I enjoyed a couple things about this book. The way the author created the forced proximity, and the reignition of the spark between the two main characters. But I felt a lot like I was rereading the same couple pages with how repetitive some of the introspection was. I feel that a lot of the same thoughts at the beginnings of chapters could be trimmed to help it flow a lot cleaner and smoother.

A smart, fun, and sexy contemporary romance. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down! Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced read!

I absolutely loved this book. I love that Mel was able to grow and have space to do so while also slowly and realistically fall back in love with Zac.

Thank you to NetGalley & Atria Books for this ARC!

Tropes: brother’s best friend, forced proximity, small town, sports romance

I really enjoyed reading Zac & Melody’s story. The love & support Zac shows Melody is so sweet.😩❤️ In my opinion it had the perfect amount of spice 🔥 This was my first book by Ellie K. Wilde and I’m looking forward to reading anything else she writes!

I loved this book so much! Mel and Zac’s story is so sweet. You can really feel the heartache they both experience, and watching Zac work as hard as he does is so rewarding. I felt super connected to both characters throughout the whole book and was rooting for them! Some of the pacing felt a little off- slow in some parts and fast in others- but the story itself and the ending are amazing!

“Maybe we weren’t meant to be back then. Maybe we were supposed to wait for these very raindrops in this very parking lot, to finally come together” -very much Cinderella story vibes!

I have mixed feelings about this book. There were parts that I loved and parts that I hated. I feel like the pacing was off but I’m glad the there was a HEA. I also feel like both main characters had identity crisis. Zac was cinnamon roll until he got mad and Melody was honestly all over the place. The ending made up for the whole book.

Tropes:
🏈Sports Romance
🏈Second Chance
🏈Brother’s Best Friend
🏈Forced Proximity

This book was such a fun and cute romcom! The story was great from the start and had it all! There was so many favorite tropes of mine I knew I would fly through reading it! Also, I was so pleasantly shocked by the amount of spice in this book! I love the dynamics between Zac and Melody while they each try to figure out being suddenly back in contact after years of silence! The character growth for Melody in particular was perfect! I hope to see more books on the side characters, specifically Brooks! I’m begging you! But for now I love love love how perfectly everything came together in the end for this story!! It’s a great romcom if you in the mood for something light and fun with a good dose of spice!

Thank you to Atria books and Simon and Schuster for my ARC that was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley & Atria Books for this eARC.

Melody Woods is unexpectedly dumped by her boyfriend of six years. With no where to go she decides it’s time to go back to her hometown and stay with her twin brother until things get better. It’s the last place she wants to be because ten years ago Melody got her heartbroken by her twin’s best friend Zac Porter and has avoided him ever since. Zac knows he messed everything up with Melody, but he’s determined to right those wrongs. Can people move on from the past or will grudges be the end to a relationship that never really existed?

I love when a book has a cute cover, yet inside the story has some really spicy moments! Only in Your Dreams is a novel about second chances and going after one’s dreams. It’s refreshing to see a main character in her late twenties that’s still trying to figure her life out. Melody and Zac have a lot to work through and I wish it didn’t take them 10 years to finally talk about the past. This is a heartfelt novel where football is an important aspect. I know the sports romance lovers will enjoy it.

This was not my favorite sports romance, but it was cute! The characters had good chemistry and it was apparent throughout the whole book. I really liked the dialogue and thought it was fairly well written, however story wise it wasn’t my favorite! The bar is fairly high though from what I have read this year.

Thank you NetGalley and the Atria team for providing me with an E-ARC.
3/5 starts

I enjoyed reading this story - it had just the right amount of sports references, angst, humor and sexual tension. The FMC and MMC in the story have been pining over each other for over a decade and haven't seen each other in ten years. If you love brother's best friend and second chance romance (well sort of - they were never officially together), I think you'll love this story. I did find the beginning to be a bit unrealistic with the flow of the rest of the story, however I loved getting to know Melody more and seeing her grow and thrive after coming out of an emotionally abusive relationship. I will say, I think the overall flow of the relationship between the two characters is a little all over the place, making it a bit frustrating at time for the reader. Overall, I think it was a sweet story and I'm excited to see what she does next and I would love to know what happens with the side characters, except Parker ... he infuriated me.

I adored this sports romance! The yearning and pining of 14 years was so good. The tension, the drama! I loved how supportive our MMC was to our FMC who was just getting out of a toxic, abusive relationship. And there is nothing quite like an unrequited love from both sides for 14 years and on top of that have it be brothers best friend?! It’s almost perfect. I truly loved this book and cannot wait to share it with others!

Thanks to Atria Books for sending me a copy of this one!

This was the perfect quick read to get me through the week. I think you would enjoy it if you like sports romance and authors like Elle Kennedy. It was an easy one to get through and I enjoyed the story overall. The second chance and friends to lovers tropes were well done. I would consider others by this author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for this E-ARC.

This book is amazing. It’s so stinking cute. Were there a few times where it was a little too lovey for me? Yeah but it was okay because the spice made up for it. The spice was nice. I really enjoyed it.

Melody and Zac have known each other since they were kids. Melody always had a crush on Zac. Who happened to be best friends with her twin brother. She never thought he would feel the same way. So she decided to move to the city.
10 years later and she has to move home to live with her brother. Her boyfriend broke up with her and she has nowhere to go. She’s sad, lonely, broke, and hates her job.

She hasn’t seen Zac in 10 years. What will their reunion look like? Read and find out.

