The Bachelor meets Ex on A Beach meets hot mess express. I loved the concept [even though for real life this sounds like a sick form of torture!] of the re-kindling an old romance dating show. Even more what I loved....let's just get rid of the middle man and you fall in love with his other ex instead.

She hit the nail on the head with revenge, humor, love, bi-MC and more. It was petty and catty and extremely entertaining!

Admittedly, I wanted to love this book so much more than I did, but simultaneously acknowledge that while I didn't personally love it, I think a YA audience 1000% will!

This sapphic revenge/bachelor-esque novel is paced extremely well, with constant twists and developments in each character's story arc and growth. The female friendship in this one, despite many of the characters being extremely catty and petty, is really powerful, especially within the context of the show that they're on.

Ultimately, this is a cheesy sapphic YA rom-com that is easily digestible, will make you laugh, and perfect for anyone looking for a feel-good read.

3.5/5 stars.

This was a fun book to read. I love the bachalor-esque nature of the book. The idea was cute but overall the book lacked depth for me. I had a difficult time differentiating the female characters from each other. Other than Perrie whose only personality trait was wanting more followers, all of the other women were underdeveloped enough that they ran together for me until the very end of the book. Even the personalities of the two female main characters were not developed enough for me to feel like I knew them. I appreciated the bisexual representation. I agree with other viewers that the age of the characters made it a little bit weird to read about, especially since Maya is JUST out of high school. Overall I enjoyed the book. It was a quick read but did leave me wanting more in certain areas.

(4.25⭐) Taylor Swift songs: “daylight”, “call it what you want”, “We are never ever getting back together” (obviously)

This is one of the most entertaining, original concepts for a ya Romcom I’ve seen in a long time. Two girls going on a second chance dating show with their shared ex just to fall in love with each other? Genius. This was told in dual pics of the two girls, and it’s enemies to friends to lovers. This was not only incredibly sweet and romantic, but also surprisingly super funny!! The banter and fellow hating on the shared ex bf was so funny and so clever/witty. If you want a YA Romcom with Bi rep, this is for you!! I am a sucker for shows like the bachelorette/bachelor, so seeing this second chance dating show and how calculated it is was very interesting as well!! Overall, I thought this book was extremely original and entertaining, and very well done. It also had a lot of depth and complexity. I highly recommend! I will be looking for other books from this same author in the future!

Age rating: 14+ (closed door, but language)

Thank you Netgalley for providing an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Two years ago Maya’s ex-boyfriend cheated on her and she unfortunately can’t escape him. His sister married the Crown Prince of a European country and now he is all over the media as the charming little brother. Too bad the world didn’t know the real Jordy. Skye had always kept her heart under lock and key, until she met Jordy who said and did all the right things. Maya and Skye are personally invited by Jordy to star on a reality dating show called - Second Chance Romance. They are whisked away to a beautiful mansion and joined by four more of Jody’s exes to compete for his affection in front of the whole world. Skye wonders if she and Jordy can’t have a second shot at love, meanwhile Maya has a full plan of revenge. Does each girl get their own version of happily ever after?

This story reminds me of a blended version of the TV show The Bachelor and Ex On The Beach. This book is your feel good, fuzzy rom com and to be honest - not everyone is going to love it. It is a young adult novel with the characters being the age of around 18. But honesty - I liked it. I spent the majority of the book wanting to punch Jordy in the face. He is your typical lying, cheating, self absorbed ex-boyfriend who thinks that he is all that, especially now that his sister is married to royalty. Maya and Skye are both sweet girls who are coming into their adult years trying to figure out what the next big steps are in their life. Without giving away too many spoilers, you get to watch a genuine romantic relationship blossom and it might not be the one you think.

Sophie Gonzales just keeps getting better with every book. I will admit to being a little biased because having two Bachelor/ette contestants fall in love with each other is my dream scenario (and if it is yours you should also look up Vietnamese bachelor on youtube and it'll be the first thing that comes up and it will make your heart sing) and also just the bisexual feelings of it all. But this book moves so quickly and is a delight. A hard recommend for anyone that enjoyed Charm Offensive, or just enjoys a queer love story. You will also want to punch [redacted] in the face one million times, which is also fun to think about!

This was a fun, quick and sweet read. I enjoyed the two main women and thought it was an enjoyable story. It is obviously based off of the Bachelor so I am sure this book is targeted more for people who watch and enjoy that show. I have seen one season so I am familiar enough with it to understand the references. I liked how the author emphasized that everything on reality TV is fabricated and filmed multiple times to get what the producers want. However, the only part of the story for me that I really care about was the Sapphic romance. I know we were focused on Skye and Maya's stories and POV's but I was still left wanting more of just them and their relationship without Jordy.

3.5⭐️
This is a super fun, quick read. I am a HUGE bachelor/bachelorette fan so the idea of this book really stood out to me and drew me in. Overall it was a good read and kept me entertained with the drama and storyline.

With that, i found that the age of the characters was weird to me. It would have made more sense to me if they were much older being that they all ranged 18ish. The romance scenes were very cringy in some aspects as well. I wanted more character personality from Skye and Maya as well.

I love the representation in this book tho! The dry humor was also very well done and has me laughing out loud while reading.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for supplying me with an eARC in return for an honest review.

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.