Brother best friend? I will forever ADORE this troupe. Throw in weddings, small towns, and an INN?! Yes. I love it.

I also love (not that the parents have died) when siblings have that strong bond because they are all each other has. And they become stronger because of it and have not drifted apart.

Loved this sweet book and highly recommend.

🎧Song Pairing: Take a Chance - ABBA

💭What I thought would happen:

I didn’t care. I just wanted it off my NetGalley shelf. Probably thought the cover was super cute

🗯Thoughts/sassy musings:

Was I underwhelmed? Yes. Did this book offer anything original? Absolutely not 😂

I think I’ll just say skip this one. It was by no means awful just not entertaining. Ya know?

This book was very sweet and I enjoyed the family connection between Ivy and her brother Luke, that even when they don't see eye-to-eye that they still value the relationship. The cast of this book was humorous and supportive, and it was an enjoyable read (well listen for me). It does get a 4 star rating because the beginning felt slow to me, and had I been actively reading instead of listening I don't know that I would've stuck with it until it picked up the pace.

this book was good, but I think it would have been great if there were more sexual tension between the main characters.

Ivy is organizing her brother Luke's wedding at their family inn. After they lost their parents at a young age, Ivy and Luke were raised by their grandparents at their family's inn. As the wedding is quickly approaching, her brother tells her that his best friend James is coming for the wedding. Ivy thinks she has time to arm herself before her nemesis arrives but is sorely mistaken when he arrives that day. Thinking that she can at least avoid him while she works on planning everything left to plan, she discovers that he is the best man. James and Ivy are quickly put in a situation where they have to spend more time together, which changes their relationship. This was an entertaining enemies-to-lovers/ brother's best friend romance.

Woah, this was one of my first Audiobooks here on NetGalley and it was so different but in a good way. I loved it I was able to listen to the book while doing some work. The main characters were all so wonderful and it was such a fun book to listen to. :)

I really enjoyed this book. it was really fun to follow Ivy and James on the journey surrounding Ivy's brother, Luke, wedding. I didn't realize this was the first book in the series so I read book 2 first so it was nice to read the background around Luke and some of the characters. But I really love James and Ivy and the story was a good mix of romance and drama. I really liked the narrator as well!

*** 3.5 ⭐️***

This is the story of Ivy and James, who have known each other since childhood (James is Ivy's brother's best friend). When Ivy and James got to high school, they constantly bickered and destroyed each others' dating lives. Now, when the time comes to get ready for Luke's (Ivy's brother) wedding, they have to pretend to play nice for the sake of the momentous occasion.

This book has an enemies-to-lovers and close proximity progression and, while the trajectory was imminent (with the townspeople speculating they would get together and with some meddling from family members), it felt like, after so long hating each other, the love they realized they had for one another happened rather quickly. Ivy's life-long anxiety disappeared around James, and James couldn't function properly without being around Ivy which, after decades of animosity, seemed fast paced (as Ivy stated, "time is kind of elastic when it comes to James and me").

The side characters of Ivy's grandparents, James' parents, Ivy's best friend (Daisy, whose tale is in the next installment), and a smattering of local townspeople were warm and inviting. The small town of Mirror Valley wasn't described so much in detail itself, but the Brookside Inn had all the feels of Ivy and Luke's childhood and the memory of their parents (who died tragically when their children were young).

The one let down was the audio version of this book. The two narrators were proficient in Ivy and James' personas but, when other characters had dialogue, neither of them did a great job at alternating voices or accents. Specifically, the narrator for James had a British accent and, while talking as James' boss, who is a Texan, it sounded more Aussie than anything; let's just say it got very confusing when trying to follow the storyline when other characters were in the mix (and what country they were supposed to be from). By starting to read the book from roughly the 30% mark and avoiding the audio version, it was easier to understand the rest of the plot without having to distinguish who was talking.

This ARC was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

The Next Worst Thing is an enemies-to lovers story that left me feeling a bit conflicted. The plot itself was promising: two people who start out hating each other gradually fall in love. Classic enemies-to-lovers, which I usually love. Unfortunately, in this particular book, the two main characters (Ivy and James) seemed almost two-dimensional to me. They lacked depth and complexity that really made me understand why they were enemies to make the enemies-to-lovers part exciting and root for their relationship.

The side characters were much more interesting to me – specifically Ivy’s brother and his fiancé. They had more dimension and were more fleshed out than the main characters. I found myself wishing that the book had focused more on them and their stories, rather than Ivy & James’ relationship.

I did appreciate the writing style of the author. The prose was engaging and flowed well, making the book a relatively quick and easy read. And while the main characters didn't resonate with me, I could see how others might identify with them.

I'd like to thank NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Sara Jane Woodley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love a wedding based romance and brother's best friend/enemies to lovers is always good and this one worked well.

This was exactly what you would expect from a romantic comedy. The writing was fun and fast-paced, but not in a frantic way. The mood was light and cute, but a little much at times. It really made for a nice break from some heavy reads...exactly what you want from a rom-com!

LOVEEEEE. this reminds me so much of the OG rom coms that I love and adore. I couldn't get enough and read it in 2 days!

A perfect book to pick up when you're in a romcom mood. As a mood reader, this was a great palate cleanser in between heavier reads.
I thought the premise was cute, even if it's a bit overdone, and I really liked the relationship between the two main characters. The writing style was nice, very fast paced, which I love in romcoms.

