This was an excellent read. Highly recommend reading it. Couldn’t put it down
Thank you NetGalley for letting me read it

Melody and Zac spent high school as close friends with her twin, Parker. When they have a falling out after Zac ghosts her, they come back together when she comes home from a breakup after 6 years. This book was longer then it needed to be, but I do think it helped fill the story in and feel like a less rushed romance!

After the breakup from nowhere, Melody moves in with her brother and tries getting her life back together, only to find the guy who first broke her heart is still in town.

It was... fine. I read it, I finished it, but I definitely more skimmed it at the end. Maybe I've come back from my avoidance of romance too hard that I realize how far fetched some can seem. I liked seeing the growth in Melody, and I liked how she focused on herself and made Zac wait until she felt like she had her shit together.

Buuuut, Zac fell flat. The whole "I'm angry mach football man with heart of gold who will also punch someone," doesn't really fly with me. While I've definitely wanted to punch people in my life, I just never found the appeal of a current love interest punching an ex in the fave. Though I also wanted to punch Connor in the face, I wish Melody had gotten to do so verbally.

Thanks, NetGalley!

4.5/5☁️ thank you @ and @atria for this ARC. I absolutely fell in love with this world & these characters and this redemption story!!

short summary:
after ten years of avoiding her hometown, melody woods returns to oakwood bay after her longterm boyfriend ends things. zac porter, her brothers best friend, is waiting in the eaves for a second chance- thinking this might be it.
after a night gone wrong ten years ago, melody has avoided zac porter at all means. the boy she once loved is now the picture of everything she once thought she had. after a camping trip gone wrong, melody is forced to remember all the reasons why zac was that important piece of the puzzle for her. can they find healing in the relationship that once meant everything to them? or will they forever be estranged?

things i loved:
☁️THE RED SHOELACES 😭🥹
☁️ the WIT. these characters have banter for dayssss and it’s hilarious.
☁️three days stuck at a campsite is WILD- legit never heard of that one before
☁️clover 🥹 everything about this is just—- ADORABLE
☁️”…i felt her in that first raindrop that fell…..maybe i was supposed to shatter my own heart just to appreciate how good it feels when it becomes whole again.”
☁️i absolutely cannot get over the HOUSE. my dream LITERALLY.
☁️their little found family 😭🥹

this book felt like everything nostalgic. the brothers best friend trope mixed with the notebook worthy moments gave this book such a deeper context. zac’s loyalty and protectiveness over melody was absolutely everything. two broken hearts, healed by the only person capable. they truly are just each other’s person and i LOVE it. also the way they grow in their friendship but also as individuals- the character growth is crazy- and their relationship with noah just made everything sweeter.

tropes:
-brothers best friend
-football romance
-one bed, one tent 🤪
-forced proximity
-the notebook themed moments!!
-“it’s always been you”
-second chance

would i recommend? 3728291% sold on it

📚Book Review📚

First I would like to say thank you to @netgalley, the author of course, and @atriabooks for letting me get to read this ebook!

Only in Your Dreams was SOO freaking cute! Easily a 4.5 ⭐️ for me!

So this book was a bit of a slow start for me, it kind of took me a bit to be super interested in Melodys character cause I don't do well reading too much "woe is me, everything is fine." I will always prefer my FMC to have a bit more edge but as the book continues that spark starts to be seen and I was living for it for sure 😂

Zac as far as a MMC is very cutesy, but I feel like if this book just went a little more to the left, Zac would have made a great morally grey character in anything else. His immense need for Melody had moments of being sweet and other moments of being "please breathe sir" 😅otherwise he was the absolute dream boat of a football coach that you can imagine.

The SPICE of this book was 🫣🤌🏼😈

All in all if this hasn't made it to your TBR and you're into sports romances or maybe forbidden/secret romance than this is it!

