitt and even having not finished this book yet, I know it definitely won’t be my last!

This one was on my radar a couple years ago when it was self published, and I never got to it. I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this story as it was just republished traditionally last week! I loved this story. Though I never read the original version, I think Tarah Dewitt must have done these characters justice, because they fit perfectly imperfect together. The character growth and the level of communication shown by these two main characters was just *chef’s kiss*!

This was an easy contemporary romance read, BUT it felt at times that it missed the mark for me. I can't exactly pin point if it was the pacing or plot itself that i didn't fully connect with as I did enjoy Deacon & Larynns witty banter, but felt it was more Deacon who kept the story going then Larynn.

I wish we head more from the Grandma's and I did also love the epilogue at the end, wonderful close up!

This was a true Rom Com that had me laughing out loud. I mean when you start with a girls top three embarrassing moments, you know it's going to be hilarious. But DeWitt also tackled themes of grief, toxic parents, and healing, that made it more than just your average romcom.

This story had lovable, relatable characters that were easy to empathize with. Deacon is everything you want from a book boyfriend with an amazingly sweet soul and I never got annoyed with LaRynn (which happens to me a lot in romcoms). I think DeWitt did an amazing job of explaining both MC's histories together and separately. The banter was on point too. I found myself giggling so many times and I might have thought about playing some pranks on my husband using LaRynn's techniques once or twice.

Dual POV
Marriage of convenience
Forced Proximity
Enemies (ish) to Lovers
Second Chance romance

I'm giving this one 4.5 stars/5. I enjoyed it so much more than Savor It (the last DeWitt book I read). Do yourself a favor and add it to your TBR. You won't be disappointed.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read this early in exchange of an honest review.

This was one of my most anticipated reads and it didn’t disappoint! LaRynn and Deacon both hilarious and heartwarming! Read on for the synopsis.

Synopsis:
They say love and construction don’t mix.
By that logic, hate and construction may as well be condemned.

LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds had one short and contentious summer fling when they were teens.
Certainly nothing to build a foundation on.
But a decade later, when their grandmothers have left them with shared ownership of their dilapidated Santa Cruz building, they’re thrust back together and have to figure out how to brace up the pieces.
LaRynn has the money, but to access her trust, she has to be married.
Deacon has the construction expertise, but lacks the funds.
A deal is struck: Marry for however long it takes to fix up the property, collect a profit, and cut ties.
Thrust into a home without walls, they quickly learn that it’s easy to hide behind emotional ones, even in a marriage. But, with all the exposure and pitfalls that come with living with the opposite sex (and none of the perks) they’ll also have to learn what it means to truly co-operate as a team.

The Co-op is a steamy story about restoration and renovation, and uncovering all the things that build character within ourselves. It’s about the never-ending construction project that partnership is, and finding enjoyment at every stage.

*The Co-op* by Tarah DeWitt is a charming forced proximity romance that hits all the right notes. The story revolves around two lively characters who find themselves working side-by-side, and their playful chemistry is off the charts. The banter is sharp, the attraction is undeniable, and the way they grow together feels authentic and engaging. A special thank you to DeWitt for skipping the cliché third-act breakup—it's refreshing to see a romance that keeps the tension high without resorting to unnecessary drama. I absolutely loved this book!

Larry - LARRY - what a nickname.

So we have second chance romance, plus marriage of convenience. So we're already on the up and up. We have some unresolved trauma of one person saying I love you, and it not being said back, which... you were teenagers, but sure. Hold a grudge. I also love a house flip, so that was fun. So all in all, there were many things working in our favour.

I never doubted The Co-op was going to be anything less than a 4 star read! If Tarah writes it I will be reading it. Marriage of Convenience is my top 5 tropes and DeWitt does it perfectly!

Overall, such a delight to read. I totally recommend this as a book to read when you are in a reading slump!

Although it took me a while to get through the book, it was still cute and a good version of forced proxy, enemies to lovers, and marriage of convenience. For me, it was just slow paced and the FMC was repetitive about a few things. Overall, I enjoyed the story line and it was a book I would recommend to someone who wants to start reading romance.

I absolutely loved this book.
Have you ever taken on a home project with your spouse or significant other? Then you know the amount of frustration and laughter that may cause. So, I loved that this book centered around these two people who had so much animosity in the beginning both striving to fix up this house they loved so much.
Deacon and LaRynn were two of the realest characters l've read. Their pasts make it so hard to love and trust, but they jumped in together anyway. The way the story was told in real time but also flashbacks when they were younger, and this gave such insight to how they behaved and felt. I really liked the second chance romance as well as being told in dual point of views.
This is such a great story about how two people from broken families can come together not perfect, but learning to love and figure it out each day.
"I'd begun to believe that trying was its own love language.
Trying to understand a person, trying to make them happy, trying to make yourself happy, too. My relationship with him is what made me believe that."

