Do you like reality dating show romcoms with queer representation? If so, this could be a book for you! In this version, the main prize is a dude and all the contestants are his ex-girlfriends. Our MC Maya was cheated on by Jordy with Skye two years ago but she decides to go on the show, pretend to want him, and then humiliate him when he chooses her for a second chance at the end. Then, to her horror, she is roomed with Skye! The girls soon learn that what they were told by Jordy was lies and team up to make Maya's plan happen. As they get closer, however, they each start to develop feelings for someone unexpected: each other. I loved Only Mostly Devestated by the same author so I was looking forward to this one and it did not disappoint! This is what I think is considered "new adult" genre, as in a step above young adult because they aren't in high school. I would have enjoyed even more it if it was more adult adult but otherwise it was excellent!
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for the ARC! Find this book when it is released Nov 29/22. You can find this review in my story highlights called ARC Reviews on my IG.

2.5/5 stars! I have read and enjoyed Sophie Gonzales books in the past, but this one just seemed to fall flat for me.

Maya's ex-boyfriend, Jordy, cheated on her two years ago, but she can't escape him, as he is on the news all the time, because his sister married a prince. Skye is who Jordy cheated with, but Skye doesn't know it. He told her she was single. Maya and Skye are invited to a new reality T.V., Second Chance Romance, where Jordy attempts a second chance with his exes, including these two. Maya goes set on revenge on Jordy, while Skye goes to see if she can give him a second chance. What they discover is a different happily ever after than they expected.

I liked the book, but it just felt like it had less dimension than Sophie's previous books. I wanted more in this book, I wanted more backstory, and to feel more connected to the characters. I also found the two voices of Maya and Skye to be quite similar, so I often did not know who's chapter I was reading. When reading a dual POV book I need my characters to have distinct voices so I know who I am reading from.

I did find that some of the pettiness with Maya and her obsession with getting revenge dragged on to long. It took her a lot longer to have her "ah-ha moment" than I felt it should have, but when she got there, she got there with gusto. I also think that the young age of the characters made it difficult to be believable. That there were six young women looking for "love" with an ex, when they were mostly 18 years old, just was low on the believability scale for me.

I am giving this 2.5 stars, but I know this book will be for some. There are some funny parts (the dates), and there are some lessons to be learned. I always love when a book has positive representation and Sophie does this always. She writes bi-rep in such a positive, beautiful way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% mine.

Never Ever Getting Back Together focuses on Maya and Skye, who have a mutual ex boyfriend. Now Jordy is a small time celebrity since his sister married the prince of a fictional European country. Jordy has been selected to be the first lead on a new reality TV show that has the lead's exes live together in a mansion and see if they want to date any of their exes again in a Bachelor style format. Maya and Skye are two of the exes who grow more interested in each other than Jordy as the show progresses and have a shared goal of exposing Jordy's lying past.

I liked this but it fell flat for me at times in the book. I liked the Bachelor style show the girls were in and the fun challenges but thought the revenge plotline wasn't for me. Maya was ridiculously petty but I started to enjoy the book more as her romance with Skye started. It was a lot more fun to read about them falling in love than Maya trying to expose Jordy and ruin him. Jordy was insufferable as a character and every time he opened his mouth he was awful but I liked the other girls who were featured in the show. I also think this should've been an adult novel instead of YA since everyone in the book was 18-20 and it seemed like Jordy had a lot of exes for only being 20. I don't think a reality show like this would have a bunch of high school relationships in it.

This was like the Bachelor behind the scenes with a dash of Princess Diaries but sadly this wasn't for me and I think it's a pass. There are better sapphic romances out there and this is just ok.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

There was moments I loved this book. The characters worked well off each other and told an interesting story but there were also points of the story that’s dragged on and the Main antagonist was very one note with not much personality which made it hard to care for the character in any way.

I did like the reveal at the end but the ending just happened and was very abrupt. It just didn’t feel resolved and left me wanting.

I stopped reading at 41% because I just could not foresee myself liking any part of the rest. I personally find parts of Sophie Gonzales's writing irritating, but usually I can push past that to somewhat enjoy the story. Here, I think the premise is interesting but I don't know, I just didn't like either character very much, especially Maya. Hopefully this works out more for others!

This book was insane in the best way possible. The drama, the angst, and the revenge plot had me hooked from the very beginning. I loved the characters, minus Jordy of course. When I got this book, I literally could not put it down. It is an extremely unconventional tale and I LOVE that the author leans into it instead of shying away from it. My only criticism of the story is that the book has a lot of side characters which sometimes distracted me and pulled me away from the main plot of the story. I think also the ages of the main characters often times seemed disjointed. In the story, the main character Maya is going to college, yet I often felt like she seemed older despite a lot of her immature quips and decisions. These two things didn't really impact my reading experience too much at the time, but when reflecting on it I still think it is valuable to note. Overall, I loved this book and cannot wait to recommend it to all of my friends.

