When I first heard about Sophie Gonzales’s “Never Ever Getting Back Together” I absolutely lost my mind. I heard sapphic love story, reality TV setting, and a title reminiscent of a Taylor Swift song and new immediately I had to get my hands on it. This book did not disappoint!

Maya gets the call that her ex-boyfriend, Jordy, is set to be the leading man on a new reality TV dating show called Second Chance Romance, where he reunites with his exes to see if the spark is still there. When Maya is asked to be a contestant, she devises the perfect plan to get to the end and enact her revenge on Jordy for cheating on her 2 years prior. The only problem: the girl he cheated on her with is her competition.

I devoured this book. The plot was intriguing and kept me interested throughout. By the end, I was so eager to see what would happen that I couldn’t tear myself away. The stakes felt so high that I almost forgot what I was reading was fiction and not watching actual reality television. Gonzales has great comedic timing that fit in well with the setting. Maya and Skye were a believable couple with a few really wonderful golden moments that I really appreciated as a sapphic reader.

I only had a couple issues with this book. One was that it doesn’t feel like it should’ve been a YA novel. The fact that it is felt more like Gonzales was making it YA because that’s what she knows rather than that’s what it should’ve been. I had to suspend disbelief to believe anyone would actually want a reality dating show about 18 year olds rather than adults.

My other issue was that sometimes it felt like characterization took a backseat to driving the plot forward. I didn’t feel like I really knew the characters beyond their motivations within the show. I would’ve liked to see more development of them as individuals so I could really get invested in their relationship.

All this being said, I think this is a great pick for existing fans of Sophie Gonzales, as well as fans of “Love & Other Disasters” and “The Charm Offensive.”

Never Ever Getting Back Together is a heartfelt and empowering YA contemporary novel that left me with a smile on my face. Our main characters, Maya and Skye, are both contestants on a reality show where their shared ex-boyfriend, Jordy, is supposedly looking for the one that got away. However, Jordy is not the sweet and charming man that the world thinks he is, and Maya is out to expose him for the jerk she knows him to be - except she just might end up falling for Skye along the way.

This book is dual POV between Maya and Skye and I adored reading from perspectives of not just one but TWO female main characters who are both bisexual. Watching Maya and Skye fall for each other was sweet and adorable. I also found all of the female side characters, the other contestants on the show, to have strong, well-developed personalities. While I would have enjoyed a bit more of an epilogue to the ending, this book is an enjoyable read about friendship, love, karma, and letting go of the anger that controls you.

I love this author. I've read two of her other books so I was excited to read this! The Taylor Swift song title? The synopsis? It's like the bachelor but just with exes? Also it's SAPPHIC? This was such a funny concept. Way better than watching the bachelor. I actually didn't really like the climax/ending, felt a little too miscommunication trope and didn't like the fix, but I loved the actual show part, the characters and also the female friendships in this book. I'd recommend if you like the bachelor and are LGBT+.

I absolutely adore this concept. For starters, I love all dating reality show books (If the Shoe Fits, The Charm Offensive, etc.) so that's already a great base. And having two same-sex contestants catch the feels for each other and leave the d-bag lead to himself? Sold! Throw in the concept that they're all exes and the lead is royal-adjacent, and we have all the makings of a fabulous YA read.

This book was overlap super fun and a bit campy in a good way. It requires a some suspension of disbelief and willingness to just go along for the ride, but when you accept it for the joy it is and don't examine it as a literary masterpiece, I don't see how you can't have a smile on your face reading this one. The ending is also pretty perfect in the way it ties everything up, and I was extremely pleased with the how thinks worked out. Also, I'm obsessed with the cover.

Thanks to Wednesday Books for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 9/10

I was so happy to get an ARC of this book, romance is not always my first pick of genre to read, but this book was a satisfying escapist read. I appreciate well written LGBTQI books and this is definitely one of them! The only downside is it does not come out until December so everyone else has to wait to read this marvel!

DNF @ 70%

I was *so* excited to receive this ARC as Sophie Gonzales is one of my favorite YA authors, and throughout he novel I kept pushing myself to continue just in case it got better, but I'm about 70% through and it's not getting better and I fear I'm going to be put into a reading slump if I try and finish this one out, so I'll outline why I DNF'd in case anybody else finds it helpful.

