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

One Sentence Summary: In an attempt to figure out why she’s the last one a guy dates before he settles down, Alex re-visits some exes, but Will, a guy she’s had a love/hate relationship for years, insists on tagging along.

My thoughts:

Despite having read some non-glowing reviews of this book, I continued to be hooked by the description, which made it sound like this would be a cute, funny romance. Unfortunately, this was a case of the description is better than the story and one might be best served by stopping there. That isn’t to say there was nothing redeeming on these pages, but the romance was flimsy at best, Alex was overly annoying, and Will didn’t have as much presence on the page as I thought a leading man should. Though, if you adore fun loving grandmothers, Lexi is incredible and I’m glad I read this just for her.

Let’s start with the characters. First of all, I loved Lexi. She’s sparkling and fascinating and has lived a storied life. A former jazz legend and actress, she just dripped with a sparkling diva personality, but was still so down to Earth. She’s so loving and always there for Alex and Will, so it was really easy to see why they love her so much and why they tip toed around each other so much in order to keep Lexi in their lives. Alex is Lexi’s granddaughter, who was partly raised by Lexi. She’s described as a high powered divorce attorney who sounded like she really took no hostages. Unfortunately, I was sorely missing that Alex. She didn’t feel high powered or self-assured. Instead, she felt like an absolute mess with an unstable emotional state. Will, fortunately, was a little more levelheaded, but he felt bland despite being a chef about to open his own restaurant. Other than crushing on Alex and wanting to stay in Lexi’s life as her former stepson, there wasn’t much to him. Sometimes he felt overprotective and sometimes he felt like he just wanted to show Alex the door. So, in terms of their romance, it was flimsy and unrealistic. Actually, the entirety of their actual romance was crammed into the last 40% of the book, so it felt rushed, though I did like how it finally made both of them feel mature.

I’m not sure if it was just because I didn’t like the lead characters (though their friends were an absolute blast and I loved all of them and wish they had been around much more), but this book and the story just felt incredibly slow. Most of it was taken up with Alex and Will dancing around each other while Alex visits with some exes and Will doesn’t like it. I thought that, at least, would be entertaining and fun, but those encounters were mostly boring and only revealed how awful a person Alex was because she was just hung up on someone else. I had hoped the romance between Alex and Will would take off sooner to make this a little more bearable, but, instead, it was less than half the story, so I felt like I got whiplash from it because the whole of a romance (getting together, experiencing bliss, encountering the road block, resolving the issue) happened at breakneck speed.

I had tempered hopes for Thank You, Next, but even that was too much to hope for. I will say the supporting cast was incredible. I loved all the diversity, especially since this is a romance between a biracial woman and a white man. There’s also a gender neutral character and one of Alex’s friends is lesbian. Actually, the romance between those two characters felt sweet and lovely and I wish there had been more of it. But, outside of the supporting cast, the story was lackluster and sometimes felt a little idiotic and the characters were nothing like I had hoped they would be, making it even harder for me to buy into their romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you, Next by Andie J. Christopher

I love romance novels, I’d even venture to say it’s my favorite genre, so I’m really easy to please when it comes to them. But I was just bored to tears with this book 🥴

The MC was on this quest to find out why all of the guys she’s dated in the past found their forever person shortly after things ended with her. I could easily tell you why, considering she was scared of commitment and would ghost people or refuse to open up to them and then dump them when they liked her too much. And now she’s questioning them. It was just odd. Some self reflection would have gone a long way for her, instead of hunting down these dudes. Some of whom were total douchebags, but others seemed perfectly nice. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I will say the positive of this story was it made me want to bake since her love interest was a chef. I don’t cook very well, but I’ll whip up a mean pumpkin chocolate chip bread!

Thank you to @netgalley and @berkleyromance for the arc in exchange for my honest review 💜

Definitely my new favorite Andie J. Christopher book! I love Alex looking through her past men (who isn’t curious enough to consider it??) and Will is surly goodness, but grandmother Lexie is who I want to be when I grow up.

Thank you so much @BerkleyRomance & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 14 June 2022)

SYNOPSIS | Alex is a divorce attorney who because of this fundamentally doesn't believe in getting married, however realizes that the next person her ex-boyfriends date after her is usually "the one". She decides to track down some of her ex's to understand why each relationship failed.

WHAT I LIKED:
- Alex's relationship with her grandma

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- ultimately I didn't root for the romance (which is kind of important to me in a romance book)
- the backstory behind the 'enemies' aspect of this romance just felt misguided & silly
- each interaction with an ex-boyfriend was pretty much a rinse & repeat of the previous interaction so it became very repetitive very quickly
- that a female body part was described as a "raw sea urchin"

What could have been better?
The constant repetition on how marriage is blegh and it wasn’t for our MCs, I think I could’ve done without or had it more in conversation than in their head.

What I enjoyed?

Andie J Christopher came in hot again with the commentary on being biracial and Black and I loved it.

