I started the ARC copy of Well, Actually by Mazey Eddings and by chapter 3 I was fully invested, butterflies in my stomach, tingly spidey senses, and my over eager brain was already obsessed with the characters. Through every page I felt emotions so vividly I had to actually stop reading and stare at the wall to convince me that it was just a book and not real life. I found myself CACKLING (“I’d certainly call him daddy” definitely had me close to peeing my pants) at the banter between Eva and Cooper and sometimes at the audacity of Mazey to create such a realistically ridiculous plot. Sometimes hope jumped from the page and into my heart. And other times sadness settled deep in me as the characters experienced their heartbreak. Through it all, I was committed to Eva and Cooper as individual characters and as a couple. I was rooting for them through any missteps and annoying (read: relatable) internal monologues. Safe to say, this book is at the top of my recommendations list. I think its my new favorite. 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (I would actually prefer to give it 13 stars but thats not how the reviewing star system usually works- boo).

This was such a good read and exactly what I’ve come to expect from Mazey Eddings. I absolutely loved the chicken shop date-esque plot device and grinned and giggled the whole way through. I think Eddings is unique in her way of tackling of mental health topics that perfectly threads the needle of not weighing the book down, but also giving gentle care and beautiful representation to real life struggles. I will continue to sprint toward every Mazey Eddings new release!

okay so hear me out....this book was really good but jesus christ the FMC was insufferable at times. It got to a point where it was like, "girl, you are mad just to be mad, get over it." this book gave me chicken shop date vibes (or whatever that interview is called) mixed with the ugly truth. that alone got me so hyped for the book, but it just fell flat in some areas.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

A fresh, modern take on a romcom, Mazey Eddings made this one feel like a better, spicier take on the movies I miss from the 90’s/00’s. Adorably flawed and complex characters with friends that didn’t feel like afterthoughts, and fun details that kept things light (Rylie’s “comforter” and sweatshirt collection!). I loved the cameo’s from Lizzie Blake, Rake, Harper and Dan. There were lots of thoughtful moments and heavy themes but it was done so well that the overall feeling was fizzy and fun!

Why. HOW is Mazey SO funny!? I am completely taken by Mazey’s writing. Huge, huge fan.

The humor in this book is quick and witty. The characters—looking at you Eva!—are so fleshed out that you believe their authenticity. Eva, my snarky girl. I get her; I love her. And, overall, this story is just really entertaining. I was laughing my butt off throughout.

Thank you so much for the ARC, SMP!

If you're into second chance romances with black cat x golden retriever MCs, then this book is for you. The references in this book felt like they were written for me.
"I just didn't know you could read,"... "Lea Michele is shaking."
Our FL, Eva, is witty with a bit of a bite. I felt myself relating to her often throughout. And our ML, Rylie, drives a PT Cruiser. Need I say more? And as in her other books, Eddings explores topics of mental health with her characters that make them feel more real and relatable.
This is my second book By Eddings and this has definitely cemented her as one of my favorite romance authors!

Thanks to the publisher for making this available for read now! I was SO excited for the opportunity to read this early.

Eva is stuck in a job she isn't thrilled with, interviewing B-list celebrities over hot dogs (think Amelia Dimoldenberg's Chicken Shop Date). When she posts a video calling out her ex-boyfriend/now podcasting celebrity, she is forced to interview him. He puts her on the spot and offers to redo their previous dates from college to prove he is a changed and better man. She must navigate their complicated relationship, her personal feelings, and her career aspirations to make this work or risk losing everything she's worked for.

I've heard others say Eva is unlikeable, but I actually liked her character a lot. She had a lot of complicated feelings and was quite emotionally immature at times, but she felt more real that way. Rylie was so optimistic and sweet, and I appreciated that he also had a complicated background. It was very much black cat/golden retriever energy throughout. I like that it was more of a slow burn and actually took time for things to develop. I did not particularly enjoy her interactions with her friends throughout the book, they felt like weaker moments in the plot. There was definitely some suspension of disbelief required at times but I thoroughly enjoyed this and always wanted to get back to it as soon as I could.

while reading the first chapter I realized that this book felt like a capsule of 2023/4 internet and tik tok language that anyone older than me would not be able to enjoy this book. when going to finish the full chapter things like "jump scare" and many more internet languages pulled me out of the sincerity of the book.