#1: the main characters. I love the idea of two girls on a dating show falling for each other instead of the man they're supposed to be chasing, so I was super excited for this romance. However, the main characters literally neither had any personality traits beyond their (justifiable) dislike for the main guy, who is both of their ex-boyfriend. Both characters were SO dry; I couldn't connect to them at *all* because they literally didn't have any discernible personality traits. It was odd!

#2: There is no reason why this book was YA instead of adult. The whole concept of being on a dating show where 6 different contestants are competing to get a second chance with their ex-boyfriend is just /so/ not YA. Firstly, how does this guy have so many ex's at his young age lol?? But also I just found it unrealistic that a bunch of 18-19 year olds would be put on a dating show, and it would be so much better if it was new adult (a la The Charm Offensive) instead.

Lastly, #3: the writing. The writing was so stilted, and just not a good quality. Not very descriptive, and not very atmospheric. This kinda goes back to the characters-having-no-personalities thing, but the book just felt kinda corporate...? Maybe thats the wrong word, but it felt as though the author wasn't actually passionate about what she was writing, and was just trying to grind out a novel. The love in this book just didn't come through to me at all. Which again, was so disappointing because I loved Sophie Gonzales's other novels.

Overall, I'm already seeing this book get tons of good reviews, so I don't want to necessarily discourage others from reading this book, but I just didn't like it at all. TY to Wednesday Books for the ARC :)

I love Sophie and was so excited for this book. I do think the revenge plot was pretty heavy and I really could have used more of her romance writing. It felt a little more forced/rushed in this one compared to her other books. I think because of that, I found myself putting this book down a little more than the other ones I have read by her.

Sophie Gonzales did it again. I don’t know WHAT it is with her writing, but I’m always 100% sucked in immediately. That’s exactly what happened here.
Never Getting Back Together follows Maya as she goes on a bachelorette style-dating show to get back at her cheating ex boyfriend, and along the way, she teams up with Skye, the girl he cheated on her with.
All six of the girls on the show are amazing characters in their own ways. Did I like them all? Absolutely not (although each one grew on me). Gonzales did a wonderful job showing diverse personalities and goals with each one, making them realistic, and making their actions understandable. While Maya and Skye are the focus of this book, all these girls are important to the story, and I think that’s great.
This book kept me on my toes. I was stressed. I was excited. I easily felt immersed in the characters thoughts, emotions. I understood them, felt for them, worried for them.
It’s also a genuinely fun book. Drama aside, Maya and Skye’s interactions are delightful, especially the closer they get to each other. The other girls join in on it too, at times. Perrie, especially, is wonderful. She’s definitely one of my favorites in this.
10/10 if you like drama, getting back at shitty ex-boyfriends, and girls loving girls (both in the gay way and the platonic way).

I must be the luckiest person alive because I got an early copy of this book on NetGalley and once again Sophie Gonzales has outdone herself. I was a bit worried because I am really not a fan of reality tv, but I did not have to fear. She took the basic concept of reality tv and enhanced it with dynamic characters and an entertaining plot. I immediately fell in love with Maya and Skye and despised Jordy, so it was delightful to watch them fall in love and work together and take him down. I also did not expect to care so much for the side characters in this book, but as annoying as some of them were I couldn’t help but root for them. Sophie Gonzales cemented herself at the top of my favorite authors list with We Are Never Getting Back Together.

What’s the best way to get back at your cheating ex? Go on a reality TV show to compete against all his other exes to get back together with him, win, and then publicly reject him. That’s Maya’s plan, anyway, when she agrees to go on Second Chance Romance despite never wanting to get back together with Jordy. All she wants is revenge. She isn’t going to give him or Skye, the girl he cheated on her with, a chance. Except it turns out Skye isn’t that bad. In fact, Maya really likes her. Will her second chance at romance end up being with someone she never could have expected?

