I loved this! Really great to see a super intelligent protagonist who still can’t quite get that one part of her life sorted out, and the complicated feelings about what other people in your life are doing. Thanks for the review copy!

this was cuuuuuute ! i liked this book it was fun and i liked the characters and their development and chemistry

Two best friends made an ill fated pact.  That if either one of them was  not in a happy committed relationship by Christmas they will get together instead. And have a baby! I found the premise somewhat interesting.  Friendship pacts can make a nice romance if done right.  This one was a bit tiring though. My biggest hmm moment was that Rosie was in her mid thirties and was upset at others for not questioning her on her private life. Her family and friends assumed she didn't want marriage or kids. I didn't understand why she was so upset at them. Mitch's pact made her rethink her future with him. What I liked was Rosie's support system that included her best friend that shared my awesome name. And she was a really good friend. Additionally, Rosie had to make hard and heartbreaking decisions, and being surrounded by her support system was wonderful.  I didn't like Mitch. I felt that he made her think that she was his backup plan. And that was not nice. Rosie made several mistakes along the way as well. Both of them were okay together but needed to communicate. The ending was a bit lackluster and I needed more. Overall, the story was a bit underwhelming and pretty predictable. I'm not sure if I would remember this in 6 months time. I received this ARC from the publisher and Netgalley for my honest review.

A rom-com that follows the story of Rosie and Mitch, two best friends who find themselves in an unexpected situation. Rosie has secretly been in love with Mitch for years, but she's never had the courage to tell him. When Mitch offers her a deal that could potentially help her get over him, Rosie sees it as an opportunity she can't pass up. The premise of the book is engaging and relatable, as many readers have likely experienced unrequited love or the fear of ruining a friendship by confessing their feelings. The writing is light-hearted and witty, making it an enjoyable read.

The book explores the concept of a "fallback" person, where two best friends Rosie and Mitch agree to be each other's fallback if they don't find "the one" by Christmas. A plot line that I found very intriguing which was initially drew me into wanting to read this book in the first place. It is a slow burn, albeit a fun read nonetheless, with a unique plotline and likable side characters!

The author does a great job of examining life in your 30s, with Rosie being ambivalent about having children and Mitch being the romantic who wants to settle down, offering a reversal of traditional gender roles, with Rosie being unsure about settling down and having children while Mitch wanting the exact opposite, a dynamic that was I found interesting to see come into fruition and the way it was executed I really appreciated. Besides that, I also loved how the author so perfectly explored societal expectations and the hardships that comes with it about dating in your 30s.

However, I also found the relationship between Rosie and Mitch could be lacking sometimes, some problems that they had could really easily be resolved with better communication. I can see why the flashbacks that were included in the book could seem repetitive to some readers but personally I was okay with it.
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Overall, it was a good read and I’d definitely recommend it to readers who’d want a fun, easy and a quick read!

Thank you to Netgally and HarperCollin Uk for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I adored this!! What a cute and heartwarming story! Loved it so much I stayed up late reading it. I was captivated by the characters,writing and the plot. It was exactly what I needed right now. I enjoyed this immensely and loved how relatable it felt at times . I would wholeheartedly recommend this book. Can't wait to read more by this author. I especially recommend this to readers that love friends to lovers trope.It was perfect! 5 stars!

*thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review"

Rosie and Mitch have been best friends for years. Now that they're 30 Mitch is ready to settle down and have a family but can't find the right woman. He decides him and Rosie should be each others fallback plan if they're not in serious to be married relationships by Christmas.

-flatmates
-friends to lovers
-3rd person POV

Thank you NetGalley, One more chapter/Harper Collins UK for the ARC!

I liked that this story involved a female scientist, and academia - and the female friendships developed throughout the novel, though mostly toward the end. The Bechdel test didn't get passed until well into the book. The last parts of the books were more enjoyable for me, and I felt that the story became more than just the heroine's struggle with the hero.
Sadly, there was a lot I didn't like - I felt there was more telling and narration about the relationships between characters rather than showing through dialogue. The hero was pretty unlikable at first, and the heroine was pretty flat. There wasn't much about her other than work and her relationship with the hero. Then in the last third of the book, there was suddenly a lot of other conflict all at once. The extra conflict, however, all related back to the hero and heroine's relationship troubles and I wished there had been more complexity to those story lines.

The fallback was okay. It didn’t hit for me like I thought it was going to. The main characters were fine but nothing stood out about them that I liked. The premise of the story was cute which is why I wanted to read it. However the execution of it just wasn’t as great as it could have been. I wanted to fall in love with Mitch like Rosie had and that didn’t happen at all. His plan seemed to be ill thought out and the logic behind it was stupid. Mitch didn’t read as being charming or nice to me at all. I thought he was pushy and really arrogant not really coming across as loving. On the other hand I thought Rosie had no backbone and was written to be too timid and had no backbone. Her whole going off of others advice instead of doing what she thought was best was one of the many reasons I felt this way. She also didn’t put in as much effort with dating like I thought she would which I think could have made the plot lines be stronger than what we got. I loved there was a HEA but it was one of the only good things I got from this story.

3 stars - The Fallback is a cute, easy romance read, great for people who enjoy friends-to-lovers books and exploring the idea of being someone's 'fallback'.

I enjoyed the reversal of the usual tropes, with Rosie being the one who is unsure about settling down and having children. Most of the characters were likeable and I particularly enjoyed reading about Nadia and Jasmine, who are both dealing with their own issues while trying to help Rosie with her situation. I also liked the insight into Rosie's career as a scientist, and the descriptions of London throughout the book really helped to set the scene.

I liked most of the characters, but unfortunately not Rosie, which made it difficult to keep reading as the book is from her point of view. I appreciate that the flashback scenes were added for insight into her history with Mitch, but they were often accompanied by Rosie describing the event in the present timeline too, and this felt repetitive and unnecessary. There was a lot of miscommunication which I found frustrating to read, and a lot of the events in the second half of the book were very predictable.

Thank you to NetGalley & One More Chapter/HarperCollins UK for an ARC in exchange for honest feedback.

Thanks to NetGalley and One More Chapter for the ARC of The Fallback by Eleanor Goymer.

This story is about best friends Mitch and Rosie who makes a plan to be each other’s fallback if they can’t find “the one” before the annual Christmas party at Rosie’s work. This was a good debut novel and I enjoyed that the FMC was in the STEM field, but I think the execution of the story could have been improved. I didn’t see much character development from our FMC and would have wished for her to be more mature considering she is supposed to be in her thirties. But I could feel the chemistry between Mitch and Rosie and I’m glad about how the story ended.

I would recommend this if you want a sweet friends to lovers story🤩

I have a hard time with books with now and then timeline. I really tried to get in to this book but I lost interest when all of a sudden a new time line was introduced. I am however still curious about who Rosie ends up with if it’s not Mitch. So maybe I will give this another chance later on when I’m not in a reading slump.

The Fallback by Eleanor Goymenr
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Tropes: Friends to lovers, miscommunication, fallback, slow burn, secret love.

Best friends, Rosie and Mitch, have decided that if they can’t find their person then they would be each other’s fallbacks. As a debut novel it really did have the making of great story, however the execution of the story needed a bit more tweaking in my honest opinion (and this is just my opinion). The characters fell felt and often times were a bit basic. I just wish that there was a bit more to be fair.

First of all
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollin UK, One more chapter for giving me the opportunity to read this book, I am very grateful.
I had seen the concept of 'fallback' in a series or movie (even in my real life from my best friend, but no, I wasn't in love with him) but of all the books I've read so far I hadn't come across any with this concept, and that was something that really caught my attention in this story.
"The Fallback" is a charming and funny romance novel that follows Rosie, a woman who secretly falls in love with her best friend, Mitch.
I love these types of stories, I think they are realistic feelings and situations, that happen in real life and that makes it easy to empathise with the characters, something I value very much in my reading,
Goymer's writing is light and enjoyable, and the characters are realistic and charming. "The Fallback is a perfect read for lovers of romance, comedy and stories of unrequited love. I've fallen in love with it, I hope to read more from this author. ^^

This book was cute. There was a lot of sweet parts but also a lot of slower parts where I found myself skimming through. It was fun but it also didn’t blow me away. I really liked both Rosie and Mitch! The gender reversal was very interesting and I liked it!

After seeing many movies follow the idea of a fallback/backup plan, I was very interested in this book!! And it’s safe to say that I really enjoyed it.
Rosie & Mitch I think are one of the cutest friends to lovers stories I’ve seen, just because of the slow burn and how much they both obviously love each other.
I did feel like the character ‘flaws’ were very frustrating - it sometimes felt like they were a bit selfish and only really considered their own feelings - however it didn’t pull too much away from the book and my feelings toward it.
Overall, I have this book a 3.75⭐️ so have rounded this up to a 4!!

Thank you Net Galley & OMC for an ARC in exchanged for honest feedback.

There was so much that grabbed my attention with this read, and made it overall good and a quick read. (Also very fade to black at the end so extremely appropriate)

Rosie and Mitch have been best friends for years, ever since being roommates and working through uni together. And they've been just friends the entire time until one night and a kiss that had Rosie falling head over heels for Mitch. Never believing for a second he could feel the same she agrees to go along with his plan to be each others fallback if neither of them finds love by Christmas. But it quickly becomes apparent their friendship may not survive the countdown.

Overall, again this was a good read but I didn't love either of the mc's. Mitch was like an over eager puppy with a bone with each new love interest and Rosie was so determined it could never be any different that it was her detriment.

I'd still recommend to anyone looking for a quick romance read with an interesting plot though!

Add this to the list of my favorites! LOVED this. It made me laugh so much, and I fell in love with these characters!

—Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you love friends to lovers romances that have witty dialogues and feel like great romcom movies then you’ll love this one.
3.5/5

thank you netgalley for a chance to read and review this book!
this is a very nice debut. falling in love with your best friend is usually kind of boring but i love me a backup plan to lovers trope. anyway rosie was very bleh not going to lie. very little personality. i liked mitch a bit. overall the experience was nice , wouldn’t really reread but it was enjoyable.