*I read this as an ARC but was not compensated for this review*
WOW! Ellie Wilde leaves lasting impression on her first title.
I was so impressed by every part of this development. I’ll admit I’ve been in a rut of maybe 3-4 books being DNF by me. But this title came out swinging. I was honored and delighted by this from beginning to end. I felt a full range of emotions, and often felt like I saw a part of myself in multiple characters. It took me back to high school with such sweet and pure lust, but also reminded me of a tempered balance of love as I know it at 30. Character development was well thought. I didn’t feel like the characters had “insta-love” or anything patronizing of the genre. I will be buying this title hardcover for my grandmother, as I do with only my favorite love stories. I’m excited to see what her feedback will be because I am sure she will love it.

Do not be thrown off by the cliche tropes, the unoriginal “sportsball” theme, or the unfamiliar authors name. As an elder millennial I am unenthusiastic but still constantly searching for a mentally addictive love story. This has lived rent free in my mind during the few days I have spent writing this review. The truth is- I have looked over it a few times now just wishing I could put words together that adequately explain how enjoyable this story was.. I’ll let Ellie Wilde do the rest of the convincing.

I read the first 30% of this book and I just couldn’t get myself to finish.. I think if you haven’t read a sports romance before you might like this but it just wasn’t for me.
I am still looking for an actual enemies to lovers in a contemporary romance because this wasn’t it.
Also… how is it second chance if they were only friends before?

I won’t be leaving a review anywhere until a couple of weeks after release day since this a indie author and I genuinely think some people might like this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC ♥️

I had a pretty good time with this book. It is a second chance romance/brother’s best friend romance. The main characters pine over each other for over a decade. The FMC is straight out of a 6 year long relationship with an absolute garbage human that controlled her every move.

I enjoyed the chemistry between the characters. There was also an enjoyable football plot behind the romance. My main complaint is through the book the MMC calls the FMC a brat over and over again. Even when it is said jokingly, I just can’t get behind it.

Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars.
Second chance, brother's best friend, and grumpy x sunshine. The fun part about the grumpy x sunshine is that back in the day she was the broody one and he was the All American charmer. But 10 years later life has flipped them around, he’s the town grump due to his flagging career (and secretly pining love life..) and she is playing fake nice to everyone as a result of a defense mechanism with her awful ex. So they both help each other find their HEAs, spicy & sweet.

I loved that this was over a chunk of time and locations we really got to see the redevelop of their relationship and the slow reveals of the level of his pining. He absolutely groveled enough to make up for it. Thank you to Atria for the eARC.

🏈⋆⭒˚｡⋆ “𝓜𝓪𝔂𝓫𝓮 𝔀𝓮 𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓷’𝓽 𝓶𝓮𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮 𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓷. 𝓜𝓪𝔂𝓫𝓮 𝔀𝓮 𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓼𝓾𝓹𝓹𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝔀𝓪𝓲𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓼𝓮 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓻𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓭𝓻𝓸𝓹𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓵𝓸𝓽, 𝓽𝓸 𝓯𝓲𝓷𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓸𝓰𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻.” 🏈⋆⭒˚｡⋆

Tropes:
🏈 Second Chance Romance
🏈 Childhood Friends to Lovers
🏈 Brother’s Best Friend
🏈 Black Cat x Golden Retriever

What I Liked:
🏈 Zac. This man was perfect. He was so dedicated, so sweet, but he never made Mel feel like she had to do anything for his benefit.
🏈 I also really liked Mel! It was great seeing her get her groove back after Connor
🏈 The side cast. I feel like it’s well set up for the series I believe is planned, and I reaaally hope Parker and Summer are going to be love interests. I need it like I need air
🏈 The spice. While it was spicy when those scenes started, I never felt like it was misplaced and I was connected enough to the romance to feel like it was warranted. They had a lot of time to make up for!

What I Didn’t Like:
🏈 I feel like Mel was a bit mis-characterized. She’s described as being grumpy, but she’s…not? Maybe as a teenager, but as an adult not really. At worst, she has black cat energy.

Final Thoughts:
🏈 This was SO cute. I loved it. The romance was believable, the writing was excellent and I love how the book wrapped up. I also loved that, because this is going to be a series, the epilogue wasn’t set like years in the future. I can’t wait to read more by this author. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the advanced copy and the opportunity to review it early!

Only In Your Dreams by Ellie K. Wilde is second chance rom-com with a (tolerable) amount of football. I'm not really a sports fan, so I've always been hesitant to read these types of books, but I do not regret my decision. If you are a sports fan, you'll love it. If you aren't, you'll still love it! So, if you're on the fence about reading sporty rom-coms, here's your chance. It has just the right amount of sports, sexual tension, and humor.

I'm not going to give you a synopsis because you should just read it.

Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Ellie K. Wilde for opening my horizon to a new genre.

After moving back to the town she grew up in hot on the heels of a breakup, Melody is immediately thrust into what could be arguably the most awkward situation she’s experienced in a while—a camping trip with her twin brother’s best friend (and teenage crush) Zac. Ten years earlier, Zac messed up his opportunity to tell Melody how he truly felt about her. Melody is dead set on avoiding him rather than rehashing what happened 10 years prior (seriously, 10 years—has no one heard of a phone?!). Now that she’s finally back, can Zac make up for the mistake he made and show her how he truly feels?

Only in Your Dreams was the perfect balance of sweet and spice. I loved the depth of the characters and the strong side characters—I need to know their stories too!!!

A huge thank you to Atria books & NetGalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review! [publish date: January 21, 2025]