The premise of the book was a fun idea - a hotel based on the theme of rom-coms and set in a local "Notting Hill." Julia, a reporter for a magazine, visits the hotel with two friends with the double intent of writing up a review and experiencing the rom-com atmosphere for herself. During their stay they participate in simulated rom-com scenarios based off popular movies.

Unfortunately, the writing style just wasn't for me. I had trouble figuring out point of view in the first few chapters as it seemed to switch often. Based on the live-action game, the players were given fake names to get into character - but it made it hard to follow who was who in the story. Fake names/real names/characters/players - it was too much to keep up with. There was also a lot of unnecessary external dialogue. I found myself skipping over some parts because they just seemed irrelevant to the plot and the characters.

There were too many characters and personalities for me to feel invested in any of them. While the extraneous details were plentiful, it felt like any true character development was missing. I am a huge fan of rom-com's but unfortunately, this one was a miss for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Marten's Press for the ARC of this book!

As a true rom-com lover the concept of a resort where you can live that lifestyle is definitely intriguing. I liked the set up for the meet-cute between the main characters and there were definitely some cute scenes!! Unfortunately, both Julia and Luke had attitudes that made them hard to connect with, and their romance was lacking in chemistry. Julia also was often rude or biting to her friends who she dragged onto this adventure with her, and who are nothing but supportive. That really felt off to me, especially when she is jealous of one of them repeatedly.

It was a sweet, and emotional love story. It was wonderful. I can't recommend it enough. And this author is great!

Too Good to Be Real was a fun and enjoyable read.

Julia and Luke were likable characters and I found that their romance, while sweet, lacked some of the angst that I enjoy. I loved the friend group in this book, I need me a girl gang like this.

Check out Too Good to Be Real if you're looking for a cute, rom-com that you can escape into.

This book is perfect for anyone who loves RomComs!

The story centers around a role play game week at a hotel named Notting Hill where all of the characters have to pretend to be different romantic comedy characters that closely resemble their own personalities. Things get very romantic very quickly and even have the most skeptic participants falling in love like never before.

It is such a relaxing read and I highly recommend it!

DNF at 20%. There was too much contextless dialogue which made it very hard to follow and kept taking me out of the story. The beginning I couldn't figure out whose POV it was for too long.

I loved this book! It was heartwarming and strong. It was exactly what I needed with everything going on in the world! A happy little escape!

This book was adorably cute. It is everything a rom-com should be! I loved all of the romance movie references and themes that played throughout the entire novel. Some of the movies were names while others weren’t. When they weren’t named, and only referenced, I’d use my rom-com knowledge to deduce the reference. It ended up being a fun game while reading this novel (and one of the reasons why this novel was a four star instead of a three star for me).

Needless to say, I loved the references to the movies. I loved the quippiness to the characters. I loved the punniness in the writing. It all mashed up to give a truly fun and enjoyable read.

The main character is a journalist who is reviewing a rom-com themed resort that will save her from being put on the chopping block at work. Of course she’s bringing her besties along for the ride and of course, in true rom-com style, shenanigans commence but will it end up in true love?

Julia is a journalist who fears she is about to lose her job. Looking for a way to impress her boss, she suggests writing about places that people should visit. She finds an advertisement for a week at a hotel to enjoy a rom-com experience. She takes her girlfriends with her. Totally enjoyable with unexpected twists and turns that will keep you reading.

The description sounded fun, but it was a slow moving, drawn out. The characters didn’t click or have much chemistry

The premise and the concept was attractive and very interesting but I’m not sure the writing style was my taste. Some of the dialogue felt irrelevant to the story and ended up skipping a few pages.

I wasn’t able to connect with the characters and the relationship between Luke and Julia didn’t really click for me. The meet cute was fascinating but it felt flat to me for the rest of the book. It was hard for me to get through it and wasn’t able to pick up on the humor.

One thing I did like was the supporting cast and their relationship with Julia and Luke. I really wanted to love this one but sadly I couldn’t connect.

A lovely funny and witty story . Very good characters . A different concept .
I received this novel from net galley and the publisher as an ARC. Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

For a romance and rom-com fan, I was excited for this one, and for the most part, it didn’t disappoint. The premise reminded me of “How to lose a guy in 10 days” and “Austenland”, which are definitely two classics.

This was a pretty fun and easy read, and I did love all the different tropes going on, as well as the fact that we got so many different references to some of the all-time best romantic comedies. This may just be a personal preference, but I’m not too big on the whole insta-love thing, and right away we saw that with Julia and Luke. I found myself preferring the background stories that were going on with Andie and Kat, and even Penelope.

For me, the relationship between Julia and her friends and Luke with his sister were the two best parts of the book. Those interactions were always funny and heartwarming and were the true standout moments of the novel. Whenever it was Julia and Luke I found myself a bit bored since once again, it was just Insta-Love and they were all over each other and in “love” right away but I never truly understood why.

I’m rating this book 3 stars since there were quite a few fun and cute moments, but it felt a bit slow at times and I just couldn’t find myself as invested with the main characters as I wanted to be.

This book made me smile so much. I honestly felt like I had been transported inside the book. I loved the references of romantic comedies especially those of '10 Things I Hate About You'. This book kind of reminded me of another romantic comedy while I was reading it 'How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days'. For me, the seagulls were the highlight of the novel with the MCs but as the cover portrays there is less of the corgis and I hoped the book had more scenes with the corgis. Overall, I enjoyed this book.