Thank you @netgalley for an e-arc of Well, Actually. First and foremost, this is easily one of my new favorite romance novels. Reading this as someone the same age as the leading characters, I felt the banter and humor down to my core. The amount of times I cackled to myself was obnoxious. The main characters Eva and Riley, have the best chemistry that makes them instantly likable. The beginning starts off with Eva going off on a drunken video stitch after her college fling, Riley, (who admittedly broke her heart) posts a video about how to spot and avoid red flags in college bros. As an opportunity for Eva’s bosses, they have Eva and Riley meet up while the tensions are high for Eva’s “Meat and Greet” show to air out their grievances. During the filmed show, Riley convinces Eva to agree to go on 6 dates with him so he can right his wrongs. In a series of chaotic, laugh out loud, heartwarming and heartbreaking dates, the two learn more about each other and rekindle a past flame….I’ve already preordered a hard copy and I’m broken up that I’ll have to wait until August for this to be released!! I will be recommending this to anyone who loves a strong willed female main character. My favorite Eva quote is, “I would never willing listen to a man speak in my spare time, but that’s just me” speaking in relation to Riley’s podcast…I mean, I love her.

Eva is annoyed. Annoyed that a jerk she knew in college is now a successful online personality focused on helping men let go of toxic masculinity. She's so annoyed that she posts a video claiming Rylie is the epitome of toxic masculinity. Well, when she wakes up, the video has gone viral and she finds herself having to collaborate with Rylie to boost her own followers and her career.

I loved the set-up and opening chapter of the book and I appreciate it when main characters aren't traditionally likable. I think I might be too old or not online enough to appreciate the story fully, but I felt like the pacing and plot became increasingly chaotic and my interest waned. I do think Eva and Rylie are a cute couple but it would have been nice to have more insight into why they like each other and a more steady relationship development.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

This was super cute!

I wasn’t super invested in any of the characters and sometimes I wished there was a little more backstory to everyone, especially the FMC and MMC.

I didn’t love Eva but I think that’s intentional. Shes a feisty headstrong woman that has a lot of trauma and heartache. She has built such thick walls around herself that she just comes off extremely harsh and nasty at times. I think Riley was a great balance to that. He could handle her crazy comments and give them right back to her while still protecting her feelings.

Overall it was a great read! Not life changing but still fun!

oh my good lord i love these two so much. eva is the spiciest woman in the world and riley is lucky to have her. i really enjoyed the cast of characters, the real life element of social media and work place dramas, and representation of LGBTQ+ characters ❤️
this was my introduction to mazey eddings and i am so excited to take a look at her previous works now!!

3.5 ⭐️

This was a fun one, and clearly inspired by those chicken shop date videos (maybe it’s an actual show? I don’t know. I only see the snippets on TikTok 😂)

👍🏼I enjoyed the sarcasm/banter between Eva and Riley. There were many moments I was either laughing out loud (the cork scene… IYKYK) or I was raging at the workplace abuse. Most importantly though.. no third act breakup 👏🏼

👎🏼I feel like there was a chance here for some great representation but it was kind of a miss. It was introduced in some side characters that barely made it into the store.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC!

this book induced a dream where a college situationship with a friend i had who ghosted me wanted to make amends and explain what happened. it was just a dream so i still don’t forgive him but i just think that’s funny.
ANYWAY on to the review. Eva Kitt works for a company called Soundbites where she is on a featured segment that is similar to Chicken Shop Date but with hot dogs called Sausage Talk. She dreams of being a journalist, but is doing this right now to work her way up. She is known for being sarcastic and having a “black cat” personality. She drunkenly duets a video of a college fling, Rylie Cooper, who ghosted her. He is now a popular lifestyle influencer for being a good guy basically, and Eva calls him out for ghosting her and being exactly the things he is warning against with his platform. The video pops off and she finds herself having to do an episode of Sausage Talk with him where he proposes going on 6 dates to show that he has changed.

There is a lot of good representation in this book: bi rep, pan rep, pro-therapy. The plot is fun, even if you have to suspend your belief a little sometimes. There is a lot of character growth. I enjoyed the framing of how tender of a time your early twenties is and how it can have a lot of influence on you operate in relationships later in life. The steam is written well, and overall it is a solid romance. My main complaint is that I really don’t think “kitten” as a nickname should be in a book 34 times lmao. maybe im too online and familiar with the kitten discord lore, or maybe it is supposed to be a meta joke idk. a few times is ok.. 34 is too much.

thank you to netgalley & St.Martins Griffin for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

If you love second chance romance, black cat x golden retriever energy, and public call outs turning into reluctant dating, Well, Actually is about to be your new fave! 😏🔥

🎤 Eva Kitt is stuck hosting Sausage Talk (yes, it’s as ridiculous as it sounds) instead of living her dream journalism career. But when she goes viral for dragging her college ex, she suddenly finds herself in the spotlight—for better or worse.

