4/5 stars (“chars” 😂)

I loved this cutie little romance! It had a bunch of tropes, as the title suggests, and I enjoyed the chemistry between the MCs. If anything, I wish the ending was not as rushed and we could have learned more about the future of their relationship. I also think what helped make the book a strong read was the inclusion of more serious topics of loss and caretaker duties, so that it wasn’t a story solely about love.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the early e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

*ARC Review*

This book was so good! It’s hard to believe this is her debut!

From the very beginning, this book drew me in. I felt so bad for Margot after her disastrous zoom meeting, which then blacklisted her from the romance community because of her Happily Never After file.

Her first meeting with Forrest was hilarious and I loved the romance tropes that kept popping up throughout the story. Their connection was instant, even if Forrest wanted nothing to do with her.

Margot is honestly just a jaded person who has lost faith in love over the years, yet she still writes romance stories with the HEAs that her readers expect. I admired her ability to write books about something she has a hard time believing in. I also highly admired her strength - she put her wants and needs aside for her sister who has an autoimmune disease and whom she is the main caretaker for.

Forrest is a grumpy man, but also the sweetest man who gave up his entire life’s work to be his father’s caretaker. This man was a whole ass doctor, the top in his field for breast cancer research (because that’s what his mom died from ☹️) and he dropped everything to go home to Alaska to run his father’s resort and take care of him.

Even through the dislike, Forrest couldn’t not take care of Margot - from carrying her down the mountain on their first excursion, to skin-to-skin cuddling to avoid hypothermia. Their chemistry was so hot and when they finally said eff it, woof 🥵 The spice was so good and their relationship was so believable.

The health of their family members threw a wrench in their relationship, but I’m glad both Savannah and Trapper took control of their situations and forced Margot and Forrest to find their way back to each other.

Again, I loved this book and I cannot wait to see what Victoria writes next. She has a bright future ahead with this as her debut.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC! 🩵

Ok I LOVED this. It’s the author’s debut book and was amazing. The characters were pleasant. It was a fast read. Alaskan setting. Helped get me out of a slump. Poked gentle fun at every romance trope. Highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc.

Thank you Victoria Lavine, Atria, & NetGalley for an eARC of Any Trope but You!

This was such a fun & cute read! Not only did it make me smile & laugh SO many times, but it also pulled on my heartstrings. I loved the fun take on exploring an abundance of romance tropes! From the funny meet cute to the banter & undeniable chemistry between Margot & Forrest, this book is everything you want in a rom com.

I loved that Margot & Forrest were able to form a deeper connection through their shared experience of caretaking for a family member (Margot’s sister & Forrest’s dad). Those relationships were extremely important to each character & the way they understood each other’s devotion to their families was so wholesome. Speaking of other characters, I also felt the side characters overall were all done SO well & really added to the story!

I just really loved this book & thought it was a great debut novel for the author! I will certainly read anything else she writes.

Unfortunately this book was a miss for me. I found the main character unlikable and the chemistry forced. Margot was rude and hard to root for. The setting was great and I liked the side characters.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the eARC.

4

This was so cute!! I must say that I’m a sucker for an Alaskan romance (I have never been to Alaska lol) so I was really excited for this! Also, I love a story where an author is the FMC, it’s super fun to see authors get to basically write themselves (or parts of themselves) into a story.

I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about all the references to tropes and all, but they genuinely made me giggle. It’s kind of tongue in cheek and almost breaking the fourth wall a little? We’ve got enemies to lovers, one bed, snowed in, damsel in distress, etc, etc. and it’s really funny to see those play out while also having an MC literally acknowledge it as it’s happening.

The banter between Margot and Forrest was perfect! I was actually laughing out loud several times at their interactions. They just kind of clicked right from the start, even if neither of them could admit it.

Honestly, this story and writing style give me Tessa Bailey vibes! It was fun and lighthearted, but also had a deeper backstory for both Margot and Forrest and why they were closed off to love. There was a lot happening for both of these characters, and I personally could have done a little without the Adam and Charlotte storylines, as I’m not sure they just added a whole lot? Or maybe I just needed a little more from them to actually show more on how they impacted the characters.

The ending came full circle for Margot and was really satisfying! I was rooting for them both so hard. Is there a bit of a third act breakup? Yeah, but it’s not like brutal or anything, it’s more like adult characters making hard adult decisions (although Forrest could have been smarter).

This was a really great debut and I’m excited to see more from this author!

I received this NetGalley ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Genre: romance
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spicy: 🌶️
Trigger warnings: Anxiety, (online - fan to author) Bullying/Harassment/general online shaming, Terminal illness (mentioned), Chronic Illness (side characters)

This book made me feel:

I want to say how much credit I give to the author for completing this book and taking the chance on their ideas that they have successfully gotten their work published. There are so many people that will never accomplish this same feat and although I may not have personally enjoyed this book as much as I was hoping I know there are plenty of people this book will be more suited for.

The blurb had me immediately intrigued by the book. It is a satirical romance focusing on a romance author who has lost hope of finding any love for herself after her past relationships have all ended badly. She ends up going to Alaska for the main portion of the novel where she constantly experiences classic romance book tropes.

That is where the intrigue for me ended. It was overall just an average read. I was not super engaged but it was still decently interesting, but it was extremely predictable which made me want to pick the book up less. Honestly by the 20% mark I felt like I knew how the entire story would unfold, which is not a very fun feeling. From there it felt like a bit of a drag to read the book because it was so predictable.

