This was my first novel by this author. The second chance romance had lots of potential. I liked the hockey player and author combination. Where this one lost me was that the characters didn’t seem to have much chemistry. Overall a nice read and I would try another by this author. Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the opportunity to read an early copy.

Received this book from NetGalley and was excited because I have loved all Kelley Armstrong writes. The Cainsville series, Rockton books, all of her strong paranormal female characters. So to get to read a rom-com by her was something I was looking forward to reading.

This one didn’t disappoint. It’s a fun rom-com story that brings characters with enough emotional intelligence to work on themselves and try not to repeat mistakes. I did enjoy the two-person narrative as well to be inside both minds.

On the day her debut romance novel is published, Gemma Stanton doesn't expect to see her high school crush, Mason Moretti. Nobody is supposed to know that he was the inspiration for her novel's "hothole" highlander hero, but it seems that the similarities are too obvious not to notice. When their first encounter in twenty years goes viral, pro hockey player Mason proposes that they fake date to help promote her book. Gemma agrees and as the two date, their old feelings bubble to the surface.

This was a fun book! I am really enjoying Kelley Armstrong's romance novels. They are entertaining stories with fun dialogue that I really enjoy. Although this book had some fun and flirty parts, it was balanced with some other more serious topics. What really captured my attention in this book was how real Gemma and Mason felt. They felt real in the sense that they were flawed and had very human feelings about things that they have experienced. Mason had surprisingly complicated feelings about his family, career, and recent events in his life. Being with Gemma helped him see that his feelings were valid even if he felt bad for having them.

The "it's always been you" and second chance romance tropes are two of my favorite tropes, and this one had all of the elements that I love about the tropes. We got to see them reminiscing about their relationship when they were younger and those parts were really sweet. The two secretly crushed on each other in those early years and needed to grow up to be able to see that they were meant for one another.

Pick this one up for wholly enjoyable second chance sports romance!

Steam level: 🔥🔥¾
⚠️: mention of divorce, miscarriage, abusive relationship

Writing Mr. Wrong is a very enjoyable rom-com about misunderstandings: taking a failed crush from the past and enabling a romance many years later. A lighthearted, fast read. I always look forward to and enjoy reading Kelley Armstrong's novels, regardless of the genre.

Gemma and Mason have known each other since kindergarten.. They each harbored secret crutches on each other. A humiliating result of a promising kiss the day before their High School graduation left Gemma devastated, but she played it cool. Fast forward 20 years, And she has used her disdain for Mason as inspiration for the jerk hero in her debut romance novel. No one is supposed to be able to recognize the character as being the NHL Superstar Mason Moretti since he is a tilted Scotsman. However, their classmate and mean girl invites Gemma on her daytime talk show to promote her book. She doesn't know Mason will be there. The result is that they trend on social media.. Mason's agent suggests they fake date to give his image a much needed boost.

I like both Gemma and Mason. They have many layers built from years of complicated relationships with people in their lives. I think she is good for him. .I love that he listens to audio books It was good that it was dual POV and flashbacked to what happened in high school.

I thought it was an awkward balance of slow burn, spicy, and close door romance. It was unrealistic that Gemma had no problem with Mason's past womanizing and felt comfortable discussing it with him.

I love the grandmothers and the other older woman toward the end of the book.

Overall. I enjoyed the book and read it in 2 days. I would recommend.

Thank you for an advanced copy and exchange for my honest opinion.

I hate it but I ditched this book at 68%. At this point, there was no growth, no romance and the same struggles repeated over and over. I was in it at first but I just needed some hope.

This companion to last year’s ‘Finding Mr. Write’ is a solid feel-good romance. It pulls you immediately with a fun and flirty vibe, layering in embarrassing disasters and sweet/romantic saves. It’s a hockey romance, with a romance writer FMC, fake dating, and a second chance romance all tossed together in a steadily building and entertaining plot.

But what I enjoyed the most was watching the two main characters -who I had really come to care about- grow their relationship. The MCs are in their thirties so they have plenty of life experience, and maturity. They battled their own issues and flaws, which kept them from being boringly perfect. At times their behavior wasn’t at all likeable. But they course-corrected with assists by wise friends and family and each other, and that was really rewarding.

