This book was an unexpected read. Based off the book cover and title, I was expecting a light, fluffy read and it wasn’t. It was better.

Madeline DeLuca was 17 and pregnant when she left Haverberry, MA for Los Angeles. She forged a somewhat hard life raising her son and baking in restaurants. Due to a stipulation in her father’s will one year after his death, she has to come back to Haverberry and face her decisions about her past and present.

Maddi’s relationship with her mother has always been hard and made harder when she got pregnant. Her parents’ acute disappointment combined with the after effects of her relationship with her first love and best friend, Wilder, Maddi
made the decision to leave and only return back twice in 10 years. Maddi and her mother’s grief over the death of her father is present for the majority of the book.

Jake, her ex-boyfriend and father of her 9 year old, Spence, finally starts to have a relationship with him. Meanwhile, Maddi is confronted with Wilder after the stipulation in the will states they must work together at the bakery. The emotional whiplash between the two exists for most of the book due to the drama of Maddi being back in a small town surrounded by people who never left and the gossip that persists. She’s acutely aware of how people think of her and her interactions with Wilder’s mom are not the best. But with the help of Wilder’s sister, Liv, the missing puzzle pieces start to fill in and their love prevails.

Also, Spence, Maddi’s son, is a joy. This is possibly because I have a son the same age and Spence was written correctly. The sheer sarcasm and wit of 9 year olds is so entertaining and spot on.

The title of this book is a misnomer. Mom Com sounds like it’s funny and while there were parts like that, this book was mostly about dealing with grief and heartache and second chances. It is definitely a romance and even a holiday one at that. I thoroughly enjoyed all the pastry making and the slow burn for Maddi and Wilder.

Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this eARC. Mom Com is out now.

3.5 stars. There’s a lot to like in this second chance, holiday, single mom romance. But because the main characters were last together in high school, their emotional maturity throughout this story about adults felt stunted. It really reminded me of Lorelai Gilmore and her relationship with her withholding mother, and her much too close relationship with the kid she had in high school. Maddi refers to nine year old Spence as her best friend, which doesn’t seem healthy. He’s definitely going to need therapy after years of being aggressively cheerful and easygoing so as not to burden his young mom.

I have to say, the book title isn’t doing it any favors either. This was definitely not a romcom, but more bittersweet and layered (like the desserts Maddi and Wilder craft throughout).

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

I liked the premise of this one for it's uniqueness as a rom com. And I loved the characters including both the heroine and hero. But it wasn't one that I could finish. For personal reasons. I don't handle books dealing with the death of a parent especially if the parent in question is the father. But it was still a good story just not for me.

I thought it was going to be super cheesy and just overdone, but I think it was done quite nicely, and the romance wasn’t so overpowering that you didn’t really get a chance to enjoy the book overall as a whole, I think the holidays added this extra layer of warmth to the story

A story that is romantic, fun and heartfelt -- plus it is set in the world of baking, so it has lots of appeal. Maddie is a well known baker who has an unfortunate meltdown on TV and online for all the world to see. She retreats to her hometown, where her mother wants her to run her father's whimsical, old fashioned bakery. That used to be her dream, which got a bit messed up by Wilder, her high school sweetheart, who she now hates. Her problem -- can she run the bakery and avoid Wilder? I truly look forward to recommending this title.

This book was a lot of fun and I'm so grateful to be introduced to a new-to-me author!
 
A delightful second-chance romance where the stakes are high and every corner comes with a delectable treat, I couldn't get enough of this one.
 
I appreciated the social challenges Adriana acknowledged for Maddie as well as the family differences she faced compared to that of Wilder's. I loved Wilder's character from when he was a young boy to him as an adult — and I was happy to see the HEA prove him to be the good person he was described as throughout the book.
 
More than this though, I loved the connection these characters shared. And I appreciated that not every relationship was perfect. There were rocky, tumultuous ones, which only led to so much more in character growth.
 
