I had a good time with Kosoko Jackson's I'm So (Not) Over You. He has funny, dry writing voice, and I laughed out loud at several sections of this book. There was some excellent banter in here, the steamy scenes were hot, and the novel was a fun take on the fake dating trope.

I think where this story went a little bit haywire was in the editing, and I don't necessarily put that all on Jackson. I'm not talking about line edits or typos; there were just a few big, obvious questions that never got answered. We never really hear anything about Kian and Hudson's actual relationship prior to the book's events, nor do we ever get the full story of why they broke up. It's difficult for me to fully invest in a second-chance romance when you don't have context for what went wrong during the first chance. (It reminds me of issues I had reading Sarah Hogle's debut You Deserve Each Other a few years ago!)

That said, I'm intrigued to see what Kosoko Jackson publishes next.

I received a free electronic advanced reader's copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was such a cute and quick read. I am drawn to queer romance books, especially those centering queer POC. I loved getting to meet Kian and Hudson and spend some time in their world. The steamy scenes were very effective and well-written. So many queer romances I've read shy away from the sex, but Jackson WENT there which I really appreciated. Conversations about safety and consent were handled amazingly and are important to include in any romance book! I was super happy with all of that.

I think the book may have had a few too many pop culture references that will date it for sure. I don't know that this is a book that will be well-understoon 20 years from now. The references to memes are especially "of the time" and will be quick to expire. I also agree with Roxanne Gay's review on here that their previous relationship isn't explored enough. We just know Hudson broke Kian's heart... but how and why? We'll never know. Which makes some interactions between the two not make sense.

Overall I think this is a cute romance read that is worth the time. It's very current, and holds some special lessons on heartbreak, friendship, masculinity and Black gay relationships. I'm looking forward to reading more from Kosoko Jackson!

Yay; a black queer romance! Wonderful representation here--in the end I really did appreciate Hudson and Kian's relationship, and some of the one-liners and pop culture references are hilarious. I also enjoyed the nuanced depiction of intersectional issues of race and class that Jackson outlines here.

What didn't work for me, unfortunately, was the story itself. There were many aspects of the story, of Kian and Hudson's relationship, of the way Hudson's family reacted that were not fleshed out or didn't make much sense. (I'll put more details in my Goodreads review so as not to reveal spoilers.)

The book is unique and important from a representation standpoint--as I mentioned, it did bring me joy--but overall the plotting could be better.

Please, publishing gods, give me more romances from Kosoko Jackson. I wasn't sure what to expect going into this one, but I fell in love with Kian and Hudson immediately. I thought Kian was a really interesting character and I rooted for his second chance with Hudson right away. They had great chemistry and I could definitely understand why Kian wasn't over him. This book was entertaining, fun, and heartwarming and just what I like in a second-chance romance.

Unfortunately, I stopped after 5%. I could not go any further. The main character has been pining after his ex for like 3 months and like his friend Divya said, it was a bad idea to meet with him after he asked. It would have been best if he told him to say what he needed to say over text or cease contact.
Hudson had no right to ask Kian to pretend to be his boyfriend for after dumping him. Parents coming to town or not, that's not Kian's problem. I assume Kian agrees because otherwise there would be no story but I'm not interested in seeing him be used by someone who has already proven that he doesn't care about him, nor could I root for the romance.

