Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and Netgalley for an ARC of this book! I’ve willingly read and reviewed it. All opinions are my own.
This was a fun twist on bachelor-type reality shows, a very fun read!

The premise and concept of this reality show was awesome, but I found the tone of the dialogue to be too similar between the two Mcs. Thanks for the opportunity to read!

Now famous, Jordy Miller, is the protagonist of a new show called Second Chance Romance, where all his exes compete for a second chance at love with him. If you love the Bachelor, this book is definitely for you! Maya and Skye are two of the many exes invited on to the show. Determined to show the world who he really is behind cameras, both women team up at a chance to expose him, but end up surprising themselves.
This book is is funny and I never once got bored. I have never read a book written literally EXACTLY like the show, The Bachelor, which was something fun and different. This was my first Sophie Gonzales book and I will definitely be reading more of her books!

I LOVE A REVENGE FUELLED STORY and this book scratched that ITCH! Mix that in with the Bachelor premise and I ATE THIS BOOK UP!

This book was funny. And it was charming. And the way I was rooting for Skye and Maya was a little ridiculous. As in, yelping out loud, needing them to smush faces. I felt like Gonzales was really true to teen hearts here, portraying how young people can make mistakes. And the SNARK. So well done.

Although a majority of time reading is spent between the pages of adult romance novels, I can't help but notice how satisfying and FUN and ENTERTAINING it is to get lost in a YA novel.

At this point, I will devour anything Sophie writes.

Maya’s ex-boyfriend, Jordy, is impossible to escape as the brother of a crown princess. It’s been two years, and she’s still struggling to move on after he cheated on her. When he calls to invite her on a new reality TV show called Second Chance Romance, where Jordy revisits all his old flames in the hopes of sparking a new one, Maya is appalled. Then, she realizes it’s her chance to show the world what a manipulative liar Jordy really is. The only problem is that Skye, the girl he cheated with, is going to be on the show too. I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books. Trigger warnings: cheating, gaslighting/manipulation, alcohol use, public humiliation.

Sophie Gonzales is one of my go-to authors for queer YA rom-coms, but I didn’t quite click with this one. I don’t enjoy reality TV, so the setting quickly got old for me. The challenges just seemed silly, and since we have both Maya and Skye’s perspectives, all the drama is pretty contrived. We know right away that their hatred for each other is based on a misunderstanding, even if they don’t, so it lacks any punch for a proper enemies-to-lovers arc. Maya’s character development on letting go of vengeance in order to seek love is also a little over-dramatic (but I’m also an adult reader and well outside the target audience). It’s often funny though, and most of my underlined quotes are Maya roasting Jordy.

Maya is hard to pin down as a main character. She just seems all over the place, with no real plan about how she’s going to sabotage the show. Skye is the grounding presence and voice of reason, and I enjoyed her chapters more. The rest of the girls are fairly forgettable, and while I appreciate Gonzales mostly avoiding a bunch of catty girl drama, it lacks realism that there isn’t one truly mean girl among them. (Sorry, but I am a girl, and some of us are just mean.) Jordy is a bit of an over-the-top villain, all schmooze and schemes and no substance, and I have no trouble believing he learned absolutely nothing from the experience. Not one of my favorites overall, but I’m sure readers interested in the reality show as a plot device will find more to like about it.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

It's no secret that I loved Sophie Gonzales' previous books, Only mostly devastated, and Perfect on paper. With that in mind, I had high expectations for her latest YA romance novel, coming out in November this year! So when I saw it on Netgalley earlier this summer, I automatically requested it. (Before even reading the synopsis on the presentation page, which tends to happen with authors I know I'll enjoy reading from!)
And, as always with this author, I was not disappointed.

I loved this plot. A good revenge, lots of drama, quid pro quo in the beginning, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers... what's not to love?

Sophie Gonzales has a talent for tactfully and emotionally writing the experiences of bisexual youth. That's something many authors struggle to do, and that I deeply appreciate in her work.
The animosity between the main characters in the beginning was very entertaining, and I especially appreciated the development of the romance, which felt very natural (and appropriately awkward at times!). The alternating points of view helped to get to know both main characters in all their complexity (even in the “enemies” phase of enemies-to-lovers).

