A teen reality dating show, behind-the-scenes drama, and a friends-to-lovers romance!? This book was so much fun!

Sloane is visiting California to spend the summer with her BFF, Liam. What she doesn't expect is for A) Him to have had such a glow-up. B) Him to drop the bomb that he has a summer job. C) That job to be on the set of a reality teen dating show. and D) Her to get roped into being on said dating show to compete for the love of teen heartthrob, Aspen Woods.

The Bachelor-esque vibes of the dating show made for such a fun setting with lots of juicy behind-the-scenes drama and a full cast of characters. But the relationship between the MC's is what made this story so charming. They are both so fiercely protective of one another, which definitely gives off "hurt her/him or I'll k!ll you vibes" but on the level of a YA rom-com. You can't help but root for them from page one.

Overall, I had such a great time with this story and found it to be a quick, easy read so if you're looking for something fun and heart-warming, definitely pick this one up!

As a fan of making fun of the Bachelor and Love is Blind, I thoroughly enjoyed this romance novel that clowned on the silliness of shows like these. This was an amazing romance with so many great coming of age themes. There was also amazing conversations between the characters that were not centered around romance or men at all, despite the book being centered around a bachelor style competition for a reality tv show star. At first, I was worried this would just be bachelor fanfic. To my surprise, this book was awesome and almost like bachelor haterfic.

I really expected to love this one because I'd enjoyed Love from Scratch, but sadly, that wasn't the case. For some reason, this just fell flat. I think that was because Aspen was such a flat and pathetic character. It was obvious from the beginning that he was only the catalyst for Liam and Sloane to admit their feelings. And while I liked Liam, I didn't care about Sloane. This one had some potential, but a lot of it was left untapped.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review

Not Here To Stay Friends was so cute. I love the plot. It is a YA book so not a ton of spice which is nice. Liam and Sloane had a great friendship and I really appreciate the dual POV. I felt like the romance storyline happened naturally and not forced too much.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Kaitlyn Hill for the e-ARC. This review is my own opinion.

I read and loved Love from Scratch, Kaitlyn’s debut, last year, and it was the most cozy, sweet read, so I had incredibly high hopes and I’m so relieved to say that the reading curse has been broken!

Not Here to Stay Friends really feels like a story that’s catered just for my own interests — friends-to-lovers, set on a summer reality tv show. I’ve always loved friends-to-lovers arcs; the pining and anticipation, the will they, won’t they, the hesitant “what if we ruin our friendship” — and Kaitlyn Hill delivered on this one. Not Here to Stay Friends primarily takes place on the set of the reality tv show, “Aspen Woods Finds a Leading Lady”, or AWFLL for short (pronounced “AWFUL”). When Sloane flies out to California to visit her best friend Liam for the summer, the perfect summer she’s planned for the two of them goes out the window when she finds out Liam’s dad has tasked Liam with working as a PA on the set of AWFLL. When the production team realizes they’re a contestant short, Liam’s father suggests Sloane as a last minute addition. For Sloane, the promise to be introduced to screenwriters, coupled with the chance to “date” an actor on one of her favorite shows, is one she simply can’t turn down. Besides, it’s not like she has anything else to do now that Liam will be busy at his new PA job. But the longer she’s in the running for Aspen’s heart, the more she can’t get Liam out of her mind.

I often struggle with reality dating tv shows in books, especially as someone who used to watch The Bachelor religiously. A large amount of disbelief had to be suspended for this book, especially given the concept of a dating show for young adults. The idea that multiple parents would allow their children to go on a dating show for the summer, with limited contact, is really something that I struggled to wrap my mind around. Once I did set that thought aside, however, I did have a lot of fun with the concept and contestants of AWFLL. I wish we’d gotten more of the other contestants — I loved learning the bits I did about them, and I really enjoyed Sloane’s friendships with the rest of the girls.

As our protagonists, I loved Sloane. I wanted to give her the biggest hug, and was so glad to see her step out of her shell and become more of a “main character” in her own life. There’s nothing wrong with not wanting to be in the limelight all of the time, and I wish more people understood that. Sloane’s heart was so big, and it was so evident how much she cared about the people around her. Throughout Not Here to Stay Friends, Sloane has to grapple with her heart, her head, and also the deal she made with Liam’s father — If she makes it to the final four, he’ll put in a good word for her in the industry. At any given moment, you could tell just how much Sloane and Liam cared for one another and genuinely wanted the best for each other. I particularly loved how Not Here to Stay Friends was told in alternating POVs as it allowed us to get to know both Sloane and Liam better. I did find myself wanting to learn more about their friendship before the summer the book takes place, as well as their relationship once they got together.

