This is a delightful read! Seriously...I found myself grinning and kicking my feet throughout! Rylie gave a lackluster performance when they briefly dated in college, and Eva calls him out in a video that goes viral. In order to redeem himself, Rylie pleads with Eva to go on a few dates with him which Rylie reluctantly agrees to do to advance her career.

WOW do these characters have incredible chemistry, and such great banter! Mazey Eddings does tropes so well here; black cat/ golden retriever, second chance, slow burn. The pacing was great throughout; I was hooked from the first chapter.

This is going to be a popular book for sure!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was the first book I have read from this author. I did love the banter between the two main characters initially, but it ended there. They were both really hard to relate to or even like towards the end. I also felt like the side characters we were introduced to brought very little to the story and were surface level. I think in the end I am not the target market for this book.

Oh, how I spent this book absolutely swooning. Rylie, the man you are. Eva, my chaotic queen. The banter throughout this novel had me grinning so much my cheeks hurt. At the same time, there are heavier elements handled with real grace and honesty. I truly loved everything about this novel and will happily revisit it in the future. GO BUY THIS BOOK!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Well, Actually brings romcoms into the Gen Z future. With a lot of current event jokes and banter, it was fun to catch all the laughs with things that are so applicable in today’s world.
The story of Rylie and Eva was a cute, enemies to lovers, second chance romance brought to us in NYC. The story brings out a lot of emotions around finding your place in the world and how to navigate your 20s with inequitable jobs and ghosting romances.
I really enjoyed the way the story was brought to us through a podcast experiment, but sometimes it felt “too” current?
Otherwise, if you like a black cat/golden retriever romance with a lot of banter, this book is for you.

This was such a fun read! Eva and Riley's banter had me hooked from the start. There's few things I love more than Andrew Garfield's Chicken Shop Date episode, so I knew I would have a fun time with this one. I really loved the communication between Eva and Riley. I think it's sometimes difficult to have a second chance romance trope without playing into miscommunication, but their relationship was so healthy and I really appreciated that. I also LOVED the representation in this book! Overall, this book was a high 4.75 stars for me, I think the only thing keeping me from a 5 was that at times Eva felt a little too mean and it took me out of the story a bit.

I'm going to go ahead and say that Cooper should have dodged a bullet and let this one go for good. Man, Eva is so annoying. I liked the banter and back and forth between these two at first and I thought it was flirty and fun but at a certain point I was like ok, enough already. Somewhere around the 60% mark, I couldn't wait for this book to be over and I don't think that's a good thing. I'm giving this one 3 stars because if you don't mind the FMC this could be a good book, and there were definitely parts of this book that I enjoyed. Cooper is a saint and I hope they have their HEA but I'm guessing divorce is in their future lmao.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First off, thank you so much for allowing me to read this before the release date.

This book was everything I anticipated to be. The trope of this book was second chance and grumpyxsunshine. I immediately fell in love with Eva, because let's be honest here who doesn't want to blast their ex on social media? The way Mazey accurately describe the growth, struggles, and the depth of the love that these two have for each other was INCREDIBLE. I felt like I was Eva's friend the whole time reading this book. I love how gentle and reassuring the author does when it comes to addressing really heavy topics such as grief, death of a loved ones, abandonment issues, and many more. This was my first read of Mazey and I cannot wait to dive into her other books. I love this book so so much, it's one of the top read for me this year!

I went into this book blind, having requested the ARC on NetGalley simply because every [author:Mazey Eddings|21253331] book I've ever read (her entire backlist, nbd) has had me cackling and feeling like a million bucks afterwards. When I read the title I sent an immediate text to my ESBB (Emotional Support Book Buddy) that I was hoping, PRAYING, for a mansplaining fuckboy MMC and a firecracker FMC to put him in his place and boy did I get it! Rylie Cooper, former fuckboy, current podcast host sporting a pair of slutty glasses and an ironic crew neck sweatshirt is simultaneously everything and nothing like the mansplainer I had dreamed of. His past behavior towards Eva definitely slots him into the fuckboy asshole category and Eva is just the sharp-clawed black cat to put him in his place. I loved their banter, that Eva takes absolutely no shit but gives approximately 100% shit to Rylie, I love her steel backbone and commitment to herself first. I also love her slow evolution into Eva In Love - still mean and bickering constantly with Rylie but in a much sweeter, foreplay-esque manner. This book was a single POV which is usually not my jam but for Ms. Mazey I will always make an exception. I so enjoyed this trip into Eva's head and found myself rooting for her and shockingly enough even for Rylie eventually. 5/5 for me!

Well, Actually

What a cute enemies to lovers story between black cat Eva and golden retriever Rylie.

Love that Eva is an angry crier (aren’t we all).

A book has never made me yell “you need to get coffee with him” before, so this was a first 😝.

Also laughed way too hard at the line “i give off lactose intolerant energy?”. As a family of lactose intolerant individuals this is hilarious.

Very cute, very bingeable!

I received an ARC of Well, Actually on NetGalley and really enjoyed it! Mazey Eddings writes such relatable, smart characters, and I loved the neurodivergent rep—it felt authentic and refreshing. The romance had great banter and chemistry, and the emotional moments hit in a real way. A few pacing issues kept it from being a full 5 stars for me, but overall, this was a heartfelt, witty read I’m glad I picked up.

ARC Review // Well, Actually by Mazey Eddings
Thank you @stmartinspress for the advance copy!

