Many thanks to Netgalley for this arc. I received this arc in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts are entirely my own.

In this novel we meet Ellie whose family has run the local deli for decades and she took over when her father died a few years pior. Ellie' mimi has family dinner on Sundays and Mimi announces that the Taylor family plans on bringing in a chain store that would put Ellie's family deli out of business. Ellie decides to talk to Theo Taylor, the heir to the Taylor empire. While at the property Theo gets hit in the head and ends up with amnesia. Ellie pretends to be his fiancé in order to go with him. When Ellie picks him up from the hospital she tells him the truth and Theo comes up with a plan for them to fake an engagement to stop the chain store from coming into town. Ellie and Theo start to hang out and start to fall in love. Theo's ex enters the picture and her and Ellie hit it off and she agrees to help her win Theo back when she tells Ellie that he was the one who got away. When Theo starts to admit his feelings Ellie screws it up and when she realizes her mistake she believes that she is too late until a town hall meeting that Theo organized. Theo announces that the chain store won't be coming to town and he and Ellie get back together.

I absolutely LOVED this book. Oh my gosh, Jilly Gagnon, you're brilliant. Absolutely, BRILLIANT.
Ellie is our FMC and Tripp, I mean, Theo is our swoon-worthy MMC.
Ellie owns a small deli, and Theo's family is about to rent out one of their real estate buildings to a BIG chain market. They knew each other as kids, and after that, both went on to live their lives.
This is an adorable and fun rom-com that you have to read! I felt all the cute butterflies in my stomach the whole time, and my gosh, I loved both characters so much. Ellie's inner dialogue is * chef's kiss*.
If you enjoy fake dating, playful banter, and deep blue eyes *cough*, pick this up. I finished this is one sitting and couldn't put it down. AHH, I wish every book felt this spectacular.
Seriously, go pick.this.up.

Thank you Netgalley and Dell for my eArc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book drew me in but once I started reading it, I just couldn’t get into it at all.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

This is a very cute rom-com. It's fresh and light and a nice break from heavier reading, exactly what I needed. The characters are fun and easy to connect with.

"So what if he didn't like my place? Not all of us were brought up in literal mansions. Not all of us tried to carve out a personality via the things we adorned our spaces with."

Ellie has a huge chip on her shoulder. Paired with a bad attitude and a need to prove herself.
Theo is - well, clueless - and not good at - well, relationships. (eg Sam)

Listen, this book was supposed to be a light, quick beach read. For me, it was a slow read. And I'm old enough to remember the film "While You Were Sleeping" (recommended) which follows a similar plot and theme.

"Maybe it wasn't too much to hope that we could somehow pull this off."

Slow burn. Slow read.

I really struggled with this book. I liked the use of the “While You Were Sleeping” mixed with fake dating tropes but I found myself really struggling to like or get invested in the characters themselves. In the beginning, Ellie is extremely hard to root for. She’s really struggling with her self worth and it’s impacting every part of her life. I didn’t really feel much of a connection between her and Theo either. I honestly found myself rooting for Theo and Sam more at points of the book. Overall, this book didn’t work for me but I’m curious to read what this author may write next.

This was so cute and fun to read!! I’m obsessed with the characters and so glad I got to read it! I loved the storyline and getting to see this book thru.

This was a good debut romance from Jilly Gagnon. I absolutely love the fake dating trope, but something about Ellie, the FMC, made it hard to root for her to get her happily ever after.

Ellie had moved back to her Massachusetts hometown from NYC after the death of her father to run the family deli. After her grandmother learns at a town planning meeting that a large scale competitor may be taking over an empty building, Ellie decides to do her best to squash this plan. This is a fun story of family loyalty and unplanned romance.

"Love You, Mean It" was a very cute and sweet romance. The perfect palette cleanser between some darker reads.

I loved the premise and both main characters. Fake engagement and amnesia are two relatively common tropes and I thought this was a fun spin on it. Though I think OSHA seriously needs to inspect that worksite ; ). I adored Ellie and loved that she didn't adjust or temper who she was for other people. I also loved seeing Theo's growth, and there was a fantastic crew of. side characters. The setting was great. Romance novels truly are the best advertisement for American suburbia, it's wild how idyllic they make cookie cutter suburbs sound.

I wish that we saw a little more development to the relationship between Ellie and Theo. They didn't do a lot of talking about their developing feelings (partially because Ellie was in denial, which was a feature not a bug). While this book certainly brought the drama and the steam, there were some parts of the relationship development that felt a little too close to real life to me (including the conclusion of the book). I understand that this is a matter of personal preference. Additionally, I wish we saw a little more of Theo processing the trauma of the loss of his brother.

Overall, this was a very cute book (that I believe is the author's adult romance debut). Looking forward to what else Gagnon writes!

3.5 stars

Thank you Ballantine for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

I generally don’t read a lot of rom-coms. Usually they’re kind of cheesy. But I think maybe I should read more bc this was just delightful.

Maybe bc I don’t read this stuff, I’m not up on the tropes and what have you so I don’t know if this contains any. I just enjoyed it. It made me feel warm and fuzzy which is a nice break from tension I get from all the murder books I usually read.

