A quiet, broody, tattoo'd man who calls her "honey"? Sign me up. I really enjoyed this marriage of convenience story with Rachel and Adam. I normally don't love flashback scenes, but I felt like these scenes really added to the story and revealed more about the characters. I enjoyed this book was more character-based than plot-based and thought it was done very well. I loved all the quiet Adam and loud Rachel moments because I feel like it revealed so much about them individually and as a couple. I loved Rachel and could relate to her so much. She felt like a more outgoing version of me and I adored her girliness and bows. Her tendency to clutter and overpack made me feel seen.

Since Rachel has that fear of people leaving, I wish it was explored a bit more as a concept, especially since Adam is in the military and could get hurt at any moment. They never really had those conversations, which I think could have added depth to Rachel's character. I also wish we would have learned a bit more about Adam and why he is the way he is (I get people are born quiet, etc. but what makes Adam so introspective? Had he always been that way? What was life like for him before Rachel?). I feel like we sort of just scratched the surface with him and I would have loved to have learned more (is he afraid of losing people? Does he realize how short life is with all he experiences in the military? What made him want to join the military?).

Overall, those things didn't ruin the book for me, but I think it could have added to the story more! I enjoyed Adam and Rachel so much and loved reading their story in the pages. You could feel the tension and longing between the both of them, and I lived for each and every moment. I also loved that it was "clean" but you could feel the heat. It can be hard to get the right balance but it was done great here.

Now off to go find myself an Adam!

I feel like I always start my reviews with a thank you because I’m always so excited to read new books and find new authors to gush over! For The Record absolutely captivated me and I had a hard time putting it down until ultimately finishing it. I’ve noticed with time my least favorite trope is friends to lovers, but this book did it so well, and I’m obsessed with Adam and Rachel. Their dynamic was so organic and I loved the way they fit together as friends and later on as a couple. I lived for their banter and I thought it was so funny with the age gap, how Rachel would make sly remarks about his age which reminded me of my husband and I. I absolutely adored this book, this is the first book of Juliana Smith that I picked up and it definitely won’t be the last! Another thing I’ve realized is that I tend to gravitate towards spicy books because sometimes romance books get repetitive or I need something that holds my attention. That being said this book had 0 spice and I ATE it up. I lived for any moment they kissed, like I love me a good slow burn and I just loved reading about Past Adam & Rachel and current them, like watching them grow together was EVERYTHING. I loved the dual POV, the dual timeline, I think that really solidified their friendship/relationship for me because a lot of the time I’ll have friends to lovers and it feels like I’m being told about their friendship and how they ended up developing feelings for one another and not witnessing it on paper, but For The Record did it so well!!! I could probably rave about this book nonstop but I’m just super glad that I was approved for this ARC and now I found a new author that I’ll be reading her entire backlog now! I've posted a review on my bookstagram (icrywhileiread) on June 11th, I've posted my review on my booktok (@cryingwhileiread) after posting this (June 17th) and will be posting this review on my Goodreads as well. Loved this book!!! Thank you again for the opportunity!

I jumped into this realizing it was part of a longer series but didn’t expect to immediately want to read all of the other stories. This hit every single one of my rom com favorite tropes with an added bonus of an incredibly well rounded family/friend supporting cast. I laughed, I cried, and immediately wanted more. Excellent quick read!

A sweet, confusing romance. Friends or more? This was my first experience with this series. The switching between now and then was a tad confusing now and then. I did have to keep reading until they finally reached their happily ever after. No matter how convoluted the journey. Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

Friends to lovers, he falls first, grumpy sunshine, super slow burn. What more could you ask for?

After finding out that the record store she works at might be sold, Rachel goes to the bar to have a drink and meets Adam. They have one night together that turns into four years of friendship.

Adam is the silent type and has been in love with Rachel for most of their friendship. So when they are in Las Vegas and she waits she wants to get married he says why not.

This was such a cute book. I really Enjoyed how the chapters switched between then and now. You get to learn how their friendship built at the same time as the beginning of their marriage.

Adam is the perfect book boyfriend. This is my first Julianna Smith book but it will not be my last. Excuse me while I bing the rest of this series and patiently wait for Crew’s book.

Thank you NetGalley and Victory editing for this title in exchange for my very honest review.

This being the first book I’ve read in this series and written by this author, it did not disappoint! I was rooting for them from the very beginning. I loved the dual POV and flashbacks. Their friendship naturally developed into much more even if their circumstances were a bit unconventional. Adam exudes grumpy energy, but also golden retriever energy for Rachel. It was a sweet, fun, and easy read. I will definitely be checking out future releases by this author!