👀 Enter Rylie Cooper. Social media’s favorite “reformed good guy” teaching men how to be better partners… except, plot twist: he was actually THE WORST to Eva back in the day. So now, to prove he’s changed, he proposes a deal: a series of dates, documented for his audience, to show how much he’s “grown.”

🔥 The banter? Immaculate.
🔥 The forced proximity? Delicious.
🔥 The tension between loving and loathing? CHEF’S KISS.

What I loved:
✔️ Mazey Eddings’ signature wit & banter – this book sparkles with humor and sass
✔️ Eva’s sharp, take no BS attitude – she’s a black cat to her core 🖤
✔️ The emotional depth – the exploration of growth, accountability, and rediscovering trust was SO well done

🤨 What I struggled with:
🚫 Rylie being too golden retriever at times
🚫 Some of the “let’s film our dates for the internet” moments felt so cringey and will soon be out of date and not relevant (but also realistic for influencer culture 💀)
🚫Eva was kind of lowkey a bully at times, like she was SO MEAN

This is a fun, flirty, and surprisingly deep romance about second chances, self worth, and calling out the past while maybe… falling for it again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 – because black cat/golden retriever romances own me 😭🐾

Thank you to NetGalley, Mazey Eddings, and St. Martin's Press for the eARC of this book.

I really wanted to like this book more. There were things I loved: a fun unique premise, witty banter, the sweetest golden retriever MMC, a complicated and nuisanced back story. But I just really didn’t like the FMC. And when the book is single POV from her perspective, it’s rough.

Don’t get me wrong. I definitely like a snarky FMC. But Eva Kitt is mean. It took her so long to have grace for what 22 year old Rylie had done, to acknowledge that he could have done work and grown as a person. And speaking of work, Eva needs to do some serious work of her own. Rylie had spent years in therapy, working through his difficulties in life, while even in the end, Eva still tries to push Rylie away and run from her problems. She literally runs away on her two feet multiple times in the book.

I didn’t hate this. In fact, I thought the love story and Rylie’s devotion was actually sweet, but I really needed something in the epilogue referring to Eva getting counseling and working on her abandonment issues. If not, I’m afraid they are doomed.

what an amazing, refreshing romance !!! i honestly related to Eva in so many ways it hurt, and Rylie Cooper was such an elite MMC I will be thinking about this for years.

as a business major, the ending was making my eye twitch but i loved it.

the pacing of this book was top tier i was literally hooked right away and i didn't lose that momentum the entire time!!!!!

definitely add this to your summer tbr 🤍

thank you SMP and NetGalley for the eArc in exchange for my honest review! 🤍⭐️

This was my first book by Mazey Eddings and won’t be my last! While I had a hard time with Eva, Riley made up for it. Here’s what you can expect:

Podcast / Chicken Shop Date vibes
She’s mean but he likes it?
Great representation
Grief / abandonment issues
Second chance romance

5/5 Stars | SPECTACULAR GIVE ME 14 OF EM: The elusive perfect Rom-Com

Read if: If the Amelia Dimoldenberg/Andrew Garfield Chicken Shop Date sucked you in, if you love a black cat/golden retriever vibe, if you have ever felt easily looked over and forgotten in your romantic relationships and then used sarcasm and banter as armor about it.

What I liked: This was one of my most anticipated reads for the year and it ABSOLUTELY lived up to the hype! The tension, the banter, the emotional impact, the relationship growth, the character development, the setting, the overall expose on bad managers using human beings for personal gain or profit, the CHICKEN SHOP VIBES OMG, the tension, did I mention the tension? Gave me the same vibes as Not Another Love Song. I fear I will be comparing all other books to this treasure and that I will never get over this one. It will take everything in me not to re-read this immediately.

What I didn't like: .... nothing?

Thank you to NetGalley and SMP for the advance copy of this book!

This is a soft DNF for me at 45%

I was completely hooked for the first 25% but the banter turned into over-the-top bullying from the FMC, & it is painful to read. She has unresolved trauma from 6 years ago & hardly an ounce of interest in resolving any of it yet.

The book could also still use a hefty dose of editing, obviously this is an uncorrected proof, but the sheer amount of issues with punctuation were far too frequent & distracting.

I’m disappointed because this story started with such promise for me. I love the premise & the initial banter.

Not all books are for everyone, & I’m coming to terms with maybe this just wasn’t the book for me.

Will maybe revisit & revise my review should it change.