Thanks to NetGalley and Dell/Random House for the ARC of "Love You, Mean It" in exchange for an honest review.
As a complete sucker for romance, I'm normally pre-wired to love a book like this.......but sorry, I couldn't on board with this one.
The problems........a not particularly lovable pair of leads and a traffic jam pile up of multiple tropes - a brief fling at with a bout of amnesia for the guy followed by the girl coping with simultaneous fake dating and clandestine matchmaking on behalf of the guy's 'one-who-got-away'. Which results in all kinds of self-hating agony for her while engaging in steamy episodes with the guy herself.
Since Ellie Greco's dreams of theatrical costume designing were thwarted by rejection, she's back to running the family legacy business, a much beloved neighborhood Italian deli. But the Taylor family, the town's ruling business dynasty might bring in 'Mangia' a big-box Italian food Emporium that would put Ellie out of business faster than Tom Hanks 'You've Got Mail' book chain did to Meg Ryan's little bookstore.
To put a stop to 'Mangia' Ellie pleads her case to the Taylors's somewhat rebellious scion Theo, who's looking to bring his own independent business ideas to the forefront apart from his imperious family. And then all of those colliding romance tropes kick in. There's Ellie and Theo's fake engagement, designed to stop Theo's ruthless father from bringing in any business that would destroy the livelihood of his son's future bride. And then there's Ellie's unwise decision to try to secretly help Theo's ex-flame (and newly appointed Taylor business exec) to rekindle her romance with him.......not the best idea, given the fake daters' steam-and-spice quotient is clearly apparent.
I truly would not have minded all of this over-plotting if Ellie and Theo were a sympathetic couple worth rooting for. But Theo smirks a lot and Ellie's endless woe-is-me-I"m-a-terrible-person internal monologues grow tiresome. I did want to love 'em both......but they just plain wore me out.

I was able to read "Love You, Mean It" by Jilly Gagnon on NetGalley before its release date. And I loved it. The characters in the novel were great, and every one of them touched me. Ellie & Theo plan a fake engagement to try to stop a big name store coming to town, but before long the feelings are more real than either anticipated. This is a great read and a wonderful love story.

I had high hopes going into this book. I usually love an enemies to lovers and a fake relationship trope but this one fell flat to me. Ellie was unlikeable and pretty annoying throughout the book. Her negativity jut brought the story down. I feel like Theo only liked her appearance because her personality was annoying. I did like the side characters like Ellie's grandmother and Bella. I would read a story with Bella as the main character. Overall, I gave this book a 3/5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dell Romance for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was initially drawn to this book because of its premise--in an effort to save her family's deli, Ellie meets with Theo Taylor, son of the owner of the property management firm that's about to put her out of business. But when Theo is hit in the head and experiences amnesia, Ellie panics and pretends to be Theo's fiancee. When Theo regains his memory and realizes the truth, he makes a pact with Ellie to keep up the ruse so they can save her deli, which he has his own reasons for wanting to protect.

A common critique I've seen with this book is that Ellie is an unlikable main character, and I have to say, I completely disagree. I really liked Ellie and found it easy to root for her. Sure, she makes some frustrating decisions, but I'd rather have a flawed character than a perfect one any day.

In fact, I enjoyed most of the characters in this book, and I thought the characterization was (mostly) done very well. The side characters--Bella and Sam, mostly--were great, and Gagnon did a great job of making Theo's father Ted extremely unlikable, as he was supposed to be. Theo's character was a different story, though. I found him harder to root for as he seemed to embody the rich boy stereotype of being pretty out of touch, judgmental toward people who had less than him, and just overall not being a very nice person.

I've read that the plot is reminiscent of the movie While You Were Sleeping, but I unfortunately haven't seen the movie, so I can't comment on that component. But I have plenty of other thoughts on the plot.

The first act of the book I felt could've been stronger. Everything felt very easy and convenient--Ellie pretending to be Theo's fiancee, everyone immediately believing it, Theo being on board right away to help her save her deli even after he realized she's been lying... and even though Ellie and Theo are in a fake relationship, they start developing real feelings very quickly that verged on insta-love.

The second act is where this book really shined. The chemistry between Theo and Ellie was strong, Sam (Theo's ex) became more involved and I really enjoyed her character, and the characters faced actual obstacles and the plot became much less convenient, which I appreciated.

The third act is where everything fell apart. I was prepared to give this book a fairly high rating until the third-act breakup hit. Don't get me wrong--Ellie and Theo both said some unfair things to each other, but Theo crossed several lines when he insulted her, her living situation, and blatantly judged her for having less money than him. Ellie retaliated and said his brother would be disappointed in him (which I feel is a fair critique after everything he said), and apparently that was too far. Ellie ended up being the one to grovel and apologize, and Theo was incredibly stubborn about accepting her apologies given how rude he was, and he never even apologized to her about the things he said! And Ellie never asked for one or even noticed that she didn't receive one. The whole ending fully turned me against Theo, and I honestly think Ellie could do better.

