I’ve seen other reviews mentioning the slower start, but I found the setting-up of the shops and the relationships/friendships all very charming. I thought the middle of the book was more lackluster, it felt like an ‘embarrassing moment then fight’ cycle going on for a minute. (The kitchen lunch.. I could’ve died.) And then the lack of communication in the third act conflict is always a downer, but overall, I liked ‘Stuck Together’. I devoured it in one day, the day after halloween, no less. It’s an enjoyable holiday contemporary with plenty of charm. 3.5 stars rounded up!

It is love at first sight, well at least for Annie. Penn and Annie are total opposites. When the storefront is vandalized, Penn offers to share his shop space with Annie. She needs to keep her business going and she accepts Penn’s offer. They never seem to agree on anything. Penn is going home for Christmas and he has to take a girl home with him or his parents will set him up with someone he knows he won’t like. Penn asks Annie for the favor of acting as his girlfriend when he goes home for Christmas. She feels like she owes him a favor, so she agrees. But it turns out to be a big mistake…or does it? How can she possibly be falling for him, they are nothing alike?

Stuck Together, written by author Lily Joseph is a wonderful romantic comedy with plenty of festive cheer. I loved the mystery of tracking down the vandal who destroyed the storefronts. I really enjoyed Annies character, and I loved how she did everything she possibly could to help her parents. This lovely, magical and festive read is one that I recommend.

4.25 stars

This was a cute read from a new to me author, featuring many of the tropes I enjoy such as enemies to lovers, forced proximity, and hidden identity with a UK setting. Even though I don't typically love romance in the third person, this one still felt like you got insight into the characters.

Annie is a working class girl from Newcastle, who has bounced from job to job to make ends meet. She decides to open up a pop up shop in a shopping arcade to sell her mother's overstock of many failed multi-level marketing schemes, and ends up having to share half the space with a pretentious and moody vinyl record seller, Penn. When Penn asks her to pretend to be his girlfriend to get his overbearing mother off his back, Annie realizes that Penn is to the manor born, and feels even more inadequate with her humble background. Much of the plot revolved around their class differences, and the struggle Annie had to help keep her parents afloat, and then we got a slight mystery element when their shop was repeatedly sabotaged. The fellow shop keeps made for colorful side characters but my favorites were the snobbishly over the top duo of Penn's mother Bunny, and her ideal daughter in law candidate, Sophia. I tend to prefer any book with a UK setting, and do think that's a big reason why I enjoyed this one, especially with its holiday time setting even if it wasn't necessarily a holiday book.

Stuck Together, by Lily Joseph
⭐️⭐️⭐️

There was lots going on here - enemies to lovers, fake dating, miscommunication, supporting down-on-their-luck family members… Was it a romcom? Was it a mystery?
The romance was set up so well. Penn and Annie had a proper meet-cute, him playing in a band and them spotting each other across the crowd 👩‍❤️‍👨 it kinda set expectations that she was going to be a little fan, but actually we never hear of him doing a gig again - he just plays guitar with his mates in his shop (while drinking? Unprofesh for someone ‘desperate’ to make a business work).
Annie was an open-book, wearing her heart on her sleeve. The story was her perspective, which made it difficult to know Penn’s thoughts and made their relationship feel very sudden and weird IMO. 
Reading in third person made me feel a bit detached from them, and there was so much going on! The beginning of the story made me expect a feel-good, festive story where Annie was going to become crazy successful and save her family from selling their house. Then a romance, then a mystery, trying to work out who was trolling them and vandalising the store. It became a little confusing as there were so many threads in the story which felt shallow.
It was not as festive as expected, based on the cover, with only the last 75-ish pages being based at Christmas 🎄 Overall it was a pretty easy read and enjoyable, but too much going on at times. 

Thanks @netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC 🫶🏼

this was a super cute read. i enjoyed the banter. a little slow to start but really enjoyed the ending.

I'm really jumping into the Christmas spirit early this year, and this is such a fun Chrismtas rom-com! I love a good friends to lovers, forced proximity, grumpy MMC trope combo. I was also pleasantly surprised to see a little mystery element thrown in also. This is definitely a fun book to add to your Christmas reading list!

Annie has lost another job, with rent to pay, the holidays just around the corner and wanting to support her parents she needs money fast.