I also love that this read like a romcom movie just like her book Not The Girl You Marry, it just made me fly through it and I could picture it all in my head.

The enemies to lovers was the perfect amount of burn!

I really enjoyed the talk about love and how we sometimes self sabotage and how our past and family effects us.

I loved the female mc Alex being a bad ass divorce attorney and the softness that the male mc Will brought out in her. Also loved that he was always making her food and he’s a chef.

The food talk 🤤🤤🤤

The quirky and fun side characters were amazing especially grandma Lexi.

The premise and everything going on hooked me in right away and I thought this was a truly enjoyable and fast read with just a touch of steam!

💕Favorite Quotes💕

“The first thing she taught me about being a women— particularly a Black woman— is that people who don’t see color don’t see humanity.”

“What’s with men? Expecting women to be nice to them. Women are brought up to expect no one being nice to them— maybe ever.”

I loved the premise of this book. Divorce attorney Alex wonders why all her exes marry the next person they date after her, so she sets off to find answers from a few of these ex boyfriends.
I loved the hilarity and encouragement by her best friends who join her as she goes looking for answers.
This is a great read with emotional and fun moments.

This book was a DNF. I thought that it was going to be more of a rom-com and was quickly disappointed in my lack of interest. I’m sure other readers will absolutely adore this book/characters, but I couldn’t finish it.

I like Andie J Christopher normally. This one missed the mark for me though.

Alex and Will were cute and worked as a couple but ultimately this book suffered from too much inner monologue and not enough plot.

The book premise is very much reminiscent of the movie Good Luck Chuck- ie the main character is the platform from which their exes take the plunge into true love and marriage.

Alex is a hardworking lawyer and everyone of her exes get married after she breaks up with them. When her most recent partner is on Say Yes to the Dress with a lookalike of her shortly after their breakup -she seeks to go back to all of her exes and see if she can find the common thread. Is it happenstance or is she that terrible?

Will has been in Alex’s life since they were teens and his father married her grandmother. Her grandma, Lexi, is a singer and Iives a wild life full of spirituality and love. Lexi is also convinced that Will and Alex belong together, and grandma’s are rarely wrong.

Can Will and Alex navigate their relationship challenges and find a way to break down barriers and be together? They will both have to dive deep and work through their complexes about romance from experience with their parents.

Honestly- Lexi, Jane and Lana (Alex’s friends) were the best parts of this book. They added fun and levity as the story progressed.

Tropes: enemies to lovers, second chance

Triggers: parental neglect, divorce

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review!

I enjoyed this book and the authors writing style.

This my first book (and not my last) by this author!

Alex is a divorce attorney, who's single and not in a good place.

She gets the idea that she's going to interview all of her ex's to find out "why"

While in the interview process, she ends up in the presence of Will, who is her sworn enemy.

She has feelings for Will but she wont admit it unitl Will decides he is going to tag along to help with her little project.

Such a good second chance book!

A fun and easy read.

I just reviewed Thank You, Next by Andie J. Christopher. #ThankYouNext #NetGalley

I had a hard time connecting with this title unfortunately. I felt disconnected from the characters and there was too much inner monologue.

The concept is there. The cover is there.. And yet, this one didn't work for me. DNF around 60 pages.

I read "Not The Girl You Marry" a couple years ago and was disappointed. Maybe I don't gel well with Christopher's style.

"Hot Under His Collar" is such an interesting idea for a story. Fingers crossed that one is a good one for me.

I will say I was first suckered in by the cover. But it was smart and witty. Had all the feels, character development and sweetness all rolled into one!

Thank you, netgalley for my copy of this book.

Cute, easy romcom read. This one took me awhile to get into and the ending actually felt a bit rushed. But overall, an enjoyable read.

This novel, Thank You, Next has an interesting premise. She sees her latest ex on “Say Yes to the Dress” has a major panic attack about all the formers getting married after her, and thus goes on a journey to find out why.

I loved that she is portrayed as a strong, independent female, who is highly successful. That’s important in novels, I believe.

I loved that he was a chef, totally different from her profession, and brooding a bit. He just seemed so raw and real.

I think what I was saddest about is that I really couldn’t relate or get behind some of her decisions. I found myself frustrated by her inability to communicate AT ALL with him. I get she has daddy issues- how many times could she say it? But there just didn’t seem to be any shifts until the last couple of pages, which I felt were rushed. I really wanted her to explore and understand that more. I think the search for all the past exs (and they should certainly STAY there because there was so much ICK in some of them– Comedian IYKYK- I kinda felt like it was a waste of her energy) was actually distracting for her growth as a character.

I did find it hard to follow that Lexi was Alex’s grandmother, for some reason that just did NOT fit in my mind and between her name and the Star always showing up, I kept waiting for the ax to drop, only it didn’t happen, hahaha! Total squirrel moment for me as a reader.