I didn't understand how James had an English accent when he grew up in the US. Since at least 7 years old. ... It just didn't jive for me. A trace of an accent on certain words, sure. But a full-on accent? Nope. Took me out of the story. Also, again with the mediocre closed door romances lately! Maybe it's me. Look, it's not a bad book at all. 3 stars means it was okay. It's cute and clean. I'm not giving it 3 stars because I didn't know it was clean. I'm fine with clean. I need to enjoy the plot and the characters. And they just bored me.

"But my brother is marrying the love of his life, and I'll stop at nothing to give him a perfect wedding day-and get our family's Inn some much-needed publicity in the process.
Which means playing nice with James Weston.
My brother's best friend and I have been feuding for as long as I can remember. We don't like each other, plain and simple.
Or is it?
Is it possible that James isn't the monster l've always thought him to be? And why does he keep showing up to save me right when I need him? (Not that I'd EVER admit it).
Falling for James is not on my carefully color-coordinated agenda.
Too bad nothing seems to go according to plan when James Weston is around.
What a perfect way to start off the new year! I needed something light and easy and this was such a great choice. The chemistry was so good, and I felt all the butterflies with James.
You'll love this if you like:
- Brothers best friend
- Enemies to lovers
- Sweet romcoms
- Clean romance

The Next Worst thing by Sara Jane Woodley

Story – 3-stars
Narration – 4-stars

I listened to this audio book, narrated by Justis Bolding and Oliver Hunt. The narration was terrific, probably the best thing about the book itself. Sure, some folks talk about his narration of female voices, but in all honestly, I thought he did absolutely fine. I’d be happy to listen to more books narrated by them.

This story was a cute, totally clean Romcom-ish book. It was sweet and would make for a terrific beach read. There’s not much to the plot and the characters are obvious as to which ones you’re supposed to like and which ones you’re not. And like all romance novels, it has a guaranteed happy ending.

Beyond that, there wasn’t a lot to it. It was billed as an enemies-to-lovers romance, but the only enemy part was in her head. They never actually acted like enemies. At least he didn’t.

Ivy is running the family hotel and planning her brother’s wedding to the seemingly uninterested-in-actually-getting-married Eleanor, or Elle, or Lenore – depending on who’s talking. She knows her hotel business, but acts like a total, clutzy, ditz. Huge turn off for me. She’s well-educated and she’s running around like a dorky middle schooler. Great if we’re reading a book about a middle schooler, but we’re not. It fell flat.

James comes in, all confident and good-looking, and apparently attracted to his best friend’s sister. That’s fine and dandy, but their dialog was forced (all other women in the story were there just to flirt with James) and Ivy kept pushing him to admit to taking one of the women he’d literally just met, to the wedding as his date. Sigh.

There are several embarrassing situations where reading about them, or in my case, listening, was cringeworthy at best, but c’est la vie.

Any opportunities to create chemistry or tension between Ivy and James were cut short. Their double date – stopped, then talked about through narration in the next chapter. Perfect opportunity lost. In the middle and out of nowhere, a situation from school came up supposedly to explain why they were enemies (don’t think he ever got the memo on that). At that end, when his company tried to buy the family hotel from her grandparents, they said they had a plan, then we learned about it in the epilogue.

There was a lot of telling vs showing and could have really built up the romance. Instead, they ended up together because well – at one point, they each admitted to themselves that they liked the other, so that happened.

Side notes
I like that the POV changed from James to Ivy from chapter to chapter like many romance novels. To me, that’s a definite plus. Maybe I like getting into other people’s heads?
The story was cute, but definitely not deep or engaging.
The romance was squeaky clean – sweet, but no heat at all

Overall the story was ok. It was cute and I’d probably give this author another shot.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen and review this book!

I honestly tried to get into it and I just couldn’t… I wasn’t feeling the chemistry between the two main characters and found myself more interested with whatever was going with her future sister in law…

I fell in love with this book from chapter 1! The narrators were phenomenal, the characters felt authentic and relatable and I enjoyed following along as both main characters figured what they wanted to do with their lives career-wise while simultaneously falling in love. I would’ve preferred more spice but it didn’t take away from enjoying the story. Things I also loved:

❤️Small town Gilmore Girls vibes
❤️Enemies to lovers
❤️Brother’s best friend
❤️British!!!😍😍😍 MMC
❤️Alternating POV

4/5 - Spice 0.5/ 5 - Audiobook - Book #1 of Love in Mirror Valley

I really enjoyed this sweet, clean, enemies-to-lovers + brother-best friend romance. I wasn't the biggest fan of the narrators in this book (I'm sorry, there was just something off with James's British accent IMO) but James and Ivy were so fun. a young misunderstanding leads to YEARS of antagonizing one another, so now they have to help get Ivy's bother through the weeks before his wedding. But as they both learn and clarify some of their past misunderstanding, romance sparks. Overall, super cute book with small town themes, and if I think Book #2 is gonna be who I want it to be, I'm very excited!

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an eARC copy of The Next Worst Thing, written by Sara Jane Woodley, and narrated by Justin Bolding and Oliver Hunt. This is my honest review!

This was everything a brother’s best friend story should be. It had a hint of enemies to lovers too but you could tell from the start they weren’t really enemies- more banter/teasing like you would a family member. You could tell right away that Ivy cared about the inn and making her brother happy planning the best wedding for him. James was definitely swoony with his accent and we quickly see how much her cares. There was great narration all around. I really enjoyed it. I haven’t read anything by this author before but I will be looking for more now.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.