Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada (Adult) | Doubleday Canada for the eARC, I always appreciate the opportunity to read and write an honest review before publication day!

Only Because It's You grabbed my attention because I am a Friends-to-Lovers fan, and this book did not disappoint in that arena! In this story, we have these two childhood friends- Kal and Miz -who are suddenly forced to face down a future where Kal, our MMC, may have to leave Canada and return home to Ethiopia when his theatre company decides not to sponsor his permanent residency. This is the catalyst for a journey that neither character is fully prepared for, as commitment-phobic Miz fails to find Kal a wife and eventually decides she'd rather marry him than have him leave Toronto. Meanwhile, even though he agrees to this plan, Kal is still getting over the end of a decade-long relationship and had promised himself he'd focus solely on his stage acting career when he landed in Toronto.

I loved the structure of this story, where 25% in, these two were still solely friends and the lines were only just starting to blur. It's been a while since I read a true friends-to-lovers tale where one of the pair, if not both, were not secretly in love with the other for years. In this story, Kal and Miz are truly just friends with independent lives, dreams, and separate friend groups, and you can feel the years of history between them that keeps them important and central in each others' lives. This helped the marriage of convenience angle so much, because Miz is so afraid of marriage and commitment, but the fear of her friend leaving and giving up on his dreams outweighed that lifelong fear.

This story was banter-filled, with both Kal and Miz having such strong personalities that their alternating POVs were a joy to read. I loved the Ethiopian cultural references and the colorful picture Rebecca Fisseha painted of this immigrant community in Toronto, from the descriptions of local food spots to the older women gossiping in Miz's mother's kitchen. The way these cultural aspects wove into the expectations that both Miz and Kal have for marriage and love was something that also kept me dying to see how things would play out. Kal's father still hosting the anniversary party after his wife's passing, because to him she's still there, was so bittersweet, but it painted such a detailed picture of why Kal thinks of love and marriage in the way that he does and why he was so hung up on Muna. That contrast to Miz's parents, still married but separated for decades, helped contextualize Miz's fear of marriage in a way that felt less dramatic/overblown than many commitmentphobe characters in this genre, and I really appreciated that.

The main issue I had with the story was the engagement ring subplot, I feel like it was drawn out too long considering she realized pretty quickly that it wasn't for her. She could have just given it back and claimed she had found it lying around. Additionally, there were moments where the writing was hard to follow, but I'm actually going to chalk that up to the formatting of my eARC.

I gave this story a 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4 stars for Netgalley and Goodreads, as I liked, enjoyed it, but didn't love it / obsess over it.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada (Adult) and Netgalley for this arc. Careful, mild spoilers below.

This was so fun! This book is about Miz and Kal, two people originally from Ethiopia, who now both live in Canada. Miz is strictly against marrying, but when her best friend Kal stands to lose his visa and has to return home, she steps in and marries him so that he can stay. This obviously doesn't come without any issues, and drama ensues.

I loved this idea so much. It's such a fun new take on the childhood friends to lovers trope mixed with a marriage of convience, which are both tropes that I will eat up every time. The plot was fun, the drama was great and the ending was so sweet! I really liked the part where Miz is trying to set up Kal with multiple other Ethiopian women in Toronto and then accidentally meet at the same time.

The characters, Miz and Kal, were really fun to read about. I loved reading from both their perspectives and seeing how they feel about each other without telling the other person. I think that Kal is such a sweetheart and Miz really found a good one too.

The drama with Miz and Daniel was a little too much for me, it just felt like it dragged on too long and Daniel also never got the payback that he absolutely deserved. Like, Miz at some point even mentions that she doesn't want to stand in the way of Naomi (Daniel's actual partner)'s happiness, but girl, be for real right now. If I were to find out I was a side-piece, I would absolutely tell the girlfriend ESPECIALLY if the guy was going to propose! And then when Daniel came back in the end to tell Miz that they could still hook up without Naomi knowing? Either I missed it while reading or there just weren't any repercussions for Daniel's behaviour, which I would've liked to see.

Either way, I had a lot of fun reading this book (as is probably clear by the fact that I finished it within 3 days haha). Definitely would recommend this!

This book was exactly what I wanted after reading back-to-back stressful thrillers. I needed some fun and romance, Only Because It's You delivered.

When Miz's best friend Kal is at risk of losing his work visa she offers to marry him so he can stay in Toronto. It should be a quick, short only-on-paper marriage between friends, followed by a quick, easy divorce. What could possibly go wrong?

