The book really had so much potential but just kept falling flat.

I struggled to push through because right off the bat, the FMC was just a b*tch all the time. Because she was constantly rude, it was hard for me to feel any connection with her or her backstory. Then, I’m forced to believe that randomly, a complete 180 occurs and suddenly her and Elijah are saying they love each other?

Then there’s the blatant inconsistencies with the storyline. I figured out the roses situation wayyyy early on which wouldn’t have been a problem but the way she went about everything with this whole situation just irritated me to no end. I’m fine with guessing the plot early but if you give me an insufferable character, I’m going to slowly root for the bad guy. You know?

The way she completely ignores her best friend’s sister and then has the audacity to continue to just keep being rude and almost patronizing toward her just didn’t sit well with me.

Elijah and his daddy issues were a lot to be tossed into an already full of subplot book. My head was being torn every which way and it made the book lose its overall appeal pretty quickly.

Autumn was so emotionally and financially abusive. The mind games she played was insane but the financial aspect was what irritated me to no end. The way she took his card without hesitation and spent his money was horrid. And then she had the audacity to steal his auction card and bid thousands of dollars of money that wasn’t hers?! And his reaction is all “awhhhh how cute of her”?! Wtf?? Absolutely not.

The way it ended infuriated me. First, Heather was supposed to be released immediately but wasn’t until the next day. Second, I spent the entire book listening to a character complain about everything to do with the whole point to the book - her comeback.. yet when it gets down to it, she does one appearance, conveniently gets sliced in the hand, and then that’s it. No more. Third, half of the book was forcing me to listen to the two main characters bicker constantly, then I’m whiplashed into believing they love each other, and now the ending gets here and it’s all “well I love you and you can’t get rid of me, here’s our house”. There was so much more that needed to happen. It felt so rushed at the end.

Overall, I wanted to be able to give my honest opinion of the book so I pushed through but this would’ve been a rare DNF for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved the enemies-to-lovers aspect of this book, the two main characters had a very quick connection but it helped with moving things forwards, the plot twist near the end had me on the end of my seat, which was exciting, but also predictable. This was a quick and easy read, that filled me with joy and suspense, and to add a dog into the mix as the adorable sidekick for the MMC was just perfect. The mental health representation in this book is good with mentions of the struggles of anxiety and chronic physical pain.

🕹️Elijah - He's a game developer with a secret past, at first seemed to be someone who only cared about himself and his own needs, but his character had grown and becomes the opposite of what you think. He's secretly all sunshine and sweet.

🎹Autumn- She's a pianist with a sad back story whos closed off and very possessive of her space, but she opens up and becomes less closed off. She at first is the grumpy one. But I fell in love with her character so easily as she's sarcastic and talented and tends to kill plants... or drown's them depending on how you look at it.

He fell first for her, and it took her time to realise she also had the same feelings, but when they kicked in the book was more fun. There was tension, and spice (not the spiciest but it was fun to read)
The title of the book made me want to read this, reminded me of a taylor swift song, and it's rather fitting (yes the genders are flipped) But he was Sunshine and she was midnight rain.
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"There is no part of you I’d ever want to avoid,” he assured her. “You’ve no idea how much I’ve longed to touch and taste every inch of you. Scarred or not, it’s part of you and deserves to be cherished.” - Elijah
How could you not love this man?!
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4/5⭐
2/5🌶️
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ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I picked this out as an open read option because it looked pretty and the title reminded me of Taylor Swift (I’m easily pleased) and I’m really glad I did bc this was a cute romance with some suspense thrown in that meant I actually finished the book rather than DNF’ing when the couple gets together which I tend to do with romances that have no other subplot going on

I was genuinely surprised because I really believed it was going to be predictable with Heather or Garrett being the culprit until the last few chapters threw me off with the Nina twist. I had guessed who the sister was, but I think that was the point to further throw us off!

The romance was a mild enemies to lovers, with eventual smut that was pretty steamy and I enjoyed the characters, but I am definitely glad it had multiple subplots such as our MC’s battle with chronic pain and her return to the stage, and our mystery stalker because the romance alone wouldn’t have been enough to keep me interested.

Thank you Netgalley and the author for this ARC.

Ms Perfectly Fine by Kate Callaghan was a fine, easy, summer read. It was well written and a wonderful combination of genres; romance and mystery. Perfect for fans of tropes including forced proximity, enemies to lovers, he fall first, etc. As someone who deals with back pain, I found that the author did an excellent job with Autumn's chronic pain depiction.

There were some aspects of the plot that were not resolved or poorly executed. For example, there was no resolution to Autumn's estranged relationship with her parents and the mystery reveal felt quite flat.