Thank you Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this quick and satisfying read. It has heart and warmth and tons of sweetness. I didn’t know that the author planned a return to this universe, but now that we have I hope for even more – with Jesse or Denny maybe?

This was an entertaining novel. I found it very easy to read and quickly became invested in the second chance romance between Gemma and Mason. The novel contained the amount of heat I like the best—steamy. There were cringeworthy moments as Gemma and Mason became reacquainted, fought their longstanding attraction to each other and tentatively explored a relationship. I was happy when they overcame their insecurities, elected to trust each and found their happily ever after. I also have to give a shout out to the Grandmothers as their antics caused me to laugh out loud and shake my head at times.

I hope others enjoy this novel as much as I did. If a third similar-type- novel is in the works, I will definitely pick it up.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for providing me with an ARC of this novel for an honest review. All of the opinions offered are my own.

What’s it about?
When romance author, Gemma, is challenged to write a book with a grumpy alpha hero, she turns to Mason, the guy who embarrassed her in high school, for inspiration. But all these many years later, Mason is a famous hockey player. And when the two are thrown together for an interview about the book, the public loves it.

They agree to be seen together to help Mason recover from some bad PR and boost Gemma’s book.

But it turns out that Mason is still kind of a presuming, avoidant a-hole. He hatches a plan to whisk Gemma away on a short vacation in exchange for “not-being-an-asshole” lessons.

My thoughts:
This was an easy book to sit down and devour. It has lots of cute and fun moments. I loved that the MCs are in the mid-thirties, and that both had some problematic conflict-avoidant behaviors. There is a lot of mutual caretaking in this book too, which was super sweet.

I had a hard time liking Mason for most of the book, but I’m glad to say he turned it around and won me over.

The pacing for this one was different from many romances I’ve read, with the romance itself not really unfolding until about 85% into the story. I didn’t hate it, but I just wanted something to happen!

Overall, this was a cute story, and I loved how Mason and Gemma reconnected and grew together.

As always, everything Kelly writes is amazing. She is able to write so many different genres and somehow nail them all!

I loved the premise behind this book - the storyline was well executed, and it was easy to like the characters and want a HEA for them. I found this to be a super quick, enjoyable read... will be perfect for the summer to enjoy something light and happy.

This gal right here, she can write anything and make me happy !! I love all her paranormal, her thrillers, and now her romance. SOLD !!
This story was a great second chance romance. Loved Mace and Gemma, loved them for each other. The bumps of a new relationship, his fame, her upcoming fame, the history behind them, all wound up into a glorious tale of hot, sexy romance. Miscues and misunderstandings ( of course), and a dab of mental health ( anxiety, learning to trust yourself). It was nice to "see" Daphne again, and see how well she's doing. I sure hope we get another story in this world, maybe Denny's ?

This book was in equal parts nostalgic and a joy to watch unfold. There is just something about a misunderstood MMC that absolutely always gets to me! This forced proximity, second-chance esque romance was so sweet, so earnest and so much fun.

Absolutely pick this book up for a flirty summer read with a lot of heart!

3.5-4 stars. It started off strong and had me hooked. It did slow down around halfway through. I love that the FMC was clear about what she wanted. The biggest trope in this is miscommunication. Even though they still talked about things, they would still leave things out. It did end up with a HEA ending. It does deal with the talk of miscarriage and adoption. Also emotionally abusive parent.

Finding Mr. Write was a fav contemporary romance of 2024, so I was thrilled to receive an ARC of Writing Mr. Wrong. Unfortunately this one was not for me and I DNF'd at 53%.

The premise sounded so fun, but Mason started off on the wrong foot and stayed there. Between his daddy issues, skipping out on his therapist, and most crucially - his continued disregard for anything Gemma said - I just had no patience for him. After the photo incident I also had no patience for Gemma being sucked in by his "charm" and frankly, money. I'm so tired of shitty (rich) men, and Gemma deserved better but kept sticking around anyway because of unresolved high school emotions. These characters felt early 20s, not mid-30s and I was not invested in the rest of their story.

This took me way too long to realize it was set in the same world as Finding Mr. Write, and I was way too excited when I finally did. I'm convinced Kelley Armstrong can't write a bad book. It was so super cute, with all the best tropes - fake dating, forced proximity, second chance romance. It had it all. Such a fun and quick read.