*3.5 stars

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ✨

I found this book's idea extremely interesting and immediately needed to read it. I found the actual story itself to be less exciting than what you initially get the impression of. I desperately wish these characters were at least 21-27 range because the impact of their relationship with Jordy would've made a lot more sense. You could've had his first crush from childhood, the girl he dated in high school, the college girlfriend that lived with him, the girl he cheated on her with, the fling, the coworker that had a "will they/won't they" vibe -- so many choices for different types of women that could've been in his life if they had just been older.
I also found Skye and Maya less remarkable than I had wanted them to be, but I still ate up their romance because I will accept any form of bisexual representation I can get.

An entertaining, light rom-com. in a reality show setting.An interesting cast of characters including a male MC with more than a dash of toxic masculinity. The questions are: how much will it cost to bring him down, who's up for it and is it even worth it?
A tad more character development would have been wonderful, but it is what it is-quick, easy and enjoyable!
#Netgalley

i absolutely adored this sapphic romcom with the premise of two girls on a bachelor-esque reality show with former exes and getting the revenge on the guy as he cheated on one girl with the other. the development between maya and skye was really well done and they have my entire heart. this novel was so cute and delightful along with its aspects of the crazy usual reality television drama. though i did wish there was less catty girls and more of them getting along especially in believing maya's side of story in what happened with her relationship with jordy. one other thing is that it would've worked even better in terms of characters' personas if they were all a bit older as it didn't add up how jordy has so many exes and a true second chance would've been more believable as characters' would've matured and moved on with age. nevertheless this was a fun read and i wished we saw more of maya and skye's relationship in the aftermath and i'm looking forward to picking up another gonzales work!

One of my 2022 favorites! I love Sophie Gonzales - her writing is sharp, funny, and full of spunk. I'm not a huge fan of actually watching Bachelorette type of contests, but I love reading about them in books - and Never Ever Getting Back Together was the perfect blend of contests, gay chaos and romance.

This book made me feel like I was watching the Bachelor, only better. Can you imagine the drama of the Bachelor, but instead of fresh new girls, they’re all of your exes!?

Things I loved: the plot (two girls uniting to take down their two-timing douchebag ex-bf and falling in love with each other in the process), romance, the DRAMA

Things I didn’t love: I wish Skye and Maya’s relationship would have been more developed, more side character development

Never Ever Getting Back Together was a funny, dramatic but relatable and enjoyable YA book.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Listen, I know I'm not the target audience for this book so keep that in mind as you read this review. And I happen to be in the minority here so it might just be a me problem.

First, the title totally grabbed my attention. And the idea of two contestants from a reality dating show falling for each other sealed the deal for me. I was pretty excited to get started but I almost DNF this at 20%. The only thing that kept me going was hoping to see Jordy get exposed for the wanker he was.

I feel like the concept of the book would work better for characters in their mid-late twenties, maybe even thirties. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but 18-20-year-olds with this many ex-girlfriends? Sure, one was a hook-up but it felt like the other ones were actual girlfriends. And those are just the ones that agreed to do the show. We know there are more out there. I just feel like the whole Second-Chance Romance dating show concept would work on an older crowd.

Okay, so the story goes between two POVs. Maya and Skye who both have their tangled history with Jordy and dislike each other from the start. I feel like the writing was way too similar for these two characters and there were multiple times that I had to double-check which character I was reading.

Finally, the story just felt off. Some parts were just really quick and others dragged on. I don't know exactly what it was, but it just felt off. The characters felt underdeveloped.

Anyways, I'm giving it 3 stars because even though I did not enjoy this book, I can see other people liking it. I would totally put this in my classroom because I know some students would be into it. And there were some funny parts. I also liked the reality show behind-the-scenes parts. Queer representation was awesome.

Got an eARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great read for fans of The Bachelor, Are You The One (s8 specifically), and/or Unreal TV, and as a fan of the latter two, I ate this up.

It's always fun to watch characters discover the illusion of "reality tv" being a part of it, and how they manage to navigate it. I appreciated that we got through the catty pettiness of Maya & Skye's rivalry pretty quickly as well. Their relationship has solid development, and even some of the other characters like Perrie are quite enjoyable. The ending was very satisfying for me and I liked the choices the author made.

I think the only thing I would change is I would have set the characters in their 20s, avg. ~25. Thinking of these characters as 18-year-olds who dated Jordy at 16 years old feels too low stakes for me and a bit juvenile, esp for this show. Or maybe I'm just too old / can't imagine it since I didn't really date as a teenager, but I would see this show in reality with 20-somethings.

Either way, I love seeing more sapphic rep hit the bookstands and I highly rec it for fans of contemporary romance, esp with pop culture influence!

I always enjoy Sophie Gonzales's work, even when it doesn't entirely work for me - and this one, while charming, did not entirely work. The conceit is lots of fun - two exes of a famous jerk, one vengeful, one hopeful - accidentally falling in love on a Bachelor-esque reality show! Yes!! That sounds wonderful, particularly because it's sapphic. The banter is witty, the POVs are distinct, and everything was really fun...