When an opportunity opens up to share a shop front and sell her mother's previous pyramid endeavours it's a no-brainer.

But when you don't get on with your shop mate and someone is looking to sabotage your efforts things aren't as easy as they should be.

Annie must fight for her shop her parents and her family home, all while helping her dislikable shop-mate, Penn.

But soon Annie will see that Penn is on her side and working together will lead to a lot more.

This was a cute holiday read, which had two narratives flowing into one. This was told from Annie's point of view, but I would have liked to hear Penn's point of view too.

This was a grumpy meets sunshine, enemies to-lovers romance, with a little bit of mystery added in, overal this was a lovely read.

Stuck Together by Lily Joseph.
I really did enjoy this book. I did like Annie and Penn. I liked how they were both stubborn. I loved the cover. That's what drew me to this book. I liked the twists. This is a lovely Christmasy read. I read this in one sitting. I couldn't put it down.

I enjoyed reading Stuck Together by Lily Joseph. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

🤍Cute story
💙Cute characters
🧡Cute romance aspect
💚Cute banter
The mystery element added lots of turmoil and drama to the story.
The Christmas theme really doesn’t come into play until toward end of the book.
Perfect reading for fans of forced proximity and enemies-to-lovers.

Annie and Penn are stuck sharing a storefront for their two very different wares. It is the holiday season. You can only guess what will happen. This is such a sweet Christmastime romance story.

Stuck together is a fun little Christmas romance that is sure to get you in the mood for the festive season!
It follows the will-they, won't-they enemies in forced proximity tale of Annie and Penn. When slightly down on her luck Annie realises her family home is in jeopardy, she'll do almost anything to help her beloved parents, even run a shop (which she's never done before!) It's there she meets Penn - or is it? She remembers a night watching his band in a pub where the chemistry between them sparked like an electric board. However, in the cold light of day, their relationship fizzles into something more resembling a dog and cat when they end up sharing the space of the pop up shop.

The story bumps along at a great pace and it will have you wondering just who might be sabotaging Annie and her attempts to win back her parents' house, along with all her profits. And also, it will have you cheering for the boy from the stately home and the girl from Newcastle who just wants to be loved for who she is.

Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Stuck Together by Lily Joseph, let me start with the fact I am so sick of these romance books were these 20 something-year-olds have to save their poor decrepit elderly parents from financial failure. I find this is a trope enacted in a lot of romance stories and I’m over it. These characters can’t be based on real life because you have better luck seeing a unicorn then an early single 20 something-year-old that’s going to go work to give money to her mom and dad… oh this frustrates me so much! Okay about the book Annie can’t seem to hold her temper nor a job to save her life so Annie decides she will go into business for herself and then learns she can’t afford to rent a building to put her pop-up shop in. This is when she runs in to Penn. Who happens to be looking to rent the same rental space she is. He’s also the guy she met the night before at the bar she went to right after being fired and right before asking her roommate to cover her portion of the rent that she couldn’t. They soon agree to share the space so Annie can sell all the stuff her mom ordered but never follows through and it’s just taking up space at their home while the mortgage goes unpaid. Penn and Annie butt heads at every turn… Until they inevitably realize they really have the hots for each other and can’t believe they didn’t notice it before. Now I’m going to stop here and say what I didn’t like about the book usually in a book when someone is arrogant or a jerk getting their point of view always lessens the dislike or cheesiness of the character and unfortunately we only get Annie’s POV. So when he comes off like an arrogant jerk and the next thing we know she has the hots for him it left me confused. I also didn’t like that the book didn’t know if it wanted to be a romance or a mystery. Having said all this I do want to say I love a good mystery romance especially a funny one and so I think had we had Penns inner thoughts and rationalization I would’ve liked the book much better. I did find it funny I thought the writing was way better than average that was just too much I didn’t like about it to read it any higher than the two stars I gave it. I would still read another book by this author and hope to do so in the future I just hope if it’s a romance we also get his POV as well lol!. #NetGalley, #Bookoucher, #LillyJoseph, #StuckTogether,

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️



✨ enemies to lovers
✨ Witty
✨ Christmas romance




✨ my first Christmas romance for this year and I must say it was definitely a lovely read.