Christopher does have some pithy moments during the novel, so worth investigating.

Andie is the queen of messy female characters and I love her for it. I was really looking forward to this one. I laughed at parts, but I wasn't fully invested in the story.

We have to like ourselves, and even love ourselves, before we can truly give love to someone else. Sometimes realizing that and doing the work can be tough.

Alex finds this out the hard way while we are along for the ride. Self-discovery is tough and doing the work can be a tough cookie to take on, especially when it also includes someone you love to hate.

Will is a sweetheart and honestly the best part of this story for me. He is kind-hearted, giving, and loves to take care of Alex when she lets him. He protects her and stands by her as she goes through the mental clarity she needs to work through to finally admit the truth about Will and find her true self.

Thank You, Next is a fresh and relatable romantic journey. The characters are beautifully developed. I especially love Lexi. She is a trip. The second chance romance is worth the wait but I wish we got more of the future and a bit less of their history.

I thought this was a decent friends/frenemies to lovers. The buildup to Will and Alex actually getting together was good and Lexi provided some comedic relief. It did seem like the story lost a little steam once the characters actually got together since there were no real impediments to them getting together.

Final rating 3.5

Andie J. Christopher can seriously do no wrong. I didn't think it could get any better than a hot priest (Hot Under His Collar) but the premise of this book was so fun. It's like that movie "Good Luck Chuck" except...100 times better, and with a hot *chef* this time.

Alex Turner is single and happy...ish. She’s a bad-ass divorce attorney who doesn’t need a relationship to define her. She’s a self-made woman, with an awesome support group. She knows what she wants and when that doesn’t please her anymore, she has no qualms about walking away.

And yet.

All it takes is seeing her ex-boyfriend’s fiancée picking out her dress on TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress to send her spiraling into a well of self-doubt. A quick Facebook stalking reveals that she was the last person all her ex-boyfriends dated right before they got married.

[miley-cyrus-what-does-it-mean.gif]

What does it mean, indeed? Is dating Alex really so bad that the next experience for all these men turns out to be so good in comparison that they’re willing to settle down?

Unable to let it go, Alex embarks on a revisiting of "ghosts of lovers past" to analyze and better understand why she can’t stay in a committed relationship and why all her exes are finding their “happily ever after” right after passing through her life.

Things climb to a new level of frustration when newly divorced Will Harkness, her celebrity grandmother’s ex-stepson, whom Alex has carried a flame for since they were kids (whether she's willing to admit that or not), decides to join her--under the premise of looking out for her.

They get along like cats and dogs--after practically throwing herself at him when they were teenagers, Will rejected her, and Alex never forgave him. Still, Will has remained in her circle for years, even after her grandmother’s divorce from his father, Will refusing to relinquish the refuge he found in being part of her family--no matter how hard a time Alex gives him.

What Alex doesn't know is that Will didn't reject her because he wasn't interested. He rejected her for fear of it going belly up and subsequently losing the only real family he's ever known.

But when this enemies-to-lovers duo toe this forced-proximity line, their mutual attraction only grows, and Alex’s attempts to keep Will at arm's length are lost.

Thank You, Next is the full romcom package—great witticisms, entertaining characters (Lexi, Alex’s grandmother, definitely wins the award for Best Supporting Character as she steals the show whenever she’s in the scene—her lifestyle includes tarot card readers and aerial yoga in her living room), and of course lots of fabulous sexual tension and steamy love scenes.

However, the thing that really pulls the whole story together, adding a level of maturity that you don't always find in romcoms, is the way Christopher allows her characters to dive deep into their own psyche to analyze all the ways in which they sabotage their own relationships.

As Alex revisits her past romances, she begins to understand the way her upbringing shaped her. Her parents divorced when she and her sister were young, and her father basically checked out—happy to dump his daughters off at his mother’s when it was his turn to have them. Her mother, too, was always too busy for them, her love for her career having more pull over her than her love for her daughters.

Alex’s fear of attachment runs deep. She’s never wanted to need anyone, and she’s made sure to make that work for her. Until Will becomes a real part of her life. Now, understanding how to be a working part of a healthy relationship matters more than ever.

The same goes for Will, as he studies the places where he went wrong in his marriage (not communicating enough, for example). Once Lexi reassures him that he will not lose her and Will decides to take the plunge, he, like Alex, realizes he's got a lot of self-work to do if this is something he wants to work out for a long time.

Thank You, Next is not your average romance read. It doesn’t shy away from exploring heavier topics but manages to keep things light and entertaining. However, this is a novel for those who like to sink their teeth in a little deeper. Christopher has created lead characters who are three-dimensional and realistic and not just cartoon reflections of people in relationships as many romance books sometimes do--which is not a criticism of romance novels that lean on the lighter side. There's a time, place, and audience for all types of romcoms. If a richer, more deeply perceptive romance experience is what you’re looking for, this could be the romance novel you’ve been hoping to stumble upon.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.