The main antagonist, Jordy, is probably the character I’ve hated the most all year so far. However, with the dual POV, I got attached pretty quickly to the two protagonists! Skye is an easy character to love, and her anger and heartbreak when she discovers Jordy's duplicity were very touching. Maya's cold determination, on the other hand, was refreshing to see and moved the plot forward at a steady rhythm. There was never a dull moment!
I do feel like it would have fit the story better to have them be one or two years older than they are here, if only because it would seem more believable for Jordy to have so many exes a couple of years later. (But that might simply be me being a bit disconnected from teenagers' experiences!) Overall, that didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the story.

This book is scheduled to come out on November 29, 2022, and it is definitely for you if you enjoy :
- contemporary romances
- enemies-to-lovers
- Wlw stories
- dating show settings

In conclusion : I strongly recommend this book - and will definitely get a paper copy for myself when I see it hit the shelves in my city!

This book has solidified me as a Sophie Gonzalez fan. Her voice as a writer is at once comforting and engaging, funny and sincere. As someone who often struggles to “settle” into reading, I found myself swept up within the first few pages. Once I picked it up I truly couldn’t put it down.

“Never Ever Getting Back Together” shares its narrative between two girls invited onto a reality dating show to compete to win back their ex boyfriend, the adjacently-famous brother of an almost-princess. Skye is open to rekindling the romance; Maya is determined to take him down, vowing revenge for her ex’s despicable behavior—that only she seems to see. The girls are roomed together, and that’s a big problem because Maya thinks her ex cheated on her with Skye, while their ex has warned Skye that Maya is not to be trusted.

The danger of a book centered around a reality TV show is that it will fall into the same pitfalls as such shows tend to do: drama for the sake of the drama without any heart behind it. “Never Ever Getting Back Together” has plenty of both. Tension builds from the very first chapter as we follow first Maya and then Skye through their first interactions with their ex and a story that had two sides that aren’t adding up. The drama between the contestants feels high stakes yet also dramatic enough to capture that feeling that, yes, an audience would absolutely eat this up and tune in weekly. Even so the women that make up Maya and Skye’s competitors—the other exes—never come off tiresomely catty, their competitiveness softened by their empathy and humanity.

The characters felt believable, and, more importantly, were enjoyable. Their actions made sense, their motivations were understandable. I wanted Maya to get her revenge. I wanted Skye to feel safe opening up. I wanted Isaac to get his vacation. The main romance, though perhaps a bit sudden, was sweet. The leads share a palpable chemistry fed by forced proximity (only one bunk-bed trope?), mutual scheming, and a delightful touch of enemies-to-conspirators-to-lovers.

If anything the background faded away, the elements of the reality TV show taking a third-row backseat, with some of the background characters feeling sparse (the TV film crew) or non-existent (the tangentially-relevant royals and the contestants’ families). The latter makes sense: the filming takes place in an isolated bubble of sorts, and it certainly feels that way. (Not to mention their absence highlights the ex, Jordy’s, overinflated sense of self-importance). The missing crew felt a little odd for the same reason, since I’d imagine it’d be hard for the main characters to escape them—or their cameras. But ultimately it is the main characters and their immediate supporting cast who shine brightest, and the background fading to a pleasant hum beneath that is acceptable and honestly even appreciated.

My only other qualm was a subplot with Maya’s mother that resolved in a satisfying way but entirely off-screen: we never get to see the “confrontation,” doubly disappointing since it was brought up by other characters that she should have this conversation with her mom. It wasn’t over something small, either, and I Felt like attending a picnic with a chocolate fountain and never getting to sample it. You’ll be fine without it, but you’ll always wonder if it could’ve been great.

Above everything, “Never Ever Getting Back Together” was fun. I giggled, I swooned, I considered my position on wine vs. Jell-O shots. There are more than a few moments that made me stop and think in that way only a good line in a book can, but mostly I had a fantastically fun romp that I’d happily recommend.

This lovely, heartfelt rom-com featured a great cast of diverse characters. I rooted for both POV characters right from the start, and the romance was very sweet.
The reality show setting gave this book a fresh setting that set up wonderful tension without it ever feeling forced. A great read for any romance lovers out there!

I thought I had my favorite book by Sophie all picked out and nothing could top that. But, she proved me wrong.

This book was FANTASTIC. It was brilliant and so good. Every moment was leading up to something else and you could SEE Maya and Skye falling for each other. It didn’t happen inn one moment, but over time and it built up. I also LOVED that, in the end, Maya chose what was better for her. She did what she felt was right for her, going forward and I was so proud of her for that.

