I’m in love with this book! Lavine nails the “author writing about authors” thing without making it awkward. The FMC hilariously calls out romcom clichés but realizes life’s messier than that. It’s funny, smart, and surprisingly deep — tackling love, loss, and the hard truths with a wink and a nudge. If you love tropes, buckle up! This book is like a romcom bingo card — every trope you love is here. Margot’s dragged to a writing retreat by her sister, meets Forrest, and suddenly it’s like a romcom producer is pulling the strings. The banter is top-notch, and I flew through this sweet, fun story.
Huge thanks to NetGalley for this eARC!

Any Trope but You was a heartfelt and fun book to read! It was romantic and provided enough backstory on the characters that it made you feel like you knew them. I really enjoyed reading this book!

Wow, I absolutely adore this book. Lavine sure does know how to write writing within writing. What I mean, is that I've read few books where the main characters are authors, but somewhere, always, it becomes really hard to read due to how cringe worthy it is. This book is smart and funny, and the FMC is able to look past the tropes she sees in her life and realize that there are real people she's putting these tropes onto, and that real people aren't fictional characters. It's really eye-opening and wise to think about, and sometimes I think we all need to hear that too. There are a lot of truths these characters face in this book that I think are hard for a lot of people to hear. Those who have lost loved ones, those who find themselves caring long-term for those they love, those who put their lives on hold and lose the things they cherish because they put their lives on hold for their loved ones. And realizing that you can't hold yourself back from what you long to do forever, just for someone else's sake. This book is well written and very mature, and I feel will capture the hearts of a lot of people, as well as give them a good laugh here and there.

YA sapphic holiday romcom with estranged best friends/first loves having 12 fake holidates that may or may not turn real by the end

I feel like this book is a love letter to all romance readers, because it's about an author and it features all the tropes, but does it such a fun and funny way, while also being steamy and swoony. Forrest and Margot have their own baggage and issues, but what's also clear is how much chemistry they have and how much they can change each other's lives for the better. There was a lot of emotion in this book too, but I think the author balanced it very well with lighthearted moments and some steamy scenes, as well as the overall romance. I can't believe this is a debut novel! The author is really good, and I look forward to reading more from her.

Thank you to NetGalley, Victoria Lavine, and Atria Books for the ARC of this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Margot Bradley is a best selling romance author who doesn’t believe in love. She secretly writes alternate endings for her characters that end in divorce or a breakup that she calls her Happily Never After document. When it’s hacked and released to the public she finds herself cancelled. In order to support her chronically ill sister, she decides to trade HEA for murder. When her sister books a six week stay in a remote Alaskan town, she suddenly finds herself in her very own romance novel.

Dr. Forrest Wakefield left his dream job as a cancer researcher in order to care for his stubborn father. He spends his days running the family resort and questioning his choices until Margot shows up. He doesn’t need another person in his life he could lose, but as they find themselves navigating through trope after trope he can’t seem to let her go.

I really enjoyed Ms. Lavine’s sense of humor which is sprinkled throughout the novel.

“It’s dark inside, but even so, I wouldn’t mistake this place for anyone’s but Forrest’s. For one, it smells like someone lit a scented candle in here called Cedar and Muscles, and it’s painstakingly neat.”

“He raises his eyes to mine right as his now-familiar scent wallops me in the face like a dictionary of romance hero smells. Cedar, whiskey, and bad decisions.”

“Honestly, what is it about men who smell like trees? At what point did biology decide wood was the go-to scent for making men smell attractive? It’s intoxicating, but I will not let my eyelids flutter.”

Forrest and Margot both have a lot of baggage so it’s easy to see why they’re hesitant to follow through with the attraction they feel towards each other in their meet cute. But after an arduous hike that ends with Margot spraining her ankle, the two slowly start to let down their guards. There’s a lot of push and pull on both their parts, but Ms. Lavine handles it with a deft hand. She builds the tension between them expertly. I especially loved her take on the one bed trope. There are also moments of tenderness especially when the two bond over being caregivers for a loved one. They understand each other and respect the sacrifices the other has made. It was so lovely to watch their relationship develop.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. There’s lots of humor and romance.

A cute one for us romance girlies. It was fun getting to see ALL the tropes play out. I could have used a tiny bit more depth to really hook me in. But still a fun read. I’m ready to go to Alaska!

My initial thoughts on this book was that it was funny! Margot is definitely a character and I enjoyed reading her. Typically, I don’t go for cynical hell-bent on being anti-love characters but she won me over from the start. Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. I can’t wait to have this on my shelf!