✨heart warming and light.
Coming from the main character PoV ( Annie) sometimes it was a bit confusing so I have to re read back some sentences and all is good.


✨if you definitely love a enemies to lovers vibes, with grumpy / sunshine. This book is great. Light and airy.
Not too much of dark romances which is great.



✨ Thankyou @bookouture for the opportunity to read this book for a honest review.





✨shaye.reads

This enemies to lovers romantic comedy had me swooning for more.

To afford the rent of a retail store, Annie decides to share the space with Penn, a dark and handsome guitarist. She sells premium sensual lifestyle products 😏 and he sells vintage records. They quickly find that just like the products they sell, they couldn’t be more different. They butt heads at every turn but when Penn needs a favor, Annie will have to put their differences aside to help. Will it be a total disaster or will they find out that maybe opposites can attract?

Enemies to lovers AND fake dating, need I say more? No, but I will. The chemistry, the humor, the mystery, this book checked all of my boxes! I was cackling one minute and sitting on the edge of my seat wondering whodunit the next.

Stuck Together was a really fun, enjoyable read and I highly recommend it. ❤️

I thoroughly enjoyed the plot where two people team up and split space at a new retail unit in order to save on rent, yet there is some Christmassy enemies to lovers romance going on. Personally the writing was a bit too slow and confusing at times. I think due to the perspective being in Annie's point of view, I couldn't really get into the characters, in particular Penn.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this story. Light hearted grumpy x sunshine, enemies to lovers. I enjoyed watching the gradual shift in Penn and Annie’s relationship. The comedy in this was so good, I found myself laughing out loud to myself quite a few times! I wasn’t expecting the mystery element to this book but I really enjoyed it, I would definitely recommend

This is a book I will definitely be recommending this Christmas. It’s absolutely fantastic. The characters are perfect, I really loved them. I read this with a huge grin on my face. It’s pure feel good and makes you laugh so many times throughout. Oh and it’s such an easy read. Fabulous!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Lily Joseph for providing me a copy of this ARC
3.5/5
During Christmas, Annie opens a pop-up shop to sell some of the multilevel marketing shit her mum has amassed over the years. She finds herself sharing a shopfront with Penn, a dashing guitarist who sells old records, because she cannot afford the rent. But there's more to Penn than meets the eye.

My favourite element was Annie's effort to find her own purpose while learning how to manage her company. Despite their regular misunderstandings, I liked how Annie and Penn's relationship gradually grew.

The entire story is told from Annie's perspective, and at times I wished it wasn’t like that since it was a little hard to understand about Penn, especially since he comes across as so detached and aloof that you are left wondering what's going through inside of him.

I don't want to reveal much, but I really liked the story's found family, especially Annie’s parents - they were such sweethearts. I assumed it was a rom-com because of the blurb & the cover so the mystery plot felt a little out of place, but I didn't mind because I enjoy mysteries.

Fans of the enemies-to-lovers trope will adore this light-hearted, engaging book thanks to Lily Joseph's creative writing.

Stuck Together follows the story of Annie, a girl down on her luck, struggling to support herself and her parents after losing her job. She decides to open a shop selling all kinds of things her mom had acquired when she was working in sales, including some “Premium Sensual Lifestyle Products.” Penn, a very attractive guitarist, offers to share his shop with Annie, after she couldn’t afford the cost of the rent. This is a big mistake, as they are polar opposites and continuously butt heads. Until, Penn asks Annie for a favor, to pretend to be his girlfriend in-front of his parents so they will stop trying to set him up with his ex-girlfriend. Annie agrees, and soon these two find themselves learning their opinions of each other might have been wrong all along.

This book was slow at the start, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it. However, once Annie discovered some new “self help” products to sell, just like her business picked up, the story picked up as well and I found myself not being able to put it down. I really enjoyed the enemies to lovers of this book as it took a good while for it to happen. I would also love to participate in a Silly Sunday, it sounds like such a fun time and I am completely stuck on wanting to know what that last hint could have been. I also loved the mystery of who was sabotaging the store. This book really hit all the tropes I love; enemies to lovers, forced proximity, one bed, fake relationship, even a “who done it?”… seriously hit so many marks.

I highly recommend this book for those who like all the tropes I mentioned above, plus a little Christmas cheer and some competitiveness. Thank you, Lily Joseph and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.