Overall, I would rate this book 3.5/5 stars.

2.5 stars

It is a cute romance story but the writing style just made it hard to warm up to this book. It is written in the third person but with the focus on both main leads, sometimes it changed the focus in the middle of the chapter. However, the writing just felt off and I could not really look past it. Although the story itself was nice, I could not enjoy it. It was nice that chronic pain and grief was mentioned in this book, as chronic pain barely gets represented in books. Autumn and Elijah were likeable characters and the love story was cute, but the switch from hating each other to liking each other was quite fast. It would have been better if we saw more how this change happened and how they warmed up to each other. Nevertheless, the story was cute and I enjoyed the story premise, especially the little mystery at the end.
(Goodreads review is posted)

this was pleasantly surprising.
loved the grumpy & sunshine and close proximity tropes. they were so well captured.
the mystery part of the book was well delivered. yes it had its cliches but who doesn't love cliches?
all in all, such an easy read (read it in one sitting myself). romance with a nice hint of spice and a good amount of mystery, sign me up

Much like the title, this book was 'perfectly fine'.
Autumn and Elijah are forced to live together despite their hatred for each other. But they quickly (perhaps too quickly) fall in love with each other. I really enjoyed the grumpy x sunshine trope with the forced proximity.

The writing is simple, in a good way, and made for a quick and easy read. The book stays within it's comfort zone but it's not a fault.

Overall, it's a cute romcom and I liked the inclusion of Autumn having chronic pain.

This was just okay. There could have been more of a slow burn, the quick romance made it seem to unbelievable. Also, there was just a lot of unnecessary drama.

This was a really good book! One that I will definitely recommend to friends and family. I'd like to take a second to also notice the cover, the flowers are so pretty. Autumn and Elijah are adorable as they make their way from enemies, to friends, to lovers, they started off on the wrong foot, but by the end I forgot that Elijah had his own bedroom. These two are forced to live together and have to make it work, they come to an agreement of boundaries but as A is just too cute for E to handle he eventually starts pushing those boundaries. I do wish we saw more of E's gaming company and how this is working for him, but we only see the bits and pieces that make sense for A's story as this is really a book about her. To be fair, it would have made the book a lot longer if we dove too much into his life, but this is just me being nerdy and wanting to take interest in his industry.

Autumn is preparing for her first major solo in years and the stress is getting to her, while Elijah originally made the stress worse, he ends up being just what she needs to relax. I don't mean that in a *wink wink* type of way I promise! After finding out a little about her health he helps her relax in some genuinely helpful ways for both her body and mind and she is finally able to get to a good place. This, of course, annoys the shit out of her stalker. Just when the villain sees their prey coming undone, some cute ass man helps her get everything in order, so now the prey is stronger. In the beginning, it really is just some weird stalker, but once A has her groove back, the stalker kicks it up a notch and we get into suspense territory, wondering what it is that they really want.

I did have one person in mind for the whole time and then when it started teetering from is this person or that person, it became very obvious that the first person was just to fool us. The ending sequence was very dramatic, my first guess's reasoning made a lot more sense to me, but hey, some people just be crazy.

You know, I didn't think about it until just now, but we never get any kind of resolution with her parents. Elijah and Autumn both seemingly have good friends and people to look out for them, but they both have a bit of parental issues. Elijah's issues may not be resolved but they come to a better conclusion and understanding in the end...Autumn's parents maintain their distance and that makes me sad. I would have liked an epilogue that showed Autumn and her parents reconnecting over music.

I am on the verge of like and love. So 4.5 stars!
The book opens with Autumn’s accident and it hits hard. You can feel her anxiety and fear radiating off the page. It was such a great introduction because you feel the tragedy and how it must shape her.

This is definitely a romance novel. The slow burn between Autumn and Elijah is fun. Elijah is cocky and flirtatious. She tries so hard to resist and stick to her controlled life.
My favorite was the very subtle mystery playing out in the background. You can sense something just isn’t right very quickly. This builds slowly as the book goes on.
It’s great. I really liked it and can’t wait to read more from this author!

3.5 stars

This book was so different from what I usually read and it was refreshing. It has a ton of subplots and tropes, my favourites being chronic illness and the Grumpy X Sunshine.

From the very first scene, our MCs Autumn and Elijah had an awesome dynamic and their banter kept me hooked and reading for the entirety of the novel. As contemporary romance isn't the author's genre of expertise and comfort, I applaud her for the wonderful chemistry she created and her genuine brilliance in a new genre.

