A cute book with a mash up of romance and comedy. A quick read. Some of the characters were not my favorite but enjoyed the book overall.

A sweet romance novel based on misunderstandings. While I liked the story between the main characters, Rachel’s cousin was awful. Overall though, a cute book.

This gave me such rom-com vibes! It was fun, I enjoyed every second of it. The characters were relatable, and I found myself instantly falling in love with them.

This was a light and funny novel.
However, I don't like how much the author put an emphasis on Rachel being a curvy girl. I mean, everyone around her was constantly judging her and it annoyed me to no end.
I also didn't like that both Rachel and Henry were fooling around with other people while they obviously had feelings for each other, I don't like the whole OW/OM thing.

Besides that, this had me laughing out loud multiple times and I really loved Henry during the second part of the book and the character development they both went through.

While I enjoyed some of the comedy in this romance, I had a hard time with the characters. I didn't like any of them and felt their personalities were a bit cliched. But you are looking for a light read with good laugh, I'd recommend this.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I'm going to give this one a 3.5. It starts off really well - quite funny in places and certainly captures your attention, but the characters don't always come across as sympathetic or desirable. Too much stereotyping and I am getting tired of the philandering male winning the female in the end. I'm giving this a generous 3.5 out of 5, just because I feel badly that I took so long to get through it. There are times when I want nothing but a fluffy read - but not this time.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy,

I could not finish this arc because of the writing style and the sexual content.

I received a free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. this is the second book I have read with this same concept in a week. woman seeks help with relationship problems but the man she speaks to turns out to be a case of mistaken identity. I have to admit this one was better done than the last but I had a real issue with the hero. they way he thought was so stereotypical alpha male with the whole sleeping around but gasp he is falling for the fat girl. the heroine also seemed a little pathetic going along with his lie and pretending she didn't know he was a liar. there are much better books to read out there than this one.

I had a hard time liking these characters. I didn’t think they were that interesting, and I personally had nothing in common with them in order to draw me in. This was a quick read so if the plot sounds interesting it might be worth a shot.

DId not finish the book. I could not get into the plot and this book was not for me. The main character was not one I clicked with making it hard to get through

I received an e-ARC of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really hate writing negative reviews. I like squeeing over books and it bums me out when I don't like something. But I really did not like this book. All of the characters were stupid and mean. That sounds really harsh, but it's true! The MCs meet when the heroine mistakes the plumber (hero) for her new psychologist, and he realizes her mistake and pretends to be the doctor. She feels like he's probably full of shit but agrees to another session (I guess because she's self-hating and curious??) and then continues seeing him for coffee and other activities while still pretending she thinks she's getting therapy. At first, I thought she mistook him for a prostitute she had hired and that would have been less ridiculous, or at least less offensive. But then she starts spilling her guts to him and I realize she thinks it's therapy. Maybe it's my extensive history with mental health care services, but I couldn't believe someone would pretend to be a therapist. And it's not a funny meet-cute to me.

The heroine has this cousin/best friend who's a total monster and makes the heroine feel like shit all the time. Both MCs screw around with other people over the course of the book. The hero's girlfriend is another mega-bitch crazy woman. It just felt really woman hating. Although the heroine was plus size and mostly happy about it, there was fat-shamey language throughout the book from other characters. Including the hero. The mega-bitches get their comeuppance in the end, but the heroine sinks to their level too much for my liking by publicly humiliating them.

I didn't get the feeling that this author truly likes romance novels. It felt more like she was trying to subvert tropes and mocking them instead. There were some funny lines though. And the cover is adorable.

