I don’t typically read romance novels, but I really enjoyed this one! I laughed out loud during some scenes and loved all the tropes in here: forced proximity, marriage of convenience, and second chances. It was spicy, it was steamy, and a slow burn. I loved the scenery as well (I may be biased as I’m a Northern California native who loves Santa Cruz!). If you’re in the mood for romance, give The Co-Op a try!

Thank you to the publisher, author, and Net Galley for a copy of this novel.

The Co-op

“I like being a good part of someone’s day.”

Oh my heart this book. It was absolutely a good part of my day. I absolutely adored the funny, heartwarming and spicy story.

Check this one out if you’re looking for:
🏠 Renovation romance
🏠 Enemies to lovers / second chance
🏠 Forced proximity
🏠 Modern day marriage of convenience
🏠 He spins his hat backwards 😏

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for this ARC! My opinions are my own.

6 stars. I love this book and these characters with my entire heart and soul. Idk how Tarah did it but she somehow made this book even better. The past chapters added so much to LaRynn & Deacon’s story and i fell in love with them all over again. I loved getting to see how they started and where it all went wrong. I think it added so much depth to their current story. LaRynn is such a special character to me and i see myself so much in her. I echo everything i said in my previous reviews but love this book even more than I did before. 🧡

An absolutely adorable, impossible to put down, feel good novel. LaRynn and Deacon have history, and it isn’t necessarily good. So when their grandmother’s leave them their condo, which is completely falling apart, in Santa Cruz, LaRynn is absolutely dreading figuring out what to do with it - so she keeps putting it off, until she can’t anymore. When she arrives with no money and the only prospect of gaining her trust fund is marriage, she doesn’t know what to do. Until they hatch a plan: a fake marriage, they can access her trust fund, contractor Deacon has the know-how to fix and flip the condo and then they can go their own way. But that history? It’s coming back and both are struggling to figure out how to make this situation work while the sexual tension is slowly tearing them apart.

A super fun, quick read. Told in alternate time-lines and voices (LaRynn and Deacon), it was engaging and steamy.

A fun, easy enemies to friends to lovers story….
Must read for lovers of second chance, marriage of convenience and close proximity fans.

DNF at 11% book was fine just didn't really capture my interest and lots of other books to read. Would still recommend wasn't for me but I'm sure it was an audience. I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Co-Op is full of all the tropes - second chance romance, marriage of convenience, forced proximity - and it was so fun & sweet!

It was the perfect balance of depth, banter, and angst. I was touched by so many parts of LaRynn and Deacon’s story - both as a couple and individually. Most of the story takes place in the present, but the flashbacks to the past were a nice touch to help understand their history! My favorite part of this story was how I could FEEL the characters really falling for one another. 🤍

I had the pleasure of reading the indie version of The Co-op in September of 2023 after meeting Tarah DeWitt at SteamyLit Con. I rated it 5 stars back then, because I loved Deacon and LaRynn so much.

I was super excited that this book was not only picked up by St. Martin's Press, but was going under construction itself!

While the story to its core remained consistent, somehow, the components re-written elevated the story. I'm not sure how Tarah does it, but I absolutely love everything she writes.

There is something so satisfying about the moment when two characters harbouring grudges over hurts the other inflict on them without realizing they also inflicted hurt feelings on the other realize they're mutually at fault. The immediate remorse and better understanding of one another is the moment their deep rooted connection flourishes. Deacon and LaRynn's moment is flawless.

I love the multi-lingual and Canadian representation. In my reading experiences, the bilingual one giving out sweet pet names in another language is often the MMC and we get to witness the FMC swoon over it. But in The Co-op, LaRynn is from Quebec and speaks french - I love the internal monologue moment when Deacon acknowledges how much he loves when she switches to french.

Doing renovations with your partner is HARD. Doing renovations with your ex who mutually holds onto hurt feelings and living in said renovated space together is a whole new level of tension.

I love a marriage of convenience, and getting married in order to access LaRynn's trust fund to finance the renovations on their late grans' house created such an entertaining circumstance.

I also love how competitive LaRynn and Deacon are when playing volleyball against one another! So many fun little dynamics within this beautiful love story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tarah DeWitt and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

I loved how the story alternated between past and present, letting us see how the relationship developed, fell apart, and ultimately came back together. While the marriage of convenience didn’t feel central to the plot, the steamy scenes and heavier emotional moments added depth, as the main characters worked to heal and grow.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC for review.

This book was a really fun read. It brought marriage of convenience and second chance romance together for a very fun mish mash of tropes.

One of the best things about this book was the way they avoided falling into the miscommunication trap, which I think happens so easily in marriage of convenience. Despite their issues, LaRynn and Deacon always talked things out and it led to better chemistry and banter on the page.

I'm so glad that this book is getting a traditional publishing!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nooo. I did not jive with these characters. So immature. Ugh. I read Savor It before this book and that one was a 5⭐️ read. This one is a 2.5. The fmc was insufferable.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review (I’m very late to this!)

I can see how some are going to eat this book up, but it just wasn't for me. I kept going back and forth between wanting more of the plot *besides the romance* to be about the renovation and then not caring at all about the renovation, ooops. I enjoyed their banter and don't read a lot of marriage of convenience, so that part was interesting ahaha. You can’t deny they have history and a lot of angst.

In the end, I mostly wasn't a fan because of how much spice was in it. I'm over reading open-door books where I skip through content that I'm not interested in reading. Which was probably my bad for picking this up 😅 I ended up skipping at least 30% of the book and just reading the ending, because I wanted to know what happens.

Tarah DeWitt does not miss! this book was perfection. Deacon had me absolutely week the entire time. LaRynn was also amazing. I loved their second chance and marriage of convenience story. Their chemistry was amazing. I could feel so much love and hurt from both of them throughout the book. This book was very hot and the sex scenes were very well written. I love this book so much!

Oh I loved this book SO HARD! This story is about two people, LaRynn and Deacon, who were together for one summer. They were both so shy about communicating their feelings that things ended… badly. Fast forward a few years later, and fate (plus a summer house neither wants to let go of) throws them back together.

This was a cute read and I enjoyed it overall. The whole premise of them fixing up LaRynn’s grandma’s house really gave the whole plot more emotional.

Deacon and LaRynn’s miscommunication was the only thing that really bugged me about this book because we all know I don’t like that. But their romance is really sweet and I’m kind of happy it didn’t happen out of nowhere.

I also loved that this took place in Santa Cruz! One of my favorite places in California!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

I love a good second chance romance and this delivered! The main characters were so much fun and the banter and spice in this book was perfection. I really enjoyed this story and can’t wait to read more from this author!

The Co-op by Tarah DeWitt is a cute second-chance romance with DIY home project vibes. The first part was a little slow, but I'm glad I stuck with it because it was an enjoyable read.

A truly summery spicy romance. This book was so fun to read. I loved the banter and character relationships.

Tarah Dewitt could teach a masterclass in how to write beautifully flawed, and veritably genuine characters. She has a way of making her leads feel like your real best friend, sister, or lover. In The Co-Op, the same is true as we meet Deacon, a boy next door “fixer,” and Larynn, a self proclaimed “stuck up girl” whose actually down to earth and just doesn’t know it yet.

Deacon and LaRynn’s chemistry absolutely jumps off the page in this. The banter was scrumptious, and left me hungry for more with every page turned. The way both characters cared for each other while also simultaneously trying to maintain their hatred was actually quite endearing and executed so well in this novel. And not to mention the sexual tension!!! I loved how we received little bite sized pieces of sexy scenes leading up to the final climax (pun intended).

<b> <i> “In need of a virile man, huh?” I bite my lip in a grin. “More specifically one that no one will miss.” I love the way her nose scrunches when she’s pissed. “Oh sugar, you and I both know I never miss.” </b> </i>

Tarah Dewitt’s writing is some of my favorite in the contemporary romance genre. She has such a way with words, both in true life contemplations, and her unserious, sexy character exchanges. She balances both so well in this novel.

<b> <i> “It feels like I can’t get enough of her, or like I’m asking for too much from her. Maybe it’s just me that’s not enough.” </b> </i>

All that being said, there are a couple reasons I can’t give this 5 stars.

For one, the arranged marriage trope felt like a plot movement device. I needed more internal confliction to really feel the “arranged” part in this arranged marriage. We also only really got glimpses of this trope throughout the novel, and I would’ve loved more.
While this was dual narration, the internal monologue had the same exact cadence making it difficult to distinguish the characters voices.
The flashbacks from when they were younger just randomly stop 50% into the novel and weren’t fully resolved. We needed at least one more scene to feel the hatred/tension leading them into the present day.

Overall, I’ll never not recommend a Tarah Dewitt novel. She has a special place on my bookshelf for a reason! 🫶

LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds were once summer flings, but when they become shared owners of the Santa Cruz building they have an opportunity to reconnect. The co-op is a light hearted marriage of convenience and forced proximity story. I will say the lack of communication skills between the two was infuriating, but it also built into the realism of the characters.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.