I had the pleasure of listening to this book and the narrator did a phenomenal job. I really enjoyed immersing myself in the experience, but I was a bit confused at times since the flashbacks aren't noted by anything—barely a pause more than a typical paragraph was given—which made it sometimes difficult to determine what timeline we were in until we were part way through the scene already.
 
Tropes:

- second chance romance

- childhood best friends

- enemies to lovers

- rivals to lovers

- forced proximity

- family drama

- single mom

- holiday romance

The book Mom Com was an enjoyable read. I would recommend any book written by Adriana Mather. Happy Reading!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely.

Thank you so much for giving me this ARC!

What an absolutely fun read, perfect for romcom lovers! MomCom follows Maddi DeLuca coming home for Christmas with her 8 year old son, after a depressing defeat on a televised baking show. 10 years ago, all Maddi could think of was taking over her father's beloved bakery in their tiny coastal town. Her best friend (and boyfriend at that time) Wilder Buaventura had his own dream - a life with Maddi. They spent hours and hours in her father's bakery until one day, their relationship implodes and there goes that dream..

Maddi doesn't want to go home for Christmas but goes to please her mother and to deal with her father's will and his bakery. The will also includes Wilder, the one person she's been trying to forget about this whole time!

Mom Com was a sweet read about a second chance with your first love. I loved Maddi's son Spencer and all his wisdom for a 9 year old boy. I loved the slow burn romance buildup between Maddi and Wilder and I quite enjoyed the lead up to what went down with their breakup ten years ago.

Mom Com is a very enjoyable Christmas read and I highly recommend it for any bookclubs this Christmas 🎁⛄

It's not often that I know within the first few pages that I'm going to love it but for this one that's all it took to know it would be a 5 star read! I loved everything about it!

I was smiling, laughing, crying — feeling ALL the feels throughout. The last book I read by Adriana Mather was Killing November (a YA thriller that I loved) so I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this one but she killed it!! This romance is sweet, funny, heartbreaking and set around the holidays when going home can be both healing and painful for people and is also not a given for all. This is a second chance romance with a lot of miscommunication/secrets, some old teenage rivalry vibes, and a main character who has to face the past after a decade away. Both main characters, Maddi and Wilder, occasionally made me want to throw the book across the room but ultimately had me rooting for them from the beginning. The flashback scenes really tugged on my heartstrings and the grief and family dynamics were really well written. Plus, look at how cute the cover is! The way the author writes this adult romance novel with an element of young adult storytelling felt through the flashbacks was sooo good and just flowed really well.

Maddi DeLuca left her hometown of Haverberry Cove for LA right out of high school, pregnant and with basically no support after constant fighting with her mother and ex-best friend. Now ten years later and one year after her father’s passing, Maddi returns home for the holidays with her son Spence, unemployed and basically broke. She’s practically counting down the days until she can leave but a surprise codicil in her father’s will means she might just have to stay a lot longer than she intended and not only that but she’ll have to work closely with Wilder Buenaventura, her ex-best friend/ex-boyfriend and the absolute last person she wants to see. Will she be able to make peace with her memories of the past or will she be hightailing it back to LA with Spence in tow regardless of her father’s will and the old feelings she can’t seem to escape?

With the holidays coming up, now is the perfect time to read this book!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book as well as the finished, published version. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The story of Maddi and Wilder. She is back in her home town after everything fell apart, and finds she has inherited half of her fathers bakery. Wilder has inherited the other half - can they become friends again?

Mom Com is a holiday romance novel but also a story of family, reliving teen drama and coming home again. I read it in less than a day and I was hooked so quickly on the story of Maddie, Wilder, Jake and the fun kid, Spence. I really was invested in Maddie and what she ended up choosing, how her life would play out and would she be able to reconcile with her family. I do think it could have benefited from being a little longer because I would have loved to hear more about the baking show, more backstory and definitely a dual POV. But it was a really enjoyable holiday story.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

I struggled with Mom Com. While I liked the story and the premise, the execution didn't work for me.

WHAT I LIKED

The Child
I am usually wary of children in adult books. However, I loved Spencer. His page time is perfectly balanced. Even for his young age (9), he has his agency, thoughts, and feelings and cutely expresses them. The relationship between Spencer and his mom gave me Gilmore Girl vibes with their dialogue.

