As a huge rom com lover, I LOVED this book. It was just so much fun. I loved the way it played into certain clichés but didn’t give into others. Mason is genuinely the sweetest man on the planet HELLO!! I loved Sawyer’s character arc and their friendship and banter was great. I also loved that Sawyer was a romance writer but had a lot of trouble with her own love life. It made for a compelling story where I was rooting for her and Mason, the hopeless romantic, the entire time. I also loved their friendship—it felt real and sincere and strong.

This book was so sweet, so funny, and so warm. I’m so surprised that this is her debut?! I will be reading more from Erin Connor in the future.
I'm giving this 4.75 stars!

Thank you Net Galley for this arc!

Unromance by Erin Connor was a great debut novel! It was fun, the banter was witty, the relationship between the FMC and MMC evolved organically. As a romance reader, it was so cute to get to see all the tropes playing out throughout the book on their dates.

4 stars because it was a little repetitive at times, but overall very enjoyable :)

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was such a cute read. I loved the premise, the fake dating, and the main characters. The only thing that drops a star for me is the 3rd person POV in most of the writing. I just have a hard time connecting with it. But overall I really enjoyed the story, the character development, and the banter. The scene with the tights….so good.

Unromance was a strong debut! Connor's writing voice was impressive and commanding. I adored the plot of this story. It was fun watching Mason and Sawyer inevitably break their "unromance" rules. I enjoyed Mason and Sawyer's characters. Connor did a fantastic job creating authentic and layered characters. The dual POV was a nice way for me to understand Mason and Sawyer. I liked how the author played on the cynical vs romantic characters trope. I loved Sawyer and Mason's relationship. Their banter and chemistry were well-done. I liked how comfortable they were with each other. I enjoyed all of their little dates, especially the IKEA one. I thought Connor successfully layered comedic bits into the story. I loved that the cover of the book came from an actual scene! I thought the side characters were fun and charming. The best friend characters played into the romance tropes sprinkled throughout the story. The trope chapter headings were clever and fun. The pacing felt right and the ending was wrapped up beautifully. It was refreshing to see Sawyer do a grand gesture at the end. Overall, this was a cute and charming debut. I will be keeping an eye out for Connor's future work. Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the ARC.

Netgalley Reviews

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Sawyer Greene, battling writer’s block and disillusionment, agrees to play the part of Mason West’s ultimate rom-com muse, helping him "cure" his hopeless romanticism while reviving her stalled creativity. Their only rules? No more sex and absolutely no falling in love. But as they dive headfirst into staged meet-cutes, grand gestures, and trope-filled escapades, they discover that some stories write themselves—and happy endings might not be so avoidable after all.

This was such a fun read. I loved Sawyer and Mason’s friendship dynamic and found their chemistry to be believable, which is something I have found missing from many romance novels as of late. Oddly enough, I feel like I still don’t quite understand what the agreement was? I mean, I do, but I don’t? She was supposed to kill romance for him by ruining dates but never really did? Am I overthinking it? Anyway, a super feel-good story with holiday undertones and a gorgeous cover. Definitely recommend for the new year!

This was so fun! I’m a big romcom girlie so I appreciated the nod to the genre. This was funny, sweet and spicy! Will definitely be recommending.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever Pub for the ARC!

She’s a romance writer with a serious case of writer block. He’s a hopeless romantic who can’t seem to catch a break. They decide on a pact - he’ll help her with her writers block if she ruins romance for him. The only catch - no falling in love.

This was such a refreshing take on a rom-com! I loved their personalities, I loved how their friendship evolved into more, and overall had a great time with this book. Would definitely recommend!

This romance was just so much FUN. The author, Erin Connor, is able to skewer all the tried and true romance tropes while also reminding the reader why they love them so much.

Unromance features a jaded romance novelist named Sawyer and a hopelessly romantic TV actor named Mason. After a perfect meet cute in a stalled elevator, Sawyer and Mason enjoy one night together before deciding that they would be better off entering into the kind of pact that you only find in a romance novel. Sawyer promises to cure Mason of his love of love by destroying romance for him, one cliche at a time. Mason on the other hand will help get Sawyer out of her comfort zone in order to once and for all end her writer's block. One guess what ends up happening.

Overall, this was genuinely very funny and swoony. I had such a fun time reading this and loved both characters so much by the end. Can't recommend this one enough.

Can romance novelist Sawyer overcome her romance cynicism with the help of hopeless romantic TV heartthrob Mason all while...*checks notes*...stuck in an elevator???

Agh. I wanted to like this book. It's on me for requesting it--I love debut authors and I love to go in blind (because I love surprise!), but in this case, I should have read the cover copy before diving in. I was set up for failure because this book has all of my least favorite tropes: romance writer that doesn't believe in love, famous/normal person romance, tv heartthrob love interest, INSTA LOVE/lust. AND to top it all off, the setup involves one of my worst fears? Getting stuck in an elevator????? No thanks.

The writing here is good and the romance was steamy (which is why I will give it 4 stars), but there were so many other things getting in the way for me to fully enjoy this and feel IN it. If any of those tropes (or stuck elevators) are your jam, please check this book out! This wasn't my cup of tea, but I will read more by Erin Connor for sure!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book. I think the first and last thirds of this book were very engaging but a chunk of the middle of the book felt forced and cheesy, maybe even that it was written by someone else entirely. Overall, an enjoyable read that made me smile.

