This book got me hooked from the start! I enjoyed the writing and the pace of the book. The FMC and MMC had great banter. I was also very glad for no 3rd act break up.

Genuinely the funniest book I have read. I was in my kitchen, multitasking like most moms, literally slapping the counter CACKLING at the sheer audacity, the flawless execution, and the fact that Eddings created the most relatable character ever.

I love Eva. She feels like me but much much much cooler and better dressed. She says the wrong things at the most awkward times but you love her for it. Rylie feels like most boys I knew in college but 100x sweeter and emotionally in tune. I was worried his approach to EQ would be cringy but it was handled with so much care. Their chemistry is unmatched and their ability to actually talk through issues had me wishing I read this book in my 20s. Communication? This book gets it.

Well, Actually is a perfect blend of humor and wit that feels modern, without losing those tender moments. Please please please read this. SO GOOD.

Intro/synopsis:
“Well Actually” by Mazey Eddings was a fun read at first and turned into an exploration of toxic masculinity in relationships and in the workplace. Eva is trying to make it as a journalist but feels stuck interviewing B list celebrities while eating hotdogs. Her college ex boyfriend,Rylie, is a social media influencer on relationships and toxic masculinity. Trouble is he was awful to her while they dated and she voices her opinion on their past on social media. It goes viral and she gets caught in a public dating situation at her bosses urging. has he really changed as he claims he has and can Eva protect herself from
Heartbreak this time around?

My thoughts:
I loved the relationship between Rylie and Eva, their chemistry was off the charts and the enemies to lover banter was perfect in my opinion. Rylie was the perfect golden retriever MMC and his insistence that Eva not run away from him and what they have time and time again was refreshing. I hated Eva’s bosses and I had a hard time with her friends as well as it felt like they weren’t protecting Eva or caring about her feelings. This was a well written and fun story that I enjoyed reading thoroughly!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book so much that I read it in one day. I loved the storyline and all the characters. I thought the characters had great growth. I would definitely recommend this book.

Eva is a struggling talkshow host who dreams of being a real journalist. One night she responds to a video of her ex, who is now a social media personality. Overnight, her world is rocked as the video is picked up and circulated. Now Eva is forced to reunite with Rylie, where he asks her to give him a chance to re-do their past with six new dates. Eva is coerced into it by her new boss, but to her shock she begins to enjoy spending time with Rylie. How far will they go to unpack what happened between them all those years ago? And how far will Eva go for a job that doesn’t value her?

I loved this book! It’s a fast-paced, funny and bingeable read. Mazey Eddings’ dialogue is hilarious and I thought Eva being mean to Rylie was the best (he loves it). Eva is so witty and criminally undervalued in her work as the host of a show where she eats hot dogs while interviewing people. Eddings captures some of the unfair challenges that women in the media face compared to men. Rylie is a golden retriever and a cinnamon roll who is intent on showing Eva that he’s a changed man. Readers who love hilarious dialogue and second-chance romance will love Well, Actually.

Thank you to Mazey Eddings, St. Martin’s Griffin, and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc.

Well, Actually is the story of Eva and Rylie, former college sweethearts, who have since fallen out of favor with each other. Eva has always dreamed of being a journalist but she's forced to take a job interviewing semi-famous people and that's how she gets back into Rylie's orbit. Despite despising the man, she agrees to go on a series of dates with him for the show. It's very topical, very tropey, but I'm not sure it was the perfect fit for me.

While many readers will love the biting wit of Eva and how Well, I don't really love enemies to lovers where the FMC is just sniping at the MMC most of the story. I find it hard to believe that these two would really end up together and be happy. It was buzzy and a fun read, but will mostly appeal to those looking for second chance romance or enemies to lovers tropes.

t book by Eddings, and it won't be my last! I enjoyed everything about this snarky but thoughtful romance. It was especially nice to read a story that felt original, to me at least, though it relies on some standard romance tropes (second chance, enemies to lovers).

Eva Kitt is struggling to make it in journalism, currently stuck interviewing B (and C and D) list celebrities on a low-budget show called Sausage Talk, where she and her guests eat hot dogs and swap innuendo. She's great at cheeky humor and thinking on her feet. A bit too great, as it turns out. Her ex from college, Rylie, is now a successful social media personality who talks about toxic masculinity and being a better partner. She makes a drunken video one night calling him out for how mean he was to her and how bad he was in bed.

When her video goes viral, her producer makes them do a series of interviews, and Rylie challenges her to go on six dates with him so he can atone for his behavior in college, with an on-air review of each date.

I loved the originality of the premise, and I really loved the sparks that fly between these two at every meeting. But what I liked most was that these two larger-than-life personalities felt real and layered. Rylie may be in touch with his feelings but he really was terrible when they first dated. And he isn't perfect now -- his first "atonement" date with Eva is a disaster. Eva is tough as nails on the outside but a mess on the inside. I may not have related to her stiletto heels but I could certainly relate to her ambition and her fears of letting her walls down.

I appreciated the way Rylie and Eva have to balance their feelings for each other, their careers, and the very thin line of public versus private. They both want social media success but they also want space to be themselves, in private, and those aren't easy boundaries to draw.