This book is straight out of a 2000s rom-com fever dream—in the best way possible. Think: the banter of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, the chaotic charm of The Ugly Truth, and the chemistry you wished Rachel and Joey had gotten to explore more (yes, I said what I said).

Mazey Eddings nailed the humor, the awkward moments, the swoony slow burn, and the kind of will-they-won’t-they tension that had me smiling like a dork at my Kindle. It’s witty, heartwarming, a little messy in that real-life way, and full of big “he fell first” energy.

Spice level: 2/5 🌶️ — just enough to make your cheeks warm and your heart race.

If you're looking for something fun, nostalgic, and delightfully romantic, this is your next favorite read.

Rating: 5/5

If you really love enemies to lovers and podcasts that are a bit raunchy you will like this book. It wanted to be Chicken Shop Date but it missed the mark for me.

As a lover of A Brush With Love, I went into this one with high hopes... and I was blown away. I love the tone, the style, the dialogue; Eddings has such a way with her characters and how they interact that feels so genuine and real, and also has the quick wit that I wish I had in every conversation.

While initially I eye-rolled at much of Eva's behavior towards Rylie, I also understood her reasons not only from personal experience but in how Eddings wrote her. And, even better, she always gives her characters accountability. They never got to get away with being an unreasonable jerk without facing why they were and apologizing for it which can be rare at times. I also love the lack of sugar-coating that she does. Her writing is raw, honest, and has such an emotional-intelligence to it that it makes me want to talk to my therapist while still fitting beautifully in the romance genre by giving us feet kicking banter and emotional moments.

More than anything I love the LGBTQIA+ representation, much of the mainstream rep has mostly kept to LGB characters with bisexuality being less common (though growing) and this is one of the few instances that I've seen pansexual representation. We also have some polyamorous and trans rep which I hope and pray we will see more of those characters in future books as well!

I love a good enemies to lovers story but Eva took the “enemies” role a little too far. I understand she has some past trauma that may influence her attitude and reactions as an adult, but she was such an unlikable character from the start that it was difficult to get through most of her scenes. She was in constant b***h mode when around Rylie, who really should not have wasted his time with her because of her attitude. And for a late twenty-something year old to publicly blast Rylie the way she did was incredibly immature (considering she went from first kiss to first lay in two months, she really didn’t even have anything before him to compare to so the blast was completely unjustified). Rylie was a bit too….optimistic? Happy? Eager? Both of them were total polar opposites and for me, I didn’t care about the attraction.

Yes, actually! Mazey Eddings just hit it out of the park again. She is a completely reliable author. I just adore her take on romance. There’s so much nuances in her characters. They are fully formed in themselves, which just makes for such great romance! Obviously everybody’s gonna talk about the Andrew Garfield cosplay here, but I’m totally into it. Lol! We’ve all seen the TikTok and the vibes are here!

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 stars - Took me a bit to get past the snarky nature of the FMC but the MMC was such a sweetheart. Swooning over him. I laughed, I cried. Second chance romance that was super cute and was a quick read.

Kind of read like chicken shop dates

Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5. ( open door)

The main character may have a show similar to Chicken Shop Date, and she may act in a similar manner during that show. But this is not the same vibe as Amelia and Andrew Garfield as some have said. Not even a little.

Pros
- I thought her internal monologue was funny
- Witty
- I enjoyed the fmc personality, I could vibe with her
- Fun dynamic between the couple

Cons
- I found myself skimming a lot
- Whiny fmc. I enjoyed the contrarian attitude, but the boo hooing really got to me
- Rylie’s fashion sense
- Weird nicknames (I get they called each other kitten/baby girl as a joke, but it was lame)
- Shitty friends (Aida needs to get lost)
- An out of place therapy session that really didn’t move the plot forward much
- I really didn’t like how she let her bosses belittle her and use her as a doormat. I get that in situations like that you can’t always speak up for yourself, but she bent to their will and apologized profusely to them for things that were not her fault. It really turned me off of her character.

I was excited to read this book, but I really had a hard time with the language in it. I may try another Mazey Eddings book, but this was just not for me.

I've never read anything by Mazey Eddings before, but I will now be looking up everything she's ever written and binge-reading. The characters in this book are SO well-written and the plot/drama throughout is amazing. It's a "Chicken Shop Date" female lead with a golden retriever male lead, and their chemistry/banter is electric. I loved every second. There were so many times I laughed out loud during this book that I wanted to label it as half comedy/half romance. "You're the human equivalent of Comic Sans." Stop. Are you kidding me?! But here's the best part...there's no annoying break-up or worse..."misunderstanding" that leads to conflict between the leads. There's just raw honesty, and loyalty with appropriate space and boundaries. I loved it so much. Pick this one up if you're a fan of romance!

This pains me, but I didn’t love it.

It was cute and the cover is gorgeous and I absolutely love that this is supposed to be Amelia and Andrew fan fiction (although I’m not 100% sure about that)

But the FMC was just mean to the MMC. Like I get being upset at him but the issue happened 6 years prior and she was just mean to him. I’d rather her have been dismissive but I think the author was trying to use the meanness as banter and it just didn’t land for me.

I also felt that the gay bestie was a bit too stereotypical for me.

This might be for some people and maybe I’m just not in the mood for contemp? I think many people will enjoy it because the MMC was prettt adorable and there were many funny moments. I will say that there was also a lot of relatability with the FMC and how she felt about relationships and being at that age where your life doesn’t feel like it’s moving anywhere. I did relate to that.

Thank you to net galley for the arc!