Overall, though I do love a fake dating trope, there are plenty of other fake dating books I would recommend before this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dell Publishing for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the premise of this book, amnesia/fake engagement/working with the “enemy” to save the family business. And for like 75% of the book, it totally worked. I truly enjoyed watching the chemistry grow between Ellie and Theo, and watching her squirm as she realizes she actually likes this man.

But the ending felt too rushed. The fall out from their scheme, the third act breakup, all of Ellie’s plans catching up with her happened in about 15% of the book and it was just too much too quick. I think the characters deserved a little more space for that crash and resolution to breathe and give the book the fitting ending it deserved.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House-Ballantine | Dell for the ARC of this book!

I really enjoyed this one! For me it was giving You've Got Mail Vibes with a touch of While You Were Sleeping and who doesn't love a 90s rom com? Ellie runs a deli that has been in her family since the 1920s. She moved back to her hometown from NYC when her dad passed away and gave up her creative dreams of being a costume designer. When she hears that the mega store, Mangia, is planning into town which will effectively put her deli out of business, she tries to hatch a plan to save it. Her plan ends up involving her talking to Theo Taylor, heir to the large property management company that owns most of the buildings in town who she also attended high school with. The plan eventually morphs into a fake engagement that will hopefully benefit both Ellie and Theo. In the process, they catch real feelings for each other . Both characters where very likeable and the book was good despite being just a little cheesy for my taste. I would recommend it and also would read others by this author.

This book took me a could 30%-ish to get into it, but once the fake-engagement really got going along with all the sexual tension between the two love interests, I got pretty hooked. I enjoyed the New England setting, the couple from different social classes thing, and how both love interests were both real good at pretending to be closed off even while they fell for each other. The in-denial pining was pretty great. I'll admit I wanted a bit more emotion at the end, some resolution, some more idea of what the MMC was feeling all along since we didn't get his POV throughout. Overall, I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Fake fiancé/fake engagement is definitely one of my favorite tropes (I pair it with fake dating) - especially when the FMC and the MMC have good chemistry!

I'm also a sucker for the main characters trying to save their family business (in this case restaurant) because I love the backstory that always comes with that.

This was a cute book and one that was hard to put down, but there were times that the FMC was a bit annoying and I kept wondering what the MMC was REALLY up to. I think having this be a dual POV could have moved it from a 3 star to 4 star.

I enjoyed Jilly Gagnon's writing and I definitely will read future books by her.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine/Dell for the E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The premise pulled me in. As a huge fan of While You Were Sleeping, I was excited to see it woven into a cute new romcom! I wasn't as locked in with the main characters, and struggled with the pacing. I also found myself frustrated with the FMC a lot, but she did her best. Thank you for the arc.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6231865825

Ellie returned to her small hometown of Milborough after her Dad suddenly passed away. She had been in New York City, trying to pursue her dream of being a theatre costume designer, and returned to take over the running of the family Deli, Greco’s. When she hears that a gourmet food store, Mangia, is destined to move into their sleepy town, she is worried that the deli will go out of business, and so she tries to talk to Theo Taylor, the son of the wealthy property management family who own the building.
Ellie and Theo come from very different worlds, and immediately dislike each other. Their first meeting ends very badly, when the ceiling literally falls in and Theo is knocked unconscious. As Ellie gets him to the hospital, it appears he has no memory of the last 7 years. Ellie claims to be his fiancé so that she can come into the hospital and make sure he is ok. Once Theo recovers, Ellie and Theo decide to fake their engagement, as Theo doesn’t want the building going to Mangia either and they think that working together will achieve that aim.
I don’t often read romantic comedies, but this was enjoyable. I knew what would happen from the beginning, but the plot went through a few fun twists and turns. Elie was very self critical, which got a bit irritating at times, and Theo was the super handsome stereotype. Theo’s ex- Sam plays an interesting role, from rival to friend and back, while Theo’s father is just awful. Ellie’s grandmother Mimi was a great character who improved any scene she was in. As expected, the fake engagement turned out to be more than a fake…
This was a fun read, while not laugh-out-loud funny, and I found it satisfying.

Love You Mean It
Once I started I couldn’t put it down, but I’m a sucker for enemies to lovers and fake dating.
Stuck in Milborough, Ellie Greco's dreams were sidelined by family duty. But when her deli faces closure due to a gourmet food store, she's forced to fake an engagement with the property manager, Theo. As their charade unfolds, Ellie must navigate tangled relationships and unexpected choices
Thanks netgalley and the publisher for this eARC!

⭐️3,75

I really enjoyed this book. I wasn’t sure about the amnesia thing because that can go very wrong very quick but I think it was used really good in this book as a starting point.

I liked the characters and I‘m always here for a not-really-the-bad-guy-bad-guy. Theo was so much maturity and even tho Ellie could be annoying sometimes it also made sense.
Bella was also a great addition to the story. I really enjoyed her with Ellie and the whole family dynamic.
I could have done without the whole Sam angst but I guess she was important for some other parts of the story.

I‘m absolutely no fan of unnecessary third act breakup plots and unnecessary drama and to be honest in this book was it beyond an unnecessary and stupid reason. I do get it at some level but it would have been SO easy to just communicate and have a book without a fight.

