This was my first Tarah DeWitt book, and it won't be my last.
Reading The Co-op was an enjoyable experience. The characters felt real and relatable. The story itself was well-written and pulled me in from the start.

I really enjoyed this book! It was a hit for me and I see why so many others loved it! Now I need to go back and read more of her books!! Thank you so much netgalley for this copy of Mercury!

This was so cute! My first book by this author and I’ll definitely be reading Savor it ASAP. Her writing was witty, and the story had me rooting for the main characters from start to finish.

Second chance romance and marriage of convenience, yes please! I really enjoy this fun read and their banter back and forth had me giggling!

“They’ve been playing house…while these walls are coming down” 🏠🤍

I’m a sucker for the marriage of convenience trope when done well and this one definitely was! I loved the HGTV vibes and fell in love with the characters growth. However I get deeply irritated with a miscommunication trope in any romance so that was the only part that deterred me from rating any higher. I don’t think I’ve read any home construction romance so the plot line alone had me intrigued from the start!

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced readers copy!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

I have enjoyed past writings of this author and was looking forward to this one. We have a past history of young love and broken hearts, a second chance love story with a marriage of convenience mixed in. We get flashes of the earlier timeline of Deacon and LaRynn's relationship but not a full explanation of the ending them. I was hoping for a little more of the past revealed. When the two reunite it is after they are given shared ownership of their grandmothers' apartment building. A plot emerges to access LaRynn's funds she will get when she marries. The they can renovate and eventually sell. I was disappointed that even though our couple was now grown you could still see times of immense immaturity. Add that blasted miscommunication trope and not voicing true feelings/opinions was frustrating, too. I enjoyed the spark and the cutesy/loving times when our couple made an effort. The push and pull especially from Larry and all her wide mood swings/issues got old, fast. I hoped for more character growth by the end. When we finally get to the honesty stage and willingness to open hearts and accept a real marriage was (almost) worth all the messiness to get there. I could do without the open-door scenes...the romance and not the "lust" is what sells it!

3.5 stars

Another knockout from Tarah DeWitt! To be fully transparent: if it's written by her, I'm going to read it and most likely love it. The Co-Op was so beautifully written and I love a marriage of convenience trope! Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC!

This was better without the flashbacks. (I’d give the 2022 version 4 stars)

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Tarah DeWitt does it again! I love her books and getting to know the characters for it. This book was exactly what I needed with great characters, a great story line and just enough spice. I highly recommend.-

Overall, I enjoyed this story and thought that it creatively set a second chance romance against the backdrop of an exploration on grief and complicated family relationships. I do think that as much as the layers of the story: the co-op remodel, the characters' layered backgrounds, the loss of their grandmothers, as well as their own complicated relationship, do contribute to making the story more interesting it also made the book feel like a much heavier read than I as a reader anticipated. The chapters are very heavy in exposition, often leaving a desire for more dialogue between the characters and more of a focus on the actual love story. Still, it was enjoyable and I'd recommend.

I read the original version of The Co-Op by Tarah DeWitt and her updated version adds a whole new layer into this already incredible story. Tarah is such a master in creating authentic characters with organic relationships and LaRynn and Deacon were no exception. This story is filled with so much heart and heat and I absolutely love it.

I was slightly hesitant to start this one after not loving her latest, but I really, really liked The Co-Op. The pacing was great, the characters were well developed, and the story line was fun. I think I will work through her backlist now!

Despite the premise of this story being a little bananas, this was such a fun book to read! The banter between LaRynn and Deacon is hilarious, and they played off each other really well. There wasn't a ton of spice, but those scenes packed quite a punch. This was my first read from Tarah DeWitt, and I will certainly seek her out in the future.

LaRynn and Deacon inherit a house from their grandmothers and have to decide whether they’d like to sell or keep it. The house is in shambles, which means that renovations are a must. Former childhood friends, LaRynn and Deacon have both grown apart with age, and a childhood mishap that left them contactless and definitely not friendly.

I loved the enemies to friends trope, as well as the banter. Definitely a bit spicy. One of my favorite books by Tarah DeWitt!

It took me a while to get into this one. The use of miscommunication trope was very strongly used which kinda made me not like the main characters as much. I get it their parents weren’t good role models for healthy communication in a relationship but they could have looked at other relationships like their grandmothers for that. Also I found the part where the buyer just let them out of the sale of the house very unbelievable. Seriously the housing market is crazy these days.

This second-chance golden-retriever-boyfriend and black-cat-girlfriend rom-com contains a great combination of enemies-to-lovers and marriage-of-convenience tropes, with deeper layers of restoration, not only of homes but relationships. Too many dashes in my sentence? Too bad, you should be dashing to read it instead! Seriously, a heartwarming and lovely read though there were some things I wish I had vibed better with. For fans of “How To Lose a Guy In 10 Days”.

After reading "Savor It" back in May, I was obsessed with Tarah DeWitt’s manner of writing. She captures the essence of her characters and the story she is telling and touches the soul. While I prefer her other book, this has a special place in my heart.