A tale of how I ended up with my rating:

-This is cute and fun.
5 stars

-Can there be one scene without having a pop culture reference? I get it. You've watched many movies and tv shows, and this isn't Ready Player One (there you go, a pop culture reference).
4 stars

-But why did Hudson break up with Kian? Kian guesses that Hudson's parents approved, and he couldn't handle approval, and that's too stupid to be an actual reason. Why was he amazed that the breakup hurt Kian? Why does he think that going to a cousin's wedding as fake boyfriends isn't a cruel thing to do?
3 stars

-I'm never going to understand Hudson's motives, am I? He breaks up with Kian and never tells Kian that he's wrong for the breakup. Then during the wedding weekend, Hudson says they should be boyfriends. They really shouldn't. They won't last. Hudson will have another weak reason to break up.
-When the bride dumps the groom because she told Kian that she didn't love the groom and Kian agrees that she shouldn't go through with the wedding, everyone blames him. Of course, Kian and Hudson go on a break. It is hilarious that Hudson and his family blamed Kian for the bride not wanting to be married to the groom. Did they want their cousin to marry someone who didn't love him and was only doing it for financial security? The whole ending is so stupid it's funny.

Review based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

I enjoyed this this romance novel! Normally fake dating tropes aren’t up my alley but I liked this one. I laughed at all the pop culture references and how cleverly placed they were. I finished this novel in one day because I couldn’t put it down. I didn’t see what Kian saw in Hudson though. Hudson wasn’t a fully fleshed out character and I didn’t understand what was so great about him. Hudson’s family seemed miserable and the wedding scene was quite unbelievable. It was a fun read but it needed stronger characters in my opinion.

I loved this! A ridiculous romp of a fake dating fiasco with very real characters I really rooted for and wanted to be friends with.

What a great LGBT read full of loveable, heartbreaking characters and a story that will stick with you for a while. Make this your next read when it hits shelves!

The concept of this book was really interesting - exes pretending to date while one of their parents are in town. I appreciated the pop culture reference and the humor. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and I felt like the leads had chemistry.

I really struggled with Kian. He is constantly overthinking everything and I felt like we spent too much time in his head. It got to the point where I felt like his thoughts were actually getting repetitive (ie repeated pop culture references, and the way he describes Hudson’s looks). His actions often seemed inconsistent and extreme. For example the way he interacts with Hudson’s parents at the dinner didn’t seem to reflect the way he reacts at the wedding. It’s also still unclear to me what he likes so much about Hudson - apart from his appearance. There are moments in this where I question how reliable of a narrator Kian is. It feels like pieces of this story are missing and I wonder if that is intentional. Kian seems to pride himself on being a journalist and telling the truth but there are moments that other characters seem to question his honesty. Should we be too?

Hudson comes across as pretty charming but there still felt like elements that didn’t quite connect. Why did he break up with Kian in the first place? Why did he decide to approach him now and have him pretend to be his boyfriend again? Why does he never apologize for any of his actions? We know everything about the way he looks and the way he sounds but we actually know very little about who he is as a person.

The wedding also felt unbelievable for me. The idea that a woman could leave her husband at the alter and imply that a person she just met helped convince her that was the right thing to do felt like a stretch. Hudson and his family’s reaction to Kian after the wedding also felt out of character.

Speaking of Hudson’s family…where were they? Isn’t the whole point of Kian coming to the wedding and pretending to be Hudson’s boyfriend to appease Hudson’s parents? Apart from the dinner at the beginning of the book there is very little interaction with them. Hudson’s sister Olivia tends to interact with them more but I still felt like it was a missed opportunity.

I actually really liked Olivia as a character and wish she was fleshed out more. Same with Kian’s friend Divya.

This had a lot of potential but I didn’t feel like it was executed as well as it could have been.

I really enjoyed this book! It was mostly sweet and I loved the adorable epilogue at the end. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a second chance romance.

This was just okay. Kian and Hudson had great chemistry and obviously it's always great to have queer black stories get told, but the continuity was inconsistent throughout and the dialogue often felt unrealistic. Kian's narration in particular felt very strongly like a millennial pretending to be Gen Z.

I love a second chance romance (and fake dating) but I never got a good sense of what Kian and Hudson's relationship was like the first time around - I couldn't tell you how long they dated, I couldn't tell you why they broke up, and based on different things different characters said I'm not even completely confident who broke up with whom. Overall I'm glad this book exists and it's cute but it's not without it's issues.