Jordy was a piece of work. I’m being nice here, but he really, truly was. When Maya confronts Skye, even though Jordy had tried to manipulate her ahead of time, it starts off as a mess and ends as a mess, but in the best possible way. That is the moment their relationship started and I am SO glad for it because that is when everything came together.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but everything Maya had done, the entire reason she came here led up to one big moment. It was supposed to be this big reveal of the truth butte used it insntead for the better and did what she knew would be best for her and Skye. Jordy…well, justice was served, is all I’m going to say.

Overall, this entire book was wonderful and so well written. It is one of my favorites from Sophie, topped only by Only Mostly Devastated!!

A rom-com with a cheating ex whose ex-girlfriends come together in a dating show like the bachelor? Count me in!

Maya is still angry at Jordy for cheating on her and lying about their breakup, but Skye thinks, Maya is the crazy one, because Jordy told her so. They hate each other, but when they finally are on the same side - against Jordy - Maya and Skye are a great team with silly plans to expose Jordy's true nature. This is a really entertaining enemies-to-lovers-romance and I really enjoyed both the lovestory and the ridiculous dating show.

GERMAN REVIEW
Der fremdgehende Ex mit einer Schwester, die einen Prinz geheiratet hat, und dessen Ex-Freundinnen sich bei einer Bachelor-ähnlichen Datingshow zusammenfinden? Der Klappentext klang schon nach romantischer Komödie und da konnte ich einfach nicht widerstehen.

Maya ist noch richtig wütend auf ihren Ex Jordy, weil er sie erst betrogen und dann Lügen über die Trennung verbreitet hat, aber sie stimmt dann doch zu, an der Show teilzunehmen. Ihr heimlicher Plan ist jedoch, ihn öffentlich mit seinen Taten zu konfrontieren. Bei der Show läuft aber nichts wie geplant, weil die Produzenten viele der Geschehnisse kontrollieren und Maya sich auch nicht von ihrer besten Seite zeigen kann.

Dann ist da noch Skye, mit der Jordy Maya damals betrogen hat und das kann Maya dem kanadischen Mädchen auch nicht verzeihen. Skye hingegen wusste gar nicht, dass Jordy da noch in einer Beziehung war und zu Beginn der Show wird ihr dann gesagt, es sei Maya, die Jordy nicht in Ruhe ließe und die Trennung nicht akzeptieren könne. Also gibt es schon jede Menge Drama, bevor die Show überhaupt richtig beginnt.

Jordy ist schon ein Mistkerl, was aber nicht allen so klar ist. Er ist zu allen Teilnehmerinnen freundlich, aber durch die Erzählperspektiven von Maya und Skye wissen wir schon von Anfang an, wie viel er lügt und wie er immer versucht, sich selbst besser aussehen zu lassen, während er alle anderen ständig herabwürdigt.

Für Skye und einige andere Teilnehmerinnen ist Jordy tatsächlich ein Ex, dem sie noch eine Chance geben würden; Maya scheint die einzige zu sein, die seine Fassade wirklich durchschaut und nun versucht, auch die anderen zu bekehren. Gerade bei ihrer "Feindin" Skye ist das gar nicht so einfach, weil man die beiden für eine spannende Show gerne miteinander streiten sieht.

Aber ihre Konfrontationen bringen sie einander auch näher und als sie auf einer Seite stehen, werden sie zu einem unschlagbaren Team mit witzigen Plänen, um sich an Jordy zu rächen. Ich mochte die beiden zusammen wirklich gerne und finde, sie sind ein sehr ungleiches Paar, das gut unterhalten kann.

Fazit
"Never Ever Getting Back Together" ist eine romantische Komödie mit einer albernen Datingshow, einem miesen Ex und einer unterhaltsamen Enemies-To-Lovers-Romance.

I'm torn on this one. The concept? Fully four stars. Gonzales manages to construct a plot which mostly conforms with the genre, but also has a few twists to keep you on your toes. Likewise, there are times throughout that it's not entirely clear who is going to end up with who. But I kept bumping up against two things:
1) The characters' ages-- why were they so young? It would've been so much more believable if all of the women had been 26-30, and I think it would've appealed more to fans of dating shows (who are more likely to be in the 18-30 range). As it stands, it's sort of straddling YA and Women's Fiction/Rom Com.
2) The chapters are told in alternating POV's, between Maya and Skye. I'm a fan of this kind of storytelling, but their voices were nearly identical. I kept getting confused as to whose POV I was in and had to search for context clues nearly every chapter.

