Unromance is a masterclass on romance tropes. Each chapter feels like the author is leading you through familiar events and common situations that you'll find in rom coms, but so skillfully that it feels like a director's cut headlined by a trustworthy and capable writer.

Readers will fall in love with the cinnamon roll MMC who loves love and has soap opera good looks to add zest to any love story. Lee Osorio grounds the character as not just a lovesick pup, but a hero worthy of a swoony HEA after the hurdles he has overcome. Mia Hutchinson Shaw voices Sawyer Greene who is a complex, modern woman working on the work-life balance and leaning heavily into work for now.

Unromance is a must-read for anyone with modern sensibilities that still loves the anticipation of a great romance. This one's giving found family, mature career ambitions, and the reassurance that people who love love aren't crazy. This book has what readers of Laurie Gilmore's Dream Harbor want, written so cleverly that its internal logic won't irritate readers. The audiobook is great, and I love that it will give hope to the Sawyers of the world that someday they'll find a Mason West with whom they can fall in mature love.

Sawyer is a best selling romance author but she’s had her heart broken and is in a rut. Mason is a hopeless romantic who wants to make sure he doesn’t wear his heart on his sleeve so easily in the future. A one night stand leads to crossing paths and they wonder if they are going to be able to keep it to the one night they agreed upon.

Fake dating has become one of my favorite tropes when done correctly and this one definitely was! I really enjoyed this story. The characters were amazing, the banter was cute. This left me feeling happy and giggly!

The audiobook narrator did an amazing job, this was such a fun audiobook to listen to!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Erin Connor, and Hachette Audio for providing this free ARC. This is my honest review. This published on January 14th.

3.5 stars

Thank you @hachetteaudio and @netgalley for the #gifted ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Unromance is a spicy debut romcom told through dual POVs from a jaded best selling romance writer and a famous hopeless romantic actor. After a ‘stuck in an elevator’ meet cute turned one night stand, they decide to help each other out. She needs to write her next novel before the deadline but has had writers block from having her heart broken after a breakup. He needs to stay single to stay out of the media spotlight so he can focus on his career. With a few specific rules jotted down on a piece of paper, they begin their ‘Unromance’ adventures planning on ruining romance based around the cliches of every common romance trope and grand gesture you can think of.

I enjoyed that the story was set around the holidays and could have been a holiday romance, insert another trope, but it wasn’t fully focused on the holidays, more just for the timeline and to throw in a few other tropes along the way. I liked how the beginning of each chapter highlighted a trope and then that chapter was loosely based on that trope. The author did a good job at keeping the story interesting while throwing in multiple tropes. I honestly thought it would be predictable, cheesy, and overly cliched but it wasn’t. Even the miscommunication trope and 3rd act breakup tropes, my least favorite, weren’t too bad.

However, I did get a little frustrated with the FMC who had been a strong, mature, intelligent woman for most of the story and all of a sudden had become ridiculous and immature as she was trying to pretend she wasn’t falling in love too, which put in the ‘idiots-to-lovers’ trope, but I didn’t like how that was executed. I also thought some of the jokes and innuendo were eye rolling cheesy but that may just be me.

The audiobook helped keep the story entertaining. The narrators did an impressive job with the dual POV plot, and bringing the characters to life. From pacing, to dialect and inflection, they made the story an easy to listen and follow along experience.

I could not stop listening to this audiobook. Great narrators and a great plot. This will be one I listen to again!

I was intrigued to read this romance book because of the title, synopsis and cover however I didn’t love the characters and execution. I really enjoyed how this book started with a meet cute. The two main characters, Sawyer and Mason, get stuck in an elevator and I enjoyed the humour (purse cheese lol!) and the set up of their meeting. I enjoyed the alternating POV and the female narrator Mia Hutchinson Shaw did an excellent job but I found the male narrator Lee Osorio was not the right fit especially when he would do the female voices. I enjoyed the winter Chicago setting and the cute dates like ice skating and Christmas tree shopping but there were too many romance tropes involved and their relationship chemistry was lacking. As the book went on I started to care less and less about their relationship. I did really like the representation that Sawyer is bisexual and her friend Lily has a disability and used a cane. I read this as a light read after reading two heavy books and it was fine for that.

Okay I don't have the words to capture how much I enjoyed this book! Books about writers can feel too meta for me sometimes but this one never did. Erin Connors crafted such compelling characters that I could look past the contrived reason for their pact and just enjoy the relationship unfolding before me. I absolutely adored how they could be their true selves with each other. It was so clear how well suited they were romantically (to everyone but them lol). I had a blast watching them fall for each other. I'm very excited to see what this author releases next!