Childhood friends to lovers to enemies to acquaintances to friends to lovers

Grief & loss of loved ones

HEA

Quotes

“We’re even right now, matched up in terms of the vulnerabilities we’ve conceded these last weeks, and I am terrified to be the one to give up more ground.”


“The shocks on the Bronco and those old trailers weren’t great back then. Anyone passing by could see those things rockin’!” she laughs. I hope she poisoned the chili. I’d like to die a swift death straightaway.”



I’m not going to lie this book started out a little confusing & slow to me. I read the description of the book & I was confused on the time line as I was reading. I know that is my fault but sometimes things aren’t clear enough for me personally. After some chapters I finally got it but it was helpful when the chapter said it was in the past. It would have been more helpful for the present chapters to say that as well.

LaRynn is spicey. She has a tough attitude and is having a tough time as well. Her parents have strict ideas on how her life should be but every summer & holidays would dump her off at her grandmas and go vacation without her. Definitely makes one resent others. Her grandma was her favorite person but she sadly passes away and soon after her wife passes of a broken heart.

Deacon is the grandson of LaRynns grandmothers wife. Complicated situation as he also gets dumped off every year with his grandma while his family caters to his brother.

This is where they meet and then ignore each other and many other things happen that makes them just like oil and water.

They currently have to renovate the grandmas house to sell it as it went to the two of them after they passed. But in order for LaRynn to access her trust fund because she dropped out of school her father put a clause saying she had to get married before she could dip into it.

They do a quick wedding at the courthouse with her best friend as a witness & the kiss is steamy enough that the officiant tells them there’s a room upstairs if they need it.

Now of course they continue to fix up the house & resolve some old & current issues they face. I don’t want to give away anything that may happen but I really did enjoy this book.

It took a bit to get into but by the end I was laughing and crying along with the characters. I love a good HEA story and it just makes you feel all nice and warm.

4-4.5 stars! I really liked this. I felt like it had a different feel than most books. There’s romance, there’s smut, but there’s a lot of heavy material too and real life problems. I enjoyed LaRynn and Deacon’s love story

4.5 stars, i loved everything about this- larynn & deacon had such a great dynamic. i love a grumpy FMC and i think they made the perfect match. i didnt read the original, but i loved the past chapters that were in there to get to see how their relationship started and how its grown

This book would be a great read for someone who enjoys some DIY themes, marriage of convenience, and second chance romances. Luckily, I am that someone. The Co-Op was a fun read, with witty banter and great tension (and then some great spice).

I do feel like the plot felt a little slow at times, but overall it was an enjoyable read and I will recommend it to others looking for a fun romance read.

Thank you to Tara Dewitt and St. Martin’s Press for an eARC copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

LaRynn and Deacon, grandchildren by marriage of their “grands,” spent holidays and summers together, and had a short but contentious fling as teens. At the end of the summer before leaving for college one says ”I love you” and the other doesn’t. Fast forward a decade and the grands have passed on, leaving them with shared ownership of their dilapidated Santa Cruz home. They’re forced to come back together to repair the building and their crumbled relationship, when neither have had great examples of healthy marriages from their own parents. This is a slow-burn, second-chance, forced proximity romance about the never-ending project of marriage and peeling back the layers of family trauma to come together again.

<b> “People aren’t houses or projects. You can’t disassemble them and find out how they operate, identify their broken bits and replace them. You can do your best to understand them as they are, but…people change. They grow. They learn. They just…are.” </b>

I loved the banter between LaRynn and Deacon, all their silly little ways of getting under one another’s skin, and how they had to learn to cohabitate together.

