The thought of being in 3 different weddings fills me with dread - which is one of the reasons I wanted to see how this all played out. Julie Tieu is an author I love and she always makes me laugh. She did not disappoint! The address stress of being a bridesmaid for all of your close friends and being matched with someone you're not fond of is a recipe for a good time.

I wasn't fond of some of the girlfriends, but I really enjoyed the main characters.

I love Julie Tieu’s books so much. They’re always so fun but also give you some emotional parts as well. I was a little behind in picking this one up but that was on me, once I started it I flew through the book. Definitely would recommend to contemporary romance lovers!

Such a fun sweet book! I adored Elsie and Ben and together, they had great chemistry. The wedding storylines were fun and the political campaign gave the story additional tension. The chaotic but optimistic Elsie was a perfect complement to Ben's thoughtful pessimistic ways. The friendship between the four women felt real and natural with each character distinct from the other. I loved reading about the traditional Chinese wedding. Overall, a delightful rom-com I highly recommend!

All of Elise’s closest friends are getting married within a few months of each other, and as a florist and a bridesmaid, she finds herself going above and beyond to help each of them. Her business is struggling and she needs the exposure these weddings will bring. One of the weddings in particular is extra high stakes. Her friend, Rebecca, is the daughter of a local politician so Elise needs this wedding to go well. She gets help from Rebecca’s brother Ben, who later offers her additional business designing flowers for his mom’s campaign events. As they work together a romance starts to develop but with some unintended consequences.

27 Dresses is one of my comfort watch movies, so I enjoyed when Elise compared herself to the movie fairly early on. The added bonus of her actually working all of these weddings as a florist was a fun twist. We all know I adore flowers so I enjoyed the look into the life of a wedding florist, and romances set against the wedding industry are quickly becoming a new favorite trope. What could be better than falling in love surrounded by love? I enjoyed Ben and Elise and how their relationship progressed, but the relationship between Elise and her friends was the real star of this show. This was a fun story and a quick read if you are looking for something cute and light.

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for the advance copy.

Elise Ngo is a perpetually single florist. With her best friends’ weddings coming up she knows she’ll be busy making their days special as both a florist and bridesmaid. At her friend Rebecca’s high-profile wedding, she meets her brother Ben, who just finished culinary school and is running his mom’s political campaign, and the pair get off on the wrong foot before realizing they will be the the ones essentially running the wedding of another set of of their friends. The pair become closer as the wedding approaches, but family and politics are messy.

This is the third book I’ve read by Julie and third one I’ve given three stars to. I really want to like these books more than I actually do. This book was sooo slow. I only got thorough it because I found the audiobook and was really invested in my puzzle. Both Elise and Ben were fine but I didn’t really feel a deep attraction between the two. The campaign finance drama at the end of the book did not make any sense. Things that were written for laughs weren’t that funny. The absolute highlight of the book for me were the cultural aspects. Elise, her friends, and their partners are from a wide array of Asian backgrounds and where book shine is in the moments where it shows the cultures. It’s a small thing, while I do like the cover of the book, it really annoys me that the Elise on the cover doesn’t have her tattoos. Also the cover shows Ben in a chef’s jacket when Ben only wears one briefly during the meet cute and it isn’t described like the one shown. How hard is it for the publisher to give the cover artist accurate character descriptions so the cover can suit the characters. Overall, the negatives outweighed the positives for me on this book, and while not bad, it’s not one I see myself returning to in the future.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a cute book! This would be such a great movie as well. I read this book in one sitting because I couldn't wait to see what happened. I loved the characters, the believable situations/reactions, and just how sweet it was. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for a review.

This was an entertaining and fast read for us. Unfortunately, it wasn't a top pick for us, personally.

All of Elise’s best friends are getting married within a few months of each other. She is a bridesmaid along with being their florist. She needs the exposure as her business is in danger of failing. Elise and her friend’s prickly and introverted brother, Ben, have a meet-cute where she thinks he is a grumpy chef and he thinks she’s a wedding crasher. As luck would have it, they end up being the best man and maid of honor in one of the weddings. They start to fall for each other as they get more entangled with the wedding and as Ben helps her with the flowers.

I really liked this book and how Ben and Elise fall for each other. I loved the AAPI representation and all the pieces that made up each of their weddings. I think the wedding romcom really worked here and loved how the 4 friends were so close with each other.

Read this if you like:
🌺 AAPI representation
🌺 Forced proximity
🌺 Friends to lovers
🌺 Wedding romcom

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this eARC. Fancy Meeting You Here is out now.

Book Review: Fancy Meeting You Here by Julie Tieu

Fancy Meeting You Here is an adult contemporary romance about two twenty-somethings that meet in the midst of a busy summer of weddings.