I adored the narrator for Sawyer! Mia Hutchinson Shaw was absolutely delightful to listen to and definitely increased my enjoyment of the book. Lee Osorio was a strong narrator but I felt like the urgency of their performance would be better suited to a YA character. It just didn't sound like Mason to me. I still had a good time with the audio on the whole but it's definitely worth checking a sample before you grab it.

DNF @ 80% //1 star for the audiobook & 1 star for the story

First of all, this audiobook was perfectly fine! It is a little unmemorable, as nothing stood out as particularly good or bad (but, I think this is a positive thing). The narrators, quality, and storytelling were all good. The story did feel never-ending, but I think that has more to do with the content than the narration.

As for the actual story/content, I was excited for this book and have been talking to customers about it since it released. Unfortunately, I could tell pretty early on that this wasn't going to be the book for me. I wanted to give it a chance, but at 80% I decided I was wasting my time on something I wouldn't like.

Reasons I disliked "Unromance":
1. The relationship is driven purely by the characters lust and instant attraction. I don't enjoy these tropes, and I especially do not enjoy them together.

2. This was not a compelling story. The characters chemistry was unconvincing and purely sexual. The MC's did undergo growth and change, but their development was surface level and completely dependent on the other person. When something got in the way of their relationship, they completely regressed as characters. The FMC, Sawyer, is an author who is struggling to write her next contracted book. When she is together with the MMC, Mason, she is churning out pages, writing in a way she hasn't in years. But, when they aren't together/ talking, she no longer has ideas, motivation, or inspiration to write.

3. Mason gave me the ick. He is down on his luck because of the media attention and backlash he gets for always dating his actress co-workers.
He doesn't understand why his relationships always fail when he tries so hard to be a good boyfriend. We are supposed to feel for him and find this endearing. I found it slightly insufferable and annoying. There is a way to make your readers feel for a rich, successful, famous man, this was not it. Instead, he gave more "pick me" "woe is me" vibes. I think this was partly on me and partly on the way it was written.

4. Everything about the story became increasingly more monotonous and repetitive. The sex scenes were sexy in the beginning, then became too long and drawn out. The premise of "ruining romance" for each other was fun until they caught feelings and each scene became the same (i.e., they would do a cute activity, something funny/unfortunate would happen, she would say "there we go, I ruined this romantic activity for you!" and he would ruminate about how this actually made him like her more).

TLDR: this was pretty surface level and forgettable, but it has potential, and I do hope it finds its audience.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the early audio copy!*

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book!

Wow!! I could not stop listening to this audio! It had me hooked from the very first chapter! The narrator did great! Such great writing style!

When I finished the last few minutes of this audiobook, I paused the credits, and immediately exclaimed aloud, much to my sleeping puppy's dismay, "THIS IS SUCH A GOOD BOOK."

And it is. The writing is fabulous—an intentional mix of whit, self doubt, and romance that blooms on each page. Unromance is the perfect example of how love REALLY happens. When you are least expecting it, and sometimes, even actively fighting it. I loved the audiobook of this in particular because it really allowed the character's voices to come through. I didn't expect to love this as much as I did, but this is a romance winner for sure.

This book feels good and hurts in all the right ways. As a rom-com should.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5

🎧 Thank you, Hachette Audio | Forever and Netgalley, for this ALC. All thoughts are my own. 🎧

*spoiler ahead*
This was a really cute book. I listened to it on audio and didn’t love the narrators (they felt a bit dramatic) which is why I gave the 4 star review. I also don’t like the 3rd act break up trope but to be honest, this was the least annoying way that I’ve seen it done. I loved every other trope about this book and I loved the main characters. The book had great dialogue, scenery, and fun side characters. The HEA is always the best!
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!

Such a fresh, hilarious take on the well-established romance tropes! Loved how the two characters walked through life itself while simultaneously getting to know each other, fighting their feelings and the baggage they were hiding secretly.
Screamed kicked feet at the thighs scene!!

The narrators did a wonderful job portraying Sawyer and Mason!

Really enjoyable romance novel, but I can’t look at the cover anymore.

Although it was cute and enjoyable, I wasn’t fully invested in the relationship or the romance. It felt too insta, which i inmensely dislike but the author’s writing and the narrator truly made up for it.

What a cute debut book about using common romance tropes to ruin love and essentially find it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ALC I truly loved the narration with one caveat. I don't think Lee Osorio (Javi Wilder) was the best choice overall for Mason. I LOVE this narrator and his work, but I think a different voice would have suited him better. That said, they both still did incredible jobs!