On another note, almost every single adult in Not Here to Stay Friends sucked. I really don’t have another word for it, just that they all weren’t very … nice. I wish that Sloane and Liam had more supportive adults in their lives who genuinely took time to understand and care for them. It’s not to say that their parents were awful people, but it was very clear that they didn’t understand their children, nor did they take the time to learn about what made them happy, what their fears and desires were. I wish we’d gotten more of a resolution, or more efforts on their parts by the end of the book, but I do understand that not everything can be tied up nicely with a bow.

For the most part, I really did enjoy Not Here to Stay Friends, and thought that the book could benefit from being longer. It was incredibly predictable, and there weren’t any high stakes in the book — which was fine, but left me wanting a bit more. Still, I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a sweet read!

I don’t know if this would be one I’d rave about. I was an okay read. I loved the idea of reading about something with the vibes of the Bachelor, but I didn’t really connect with the characters so it made it hard to stay invested in this. I really appreciate the chance to read this before it’s release, and I’m sure I would have friends who would enjoy this more than I did.

This was such a fun read! And a delightful follow up to Love from Scratch. I love the genuine friendship that the MCs had from the first page.

Thank you to net galley, the publisher, and author for the opportunity to read this arc.

‘Not Here to Stay Friends’ is a fun nod to The Bachelor series. It is a young adult story, the age range may not speak to many but I found it to be an overall fun and cute story.

Sloane, who has an interest in writing t.v, is given an opportunity to be 1 of 25 contestants vying to be the next leading lady of a tv show. The catch? Her best friend, whom has feelings for her, is a PA on set and has to watch her participate in the show and debate telling her how he feels before she potentially falls for somebody else.

It’s supposed to be Sloane and Liam’s Summer of Fun. That is until Sloane actually arrives in Los Angeles and finds out that Liam, her best friend who moved away two years ago, has taken a job as a PA on his dad’s reality TV dating show. Sloane is bummed to find out that she will be spending most of the summer by herself. However, the day before filming is scheduled to begin, there is a bit of a casting mishap leaving one space open on the reality TV show. Desperate to find someone to fill the spot, Liam’s dad convinces Sloane to join the cast. Everything is going great until Sloane and Liam start realizing that they might feel more than friendship towards each other.

Not Here to Stay Friends is a super quick read with laugh-out-loud dialogue. This book is The Bachelor meets John Tucker Must Die, and it feels like one of those early 2000s rom-coms that you can watch over and over again. I enjoyed how the author included dual POVs because it was cute to see how both Sloane’s and Liam’s feelings changed towards each other. I loved that even as their feelings became more confusing, they still put their friendship first and supported each other no matter what. The progression of their feelings felt extremely natural making this the perfect friends-to-lovers book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s for giving me an ARC copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was a cute and fast read! One thing that I loved about this book was how similar it was to the Bachelors hahaha. Drama packed and the character development in this book was spectacular. I am usually not a fan of dating show type books but this one really got me hooked!

This was a cute YA romance with reality tv show vibes!

I really loved the female characters in the plot. Also, it has a dual POV which is always a plus in my book.

Cute mashup of Cyrano de Bergerac/John Tucker Must Die/The Bachelor. I loved the angst and questioning of feelings from the main characters. I would definitely recommend this book.

Not Here to Stay Friends
By: Kaitlyn Hill
Review Score: 4 Stars

Five Key Feels

-I love Sloan and Liam’s friendship.

-It was fun to think about a crossover of a regular show and a dating show.

-There are so many good characters in this book!

-No spoilers, but it was fun to see the evolution of Aspen.

-I loved the ending of this story!

———


Not Here to Stay Friends was kindly provided as an ARC by Netgalley and Random House Children’s. Thank you for allowing me to read this wonderful book!

Release Date: 4/4/23

Not Here to Stay Friends is such a fun book. It follows Sloan and Liam, 2 long time besties who are planning to spend the summer together. Then, Sloan ends up on a Bachelor type dating show for teens…and chaos ensues.

Obviously, I love the connection between Sloan and Liam. I loved the evolution of friendships between the girls on the show, and how that all came to an end.

Hill also does a great job of showcasing real issues and feelings that teenagers go through as they try to figure out what to do with their lives, and who to spend time with.

This was a really great book. I enjoyed it.

