3⭐️ there was some really cute moments in this book! I think a lot of people will love this, but for me, it was a bit too long and the pacing was a bit off.

-tropes: second chance, brothers best friend, it’s always been you

-what i liked: quarterback turned football coach, romantic gestures, the mmc being cute, the ten years of pining/yearning

thank you Atria for the ARC!

I couldn’t love this book more if I tried. I made 62 annotations, it’s almost embarrassing how much I love it. Everything that came out of Zac’s mouth made me melt.

“I don’t understand how you’re single.” “I’ve never been single. I’ve been yours.” 🥰

He is perfection. I mean if what he does for Noah doesn’t get you, then you have to love how he is with Melody. He is so far gone for her, there is no lengths he won’t go to see her happy.

And Melody, that poor girl had some healing to do. He gave her to space to do that and it was so good to see her come into herself and find her bite again.

This book is charming, it’s funny, the banter is top notch and don’t worry the spice was spicing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author Ellie K. Wilde for the advanced copy. All my opinions are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

In Your Dreams was just everything you could ask for in a romance book! It has second chance romance, tension, one bed, brothers best friend, and of course sooo many moments of Melody and Zac just being absolutely adorable!

I appreciated all of the characters and the roles they played in both melody’s and Zac’s lives. Except Conner of course!! While he may have been important for Mel to realize what live could be, I still have to hate him ☺️

Despite this, however, this book was very hard for me to get through. It may have just been my attention span but this book seemed to feel longer than it had to be and it was just hard for me to stay focused and read more than a few chapters at a time because my mind kept drifting off.

I enjoyed many of the moments in this book and although it wasn’t amazing for me, I would still recommend it to others who are looking for a cute, simple romance book 🥰

This second chance, brother’s best friend romance really hit the spot for me. I’m not always a big fan of second chance and I don’t really know if this actually counts as second chance, but I could understand some of the reasoning behind it. I did have to side eye the miscommunication, but the slow burn pining and angst was really well done.

Melody and her twin brother Parker have been friends with Zac since they were 14 years old. But when they’re 18 and Melody is about to move away for college she decides to make a move on her and her brother’s friend, only to be rejected. Ten years later she finds herself going back home following a break up.

This book was fun, with a disastrous camping trip, a fake dating plot, but not in the way you think, and plenty of well intentioned friends. For real, one plot point, and quote, reminded me of a very specific Friends episode (won’t be sharing the quote or the episode for spoilers). The dual POV between Melody and Zac helped to show both characters’ development.

And with any good romance, the side characters are very important. While I didn’t care for Parker, Melody’s twin brother, he grew on me by the end. I’m looking forward to reading Brooks’ story next, and I’m feeling like there might be a Parker and Summer story in the future.

Melody and Parker are twins. Parker's best friend is Zac. Zac lives with his grandma and becomes part of Parker and Melody's family through high school. Zac and Melody are in love with each other through high school and neither one knows. The night before Melody leaves for school, she flubs her goodbye to Zac and reveals her feelings. He, being the good guy he is, wants to clear it with her brother before making his dream come true. Parker is a little drunk at a party and isn't happy about it, fighting with Zac. Zac leaves Melody hanging and heartbroken. Zac withdraws heartbroken as well. Melody goes off to school and meets Connor, a controlling ahole. She wastes 6 years of her life on him and he dumps her, forcing her to stay with Parker to rebuild her life. She ends up on a camping trip with Zac. Both are shaken up by being thrown together after all this time, but Parker is determined to get Melody to trust him again and fight for a chance. Melody is reluctant after realizing how Connor really messed with her head. Zac is amazing holding back from what he really wants to do with her and protects her and supports her however he can. They slowly reconnect and realize that things could have been like this the whole time. Parker got on my nerves a bit. Summer and her unlucky trail of dates leaves me wanting more. Brooks' story broke my heart and I need to know what happens with him. I also want to hear about Noah.

This is one of the best second chance romance I've read in a while!

When Melody returns to her small town after moving the city, single, broke and a little broken, things do not look like they can get a whole lot worse. What Melody doesn't plan on is getting stranded on a camping trip with Zac, the boy who broke her heart that final day of senior year. As Melody puts back the pieces of her life after she realizes her big city life was a lot less of the dream she originally thought it was, she can't decide if she wants to leave space for Zac.

I loved this book! It's a sports romance but really it's about creating second chances, following your dreams, and healing. I do suggest to check the trigger warnings for coercive control and financial abuse.

Thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is for second chance romance fans and is an entertaining read that flew by pretty quickly.

The absolute treasure of this book is Zac, who is the definition of a green flag. Head over heels for Melody for over a decade, he's absolutely determined to win her back when she finally returns. Zac is a total sweetheart, adorably jealous of even the most unlikely rivals and those moments had me laughing out loud. He's incredibly supportive of Melody's ambitions, even when they might mean a long-distance relationship.

My feelings on Melody are a bit more mixed. She can be witty and intelligent, and it's admirable to see her reclaiming her identity after years of manipulation by her ex. However, I didn't always connect with her. At times, her hesitance to fully commit felt a bit like leading Zac on, though it's understandable given her past experiences.

Thankfully, there's no dramatic third-act breakup! While they face some obstacles and uncover some challenging truths, Melody ultimately needs time to process the information, not distance from Zac. This realistic approach to their relationship felt refreshing.

Overall, I enjoyed "Only in Your Dreams" and would recommend it to fellow romance readers.

4 Stars

#books #bookishlife #booklover #readingisfun #iowabookstagrammers #iowabookstagram #netgalley #atriabooks #onlyinyourdreams #elliewilde

Immediately adding Zac to my list of book boyfriends 😍 Not just the love he has for Melody but his relationship with Noah too. All the little foreshadowing and pieces of Melody he has had over the years is so sweet. This is truly a story of right person wrong time. He just wanted to get it all right and caused a mess in the process. As far as the spice goes, I was definitely not disappointed. There were so many dirty scenes through the whole book. Honestly a lot more than I expected. Overall Im giving it 4.5 ⭐️

What a cute brother's best friend romance! melody is back home after her relationship ends and meets back up with Zac, her brothers best friend and the boy who stood her up years before. I love that even though ten years have passed, they still had feelings for each other. You just wanted to root for them from the beginning. My only complaint is that the book ran longer than it probably needed to be.
3.75 Stars

If you like sports romances and brother’s best friend tropes and are looking for a quick read you might enjoy this. It felt a little cookie cutter to me, but was an enjoyable read and the tension was great! There was discussion of psychological domestic abuse that might be triggering for some, but was respectfully depicted.

3/5 🌶️ multiple open door scenes

Thanks to Atria Books for the early reader copy.

I wanted to love this, but it just didn’t work for me. Insta love is not my vibe. It was also a little wild how quickly they got together?

3.5⭐

my thoughts in a few sentences:

i thought this story was cute! there were some cringey parts that made me roll my eyes, like the characters tripping and falling every 2 seconds, but it either got better or i got more used to it the further i got in lol. i think what i really loved about this book was zac. and the SPICE omg. the mouth on that man. i recommend!

my full thoughts:

my first impressions of this book was it was not what i was expecting. i was expecting more football and for it to feel more like a sports romance. there is more football towards the middle and end. but, in the first 30% of this book, the main characters are stranded at a campsite for several days. i mean it created forced proximity and some tension, but i was not expecting that.

what really made this book for me was the yearning and the spice. the main male character, zac, is the definition of down bad. like 14 years down bad. the whole plot of the 10-year radio silence between the main characters could have been avoided if they just spoke to each other one time, but it did create some decent yearning so i will take it. the spice in this book was really good in my opinion. i was waiting for the next spice scene wondering what this man was going to say and do next. if you like a vocal man, this book is for you!

i will not spoil it for you, but there is also a very specific microtrope in here that i personally really enjoy in books, and it was done really well! it was really sweet and shows how much melody has meant to zac for half his life. 🍀

overall, i recommend only in your dreams! it is available in stores and on kindle unlimited now!

thank you atria and netgalley for he free eARC 😊

Alright guys, whoever likes a spicy second chance romance needs to read this! Imagine loving someone in high school and waiting 14 years to be with them (!!!)

I’d consider Melody and Zac reserve grumpy x sunshine. She’s never been super lovey dovey but Zac is definitely down bad for this girl. The burn is sloooow but it’s so worth it to be along for the ride while they find their stride.