There's a fair amount of repetition, in both the banter and cutesy nicknames, and also in Eva's internal monologue. But I found it well written, and the humor and emotion make up for the repetition.

I think good second chance stories are hard to write, because often it feels unrealistic that the couple broke up in the first place. I didn't feel that way here. Also the cover is fantastic, and I find most covers pretty unoriginal (though I'm not sure the title does this book any favors).

This book was sexy, spicy, with great banter and a lot of heart. I'll definitely be reading more by this author.

Note: I received an advanced review copy of this book from NetGalley and publisher St. Martins Griffin. This book was published August 5, 2025.

Absolutely loved my first introduction into Mazey Eddings’ books. Eva and Rylie are phenomenal.

I absolutely love Mazey’s writing style and the pace of the book. The way she conveys emotion through Eva is superb and I love the entire premise. Such a fun read!! Thank you SMP for this ARC!!

If you are anything like me, and love a first line that makes you laugh, you’ll want to read this novel. I am a huge Mazey Eddings fan and although Well, Actually was a bit different than her other books, it did not disappoint!

Some may consider parts of this book crude, but the sarcasm and banter made me LOL.

There are some heavy topics, but Mazey does a fantastic job at addressing them and showing the real sides of people. It is very refreshing to read about characters who struggle just like everyone else.

⚠️Please check the TW⚠️

Book Review
Well, Actually
By: Mazey Eddings

★★★☆☆ – Fun Concept, But the Vibes Got Old
Sausage Talk had all the right ingredients—viral call-outs, fake dating, second chances—but the execution didn’t quite hit.
Eva starts off as a hilarious hot mess, stuck hosting a weird celeb hot dog show after calling out her ex, Rylie, on the internet. He’s now a woke internet darling teaching men how to not suck, and he offers to “make it up to her” with public redemption dates. She agrees—for revenge, obviously.
At first, it’s entertaining. But Eva being a jerk 24/7 and Rylie staying painfully gentle got really annoying after a while. The grudge-match vibe just dragged on, and their emotional growth felt lopsided.
Still, the premise is fun, the banter is solid, and if you love messy second-chance romances with a splash of influencer drama, this might be your thing.
Tropes:
🎤 Enemies to Lovers
📹 Fake Dating for Content
💔 Second Chances
☀️ Grumpy x Sunshine (but flipped)
📲 Social Media Drama
❤️‍🩹 Redemption Arc

Thank you NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for this ARC!

Oh this book was SO addicting!! My first book by Mazey Eddings, and I’m immediately hooked by her writing! The main characters (specifically Eva) were HILARIOUS. The banter in this was immaculate. I found myself thinking of this book throughout the day and needed to pick it up any spare moment I had! This book is the definition of black cat x golden retriever and every slow burn lovers dream.

Obsessed with the black cat/golden retriever energy that Eva and Cooper were giving!! Eva's angry girl personality had me cackling and Cooper giving it right back had me kicking my feet. I was just as obsessed with Eva as Cooper was. This book was genuinely hilarious throughout, but it was also packed with emotion. Eva and Cooper treat each other and their relationship with so much care (Eva can't be angry girl all the time). It was healing to watch them navigate the early days and the conflicts that arose after reading so many other books where the relationship just get tossed into the bin at the first sign of conflict. Their relationship was giving everything I could want and there was the spice 👀🔥🔥. Like I said, it was everything I could ask for. I was such a fan of this one and the number of highlights I left throughout show that. This will definitely be on my reread list soon!

I was hooked by the cover and intrigued by the synopsis and you know what? There were moments that I really liked in this story and the easy writing style of this author made reading this book a breeze. Why didn’t I embrace it whole heartedly? Eva’s character had some traits I really liked. She overcame a difficult past, had a strong work ethic, and was doing what a lot of us do/did in our 20’s- doing something she didn’t like very much but knew it would lead to that next step in her career. All of these were parts of her personality that were admirable, but she was such a hard character to like. Her difficult past built a wall that very few people were able to scale, her strong work ethic and dreams for her future caused her to make some decisions on the job that were not in her own best interest, and the worst thing was how she treated Rylie. She was pretty brutal which admittedly was her on air persona, but in private she didn’t really give him a break either- at least for two thirds of the book. Why, if she was so hard to like did I keep reading? Rylie.

Unlike Eva’s character, Rylie was further in the process of working through his own past discretions, one of which was Eva and he’s relationship in college. He entered their on-air agreement with honesty and hope that he would be given a second chance by Eva. She was pretty horrible and snarky to him, but he seemed to like that a lot. That’s not my own thing, but I can understand that sometimes opposites attract and because I read the entire novel saw Eva’s redemption arc pay off with her gentling her interactions with Rylie. Thank goodness. By the end I respected both of their characters equally but there was a big chunk where I leaned towards team Rylie over Eva. That’s never a comfortable place to be when reading a romance where you want so badly to like both characters. I did get there though!

This is essentially Chicken Shop Date fan fiction, and I am HERE for it.