Fake dating
Laugh out loud moments
Romance
Amnesia troupe
Swoony chemistry

Perfect light reading with a engaging love story.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Ellie is running the deli that has been in her family for 100 years and is trying to save it from Theo’s family, who is a huge conglomerate who wants to put a mega store in town which would likely put Ellie’s store out of business and when Ellie and Theo have their “meet cute” and decide to work together so they can both get what they want, they end up fake dating, which inevitably leads to real dating.
It was sorta While You Were Sleeping-ish, cute enemies to lovers but my only criticism if you want to call it that is that Ellie was hard to like as a character. She was very critical and makes some frustrating decisions but it’s not anything that I couldn’t get past to let me enjoy my experience with the story.
Overall, it was a quick and easy read with a lots going on!
Thanks to Dell Publishing and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

I'm typically enjoy the amnesia/fake dating trope similar to 'Why You Were Sleeping' so the start of this rom-com was fast-paced and I was excited to see how the amnesia would correct itself. Unfortunately, I could not get past some of the FMC's immaturity, pessimism, or flash judgements of everyone she meets. It was hard to root for her and a HEA as I would have preferred the MMC stayed with his ex. I do think rom-com readers who enjoy fake dating and protagonists who are challenging the careers/roles inhered from their families might enjoy this read, it just was not for me.

3.5 stars. I was in the mood for a comforting and tropey romance, so I picked this one up, and before I knew it, I had inhaled half the book. Ellie currently runs her family's Italian deli but faces a threat when the local Taylor family wants to bring a fancy Eataly-type store to town. Ellie finds an unconventional ally in Theo Taylor and romance circumstances bring them together to try to tank the deal.

Overall, this was really fun and genuinely funny. The story is deftly able to juggle fake dating, enemies to lovers, and even a little light amnesia. I think this could have benefitted from also having Theo's point of view since he felt a bit underdeveloped compared to Ellie, who I loved as a main character.

This was a really quick story that made for a quick read. You had some of everyone’s favorite tropes- enemies to lovers, and fake dating. Ellie is trying to find herself after moving back home when her dreams of going into costume design are not realized. She has to push to extreme measures to try and save her families deli. There was enough going on with Ellie’s character development outside of the main plot points that kept you engaged. Such a quick cute read.

Thank you to NetGalley, and Jilly Gagnon for this ARC.

3 Stars! Such a cute young adult romantic comedy. The main characters were Ellie Greco & Theo Taylor. I liked Theo but Ellie had a lot of growing to do and I only really liked her at the end. She was kind of a jerk. This is the first time I’m reading this author. I enjoyed reading this one and would read her work again. This book had amnesia, fake dating, harsh words, coming to terms with lost dreams, realizing new dreams, an ex fiancé, making friends, dueling businesses and stuck up rich people. All in all, it was an entertaining, interesting book with lots of love and a HEA ending. A few ‘sexy times’ that were hot but not too long & you can easily skim through if that’s not your thing. The beginning few chapters were a bit slow but it picks up about a quarter of the way through.
*I received this book at no charge & I voluntarily left this review.*

This is a very While You Were Sleeping adjacent RomCom, so if you like the movie, odds are you will like the book. Ellie was a designer, and had big dreams, but came back home to take over her family's deli when her father passed away. Now she is stuck in her hometown, and she is faced with the deli going out of business when a hot property manager rolls into town, which threatens to bring in big business. The hijinks start when Theo, said hot guy, takes big hit and has amnesia. Ellie, in order to go with him to the hospital, pretends to be his fiancee. The change in the book from the movie is that Theo pretty quickly realizes Ellie's game and the two decide to work together to get what they want by pretending to be engaged. Ellie and Theo have fine chemistry, but there isn't a ton of humor in this book. There's also a lot of plot. There's a whole side story with an ex of Theo's as well, and Theo's horrible dad. This book has a lot of potential, and if you're looking for some light reading with some Romance in it, it will be fine for your purposes.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am a SUCKER for a fun romcom. Love You, Mean It follows Ellie Greco who's trying to save her family deli and Theo Taylor, the culprit for all her issues. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL DELIS.

That being said, I will support my local deli but I could not support Ellie or Theo. The premise of this story really intrigued me. The whole amnesia/ fake dating aspect, I ATE UP. But the execution didn't work for me. First - I could not feel the chemistry b/t Ellie and Theo. It felt out of place?? and they're supposed to be the main couple. Second - the entire scenario with Sam? not stomachable - so icky. Those scenes took away what could've been better relationship development for Ellie and Theo. Lastly - Ellie. I wanted to like her so bad. Support women's rights and their wrongs. BUT GIRL.
The wrongs were a little to much and her character was just a little too much for me.

Overall, the book wasn't bad! It had a good premise, just needed better execution. Thank you Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I always fall for fake dating even though we all know how it ends. Every time. Love You, Mean It is a fake dating trope about two enemies who pretend to be engaged to stop the guy’s dad from entering into a real estate deal that will destroy the woman’s business. And it started with these two sparring but mid-argument the guy ended up unconscious so she pretends to be his fiancée to get into his hotel room. So we have a little You’ve Got Mail mixed in with While You Were Sleeping. But it deviated a bit into these two scheming together and obviously falling in love. It was really cute in a sweet romcom kind of way. With characters that I was rooting for - both in love but also in standing up for themselves professionally and against their families. I love a strong willed woman, I love when there are real issues that actually get addressed and worked through instead of glossed over and I also love a sweet book boyfriend.