Melody is a strong FMC. She’s coming out of a very toxic relationship and working towards getting her life back on track. She’s doing what feels right for HER, not for someone else. Even though I was begging her to give into Zac, I knew she needed to follow her own plan and I was proud she stuck to it.

Now for Zac Porter… 🥵 ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! No notes. Thank you Ellie K. Wilde for blessing the world with his character. The way he is so patient and supportive of Melody. The house? The clovers? THE TATTOO?! Ugh, he’s perfect. You just need to read about him for yourself. You’ll melt 🥰

Thank you Atria Books for the e-arc!

I LOVED this. Very fast paced, but sooo good. I feel like there was just the right amount of information to be able to know what was going on at the start and then it was perfectly executed.

I absolutely loved the banter between Zach and Melody. It was the right amount of fun, but sweet flirtatious vibes. I think I might be obsessed with this book now.

This book hit just the right way! It was such a fun read and the spice was perfect! This book is great for anyone looking for a sports romance, childhood friends, brothers best friend or anyone looking to read romance. I will definitely be looking out for more books by this author and can’t wait to watch them grow! Thank you so much NetGalley, the publisher and the author for giving me the opportunity to read an arc of this book.

I enjoyed this book an unreasonable amount. The second chance love story, the steamy chemistry, the unrelentingly supportive partnership, the sweet found family element… it all worked for me. This was exactly what I wanted to take me out of my brain and transport me into something fun I could root for.

The one thing that did bother me was the that the author clearly isn’t actually a college football fan, so the inaccuracies kept taking me out of the story (ex. Friday night games, the weirdly described NFL draft — I think she was thinking of basketball, not football, etc.). With a few small changes to fix that, this read would’ve been perfect for me.

4.5 stars

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Predictable... but cute! A heartwarming, fast read. And look, I don't have anything against predictable romances (it's like reaching for a comfort blanket) when carried out well and this was pretty well-executed. This was easy to read, lighthearted but also dealt with some serious issues. I loved having two characters that you can't help root for. That being said, I'm not sure the tension and big reveal as to what happened all those years ago really paid off for me.

I loved this sweet and intense slow-burn second-chance romance! I appreciated that the book's brother-best-friend trope didn't involve an age gap, which can sometimes feel a bit strange or uncomfortable in other stories. This made it more believable that they had spent so much time together as teens and developed feelings for each other.
The chemistry and connection between Zac and Melody was clear from the beginning, despite their efforts to resist each other. They have always been a great example of what true love is. As their relationship has not come easily, I adored that they have worked hard to build it. Step by step Zac and Melody have learned to trust each other, and have built a strong foundation for their relationship. When everything finally falls into place, they feel like they are meant to be together (and author convinced with in that either!).
Thank you Atria books and Netgalley and for an eArc of this book!

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Ellie Wilde (hi, bestie!) for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was my first Ellie Wilde book, and it won’t be my last. I devoured this sweet, heartfelt story and am eager to read the next book in the series (PLEASE!)

Only in Your Dreams is perfect for lovers of childhood friends to lovers, witty banter, slow-burn spice, angst, and cinnamon-roll heroes. Zac was written so well, and Melody’s humor and sharp wit brought the perfect balance to the story. (Oh, and there's no third-act breakup!)

I also appreciated how the book tackled mental abuse, shedding light on how it can be just as damaging as physical harm. Ellie did a stunning job with such a complex and delicate topic.

This is a must-read. Trust me. All the stars.

I love this book! It has all the ingredients that make up a perfect read for me. After avoiding it for 10 years because of Zac, her brother’s best friend, Melody comes home after her controlling, complete jerk of a boyfriend breaks up with her. What she doesn’t know is Zac has been secretly pining for her all that time.
I adored the writing and can’t wait to read more from Ellie. The characters were so interesting and kept me hooked, including the side (I cannot wait for the next book!) Zac is a new favorite book boyfriend! I don’t want to give anything away but he was seriously the sweetest. I loved everything about this one.

Read/Listen if you like ⇣
•Ex friends to lovers
•Second chance
•Slow burn
•Forced proximity
•Brother’s best friend
•Football romance
•It’s always been you
•Dual POV
•Spice

Thank you Atria Books, the author, and NetGalley for the ARC!