Loved this one!

The characters were all interesting, the conflict was realistic/believable, the writing was funny, and it was a joy to read.

What I’ve loved about Sophie Gonzales’s writing in the past is the unexpected depth, whether that’s in the humor or in the vulnerability. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel that same depth in this book. This book felt driven by the plot much more than the characters, and miscommunication was a major part of the story, which I found frustrating. I also think this book would have benefited from the characters being slightly older because it was disorienting to me that they were supposed to be so young given the premise of the story and how they behaved.

I still consider myself a fan of Sophie Gonzales, but this one just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Maya's heart was broken by her now famous boyfriend Jordy. He cheated on her but made her out to be the crazy, stalkerish ex girlfriend. When Maya recieves a phone call to go on a reality dating show about Jordy, she refuses at first. But then she realizes now could be a good time to tell her truth and embarrass Jordy the way he embarrassed her. Skye is another one of Jordys exes who goes on to the dating show. She believes Jordy and her could work so she is hopeful about their reconnection. When Maya and Skye are to room together, they immediately hate each other. By the end, they both find love, but the question is, with who?

I LOVED this book. It was so cute and funny. I really like reality shows like the Bachelor and Bachelorette and I found myself wishing a show like this existed. Maya is a strong willed character but she is sensitive and I liked that. Skye is more adventurous and watching their friendship grow was nice. My only negative about this book (as with any romance book) is how predictable the story is going to be. But in all, I highly recommend this one to others and will definitely be reading more of this authors work. I give it a 4/ 5 star rating.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of this work in exchange for my honest review. All reviews are entirely my opinion.

Cute queer romcom, the only struggle for me was their ages. Bachelor style dating show but they were all barely out of high school???

Two girls competing on a reality show fall in love with each other.

What a fantastic premise! But it gets spicier: Jordy Miller, a minor royal, is hosting a dating show and inviting his exes to win back their hearts. The exes include Maya, who he cheated on for months, and Skye, the girl he cheated on her with.

That’s not the way the public sees what happened. The way Jordy told the story, he and Maya were already broken up when he started dating Skye, and Maya is just the crazy ex who couldn’t let him go. Why would Maya agree to go on the show, you ask? Revenge, of course! Her plan is to show the world the truth about Jordy.

Things I loved:

1. Jordy was a realistic (and scary) villain, which made me care a lot about the outcome.

2. Both protagonists are bisexual disasters. (I relate.)

3. Supportive female friendships!

This book is a fantastically juicy read, and I highly recommend it!

I really enjoyed reading this book!
It was such a refreshing love story and I didn't expect it to end the way it did, but I really was happy for the characters.
It showed red flags in relationships without harping on them and also how we can move on and forgive ourselves for making poor choices in the past but in a kind and gentle way.
I would recommend this book for teens on up. Well written and fun to read.

3.5 stars rounded up ⭐️

This was a unique premise that the synopsis grabbed my attention immediately.

A group of women go onto a reality show about second chance romance with one guy, just to fall in love with eachother. Sign me up, screw that guy❤️

That basically is what the story is about. We get to follow main perspectives Skye and Maya as they battle to be Jordys rekindled love. I'm reality they hate him and what revenge for being such a crappy bf and honestly just human being. Like a seriously he sucks.

It was interesting following the story thru each episode of the show basically and how each contestant gets widdled down.

I feel like this book could have easily been adult rather than young adult. I really struggled relating to the women characters cause all their crappy experiences with Jordy happened when they were young teens 15/16. They only dated him for less than a year. It felt like just a highschool fling.

This book though might really relate to better with the intended younger audience. I could see this book easily being on the top of young adult romance. As it was fun and I really had a great time in the last 1/3rd of book.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martins press, and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read this advanced copy. My review is voluntary.

I will be posting my review on my Instagram the.floofs.booknook close to publication date.

5 STARS

Oh my god! I loved this! First of all, it already got an automatic bonus from me because of the Taylor Swift reference in the TITLE!! But overall I just loved this so much and how this was a perfect sapphic love story. My heart was so full after finishing this and I'm so glad I got to read this before the release date.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!!

This book was wonderful! I started it only a few days ago, but just had to finish it. As an avid Reality TV-watcher, I can say this is the ending I have dreamt of each season. I am glad to see I am not alone in that. It's super sweet, and the interactions between Maya & Skye are cute.