Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillian Audio and Flatiron books for the ARC audiobook. I really really loved this one! In my opinion, this is a second chance romance at its absolute best. I will admit I am a sucker for a second chance romance in general, but this is probably one of my favorite books for the year so far! In addition, I felt that the narration was also incredibly well done and I enjoyed the back and forth between the female and male narrators. It felt like I was truly getting to know both characters.

Seth and Molly are high school sweethearts who haven't seen each other for 15 years when they run into each other at a high school reunion and have a night to remember. Molly is a rom-com screenwriter who doesn't believe in soul mates and Seth is a divorce lawyer who is absolutely desperate for love. They make a bet on 5 couples they know that night (including themselves) on whether or not those couples will make it. The story then spans 5 years of back and forth between the two including some years amidst the pandemic. I felt like the book was a love story but also a journey of self discovery for both Seth and Molly. I highly recommend this one for people who like authors like Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez. It is a rom com, but has some details and depth that were beautifully done. I can't wait to read/listen to more books by this author!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I was immediately invested in this book! It was such an easy and fun book to listen to. I found myself thinking about it multiple times throughout the day. If I had the physical copy, I would cruised through it.

Molly and Seth’s relationship is followed throughout the years but they are always meeting again at the wrong time. I love a second change romance trope, so this book was right up my alley. Not to mention, there were multiple times I was giggling to myself while listening. The underlying bet throughout the story was fun. I loved the chemistry and ease that I felt between Molly and Seth. Their banter was effortless, making it easy for me to root for them. Seth was the ultimate gold retriever and I loved how supportive and understanding he was of Molly. I felt like Molly was so relatable and her story was easy to connect with.

I did find myself getting frustrated and annoyed with Molly two thirds of the way through the book. She did turn it around at the end of the story and I enjoyed the ending.

Overall this was a sweet and spicy rom com that will be perfect for the summer!

Thank you Netgalley and MacMillan audio for the advanced audiobook.

Audiobook & narration: 5/5
Book content: 4/5

The dual narration was chef's kiss for me. Perfectly narrated in every way.

I really had fun reading this book! The first part of the book had me actually laughing out loud from the banter and witty moments. I liked, but unfortunately never found myself loving, the characters though. The story was just a little too drawn out for me I think.

Overall, this is such a fun rom-com style romance that made me so eager to see what Katelyn Doyle writes next. Also, an excellent pick for a steamy summer read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook.

I have to admit, I didn't think I'd like this book. The premise felt a little too contrived and initially I didn't like the voice of the male character. But, slowly I was won over by the earnest of Seth's character and the plot ended up playing out more realistically than I'd imagined. Overall, this was a great read, just in time for the summer.

This was one of the best romantic comedies that I have read in a while. For fans of Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld this book is for you! This second chance romance book about high school sweethearts Seth and Molly is to too cute for words! The character development of both Seth and Molly was so well done! I really enjoyed that we get both characters points of views and get to witness them fall in love with each other over and over again.

While I really enjoyed this book I did feel like it was kind of long and the jumps in time felt like we were missing important parts of the characters lives.

I listened the audiobook and really enjoyed the duel narration by Christine Lakin and Tim Paige. Both narrators truly bring Seth and Molly to life and had me laughing, crying, and fall in love along with the characters.

I immediately loved the vibes of this book, the narrators and the entire tone of voice. My first thoughts, “this is going to be a fun one.”

I loved the contrast of Molly’s negative attitude toward everything lovey-dovey and her job of writing scripts that centered around just that; and how Seth was all sunshine and rainbows yet was a divorce attorney. All the contrasts and opposites attract really worked for me. Both narrators did an amazing job of accenting these ideas by the contrast of their voices in their respective chapters.

The betting aspect was so cute, and I loved that Seth threw them in as the last couple. Bring it on. Katelyn wrote a fun, and breezy love story that tackled tough subnets (a missing father, infertility, anxiety, divorce, and many others) in a way that was careful but also lighthearted. I love the friendships between characters, the family relationships and the overall vibes.

“I’m used to it. I have my mom, I’m fine,” is a line that really connected with me as someone who has an absent father and a mother who picked up the slack. I loved to hate the father in this book, truly.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read but I did feel it was a bit long… we could’ve cut back and still had a great story but all in all I liked it. It just didn’t go over the top for me, pushing it into 5 star territory, which lately has been tough to do with love stories since they all start to blend together - you’ve gotta really come up with something different or new to get that extra star out of me.