This was a relatively lighthearted romance told in alternating first person chapters between Maya and Skye’s points of view. The romance doesn’t actually take up much of the book, and to be honest, I didn’t see a lot of chemistry building between Maya and Skye throughout the story. I’ve read some of Sophie Gonzales’s previous books, If This Gets Out and Only Mostly Devastated, and I believed the relationship in both of those books more than in this one, so I’m not sure what this disconnect was for me here. I did really love that their relationship started as enemies, turned to friendship, and then grew into a romance over the course of time. I also loved the friendships they had with the other contestants on the show, who each had unique personalities.

I think one thing that really didn’t work for me was the alternating chapters. I usually love seeing both sides of the story in a romance, but I kept losing track of whose chapter it was. Despite being very different people, Maya and Skye’s voices were so similar that their narration felt the same. Again, I don’t recall having that issue with If This Gets Out, which also had alternating chapters, but that may be a different case as it was written with a cowriter. I think this book may have worked better for me if it had just been from Maya’s point of view. Most of the interesting content comes from her, and we could have seen a lot of what Skye had been feeling by showing it through the eyes of Maya, who was so focused on revenge that it would have been clear to see why she didn’t understand how Skye was feeling even if the audience did.

That said, the concept was fun (if cringey at time when it was clear Maya was being set up to be embarrassed) and it’s always a good time to see a group of girls take revenge on a guy who was absolutely terrible to them. I was a little worried the end wouldn’t feel satisfying, but I ended up really liking it.

Overall, not the most chemistry-filled romance I’ve read, but an easy, enjoyable read. 3.5 stars, rounded up.

This is one of my most anticipated 2022 reads and it did not disappoint!

First off, this book is amazing and has a trifecta of greatness: Taylor Swift title reference (starts playing WANEGBT (TV)), Sophie Gonzales (who honestly can write no wrong), Girls joining forces against their awful ex (and falling for each other!).

Never Ever Getting Back Together is a book you can't put down. It may be part Bachelor-esque dating show and part revenge story, but it has a lot of heart, too. There's a lot of girls supporting girls moments and it's just nice seeing characters with decent support systems.

I loved Maya and Skye both individually and together! I loved how their relationship developed! Plus the other girls (who had the misfortune of dating Jordy) were pretty cool! Perrie kind of stole the show in moments, and we love her for it!

Also, the characters are all eighteen or older, so Never Getting Back Together almost feels like a young New Adult book. Most, if not all, of the characters are out of high school. Skye and Maya are trying to navigate life post-high school. It's kind of neat to see this YA/NA adjacent part of life play a background role in a YA novel!

All in all, if you like revenge stories or secretly (or not-so secretly) root for the girl to ditch the jerk guy and date her romantic rival instead, add Never Ever Getting Back Together to your TBR!

Many thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the eARC! I really appreciate the opportunity to read NEGBT! Thank y'all so much!

*4.5

I really enjoyed this book and seeing the relationship develop between Maya and Skye. I do think that they should have actually talked about their feelings a bit more but besides that I loved it. Also Jordy is such a piece of shit.

I received an arc through netgalley.

I might be a bit biased because I love Sophie Gonzales books, but I really enjoyed this read!
loved all the drama and the bisexual representation, really happy to see more girl on girl stories
also I tend to hate anything reality tv show related so I was a bit worried that would make me
struggle to read but in this case it was no trouble at all

I absolutely adored this! A bisexual girl enters a reality dating show to get back at her ex, only to fall for another girl on the show and this is literally everything. Maya and Skye were both interesting and very well-developed mcs. Their romance was delightful and refreshing and wonderful and knocked me on my ass.
Anytime Sophie Gonzales writes another book, I will want to read it in a heartbeat.
I cannot express how much I adore this sapphic YA rom-com, how highly I recommend it!

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

PERFECTION. i love every single thing written by Sophie Gonzales and this was no exception. Maya and Skye were perfect narrators, the drama of the reality tv behind the scenes and just everything about this story was incredible. I loved every character (except Jordy for obvious reasons) and the ending was everything. When I say I devoured this, I’m not exaggerating. I finished this in mere hours and I wanted to start back from the beginning as soon as it was over.
Thank you so much to Wednesday books & netgalley pals for sending me an early e-arc. Will definitely be rereading this one in the future.

