Mixed Signals by Mia Heintzelman is a summery read for those looking for an uncomplicated book for the beach or back porch. I really enjoyed the blurb when I requested this book but have some reservations after actually reading the whole story. When I’m looking for a beach read, I’m not looking for a very complicated plot with interesting sentence structure and an in-depth analysis of characters. I want a quick read with a cute guy and their happy ending. This book somewhat delivers.

But for someone that wants more than that and pays attention to grammar and dives just a little below the surface of the characters’ personalities, this might not be as enjoyable. While I liked Nico’s character, both Liz and Julie at times seemed too shallow, selfish and dramatic to me. I could not get myself to like them, which made it more difficult for me to relate and get into the story. I enjoyed Nico and Julie spending time together but was not a big fan of some of the other relationships (with friends and significant others) in the story. Julie also seemed more of a love-struck teenager with her very first love to me than a grown woman with other things to do and worry about than thinking of her boo all day long.

As somebody else stated, this does seem like a good first draft. I like the idea for the storyline a lot, but think that the characters need to be developed some more to make them more likeable (since this does not seem like a story where they would be unlikable on purpose). I have not read any other books by this author yet but do think there is potential for a very good story here.

“If she thought being face to face with Nico beneath the dim lights of a romantic Italian restaurant was a lot to handle, she’d drastically underestimated the effect of low lights and street lamps upon a good pair of cheekbones and a sharp chin.”

This is just a typical romance novel - Julie had a rough breakup with her fiancee and took a downward spiral. This book begins with Julie's friend Liz trying to pick her up, get her back into shape, and move on from the cheating fiancee. At Liz's gym, Julie begins working with a personal trainer and meets Nico, a guy she had a connection with when she ran into him previously.

There's not a whole lot that's special about this book - I wasn't wowed by the writing. It was also way too descriptive - I don't need to read in-depth descriptions about every single aspect of a character's appearance each time we see a character. This makes all the characters appear super shallow, particularly Julie.

A lot of the book (particularly the gym parts) focus on body shaming, and I find it difficult to support any aspect of that. Liz is such a terrible friend for instigating this body shaming, and I truly dislike a large portion of this book because of that.

Julie is also a very passive character, and she really only follows Liz and Nico's direction. She has such low self-esteem and finds self-worth and acceptance of her body time from Nico. Julie attributes her feelings of confidence, accomplishment, and beauty to Nico when really we need more examples of women finding their own self-worth. This is just another instance of a woman finding confidence and comfort in her body from a man. We don't need another story like this to add to the mountain of sexist literature already in the world.

There were moments where I chucked - I loved the gym intimidation scene when Julie first shows up to her new gym, which sparked the invention of "gymtimidation" as a word. I personally love combining words together to make a weird new word that's not an actual word....

This book wasn't for me. I had a hard time connecting with the main character, even as a flawed character. I liked the premise but wasn't a fan of the execution.

This book was cute, but it felt a little simple and rushed. The main character clearly had some problems to work through, but everything felt so simple to resolve.

Recommended if you want a quick, cute read.

I am a hopeless romantic at heart and suck up chance-meeting romances like a sponge, especially those kind of realist vs romantic kinds of romances. But the story focused on too many of the wrong things. Between Julie's petty attitude and the constant body shaming and borderline-abusive relationships, this book did not turn out to be what I thought it was. Which sometimes isn't a bad thing, but in a book advertised as a meet-cute story, this was almost the exact opposite.

Nico was the perfect book boyfriend material, but Julie ruined the romance.

DNF at 33%

I hate to DNF an ARC copy but I cannot get on with this main character, she seems to just hate everyone around her especially other women for no reason. She also seems to make a big deal of everything, jumping to conclusions and getting angry at others with no evidence to back her up. Her best friend, Liz, also grated on me as she was talking about how Julie needed to get back in the dating game but by doing so she was trying to get her to change pretty much everything about herself. This was just not for me at all.

I’m not sure how to express my thoughts about this book. I liked it but also didn’t like certain parts or things that were said. Our main character is a woman called Julie, she has a strong personality but she’s struggling to put herself together after her fiancé dumps her. I get it, I can relate, I enjoyed her relationship with her best friend Liz and how the two talked about it. I didn’t appreciate how the weight “problem” was handled, but at the same time understood why it was like this. Of course, I don’t expect to agree with the characters in everything and this thing didn’t changed my overall feelings about this book.
I liked the characters, but found some of them a prop instead of part of the story. I did enjoy myself reading about all the times Julie and Nico were talking and spending time together, which was the point.
Overall I thing the main issue for me was the length of this novel, because it was 100 pages too long for me. If it got more stuff going on, different POV, or something like that I think this would have be more fun and not so slow.
Still interested in reading the sequel!