Just Some Stupid Love Story is a debut novel by Katelyn Doyle. I loved it!!

Molly and Seth were high school sweethearts and are reunited at their 15 year high school reunion.
Molly is a rom-com writer and Seth is a successful divorce attorney.
At the reunion the two make a bet on the future of 5 couples before the next reunion in 5 years. Molly and Seth are one of the couples. Seth believes in love and Molly does not, so Seth has 5 years to change her mind. Molly's past makes it hard for her to believe in love, though....

Thanks to NetGalley, MacMillan audio and Katekyn Doyle for advanced access to the audio version,
Publication date is June 4, 2024.

Molly and Seth were high school sweethearts, but she broke up with him before going to college. Now, they reconnect in their 15 year reunion. Molly is a mildly successful movie script writers and Seth is a divorce attorney. At the reunion, they decide to make a bet: They choose 5 couples and they predict whether they'll still be together at the next reunion.

Seth is a hopeless romantic, so he thinks that he will be a couple with Molly at that point. She is a cold, pragmatic person who doesn't believe in soulmates.

This was a fun, quick read.
WAY TOO SPICY for my taste, but I guess I am a prude.

My only problem with this book is that <spoiler> from part I, to part II Molly has a total change of personality. She starts pursuing Seth, but there's no reason for this change </spoiler>

Thank You NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you Netgalley Flatiron and MacMillan audio for the free alc. My opinions are being left voluntarily. I enjoyed this second chance, opposites attract, he fass first. This is a great debut will need to check authors pen name and other genre.

4/5☆

This was a rollercoaster ride of a book in a great way. I want to rate this 3.5 stars because I'm in-between but rounding up because I really enjoyed the audiobook performance.

A second (and third, and fourth, and infinity) chance romance that had me feeling all the feels every time Molly and Seth crossed paths year after year. I think we all play the "what if?" game, and this felt like it brought all of those scenarios to life, making me feel so invested in what the outcome would be.

Seth has the patience of a saint, and Molly became a tiny bit insufferable about three quarters of the way through the book but she turned it around for the ending!

Christine Lakin and Tim Paige are both awesome narrators and I felt like their voices lended themselves really well to who the characters were. Always love a dual narration.

Oof - this is not it. Please don't compare to Emily Henry unless it's comparable to Emily Henry. The characters weren't relatable and annoying

Rounding up to a 4, but really hit at 3.5 ⭐️ for me. I enjoyed and flew through the audiobook, it’s definitely a fab beach read, but I was not sucked into the story or romance like I usually am with romcoms. The spice was pretty good and steamy! But the lack of swoon and the slow burn (well, a different kind of slow burn as a second chance romance) didn’t really hit for me.

I really appreciated the touches on mental health and the storyline does cover 2018-2023… so you know what happens halfway through. I thought it touched on COVID and lockdown, etc in an effective, tasteful way. I didn’t have to roll my eyes like I have for other books’ mentions of the pandemic.

I liked the dual POV and the audiobook narrators were lovely. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the advanced audiobook :)

Listened at 2.5x speed with no issues. Dual narration worked well for the two MCs. Each was strong on their own, but worked well together.

Heading into a traditional Rom-Com, there were a ton of recognizable tropes and predictable elements. Where this book missed for me was two-fold: 1) The lack of surprise. It was a story where I was constantly able to predict the next step, which was a bit unsatisfying. 2) The dialogue felt unrealistic. The declarations of love may have been unavoidable, but some of the sex scenes in particular were cringeworthy. It felt like what a person would ideally dream about dialogue being, but without the real world grounding in how people actually talk, it pulled my listening experience askew.

Pacing was fine. The story didn't ever feel like it was dragging on too much, and the additional characters (family and high school friends) that popped in and out added just enough to the plot line to keep things interesting.

Overall: 3 stars (I liked it)

I'll tell my students about: language, sex (SPICY), LGBT+

**Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for the free ALC. All opinions expressed are my own.** Review posted to GoodReads 5/2/24

I absolutely loved this book! I was intrigued by the fact that this would take place over 5 years and was so caught up in Molly and Seth’s story. It’s funny, spicy and sweet! I was rooting for the couple the whole time.

