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.

Absolutely fantastic plot! Could not put the book down once I began reading it. Cannot wait for it to be released. I will recommend it to everyone I know!

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House publishing for an advances readers copy of this adorable book. With sweet romcoms you typically know the ending before you pick up the book, so it’s really about the banter and the details. Jilly Gagnon did a great job making you fall in love with both Ellie and Theo. The details of the deli and and Ellie’s interactions with customers and family make you long for big Italian family dinners amidst Theo’s country club lifestyle. Four stars only because there wasn’t anything groundbreaking or jaw dropping but i thoroughly enjoyed every minute is this book.

I was so excited to read this, but it took a minute to get into-too much meat talk for me.

Ever since her father passed, Ellie runs her family’s deli. All is well until another store threatens to open up in town. It’s even worse when she finds out Tripp Taylor’s family is behind it-a guy she used to go to school with and dated her cousin for about a week. Apparently Tripp goes by Theo now and Ellie knows that if she doesn’t do something, it could put an end to the deli her family has put over 50 years into. When she goes to talk to Theo and beg him to reconsider, he gets bashed in the head with a big metal box that falls from the ceiling, literally. In order to stay with him to further push her agenda, she lies to the paramedics and says she’s his fiancé. A lie she wasn’t going to continue with for long, but when Theo wakes up he has temporary amnesia and can’t remember the last six years. What a perfect time for the nurse to tell him that Ellie is his fiancé. What is she going to do now?

She doesn’t have to wait long to figure it out as Theo’s memory comes back quickly. It turns out he’s not a huge fan of his father’s new business venture either. They devise a plan to keep up with the fiancé ruse in hopes they’ll both get what they want. She despises the prick, but can’t argue with logic. I mean really what could go wrong? It’s not like they’ll fall in love…

As I said, this had a slow start for me. It did get better, but then flatlined again. I don’t know what it was, but I found myself bored. I liked Theo and Ellie enough, but I felt the narrative was too slow. I found myself skipping around a bit. I hate to admit it, but this wasn’t the quick, romantic read I was looking for.

I will say this was cute and the premise was so good. I did love the chemistry between Ellie and Theo and how they really got to know each other. The spice scenes were mild, but 🔥🔥. I also really enjoyed the ending.

Overall, I do think plenty of people will love this. I would be willing to read more by this author.

I loved this book…i will say the text messages were a tad confusing because i did not know where it started and when it finished but i loved the characters. I didn’t know i would like a meat shop owner as much as i did

I enjoyed this romance story, which felt a bit reminiscent of "While You Were Sleeping" initially. It was a classic enemies-to-lovers narrative, and also gave off "You've Got Mail" vibes, with the big company pushing out the small family business idea. Both lead characters were likable to me. Overall, I enjoyed this read.