Review posted on Goodreads (August 11, 2022)
Review linked.

2.5/5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s. Press for sending me an E-ARC of this book for an honest review.

This was one of my most anticipated reads because I loved Sophie Gonzales’ last couple of books in the YA genre, but for me, this book really disappointed me.

To me, this book felt like a first draft. There was not enough time spent on the main romance, and way too much time spent on the revenge plot. I feel like every character was introduced with one line and then we never learned anything else about them, even the main characters felt very flat, and I felt like we never got to really know them that well, and when we did learn something more about them it was much later in the book. I was so excited by the premise of this book, I mean, who doesn’t love the idea of this book, but I felt like it needed more time, space and more editing. The entire story and romance felt rushed to me. The plot was intriguing enough for me to finish the book, but I really needed more chemistry and characterization of the characters, especially the two main characters. I just… needed more.

I also really did not like the ages of our main characters? It felt very strange to me that all of these women were right out of high school. Honestly, most of the time, it felt like I was reading about characters that were older, but then I was reminded that they were right out of high school and it felt… strange. I am not really sure why that was the age that was focused on, especially when this is marketed as an adult romance, or at least was marketed that way to me.

A lot of this book also focuses on how women are pitted against one another in a mysoginistic world—which is something that we as a society need to talk about, yes, but the woman on woman hate in this book, even if it was used to make a point, still made me VERY uncomfortable while reading, especially at the beginning.

Thanks for reading,
Caden

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review! I LOVED IT. one of my most anticipated reads for the year and it did not disappoint! jordy was nightmare fuel and the sapphic romance was perfect! absolutely obsessed!

Got a bit boring in the middle but def had a plot twist I was not expecting AND a very nice ending that left me feeling very satisfied with how things tied up.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Never Ever Getting Back Together follows Maya and Skye, two girls with one thing in common - they share an ex. They meet when they're both invited to participate in a dating reality show where their ex, Jordy, reconnects and potentially reunites with each of his past girlfriends. However, Jordy is not the perfect boyfriend everyone thinks he is. He cheated on Maya with Skye and she's determined to use the tv show to get her revenge. Eventually Skye gets in on the plan and that's when the two start to develop feelings for each other.

Overall I thought this book was a fun romance with a unique premise, but my main issue was that I think that premise would have been better suited to an adult romance. How is this guy 18 and he has enough exes to fill an entire reality show? I just think it would have been more believable had they all been in their late 20s. I also wish there was more emphasis put on developing the relationship between Skye and Maya because it was there was a lot more telling than showing when it came to their feelings for each other. Still I thought it was a fun read and I recommend giving it a go!

I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

I honestly had high hopes going into this book, even if I wasn’t the biggest fan of Perfect on Paper, and somehow, this book met them! Something about this concept seemed perfect to me (a dating show, but the contestants fall in love with each other instead??), and it felt executed really well to me! My main argument is that there’s no way these characters felt like they were 18-20, and I overall would’ve liked the book to have featured slightly older characters to make the plot overall a bit more believable, but at some point I just kind of ignored the fact that everyone was supposed to be that young and then it worked better for me!

Overall, this book is just plain fun. It’s got a cute romance at its center, while banding together a bunch of women against one dude who really really sucks. I also really adored both characters for different reasons, and the way they balanced each other out worked really well for both the plot and their romance. While Maya was chaotic and fully just going for her plan without thinking it through, Skye forced her to stop and think things through, while still being totally on board with making Jordy pay. It really worked in that opposites attract sort of way, while still being entirely convincing that these two people would actually work well together!

Honestly, my biggest disappointment was that no one actually gave Jordy what he deserved on the page, because I really need to see that guy get absolutely demolished. But in the end, I felt like the plot came to a more comfortable conclusion at the end, if not entirely satisfying revenge wise. (He was honestly also a great way to bring everyone together, because he just sucked so much).

Overall, this was such a fun and cute read, and I will definitely be reading more by this author in the future! I can’t wait for this to release, so everyone can get on reading this!

Was this book predictable? Yes. Was it a little cheesy? Yes. But did I enjoy it? Absolutely. This YA book was super enjoyable and although I had minor problems, overall, it was really good. It's a short, easy read, with two dynamic main characters and a very interesting plot. This book gave me the feelings I had after breaking up with my first boyfriend, and I loved seeing the girls mature, and of course, I enjoyed the girl power. I would have loved to see more from the other girls and maybe some more backstory in general. I think since there were so many "side characters", they got lost in the crowd.
Overall though, I liked this book!