Elise and Ben have never met even though their best friends are getting married and Elise is really close with Ben’s sister. But now three couples in their circle are planning weddings and they’ll be thrown together again and again. As Ben and Elize start to fall for each other they’ll have to navigate nosy friends, Elise’s struggling floral business and Ben’s job on his mother’s political campaign.

This is a sweet and sexy romance with a relatable and normal couple. Ben is trying to find himself despite getting dragged into his mother’s career in politics and Elise is barely staying afloat after starting her own floral studio. Anyone that has ever been a bridesmaid, planned a wedding or worked in the bridal business (I’ve done all three) will especially relate to Fancy Meeting You Here. I recommend it to readers read enjoy contemporary romance without a lot of unnecessary stress, angst or toxicity in the main character’s relationship plus a sweet story about the bond between female friends.

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Oh my gosh, Julie Tieu has created an addictive read! I sat down to start reading and seriously finished it in one sitting.

Elise is an amazing friend & it was so fun to see her growth throughout the book. I love how she finally stands up for herself and learns to set boundaries with her friends. She also draws her line clearly with her love interest Ben and it was soo good for her. Yes girl, we love to see it!

Speaking of Ben, he similarly was a very likable character. The way he seemed so in tune to Elise was sexy. Although they refer to him as “younger” he’s only like a year younger than her lol. I thought it was a bit silly, but it didn’t hang me up anywhere.

Definitely recommend this one to anyone looking for a wedding-filled, cheesy, laugh-filled romance.

This swoony rom-com read was funny and heartfelt with a dazzling California setting!

💐Always -the-bridesmaid florist heroine
💞Prickly and aloof caterer hero
💐Best friend’s younger brother/secret feelings
💞Three weddings to plan and attend!
💐Large close-knit friend group
💞Vegas girls’ weekend
💐Political campaign (hero’s mom) drama
💞Asian wedding cultural inclusion
💐Only one bed/Open door spice

Elise and Ben’s budding relationship had real hurdles and challenges but it was so fun to see them both fight in their own way for each other! If you enjoy fun spicy rom-coms with the perfect balance of heart and heat, add this one to your TBR list today 💐.

DNF’d at 46% :(

Unfortunately this book didn’t click with me! The characters lacked connection in my opinion. There was no build up in the relationship between the female main character and the male main character. The romance and tropes felt forced and the plot was too predictable.

The story didn’t grip me and I had to DNF.

Elise Ngo loves her three closest friends, even if she often feels like the odd one out in their friend group.  Each of her three friends, Rebecca, Jesse, and Beth, are getting married within the same few month period.  And each has requested that Elise, a florist who recently opened her own flower shop, serve as both a bridesmaid and their wedding florist.  

Rebecca is the daughter of a prominent local politician, and her wedding is the highest profile.  It offers Elise the potential for the greatest exposure for her business, but also the highest risk for failure.  As she rushes to set up at Rebecca's wedding, she turns to a caterer who is already at the venue for an extra set of hands.  The caterer turns out to be Rebecca's mysterious and aloof younger brother Ben.

Although Ben is off-putting, he does offer Elise jobs designing flowers for his mother's campaign fundraisers.  As Elise spends more time with Ben, who is working on his mother's campaign, she finds herself drawn to him and sees that he is much more than Rebecca's rude younger brother -- and she soon feels that he might be the one person who truly understands her.  But as their romance haltingly takes off, it is soon entangled in surprising and complicated ways with his mom's campaign, her own relationship with Rebecca, and her struggling floral business.  In the face of these challenges, Elise must decide how much she is willing to put on the line for what makes her happy.  

This was a great book!  I am a huge fan of the author and her two previous books, The Donut Trap and Circling Back to You, so I had high expectations for this latest novel -- and they were exceeded.  Like those two previous books, this novel excels at portraying main characters navigating their career ambitions and love in ways that feel authentic and realistic.   I also thought the author excelled at portraying the fraught dynamics that often occur when close adult friends have different financial situations, including how the friends with more resources are often oblivious to the pressures felt by the friends with less and the difficulties that places on the latter.  Finally, I appreciated how the book is as much about friendship as about romance -- in many ways, the central relationships in the book are between Elise and her three friends.  

Highly recommended!

This was a really cute rom-com and such a quick read! Thank you to Avon & Harper for the ARC.

I went into this story very skeptical because I’m not too big on weddings or hearing about bridezillas. But, I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of the story being from an industry person’s POV. I’ve shot a few weddings and wow, the stories I have about pricing, bridezillas and people getting absolutely trashed during the reception. So that drew me in and then I stayed for the friendship, budding relationship and really cool descriptions of the cultural weddings. It’s insane that all of her friends got married in just one book, my wedding was screaming while thinking of how much this must have cost them all.