I am having such a hard time giving this book a star rating. There were some things I really liked about this: the first chapter is meet-cute perfection. (seriously, this is how I want my rom coms to begin all of the time!), the back and forth between Henry and Rachel was electric and just oh-so-enjoyable. I actually really loved the two of them together, their dynamic, and their humour. I also love a chubby, plus size h - and that part of the character was handled well. There are a lot of laugh out moments, particularly a really hilarious and adorable toilet scene. The story made sense and the writing itself carried me through well and held my attention. That makes me want to give it 4 or almost possibly 5 stars BUT THEN came the (not insignificant) problems I had with this. So, I think I’d give this a 3.5/5⭐️ (but sometimes I think higher and sometimes I think lower...)

After an amazing first chapter, where I practically tittered with glee, the second chapter had me immediately scowling with distaste - and actually made me consider not continuing to read the book. Yes, in my opinion, it was that bad. The immature behaviour of the H and h when it came to relationships with anyone other than each other was very disappointing. I really hated all of the girl-on-girl hate, and though some of it propelled the story line, I just thought that there could have been a way for it all to be handled more maturely, instead of like how a catty 16 year old might conduct their fights with their supposed “best friend”. Same goes for all interactions with Reagan - I get it, we’re supposed to hate her, and I totally did - but the way this part of the story was handled made me really uncomfortable; it felt, again, really childish, surface level, and cringey. Same goes for all of Henry’s mentions of rating women - I get that he was supposed to be a player, but it wasn’t endearing for this process of judging women to continue throughout. It almost made me dislike him at first and I had to keep trying to just forget it as soon as I read it. For instance, when he meets Sarah, Rachel’s friend, and he expresses shock in his inner monologue that he could ever interact with a woman - especially an “8” but not feel sexually attracted to her and try to get something from her, really astounded and bothered me. Apparently that had never happened before? Like....what?! No. No, please, no.

I wish the author had just gone through and picked all of that out because then I would have seriously loved this book.
Luckily, that stuff didn’t ruin it entirely because there were enough moments in between that were really a super cute love story.

I also thought it was a bit odd that we got descriptive sex scenes with other people, but when it came time for the H and h, things were more subtle and a little bit fade-to-black. Nbd, but worth a mention because I wanted more!

It’s my genuine hope that this author gets a sensitivity beta-reader for the next book she writes because I really think her work would be great if it weren’t for those outdated, frankly kind of offensive stereotypes. I will try whatever book she writes next because, as I said, I do think she’s able to write a great rom com and I will just hope for improvement in the areas I’ve mentioned!

I'm so sorry... I really didn't enjoy this book. I got about 25% in and I gave up. It just wasn't for me :(

1 star
This was a DNF for me.
This book was a little boring for me.
I did not make it past 30 percent.

Around 30% of the way in I was considering not finishing this one, but I am infinitely happy that I continued it. I was getting a little agitated with Cassy’s pettiness and the girl on girl hate, but I realised that it was a character flaw that was inevitably going to come to a head and get fixed — and it certainly did! I can, without a doubt, say that I am beyond happy that I didn’t put the book down for that reason because the character development this lot went through was fantastic. This book to me was made even better by the fact that I felt everything the characters were feeling. I mean, I felt so frustrated that I almost put the book down; the same as Rachel storming out for example! So yes, the book is massively amazing for that. I felt what the characters felt and imagined what the characters saw and it was brilliant!

Also I laughed so hard I had tears brimming. There’s a particular scene which involves a toilet and good lord it had me laughing so hard that I ended up having to read the chapter to my fiancée so that she could laugh with me! I love it when a book makes me laugh that hard, I really do. Some people may find the scene cringey but it was one of my favourites from the book!

There is an undeniable theme in this book to not judge a book by its cover. Rachel is dismissed on numerous occasions because she’s curvy. A few of the men in the book refer to her as “tubby”, “dumpy”, amongst others and I found that unsettling personally, but they all see what an amazing person she is. I don’t agree with the idea that if you’re fat you can’t be beautiful which felt like an underlying idea that the characters had, but I’m glad that they all gave her a chance at least and didn’t continue to judge her by her looks.