This story is actually the book she began after her debut Rootbound but she didn’t get the chance to finish it when there was a demand for Funny Feelings. It was released in 2022, but it has been re-released in 2024, with tweaked – or you could say “renovated” haha! – and bonus content added. Now, as someone who has not read the original, I cannot compare but I just know that it has been redone well because of how much I love this.

DeWitt considers this her favourite work, and I can see why in terms of the story itself. There are very raw heartfelt moments and those who have had experiences like strained relationships with family or still harbouring feelings for someone will find this rather relatable. Both LaRynn and Deacon go through these things. I wish I could put into words how much their dynamic meant to me, because it felt so realistic: seeing two broken people misinterpret each other so much when they were younger, trying to play it cool, to them years later eventually allowing their barriers to come down, seeing the real sides of themselves and embracing their flaws. And their flaws were so well-defined, so human, I just want to hug them both!

Tarah DeWitt hooks you into this book so well through the prologue. The date the story is set is “Some Wednesday in May” where LaRynn is marrying Deacon. This firstly, sets the scene and tension because a wedding is considered one of the most important days of a person’s life so by describing as some Wednesday shows LaRynn’s feelings: that it is strictly business, not a special day, therefore the details do not matter. Secondly, it makes you immediately want to read more, as it is established that she is getting married to the man who broke her heart nearly a decade ago, and it’s like “Wait whaaat? What happened? How did it come to this?” – this was done excellently! The momentum after that was neither here nor there for me and only picked up around the halfway point when they became more communicative and open.

In a lot of ways, this book reminded me of the contemporary romance I read earlier this year called "The Ex Vows" by Jessica Joyce. Interestingly, this book was also planned to be released earlier and contained a dual timeline. It also reminds me of "The Reno" by Maggie Grant, another 5-star read which is about renovation and strained relationships with parents, too!

A few things that made this a 4 star instead of 5:
🠚I feel the time-jumping was confusing at times, and then the “Before” sections stop some time well before the end, and I think the buildup should have been more progressive and less telling at once.
🠚LaRynn’s character irritated me at times, especially in Chapter 13 when she overdoes the spending of the budget and buys ridiculous things without consulting Deacon (particularly when they share the budget). I understand, especially the more you read, that this is her way of healing her inner self and giving herself comfort she never had (furniture for a permanent home because her parents were always moving place to place). She does deserve to have nice things but she was being unreasonable. She could also be rather petty and it was too petty for me.
🠚I didn’t vibe with when Mrs. Gold and Deacon’s mother find the pair of them canoodling in the shed. It was amusing, don’t get me wrong, but it felt too silly for my liking. I wanted them to have that moment to themselves.

WOW. Fantastic character development, beautiful prose, dreamy chemistry, and a relationship that truly came to life - it had everything I love. It's been a LONG time since I've loved a romantic comedy *this* much. So many lines had me laughing out loud, and a few even got me a bit teary. Absolutley will be recommending to my audience and friends! I can't wait to read more from Tarah DeWitt!

Point blank I really enjoyed this one. This was my second by Tarah DeWitt & after not loving Savor It, I was a little nervous about this one. But I was pleasantly surprised. The first 15-20% or so seemed a bit slow & reminded me a lot of Savor It, but I’m glad I stuck it through because it really picked up quickly after that & I was fully on board with these characters & this story!

If you’ve been here for a while you know I am an absolute puddle for character development & holy heck Deacon (who I called Declan for like the first 60%...reading is hard) & LaRynn had some of the best growth & development I’ve ever read. It really took this from a 3-3.5 for me to a solid 4, probably higher. I thought that LaRynn & Deacon had crazy good chemistry & the banter was incredible. The $90 pillow had a cracking up. I also really enjoyed their background & how the second-chance aspect of the story was handled. Sometimes second-chance isn’t totally believable, but this was the perfect way to handle the trope.

As much as I enjoyed it I did struggle with the level of miscommunication in this one. Maybe the mis- isn’t the right prefix. It was just…lack of communication. But I go back & forth on this because as frustrating as it got at times, it did always feel…justified? A lot of the lack in communication simmered back to mental health & each character working on overcoming something that that either didn’t feel ready to talk about with the other, or couldn’t add something else to their plate.

But at the end of the day I was still bawling on an international flight & tears are always a good thing for me when I’m reading.

Bottom Line: I really enjoyed this! Like I said I was a little hesitant but so glad I read this one. I’m not going to lie, the last 40% or so was giving me strong Beach Read vibes with the banter & chemistry. & that is my all time favorites, so take that as you will for this book. & bonus: I haven’t read Funny Feeling but apparently there is a cameo/reference. So excited to read that one in the future & come back to this one to finally get it!

The Co-op by Tarah DeWitt is the story of Deacon and LaRynn who had a relationship in their youth and came together again as adults. The story is a pleasant read with a fair amount of spice. I enjoyed the characters and their work in renovating the house and appreciated the backstory of the grandmothers.

I read this book at a busy time so it was nice to just read a few pages at night and in the morning and visit with these characters. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. The Co-op is available now.

I really enjoyed this story! I am a sucker for forced proximity and marriage of convenience so I knew I would love this book. I love LaRynn and Deacon!