I also was not the biggest fan of our main character, Margot, because her personality did not seem consistent. One minute she was nice and the next she would be rude. And I could partially understand her reasoning - afraid to open herself up to someone new that she immediately was attracted to but ultimately she’s afraid she will end up having her heart broken. But the back and forth was not for me.

I also did not really feel much chemistry between our two main characters. But I do feel like that is mainly because we were going from trope to trope, I felt like we were just ticking them off a list, and we didn’t have any moments where we truly see our characters interact together just as people. I was just hoping for a bit more development of the scenes. Margot would also after nearly each trope happened would say the trope which felt unnecessary. I again get the point because she’s an author and brings in the title of the book, but it always took me out of the story a bit by focusing so much on the tropes.

Favorite Character:

Forrest - To me he had the most depth between our two main characters and the most consistent character to read about and from.

📖✍️🫎🏔️❄️🌅🏕️🧡

This was soooo cute and I was floored when I saw it was a debut! Obviously you know by the title that this will play with different romance tropes and there’s basically every single one you can think of here but it was done in such a fun and cheeky manner! It took a pretty cliched series of tropes and put an original and funny spin on things that I just adored. If a romance has witty banter I’m pretty much sold and there was plenty of that goodness here. Besides the amazing romance between Margot and Forrest the relationships with the secondary characters were just as charming too. Margot’s bond with her sister was so special and Forrest’s relationship with his dad made me teary at times. Since she is a romance author this was one big love letter to romancelandia and I thought that was such a cute addition. Loved this one clearly and can’t wait to see what the author comes up with next!

I loved this!!! Margot and Forrest’s story had me with heart eyes the whole time I was reading. It was fun reading and trying to figure out how they would end up together. I enjoyed the nods to classic romance tropes, I didn’t feel like they were too much.

A cute book that includes almost every romance trope in the book, yet doesn’t feel cliche. Margot and Forrest’s story is one that you’re rooting for the whole way through. Lavine does a great job developing the lead characters and creating a fun romance.

this is quite literally “the simple wild” by k.a. tucker!! if big buff alaskan mountain men, city girlies with a penchant for getting into trouble with a heart of gold, and forced proximity are your thing, i present THEE book for you ✨ this honestly flew by and i finished it in one day- the writings easy and addicting wh8le handling more serious themes of caretaking by both mc’s and how it affects you as an individual

This was a fun read!

What I enjoyed:
*Main character being “cancelled” by her romcom readers for not believing in happy ever afters, escaping the world and working to redeem herself. Great character arc.
*The Alaska setting & mountain man hero who’s really a Dr.
*The family on both sides
*The romance and all the tropes!

Over all I really enjoyed this story and it gave me all the happy feels once I finished.

This was one of the most realistic romance books I’ve read in a while. The internal lives of all the characters were very fleshed out.

I adored this book! The banter between the main characters had me kicking my feet and chuckling the whole book. The only thing I struggled with was some of the pacing. Some sections could’ve been longer (the ending, excursions, etc) and other sections could’ve been shaved down. Overall I really enjoyed this book!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

My favorite ARC I’ve read in a LONG time + the easiest 5 🌟

Thank you to @atriabooks for this E ARC in exchange for my honest review.

🌟: 5 stars easy! At first, I hadn’t planned on reading this book because my child and the FMC share a name, but I am so glad I did! Margot, a famous romance author is going through a rocky divorce so she writes secret alternate endings to all her romance novels. This file gets leaked in a huge, public scandal. Her sister decides to send her to Alaska so she can write in a new genre. Once there, she meets Forrest, who is back in Alaska caring for his father.

If you are a fan of It Happened One Summer or Beach Reads go ahead and preorder this asap. This book is hilarious, romantic, and emotional all at the same time. Margot + Forrest both have things to work on, but watching them come together was nothing short of magical.

“what I didn’t understand about Happily Ever After is that there are some people who come into your life—even for just a moment—who have the power to fundamentally change you forever. They’re the people who see right through all your masks, and all your bullshit, and love you anyway. And not just despite all your wounds but because of them too. You’re safe in their hands for as long as you can hold on to each other, but even when it’s time to part ways, you leave knowing you’ve been truly seen.”

This is such a good debut book. This book had so many different tropes in it, but the fact that that was part of the joke made it feel less like throwing things at the wall and seeing what stuck. This was also SO funny. I was actually laughing at so many of the lines in this book. I cannot wait to read more from this author in the future.

Thank you to Atria and Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book!

This is a romance novel making fun of romance novels and it pulls that off perfectly. *chef’s kiss*

I especially enjoyed the setting of the FMC city girl Margot being at a remote Alaskan lodge. But I’m still wondering where her tent went…

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an ARC of this book! This is my honest review.

I loved this book! Who doesnt love every troupe being thrown at a person. Things i loved inlcuded the setting in Alaska with a "city girl", steam room (wink wink), the sisters relationship. And lasty Forest is the perfect man!!! He is now in my top 5 book boyfriends.

I thought this was a very predictable book.
It does have a few funny parts. If you like your romance with heat definitely add this one to your list.

This book was an absolute delight! Truly surprised to hear this is a debut and looking forward to reading more from this author. This book had so many of my favorite things: a cozy setting, character development, and lots of heart. Appreciate the opportunity to read this early and can’t wait for others to enjoy it as well!