Between this and The Charm Offensive I'm going to need Bachelor-esque romance books to become a bigger thing because I loved this! From the very first chapter, I couldn't put it down, wanting to know how things would end for Maya and Skye and I can happily say that the ending does NOT disappoint! Sophie Gonzales has just such a perfect way with words (and especially dialogue) that makes it so easy to imagine the story and characters playing out. And as a (guilty pleasure) fan of The Bachelor, this was the story I've been waiting to happen. Definitely a favorite of the year for me!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me a digital arc of this book in exchange for a review!

When I read the description for this book, I was immediately hooked and excited to read it. The premise is that Maya dated this guy two years ago, but they broke up because he cheated on her after he moved to Canada. Her ex's (Jordy) sister married into the royal family and since he is not in the limelight, he is getting a reality tv dating show where all of the contestants are his ex's. Maya agrees to go on the show with the intention of winning it and then humiliating Jordy on national tv by recounting the tale of their relationship and how he cheated on her.
She gets there and discovers that she'll be sharing a room with Skye, the girl he cheated on her with. They butt heads at first, but then after they communicate with each other, they realize they have no reason to hate each other, become friends, and soon fall for each other.
This book did a good job of showing the reader, right off the bat, how horrible and manipulative Jordy is. This story is told through dual POV of Maya and Skye, so we see how Jordy used the same lines on them and pitted them against each other by painting the other as the person that was in the wrong, and leaving him in the clear.
A lot of dating shows where girls are competing for a guy can be really toxic, so it was really nice to see how all the girls became friends, even though it wasn't immediate, supported each other, and realized that the only enemy in their situation was Jordy.
Initially, Maya is under the impression that Skye knew the Jordy had a girlfriend when they met and still pursued him anyway, while Skye thinks that Maya just didn't take the breakup well and was deluded into thinking they weren't together anymore, because that is what Jordy told her. Maya shows Skye proof that her version of events is correct, ending the animosity between the two girls and Skye agrees to help Maya with her revenge plan.
Skye is very cautious about making things between her and Maya serious because the only serious relationship she had was with Jordy, and it started with her being the other woman and ended with him moving and completely ghosting her. However, after Maya spends the night with Jordy, they both are able to admit their feelings and that they don't want to be casual anymore and decide that after the show is over, they will figure out their relationship (labels, long distance, etc.).
Much like another Sophie Gonzales book that I read, it was really nice to see a healthy and happy queer relationship, especially between two women. I enjoyed seeing each of their character development over the course of the book.
Skye started off as very untrusting and closed off, but as the story progresses you see her open up to Maya and accept her love, trust her, and give her a second chance at the end, which at the beginning of the book is something that she said she never does. Maya started off by holding a grudge against Jordy and revenge was her number one priority. Even though it takes until the end of the book, Maya eventually does realize that there are more important things in her life that she should definitely be focusing on and prioritizing over Jordy. (ps - never trust a man with a J name). Maya also starts out the book with a plan to go to college and become a doctor because it is was the people around her expect of her, but at the end of the book she is joining Skye in Europe.
At different instances in the book, you see Maya and Skye do and say things because of Jordy, mostly to spite him. For example, a reason that Maya wants to go to college is because Jordy never expected her to; and Skye cut her hair into a pixie cut after Jordy told her he liked how she grew it out (slay). When Maya had her whole live stream take down planned, she decided to not do it because it was exactly was Jordy was expecting.
I had so much fun reading this book. The story had me hooked from the very beginning and I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. Maya and Skye are great main characters and the queer representation was really good. I give this book 4.5 stars. Slay.

Sophie Gonzales has done it yet again. Never Ever Getting Back Together is a charming, drama-filled extravaganza that I couldn’t get enough of. Packed with Sophie Gonzales’ trademark humour and swoon-worthy romance, this is a can’t miss YA release of this year.