Goodreads review is live. Instagram review will be live 24Jun2024.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Adam Wells & Rachel Clarke
- marriage of convenience, Vegas style
- Second chance sorta
- Friends to lovers
- Grump & sunshine
- Funny meetcute
- Then & now chapters (like flashbacks and current happenings)
- Broody, quiet, military, tattooed, biker, secret teddy bear MMC
- Sassy, witty, ball of energy, messy, high maintenance FMC
- Myrtle 😂🤭 I can’t just. Read this book for Myrtle & her daddy 😉😂
- She cooks for him
- Playlist for the book & songs per chapter & music throughout the book
- The sweetest dad & daughter relationship 🥹 (her dad has dementia & she cares for him)
- She steals his clothes
- Nicknames 💕

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Book 4 in the Wells Family Series - I’m obsessed with music. So when I saw the playlist for this book and how music was such a big part of the book, I was an ecstatic. Like Rachel, I have a playlist for every mood and many situations.

Rachel is a sassy blonde who knows who she is and what she wants. She’s not afraid to say something off the wall just to get Adam to smile. Adam is a grump with a secret soft middle; he didn’t even know he had until he met Rachel. He just felt drawn to her one day and she couldn’t be more grateful that he took a chance. I love how Rachel doesn’t push Adam to be something he’s not. She meets him where he is and appreciates his quiet steadiness. They are respectful of one another and compliment each other so well. Adam is so so patient with Rachel being high maintenance, and pushes her to see all that she’s capable of. He’s so freaking thoughtful. I wish he gave himself more credit 😭🫶🏻 that ending in the record store are you kidding me?!

There is some miscommunication and things left unsaid because of fear. Adam has some character development I loved to see 💕 and thankfully, they worked through the miscommunication 🥹 and get a beautiful HEA.

I’m obsessed with this book and I can’t wait to go back and read more of the Wells Family Series.

This is a closed door romcom. There is discussions of hooking up, a little innuendo, and some infrequent cursing.

Note: I didn’t pick songs for this book because Juliana already picked the most perfect songs for Adam & Rachel 💕

**Thank you so much to Juliana for letting me read this ARC via Netgalley**

For the record is a rom-com that I fell in love with and got me hooked from the start till the end, especially because of the main couple, Rachel and Adam.

In this story, Adam and Rachel, friends for years, go to a wedding in Las Vegas and the next morning they turn up married. At first Rachel panics, not knowing what happened (apart from the drunkenness of the night before) and what to do, but Adam puts before her a kind of pact that would be very useful. So instead of calling their lawyers and asking for a divorce, they end up married and living together, in a kind of marriage of convenience, so they can make use of that extra financial help that he would receive.

The story is beautiful, with funny moments in which I laughed until I cried, others in which I shed a tear of emotion and moments of drama that made me fear for the couple future. It is also told from two points of view (Rachel and Adam) and in the present (starting from the wedding) and past (starting from when they met) so little by little we see how Rachel and Adam met, how they maintain their friendship over the years, with their moments of attraction and ups and downs, until they reach the final point. I found it to be an enjoyable way of telling everything and that leaves you wanting more in each chapter, because in addition to wanting to know how they met and that part of the past, we also want to know what happens after Las Vegas.

But the strong point of this book is its characters. Adam is a cinnamon roll. He is a soldier, a paratrooper, and spends more time away on different missions than at home, so beyond the relationship he has with his family or his army colleagues, he does not maintain much friendship with anyone. Something that changes when he meets Rachel in a bar and they end up spending the night together. It's as if she had awakened something in him, and little by little she is breaking down that wall that surrounds him and awakening that shy and quiet beast. Rachel is the opposite, an extroverted young woman who works in a music store (which is part of her life and would not be able to live without it) and who has a complicated life because she has to take care of her father, a veteran, who has Alzheimer. That, and the fact that her mother and sister disappeared from their lives, keeps her too busy to have relationships. Until she meets Adam and it's as if she found her soul mate, since they understand each other just by looking at each other, and for Rachel, Adam is like a puzzle that she has to solve.