What really weighed down was the mystery/suspense subplot added towards the end, which took up quite a large number of pages. I think a rom-com would be sufficient on its own, as the second half felt really drawn out and completely unnecessary.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Kate Callaghan for providing me with a complimentary e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

this was honestly such a suspenseful romance in my opinion lol. my fav part of the whole book was definitely elijah and his character. he is one of the most caring book boyfriends! autumns stubbornness got on my nerves A LOT. lol. there was a lot going on for me and that just ended up overwhelming me.

however, id also like to add that the portrayal of chronic illness was well written and done in a beautiful way.

This book was super sweet and had great mental health and chronic pain representation. It was a great quick and easy read.

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing. I would definitely read more from this author!

A super cute romance with a suspence twist!

After Elijah moves into Autumns house they are fighting over their shared living situation but soon realize that they do not really want to fight each other! I loved both Elijah and Autumn. The chronic pain representation was done so good and there were a lot of quotes I just had to highlight!

After reading this as an E-Book i just had to buy a physical copy and now i am patiently waiting for it to arrive!

THIS WAS AMAZING! I ACTUALLY LOVED IT AND WOULD 100% RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE. CUTE ROMANCE SLIGHT MYSTERY AND FORCED PROXIMITY. LOVED IT

I went into reading this book with high hopes what with the synopsis of the story, what seems like it could be a Taylor Swift reference in the book title, and the fact that it has a playlist - ALSO including Taylor Swift.... But honestly found it fell a tad short of my expectations. I really want to like it though, and it bumps up my rating a smidge that it has the Grumpy x Sunshine, Enemies to Lovers and Forced Proximity tropes. Not to mention, the cover is ADORABLE!

Autumn is a famous and very talented violinist who has been renting the house she lives in for a number of years. One morning she wakes up to the racket of removalists moving in a stranger's belongings and moving OUT some of hers. Elijah rented half of her house without her prior knowledge and falls for Autumn quickly.
I liked the mystery running in the background, with someone trying to hurt Autumn as it gave the story another layer.

First impression of Elijah was that he seemed awfully cocky and quite rude in the way he is treating Autumn under the circumstances- he has just moved into the house that she rents completely unbeknownst to her, yet shows very little empathy or compassion for the shock this is to her. Instead, he moves many of her belongings to his own storage unit, takes HER food out of HER fridge and helps himself, changes the locks on the doors out of spite without telling her, etc. None of it jibed right for me. He sounds like the housemate from hell, and I found it difficult to get past this to like him as a person, as the story progressed. I did find aspects a little... unrealistic... as certain events unfolded. To stick to the big one- a stranger moving into her house with no warning- none of the movers are stopping to question thins and neither of the main characters have called the property owner to check what is going on, which seems like something that would happen pretty fast realistically.

In terms of writing style, it is quite heavy on dialogue and telling rather than showing, so it lacks descriptions of people, places and things (in my opinion). It also felt like a lot of side characters were introduced by name but with too little context so I found it slightly confusing. It was a nice, light read and has great flirty banter, but not overly attention grabbing, so I struggled to finish it. It's a 2.5/5 stars for me.

I really wanted to like this book, but it was a DNF for me. The plot sounded interesting, but the execution of the story just wasn't there. It seemed as if there was a lot of generic banter and unremarkable storylines - nothing that held my attention or kept me wanting to find out more. Thank you to NetGalley and CallaghanWriter, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

Ms Perfectly Fine was absolutely fine...there was the forced proximity romance of strangers, a little bit of suspense and mystery, the dysfunctional family dynamic, a cute romance with a dog thrown in for good measure. The author did a good job showcasing the chronic pain of our female lead, Autumn. Elijah was a kind and patient partner once the two made amends from their rough beginning. I did figure out one of the side characters identity/connection to the story early on, but the red herring was well played (briefly!lol) until I realized the direction the storyline was probably going to go. I wish there was more information delving into the accident and the strained relationship between Autumn and her parents. I enjoyed Autumn and Elijah's changing relationship, and the ending was sweet.

3.5 stars

Thank you Independent Book Publishers Association and NetGalley for a copy of this book! I love it! It is now probably my new favorite genre, romantic suspense! 4.5⭐️/5
I loved the enemies to lovers aspect of this book and the surprise of Elijah moving into Autumn’s rental house, although that seems to be a very unrealistic thing to happen, I feel like that would be a lawsuit ready to happen. But the banter between the two was adorable, and then next thing you know, BAM, you are trying to figure out who might be trying to hurt Autumn! I really enjoyed this book, a little bit of spice, lots of flirty banter, and a mystery to get you thinking.