Cover Image: Too Good to Be Real

Too Good to Be Real

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Member Reviews

Too Good to Be Real is a fun day trip of a book. Close to home hut dar enough away to be an adventure!

The quirky resort, the fun friends, and the experience of a lifetime. It feels like Fantasy Island for romantics. With our one of a kind host and her entourage, Notting Hill is definitely a place to experience.

Brush up on your Rom Com movies and enjoy the show!

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Entertaining Romcom..
Julia has pretty much given up on love. All that is about to change. What sort of resort offers guests a chance to live out romantic comedy dreams? Julia is about to find out. Entertaining romcom with a nicely drawn cast of characters and a fun and frothy storyline.

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Loved this book! Melonie Johnson's writing is perfection, and her love stories are always so swoony.

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Cute story!

Description
"The stuff of rom-com fantasies come to life." - Entertainment Weekly

"The perfect combination of sweet, sexy, and make-you-grin moments." - Lyssa Kay Adams, author of The Bromance Book Club

"An ode to everything we love about rom-coms." - Alexis Daria, author of You Had Me at Hola

She plans to prove there's a dozen reasons why life isn't like a romantic comedy, only to discover the one reason it is…

While her friends wish for meet cutes worthy of their favorite rom-coms, Julia is ready to give up on love. Swiping right has replaced getting swept off your feet and good old-fashioned romance has become, well, old-fashioned.

A writer for a popular website, love becomes the last thing on her mind when impending layoffs threaten her job. As Julia searches for the ultimate pitch to impress her boss, she stumbles upon a resort offering guests a chance to live out their romantic comedy dreams. Real life dating is so bleak, who wouldn't want to spend a week in a fantasy rom-com world with your best friends?

At the resort, Julia literally falls into a not-quite-meet-cute involving an aggressive seagull and an adorably awkward guy named Luke who is also participating in the rom-com experience. Julia hides the fact she is there to do a story, but Luke harbors a few secrets of his own. Among further encounters with thieving seagulls, a gaggle of corgis, kisses in the rain, and even a karaoke serenade, their feelings deepen quickly. But could their love be real when they haven't been honest about their true identities? Once the fantasy is over, can they have a relationship in the real world?

In her trade paperback debut, Melonie Johnson brings her signature humor, sexy romance, and strong female friendships in this hilarious romantic comedy about finding perfectly imperfect love, Too Good to Be Real.

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A unique premise that ultimately fell a little flat for me, but was still a cute, rom-com filled contemporary romance read.

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Melonie was a guest of the podcast where she promoted this book. I really loved her take on romcoms and this book was the perfect escape.

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This was a heartwarming feelgood easy read, i loved the easy going charscters and how the story was written.

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Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy of Too Good To Be True by Melonie Johnson in exchange for an honest review.

What It’s About: This book follows Julia and Luke. Julia is a journalist at a Buzzfeed like group who is about to loss her job due to decreased profits in the field. To save her career she proposes a review of a new local resort that is basically like rom-com camp. Luke is setting up this experience along with his best friend and sister and wants to make sure the reviewer is happy so things go well with launch so he enters the ‘game’ to make sure the experience is top notch. What follows is a serious case of mistaken identity as a trope.

What I Loved: Too Good to Be Real has an adorable corgi on the cover and that was my motivating factor here (hah!). I liked ,the side characters and their little romance stories. There’s an older couple trying to relight the spark, a girl’s soccer coach who falls for a burly midwestern guy, and more. I like the concept of the resort and living a rom com.

What I Didn't Like So Much: I didn’t buy the chemistry between our two characters and I also didn’t like the romantic lead. He seemed very self-entitled and I didn’t like how he treated his sister. He’s very much over protective male which can often rub me the wrong way. If this book had focused on one of the less prevalent couples I feel like it might have been better for me.

Who Should Read This: People who love a mistaken identity trope. People who love a romance set at a resort.

Quick Summary: The opening of a 'rom com' themed resort leads to many mistaken identities and a lot of love.