I was SO excited to receive this ARC because of the premise alone and couldn’t start reading it quick enough. The twists, the drama, and the antagonist that is Jordy (ew) were all well done and I felt like I was reading a reality television show.

This story felt much more about the television show and the character's relationship with Jordy than it did about the character's romance with each other. I wish Skye and Maya had more in common than just Jordy, their relationship felt forced for the sake of a sapphic plot twist (but we all knew about it)

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Never Ever Getting Back Together
By: Sophie Gonzales
Review Score: 4 Stars

Five Key Feels

-Maya is way too good for Jordy!

-The evolution of Maya and Skye is so well done.

-I loved all the women on the show, and their motivations for being there.

-I am not a fan of dating shows in general, but I still loved reading about this one!

-No spoilers, but the after show? Amazing.

——

Never Ever Getting Back Together was kindly provided as an ARC by Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press. Thank you for allowing me to read this wonderful book!

Release Date: 11/29/22

I started reading Never Ever Getting Back Together after reading a few historical fiction books in a row, and needing something fun and flirty. This book definitely fit the bill!

Gonzalez really made me feel invested in each girl on the show, and I loved watching friendships (and more!) form. I loved the behind the scenes look at a dating show, and how it was produced as well.

If you are looking for a fun, easy read with great characters and a little romance, this is the book for you!

#bookstagram #books #readingnow #boogiereadsbooks #fivekeyfeels #audiobooks #audiobook #fiction #arcreview #netgalley #stmartinspress #neverevergettingbacktogether #sophiegonzales

I have mixed feelings on this one. It was not the best written story in the world, and the characters didn't seem fully developed, all the women were remarkably similar and it was hard to tell the difference between the side characters sometimes. They all seemed to have one main trait that was their entire personality, the quiet girl, the mean girl, the influencer, etc...

HOWEVER, I'm a sucker for cute sapphic romances and I really enjoyed seeing Maya and Skye's relationship evolve from enemies, to friends, to lovers. They're relationship was so cute and I loved how it evolved overtime - even if some of the situations they found themselves in were not entirely realistic.

if there's one thing Sophie Gonazles can do it's craft characters you have no choice but to root for. The tension??? The build up??? This is the sapphic Bachelorette the world deserved (minus Jordy because no one needs him to exist)

This was a rather fun and interesting concept for a book. A teen reality show with a bunch of ex girlfriends. The characters seemed pretty real and their support for each other was lovely. We’ve all known the guy who seems perfect but is actually a jerk, so this was a good stroll down memory lane as an adult reader. Good book!

4.5 ⭐️

Omg I realllyyy liked this book.. a lot. I was drawn in by first like. I stayed up late reading half and was very upset I had to put it down due to sleep.

I loved both female MCs, Maya and Skye. We got both POVs in this book and it made sense. I loved being in their heads. It was enemies to friends to lovers.

Both ex girlfriends of Jordy join him in his debut in a reality show involving dating ex girlfriends whom he may want to rekindle romance.

I had fun, soooo much fun reading this book. I laughed out loud sooo many times. The banter and the scenarios had never dying. Perrie was one of my fav side characters. I actually connected with a lot of the women side characters. As for Jordy.. he is the definition of a man I would never want to date.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and you will too if you like romcoms with a hit of reality tv and queer female MCs. I highly highly recommend!

This is a cheesy, heartwarming, clever and hilarious book. Love the mcs and their hatred for the villain lol. I also loved the side characters. I couldn’t put it down. I'm a sucker for this type of books and it ticked all the boxes for me. I can recommend this book to everyone who wants to read a feel-good wlw book.
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me a copy of this novel.

I'm so sad that I didn't love this. I have been a fan of Sophie Gonzales' books for a while, but this one just didn't do it for me. I don't know if it was the Bachelor like setting or what but I just wasn't into it. I found the main couple to not have a lot of chemistry and I was just kind of bored. That aside, it did have some of that Gonzales charm which I have come to love. Just wasn't the right book for me.

I really enjoy a good YA book with the trope of 2 people fighting and eventually fall in love with each other. Give it a dash of LGBTQIA? Even better! The characters were fun, good development, and a fun read overall.