Thank you @NetGalley @MacMillan.Audio @Flatiron_Books @Greatlyn for gifted ARC!

Romance/Rom-Com is one of my top genres, but even moreso lately. I have been on a Rom-Com kick & this definitely measured up to the other fab Rom-Coms I’ve read lately. This was my first read by Katelyn Doyle & I’ll definitely be signing up for future releases!

I loved the role reversal of the FMC being the pessimist about love & the MMC being the one constantly going all-in.

Molly doesn’t believe in real love due to the horrible divorce between her parents when she was young. All Seth wants is to settle down with the love of his life, build a family & live happily ever after.

Molly & Seth dated for four years in high school until she just up & left him when she moved to California to become a successful screenwriter of, wait for it, Rom-Coms. It was an easy genre to get her foot in the door, she just doesn’t believe in any of it. They reunited at their 15-year high school reunion & after a night of debauchery, make a bet on where they believe the love lives of 5 couples will be in 5 years at their 20-year reunion. Seth & Molly include themselves as one of those couples.

The story follows Seth & Molly over the following 5 years & what does or doesn’t become of their relationship. Can Seth break through & convince Molly that true love exists or is he destined for heartbreak once again?

This book is full of humor, witty banter, charm & the sweetest MMC ever written. It was a wonderfully quick read leaving me completely satisfied & swooning. I appreciate a good, smartly written second chance romance with the perfect amount of spice. Finally, as is necessary with this genre, there will also be heartbreaking moments where you might find yourself shedding some tears.

@yolakin & @thevoiceoftimpaige did a FABULOUS job with the narration!

4.5 Stars & I highly recommend!

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Thank you NetGalley for this audio ARC. This book fell really flat for me. The characters apparently loved each other in the past, but you'd never know it based on how the book was written. I was bored and unattached to the characters.

Thank you MacMillan for the audio review copy and to Flatiron for the ebook review copy (free copies). Just Some Stupid Love Story is one of those books that should be a big win for me, I love romcoms and I am all good with second chance themes and all of the tropes but there was not a lot in this story that worked for me. Strong premise, I loved that the FMC was dark and edgy but a romcom writer (I actually liked her a lot) but the MMC was so flat, one dimensional, and even for a "sunshine"vs grumpy"... this was over the top sunshine at the expense of having an interesting nuanced male character (and his fiance... the way she was written and described made me annoyed, so unrealistic and unrelatable). I think some of my dislike for the MMC was possibly also the narration style, solid performance but the tone just didn't work either.

I felt the plot bounced around a lot, event to event without ever giving me a sense as to why the two MCs liked each other, I didn't get a sense of their chemistry but more spent a lot of time in their heads and messages about their feelings but never really the why. And then the phone sex just landed in my car speakers and it felt awkward and not sexy at all to me.

This is for me a romcomc that is missing the rom part.

This audiobook is not for me. I made it 10% of the way in and couldn’t handle the male narrator’s intonation. He sounds like he is narrating a book for children which is awkward considering the topics.

Story wise, I wasn’t sold on the plot or the characters. There doesn’t seem to be much chemistry between the main characters and then all the sudden they are having sex. This isn’t like an Emily Henry book.

I adore this audiobook and the narrators did such an excellent job. I did find the male character to be a bit stereotypical when it came to his approach at first. However, the author did a great job creating different character flaws. I found that this book read like real life and the part about consent was sweet. It is a good message and I love how the two characters jobs were actually the opposite of how they felt. So, having the male and female do a debate was a sweet surprise. I really appreciated the characters and the ending while predictable to me, was perfect. I would definitely reread it either in person or audio.

Pros:
-cute premise
-the characters actually develop over time


Cons:
-the years long, constant bad timing of if all. This made the book way longer than it needed to be and made the FMC seem a lot younger and immature than she was

-the majority of the spice focused on the phone sex and that just….wasn't it.

-this last point is totally a me thing, but can we stop including Covid in every book!? We lived it, we get it, and every author just flies through it anyway! Can we give it a rest!? Again, this is a me thing, and reading books that don’t talk about Covid doesn’t mean Covid didn’t happen, but it helps me pretend.