Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. I LOVED LOVED LOVED the author’s debut last year and couldn’t wait to read this follow up.

As a fellow Wholigan, I couldn’t help but wonder which famous pairings may have inspired this plot. A mix of some of my favorite tropes: enemies to lovers (or rather lovers to enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers) and second chance romance, this book had a little bit of everything. I will say, there were many places where I screamed, “JUST F*** ALREADY” aloud while reading - I honestly could have used a little less tension and more spicy scenes (which is really only a testament to how well written both the tension and spice are). While I didn’t love this as much as How to Fake It in Hollywood (one of my favorite books of 2022 - hard to follow that up!), I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Ava Wilder has solidified her place as a must read author for me!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Meh. I liked the idea for how they met and that they had to continue the relationship as different characters. However, the back and forth trope is exhausting to me. Hard to buy in to. Lots of talking at the reader and telling the story. Nothing kept me glued to the page or excited to dive in.

My heart is going to be sore from this one. I absolutely loved this. In a weird way it reminded me of some fan fictions I loved as a teen - the months and months of time passing but it never feeling like you’re missing anything while also getting a little bit more content than you expected. In theory it could have lost 30-40 pages and been a little tighter, but I loved how they slowly came together. I bought their romance so fully. Highly recommend.

I didn’t love Will They or Won’t They. I liked the concept but I just didn’t fall in love with the story or the characters. It kept me entertained and I was invested about rather they would get together or not in the end…and how it would happen.

If you love Hollywood gossip and which star is dating who I think this is the book for you.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House-Ballantine for a copy of Will They or Won’t They in exchange of an honest review.

Will they or Won’t they 💘

I love Ava Wilder!!!

I loved this one! Hollywood & 3rd POV romances have to be my least favorite tropes, but if Ava writes it, I’m going to read it and love it.

Lilah & Shane are everything! Their chemistry is authentic and I could FEEEL all of it. Im running to the store so I can highlight and tab all their banter, swoon and hilarious moments.

A little bit of a slower burn. Second chance romance with a dose of enemies to lovers. A good amount of tension and spice. Great mental health representation and couples therapy. The Hollywood aspect felt very relevant to what we are hearing going on behind the scenes.

Deff don’t miss out on this one! HUGE TY for the advanced readers copy, I actually squealed when I got approved!!

5⭐️

This story follows Lilah and Shane who are co-stars in a TV show named "Intangible." They play lovers but in reality they hate each other. Well, they used to love each other behind-the-scenes but after Lilah called it off, things changed. After years of not working together, Lilah is back for the final season. However, their on-screen chemistry isn't up-to-par and it needs to be for their characters, Kate and Harrison, to finish their love story. Can they put their current feelings aside to finish Kate and Harrison's story? Will old feelings be able to resurface or will the current ones prevail?

I loved this story and getting to see Lilah and Shane's connection grow. The tension, the attraction, the angst.🫠 It all worked so well to tell their story and made me fall for them. I can't wait to see what else comes from Ava Wilder! Thank you NetGalley, Random House- Ballantine for this ARC. These are my own thoughts and opinions.

Cute romance overall. Felt like the characters acted younger and more immature than they should have for their age. They should be 10 years into being serious actors but felt like they acted like they were still emotional 29 year olds. Some plot holes in their romance but loved the enemies to lovers storyline. Easy beach read that has just enough spice! Loved the sexy scenes throughout. It was easy to like the characters and I was rooting for them in the end.

Screaming!! YES YES YES! This is a sure hit!

Dual POV second chance romance of two longtime co-stars who dated, then broke up and hated each other and are now working together again in an attempt to revive their careers. I got some serious "Vampire Diaries" vibes from this one - reminiscent of Nina/Ian's romance anyone?

It's funny, angsty and spicy and so dramatic in the best way! The characters were incredibly well developed and I although dislikable at the start, by the end I had fallen completely in love!

I really enjoyed this book! Lilah and Shane were great characters and I couldn’t wait to see them find their way back to each other. Lilah and Shane are the stars of a long-running television show that has a healthy, and devoted, fan base. Lilah left the show for several years for another opportunity but is back for the 9th and final season. Too bad she does not get along with Shane…at all. They did have a thing when the show was new but that has been over for a long time.

I really liked both Lilah and Shane. It seems like they were really good together when they first met and I had a feeling that they would be even better now if they could just get past their issues. I loved seeing this pair open up and start to realize that they had a connection even after all those years. Being in the spotlight was a huge obstacle for them since every move they made would be made public very quickly. I really enjoyed seeing this pair work towards a future together.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that the narrators did a fantastic job with the story. I felt like the bulk of the story was handled by the female narrator but I did think that their voices complimented each other’s nicely. I liked the fact that they were both able to add just the right amount of emotion to their reading. I do believe that their performance added to my overall enjoyment of the story.