Never Ever Getting Back Together is a cute YA LGBTQ romance book. The book goes back and forth between narratives from Skye and Maya. Both girls are ex-girlfriends of Jordy, who has a ton of media attention since his sister married a prince of a European country. Both girls along with some of Jordy's other exes are contacted to be on a show Second Chance Romance.

This overall was a cute YA book. Not the type that is really meant for a older audience but I do wish that there were more of these type of books when I was growing up.

DNF at 40%
Ahh I just couldn't finish this T^T
I was hoping for a bit more romance but from what I read so far, honestly it just seems like high school girls fighting over a boy for me.
Just not my cup of tea
I would definitely give another book by this author a second try tho!

I just loved everything about this.

It is hilarious. Maya says about drinking jello shots: "Pacing is for chumps and I'm a chaos gremlin"

So, she has my heart forever

#netgalley #neverevergettingbacktogether #funnyromcom #sophiegonzalez

Reality TV love competition where two girls competing for one guy fall in love with each other instead? YES PLEASE! I’m so glad somebody finally wrote it, the tension and the pining was amazing.
On a TV show where one man’s exes are all brought together to have a second chance, Maya and Skye were set up to be enemies, but despite the conflict, they begin to fall in love and plot to ruin his reputation.
I normally hate the miscommunication trope, but this book did it really well! It was resolved fairly quickly and added to the plot. I was very relieved when part of the truth came out.
I could go on and on about how much Jordy sucks. I think it really shows a modern representation of male celebrities being idolized and females torn apart. Especially all the hate towards Maya on social media, and even after Jordy dumped her in the first place. His fans refused to believe he was a cheater, when they truly had no clue about this guys personal life.
I found myself so involved in this book, I would become really frustrated when things went the wrong way, I desperately wanted them to be able to ruin Jordy’s life.
The trope of two ex girlfriends who were cheated on coming together to raise hell and falling in love in the process is severely under hyped! This book isn’t exactly a love triangle, but I think this type of thing is such a missed opportunity in love triangle books, it adds much more tension and involvement.
This book was wonderful!

Have you ever wanted a reality TV dating show where the girl wants revenge on the guy and also falls for another contestant? I’m not personally someone who watches dating shows, but when I learned that Sophie Gonzales’ upcoming book had this premise, I knew I needed to read it!

“Never Ever Getting Back Together” follows Maya and Skye, two of the six contestants participating in a second-chance dating show where they are supposed to be dating their mutual ex — Jordy — who is now quite the celebrity since his sister married a prince. Maya wants to get revenge on Jordy for cheating on her with Skye, but she doesn’t expect to starting falling for Skye. Skye thinks maybe she wants to genuinely give Jordy a second chance, at least until she finds out the truth about how things ended between him and Maya. As Maya and Skye grow closer and plot to bring down Jordy, Maya has to decide which is more important: revenge on Jordy or her budding relationship with Maya?

This was such an engaging, fun novel! I loved seeing Maya and Skye grow as they helped each other overcome their fears and their pasts. I also enjoyed seeing them interact with the other contestants: Perrie, Kim, Lauren, and Francesca. I’m not one to watch reality TV, but I think Sophie Gonzales humanizes the characters. The contestants all develop throughout the book, and they have much more depth than the sort of catty behavior reality TV is known for. Meanwhile, Jordy isn’t the perfect man searching for the one that got away. Instead, he’s a terrible guy who has been fooling the world into thinking he’s perfect. Sophie Gonzels uses this story to expose the misogyny and disingenuity often present in reality TV.

While I did really enjoy the book, I felt like Skye and Maya’s relationship was a little rushed. I would have liked to have seen more moments between them with lots of chemistry. I’m more of a slow-burn person. However, I was rooting for them the whole time. I also felt like the general events happening weren’t quite intense enough at points, but that may just be because I don’t watch reality TV. Ultimately, Maya’s goal of getting revenge and exposing Jordy was a pretty big deal, so the stakes were fairly high.

I definitely recommend “Never Ever Getting Back Together” to people who enjoy reality TV but also to those who want to see it being critiqued. It was so cool to see a dating show being subverted like this. “Never Ever Getting Back Together” comes out on December 6th, so preorder it now, buy it when it comes out, or request it from your library!

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital arc in exchange for an honest review!