Thank you netgalley for this arc of wish you werent here in exchange for my honest review. I read this book in two days. Its an easy read and a class rom com. Lanas life is a bit of mess. She comes from a divorced family situation where her father remarried and had another daughter, they were raised differently than Lana. Lana is struggling both romantically and financially when she meets Ethan. They have such a fire between them that causes disaster. Lanas younger sister ia getting married in Australia and Lana has to bring a plus one to not look pathetic. She brings Ethan and hijinks ensue. There is a happily ever after. Four stars

Thank you NetGalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I DNF'd it at 50%. I truly tried to finish it because it is an ARC but I just could not waste my time any further, as harsh as that sounds. It seems like an unfinished manuscript that needs to be fixed before it's release date.

The start of the book was fantastic and super cute. It felt so promising for the first 15% but then it was just dragging on. I hated the family dynamic and felt it was just so cringe in general. I do love drama within books for families but this made me not want to read. The MMC also doesn't even exist until when I stopped reading, which is awful for a romance.

The premise was brilliant but the execution was not.

Valentine’s Day 2023, and Lana, as usual, is spending the day alone, until an unexpected encounter at the office changes her solo plans. While pretending to be her boss, Jennifer Carter, Ethan, the IT support guy, well, also pretending to be the IT guy, asks Lana out. All is well until he goes back to London and they part ways.
Now January 2025, Lana, still single living with her ex-boyfriend, Steve, meanwhile her half younger sister, perfect Ms Persephone is getting married. The event is supposed to be ‘the biggest society wedding since Wills and Kate.’ The family arranged a lunch just to set a list of rules for the wedding, but just for Lana: what to gift, how to dress, who to bring. Is her family for real? On top of that, the snooty, old-money, over-the-top wedding is on the same day as her birthday, her thirtieth birthday.
Rebel as she is, she turns to Matcher, an app to look for a grade-A wanker. So she posts a notice that looks for someone who loves getting into trouble and causing chaos and wants a free holiday to Australia.
Searching for the worst date with no success, unexpectedly, she encounters Ethan, and once again their attractions rekindle.
Will Ethan be her un perfect date?
I really enjoyed Lana and their misadventures. This book is just ideal for summer, reading by the pool.

Wish You Weren’t Here is a light, fun, quick read that has likable and fun main characters. The story flows easily from the first chapter to the last. I highly recommend this book!

Rom-coms are pure escapism for me, but the writing has to be compelling enough to pull me into the world. In this case, it was a little fluffier and goofier than I was looking to read, which isn't to say it's not a good book. It just wasn't for me.

"Wish You Weren't Here" by Portia Macintosh delivers a delightful cozy romance that will enchant fans of her previous work. The story centers around a charming "curse" that unfolds between the two main characters, setting the stage for a captivating will-they-won't-they dynamic.
The male lead, Ethan, is an absolute standout. His interactions with the Lana are witty and engaging, keeping the reader hooked throughout. The cozy atmosphere of the setting adds to the overall charm, creating a warm and inviting backdrop for the unfolding romance.
While the plot may not be groundbreaking, Macintosh's signature writing style shines through, weaving a captivating tale that is both heartwarming and entertaining.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

An easy read with a lot of laugh out loud humour. The relationship between Lana and Ethan, the main characters, is explosive and filled with incident. Throw in a wedding in Sydney Australia, a dysfunctional family and you have a perfect winter pick me up. Recommended.

📚ARC REVIEW 📚

Wish You Weren’t Here⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lana's privileged step-sister is getting married, on Lana's 30th birthday, in Australia. Always the outsider of the family, they told her very specific rules of how she should act and dress. Now, she wants to have revenge by stirring up some trouble for her family, by looking for a plus one to bring along. After no luck, she decides her ex boyfriend, Ethan, will do. Problem is, he seems to have forgotten he needs to be causing chaos and not laying on the charm.

I enjoyed this story. It was a quick read and had some funny moments. I loved Ethan and how he was always there for Lana and stuck up for her. Lana was annoying at times but mainly with her family and their dynamic. Her character did get better towards the end with lots of personal growth. I liked how this was a closed door, fade to black romance but you could feel their chemistry on page. Overall, it was a fun read!

This book will publish on January 8, 2025. Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for my advanced readers copy. This is my honest and voluntary opinion.

a laugh out loud romcom full of chaos

I'm usually a true lover of Portia Macintosh's books they always bring fun, romance and lots of belly laughs, and while this book still has some of those aspects this particular story wasn't for me.

For the positives the first half of the book was brilliant the chaos and fun was in full force and I adored the main characters with their firework chemistry. The FMC Lana was incredibly self aware and effortlessly funny and the MMC Ethan was a swoon worthy walking, talking green flag.