While the story still had a lot of cheesy elements, mainly surrounding the budding relationship between Elise and Ben/Tom, I really enjoyed myself and would recommend to anyone needing a quick and less stressful read.

This is book is like a long lingering hug. When it got good it was really sweet and made me think there needs to be more romance where the couples don't have it all together and the MMC isn't uber confident. Ben and Elise are late 20 somethings still trying to figure it out. Ben is an anxious baby coming from a powerhouse political family, quiet and reserved. Elise is a college drop out who lives at home with her divorcee mom. Relatable characters (in some ways) doing relatable things like seeing their friends getting married and lives going in different directions. At any rate the first 14 chapters were a bit slow but then after the first wedding over things picked up in the best way possible. I really like Tieu's approach to writing Asian characters, navigating tradition and being children of immigrants.

FANCY MEETING YOU HERE – Julie Tieu
Avon
ISBN: 978-0-06-324519-8
November 7, 2023
Romantic Comedy

California – Present Day

Florist Elise Ngo has watched her three closest girlfriends fall in love and get engaged. Each of the brides has asked Elise to not only be a bridesmaid but to decorate their wedding venue with flowers. With her being the last single female of their group and no boyfriend, it’s natural that they want to see her with a steady boyfriend. Beth has even suggested her fiancé’s best friend, Ben, for a blind date, but Elise turned that down. One day while setting up the flowers for Rebecca’s wedding, a man starts yelling at her to not trespass. He thinks she is trying to crash the wedding since Rebecca’s mother is a politician and up for re-election. Elise assures him that she is the florist. Turns out the man is Ben Yu. Yes, the Ben that Beth suggested for a blind date, and he is Rebecca’s brother too. He will also be part of the wedding party.

Elise soon runs into Ben a lot and they are also tasked with planning Beth and Ethan’s wedding. Since it is on short notice, that means scrambling to find an available venue. One day, they end up in the middle of nowhere to check out a possible wedding spot, but a storm traps them for a night at the property. Elise and Ben have both a potential venue and a potential attraction with each other. Ben is involved in his mother’s re-election campaign and needs to keep a low profile. Elise doesn’t want it to get back to Rebecca that she is involved with her brother. They try to keep their burgeoning attraction a secret, but they don’t fool a few of their friends. The last thing Elise needs is for a scandal to scare away her business.

Both Elise and Ben weren’t interested in a new relationship but their attraction for each other has them changing their minds in FANCY MEETING YOU HERE. They keep running into each other and soon realize the other isn’t as bad as they first thought. They take things slow and secret, though they still manage to spend some time together. Elise had always felt that she wasn’t lucky in love, so she put all her energy into starting up her business. Alas, things aren’t going well with her floristry business even if her friends are keeping her busy with their weddings. Ben has always dealt with his parents’ disapproval. He’d rather be running a restaurant kitchen than involved in his mother’s political career, but that is taken out of his hands with her upcoming tough re-election battle.

FANCY MEETING YOU HERE is a cute, funny tale that highlights the highs and lows of weddings and all the planning that goes into them. Ben is prickly at first and Elise is one who prefers to be independent. But they soon win over each other. Their relationship is still growing and anything might happen to break them up. Here’s hoping Ben and Elise find a happily ever after. Don’t miss the fun in FANCY MEETING YOU HERE.

Patti Fischer
Romance Review Today

A story about a florist and a grumpy chef sounds like a nice read doesn’t it?
Fancy Meeting You Here was a cute read about wedding preparations.
Main characters has some cute banter going on between each other. Throw in some romance to make this a sweet read.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

3.5! This was perfect for a palette cleanser in the midst of reading so many fantasy books. I love that it was light hearted and easy to read. The beginning was on the slower side which is why I say 3.5 stars. I did love the found family with the FMC friends and the overall support around her. After the halfway mark its picks up alot and was so hard to put down. I HIGLY recommend to add to your TBR of rom-coms! I will definitely be ordering the paperback to add to my shelf!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. While a little on the slower side compared to most of the romance novels I read, I enjoyed reading Fancy Meeting You Here. The characters were sweet, but it lacked tension in my opinion. I will look forward to reading more works by author Julie Tieu though.

Fancy Meeting You Here by Julie Tieu was such a cute and fun grumpy x sunshine love story, with many sweet moments.
This is a sweet, entertaining rom-com that’s a slow burn romance following Elise and Ben.
Julie Tieu is a wonderful writer of light, fun, and sweet contemporaries, and Fancy Meeting You Here is just as delightful as her previous two. .
If you're looking for a light, fun, cute contemporary romance then this is the read for you!
An absolute delight of a book!

I would like to thank NetGalley and Avon for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.