The Premise
I loved the idea of the story.

WHAT DIDN'T WORK FOR ME

The Romance:
Despite the title Mom Com, there is almost no Com in this book. I expected a cute story about two people falling back in love while working side by side in a bakery, but that is not this story. There is a lot of emphasis on grief and heartache. The issue is that it all comes across as immature and whiny. The whole story reads like a YA book.

My other issue is for a second chance romance; there is almost zero romance in the present timeline. Most of the time, the couple is together they are fighting.

The Flashbacks:
I have said it before, but second-chance romances do not work for me unless there is a dual timeline. I need to see you fall in love the first time to believe you could a second time.

At first, I was pleasantly surprised to see flashbacks used to set up the past timeline. However, the transition was jarring and took me out of the story. The ebook and, I assume, the print book starts the flashback with italics. However, with the audiobook, there is no way to tell. I would have preferred separate chapters for the two different timelines.

The other issue I had with the flashbacks is that they don't tell the story of the Wilder and Maddi's love. It is about them breaking up, struggling to remain friends, and fighting about who they are dating. I get what the author was going for; it just wasn't executed well.

The Side Characters
Nearly every side character in this book is a terrible person, and not in an interesting way. A few redeem themselves, but barely.

TW: Death of a Parent, Teen Pregnancy.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this book just didn't do it for me... It wasn't a "COM" at all... I really didn't like either on the main characters either

I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are my own opinions.

I found Mom Com to be a fun and mostly enjoyable read. I could not finish due to the back and forth through time. Anytime I started to really get pulled in the story, we took an adventure back to the past. It annoyed me to no end and had to stop.

A sweet, funny, second chance romance that hit the spot. Maddi is in need of break. Not even a big one, just a moment to catch her breath. Then she is commanded to return home by her really judgmental mother. Once she gets there she the hits keep on coming and she is forced to deal and make peace with her past and figure out her present. A really enjoyable, well written story with terrific characters who work hard to make peace with each other and all find their happily ever after.

Enjoyable, but I feel misled by the title. Yes, the main character, Maddi, is a mom and her relationship with her own mother plays a large role in the story... but "com" I expected a romcom- there was truly no comedy in the story. I very strongly disliked Maddi in the beginning as she was so defensive it was aggressive. Her mom was the worst- like Emily Gilmore on selfish steroids. For all the magic Wilder could cook up in the bakery, his character was white bread. Seriously, he just seemed so boring and yet he had an answer for every question and miscommunication to just drop when he felt it was right. I liked the way the dual POV was done in flashback sense. There were times in flashbacks that Maddi's loneliness and isolation truly had me feeling for her, but that was about the extent of my emotional draw to this book. Lots of drama/miscommunication all wrapped up and solved with a nice little Christmas bow.

Wonderful read with all the feels! I enjoyed this story that took me on a ride and I was happy that it did! Second chances and talented souls that I was rooting for the entire time. This one is definitely on the list to reread in the future!

This was a delightful and heartfelt second chance romance! The reader gets to follow Maddi and her 9 year old son Spence as they return to the hometown she thought she left behind. Maddi finds herself in a tough situation in which she has to navigate working with long-ago love interest Wilder.

This would be a great book to pick up for anyone wanting to add a holiday romance to their TBR!

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for my review copy of this book.

Maddi is a single mom who is forced to return to her hometown for the holidays due to a clause in her late father's will. She reluctantly returns with her 9 yr old son and desperately doesn't want to relive her youth and all the drama that happened before she abruptly left 10 years ago.

When she is hit with something she least expected, she's forced to work alongside her childhood ex, Wilder, who she has sworn off as her enemy. Will she be able to heal her old wounds and come to terms with what's outlined in her Father's will?

This was a heart warming, holiday read. If you like a little family drama and enemies to lovers, then I recommend this book! There isn't much spice, but in my opinion, it isn't needed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for an Advanced Readers Copy of this novel.