Kian Andrews has spent months trying to get over his ex, Hudson Rivers. When Hudson shows back up and asks him to fake-date him in exchange for a great career opportunity, Kian accepts. But when one fake date turns into a trip to meet Hudson’s extended family, both men have to confront their very real feelings for each other.

This ARC came at just the right time, because I was looking for a great romance to read featuring Black characters.

Enemies to lovers isn’t usually my jam, but I did really love Hudson and Kian in this one. I went back and forth on whether I actually wanted them to get back together, but they were cute when they actually were together.

My favorite part was definitely how Kian’s anxiety was presented. The way he would take one small interaction and come up with all these (usually negative) reasons or outcomes of it felt very relatable. Kian was also a great, hilarious narrator for this story. I found myself laughing out loud more than once.

I wish there was a little more resolution for Kian and Hudson’s initial break-up though. We never really find out why it happened and I don’t know if either character was really ever given the opportunity to process it and move on.

This is a great, low-stakes romance and I’m glad to see so many more New Adult books being released!

Thanks to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC!

Release date: February 22, 2022

Kosoko Jackson has quickly moved up on my life of "authors to watch" ever since I read Yesterday Is History last year. I was so excited to hear Jackson was coming out with a queer adult rom-com (my favorite genre) and this did not disappoint! 4.5 stars overall.

Things I liked:
- The complicated feelings between the MC and LI
- The development of their romance
- The side characters: Divvya, Olivia, Jamal, Wallace (though I do wish we got a bit more mention of Jamal throughout the middle of the book, instead of mostly just the beginning and the end.)
- The writing was mostly funny!! Which contributed greatly to tone.
- The tenderness of the romance
- Pretty much everything about this book. Except:

Things I didn't like:
- There felt like some relationship developments made their backstory of being a second chance romance. There were several parts where they were revealing stuff about themselves and learning stuff about each other where I was like "there's no way you would have dated somebody before and not known this." They should already know each other very well, but the book didn't always convince me of that, making this relationship sometimes seem like a first-chance romance, not second-chance.
- The pop culture references were only funny and contributing to flow and tone about 80% of the time. I would tone it down *just* a little. The author is generally very funny, but several lines had me cringing.

The dialogue in this just did not work for me. Nothing felt like it sounded like it would ever come out of someone's mouth, and the love interest did. not seem attractive to me in terms of personality.

However, that's a very "me" issue so that shouldn't stop anyone from checking it out!

An absolute and utter delight. This is a highly recommended first purchase for all collections, particularly where romance is popular.

Adorable, and fun romp about love heartbreak and all the foolish choices we make. Cute book, well worth the read.

An absolutely delightful debut romcom. This book is funny and sexy and you will love Hudson and Kian (and their supporting cast). I particularly appreciated the variety of locations in this book. Our main characters live in Boston but are both from the south (Georgia and North Carolina) and Jackson does a great job of showing us how where they're from affects who they are in Boston. I loved that this book deals with giant socio-economic differences in a relationship and feeling like you come from two completely different worlds (Hudson's family owns a multi-billion dollar business, Kian grew up middle class). Add to that crackling banter and steamy chemistry and you have a very, very good debut.
This book is a delight and I look forward to more books from Jackson.

Twentysomething Kian is doing his best to get over his ex, when the man in question tracks him down with a proposition: pretend they're still together at a family wedding, and Hudson will help Kian get a coveted job in investigative journalism. Kian reluctantly agrees, but wonders if he's made a mistake as they travel to Hudson's home in Georgia and it's obvious there's still a spark between them.

This book had a lot of things going for it, including great chemistry between Kian and Hudson, but it just didn't quite hold together. There were some story problems (no spoilers, but for example, we never find out why Hudson broke up with Kian in the first place). Subplots were set up but never resolved. It just didn't feel quite finished. Hopefully Jackson will figure some of this out before the book officially releases.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.