I would recommend this book to others. I really liked the fact that the characters were actors in a popular show and thought that it added an interesting element to the story. I really liked the characters and felt like they belonged with each other. I do hope to read more of this author’s work in the future.

I received a review copy of this book from Dell and Penguin Random House Audio.

(3.5+) What happens when a Hollywood love story doesn’t get a happily ever after?

I recently rewatched “Castle” and “Bones,” so I almost felt overly prepared to read this book. C’mon, a book set on a long-running procedural drama where too many viewers tuned in just for the will-they-won’t-they aspect of the central — and highly shippable — couple? Been there, watched that! (MerDer, anyone?) And like the two leads on “Castle,” our main characters, Lilah Hunter and Harrison McCarthy, do not like each other. But that wasn’t always the case; their intense chemistry led to a hot and heavy “relationship” that flamed out almost as quickly.

When things on set between them reached a breaking point (they had to be photoshopped into promo shots together, Harrison would occasionally send his stand-in for certain scenes), Lilah left the show for an ill-received movie career. But now the show is ending after nine seasons, and the network wants to give the two main characters the happy ending fans are so desperate for.

But what about one for Harrison and Lilah?

I’ll always be a sucker for a second-chance romance trope, because I love when people look back at a past relationship with the hindsight of time, experience, and knowledge. Lilah and Harrison were both young and green when they were cast in a pilot neither was sure would be picked up, and the show’s massive success catapulted them onto magazine covers and awards show circuits and into all sorts of internal turmoil and anxiety. When they come back together for the show’s final season, the intensity of their previous relationship is still there, although it’s taken on a different shape.

The network eventually puts the two into couples therapy, which I loved — only partially because I didn’t have to write yet another contemporary romance–related “go to therapy, babes” in my notes app — because it allowed for a lot of emotion and growth. Both Lilah and Harrison are complicated and struggling with anxiety and insecurities, but they’re both warm and kind (just not always to each other). Their chemistry hasn’t gone away, and I loved the tension author Ava Wilder kept running through the entire book. The duo’s one-liners and banter had me giggling into my pillow.

While I liked the idea of the flashbacks to important moments in their relationship, I wasn’t so sure about the execution of them. There didn’t seem to be a ton of rhyme or reason to where they were placed, and they never offered quite enough depth to Lilah and Harrison’s backstory. Some of the moments in their relationship felt a little sudden, as did the ending, which made the happily ever after feel a little cheap. But I loved reading about them getting a happy ending — and their characters, too.

Because I’m on such a kick of procedural dramas featuring leads with too much chemistry, it might be time for an “X-Files” rewatch, too.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 4.25⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: Contemporary romance 📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
I’m not usually a big fan of celebrity romances but I really enjoyed this one

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Enemies to lovers
Second chance romance
Forced proximity
Celebrity/ Hollywood setting
Great chemistry/ sexual tension
Witty banter
Daul POV

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
Jewish rep
The counseling sessions
Funny yet spicy
Anxiety rep

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
A little slow at points

Sweet, messy, and soft second chance/enemies to lovers/ workplace/Hollywood romance, and it largely worked for me, even though only two of those hold any interest for me. Fresh, engaging, and complex, if not exactly subtle, and fairly surprising as well. Liked this one very much, with its flawed but understandable characters and genuinely funny dialogue. A definite win for those who like a slower, more nuanced romance (cough cough me) I'm going to slam Ava Wilder's future books onto my tbr list at lightning speed.

This book had me hooked. From the first chapter I was invested in Lilah and Shane and their stories. I love second chance romance stories, and this book had all of my favorite parts of the trope. Lilah and Shane were extremely compelling characters and I found myself just as invested in the stories of the other characters. Ava Wilder has created a fantastic story, and I enjoyed every minute. I am officially an Ava Wilder fan.

Thank you, Random House - Ballnatine and NetGalley, for the advanced copy of Will They or Won't They.

As a pop culture fan, I'm a sucker for the BTS tropes. Throw in enemies to lovers and you have a great story! The banter was great. The book seemed to be drawn out and a little slower in spots, but it always recovered. It's also nice to see the man fall faster than the female lead.

Lilah and Shane are a match made in Hollywood. As the romantic pairing in a widely popular TV show heading into its final season, you would think they would at least be friendly off the screen, right? Wrong! While they did have a short-lived fling during the first season, they have been on shaky ground since. As they're set to work with each other in the final season, they find themselves thrown back into the public eye. Can these two put their feelings (and egos) to the side for the proper happily ever after? Or are they set to jump the shark?

This was an entertaining, well-written book. It was fun, steamy and kept me reading. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others.