This books was the perfect friends to lovers, brother’s best friend, second chance situation book! Zac and Mel’s connection is precious and spicy in perfect measures. I love an obsessed MMC and Zac fits that perfectly. I love that there didn’t need to be a huge third act break up but they were able to talk out and move forward in their relationship. So fun and cute and a great read! 🫶🏼

This was a cute and spicy second chance sports romance. I loved that the FMC was rediscovering herself after leaving a toxic relationship.

I liked the brother’s best friend trope here but I was SO irked by the miscommunication and it took me forever to finish the book. I think everything Zach did for Melody was precious and the angst was top tier.

For the most part the story moved along well but I felt like some scenes were unnecessary and it was a bit too long. But overall, I enjoyed the journey! I laughed, I cried, I swooned and I loved seeing Melody learn how to trust herself again.

Thanks so much to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

If you like second chance, friends to strangers to lovers, brothers best friend- this is for you!!! All
The tropes, all the feels, all the fun!

This was very cute if not a bit too drawn out! I just wanted the hero and heroine to be in more scenes together. This had the perfect amount of angst.

Brother's best friend romance as well as a second change romance? Sign me up. I really enjoyed this book. The banter between Zac and Melody was top tier, as well there was NO third act breakup, which is a huge win for me. The characters were very well rounded as well as plot vs. spice, had a great balance.
I really liked the switch up where the guy was head over heals for the girl, but also he followed through respectfully. I feel like the author did a great job at capturing the abuse that Melody experienced with Connor, as well as the after effects she felt once she came to terms with what happened throughout the past 6 years!

“it’s not your job to keep my ego intact, least of all, by minimizing the way you feel”
Zac and Melody were high school friends, Zac and Mel’s twin brother played football together and were basically brothers.
Mal and Zac had feelings for each other but didn’t know the other felt the same way, it just never worked out before they both went off to college, Zan stayed in their small town playing football, Mel went to the city.
Zacs character is written so well, he is the sweetest most adoring man ever.
Melody is considered “grumpy” but her personality is so amazing, she’s witty and so so funny, her humor is complex and not everyone would love it, I certainly did.
Mels story was devastating, I loved how well her mental abuse was written, not everyone understands that abuse doesn’t always have to be physical.
I absolutely loved Noah and Zacs relationship, really hoping we can get more about his life after getting drafted, even more about his life growing up in a not so great environment.
I really hope I get to see more of Brooks, Summer and Parker,

This was super cute and fun!

Zac and Melody’s story definitely read more like a college aged romance than an adult one, but I loved it. The “breaks up with the horrible big city boyfriends, comes back to fall in love with the small town boyfriends from her childhood” is a trope we see all the time but I feel like I’ve never seen the moment she realizes just -how- much he had manipulated her actually written on page before this. Everything about the camping trip was beautifully written.

This wasn’t a crazy exciting book or one that moved all that fast, but I didn’t mind.

The clover thing was precious, the shoelace thing was even more precious

Every time Noah was mentioned I wanted to scream because that whole relationship was so special I love it

ARC from Atria Books

“If Zac Porter wasn’t Zac Porter, I’d let him destroy my life and ruin my credit rating.”

Perfect read for fans of The Notebook and Sweet Home Alabama. I absolutely loved this one. Couldn’t put it down. It was so easy to love Zac and Melody. Their chemistry was off the page. Truly. This was solid plot and spice 🌶️ .
The pacing was a bit quick upfront, but it still hooked me. And Oh my God. A reverse “Who did this to you?!”
This absolutely sets up a series and I am dying to see who gets the next book: Parker (Melody’s twin), Summer, or Brooks. Also anyone else secretly rooting for Summer to have to choose between Brooks and Parker?

CW: controlling ex boyfriend, alcoholic father

Sports Romance - Football
Second Chance
Best friends sister/Brothers best friend
Enemies to Lovers
He Fell First/Harder
It Was Always You

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this republished eARC.

First off, thank you NetGalley, Ellie K Wilde, and Atria Marketing for an ARC of Only in Your Dreams.

