The Love Rematch takes place seven years after the love of Emily's life sneaks out her bedroom window and disappears from her life altogether. She's mourned the loss so hard that her mom takes it upon herself to announce on national TV that #emilyannneedsaman.

The stunt lands Emily the lead role on her favorite realty TV show where, you guessed it, her long-last love Jake is a producer!

The ensuing chaos is funny, sweet, and heartbreaking. Snippets of Emily and Jake's past are weaved into the present, and every flashback adds another layer of swoon to the story. The author beautifully showed how they grew together in the past and ached to find each other in the present. I feel like I know the characters inside and out!

Watching Jake stew while Emily was wooed by 30 men was fantastic. I don't generally condone torture, and Jake had his reasons - good ones - for abandoning her, but he deserved it nonetheless for never making those reasons known.

The Love Rematch is my favorite book of 2023 so far! I devoured it in one afternoon and am sad I'll never read it for the first time again.

Be prepared to jump for joy and excitement when you figure out who the subject of the sequel will be!!

Favorite quote:

"He'll never be her hero. But that doesn't mean he has to stay her villain."

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If you are reading this review before you have read the book, just start reading, This is the best book I have read in years! Seriously, get this book. For a more detailed breakdown, read on.

Let's address a possible trigger warning because I don't want anyone to have a trauma trigger and ruin this bomb-ass book for you. There is discussion of DV in the hero's childhood and he clearly has trauma about it to deal with. The descriptions are not graphic, but if this topic is a hard line for you, then you have been advised.

Do you have to be a fan of reality tv or ever actually seen an episode of the Bachelor/ Bachelorette to enjoy this book? Nope. Is this a fun romcom that also had me reaching for tissues in chapter 23? Yup. Did I get to the end of this book and immediately join the author's email list so I can know as soon as another book comes out? Hell yes.

Now, sometimes books that alternate perspective chapter by chapter are actually terrible and frustrating. This is not that. It actually flows really well, doesn't cover the same ground which keeps the story moving, and the character voices are clearly defined so that even without the name at the top of the chapter, it is obvious whose voice it is.

And sometimes "second chance romances" get bogged down by extensive flashbacks or long bouts of info dumping. This book, thankfully, does not. Instead it works more like real life when you see, say, touch, smell something and it sparks a memory of something specific. I hope more authors take note of Kay Marie's writing of these scenes because not only were they short, to the point, and felt sharp in that way that some memories can be, they also didn't give the whole game away and they leave you wanting to know more of what happened when and what will happen. It was pretty damn brilliant.

Without giving the plot points away, I can tell you that the angst and standard misunderstandings of this genre actually make sense in this story. At no point did I think either character made a choice just to serve the plot (ok, maybe one thing, but it was so reality tv that I think it is fine). Oddly they made decisions because they loved each other and wanted to protect the other in ways that really only make sense to you when you are 17 and in love. And then when they are grown, they try to make better choices and it is refreshing to see growth.

That ending tho???