This is a first by this author and the blurb is what caught my attention because it’s a cute premise and I’ll be honest it didn’t go how I anticipated but even better.

Mason and Gemma have history and not a sunshine and rainbows one. Faced with an opportunity to right a wrong Mason takes a chance in trying to get to know his former classmate and maybe with all the time spent together they will realize that hate isn’t what they feel at all.

I loved Gemma’s tenacity and was super happy with how much she grew as well as Mason. She realized her part in it all and loved how it all went in the end. Mason had a lot of growing to do but I loved seeing his vulnerability and how much he cared for those he loved. A very enjoyable read and some truly hilarious moments. The flashbacks were strategically placed and fit perfectly.

I really, really enjoyed Finding Mr. Write last year, and was so excited to start Writing. Mr. Wrong!

Post-divorce and in her mid-thirties Gemma, Chris's sister from Finding Mr. Write, has recently published a romance novel featuring a MMC loosely based on her high school crush. Mason, said crush, is also an extremely famous hockey player. Their story is cute and fun, but tainted by some not great past interactions. Mason is not a golden retriever by any means, but he does try hard to do right by Gemma... and fails spectacularly quite a few times. I'd say he's eager, but clumsy and therefore a black lab puppy. I absolutely loved Grandma Dot and her commentary.

What to expect:
-fake dating
-forced proximity
-an eager, but clumsy MMC
-ex-husband drama
-hilarious side characters (Grandma Dot 💕 )
-a few cameos from Chris/Daphne

4.5 ⭐️

I loved it! This is a fun romance. Gemma and Mason are granted a rematch and it's refreshing how they are open and candid about their high school days and not wanting a replay of it. I rooted for them the whole time! Excellent author.

4.5/5 stars

Kelley Armstrong is my favorite author. So it's exciting to see her try a completely different genre. This book is a romantic comedy. It is a companion book to Finding Mr. Write. Gemma is the male main character from that book's sister. This book has different narrators. So it can be read as a standalone. However the books work well as a series and Daphne has a small part in this book.

This book alternates between the male and female POV. The characters are 36. Gemma is a debut romance author. And Mason is an NHL hockey player. He is an enforcer.

This book has everything including fake dating, second chance romance and characters who were childhood friends.

I really liked Gemma. I love that she is a romance author. And I love that her alpha male main character in her debut historical romance was based on Mason.

I also really liked Mason. Even though he came across at first like a bit of an inconsiderate player… he totally grew on me. I love that he was an avid audiobook listener. And I really enjoyed that he likes to cook ( his grandmother cooks Jewish Italian cuisine at her restaurant).

There were quite a few things about this book that I really enjoyed. I loved that both main characters liked motorcycles. That part of the book was so fun. I also really appreciated the discussions about mental health issues.

The last 30% was my favorite. Most of this book takes place in Vancouver. But there is part that takes place somewhere else. And I absolutely loved everything about that part of the book.

Overall, the book made me happy. I hope that this won’t be the author’s last romance book.

Using her high school crush turned pro-hockey player as the template for the hero in Gemma's debut romance novel doesn't sound like a bad idea in theory, but when the connection is revealed on TV with Mason sitting next to her, well...that's when things get complicated. Or maybe they don't. I mean, Mason takes things in stride and his quick defense of Gemma gets people fired up (in a good way) about them as a couple.

So what does Mason propose? That they fake date. To be fair, it's mostly fake on his end. I mean, they guy has been stuck on Gemma for years and even though things didn't work out when they were younger doesn't mean things can't work now. Of course that means Gemma will need to see that he's changed (somewhat) and they'll both need to actually stick around long enough to deal with their issues AND Mason needs to realize Gemma isn't like his usual girlfriends. Or hookups. Or whatever he calls them. Let's just say that his usual MO isn't Gemma's style and it takes a little back and forth for them to get on the same page.

Which brings us to Gemma. Mason's high school rejection stung her pretty hard. She sees him in a very specific (and not very flattering) way because of that and it takes a little time for her to see how he's changed. She also has some issues of her own she needs to deal with, so these two have a few speed bumps on their road to HEA.

A not-so-great first date, a not-so-great vacation getaway, a man who's trying to figure himself out, and a lady who can admit she might have been wrong about the boy who broke her heart all those years ago. *thumbs up*