I knew quickly that this book would not be for everyone, but I had a blast. Eva can be a tough female mc to root for, but I think if you understand her and why she is the way she is, you can get past it. And Rylie!!!! Absolutely adored him. The black cat/golden retriever trope will always be a favorite of mine. Their banter was exquisite. I genuinely loved reading this one and didn’t want to stop. No, it’s not perfect, but you don’t always need that in a book.

4⭐️

✨ARC REVIEW✨

⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️

🌭 black cat x golden retriever
🌭 second chance
🌭 hate to love
🌭 workplace romance
🌭 chicken shop date vibes

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. It started off strong. Her drunken TikTok rant was fun and I was like hell yeah you get em. I was all for Eva’s zings to Riley (who doesn’t love a little razzing) but then I kinda hated it. It became too much. I understand why, like I get it was her defense mechanism but I was over it. I became bored in the middle. Nothing much happened and the MMC kept being referred to as Riley and Cooper and that sorta bothered me more than it probably should have. The story picked towards the end but it was a little anti climactic for me. Overall this was just mehh.

Well, Actually is my first exposure to Mazey Eddings's writing, and I'm an instant fan. The sass, the spite, the snark, the spice...it's everything I love. I snickered, laughed out loud, and got choked up within the same page at times. Mazey has a special talent that cuts right to the heart, and stole my breath with just how seen I felt in Eva's characterization. It can be a little jarring to read thoughts you've had in your own head about yourself coming from a character in a book, but it's also reassuring to know you're not the only one who has struggled, doubted, wondered all the things. It felt healing to see Rylie fight for their connection despite how Eva had behaved in the name of self protection.
I fell in love with Eva and Rylie equally through this story. She's so protective of her peace that she's walled herself off behind her acerbic wit and intelligence, and he's swung so far from the damaged frat bro he was in college to the podcast host attempting to help men leave toxic masculinity behind. Their journey back together is quite the ride!
There's some really great positive mental health representation in this book. Rylie has been putting in work in therapy and trying to come to terms with his own traumas, and the way he opens that door for Eva to walk through with him... talk about swoony! Rylie Cooper is a communication king, and it's super hot.
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, & Mazey Eddings for the ARC review opportunity.

This was such a banter filled book and I liked that so much!

Overall, this book was entertaining. I liked the constant back and forth wittiness of Eva and Rylie’s relationship. They cracked me up so much but that’s pretty much what saved this book for me rating it lower.

There are trigger warnings in the beginning of the book, which I appreciated. However, most of this book was a trauma dump. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. I love turmoil in my books but this seemed like one turmoil too excessive. And the backstory of the characters kind of felt unnecessary. I wish they had just met and went on an enemies to lovers journey. The whole fact of how they hooked up and ignored each other for years just baffled me. Like okay he was going through stuff but he didn’t even try to send a smoke signal?!

Don’t even get me started on the weird therapy date. And then to not have Eva grow in that aspect of getting therapy for her insecurities kind of felt off. Like did she ever get closure in that aspect? 😅

While I’ll never understand their relationship (or lack of) in college, I did like how Rylie supported her, especially in the end. The whole work turmoil felt debatable because of having worked in a very toxic and bullying environment. I wish we got a little more of what happened in the end. Anyways, their relationship was SPICY. I give it 4 🌶️ out of 5.

A good read for the end of summer. Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Mazey Eddings for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

The praise??? On point. Chef’s kiss. The banter and wit is top tier. I love the representation that is expected in a Mazey book.

“𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤… 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞.”

𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: 8/5/25

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: Eva Kitt never expected to be the host of Sausage Talk, interviewing B-list celebrities over lukewarm hot dogs, instead of pursuing the journalism career she dreamed of. But when Eva’s impromptu public call out of her college ex goes viral, she’s thrust into the spotlight. It doesn’t help said ex is Rylie Cooper, the very man who ghosted her years earlier.

𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:
🎙️Second chance
🌭Open door spice
🎙️LGBQT representation
🌭Self growth

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:
This was an enjoyable second chance romance with a witty, initially likable FMC and some great tension. It was decently paced, well-written, and the spice was perfection 👌🏻. That’s where my praise ends unfortunately. While book explores themes of misogyny and LGBTQ+ positivity, which are indeed important, at times they felt a little heavy-handed. Like the book was a PSA and not a romance. As the story progressed, the FMC became almost insufferable to listen to and some antagonist characters were annoyingly vile. I listened to the audiobook alongside the ebook, and the narrator truly elevated the experience. I found the ebook alone to not have that extra “thing” a story needs to keep me wanting more. The romance aspect of the story and audio narration carried it all for me. I’d recommend this to romance readers who enjoy good banter, emotional depth, and some “satisfying” spice 🌶️.

𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴:

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

TW: Misogyny, bullying


*Thank you @NetGalley, @MacMillan.Audio and @StMartinsPress for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

#WellActually

Witty and sharp dialogue. Drawn in by the premise. This book is perfect for you if you’re a reader loves characters with edge we have a mean streak and it’s supposed to be endearing. Solid book even if it wasn’t for me.