Thank You, Next by Andie J. Christopher is a standalone rom-com novel. We meet our heroine, Alex Turner, who is a very successful divorce attorney; and has no plans to ever marry, as she loves her life as it is. One night, she watches a TV a reality show, and sees her latest ex-boyfriend’s fiancée planning their wedding. She begins to realize that all of her ex-boyfriends (she has had quite a few) end up getting married after they break up with her. Alex is determined to go on a quest (with some of her friends) to meet with all her exes to find out why they broke up with her, and how to work toward having better relationships.

Will Harkness, our hero, is an old friend of Alex, but in current time, they really do not get along. Will is currently divorced, and is a well-known chef, opening a new restaurant. Will decides to tag along with Alex and her friends, as she meets her exes, and is determined to prove that she has done nothing wrong, just not having found the man destined for her. Will has always been attracted to Alex, but never explored any relationship, due to his fear of losing the only mother he ever had, Alex’s grandmother, Lexi.

It was an interesting concept and at times fun to watch Alex, with her friends and Will when meeting up with her exes. Along the way, Will finds himself jealous of all the exes, and slowly, with a slight push from Lexi, begins to have strong feelings for Alex. She too begins to see Will in another light, especially with his being very protective of her. I did like Will, though I thought he was too distanced toward Alex for half way through the book. I actually was not a fan of Alex for a majority of the time, with her somewhat changing closer to the last third. Their relationship was rocky from the start, and they really did not have much chemistry util much later.

Thank You, Next was a fun read, but I thought the relationship between Alex and Will took too long for the romance to start. Thank You, Next was well written by Andi J. Christopher.

I've loved Andie Christopher's books for a while now, and this one was just as good as her others! I LOVE the cover art work as well.

This took me some time to get into, but then I picked up the audiobook thanks to PRH audio and ended up really enjoying it. January LaVoy can do no wrong. The banter and tension between Alex and Will was perfect. I enjoyed that they had history and had to work past it. They both obviously had feelings for each other. I loved how into Alex, Will was. Lexie was such an amazing and fun character. I read Unrealistic Expectations first and the cameo with Will and Alex made me want to read this one too.

This book had an intriguing premise. I enjoyed the characters Alex and Will and their relationship. The beginning was somewhat slow but it really picked up by the end of the book. I wish there had been just a little more development between the main characters - it felt a tad rushed by the end. Overall, I liked the concept but found the book was a little slow for my taste.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I think the concept of this book was so good, but I really feel like it could have been executed better. I am a sucker for a second chance romance, but I really wish I felt more connected with this story. It was good, and I will definitely check out others by this author, but this one just didn't hit the mark for me as much as I hoped it would. Cute cover and super catchy title though, that's for sure.

There was a stubbornness at play here that was a little grating at times. I don't hate a 3rd act misunderstanding, but it bordered on being unnecessarily protracted. That said, the characters were well fleshed out and the dialogue was engaging. Would definitely read more by this author.

This one just fell so flat for me, I wanted to love it but I just didn't feel the chemistry. I think in this case, this author may not be for me, but others love her, so if you're curious give her a try!

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I'll keep my review short, because I think it's best everyone make their own judgement, but I found the premise SOOO intriguing and the story itself didn't deliver. The main character wasn't likable to me, which made it hard for me to want to keep reading and rooting for her to find her happily ever after.

I recently finished Exes and O's by Amy Lea and the premise was very similar and was far more captivating for me!

The idea of always being the one *right before* the other person finds true love is messing with Alex's head enough that she has to go visit all her ex-boyfriends and figure out what went wrong. It's a wild premise, but it winds up to be a journey of self-discovery and true love for Alex.

Alex Turner is ready for love, but finds herself repeatedly being “the one before The One” in her relationships. A great premise for a book, this one didn’t quite deliver for me. I enjoyed parts but ultimately I was ready to say “next” to Andie J. Christopher’s Thank You, Next.

About the Books

When divorce attorney Alex Turner sees her most recent ex looking awfully happy with his new fiancé picking out a wedding dress on a reality television show, she starts to question whether she is really interested in marriage after all. In a spiral, Alex dives into social media to see where her other exes have ended up, and notices a troubling trend—each of her exes seems to get engaged to the person they dated immediately after their break up with Alex.

Is it possible Alex is pushing men to get married, just not to her? Was dating her so awful they settled with the next person they meet? Alex needs to find out, so she begins to track down her exes one by one. Alex’s friend Will Harkness, a celebrity chef, finds out about her plans and decides he needs to o along on this investigation into her prior relationships. Alex and Will have mostly avoided one another after Will rejected Alex’s feelings as teenagers. However, Will has remained tied to Alex through her grandmother Lexi, a jazz musician who was formerly married to Will’s father. Now, the two embark on a journey through Alex’s past, but find that they may have some feelings between them that haven’t been addressed.

My Thoughts

I felt this one didn’t quite live up to what I was expecting and I wanted to love it more than I did. I loved the premise of it and I liked the idea of a friend helping her work through past relationships only for her to realize he was right there all along—one of the best romance tropes in my opinion! I think for many of us it is also relatable to have an ex (or several) who find their happily ever after right after dating us, and it definitely can get into your head.