<b> “Maybe I’ll draw the outline of a middle finger using my hair on the shower wall, I think. Put the toilet paper roll on backward. Maybe I’ll go spend another grand on bobby pins and a leaf blower and spread them across his entire half of the door, Rambo-style.” </b> 😂😂

The toilet shopping scene had me laughing out loud, and their constant teasing of one another throughout the renovation had the tension wound so tight! 🔥

It took me a good while to warm up to LaRynn. The first half of the book she just seems so insufferable, even as a teen, but as you start to see into her past you realize why she has put up so many walls to protect herself. My biggest turn-off with this book was just that it was one long miscommunication trope. If they had just communicated with each other AT ALL so many of their issues wouldn’t have been issues between them. Most of their trust problems lie with their parents and not as much with one another, but they project it onto one another. They both were so in love with the other, but then would tell them it was nothing. It drove me crazy. <b> Just open up already! </b>

I also had a hard time with the writing style, in that with the time jumps back and forth, and the dual POV, if you stopped mid-chapter it was easy to lose what time they were in and which person’s perspective you were reading. It just didn’t feel like there was a big enough difference between the times (since they’re both in the same setting) to make a distinct difference, and I found myself flipping back to the beginning of the chapter so many times to figure out who and when it was.

Overall, it was a really entertaining read and I enjoyed so much of it, but Tarah DeWitt’s Homebound and Savor It still hold my top spots for her stories.

I am not usually a fan of second chance romance tropes but Tarah DeWitt's The Co-op has me rethinking everything. I absolutely loved this book. LaRynn and Deacon are *chef's kiss.* I love that LaRynn is not the typical romcom heroine, she's sharp, sarcastic, and doesn't let everyone in. Deacon has to break down her walls throughout the book all while they renovate a duplex in Santa Cruz. So good!

I'm such a sucker for second chance romances, and The Co-op definitely hit all the right notes. Tarah DeWitt is such a talented author—this book was well-written, full of emotion, and had just the right amount of spice without ever taking over the story.

The Co-op is a steamy, heartwarming story about two people who are forced to confront their past and their feelings for each other. LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds had a short, fiery summer fling when they were teens that ended in heartache for both of them. A decade later, they're thrust together by their late grandmothers, who left them with joint ownership of a dilapidated home in Santa Cruz. LaRynn has the money, but to access her trust, she has to be married...Deacon has the construction expertise, but lacks the funds. They strike a deal to marry, fix up the property, and part ways once it's all finished.

What follows is a journey of unexpected emotions, as they’re forced to spend more and more time together, navigating a marriage that’s supposed to be temporary but quickly becomes something much deeper. 😏 I loved watching them rebuild not just the building, but their relationship! While I would’ve loved to see more of their first romance and the angst of their separation, the slow-burn tension between them in the present more than made up for it.

The FMC being tall was a nice touch too—it's always refreshing to see a taller heroine in romance!!

Plus, who doesn't love a good construction romance? There’s something about that dynamic that always gets me. And I adored that their grandmothers were a couple—it added such a beautiful layer to the story. I just wish we could have gotten more of them and their story—they seemed so fun. 💘

A big thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and Tarah DeWitt for the ARC—I’m so glad I got to read this one!

Overall, another great read from Tarah DeWitt. If you’re a fan of second chances, construction romance, and characters who are learning how to love (and be loved), this one’s for you.

3.5⭐️

Oh man this is hard because I absolutely ADORE LaRynn and Deacon. I love their story and I loved every character in this book. The intimate scenes had my heart bursting, whether they were spicy or just the two of them being blabbering messes.

It was real and raw and cute but this dragged on for way too long.. I love slow burns, don’t get me wrong but this just felt like it was forced. There was way too much telling and not enough showing. I felt like I was being told everything about them instead of actually experiencing it, which is such a bummer because there was so much to feel had only we’d been given that chance.

I am obsessed with Tarah DeWitt's writing and characters - and this book is no exception. I have loved The Co-Op since I received an ARC of the indie publication and somehow she made it even better. The story is at once tender and heartfelt while being gritty and honest. I loved the characters, the setting, the plot, the dual POV, dual timelines -- everything! I wasn't sure how she could make this better than the original, but it felt new and fresh while still being familiar.

To be honest, it took me forever to become invested in this book. The premise is interesting, and the characters are fairly well rounded. It just…. didn’t capture my attention. I loved Deacon and LaRynne separately; I couldn’t love them together. There were so many misunderstandings for over half of the book, then when communication was open I feel like it was sometimes used as a weapon. They brought out the worst in eachother and the last part where they were open… well, it just didn’t make up for it. That’s just my opinion. Coversely, it has great characters, a good plot and a pretty goold flow to the story. The sexual chemistry was believable. It just wasn’t for me. I’m going to give it a three- not bad, just not my favorite.

⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
As far as adult content goes, there is language, drinking and sexual content. I would say this is geared towards New Adults (who will definitely enjoy the narrative of the past) and adults.


I was lucky enough to receive an eARC of this book from Netgalley and St Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review. My thanks!