Ava Wilder's sophomore novel is a wonderful Hollywood romance that doesn't ignore the realities of being a working actor. Which, amidst the ongoing (and historical) Writer's Guild strikes, is an important and refreshing tone.

The story is dual-POV and follows actors Lilah and Shane, whose explosive chemistry lands them the two lead roles in the paranormal show, "Intangible", years back. Despite this chemistry, "acting" on it off-screen leads to a messy relationship that ends with them unable to stand one another. After Lilah fails to make a name for herself in pursuing a film career, she and Shane reunite for one last season of Intangible. And even though their hatred for each other has not waned, their professional commitment to ensure this last season ends with a bang means they just might have to put aside their differences... and maybe fall in love???

Most times, when books advertise themselves as enemies to lovers, they are actually full of shit. But there were many times in Will They or Won't They where I genuinely went, "Oooooh, that's bad" during the present timeline. Shane and Lilah's dislike for one another is REAL and helps to set up necessary and painful growth for the two as individuals, as colleagues, and then as lovers.

This is a perfect summer read for anyone wanting a romantic comedy with depth, and characters who feel real!

Will They Or Won’t They was exactly the contemporary romance page-turner my summer brain needed! I really enjoyed Ava Wilder’s How to Fake it in Hollywood, so I jumped into this angsty second-chance celebrity romance with gusto.

Here, Lilah Hunter and Shane McCarthy are reluctantly reuniting as costars on the popular tv series they made a success. While their fans are shipping them AND their characters, these once secret lovers and current nemeses are just gonna grit their teeth and try to do their job without causing a scandal. Easier said than done!

Will They or Won’t They was an engaging read, with interesting characters and nice mental health rep. Though reader be warned — the plot does rest heavily on misunderstandings. I do wish I had felt a bit more invested in Lilah and Shane’s romance, but even so I found this to be a fun and fast read!

Thank you to Ballantine, Dell Books and Netgalley for the advanced readers copy!

Will They or Won’t They is a perfect descriptor for this story. A strangers to lovers to enemies, angsty, Hollywood romcom. It took a little too long for them to get the story going for me with the miscommunication. Overall very cute with characters I wanted to root for.

✨PUB DAY REVIEW!✨

Will They or Won’t They by @avawilderwrites

I’m 2 for 2 on loving anything AW writes! I was a big fan of her debut “How to Fake it in Hollywood” so I was extra grateful for the netgalley approval for “Will They or Won’t They” 🎉

While celebrities, these characters had “real-life” issues that made it super easy to feel a connection towards them. Shane and Lilah are two actors who gained their fame as a couple starring on the same show. This led to an offscreen, whirlwind, passionate love affair between the two up and coming stars, which later crashed and burned much due to insecurities and misunderstandings. Shane and Lilah continued to film the show despite their strong hatred towards each other and soon after Lilah left to pursue other opportunities. Years later, when the show films their finale, Lilah is asked back so that the show can rekindle the onscreen lovers romance and end in a HEA. I’m sure you can guess that this leads to a tension-filled story as Shane and Lilah confront their past and learn how to move forward.

Lilah was my kinda FMC! She was assertive and blunt and didn’t take any mess from anybody! She also dealt with anxiety which I can totally relate to. I loved seeing her growth throughout the story.

Shane takes a spot on my favorite book boyfriends shelf!! He was hilarious (so many witty one-liners), patient, forgiving, and stubborn in his own way and as a reader the slow burn was 100% worth it in the end.

I also loveddd the couples therapy! Truly some of my favorite parts of the entire story.

What to expect:
💘second chance
💘celebrities with flaws
💘anxiety rep
💘banter like no other
💘angst & tension
💘a little enemies to lovers
💘the steam was on-point
💘slowwwwwwburn

OUT TODAY!! Definitely recommend grabbing you a copy asap and trying her debut if you haven’t already!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Thank you to @netgalley & @randomhouse Ballantine books and Dell publishing #dellpublishing for the early copy - all thoughts are my own.

Will They or Won’t They is a master class of lovers to enemies to lovers and second chance romance. The tension and angst between Lilah and Harrison was so palpable that it was almost overwhelming at times. Their banter when they “hated” each other was laugh out loud funny but it was obvious that their hate was really love and frustration. Harrison driving 40 minutes out of his way for Lilah’s favorite donuts (to make her happy OR to make her mad) was such a perfect touch to his character and also showed how deeply she was entwined in his heart.

I truly did not see the third act twist coming. I thought the story was following a predictable narrative and was honestly a little annoyed about it but Ava Wilder totally got me and I absolutely love what she did. There’s no sophomore slump here, this follow up novel is truly a must read for all fans of romance, romcoms, Hollywood behind the scenes, enemies to lovers and second chance romance.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine & NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book