...my issue? It's so hard to believe these are teenagers! There's a reason why minors are protected when filming movies or TV, and although it's mentioned here, the entire premise is for a much older audience. Even if they'd just aged up the characters to college-age, and stamped this genre as "new adult" it would have worked so much better. I kept forgetting that everyone here is supposed to be 16/17, and when I *did* remember, I was taken out of the flow of the novel because it seemed so unlikely and exploitive. (And yes, the novel is absolutely clear that reality TV is exploitative! But... again, the ages just did not vibe with what was happening in the book.)

So all in all - this was fun, light, a little predictable, but if you dig the premise you'll dig the execution. It's just that whole tension between YA vs NA that made this difficult for me personally.

SO GOOD!! If you are/were a fan of the Bachelor franchise you will love this read. I was left disappointed by One to Watch and really wanted to love it, but this book satisfied that reality tv romance itch. Skye and Maya are extremely likable and pull you into their friendship, scheming and more. It hit all the right notes!

I enjoyed idea of the story, but I didn’t really have any connections to the characters. Normally with books, I’m instantly drawn to the characters and for this one I just didn’t have that.

NEVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER by Sophie Gonzales is an adorable YA romcom set during the filming of a reality dating show. When I first started this book, I didn’t think I was going to like it. I found myself really struggling to get into the story, but then something happened. Maybe when it was when the characters personalities and voices really started to shine, or maybe it was when the reality show competition really started getting underway…but I truly found myself unable to stop reading. The characters were fun and the romance was cute albeit very instalovey—a trope I don’t enjoy for the most part.

That all being said, this book is not without its other flaws. The ending truly dragged for me. I felt like there was unnecessary drama thrown in in the third act (which is just part of romance novel formula at this point) and conversations between characters and inner monologues were starting to feel very repetitive.

Was this the best romance I’ve ever read? No, not at all, but I still had a lot of fun reading this book and because of that I’d recommended it.

“We’re Maya and Skye. We fit together like we were made that way on purpose.“

4.5 ⭐️

Wow, this book. It made me angry (I hate you, Jordy), it made me sad, but most of all, it made me GIDDY because of Maya and Skye. Their romance was definitely enemies/rivals to lovers, and it was done at such an accurate pace! It made it feel a lot more realistic than many books I’ve read. Such a beautiful story of not needing to have revenge if you have love.

Um, hi, I LOVED this book. I am a huge Sophie Gonzales fan and this book just added to that.

Maya is… a badass. Cheated on by Jordy Miller just before he became famous and beloved by women across the nation, she’s not interested in anything regarding him. But then she gets her chance to, if not get revenge, then at least to make him admit and pay for what he did to her. Because he’s the new lead on a Bachelor-like show where he re-dates all of his exes to see if he could rekindle the spark. And guess who else is there? Skye, the girl that Jordy cheated on Maya with. Of course, Skye thinks that Maya is misconstruing the whole situation and being unfair and “crazy” (which is, naturally, the word that Jordy uses to describe Maya). And on top of everything, Maya and Skye have to share a room. And they’re both bisexual. You see where this is going.

Everything about this book was phenomenal. It was funny, with strong characters and a plot that moves fast but not too fast. I just can’t say enough about how good this book was.

Maya and Skye were such interesting characters. Maya was this fierce, bold, strong powerhouse and completely uninterested in taking shit from anyone, and Skye was guarded yet so real and raw in a way that made me want to give her a hug and be her friend. The other girls, especially Perrie, were so intelligent in such a variety of ways and seemed like the kind of group of strong girls that I’d do anything to be part of - except date Jordy Miller. That man was just so much fun to hate. He was so nasty in such a believable and well written way, and I was excited to see him put in his place.

The romance of this book, too. Just amazing. Maya and Skye started out as enemies and as someone who is just a little obsessed with the enemies to lovers trope, I was so into it. The emotional journey for both of them in realizing that they should team up was so well formed and emotionally vulnerable, and every page of them interacting made me smile.

I could go on for hours about how good this book is. But I won’t. I’ll just say this: read it. It’s worth it. You’ll be glad you picked it up. And I already can’t wait to see what’s next from Sophie Gonzales.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and to St. Martin’s Press for sending me an advance copy of this book for review!

I was initially really excited about this one--I love the reality tv setting, and I'm always excited about a sapphic romance. There were a few aspects of this that made it difficult for me to engage fully with the book:

- One: the ages of the characters. They felt too young for a Bachelor-type show for it to be believable. How did Jordy have so many exes?
- Two: the characterization. Initially, I found it a little hard to distinguish between Skye's and Maya's voices.I also found them both incredibly frustrating through most of the book, and I have minimal patience for the miscommunication trope. It all felt a little childish to me.
- Three: the revenge plot/resolution. I won't spoil, but it fell flat for me.

I think I went into this with the wrong expectations, or maybe it just didn't cut it for me.