Ultimately this one relied a bit too much on the inner dialogues of the characters and lacked a bit of the humor I expected to find. Some romance books fall into the trap of being too repetitive—they really want to hammer home the central break down of communication and feelings between the leads—and I felt this book suffered from that. I likes the supporting cast of characters and I did like the lead characters mostly, though I got a bit annoyed with them at times. Ultimately I think this was a cute story that if you can push through does have a satisfying ending. Some of the misses were in the writing style and plot, for me. I suspect that this author may just not be the best fit for me as a reader, and that’s ok! I can be a bit picky with romance books and I think I wanted a bit more rom com than what this book delivered.

Thank You, Next by Andie J. Christopher introduces readers to Alex Turner the one before "the one." She's a successful lawyer, but she finds that she isn't successful in love. This is a fun trope, though some of the elements of execution were uneven. I will look forward to more from this author.

Many thanks to the author, publish, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

I loved the premise - who wouldn't want a chance to go back and ask your ex what went wrong - and had high hopes for Alex and Will to reconnect. I just wished I connected better with them. I didn't feel the tension and didn't think the wrong Alex experienced was worth the grudge she held for so long. Definitely good moments here and there but overall not one of my favorites.

Thank You, Next was fun and a great execution of an unusual plot… but also not super well-written. The steaminess and tension was great, though!

Synopsis: Successful divorce attorney Alex Turner wants to know why her relationships with men never last… and why they always seem to find “The One” right after breaking up with her. Through a harebrainscheme and teaming up with her mortal enemy, Alex find outs the problem might be… her?

This book kind of reminded me of the Brown sisters series, in all the family craziness and having this overpowering, somewhat eccentric grandmother. And there’s also Clueless vibes, since our love interest is the grandmother’s ex-stepson.

Read if you like: enemies-to-lovers, strong independent women, self-growth and realization, Clueless, and trashing men for their poor decisions.

I wanted to love Thank You, Next. Alex just seems like such a badass independent female and she was, but the book just didn't call to me. This is one of the rare times that I liked the main female character but it was mostly the pacing that kept me from really getting into the book. It was just too slow. I don't really mind slow burns usually, and considering this was enemies to lovers I expected it to be a little slow, but it really needed a kick.

Overall, a okay romance

Sadly, couldn't get into this one. I don't think this author is for me anymore. If you like a spicy romance, this might be for you.

In the case of Thank You, Next, I'm forced to reverse my common complaint and say, "I feel like this could have been a novella." Shocking, I know. Like a sunkissed, SoCal approximation of the Ghost of Christmas Past, Alex reconnects with old flames for a postmortem on what went wrong in their relationships. Over and over again, she comes up against men who have their own issues aplenty but who offer up a common refrain: Alex was cold, unavailable, and uninterested in pursuing something more meaningful. What's strange is that Alex already knew all this. She'll proudly tell anyone that between her difficult childhood and her success as a divorce lawyer, she doesn't see the point in marriage and romantic love by extension, something she views as a rare occurrence that gets nasty when it goes bad. I guess she just needed to hear a decade's worth of boyfriends reflect it back to her for it to sink in.

The romance is second chance angst with a side helping of stepsibling-ish backstory. Alex's former (and brief) step-uncle, Will, is the one that got away. He cruelly and immaturely rejected her when they were teenagers, and they've been sniping at each other ever since. While their dynamic was frustrating for me at first, seemingly frozen at a teenage level of decision-making and communication, it had a nice vibe once the commitment-phobes get their shit together. I especially appreciated the way they evaded their own final act drama by thinking before speaking and giving each other space before having difficult conversations. All crying, yelling, and unnecessary temporary breakups are avoided this way. The lack of last minute moping gave me a real thrill.

Basically, what it came down to for me was a lack of content compared to the number of pages I endured. The problem was straightforward (from a narrative standpoint, not from an "in Alex's shoes" view), the solution simple. Alex's main flaw is abundantly clear at all times, and Will is so misunderstood and emo that his new restaurant is named "loneliness" in Italian. I didn't take issue with the story or the characters (even if emo boys earn instant suspicion on my part, especially in the form of a grown man), I just feel it all could have been streamlined and been just as impactful, if not more so. I do want to shout out some appreciated commentary through Alex's experiences as a Black, biracial woman and the ways people perceive her. There's also a smidge of queer representation through side characters, notably a pan woman and a person who uses they/them pronouns. Thanks to Berkley for my copy to read and review!

This was such a fun read! I really enjoy a loved you since childhood trope and seeing life bring them back together was awesome! The grandma was everything in this book! I wish we had a book on her alone! I really enjoy Andie's writing. It was fun and kept you reeled in the whole time to see what will happen next! I think this is the perfect summer read!

I've liked other books by Andie Christopher much better, this one was just okay compared to her other works

Main character Alex is a biracial woman whose on a mission to know why all her ex’s married right after her. Only to discover she’s been holding her own feelings back for her childhood crush 🫶🏼

Overall:
•loved the lgbtq+ representation
•loved the women of color representation
•took a while to name drop characters, “her sister” was repeated so much
•grandma Lexi is my fav 🫶🏼
•Alex seemed childish sometimes
•sprinkle of miscommunication trope I dislike