Let me start by saying I really wanted to love this book. I loved the premise and it started out strong, the storyline actually had a lot of potential but whilst I enjoyed some of it, I struggled with the flow and pace of the book. The jumping of scenes was confusing at times and hard to follow.

Overall it wasn’t a bad read, just not so well paced.

This is a cute story with an interesting plot, but it was boring to read at times. I was hoping for more Nico & Julie banter in the story and less over redundant talk of Patrick.
The writing confused me when it jumped to quickly from one moment to the next. I had trouble at times understanding where I was in the story and had to reread the lines again.
I liked her best friend Liz’s character more then the main character Julie.
Overall I was disappointed in the book, but thought it could’ve been better with more editing and explaining more with details after a scene happened, to give the reader a better understanding of what’s going on.

There are times when I’m watching Project Runway that a designer puts all his ideas into one garment. The judge’s response? “Edit, Edit, Edit.” That’s how I felt with Mixed Signals by Mia Heintzelman. Mixed Signals is a good story. The beginning is a little Lalalandish-a traffic jam in Las Vegas, Julie notices handsome stranger in a truck next to hers. Unlike the hit movie, Julie would like to exchange numbers, but due to an ill-timed text, she misses her opportunity and hunky mystery man drives on down the road. Of course, since this is a rom-com, they are destined to meet again, and they do, at the gym where overhearing hunky man’s conversation with her trainer, Julie assumes the hunk is also a player and deadbeat dad, or as he’s known in the book, a “manwhore.” Julie loses interest. But as fate, or rom-com storylines would have it, they meet again. Julie’s friend, Liz, has a boyfriend, Derrick, and who should be his good friend? That’s right, Nico, the hunky mystery man. The four go on a great date, but the night ends in disaster. They meet again at the gym when Julie’s trainer is hurt (though the reader is never told how the accident happens), and Nico fills in as her back-up trainer. Eventually, the two decide they do like each other, romance ensues, and all seems right in the world. However, the path of true love in rom-coms never runs that smoothly, and there is a job offer out of state, an ex-boyfriend who has knocked up an ex-friend but still has feelings for Julie, and an assumption that their love won’t last. Mixed in all of this is: fathers (both Julie’s and Nico’s) who have died, complete with an overheard soliloquy at the gravesite; mother who gave up on her marriage (of course, father has died so hmmm), cousin who is pregnant but whose cheating spouse walks into the baby shower with his red-headed lover, bosses who “cockblock” job opportunities (is that really a thing???), and friends who don’t know if they want to be married. On top of all that, I think all this happens in a couple weeks?? The timeline is a little weird and is very distracting to the story line. Overall, the bones of the story are there. This is probably a great first draft. But it needs to be edited, edited, edited (said in my best Nina Garcia voice).

I received a free e-book from the publisher for an honest review. Thank you! #MixedSignals #netgalley

This story was super fresh and cute!
The majority of the characters were lovable and I really liked the ending!
Highly recommend!

This book had good bones but could have used a developmental editor to tighten the plot and dialogue. I wanted to see more of Nico/Julie and way less of Patrick. Good for her that she finally kicked him to the curb! I received an ARC from NetGalley with no compensation.

This is a Cute little romance for the modern young woman!!! The main character is adorable and realistic. I want to keep rooting for her as she tries to get her life together. I would like a little more main character development toward the beginning. Overall, this was a great read for chilling by the pool.

Struggled to finish this. I was excited by the blurb and the cover but the book itself just didn’t do it for me. The characters were undeveloped and the main character was extremely unlikeable.

Mixed Signals is a cute, light-hearted, angsty at times, a bit silly, quick read. If you're looking for a romance novel that will be quick to read, resembling other comedy romantic films out there this might just be your cup of tea.