However my issue with the story was that every single side character in the book were atrocious human beings, from the people she worked with to her family (minus Tig). While I understand that it was intentional writing and meant to be frustrating, there was not a single positive factor or redemption arc for any of them which frustrated me to no end and drew away from the positives and fun of the book. I finished the story feeling unsatisfied that there were no real personality changes for the majority of the characters and we never got to see Lana's brilliant ideas for an app come to fruition

Although not my favourite I will of course carry on reading this author

I found this to be the cutest and a heart warming story. There are several entertaining and funny parts throughout the book. I enjoyed the contrast of the characters very much - Ethan, so easy going and laidback and Lana, determined to make her way in the world and is at odds with her family.

Ethan and Lana appear to fall on the extreme opposites spectrum. There is a very strong sexual intensity between the two. While their chemistry is almost automatic, Lana fights almost every moment. All she sees is chaos when they are together. All of this, makes Ethan the perfect plus one to her sister's wedding in Australia. Since Lana's family does not think highly of her, her decisions or interactions, she is on a mission to prove them right while having Ethan come with her.

Too many things happen leading up to the wedding thus everything becomes much more complex. Lana spends so much time fighting her attraction to Ethan. Yet, with everything that goes on, Lana starts questioning everything when it comes to Ethan.

The story has all the characteristics that are common in Macintosh's book. I liked this one very much but it did seem to move more slowly. Still, the enjoyment of her books revolves around the entertainment, warm feelings and happily ever afters. Therefore, this is a good book to read!

Portia’s books are so much fun to read and this was no exception. There’s a little more steam to this than in her other books, but it was fade to black so it didn’t get completely OTT. It’s full of classic British humor that makes Portia’s stories so fun and Ethan was such a genuine and sweet MMC and Lana’s dry humor was right up my street.
Lana comes from a well to do family and finds out that her sister is having a destination wedding on Lana’s thirtieth birthday and none of her family seem to care. So Lana decides she’s going to take the worst date possible and sets out to meet him on dating apps. Then her ex, Ethan, comes back into her life and agrees to help out with her plan and be her date but is her plan the best one? While they spend more time together, the feelings they had from their prior time together start to flame up again and Lana realizes he might be the best kind of chaos for her.
Thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

The story opens with Lana meeting Ethan at her workplace with a double case of mistaken identity, cue a rather passionate weekend after which a series of disasters including fire and flood causes their relationship to gradually fizzle d out. . Two years later she is to travel to Australia for her sister's wedding, as the black sheep of the family she is determined to take the worst possible date to the wedding, however her attempts to find a suitable date doesn't work out to well. She bumps into Ethan again and, against her better judgment, decides to take him as her date.
Lana's family sound awful, so snobish that it's no surprise that she rebels against them. Ethan sounds nice, but the combination of the two is almost literal fireworks. Having them together at the wedding is almost certain to result in unfortunate events occurring, but throw in an Earl as a romantic interest and things might become complicated.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influence my review of the book.

This book is a lighthearted romantic comedy centered on Lana, a quirky, fun-loving woman who’s the black sheep of her family. When her sister’s wedding in Australia approaches, Lana decides to bring a plus one to make a statement, especially after her family stages an intervention, urging her to behave. Enter Ethan, Lana’s charming and sweet ex-fling, who unexpectedly reappears after two years. Despite their undeniable chemistry, their history of causing chaos together makes their reunion risky. As the wedding draws closer, the pair navigate old sparks, new challenges, and plenty of comedic mishaps. This laugh-out-loud, feel-good story is perfect for readers seeking an easy, entertaining read filled with humor and heart.

Quick review: This book was a mess. The characters didn’t really make sense. Nothing was properly developed or concluded. But the MMC was dreamy, patient, and lovable.

Long review: The whole premise of the book was that FFC wants to show up to a family wedding with a bad date and force her family to accept her as she is. We spend so much time building up to that with her going on different dates trying to find a guy to take. But then once she has her date and gets to the wedding she abandons the plan immediately to try and pretend to be posh and land an earl. I just didn’t buy that for her character at all. On top of that it feels like so many things didn’t get developed or resolved. I would have loved more relationship development between her and her dad. Why did her sister just suddenly come around and start liking her? Plus they never really dealt with the “curse” that was keeping her away from the MMC and the book wrapped up with the cure to all of her life’s problems being this new relationship. Overall, there were scenes I liked (the original dates with the MMC, all the wedding group scenes, etc..) and I really did like the MMC who really went above and beyond but overall this book was far too chaotic and inconsistent for me and it felt like it didn’t follow through on its premise or anything it set up.