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Hmm, this book was not it for me. I tried multiple times to read this book but I ended up distracted or bored with it. It just did not interest me enough to finished it in one day. It took me awhile to finished this book. And it was just meh romance book. It past the time.

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Thank you St.Martin’s for my advanced copy.

I absolutely love the premise of this book, the setting, the characters, and the friendships. This was a laugh out loud funny book. However, the romance felt a little too insta love for me. I wasn’t able to really connect with their relationship and I found myself skimpy sections where the main characters were alone or professing their feelings for each other. If you enjoy insta love and rom coms, this should be at the top of your list!

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I received an advanced copy of this book thanks to Netgalley and the publisher. However, I'm late to the game and this book has already been published (which is great news because it's available to read!)

This was such a cute romance with a great premise. It was light, funny, and had enough laugh-out-loud moments that I could see it being adapted into a movie.

While I understand that the duration of the story takes place in a week, I did feel like the main romance was rushed. There weren't enough moments of them together and there was hardly any build-up. A few of their scenes felt awkward, and I'm not sure if that was intentional because Luke was described as awkward, or if was the writing.

The story takes place at a resort experience so it makes sense that there were a lot of characters. Unfortunately, they didn't feel unique enough to stand out, and I constantly got them all mixed up.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this and I'm interested to see what other works this author has!

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I love tropes like this. People pretending to be other personalities then discover the process of revealing their true identities. This was a fun read and I enjoyed the repartee between the main characters.

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A sweet romance story if that's what you fancy reading this will definitely fit the bill. Enjoyable if a little predictable! My thanks to netgalley an erc of this book in return for my honest opinion!

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This was my first book by Johnson and I really enjoyed it. The cover is adorable and was originally the reason I picked it. The romance is sweet and quirky and the perfect level of steam. It would be perfect for readers that are looking for a romance with a great setting and an awesome cast of characters.

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This checked off everything I look for in a book. Was not disappointed. Really enjoyed this book. I will read more from this author. Must read

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Loved the sound of this rom com but unfortunately I just couldn't get into it and had to give up. It felt a bit flat and didn't grab my attention enough to continue

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This romance story was pretty average for me, I liked the meet cute between the main characters and the overall setting for the story. Our main character is trying to save her career and takes up a job visiting Notting Hill, a sort of resort/hotel where guests get to experience scenarios from different romantic movies.

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3.5 ⭐️

This book had so many things that I was looking forward to. A main character that’s a writer, a getaway that makes romcom dreams come true, and a bunch of corgis. In theory, this should be a favorite of mine. In actuality, I feel like it fell a little flat in execution.

While I loved the friendships and the dynamics between other characters, the romance felt rushed and lacking chemistry. There were definitely moments of laughter and swooning but I think it could’ve benefited from more editing in the aspect of the romance.

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RomCom in a Romcom. To prove to her husband, Harold, that romance is real, wealthy eccentric Mrs. Miranda Constance Eugenia Weatherfork bought a resort in Wisconsin and hired a team to create a romantic comedy game and called the resort Notting Hill. Her three employees are Luke O'Neal, his sister Penelope and his best friend Vijay. Ready for their "soft opening", they get the word out.

Meanwhile in Chicago, writer Julia Carpenter fearing she is about to be laid off makes a pitch to her boss that she check out Notting Hill for a TrendList article. She gets approval and the resort comps her and 2 friends top accommodation for the week. She literally runs into Luke the first day. Despite mistaken identities, and secrets, many of the attendants do find romance and love.

Very charming book. I really liked the characters, both human and animal, all with interesting stories.
I read an ARC provided by NetGalley.com. This is my unbiased and voluntary review.

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The idea behind this book was so unique. A getaway straight out of a romcom, where you get to choose your own "romantic adventures". I couldn't wait to see how this would play out. I enjoyed the characters, but I struggled with the way the adventures ran. Logistically, I couldn't see how it could work as planned. That may be my own organizational brain thinking too much instead of just enjoying what was happening. Overall, I loved the idea and the characters, but didn't like the logistical set up.

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