Margot Bradley is a bestselling romance author who has lost her hope in Happily Ever Afters. When she appears on a podcast to talk about her upcoming novel, a hacker exposes her lack of faith by leaking her private Happy Never Afters, leading to an uproar amongst the reader community. Spiraling from the devastation from the leaked manuscripts and a potential career ending exposure, Margot’s sister decides to send her on a research getaway. The goal is for Margot to connect with nature, write her next novel, a murder mystery, and to focus on finding herself in the great outdoors in Alaska. Without Wi-Fi, finding herself on a new adventure outside of her comfort zone, Margot must learn how to navigate her feelings, the challenges she faces, while trying to reinvent herself.

When Margot arrives, Forrest Wakefield has some similar ideologies about love and life, which he starts to question as he spends more time with Margot. He prejudges her and finds himself annoyed with having to “look after” her. Forrest learns early on that Margot, and he have more in common than differences. Forrest starts to struggle with fulfilling his obligations or choosing himself.

This story is like a love letter to all romance readers. I love how it pokes fun at the predictability of romance tropes by acknowledging them along the journey. It provides us with a dose of reality that not every story has a HEA and sometimes those HEA’s look different then we expect. The relationships Margot has with her sister and Forrest has with his father create a deeper connection to some of the challenges each one face. It feels genuine, almost to the point, I questioned if it was based off real author experience. Being a caregiver for someone you love with a chronic illness, can be so difficult. There are so many underlying fears and worries for both the person who is experiencing the illness and the caregiver. It’s such a delicate dance that isn’t always done well. It scary, exhausting, and always filled with the desire to do what’s best for the person you love. I look forward to reading more. My only complaint is that I wanted more when I flipped on the last page of the book. :)

Thank you, Atria Books and Victoria Lavine for the advanced copy of this book.

This read had many favorite tropes! One bed, forced proximity, etc. Margot is a romance author who doesn’t believe in HEA. Forrest is a research MD who left his career to care for his Dad in Alaska. When Margo gets sent there by her sister (who she also is caregiver to) they are forced to spend 6 weeks together. I liked the main characters and they have depth to them as they both have given up a lot to care for their families. The author captures the joys and sacrifices caregivers face as well as the blessing and burden of being cared for. The bedroom scenes were too explicit for my taste, and at times didn’t reflect how the characters, which is why I gave it 3 instead of 4 stars.

This just wasn’t the book for me.

In this novel we follow Margot who is a romance writer who secretly writes harsh endings to the books she publishes (but doesn’t tell anyone). When these secret endings are leaked, her career is over. To help her find her spark again, her ailing sister sends her to Alaska for 6 weeks. Once there, Margot meets Forrest, the owners son/hot local doctor. From there we see all the common and cliche tropes in romance novels.

I say this book isn’t for me because Margot is such a nasty person. I get being cynical and not believing in love, but to call your readers naive for believing in your stories and characters is just plain rude. Not to mention she spends a good chunk of the book acting privileged and entitled when she interacts with Forrest. Not to mention she just loves yelling at him while he is perfectly nice.

There were too many characters in this novel. Sorry but it’s true.

Ollie drove me nuts. I’ll leave it at that. Same with Savannah and her letters. She is too cheery.

Forrest was a decent character but he deserved better than Margot.

I requested this book because I love a good Alaskan romance, but this just missed the mark. Maybe if you like loud FMCs who are rude, and crazy side characters you will enjoy this novel.

*An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review.

good romance about a romance writer who has a list of realistic endings for her characters and gets left in the dust. she goes away to alaska and meets forest and see's every romance trope with him and falls in love. He has some issues with family and life. He figures things out . Love her sister savannah. Good romance.

I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book was adorable. I will say I was thrown for a loop right away when she meets a moose and the other person in the scene is like why are you scared of it. I don't know if most people know but if you see a moose DO NOT interact. After that, it was explained that it was just cute trope after trope and in the best of ways. The growth of the characters and the relationships they have with others is great. I loved this book.

4.5 Stars!!

What a great story!

Margot is a successful Romance Writer until her secret file of Happily Never Afters is exposed all over the internet and media (alternate endings to all of her Happily Ever After stories). In the storm of her media disaster Margot’s sister sends her to an Alaskan Outdoor Adventure retreat to work on her new novel and unplug from everything.

It’s a well needed break as Margot is being cancelled by all of her readers and she could use a break from being the full time caregiver for her chronically ill sister. Little does she know the “Adventure” part of the treat means hiking and outdoor camping in freezing cold temperatures.