The corgi on the cover and the similar premise to Austenland really sold me this story. Sadly there was way too little corgi cuteness in the story but I did get a kick out of it when the characters acknowledged the Austenland parallels.
Throughout the book my rating kept jumping between three and four stars and while my actual rating would be 3.5 I'll round it up to four stars to fit the star system.

I loved the relationship Julia had with her two girlfriends, they were fun together and obviously knew each other very well. Throughout the story they showed how supportive of each other they were and I especially liked that, even though the story obviously focuses on Julia, their friendship was not (unnaturally) focused the same way on Julia. Luke's relationship with his sister and best friend did not get as much attention but what we got had me really enjoying their dynamic.

The whole story obviously poked a lot of fun and played homage to rom-coms and I loved that, the characters were obviously enthusiastic about them and the way they were constantly referenced did not feel forced. I was positively surprised that some newer rom-coms were mentions, not just 'classics'. The story leaned heavily into rom-com tropes and had it's fun with that (and loved to get meta about them). The story succeeded very much on the 'com' part and the character dynamics.

What kinda failed for me was the 'rom' part of the rom-com. The romance between Julia and Luke had some great moments of vulnerable conversations, fun and when they got more physical they obviously had chemistry. On the other hand we get told that they had good talks with each other but the casual conversations we actually get play out awkward and don't linger long enough to actually develop into the good conversations that they apparently have off-screen. I just wish we could've gotten more consistency on this part.

This book could've been a good bit shorter and would've been better for it, in my opinion. There are several paragraphs and sometimes up to several pages that add nothing (substantial) to the characters, do not further the plot and are way too stretched out to be entertaining.

I received an advance copy of, Too Good to Be Real, by Melonie Johnson. This book is ok if a little boring. The characters were ok.

I found myself unable to finish this book. I thought the pace was too slow to begin with and I lost any interest in following the story early on. I didn't enjoy the lengthy chapters at the start feeling as they set no scene for the rest of the story and I just grew bored.

Thank you to netgalley and the author for the arc in exchange for a honest review.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

This story is just simple yet it takes my heart and IT'S SO SO GOOD. I've never read any of the author's works but this one is AMAZING. The blurb sounds just like a normal romance between strangers but believes me this one is different. I like the characters and their development until the end of the story. I like the plot and just like other normal romance stories, this one is an insta-love story. Our MCs are attracted to each other from their first meeting on the beach.

I personally not really like the ending. It doesn't mean the ending was bad but I think it can be better than the actual ending. I hope for more thrill and angsty moments between the MCs but in the end, it's just like that. The ending is good but I WANT MORE OF THEM.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the chance on receiving this ARC.

“Finally, dear Reader, whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever state the world is in when you read this, I hope you find an escape within these pages, I hope this story makes you smile. Thanks for spending time with my book. “
—Melonie Johnson

Thank you, Melonie Johnson! I loved the “escape” in this fun book! It definitely made me smile - a lot! And laugh, and cringe at awkwardness, and maybe even get teary-eyed! Such an enjoyable read!

This book has a fun, quirky and heartwarming cast of characters that highlight the bonds of friendship, family and also romantic interests. Julia is a writer for ‘TrendList’ and takes on the challenge to review a new resort experience for a ‘Take Me’ segment in hopes to save her job. She takes along her besties Kat and Andie on an immersive Romantic Comedy week, as these three love rom-coms but don’t believe they can play out in real life. The resort experience is planned by Luke, his sister Penelope, and best friend Vijay, along with the eccentric resort owner Mrs. Weatherfork (and her corgis.) There are other interesting characters at the resort, and all of their interactions add fun dimensions to this story.

The week at the resort is intended to let guests play out rom-com scenarios. If you love romantic comedy movies, then this cheesiness is for you! I loved all of the references and fully appreciate the cheesy tropes that were at play. (It has some similarities to Waiting on Tom Hanks and Not Like in the Movies with lots of nods to famous rom-coms, but goes even further to have characters sort of play the parts from movies.) We know from the beginning that there will be romance (and get an instant spark between Luke and Julia,) but the romance plays out in rom-com fashion of some sweet and spicy moments with several bumps along the way.

This book does not set out to be a great work of literature. It’s a fun and cheesy rom-com. Of course it had parts that were annoying and frustrating (why can’t characters be honest and say how they really feel?) But the cheesy, happy parts far outweighed the low parts. I had lots of fun going on the journey of rom-com ups and downs as I read this. It doesn’t have every aspect to be 5⭐️ for me, but it’s a good 4.5⭐️ as it was really enjoyable and did just what it set out to do. And I always love a happy ending!

Too Good to Be Real by Melonie Johnson is a great, breezy, fun, and entertaining modern romantic comedy novel.

I really enjoyed the light, flirty, fun, and fast pace of this book. I enjoy it when I find a book that is engaging, but yet keeps things airy and witty. Sometimes it is just nice to not have to read something that will drag you down.

I liked Julia and Luke separately and also together. They had great chemistry, place off of one another well, and seemed to bring out the best in one another as the book went on.

I liked each character in their own right as well. Both were imperfect, had their own respective mild faults, but that made them realistic and someone that I could identify with. I enjoyed Julia's personality, her wit, and the banter that played in between her and her friends.

I always enjoy a good romance with a mystery/mystique on who is who and why they are present concept and the author pulled it off quite well. I also enjoyed the full cast of secondary characters as well. They really added to the overall depth and complexity of the narrative.

This is the first book I have read by this author, and I am looking forward to more from her in the future.

4/5 stars

Thank you NG and St. Martin's Griffin for this arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication.