Such a fun, comical romance! It’s heartfelt and a perfect summer read. The Godparent Trap is about two polar opposites who suddenly find themselves as the guardians for the children of their two best friends who tragically die. Throw in the ultimate life shakeup and Rip and Colby must learn to work as a team while grieving and staying strong for the two adorable children at the same time.

I loved seeing Rip’s character growth. His development was top notch. Colby helps him understand that it’s ok to be vulnerable and not have it all together and it’s a beautiful transformation to see. Colby was likable but I didn’t really feel as connected to her. I liked her the most in scenes with Rip - which many of them were so funny!

RVD does a masterful job of balancing a very sensitive topic with grieving the death of loved ones with the comedic side of the story. The Godparent Trap is just one of those reads that will make you smile, laugh but also shed a tear or two. I definitely recommend!

This book has a plethora of tropes that I adore: opposites attract / grumpy-sunshine, enemies-to-lovers, and best friend’s sibling. It should’ve ticked all my boxes, but unfortunately the romance didn’t work for me.

Rip and Colby have known each other since they were kids, as Colby is best friends with Rip’s sister Monica. After a disastrous date, they put up with each other because of their love for Monica, her husband Brooks and the kids. But when the unthinkable happens, how can happy-go-lucky Colby and rigidly organized Rip hope to raise two grieving kids together?

There are three main plot lines in the book: the relationship between Rip and Colby, how they’re each dealing with their grief, and then the mostly comedic parenting antics. The last is the one that worked best for me as I absolutely adored Ben and Viera. Their antics – weirdly morbid pictures, slime that gets everywhere and extreme preschool dietary restrictions – could have been pulled from when my kids were preschoolers. The hilarity helped balance out the second plot line, the grief. There’s no getting around the fact that the book got pretty heavy (and a little preachy) at times. At times the back and forth between emotions was jarring, but I’m honestly not sure how it could have been better done given the premise. The kids are grieving, Colby is grieving, and Rip is, well, basically refusing to deal with his feelings. Both Colby and Rip want to give the kids as good and stable of a life as they can, though they frequently disagree on what that should look like.

“You’re not a wreck.”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “I am.”
“Then you’re a perfect mess…a perfect wreck…let yourself be the masterpiece of chaos.”
“Won’t that piss you off?”
“Me?” I hugged her tighter. “Nah, I think I’m beginning to think that the truly beautiful things in this world aren’t perfect.”


And then there’s the relationship. Colby and Rip are about as far apart in how they approach life as two people can be. Colby is a mess and generally disorganized, at least in her home life. Professionally, she excels at being a travel blogger, turning out content on a tight schedule for her thousands of subscribers. Free-spirited and generally adverse to being tied down, now she’s stuck doing preschool drop-off and taking care of a rambunctious toddler while still trying to get her posts up. It’s all worth it, though, and she brings her warmth and joy for life to the kids’ lives. Rip, on the other hand, is an accountant, committed to his job, perfectly organized, and a complete and total jerk. Colby feels disrespected by him, and frankly, Rip does look down on her. Part of it is he doesn’t consider her job “actual work”, part of it is her bubby personality (and therefore he thinks she doesn’t take anything seriously), and part of it is, well, dated and sexist. Rip complains about not understanding why Colby can’t manage the kids and keep a clean house and have a nutritious dinner ready when he comes home. You know, while she and the kids are grieving and while she’s still trying to work her job. Rip was so unbearably cruel and harsh, and I never felt like he truly apologized for it. I mean, he had excuses – he was grieving as well, as well as holding some resentment towards her for inserting herself into the life he made for himself and Monica after their parents died – but snarking at her for crying at a wake? Wow. I know there has to be some conflict to make the enemies-to-lovers trope work, but there was just no way I could buy the relationship after that much downright cruelty.

As for other cons, the whole plot line with Heather, who tormented Colby during high school and now clearly has her sights set on Rip, did not work for me, especially the way it wrapped up in the end with her father. It felt messily wrapped up and ridiculously unrealistic, and that’s saying something given the plot of the rest of the book. And that’s not even mentioning the weird fake dating side plot with Rip’s work friend Banks. Despite that, I thought Banks was a fun character and I appreciated the frequent verbal kicks in the pants he gave to Rip.

Overall, 2.5 stars. While there were parts of the book that were excellent, I couldn’t get over how much I disliked Rip to buy the HEA.

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

While this was a quick read with nice short chapters it wasn’t giving me what I needed. I didn’t connect with either of our main characters. I did enjoy Banks, the side character, he broke up what felt like repetitiveness.

I’m fine with an enemies to lovers story when both arseholes go through something to get to the lovers part. Rip, the male lead, was so cruel to Colby, the female lead. From both of their pov we can tell this behavior was something that spanned back awhile. It felt suddenly flipped for Rip and no actual push and pull of wills to realize they are attracted to each other. Colby was all in from the beginning no matter how he treated her for years.

I appreciate the approach on grief and how it’s truly individualized; I don’t feel that any two people will feel the loss of someone the same way. Everyone mourns and it manifests in some very different ways.

All of the scenes with the children felt off to me. How old are they? 5-8-11?!

I wanted to like this a lot more than I did but I am glad that I read it as I’ve been dealing with grief after the loss of my grandmother.

Such a sweet story, Colby and Rip are wonderful characters and their kids are great, A bit delicate on some matters, so it might be triggering for some readers. Great banter, interactions where you will laugh and get all emotional. This story got to me, it's realistic and such a great story to accompany it all.

This book is a great book if you need a easy reading book with some cute kid antics and a blooming sexy relationship. The premise definitely sparks a lot of emotion: Colby and Rip have to be godparents to their best friends kids after they pass away and try not to destroy each other in the process. But this was a fun story that I breezed through that did a good job of getting me into my feels. So I appreciate it did that!

CW:
Graphic
Grief, Car accident, Death
Moderate
Death of parent, Bullying
Minor
Vomit, Pregnancy, Misogyny

I am so in love with this book. The deep friendship, the sadness the love of family and small children that will make you smile no matter what.
Monica, Rip's littles sister and her husband Brooks his best friend knew that Rip and Monica's childhood friend Colby belong together.
The had no idea that they would be brought together in such an earth shattering way.
Learning together and mistakes the try to guide through life that is parenthood to children under 5.
This book will squeeze your heart. Make you laugh and cry.
The brilliance of Author Rachel Van Dyken is what brings this book to life.
This could so be a rom com Movie worthy of awards.

To be honest, I struggled with this one A LOT. I found myself putting it down and walking away to do other things, or picking up a different book to read because Rip just made me so unbelievably angry.

I get it. He's grieving. But the way he treated Colby sometimes boarded on emotional abuse. He screams at her to stop acting like a child when she's crying over the sudden loss of her best friend. He accuses her of making their death all about her when she passes out after having to identify the bodies. He accuses her of being drunk because she has a wine stain on her dress, completely forgetting the fact that moments prior, he had a full whiskey glass in his. He even goes so far as to scream at her about filling the children's heads with lies when she was trying to make them feel better about losing their parents and telling them that it was okay to just talk to their parents. Oh, and let me just say that the kids are only three and five.

At one point, Colby even says she knows her self-worth and knew Rip never would. But that doesn't keep her from being "in love" with him. Doesn't keep her from wanting him to want her, or wanting to please him. And it certainly doesn't stop her from agreeing to a plan with Banks (one of Rip's friends) in which he pretends to be interested in her just to rouse Rip's jealousy.

There is also a scene about halfway through the book (just when you may see a glimmer of hope of redemption for Rip) that is a word-for-word repeat of the novel's first chapter. I honestly don't see what purpose it served at this point other than to remind the reader of how horribly Rip has treated Colby up until now. I mean, for crying out loud, even after the good few weeks they have had and the "moments" they have shared, she is still struck with fear when she hears him come home because the house is dirty, and she just knows he's going to show her how angry he is without saying a word. In fact, she is convinced this will be the final straw for him.

Now, after that scene, things seem to settle between the two, and we get a glimpse of a softer side of Rip. He begins to open up about his grief and the fact that he hasn't processed it. He even admits that he had feelings for Colby before but didn't know how to act on them. There were also some great moments where the author really connected the reader with the grief and loss these characters were experiencing. I especially loved the line that said, "you had to hold on to the moments - even the ones that drove you crazy. Because you never knew how long you had to enjoy them."

Those moments are what saved this story for me, and although there is another instance of Rip acting like a complete jerk in regards to Colby, for once, he is quick to apologize. Oh, and those children? Well, it was obvious in the way they were written that this author is a parent. There were no insanely long, coherent speeches from the three-year-old, and the five-year-old acted just as I imagine a five-year-old boy would.

If you don't mind males that need to be smacked upside the head with a good strong baseball bat and enjoy rom-coms then this one will probably be enjoyable for you.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

The Godparent Trap is the story of Colby & Rip learning to navigate the world of parenting, after the unexpected death Colby's best friend (& Rip's sister) and her husband in a car crash. The story itself has some tough topics but it is told in a more lighthearted manor throughout the book. Neither Colby nor Rip have raised children so being thrust into parenthood is a lot for both of these characters while also trying to grieve. Not to mention that they had been on one disastrous date in the past so there is a level of dislike between them. One night of a stomach flu, changes everything for this insta-family. While the way in which Colby, Rip and the kids become a family is heavy, I did not feel as if the book was. Rachel wrote the story in a much more light-hearted funny way.

Van Dyken strikes again with an unmissable story full of humour and so much heart!

I think by now just about every review I do for this author reads the same 🤣 but thats because its true, everything she writes is pure gold and completely deserves all the praise!

The Godparent Trap is just more proof of how awesome she is , a story that will bring forward every single emotion and leave a lasting mark on every best reads list.

100% must read you definitely not regret it!!

I loved the ending of this book, however the beginning was a struggle to me with how cruel I felt like Rip was to her at times, which made me struggle through the beginning. I got through the first 25% and then took a break for a few days because I wasn't sure how I was feeling about it.

That being said, after about the 35/40% mark I loved it. I enjoyed watching them share their grief with each other and grow closer together/admit their feelings that they had shared for a long time.

I also loved the ending, it was so sweet.

Hands down, one of my favorite books this year! You get some major tragic moments, some romance, friendships, real life kid stuff and a touch of the fairy tale ending we all love!

What more could you ask for in a book?!? I can’t think of anything!

*Book Received in Exchange for Honest Opinion/Review

I wouldn’t classify this as a rom-com because the grief is so heavy at times but it is definitely a journey. I like that Rachel tackles tough topics and she is willing to go there. She also explores how grief isn’t text book, there isn’t a manual to coping and she approaches these topics like the veteran author she is, with skill and tack.

The animosity and tension between Rip and Colby is palpable but their progression from enemies to lovers could have used some finessing. One page they loathed the others existence and the next they couldn’t live without one another. Rip starts off guns a blazing with very brutal criticism of Colby but after he realizes his feelings, I would have liked to see him grovel because he doesn’t deserve Colby’s forgiveness.

Outside of the romance, I really enjoyed Banks, probably my favorite part of the book. The kids were endearing and adorable and you could definitely tell Rachel drew that inspiration from her personal life. I just wish that Rip was more likeable and easier to connect with. Maybe cut the Rip alpha-hole act and add in some depth and heart to really take the story to that next level.

I read this book in 1 sitting. This book was a great read and seriously entrapped you the moment you picked it up. I loved the prose and the trope. It had such real elements of grief and described how 2 people who experienced the same things could go through grief in such different ways and I think that's what makes them human. We also got to see the past grief that Rip never dealt with, which I wish we would have seen more of Colby's background which there was a glimpse of it but the author never delved into it.

This found family made me feel like home. I loved how the kids acted like actual kids and the author didn't skim over those parts and those parts were integral to the story. She didn't try to make it pretty or make it something it wasn't. My complaints about this book are that the last few chapters were quick and could have been stretched out a little bit more. I love how they included side characters, since they are such a big part of the story, however I wish they had more dimension. Overall, it was a great book and if you haven't picked it up yet you need to.

Thank you to Net Galley/ Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for gifting me an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review as always all words are my own.