I have really enjoyed For the record, the roller coaster of emotions that it has caused me when reading the book, its characters and the evolution that they undergo over the years, them and the beautiful relationship they share (being friends and as a married couple). I highly recommend it to you, and as soon as I can I will read the other books in the series because I am looking forward to getting to know the Wells family better, especially Crew when his story comes to light.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (yes I know that is 6 stars and I meant it)

I’m writing this review at 1 in the morning because this was truly one of the best books I have ever read, easily my best read of 2024 so far, and unputdownable. There is nothing I love more than a grumbly man who is soft for his woman🥹. The emotion this author is able to evoke IN A ROM COM is amazing, I cried multiple times, and had to pause to squeal and kick my feet after almost every chapter🥲🥰. I haven’t read the previous books in this series but they are immediately being added to my TBR. All of the characters are perfect, and deep, and meaningful (other than Rachel’s sister & mom who I wish were expanded on a bit more, but they’re not that important). I seriously am raking through my brain to find any reason you shouldn’t read and I’m finding nothing, add this to your TBR!!!

After pulling a Ross and Rachel and getting married in Vegas, Rachel and Adam decide to stay married for his military benefits, despite never actually being together prior to, even though parts of their relationship begs to differ. Adam leans into the doting husband role, and Rachel can see a future with him that is less of a dream, and more of a reality. But Adam has a big secret he needs to tell her, if only he can find the time.

I am loving this series, and I love that grumpy Adam Wells and sunshine-y Rachel get their own book! This is definitely one of the sweetest romances I think I've ever read.

Rachel has a gigantic heart and is always delightful, despite her father's ailing capacity and a stack of troubles of her own. Mr Grumpy Wells shows a whole new side of himself around Rachel; a one that is sweet and full of vulnerabilities. He even has his "my wife" moment. 🥹

For you if you love:

🎶 Grumpy x sunshine
💛 Marriage of convenience
🎶 Friends to lovers
💛 Pining and slow burn

I can't wait for Crew's book next!! I have read e-arcs of this whole series and I can't believe it's almost over. Thank you to Juliana Smith for an e-arc of For the Record, all opinions are my own!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an arc copy to read and review. All thoughts are my own.

I have seriously loved every book in this little series but this one is my absolute favorite. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been a part of a military family and so it spoke close to home or what, but man I really loved this one.

I think Adam and Rachel are seriously the cutest couple and I just honestly wanted this book to be longer because I never tired of them. This book is super fast pace and I read it all in one sitting. I just simply couldn’t put it down.

If you want a mushy love story then this is the perfect book for you. I ate it up.

5 stars!

This book was sweet and fun to read, as I previously have enjoyed the books in the Wells Family series, I expected to immediately fall back in love with these characters. But unfortunately that did not happen, somehow Adam’s character was too much of a closed-off “grump” for my liking. The undefined friendship over the course of what, four years, wasn’t something I enjoyed. Aside from this, I liked Rachel and her relationship with her father and how much she cares for him, the representation of his mental health condition was good, I liked how this was able to affect family dynamics and how they overcame it. I wish there had been more friendship and family scenes from Adam’s side of the family. To me, this story felt a bit rushed and dare I say, the tiniest bit disorganized. I’m still grateful to have had the opportunity to read it in advance, can’t wait to read Juliana Smith’s future stories!

This is my favorite Wells Family romance so far! Rachel and Adam have such an interesting start to their friendship. The way they connected as strangers and then found out they were connected through friends was unique, especially when they choose to keep their first meeting private from their friends. I loved the balance of “Then” and “Now” as well as the dual perspective in the storytelling. I kept wanting to know more as the book progressed and the ending was so sweet that I had happy tears. This is such a lovely and fun closed-door romance that has such a gentle way of building a genuine romantic chemistry between Rachel and Adam. 4.5⭐️, 1🌶

I want to shout just how wonderful this romcom is. It’s nuanced and thoughtful, there’s tenderness and yearning, family and communication, growth and so much love. It takes a minute to get into it as it’s dual point of view and a dual timeline, this sorts itself out quickly and off we go…

It’s Adam and Rachel, you’ll know them if you’ve read Juliana’s earlier books, but no matter, it stands alone. Adam is in the military, he’s very quiet - introverted and taciturn. Maybe it’s his nature, maybe it’s his training but he’s an opportunist and so gone for Rachel. They’ve been friends for years, but kept it secret from his family and their friendship group. Rachel is just pure sunshine. She’s gorgeous, messy, warm hearted and incredibly busy between her job and looking after her dad, who has early-onset dementia.