I always praise the way Gonzales’ ability to craft characters who aren’t perfect and often make flawed choices, but having the reader always understand exactly where they are coming from so it’s impossible to be entirely frustrated. This is definitely true here. Both Maya and Skye are well rounded, their perspectives and emotions explored in depth. You know exactly who they are and what they stand for.

The romance was, of course, fabulous. It takes its time building up, never feeling too rushed or underdeveloped. The attraction isn’t forced, the banter natural.

The reality TV aspect felt super realistic, scripted lines, fake emotions and all. The hijincks that went along with it were really fun. The way those fun moments and experiences, the extravagance, was paired with false reality really made it feel like a larger than life experience feeling that reality TV aims for. The essence is captured perfectly.

This is my fifth book from Sophie Gonzales now, and my fifth 5 star for her. She is truly just exceptional. If you need a sapphic romance filled with the shocks that come along with reality TV (and you DO need it, believe me), look no further.

AAAAAAAAAAA my goshhhhhh I absolutely DEVOURED this!

1. The humor was everything. Anyone who knows sophie gonzales knows her humor is incomparable, and I don’t think I need to say much more here. A rom-com that actually has comedy, not just lightness. I had tears from laughing at points (the kayak scene especially. Oh and the presentation!)

2. As far as characters, these are actually a lot more “likable” than sophie’s usual, but I was all for it. I say likable in quotes because I always like her characters, but these ones are just so very very *good* down to their souls (especially Maya. Maybe Skye is a little more gray now that I think on it.) Not only that, but we have a wonderful array of side characters (my favorite was Francesca hands down), who are complex and flawed and distinct from each other, and we have a story that really nails the line between realistic conflict and girl-hate. I was curious to see how this would be handled given the premise, but I shouldn’t have worried. The support all these girls show each other warmed my cold cold heart. And Jordy as the villain was simply *chefs kiss*, he really is deliciously hateable, with juuuust enough warmth that we can see why people would like him. It’s easy to fall into the trap of making the villain too cartoonish, which makes you wonder if the girls are just idiots for liking him to begin with, but we see that softer side, and his manipulation, which makes it SO effective.

3. The writing: sophie keeps growing as a writer, and as someone who has read three of her books, I can really tell. The perspectives are remarkably distinct, so we get a real sense of the characters (energetic, vibrant, impulsive, swear-happy Maya vs calm, observant, more reserved skye), and there are some truly beautiful lines (when you trust someone not to hurt you, red flags look heart-shaped” actually murdered me). The pacing was excellent, which I’m sure was helped by the premise. When you have a different episode to shoot every week, there’s always a sense of movement and something going on.

4. Ok no spoilers but there were some TWISTS in this toward the end that I did NOT see coming and blew my mind a little. We had some game of thrones style plotting and counter plotting going on for a chapter or two there and I was living for it. The whole book was fun, but this section around the finale episode was my favorite part. Also, the plot itself was really well-executed, and I didn’t see a lot of it coming. I knew in a general sense where we were going (obviously we know maya and skye are end game) but I thought one of them was going to fall for Jordy again, or get jealous over Jordy, and what we got was very much not-that, which made me very happy.


5. As a huge reality show fan, I was living for all the references, and the general satire of these shows. It never felt like it was being too cruel and nasty about them, though. Like, it didn’t resort to taking cheap shots at people who enjoy them, or people who go on them. Instead, it just amped up the ridiculousness of it all so the audience could laugh with Maya and Skye.

6. Speaking of Maya and Skye, the passion between these two was unparalleled. I could really see why they fit together, with Maya helping Skye to cooperate and team up and let someone else in, and Skye helping Maya to focus more on what she wants to do than what people think of her if she does it. They had all these adorable moments, and we can truly see it when they start to fall for each other, there’s so much tension and chemistry and goddamn LONGING, there’s so much good shit here.

7. The rep: the queer rep was marvellous. Maya and Skye are both out as bi by the start of the story, and we’ve got some great wlw / mlm solidarity in there, as usual. Jordy, Maya and Skye are all white, but in the side characters there’s South-Asian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Black rep. I’ll note that I’m a white reviewer so can’t really comment on that rep!

Obviously, loved it. There were a few typos, but this was an arc, so I’m not factoring those into my rating.