"The truly beautiful things in this world aren't perfect." I binged this one hard as I couldn't put it down. If you loved the 2010 film Life as We Know It, you will love this one. The premise is the same. A young couple dies leaving behind two young children. Colby and Rip are left to pick up the pieces as both are named guardians of the children. The one problem....they hate each other. Despite that fact, they quickly move in and take over parenting duties. This is a classic grumpy/sunshine trope that worked really well. While I'm not a huge fan of children in my romance novels, these two were just adorable and not annoying at all. I loved Colby and Rip together. She is a frantic mess and he is an orderly workaholic. Watching these two try to work together so they can love on the children was fun. They had massive chemistry and I really enjoyed the bittersweet moments where they bonded over the friendships they shared with their lost loved ones. This book was the perfect mix of deeper moments and lighthearted laughs. I read it in one sitting as I couldn't stop turning pages. I would recommend this one to anyone looking for that rom com beach read. I had not read anything from this author but will be looking for more in the future.

Similar to the movie Life As We Know It, Rip loses his sister. Colby her best friend. They become the guardians to care for the young children left behind. Rip is the grump and Colby the sunshine. There are laughs and tears which Rachel is great at writing. Enjoy

Was such a great quick read. U will enjoy. Makes u really think about what would happen. Rachel always gives us all the feels. Love her books.

4.5 stars!!

This book was incredibly adorable and if you loved the movie Life As We Know It, then I think you will really enjoy this book.

Colby is carefree, fun, and a little bit of a mess. While Rip is wound tight, calm, and has a type A personality. They are complete opposites who are brought together to raise their best friend and sister's children after an accident. I really loved the relationship build up between Colby and Rip, even though it was a little bit of a slow burn. The sexual tension and witty banter were also top notch!

I had all the feels while reading this one. It was heartbreaking, heartwarming, funny, and full of great dialogue. The topics in the book were very heavy but written with grace and understanding.

Overall, this one is really freaking good. I mean I literally could not put this book down and read it in less than 48 hours.

Read this if you like:
•grumpy x sunshine
•opposites attract
•enemies to lovers
•dual POV

Thank you to @netgalley, @readforeverpub, and @rachvd for the ARC!

Rachel i can't tell you how much i enjoyed this book, You have a way with words that pulls me into the story and make me feel what they feel. A must read for sure and my fave read of 2022

Immediately reading the blurb my brain went "Life As We Know It". It's one of my favourite rom-coms that's packed full of romance, enemies to lovers, forced proximity and loss and grief.

I knew if Rachel Van Dyken was taking her spin at a book in the same tropey genre as that movie it would be a masterpiece, and I was not wrong.

Books for me, will forever rein superior to television. Movies and TV has talented actors and scripts that bring stories to life and make you feel, but I truly believe nothing beats words on a paper and your imagination.

Rachel Van Dyken from the first book I devoured of her's has been a top author for me. I'll one click her until the end of life as she never stops growing and being amazing at story telling.

Just as I loved Life As We Know It, I loved The Godparent Trap. If anything it may have bumped above it because the way we follow Colby and Rip navigating the loss of their closest aquantices and then tackle taking care of two children was beautifully done.

We get to have laughs, tension and fall into the understanding of how everyone tackles grief and loss differently.

This book was beautiful and fun to read. It's everything I love from Rachel in a different setting.

This book was absolutely adorable and heartwarming. I knew from the first chapter that I was going to love seeing these two as they navigated this new forced proximity. I enjoyed how buttoned up Rip was and I enjoyed the chaos that was Colby. They couldn’t be more different in some aspects, and with how they dealt with the grief. The situation they’re in is really heartbreaking, and while Rip always seems like he has everything under control, he’s quite the controlled mess in the beginning. He really doesn’t know how to deal with his emotions and grief. Colby is such a caring person, even though she is definitely a hot mess. Let’s just say Monica and Brooks knew what they were doing by naming these two co-godparents. I also enjoyed the kids and their little antics, not to mention Stu and what he brought to the dynamics. This is just a pull at your heart strings romance, and I really enjoyed reading it!