This closed door romance is like a tonic. It’s fun to read as it swaps back through how they met and what lead them to get married in Vegas, then moves into the aftermath. If only Adam would open up. He doesn’t, until it’s almost too late. There’s a playlist that is perfect as both Rachel and her dad are music tragics and the songs thread through the novel and feel like a hug. This was an unexpected joy and so thoroughly recommended. The writing is lovely, characters are so relatable, I adored them both and could feel how good they were together.

Thank you NetGalley, and Juliana Smith for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

This was a very unique romcom. I think other romcom readers will enjoy it a lot. I highly recommend it. Five star read.

For the Record is the fourth book in the Wells Family series. While you'll recognize most of these characters if you've already been reading the series, I do think it could be enjoyed just fine as a standalone.

I have really enjoyed the previous books in this series, so I was super excited to read this one. I've got to admit though, when it first started, I wasn't quite sure how I was going to feel about this one. Adam and Rachel first met at a bar and had a one-night stand... while this was completely off page, this just isn't my usual cup of tea, so I wasn't quite sure about it. As the story goes on though, I found myself really falling in love with these characters. They go from a one-night stand to secret best friends to a drunken marriage in Vegas to a marriage of convenience and with the alternating past and present POVs, we get to see it all unfold... and I absolutely adored it. The author did a really great job of hinting at things in the present, and then revealing more slowly in the past, and I found myself really enjoying that. Did I suspect some of the revelations? Yes, I did... but it didn't make my enjoyment any less. The chemistry between these two was undeniable, but it was also a really sweet and tender story too, broaching on tougher topics like a parent with dementia. While I may have been uncertain at first, it certainly won me over in the end.

For the Record is a closed-door romance, with nothing but kisses on the pages. That said, there is implied intimacy off pages and some innuendo and language throughout and as such might not be for all readers.

**Complimentary copy received via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Friends for years, Adam and Rachel get drunk married in Vegas and decide to stay together for the mutual financial benefits.

Every chapter was a timeline change from then to now, creating a very choppy storyline.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in return for my honest review.

Juliana Smith is an auto read author for me, so I was so happy when I received this early copy! From the moment I read the last chapter of Rock and a Hard Place, I knew this one would be so good. And Juliana didn’t fail me. I absolutely loved the flashbacks showing the evolution of Adam and Rachel’s relationship. I read this almost in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. I only have one negative. I respect Juliana’s commitment to a clean romance, but given this couples history I do wish there was at least a fade to black scene toward the end. I feel like it would have made sense for them. But despite that, I still loved this.

I Loved It. I Loved It. I Loved It.
5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Juliana Smith never disappoints!!
Everytime i read one of her books I'm like : this is my new favourite. And this one is no exception.(I nearly highlighted the whole book). Adam and Rachel have my whole heart💛💛.

Tropes:
🌼Grumpy x Sunshine
🌼Marriage of convenience
🌼Friends to Lovers
🌼Biker MMC
🌼Vegas wedding
🌼Found family
🌼Dual pov
🌼Clean romance

It's the 4th book in the series (#Wells Family), can be read as a standalone. But i personally suggest reading the whole series because it makes your experience that much better. Just do yourself a favour and read this series.

I'm obsessed with the coverr (it's the cutest), the playlistt and the Then And Now chapters, and how every chapter starts with 'Currently Playing:song name'💛!!!


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The butterflies Adam Wells gavee meee. I was full on giggling, screaming, kicking my feet in the air, and Squealing(literally) the whole book.

Adam might just be my new fav book boyfriend.I was so curious about him since book one. He's perfect. He's so relatable, protective, caring, loving, kind and sweet, honest, and 'Actions rather than words' kinda guy. Also how he calls her ✨Honey✨🫠🫠.

Rachel is the most selfless and beautiful character, that you just can't not love. She deserves the best (my Adam). Idk but she reminded me of Liz from Better Than The Movies, but the more-mature-less-awkward version😭(don't get me wrong i really loveee Liz).
And her relationship with her dad🥹🥹!!! I lovedd itt and then loved it even more after reading the acknowledgements.

The girls' interactions in this onee>>> Ahhhh i love themmm. Also Crew being the most clueless and innocent character 😭😭😭i can't waitt for his book!!

I'm so grateful for Juliana Smith and NetGalley for the ARC. It will be out on June 22nd!!

Juliana smith has done it again! This book has everything you could ever want in a romance book. Both characters were such a delight to read about. The Grumpy and Sunshine trope does it for me every time. Both characters struggle throughout the book and it was heartwarming to see such unlikely friends become each other’s safe space. Their communication throughout this book was refreshing as well. The perfect closed door romance, and perhaps my favorite of the year!