I was looking forward to reading this book as the cover especially caught my eye, it's one that I would guarantee would make me want to buy it in any bookstore. The blurb, as well, called out to me with the meet-cute, fate playing with the two characters. Unfortunately I couldn't connect with Julie.
While I don't have an issue with continuing to read a novel even if the main character isn't my cup of tea. However, apart from Nico, who sounded like a saint! honestly the perfect love interest, no one else in the book caught my eye. I went into this thinking I would love it but it was too silly and Julie's reactions were too abrupt at times for me. Not to mention some of the relationships seemed borderline toxic and I didn't appreciate the little bits of fat shaming in the book. Overall, it was a fine read, there were many instances of the book I enjoyed but many little things prevented me from enjoying it fully.

This book is likely to be polarizing. It’s a cute concept with a cute cover design, there’s decent chemistry between the two main characters. However, it’s likely to be triggering for anyone with body image issues. For this reason, I cannot see myself recommending it.

*Spoiler Alert*

Julie Laurich is a corporate banker, so love at first sight isn't something she really believes in. Besides, she's still reeling from the out-of-the-blue breakup with her fiance. So when Laurie gets stuck in traffic and locks eyes with the beautiful man in the truck, a change of heart might be in order. In a chance of fate, Julie crosses paths with the man from the truck and the possibility of a rebound is placed at her feet. Until Nico Farfalla opens his mouth and proves he's a not-so-nice-guy.

Yet Julie can't help her unyielding attraction to Nico despite her on-again off-again distain for him. And Nico can't be swayed away from her either despite her constantly pushing him away. But as their paths continue to cross, Julie realizes she was wrong about the beautifully rude truck guy. And when an opportunity for a job promotion in a new state gets in the way of a budding relationship, Julie must put aside her pride and decide what it is she truly wants.

I'm such a hopeless romantic that the simplest of meet-cutes will suck me in. Locking eyes with a gorgeous man in traffic? Sign me up! The prospect of falling for someone at first sight, promptly losing that person, then crossing paths with them again is an adorable premise for the book. The problem was the execution in Mixed Signals. Right off the bat we are barraged by Julie's best friend, Liz, telling her that if she wants to be worthy of a rebound with someone as gorgeous as truck guy then Julie has to "chisel up." The undertones of the book was filled with body shaming and abusive ideology of body image. There's a reason todays society has such a skewed view of a persons worth based on their body shape and weight. It's a perpetuating problem with media, and Mixed Signals is quite the instigator. It wouldn't have been an issue if at the end of the book Julie had decided she was worthy of a man exactly the way she was--but that's not the way it went. Rather than reading a cute, light contemporary rom-com, I went away feeling worse about myself DESPITE my knowing my worth is not based on my weight-- something I struggle with daily.

There wasn't a single character I liked in this book--aside from Nico, although there's nothing special to write home about in his case. Every other character in the book was a bully in some form. I want to believe that Julie is the terrible character she is because of the abusive relationships she has in her life, but at some point a person has to take accountability for their actions--which Julie never does. To judge a person so harshly by eavesdropping in on a conversation that was taken so out of context, and then bullying that person because of the way you've decided they are was infuriating to read.

What I liked:
-Literally nothing (I'm sorry, I really tried to think of something)

What I didn't like:
-Body Shaming
-Abusive relationships
-Immature, self-absorbed main character

I'm giving Mixed Signals by Mia Heintzelman one star. Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for granting me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Really fun and quick read! It was a story that reminded me of the class Christina Lauren books. It also helped my ease my craving for a juicy romance with drama. The title of the book seemed fitting for the story. It was originally what drew me in. The cover design was something that also drew me to the book because it was so similar to the usual Romance I read.

Great start but didn't follow through, kept falling asleep during kindle narration.Managed to finish the book, barely. Didn't like Julie much but Nico was a patient,loving and sweet man that didn't deserve to have to deal with Julie.The real star of this book was Julie's friend Liz,wish there was more about her.Not likely to read any more books by this author.

Find the full review on https://tmblr.co/ZP_xeh2i1pWup

Thank you Netgalley and Levi Lynn Books for this ARC.

Mixed Signals is the perfect weekend read. A quick and light romance with enough depth to keep you reading.

Julie’s character development was well written with an interesting dynamic with every character she interacted with, from Patrick to Celeste, to Sophia, her mom, and even Nico. All unique interactions that added to her character as a whole.

Nico is definitely book boyfriend material and enough reason on his own to pick up and read this book.

Unfortunately some parts of the book felt rather choppy and abrupt. The setting of Vegas also felt meaningless and could have been leveraged much more.

Overall, not a bad read.