Overall I really enjoyed it!!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me an earc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

While I did like the While You Were Sleeping aspects, ultimately, this wasn't for me. I couldn't connect with the main characters, and I really didn't have much interest in the plot. It was fine on the surface, but I just didn't click with it, for whatever reason.

This was just...okay. I've struggled with romcoms recently because I feel like none of them stand out and this was kind of the same way. Ellie as a main character was fine--I liked that she ran a small business and that the importance of small businesses was discussed throughout the book--and so was our love interest, Theo. I just didn't think either of them had very stand-out personalities, and therefore they didn't have believable chemistry; even when they were starting to express feelings it didn't feel authentic. I don't have much to say about this except that's a fairly quick read.

This is such a cute romance read that gave me while you were sleeping vibes mixed with you’ve got mail vibes. So freaking cute! Ellie and Theo are the perfect couple you’d never expect to be a couple.

****UNPOPULAR OPINION*****

I usually like fake dating rom-coms but this book was a struggle to read. I really liked Theo and Sam as the strong male characters. However, Ellie is terrible. She is negative, judgmental andvery much unlikeable. It had hard to care about anything she did. I found myself judging her and felt any karma she received back was justified because of her poor decisions and lack of empathy or compassion to other people.

This book was a waste of my time. Not for me. Cannot recommend it.

Thanks to Jilly Gagnon, Random HOuse Publishing Group Ballantine Books and Netgallet for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 4/30/2024

This was a very sweet love story. Ellie is the current owner of the family business, a cute Italian deli she took over after her father passed away. At the beginning of the story the family finds out the big town developers are trying to bring an upscale Italian grocery and deli that will compete with and negate the need for their small deli to town. Desperate to save the family legacy and her business Ellie contacts the son Theo who she went to high school with to try to convince him to stop the deal. When Ellie and Theo meet, things do not go as planned and Theo ends up in the hospital. From there things escalate, and the two cook up a fake engagement scheme to see if they can stop the business deal from going through, both for very different reasons. I enjoyed all the food, and fashion, and the side characters were fantastic. I love enemies to lovers, and fake relationship stories, and this book did not disappoint. I hope a book about Bella or Sam are in the works in the future. I received an ARC and this is my honest review.

Started out so cute and kind of fizzled for me. I really wish the characters had more uniqueness and ability to hold my attention. I feel like since I am very picky about contemporary romances, this one just didn't do it for me.

4.5 - OK!! I did not expect to love this book as much as I did but, WOW, something about this book really hit perfectly for me. Love You, Mean It is a book about Ellie and Theo, who knew each other when they were younger, but are brought together when Theo's family business is attempting to take over the businesses where Ellie's family's small deli operates. This is a typical enemies to lovers, fake dating trope, but something about these characters, their vulnerabilities, the CHEMISTRY and the story hit different for me.

Ellie is someone who has lost her way in life, after losing her father and being forced to take over running her family's small business. She left behind her life and dreams of being a costume designer/working in fashion in New York City and instead got stuck what she always dreamed of escaping: staying in her hometown to run her family's deli. When Ellie is informed that the Taylor family business empire is planning to buy out a lot of the local buildings to build a shopping mall and essentially run her deli out of business, she is forced to confront Theo Taylor to try and persuade him to stop the deal. Theo is a very vulnerable man, someone who also is still struggling with the tragic loss of his younger brother and working with his father, who he doesn't see eye to eye with. Theo hasn't chosen his career or his path either, but refuses to allow his father to run the business in a destructive way. Ellie and Theo make a deal after an accident lands Theo in the hospital: they will pretend to be engaged in the hopes that they can persuade the Taylor family business from pursuing the shopping mall deal.

I think one of the main reasons I loved this romance was because the chemistry was OFF THE CHARTS. I love it when there is the good old enemies to lovers trope, especially when both characters really do not like each other or trust at each other at the beginning, but slowlyyyy you see them tearing their walls down. Ellie and Theo really completed and complemented each other so well and I was living for the moments where you could see one person slowly falling for the other. Honestly, I could have read another 100 pages of this book! I loved the confrontation and how the way that the two felt about each other forced them to truly examine themselves and the mistakes they had been making in their own lives. There was so much growth in this book, with both characters individually and as a couple. I cannot recommend this romance enough and I hope everyone checks this book out when it is released on April 30th!!

Thank you NetGalley and Dell Romance for providing me with this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review!!

🥪 Book Review 🥪

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Publication: April 30, 2024

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 💫

This is my second book by Gagnon and this one was definitely better and easier to fall into than her previous thriller.

I loved the writing style because I was able to easily get swept away with the story. I did have to remind myself that both Theo and Ellie were in their 30’s. There were times that they seemed more juvenile. Also, the dialogue sounded too similar that I struggled with who was talking.

I do have to say the dislike between Theo and Ellie were 🤌. I found myself snickering when they would get heated at each other.

Perfect for fans of:
🥪 1st person POV (Ellie)
🥗 Fake engagement
🥪 A dash of amnesia
🥗 Dislike to lovers
🥪 Business rivalry
🥗 Small town
🥪 Predictable romcom plot line
🥗 Comfort read