I really enjoyed this one. From a one night stand to friends to benefits to idiots to lovers it was just really cute and pretty spicy! (though not overly descriptive)

I was such a simp for Mason the MMC. He's the cinnamon roll here. He loves love. He loves falling in love and being in love and he's just precious. But Sawyer is our jaded FMC is just trying to get her groove back as a writer and thinks she can ruin popular romance tropes for him, and hopefully inspire some writing for her.

It works a little too well because of course they catch feelings and only one of them wants said feelings. Sawyer tended to frustrate me, and then the third act breakup here is SO dumb and SO unnecessary which is part of the lack of 5 stars.

However the way both characters do their big grand gesture at the end was PERFECT and so cute.

Also props that Mason was a child free character and it's a child free book. We never get Sawyer's stance on children but she also didn't balk when he stated he didn't want any.

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for an advanced copy of this audiobook. Opinions are my own.

Unromance is a sweet (and spicy) rom-com. On the one hand, we have Sawyer Greene, a romance author who thinks that romance is dead for her and does not believe in love cliches or grand gestures when it comes to her own life. She needs to get back into writing asap, but has had writer's block for a long time since her last painful breakup. On the other, Mason West, a famous TV star and hopeless romantic, who needs his love life to go under the radar for a little bit. So when they decide to help each other to get their careers back on track after what was supposed to only be a one-night stand, they end up getting more than expected...

The plot and how the story unravells are very interesting. They have cute and funny scenes together, and sometimes really enraging scenes. I felt like shaking Sawyer up to try to make her see reality more than once, and I also thought that Mason's habits of spilling his heart out to every friend he has did not seem true to the way men usually behave, but in general, their characters are extremely likeable and well developed.
The narrators also did a great job, especially the female voice. They got me hooked to keep listening.

The narrators were absolutely perfect for this story!! The banter, the bemusement, the interiority - perfection! I hope we get more audiobooks from this team!!

This was so wonderful!! This felt like a grown up romance. I absolutely LOVED Sawyer & Mason! I love the cheesy book trope list. I always love books about books & Unromance did not disappoint,
I think what I loved most was the spice…it just felt so real. It was sexy & romantic. It wasn’t vulgar & dirty, This is a stellar debut & I cannot wait to read more!

I loved the premise of this one, enjoyed the fact that Sawyer is a chaotic bi female main character and that Mason is just a giant simp. I really enjoyed their chemistry, their banter and the amount of trauma and heaviness that was laced within this romcom story. But ultimately I found it incredibly difficult to enjoy any of this through the narration. The male narrator has a voice that I simply hate when it comes to narration. His s’s were too harsh and long, tone was too delicate and high and I could hear the spit in his mouth as he spoke. It made the entire story difficult to become immersed in, especially when it come to serious or intimate scenes. I will be giving this book a try through another format (kindle or paperback), but I cannot rate this higher than a three star rating based on this medium and choice of narrator - more work needs to be done in choosing narrators that suit their roles and this one was a miss. Sawyer’s narrator was incredible though! Definitely had the right amount of sass, wit and tone behind her voice to convey the character well.

I was absolutely loving this one for most of the first half but in the middle it really started to drag on. I think the author used every single trope in the romcom area. It felt a little like been there done that. And I wanted more character development. I lost interest unfortunately

Unromance is a debut novel from Erin Connor. Special thanks to NetGalley, Erin Connor and Hachette audio for advance access to the audio version. Narrators are Mia Hutchinson Shaw and Lee Osorio who both did a fantastic job.

Unromance is a charming and fun rom-com filled with all your favorite rom-com tropes. I loved this book. The main characters (Sawyer and Mason) were fantastic, the storyline was engaging, and I enjoyed all the references to classic rom-com stories..

January 14, 2025
#Unromance #NetGalley

The perfect read to kick off the month of love: Unromance.

Sawyer is a bestselling romance author but after her ex left she’s been stuck in a season of writers block. However, when dropping off books to a friend, she gets stuck in an elevator with Mason. She takes the opportunity not as a meet cute but for a fun one night stand. But Sawyer keeps running into Mason. Mason sees these run ins as a chance to cure one another from him being a hopeless romantic and to help her writers block by unromancing romance cliches- the Christmas tree farm date, ice skating, etc. they just have two rules - no more sex and no falling in love.

This was such a fun read and while trying to break down romance cliches it also appreciated all the fun parts of romance books and films. I did find it seems to move quickly for the first two thirds of the book and then we encountered a lot of the two MCs having conflict. Overall though I loved seeing mason and Sawyer navigate IKEA dates and family dinners trying not to catch feelings.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you to @netgalley and @readforeverpub for the ALC and ARC as I enjoyed moving back and forth between the audio and digital copies.

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