I found this book hard to get into. I love a cheesy rom-com and this book had hope with a very clear premise: take home a crazy guy to show my family how crazy I really am.

Then despite other options who actually could cause chaos, she proceeds to take home someone she has actual chemistry with and as a reader we're expected to just believe her that they are 'wild' together even though we aren't told the why until much later in the book.

The secondary love story did not feel like it had potential, so I spent the entire read knowing that she would end up with Ethan even though the author was setting up 'other options'. Making it a slow and predictable read.

Free proof copy provided by Netgalley.

I seriously love this author, the characters she creates are HILARIOUS!!!! She does not disappoint yet again with this romance, we have Lana and Ethan, these two met in the funniest way possible, and it was literally a dream come true on how funny, sweet and easy and spicy their first few days have been. Then we fast forward to 2 years later, a lot has happened between them, but now Lana needs a date for her sisters bday and she’s trying to get the worst of the worst and ironically, she bumps into Ethan and why NOT bring him!!!! But before all that happened, she met some funny and wild men lol. I will say this, the fake dating trope is always fun, and I was all for this, especially since Ethan has a thing for Lana, and her family sucks, I’m going to leave that last part here.

The ending though!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I ugly cried for sure.

Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Ms. McIntosh for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

This book was… not for me.

Lana, the female main character (FMC), is one of the most immature characters I’ve ever come across. She has some sort of app-development job although her role at the company is unclear. She is also a serial dater as it seems her home city of Leeds isn’t exactly full of quality prospects. Lana’s half-sister is getting married on the other side of the world (Australia) on Lana’s 30th birthday and sits Lana down alongside her father and stepmother to ask Lana to “behave herself”, dress “appropriately,” and not “embarrass the family” at her wedding. Lana’s relatives seem to be sort of narcissistic, rude, entitled jerks but Lana isn’t much of an improvement. She resents her family for treating her poorly but never speaks up for herself and in fact decides to live up to their worst expectations of her to “show them” (as if fulfilling others’ worst expectations would do anything but vindicate their opinions).

Lana has a meet-cute right at the beginning with an attractive guy named Ethan, and the two of them embark on a madcap date in which they decide to “say yes” to any question or opportunity, culminating in sex against a public-facing window (which gets them kicked out of the hotel). Then all the sudden, despite the wedding being several months away, it’s two years later, and Lana and Ethan have apparently called it quits long since because “things are too chaotic when they’re together.” Never mind the fact that their poor (and immature) decisions CAUSED the chaos. Nobody made them play the “say yes” game or get absolutely wasted.

Anywho.

The entire pacing of this book was off-kilter, jumping around with no real connection between the sections and making me wonder if I was missing something. There was no real chemistry between Ethan and Lana either aside from the two of them getting drunk and having themselves a good time. The (several) dates with other men seemed like space filler, and the insertion of a secondary love interest felt random. I was annoyed with Lana for being so immature and with Ethan for following her around. I really didn’t walk away feeling like the two of them have any sort of actual future. I was hoping to enjoy the parts set in Australia, which is such an underutilized setting for romances, but Lana’s off-putting personality was too distracting.

I feel bad giving books a poor rating, especially ARCs, but this one needs some serious work. The premise was good, and the beginning seemed like it could have been fun, but the execution thereafter was a letdown.

Thank you for the ARC! I really enjoyed this story, it was laugh out loud funny at times and the FMC was very likeable. However, I agree with all the critiques that I wish this story had an epilogue. I could see the couple being very happy together but I think it was missing that short glimpse into their happy ever after.

I enjoyed this book and didn’t want to put it down. As usually Portia’s writing style made me giggle (especially the beginning), and keep flipping pages.

Honestly this book was not it for me. Why was the company so dismissive of Lana's idea calling it the "dumbest idea ever" when literally millions of people use that idea with their friends all the time! Also Lana's fathers family and him included are just awful human beings who why has Lana not gone no contact with? Like they dont fund her life, pay her flat so why does she put up from all this verbal and mental abuse from her own father, step mother and half sister? The fact none of them give a toss her little half sisters wedding is falling on her 30th is like what? And if daddy isnt paying for Lana to go to Aus for the wedding, why is she going??? Honestly I would give it a miss.

With a family like this who needs enemies. I honestly dnf'd at 30% because if nearly all the characters are going to be a-holes why would I keep reading? I understand one or two but literally this is one of the worst books I have read as how can you jam pack so many unlikeable characters in one book and market it as a rom com, like I just got mad with each chapter so in a way the writing did invoke emotion just not one I expected reading this.