First I would like to thank Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me a ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the story of Ellie, former costume designer and current deli owner, who comes home to Milborough to take over the deli after the death of her father. When she learns a local landlord, Theo Taylor, is planning to rent to a gourmet food department store Ellie decides to confront Theo in person. During their meeting Theo sustains a head injury and she tells the medial staff she is his fiancé. Once Theo regains his memory he decides he wants Ellie to continue to be his fake fiancé since he doesn't want to rent to the department store. As they continue the farce Ellie meets more people in Theo's life including his former fiancé Sam, who wants to rekindle things with Theo for real, which makes Ellie's life difficult since she is developing real feelings for Theo. As time goes on the farce starts becoming to real and Ellie has to decide if saving the family deli is worth the potential heartbreak.

What I Liked:
- Fake dating, since Ellie took advantage of Theo's reduced mental capacity after the accident I love that Theo keeps giving her crap for saying it in the first place cause it make her squirm
- Theo/Ellie, even though its a fake relationship I do enjoy the moments its just the two of them and they really get to know each other and start pushing the other to do what they love
- Ellie's clothes, throughout the story Ellie starts wearing her own designs and I would LOVE to see them IRL cause they sound absolutely amazing
- Ellie's family, they are a close group that doesn't allow any BS between then and I just love a family that has no problem checking each other

Overall I did enjoy the book, there were a lot of times where I just wanted to shake Ellie cause she just refused to communicate and it got annoying at times. If you like a fake dating, small town, he falls first romance then I think this is a story worth checking out!

Ellie Greco and Theo Taylor bumps head on their first meeting. Although they knew of each other in HS they didn’t interact. But when Ellie is trying to same her family’s deli and Theo brushes her off it doesn’t help them.

But when Theo suffers from a work place accident in front of Ellie she goes into protective mode and fakes as his fiancée to make sure he is ok.

There are some genuinely funny parts. And there are some parts where you want to shake some common sense into Ellie. But it’s a solid romance with drama, wit, and the eventual happy ending.

2.5 stars (rounded up).

"Love You, Mean It" by Jilly Gagnon is nothing spectacularly amazing or amazingly bad, it's just mediocre. The book starts strongly enough. While I absolutely love fake dating as a trope, the ball gets dropped repeatedly here. I did not love the characters. While I appreciate when female characters are complex, layered, ornery, and not at all sunshiney, Ellie is difficult to root for as a main character. She's very judgmental and overwhelmingly negative about everything! There's a difference between being complex and just being a jerk! Theo didn't do it for me, either, though he was more tolerable than Ellie. They both have quite a bit of baggage, which is fine, but it doesn't feel like they learn anything by the book's end. I also did not buy their chemistry with one another because they don't have any to begin with! You can't make sparkles out of fizzles, and their "love" was all fizzle. I didn't ever believe that they were romantically interested in one another. Their situation never fully grasped my attention. I think the concept of this book worked, but the execution is severely lacking.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jilly Gagnon, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Dell for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

📚 ARC Review📚

One of my favorite movies of all time is While You Were Sleeping. This book has those vibes plus enemies to lovers/fake dating. It’s a cute feel good rom-com that will be the perfect pick if you want a fluffy beach read!

I enjoyed this book a lot and will definitely try another by this author. Thank you to NetGalley, The Publisher and Author for the ARC

I had high hopes for Love You, Mean It by Jilly Gagnon, but this one unfortunately fell a little flat for me. The "while you were sleeping" trope just did not pan out for me and I had a hard time connecting with the characters.

Love You, Mean It by Jilly Gagnon this was a new author for me which I am always willing to try. In general I found the book to be funny, but the language was more than I enjoy seeing in a book. There were parts of the story line that I enjoyed but others that I did not. Having said that I would still recommend to others, because I realize not everyone enjoys the same books.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

Love you, Mean It by Jilly Gagnon had all the famous romance plot lines some enemies to lovers, fake dating and a little "While you were sleeping" moment in there. Ellie gave up her big dreams to make it big as a designer in New York after her father passed away and someone had to run the family deli. She felt like she was wasting her life away being stuck in her hometown cutting meat rather than following her dreams. But when Ellie finds out the deli might be threatened by a chain italian food store coming in she'll do anything to stop it.