This was such a fun read. I really loved Miz and Kal, their friendship felt real and had a lot of substance. Sometimes a "friends to lovers" trope can feel a little flat if it's too rushed or if there isn't much in the way of character development or backstory. This was not the case here. We were gifted the story of how the couple first met as teens in Ethiopia and how their friendship progressed, as well as how they felt about the changes to their relationship pre and post marriage through shifting perspectives. I have a lot of time for dual POV books as you get to see how a situation is read from both sides. It really fleshes out the characters too as you get to know their inner thoughts versus their actual actions, which sometimes differ wildly.

Although I read this book in January, it felt like the perfect beach read, particularly when the couple visited their families in Addis Ababa and described the heat and excitement of the city. There were also a lot of descriptions of food that made me incredibly hungry, although that might just be me. I have a real thing for writers who are able to capture that buzz of joy around preparing/eating a great meal.

This was the first romance book I'd read in a few years and I was so pleased to be given the opportunity to check it out via NetGalley. I'm not a big fan of Hallmark-style 'small town gal' books or romance books that are all smut and just a few empty paragraphs that lead into more smut, (although, don't get me wrong, I love a bit of smut) so I'm always a little apprehensive about which romance books I reach for. There was the perfect amount of everything in this book - good character development, a funny and believable friend group, the building of a relationship without it feeling too cheesy or unbelievable and a really satisfying ending. I'll certainly look out for more from Rebecca Fisseha

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Canada for this eArc. Miz and Kal are an unsuspecting couple that need to help each other. This adorable book includes funny aspects and some of the real conversation around a marriage for convenience.

i have enjoyed this book. Miz is insufferable at times. like she coulda just given the ring back and a lot of shit woulda been avaoided.
but i know she loves Kal.
thanks for the chance to review

I got a digital arc of an upcoming Canadian book? Finally! Thank you DoubleDay Canada and Penguin Random House Canada for the digital arc.

Immigration policies have recently become a hot topic, especially in Canada. For many diaspora communities it’s part of our cultural lexicon. Every immigrant has a story of how they came to Canada. So the inclusion of it in the romance genre as part of the marriage-of-convenience trope was unexpected and what drew me to Rebecca’s novel ‘Only Because It’s You’.

Set in Toronto and Addis Ababa Miz agrees to ‘marry’ her friend Kal to help him get his Canadian status. But the lines slowly blur and they truly become a partnership that experience some bumps in the road while they also navigate the immigration system. I’ve been leaning into Canadian voices this year and to have a story set in Toronto was such a pleasure.

Yes, this book references the IRCC (Canada’s immigration department) and the painstaking journey couples endure to prove to the authorities the validity of their relationship. It’s submitting evidence, and trusting that everything you’re trying to convey is understood by officers and officials that determine your future. It’s high stakes, serious, and emotionally stressful. Something not to be taken lightly. There are several instances throughout the book that were cringy because of Miz’s reckless actions (especially in front of immigration officers). I wish Rebecca took some more care with this story aspect but choices were made to help facilitate the story.

Generational trauma is also unexpectedly threaded into the novel. Miz has a skewed perception of love and marriage that comes from her parent’s disjointed relationship. As a result it manifests really badly while Kal and Miz are in Ethiopia. It’s a silent part of the diaspora experience that so many women deal with and take years to recognize. I'm glad it made an appearance here.

Overall, such a lovely read and giving this 4.5 stars! Canadian readers you don’t want to miss this. This was my first Canadian ARC of the year, so thank you DoubleDay and Penguin Random House Canada! Truly, I can't wait for publication day.

Sadly this was a DNF for me. I really liked the Ethiopian background and bits of culture thrown in, but the book moved so slowly, and with no chemistry, that I eventually got bored and stopped reading about 35% of the way through. I feel the author put too much unnecessary dialogue and musings in that did nothing to progress the story, and instead just made it slow moving

This book was so good! Miz was so chaotic. She had me cracking up the whole book. It was so fun watching her and Karl fall in love. Kal was so calm and it matched perfectly with Mizs energy. The fact that they were childhood best friends and knew eachother so well was so cute. I enjoyed this book so much!

Miz is a fun no strings attached kind of woman, and she likes it that way. One day, she finds a ring in her hook up gym bag . She panics and ends things. Kal is one of Miz's best friends, an aspiring actor who moved to Toronto from Ethiopia .. But when he's suddenly at risk of losing his work visa, they come up with a plan to marry . The book has cute moments in the book between the two friends. This was a quick , easy read.

This was your run-of-the-mill marriage of convenience romance. The two main characters didn't have much chemistry but I liked the Ethiopian rep.