There was also the theme of just because they’re blood related doesn’t mean you have to tolerate their shitty behaviour. It was probably the second strongest theme in this book and was really written fantastically. Rachel is essentially bullied by Cassy, her cousin, and this book follows the journey of her learning to stand up for herself, to Cassy and to all of those that don’t believe in her. Lemme just tell you that I am HERE for that theme and loved the way everything unfolded. The character development that Rachel underwent was fabulous, and I loved seeing her unfold into someone who loved herself, believed in herself and didn’t take less than the best from others.

Here are a few more things I liked:
— the writing was fabulous! It was gripping, hysterically funny, enjoyable, addicting (I read the first quarter of it in a burst and was gutted to put it down). It’s not too descriptive nor too vague and is a lot of fun.
— is (mostly) a light hearted contemporary which touches on some heavier subjects (mentioned above), so the perfect summer read. I had an absolute blast reading it.
— though the plot can be seen as formulaic, I felt it was unique and refreshing to read and it took some turns that I was thoroughly enthralled by.
— families! I love familial presence in books!
— steamy, but not too much sex that it detracts from the plot.
— it felt immensely real. I didn’t feel like I was reading a fictionalisation, it genuinely felt like I was reading how someone’s life had panned out — and I was a huge fan of that.
— the pacing is great! Didn’t take too long to get into the story and the main event in the story didn’t occur too quickly, and there definitely wasn’t much (if any at all) filler content. The story flowed fabulously.

Rated 4/4.5* due to a couple of issues I’ve mentioned in this review! I would absolutely recommend this to anyone and everyone; even if you’re not a romance reader as such. It was great fun and a lot of laughs!

Somebody to Love had an adorable meet cute. Henry is mistake for a psychologist by Rachel. I found their first meeting to be cute and fun, but I did get frustrated at how far everything was taken. Even though Rachel assumed Henry was lying it still felt like too much to me.

Had it not been for the super long charade I think I would have found Rachel and Henry to be a better match. I struggled to buy the fact that she'd accept all the lying and just be cool with it.

Plenty of laugh out loud moments, and lots of banter between Rachel and Henry, which I always appreciate.

Henry is fixing the plumbing in an office when Rachel stumbles in and assumes he's the therapist who works there. She dumps all her relationship drama on him, and though normally he'd be super weirded out by emotional women oversharing, this time he's entranced. He finds himself continuing to pretend he's a therapist so she'll keep coming to see him. Rachel is pretty sure he's NOT actually a therapist right from the beginning, but she goes along with it, too, because he's fun to look at and offering to help her with her man problems. As they work together to help her find a date for her cousin's wedding, will they realize what they're looking for has been right in front of them all along?

I was a little torn about this book. There were parts I liked. The banter between Henry and Rachel was fun, and I enjoyed that both characters grow and change throughout the book. His gang of friends was fun, and I could see them spinning off into future books. However, it would randomly take a turn for the extremely vulgar and even gross. I read a lot of romance so it's not like I'm averse to sexy times or dirty talk, but it was so abruptly dropped in here (and was really kind of over the top) that it just interrupted the flow of the story and didn't fit at all. Also, the scene where they profess their love for each other was absurd and off-putting. I'm not really a fan of bathroom humor anyway, so maybe it's just me, but deciding they want each other and saying so while describing her horrific food poisoning (the sounds, the smells)...was just icky.

I think this author could be one I'd read again if she moved away from the gross stuff and just told her story. But I can't say that I'm terribly inclined to try again after this one.

**Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!**

My god this book is so funny that I just laughed out loud at times. So the book begins with racheal and henry meeting when henry was trying to fix the pipe of the building where he's the manager. Rachel just came to meet up with her shrink and mistakes henry for her shrink. When henry finds out, he doesn't corrects rachel but continues to listen to her problems and he also agreed to help her with her cousins wedding. They become close and they fell in love and it was wonderful to watch them as the story progressed. One of the most hated character for me in this book is reagan. That girl is simply a piece of word. That is to say that its a wonderful book and I enjoyed it a lot.