Theo Taylor is running the project of opening this new food store but when Ellie meets with him the ceiling falls on Theo's head leaving him unconscious. Ellie did what any reasonable girl would do and told the medic escorting him out she was his fiance. (JK why would anyone do that) At first Theo's memory is a bit whonky and he isn't sure he has a fiance but as his memory comes back he remembers who Ellie is. They decide to hatch a plan together to save Ellie's deli and to get Theo out of this project. Lines start to blur to what is being faked and what is truly real between Ellie and Theo.

I liked this book, I think it was a great quick read that I would definitely take to the beach with me.

3.5/5
Love You, Mean It is a classic fake dating romance. Ellie Greco is trying to save her family's deli by preventing a large food conglomerate, Mangia, from moving into her small town. The building's owners son Theo Taylor is the one in charge of the project, so Ellie approaches him regarding the deal. After a small accident and a minor (eh maybe major) lie, the two agree to start fake dating so they can each get what they want out of the Mangia deal. This means standing up to Theo's dad and Ellie finally taking control over her own life and future. This romance itself was cute, like a slow burn romance. The book gave me vibes of You've Got Mail, While You Were Sleeping, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding all rolled into one. It was a fun, playful read with some depth to it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for granting me a free ebook in exchange for my honest review!

Another cute rom-com; a very quick read. I loved the chemistry between all of the characters and I wouldn’t mind reading about them again.

A fun, new romcom with fake dating to the extreme, a feisty female lead, and a corporate softie hero, LOVE YOU, MEAN IT features Ellie Greco finding her place again in her small town and with a grown-up high school rival thanks to a touch of amnesia a la “When You Were Sleeping” that makes for romantic comedy hilarity.

Book Review: LOVE YOU, MEAN IT by Jilly Gagnon

📚 Book Synopsis: Ellie Greco is determined to keep her family deli thriving because it’s where she feels most to her late father. When there’s threat of a major competitor coming into town, though, Ellie is eager to stop it by any means necessary. An accident and a touch of amnesia a la that great 90s movie, While You Were Sleeping, marks Ellie and Theo as an engaged couple vs rivals and kicks off this romcom.

😉 My Take: This was fun, well-written romantic comedy with a feisty heroine and surprisingly cinnamon roll hero. There’s definite chemistry and some definite steamy scenes. The challenge in the story, besides Theo’s awful father, is that Ellie desperately needed to get out of her own way! It was almost a miscommunication trope, but she was miscommunicating with herself. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Still, this was a fun read with great characters, strong backstories, and decadent food descriptions.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5 stars)

😘 Thanks to @DellRomance and @NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for this honest review. LOVE YOU, MEAN IT is out now!

Ellie had different dreams for her life, but when her father passed away 5 years ago she moved back to her hometown to run the family deli. Now a local landlord’s plan for a new gourmet department store is putting the deli’s future at risk. She sets up a meeting with Theo, who is part of the property management group. However, the meeting goes from bad to worse when a ceiling caves in taking Theo to the hospital. In order to get in and make sure he’s okay, Ellie tells the hospital staff that she is Theo’s fiancé, and that lie gets more intense when he wakes up and it appears he has amnesia. As Theo recovers, he proposes they continue to pretend to be engaged hoping they can use the engagement to benefit them both in business.

If you love the movie While You Were Sleeping like I do, you will probably love this book. There were a lot of fun and unexpected twists along the way and the messiness along the way with Theo’s ex made it even more entertaining. This book had a lot of funny moments and was a fun and quick read!

Thank you to Random House - Ballantine and NetGalley for the advance copy.

Such a cute book! I really enjoyed reading this and will definitely be recommending to friends! The character development was great and reading their story.

Unfortunately, this book was a miss for me. I found the characters to be unlike-able and their romance to be unbelievable. I really wanted to like it given the trope heavy storyline including fake dating and grumpy/sunshine, but just didn’t pull me through because I didn’t like the main characters at all.

I liked this book but not as much as I thought I would. I would for the most part describe this book as "Fluffy". It has a story that is sometimes funny and at others (at least for me) a little cringey. As for the characters again, it was a mixed bag. I liked Theo but wasn't really a fan of Ellie (although there were a few moments that my heart almost warmed toward her) but it never really took.

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.