Brother's Best Friend
Friends to Enemies to Lovers
Forced proximity
Miscommunication

I loved this book! Zac and Melody started off as friends but after a kiss gone wrong followed by miscommunication, they haven't spoken in over 10 years. Forced together on a disastrous camping trip, they begin to rebuild their relationship one mishap after another. Melody also is reeling from a recent breakup and begins to see red flags in her previous relationship. Zac helps her create her own "playbook" to help her reach her goals and accomplish them on her own. Zac is the best! He is patient and kind and always puts Melody's needs first. He has learned from his mistakes in the past and isn't letting this chance with Melody pass him by. This was a quick read and kept my attention the whole time! I'm hoping we get more books for the side characters in this story in the future!

Super cute story--Loved the romance between Mel and Zac! It kept my attention and I was rooting for their romance the whole story, but it was not predictable at all times like so many books are! I'll be reading more from this author soon!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓-𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒇 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓. 🍀

I absolutely loved this book. Melody and Zac see each other for the first time in 10 years after a miscommunication that left them both hurting. They were so real and I enjoyed watching them grow both as individuals (especially Melody after her breakup) as well as together. The shoelaces?? The clovers?? Ugh 😩 The humour that Ellie was able to sprinkle in had me cackling. All the elements worked - the sneaking around, the yearning, the groveling, the fake dating, and oh my gosh I LOVED the dynamic with Noah. My heart 🥹 It was so tender. A great read.

Check TWs as there are some difficult themes that are explored in this novel. 💚

𐙚 Brother’s Best Friend
𐙚 Second Chance
𐙚 Small Town・Sports Romance

From the first chapter of Only in Your Dreams by Ellie K. Wilde, I knew this book was going to consume me - AND IT DID! My day easily committed itself to this book. The chemistry. ❥ The quick wit. ❥ The banter. ❥ It’s an easy, one-day read that had me glued to my seat. I genuinely didn’t want the story to end; it’s the kind of book that stays with you. Ellie K. Wilde’s writing flows effortlessly, making you feel like you’re right there with the characters rooting for them, living through their ups and downs, and I couldn’t get enough of it. The chemistry was electric, the banter on point, and pacing so seamless that putting it down wasn’t an option. ❥ Who me? Just obsessively grinning and reading. Did I mention - the chemistry. ❥ the quick wit. ❥ the banter.
This was a charming, laughing, talking to the characters out loud romance. ・❥・

Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰ /5

Thank you for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. ・❥・

Only in Your Dreams is a second chance, brother's best friend romance. Melody has just gotten out of a long, toxic relationship in the start of the story and (predictably) she's pretty emotionally wounded. But scene after scene in the beginning she continues to get into situations that make her seem increasingly more pathetic, where she's being "rescued" by the MMC, and making her out to be SO HELPLESS and pitiful and I hateeeee it. After the camping trip from hell the story does get better, but it continues to not be very believable. This man-who is so in love with her that he pines after her for 14 YEARS-is given the opportunity to come clean to her brother about their secret relationship and he chooses to keep it in the dark and pretends she's dating someone else??! Make it make sense. Also, I'm sorry, but Melody searches forever for a job that is perfect for her, applies for the job, and drives 3 hours to go interview, but Zac ISN'T EVEN LOOKING, and the perfect job for him (and them) just falls in his lap as he's standing there?! Nope. There are so many incredibly sweet, romantic things that occur in this book, and I did enjoy it, but I wish it was a bit more realistic. Thanks Netgalley for the e-ARC!

Met my new book boyfriend, sorry folks! The tropes, the story, the writing. Just so great. I've so been into sports romance lately and this one totally delivered. I ate up the brothers best friend story line!

3.5 stars

I did find myself enjoying this read and wanting to get back to reading it. Melody comes home after a break up finding herself around Zac, her teenage crush who left her hanging after a vulnerable moment. Throughout the book she comes to a revelation of how controlled she was in her pervious relationship while learning what it means to truly be the center of someone else’s world. Zac was such a sweetheart throughout the book! He knew he messed up, he tries to remedy that mistake by supporting Melody in her process of self love and worth while falling in love with her all over again.