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 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.

Sorry, this one didn't do it for me.
Just couldn't get with the characters and that made it difficult to power through this book.

*Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for granting me this eARC in exchange for an honest review*

Mixed Signals is a cute start to the series. Julie is a believable character who’s just recently suffered a breakup and her best friend, Liz, is trying to get her back in the game.

Nico is a friend of a friend who seems to be perfect for Julie but she’s resistant to let him in.

Heintzelman has written a cute story about second chances and being willing to put oneself out there and the prospect of finding love

Such a cute cover and premise. I did find the character a bit unlikable and struggled to find a connection to the characters. I love when I get pulled into the story and this one didn’t pull me in as much as I hoped.

Julie's been dumped and is struggling to get over the love of her life. She is struggling with the expectations of family, friends, and her own hopes and dreams. But.... She's kind of a mess. When she sees a random hit dude in a truck, cue fantasies and a string of disasters that bring them together and push them apart.

This was a one-day read, so it moved pretty quickly if that's what you're looking to read next. It felt like reading a slaptick comedy movie a la Bridesmaids. To be fair, those just aren't my kind of movies, so I might not be the target audience. The book heavily hinted at deeper themes, but to me none of them quite landed. Julie is struggling with having gained weight, but it is treated with way more fat shaming than support. There is grief at the previous loss of a family member, the ache to start a family of her own, and the complications of her remaining family, but none took the kind of deep dive I was hoping they would. I am glad that by the end the protagonist was able to recognize her previous relationship was crap. Unfortunately I needed the character to get her drama together or talk to someone about it... and to maybe address some of the other crappy relationships in her life head on, beyond just the ex (and a very believable creeper in a bar). If we're going to go into these issues, I wanted them to be less superficially treated, because the bones are there for this book to have been more satisfying for me.

There's chemistry between the leads, but it felt a little too high school in terms of emotional intelligence so I was hoping for more. Then again, as mentioned earlier, I finished it in a day. So while I quickly realized I could never be friends with any of these characters, I did read about them.

Advance reader copy provided by netgalley for review.

This... was really not my cup of tea and I'm pretty disappointed because the blurb sounded good, that cover is really cute, and who doesn't love a sweet romance about fate and tangled lines? But, no. I struggled to get through this and skimmed through the majority of it because we all know I hate to DNF, especially when it's an ARC. I could see the potential in this, but honestly, the story and the characters were so sorely underdeveloped I ended up feeling zero connection to any of it. The writing was also all over the place, which made it even more difficult to get into the story, though what I enjoyed the least was the main character, Julie Laurich.

Julie grated on my nerves. She was unbearably rude, selfish and completely self-absorbed. Her character found everything irritating and she lost her shit, going from 0-100 in the blink of an eye, so frequently and over nothing that it was just stupid. I absolutely couldn't stand her attitude at all. I understand what it's like to be defensive and to want to protect your own heart, but Julie's character had absolutely zero reason to blow every little thing out of proportion, especially when it came to Nico. None of it made sense to me, and if she did have a reason, it wasn't clearly articulated in the story. If I met someone like her IRL, I would likely run in the opposite direction, fast!

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers Levi Lynn Books for the free copy in exchange for an honest review. This review will be posted to my blog closer to the date of publication.

Julie is late to meet her friend Liz at the skyline cafe. Who will fuss at her for being late. Traffic is held up due to an accident. Julie checks out a good looking guy in a black truck . Julie is hoping to get his phone number but cops are directing the traffic to move . Liz's on and off boyfriend Derrick works at skyline cafe and gives free drinks . Liz is trying to find a guy to hook Julie up with but Julie still wants Patrick . Julie misses the guy at the restaurant Liz wants to hook her up with.julie is a banker and lives in a condo. Luck is always on Julie's side. I can relate to julie being stuck on a particar guy even if you know he's bad for you. Julie is tired of waiting around on Patrick planning to go see him after everything he said to her.I can relate. I'm not sure about Liz's insistence that Julie find another man so soon after breakup. Liz says that Patrick does not deserve Julie and she should not feel like her life is over because he's not in it. I didn't care for the cussing. I can relate to needing to lose weight, I prefer walking.

While I was excited for this book prior to starting it, I had a very rough time truly enjoying the book. I could not connect with the main character at all. I actually did not care for any of the characters in the story, but its hard to like a book when the main character leaves such a bad taste in your mouth. I have heard great things about the author so I am hoping to check out one of her other novels in the future.

What an aptly titles book: Mixed Signals garnered Mixed Feelings in me about what I thought of the novel.

If you’re looking for a light hearted book, easy to flip through without devoting too much time and energy and don’t mind underdeveloped characters, then this is for you.

For me, however, I hated Julie, the main character. I hated the fat shaming. I hated her best friend. The relationships in her life were toxic. I can deal with this if characters are developed further. But this wasn’t. This book seemed to throw bits down and expected you to make what you could of it.

I liked the premise; I enjoyed the revenge body idea - who hasn’t broken up with someone and decided to revamp their hair or wardrobe? I just thought it could be a little more sensitive and bypass the body shaming our main characters goes through. Who’s best friend would tell them to go to the gym because they’ve got fat, and allow them to be measured in front of an audience and then screamed at until they accepted they were angry with themselves for allowing themselves to become so disgusting? Urgh. It just puts me on edge.

I liked that Nico and Julie kept running into each other. I thought that was well done.

Overall I wouldn’t recommend this book. It made me more angry than happy and when I open a book like this I just want to feel better, not worse.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this review are my own.

I am trying to be more intentional about reading books from authors of color so I was really excited to read this. It definitely seemed right up my alley. It is a very light and easy read. However, I had a hard time liking the characters and that made it difficult to connect with the characters. The beginning of the story was great and I thought the rest would be like that but it wasn’t. It was difficult to even finish. I would not recommend.

Mixed Signals is my first book by this author. And even thought this is first book in a series I would not be continuing this series.
I would say this is light, chick lit read...perfect for summer read. But I found it at times very boring and hard to continue. I couldn't connect with the characters. They were annoying, without depth and overall toxic to each other. I loved the beginning of the story and plot line was very promising sadly actual book was not for me.
Not my type of read even a lighter one.