#bookstagram #books #readingnow #boogiereadsbooks #fivekeyfeels #audiobooks #audiobook #fiction #arcreview #netgalley #notheretostayfriends #kaitlynhill #randomhousechildrens

If you love The Bachelor, you definitely need to pick up this book. It gives you a behind-the-scenes look into shows like that and it also offered a great way of forcing these two best friends into figuring out their feelings for each other. This dual-POV friends-to-lovers tale had a boatload of tension and two characters who I liked by themselves and together. Such a sweet YA romance that I would for sure reread again ❤️

Perfect! Stunning! Amazing!!

Full disclosure, I do know Kaitlyn a bit personally, so am sure that biased my reading/opinion of this book. I did still absolutely love it. I thought Love From Scratch was cute; this is even better. The concept of a childhood friends to lovers romance on a fake Riverdale-spin off Bachelor-esque reality TV show is buckwild, and I couldn't be happier. Sloane and Liam were adorable, Hill's sense of humor continues to be an absolute stunner, the setting was fun, and overall, I had a great time. The show is AWFLL, the book is not <3 I can't wait to throw this at everyone I know.

I loooooved this book!!!!!! I love a friends to lovers! I love an oh-no-i'm-in-love! I love watching a stinky boy get what he deserves! This book is a fun YA rom-com with a dash of feminism and reality TV. I loved the relationship between Sloane and Liam, but also the relationship between all of the girls and Sloane! Even the "villain" girl ended up being everything and then some. I love a narrative that allows female relationships to flourish and always punishes the bad guy.

im so so pleasantly surprised with this book! i went into this book without knowing much about the plot, but i was hooked from the beginning! the reality show plot line was super interesting and i was invested in sloane and Liam’s relationships till the very end! 1000% recommend! what a cute read!!

read this book for:
friends to lovers trope
reality tv show vibes
a cute summery feel
family drama
amazing female friendships
unique hobbies

thank u so so much Delacorte Press and Random House Publishers for this super amazing ARC!

4.5 stars for me!

Such a cute and fun read! I fell in love with the characters and their stories. I loved everything about this book and enjoyed every second of reading it!

I often find that the hardest reviews to write are for the books where I have nothing but good things to say. That stands true for this novel in the most delightfully unexpected way.

I’ll admit, this is an ARC where I didn’t want the story to end. I was too busy having fun with the reality dating setting, while also watching the shenanigans unfold. It certainly didn’t hurt that the amount of characterization and backstory built into chapter one alone gave the story a strong backbone. With chapter one setting the stage beautifully for the plot and characters, I knew there were going to be few story construction issues. And that was, wonderfully, true. (Although, I did wish that this novel was another 50 pages longer—largely because I didn’t want the story to end, but also because I wanted some more time to watch all the character relationships develop, in both friendship and romantic terms. Those final three chapters passed by too quickly.)

Now, I wouldn’t say the strength of this novel is the writing style. I was often craving more sensory details—outside of the visual details, which were consistently present. On the flip side, the character voices were the greatest asset to the novel. The writing style was eclipsed by the strength of the main characters' voices (Sloane and Liam). I really enjoy being in both of their heads, but Sloane was my favorite of the two. Her humor and no-filter moments had me giggling and laughing. The voices Kaitlyn Hill crafted elevated the characters and brought them off the page.

Speaking of our characters, I must talk about the tropes that influenced their journey. Of course, this novel is marketed as a friends-to-lovers story, and that was true. But I appreciated that the friends-to-lovers plot got started from the jump. This trope is notoriously known for causing a slow-burn romance plot. Sure, that stands true for this story, but it wasn’t a negative experience at all. If anything, I appreciated that slow-burn because it gave the characters the page room to develop into their new relationships and new attraction toward each other. (And the miscommunication trope was, thankfully, short and only spanned the length of a chapter—a chapter that was full of wonderful female empowerment and revenge against dumb boys.)

I had a great time with this novel. It made me laugh, gasp, and squeal with excitement at all the right moments. While it wasn’t the best written I’ve ever read, the sheer joy and fun I had with this novel is not something that’s easily replicated. I look forward to reading more of Kaitlyn Hill’s novels in the future.

TW: neglectful parents (off page)

Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I liked this more than I thought I would! It was a sweet friends to lovers story that mainly takes place on the set of a reality show, which are two tropes I always enjoy. This story provided a slightly different perspective than your typical book inspired by “The Bachelor” type shows, and I appreciate that it didn’t put the female contestants against one another by making one the villain. The MCs were sweet and I loved getting to be a fly on the wall as they figured out their feelings and their relationship progressed. Overall this was a pretty sweet and solid YA romance.

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and Random House Children's. All opinions are my own.