Dr Forest Wakefield walked away from his medical work and cancer research in California to be the caregiver for his father after an accident at their family Outdoor Adventure Retreat in Alaska.

Forest is the MMC of your dreams. He’s rugged and capable, protective, and thoughtful. He goes out of his way to care for everyone around him, including sacrifice his career to care for his father. (Oh, and he cooks too!)

Margot’s feelings on love were well justified as the men in her life had all abandoned her at some point. She had to continually remind herself of her past experiences as she randomly found herself in “trope” situations with Forest.

As her debut novel, Victoria Levine crafted the perfect balance of lighthearted humor and emotion. She created characters that you could relate to and cheer for.

The story has a found family that warmed my heart. I was so satisfied with the ending of the story not just for Forest and Margot but also for their role with their families.

Romance Content: 3 Open-door scenes and language

I hope the audio for this is in production as I know it will be a popular read when it’s released.

Thank you Atria Books for my #gifted ARC.

Margot es una escritora de romance que fue hackeada; un documento en el que expresaba todas sus frustraciones fue revelado, y los fans lo tomaron muy mal. Ahora es odiada en la comunidad.

Forrest es un doctor que estaba buscando una cura contra el cáncer hasta que su padre tuvo un accidente y se ve obligado a regresar a Alaska para cuidarlo.

Ambos son buenas personas, maravillosos hijos y, en el caso de ella, también hermana. Siempre ponen las necesidades de sus seres queridos en primer lugar. Sin embargo, cuando se conocen, se darán cuenta de que no están viviendo su propia vida y tendrán que decidir si son capaces de dar un paso atrás, permitir que su padre y hermana se cuiden solos y darle una oportunidad al amor.

This book was cute, just a little predictable. This book is best enjoyed around the holidays tucked away in a cabin in the woods. I really enjoyed the growth of the FMC in this book I just wished her storyline was slightly more developed. Overall this book was a 3.5, Enjoyable but not a must-read.

Oh man, what a trip! This book had me hooked from the very first moose encounter and I couldn’t put it down! Margot and Forrest’s struggle to navigate their own responsibilities while putting their lives on hold is so relatable - and the ANGST. The pining was so good!!

A romance book that knows it’s a romance book, and it’s refreshingly self aware. It was fun and warm, despite being set in the frozen landscape of Alaska. This may be my new favorite in this genre.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A book about a romance author who is shunned from her fans after her “Happily Never Afters” (alternate endings to her HEAs) are published, flees to Alaska, and meets a man who embodies all the tropes she doesn’t believe in? Yes please! This story gave me all the feels and was overall such a great read! Every reference to romance tropes was so well done, from the very first moment when our FMC, Margot, realizes her meet-cute with the MMC, Forrest, is so cliche yet perfect. I loved the slow burn, and Forrest gave us all the things we love about a perfect romance MMC — caring, protective, jealous, smart, funny, and gorgeous. I also loved Margot and her character development. Also, their connection… perfection! Their common experience of being caretakers for loved ones made their insta-love believable. And the writing was so good. The way they described their love for each other was poetic. From Margot’s line of, “He’s my match — the other bookend to my story…” to Forrest’s delivery of “You’ve had my heart in your teeth from day one”, I was kicking my feet happy for them. I truly loved everything about this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Margot is a romantic writer who has been disillusioned by the concept of Happily Ever Afters and secretly starts writing Happily Never Afters. When the Happily Never Afters get exposed and the romance world shuns her, Margot travels (forced by her sister) to Alaska to recover and redirect her life. There, she meets Forrest, the proprietor of the lodge she is staying at and a genius doctor with a heart of gold.

Forrest and Margot have a lot of similarities in their lives: Margot feels that it is her responsibility to care for her sister, who is chronically ill, and Forrest has put his career as a cancer researcher on hold to take care of his father. Their love lives have also taken a backseat to their dedication to their family members. They go through an enemies-to-lovers trope (among others). It was amusing to see Margot identify and call out common romance tropes when she meets Forrest and gets to know him (and swoons over him). Forrest is the best love interest (with all the qualities that the ideal book boyfriend should have), and Margot finds that her walls are slowly coming down and she slowly begins to believe in love again.

While we see Margot and Forrest grow closer with each day, it was also heartwarming to see how the relationship with their respective families changed as well: Margot with her sister and Forrest with his father. I think this book does a good job on highlighting the emotional and mental well-beings of caregivers. Margot and Forrest feel a certain responsibility to their family, but unfortunately have overlooked their own lives in the process. As they discover their own lives again, they find support in each other.

Overall, I recommend this book. It's a perfect mix of romance, humor, and family. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC!