I thought this was a cute and fun romance store, although it did read more like women's fiction than a standard romcom to me. I really enjoyed the relationship between Ellie and her family, particularly with Bella, more than anything, but the romance between her and Theo was cute as well.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for letting me read an early copy. Opinions are my own.

Given how much page space the deli dilemma and her desire for friends took up it felt more women’s fiction than romance to me. And half of the book was extremely difficult to follow with random other peoples movements in the middle of dialogue with no tags. If you’re gonna put a name in the middle of dialogue, make it at least be the person who’s talking. I was so confused I almost put the book down so many times. OMG just use “said” already.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review.
I thoroughly enjoyed this funny, sweet, laugh out loud romantic comedy! The characters were likable and the ending was great. Highly recommend!

This book seemed very promising from the premise (and honestly the cover is what drew me in the most). That being said, I am at a loss for how to rate this book. I think the plot needs a lot of work for it to be more engaging for the reader. Throughout chapter 1 I felt like I was learning more about deli meats than anything and I had to go back to understand what I was supposed to know as a reader. I was lost by chapter 2 and forcing myself to finish the book thereafter. I think the characters are somewhat developed, but I found myself unable to relate, which again made the reader 10x harder.

Overall, a good premise, but definitely needs work! Almost a DNF for me.

**I appreciate the ARC privileges from NetGalley.

I think that with booktok being so relevant, it’s hard to find a book that is unique. I did enjoy this book and you grow to like the characters a lot but it doesn’t stand out to me. It has a lot of similar tropes and plot points from other books I’ve read which makes it feel like something I’ve read before.

This book did a lot of things really well. The pacing was good, the storyline was easy to follow, and the main characters were very likable. The author truly had a vision for each character - it was so apparent in their actions and dialogue. The romance was nice, although I did wish for more of it. I loved the relationship that was built between the main characters just as much as the other relationships in the story. Particularly, I loved Sam & Ellie’s budding friendship. Truly a great read!

This was such a funny book. It had a lot of heart and was just a good feel read. I was so immersed in the storyline. Ellie and Theo was such a cute couple. I loved their snakiness. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Love You, Mean It starts as an enemies to lovers story about two seemingly opposed small business owners. Then it sort of morphs into fake dating, which was fine though I thought the premise was a little weak. Ellie is a fun character and her traditional Italian family is full of fun characters. Theo’s family is very 2 dimensional, and I ended the book with a lot of questions about their motivations. The father was somewhat of a two dimensional villain, and there was little to no information about the mother which given the circumstances was weird. Then there’s a third act conflict that confused me to no end- it seemed unnecessary and I don’t really know what it added to the book. That being said, I liked the characters and the story- just I could have used less action and more exploration of the earlier conflicts and the family relationships instead of act 3. All in all, I’d try something else by this author. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc.

So, I wanted to love this book and I would say I enjoyed it quite a bit. But I’m gonna be honest - I did not love it and I have a couple of BIG complaints. First, let me just point out that I have absolutely NO idea where the title comes from. None. It is never a part of the story nor does anyone say it at any point. And that bugs me. Words matter, folks. Including the very first ones.

But the thing that really bugged me, so much so that it affected my enjoyment of the book, was the author’s tendency to jump from one incomplete thought or story moment to the next. I wanted to scream periodically as another scene was left dangling while the story moved on either a few minutes or weeks. Frustrating.

Cute story idea. Poor delivery.

This book was a charming palate-cleanser of a romance novel. I felt like the FMC and MMC both being a little sassy and having tempers of their own felt more realistic than many romance novels on the market. This would have been a four star if not for the third act breakup. But overall, a sweet quick read that I enjoyed

This novel started off so similar to the plot of a 90s movie involving a man in a coma and a woman pretending to be his fiancée, that I almost stopped reading it. I did continue on and thankfully, the plot quickly changed. Ellie Greco moved home after her father died to run the family deli and now it looks like a giant chain food emporium is going to be coming to town. She will do anything she can to stop it. She reaches out to Theo to have a meeting with him and that's when the accident happened. Now she and Theo have decided to continue pretending to be engaged in order to stop this store from coming to their town. This book had all the romance novel tropes and no surprises. It was a nice fluffy read.

Love You, Mean It by Jilly Gagnon was such a fun read. I absolutely raced through the pages, and found myself snort-laughing through much of it. Ellie and Theo had me rooting for them from the very beginning and I loved following their antics. Highly recommend!

A Mismatched Couple
Ellie and Theo are about as far apart as you can get. Ellie manages her family deli, and Theo is part of a Real Estate Development firm that intends to sell the building her deli is in. When Theo gets a head injury during a meeting with Ellie, she pretends to be his fiance so she can visit him in the hospital. When Theo regains his memory and knows she's not his fiancee and who she really is, you'd think he'd want to squash her like a bug, but instead he suggest they continue the pretense in an attempt to keep his father from selling the building. And so it begins. A good romantic story with fun characters, and a few twists to make it more interesting.

Wow!!! I flew through this beautifully written romcom. I LOVED the characters. The authors take on the likable ex was really fun and interesting. The FMC was strong and snarky but also had room to grow throughout the book. 4.5 stars!!! I just wish the end was a little longer and we got to see more dialogue between the two main characters after the resolution. But wow, I will definitely be reading more books by this author!

The dream job wasn’t the dream she hoped for and home is not such a trap after all. Ellie Greco left NYC and her fashion career to take over her family’s deli after the death of her father. Lots of silly tropes lead to her discovery that she really is happy being back home. Silly is sometimes very amusing. I enjoyed this one. The characters were likeable and the writing flowed. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for me to read this.

LOVE YOU, MEAN IT by Jilly Gagnon is not, as I saw it described, a You've Got Mail trope (there is no correspondence!).

So what is it? It's a fun fake engagement plot with a touch of While You Were Sleeping amnesia. The amnesia doesn't drag out, but it kicks off the whole plot. Which is that his family's property development company is trying to bring in a mega chain that will drive her family's deli out of business. There is grief and bad family (and good family!) and figuring out what kind of life you want. Plus enough references to cured meat that I really, really wanted an Italian sub.

This was my first book by this author and I thought it was cute! I didn't care for how often she mentioned the size of her chest, I didn't think it was relevant to the story or to anything and the fact that I felt like it was mentioned multiple times was a bit annoying but overall I felt like this was cute. I was afraid this was going to be one where Theo's amnesia lasted longer than expected and that they would fall in love for real before she told him the truth so I'm so glad that the truth came out right away. I personally didn't like how long they were apart at the end, I like a romance where they have their classic misunderstanding and it only lasts a short time however that is just personal preference. I still thought the writing and the banter were good so I will definitely recommend.

Gonna be honest I really hate the whole amnesia trope vibe and I didn’t know that’s what this book was until starting it. Putting that aside everything else in the book was ok.

This was such a fun lighthearted romance. I think reading this on a beach would just hit the spot.I often find the fake dating trope to feel disingenuous but it really worked in this novel. If you're looking for a fun, easy romance then I would highly recommend this novel.

This story was so charming. I loved it from beginning to end, even though I knew how it would all turn out. The main characters were so likeable. And even those who weren't, well, you just knew that they would get their comeuppance. This is a truly modern romance novel, that would make a super rom-com movie. And if you read something and see it would make a good film, well that's high praise in my book. In this chaotic world we live in, a good love story is exactly what we need. And, "Love You Mean It", definitely fits the bill. I highly recommend it.