3.5 stars

I thought this book was… fine?? It wasn’t terrible but it definitely wasn’t a standout to me. I had to force myself to finish it because it was just kind of boring. Even though Sawyer and Mason were going through all the different romance cliches, all the scenes and conversations felt so repetitive. I didn’t feel like we were getting a lot of development between the characters or in their personal lives. There were multiple moments when it felt like the book was at the third act conflict but then nothing would happen. Then the actual conflict felt kind of underwhelming to me.
I also really didn’t feel the connection between these characters. I didnt feel like they communicated well and although there were some cute moments between them it all just felt very surface level and I had a hard time believing the romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the ARC!

This book was so fun and I can see this being a favorite among many. I really can't wait to see what this author writes next.

I adored this love story. I enjoyed the journey these two characters went on to get to their HEA. This was an all-around great read.

This book was cute, and everything I needed in a romance. It had the right vibes, the right plot, and the author pieced everything together in just a way that it still seemed to be original enough. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be recommending it to anyone who needs a good romance read

What a great winter read. This book was such a fun romance book. I loved that it took place over the winter months because the dates were a lot of fun. One of the best parts of this book was that it was so much more than a traditional romance. The characters went through so much personal growth over the course of the book, and it was done fantastically. I adored both Sawyer and Mason had so much they needed to work through and work through it they did. The journey on how they worked through the dates was fun. The side characters really added to this story in such a meaningful way. I loved reading this one, it was full of joy. I’m also a sucker for he falls first, and this book did it so well. I also really enjoyed that Sawyer was a romance author who didn’t believe in love. I’ve read other books where this happened and also really enjoyed, and this book did it so well. The sparks between Sawyer and Mason were immense and really light up the page. It was great.

Unromance is the perfect book to delve into this holiday/winter season. I couldn’t think of a better way to warm yourself up than by reliving your favorite rom com movie scenes with Sawyer and Mason.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun read! If you like romance tropes and two characters trying to ruin different tropes to help their personal growth this one is for you!

My favorite part was the headings that Erin wrote for each chapter! So creative and fun! Sawyer gives black cat energy and Mason is ALL golden retriever.

This took me longer to read than normal but that has nothing to do with the writing and everything to do with the fact that I was getting burnt out by romance, so like any reader who starts to feel this way I switched out genres, put this bad boy down and waited until the right time. And I’m so glad I did!

Thank you again for the ARC of this book. Such a good and fun debut!

This was very, very good. I thought that Sawyer and Mason were really great foils to one another and the push and pull between them worked very well. For a debut author, she really brought both of these characters to life in a way that surprised me. I love a "he falls first" story that does this so I was very happy.

This book has a great premise. I'm not sure if it delivered.

What I loved:
The cover was perfect
The main characters were interesting, dimensional, specific, likeable
There was just the right amount of mention of Mason's career
Idea of "ruining" romance tropes
Mason's friends and family
Cinderella moment
No competition between Sawyer and Kara
Bisexual rep
Latino male protagonist and mixed race romance that is just like real life and not made a big deal over
That Sawyer didn't need her parents approval to get her happy ending

What I didn't love:
Sawyer's age. 26? And wrote 3 best sellers, one of which was turned into a movie? Really? Could we make her 30 so this is believable?
They talk about how annoying miscommunication fights are and then thag is the 3rd act issue?!? Argh
Sawyer meeting her ex could've been way more developed... couldn't picture the ex, didn't get the vibe... was this necessary?

4 stars. Definitely worth a read. Was so close to turning those tropes on their head but didn't quite make it. At no time did it feel like a debut novel. I'm definitely looking forward to her next one.

Thanks to Net Galley and Forever for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review! Thank you so much NetGalley, Forever Publishing, and Erin Connor for the chance to read and review this book ahead of its publishing date!

Unromance is a debut novel about Sawyer, a successful romance author that doesn’t believe in romance anymore and Mason, an actor in a Primetime TV show that is such a hopeless romantic that his continuous revolving door of “serious girlfriends” is starting to give him bad publicity. After an elevator breaks down with the two of them in it, Sawyer decides to flip the traditional meet-cute situation on its head and a one-night stand ensues. Because her life is beginning to feel more and more like a romance novel, Sawyer keeps running into Mason, and as they become friends, they decide to make an arrangement. Sawyer will use her cynicism to “ruin” traditional romance tropes for Mason to keep him single while his bad publicity dies down, and Mason will help Sawyer believe in life’s little romantic moments again, hopefully breaking her writer’s block. They have rules, though! Of course this arrangement will remain strictly platonic and for research purposes only 😉

🖤 Tropes/Rep
* One-night stand to friends to lovers
* Secret celebrity x romance author
* Black cat commitment-phobe FMC x cinnamon roll MMC
* He falls first
* Bi FMC
* Latino MMC
* Spice level 🌶🌶.5/5

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for a little bit more telling than showing at the beginning, but I really enjoyed this!

I anticipating this book being really popular when it comes out in January, but I can’t help but think about how it was a missed opportunity to not publish this in November or December because it has serious Christmas vibes! If you got an early copy of this like I did, read it around Christmas time for extra warm and fuzzy feelings.

I can’t wait to read more from this author! I can’t believe that this is her debut!