I'll be honest. I was a little put off at first by Cassy, who I was afraid would be a more prominent character in the book, but luckily, she wasn't. Mostly she was really obnoxious and Rachel took it laying down in the beginning, which I found annoying. But then she walks into the office and she's so funny, and so real, and she's not at all flat or one-dimensional. She's got some hangups as we all do, but she's also talented and smart and not at all a doormat. AND she stands up to Cassy at the end, which made me very happy.

I like Henry. Clearly he was an asshole and knew it, but meeting Rachel made him reevaluate himself and his friends. It wasn't an instant transformation, but one where he grows into love, same as Rachel. His family is amazing, and I'm really hoping Taylor and Neil figure things out. His friends are both obnoxious and wonderful, which I found delightful.

Nobody was perfect, and Henry showed his true colors in a dramatically embarrassing and realistic moment and I may have fallen a bit in love with him at that point, too.The story is well written, fun, breezy, real, and feel good. It's fast and unexpected and I really love Rachel and Henry as people and as a couple. Definitely read this book. I'm going to look up other books by Fray for sure.

This is my first DNF for the year and I have put this author on my not at any price list. The cover is cute, so I requested it from Netgalley. This is an honest review. I tried. I really tried. Despite the fact that I didn't make it past the second chapter, I truly did try.
Where did the problems start? with the very first sentence:

"As much as I enjoy watching a man play with his tool, are you sure you should be doing that?"

This is the opening line. It's what Rachel says to the man she thinks is her new therapist, a man trying to repair a radiator which is filled with scalding hot water. She surprises him, causing him to lose his grip on a wrench and his crotch is sprayed with scalding hot water. Her response to him being burned is to give him an I-told-you-so look and tell him he looks like he pissed his pants. I hate Rachel. She is an awful person with no boundaries, no compassion and no sense that the way she moves through the world affects anyone other than her.

But don't worry, Henry is just as bad. Even before he decides not to tell her she's in the wrong place, he tells us he thinks this is a prank in retaliation for making his brother's girlfriend think he was cheating. Who does that? Who thinks that's funny? And then he decides to keep pretending he is a therapist.

So that was chapter one.

At this point, I went on Amazon to see what reviewers were saying. It had a one star rating calling it an excuse to write porn and then a bunch of 4 and 5 star reviews that made me concerned for the rest of the book. A couple of people said they started laughing and didn't stop. I don't like those people either. Personally, I would rather read porn than what I had read so far. I've read a lot of erotica and erotic romance. I decided to press of and at least write a review that articulates why this is a bad book. I moved on to chapter two.

Two things happened in chapter two that made me realize that life is too short and I don't have to read more to know I'm not going to like this book. Rachel is having hot chocolate with her cousin and best friend Cassy. Cassy is a bitch, and not a fun bitch either.

"I knew the shade well. The lipstick had been mine for all of five minutes, a gift my mom sent from Paris. She’d picked it up as a joke and said it reminded her of how red my face became when I blushed. Cassy watched me sign for it, unwrap it, try it on, and then told me it made me look like a cheap whore. Mumbling something akin to waste not; want not, she wrapped it in her bony little fist and shoved it into her purse. She wore it to annoy me."

So she tells her cousin she looks like a whore, steals her lipstick and wears it to annoy her. Why would I want to spend more time with these people. They are all the villain.

The other little nugget of awful in the second chapter is the author working in a little side of fat shaming. "I took a sip of my hot chocolate and relished the way it coated my mouth in sweet silk before flowing warmly down my throat, straight to my hips and ass." A few reviewers mentioned that they appreciated the "curvy girl" representation on the cover of Somebody to Love. No thank you. I can do without this particular flavor of "representation."

And that's it. That's all I could take. Maybe they all learn from their mistakes and become better people. I don't care.