this was lighthearted and fun filled with forced proximity, banter, and marriage of convenience- all things i love in a romcom! for me i didn’t feel like the FMC was super believable at the start of the story so it took some time getting into it.

This story had me with its gorgeous cover and marriage-of-convenience premise, but I stayed for the witty banter and electric chemistry between LaRynn and Deacon. Their dynamic is explosive, with both sharp humor and deep-seated emotion woven into every interaction. The dual timeline is “well-constructed,” effortlessly blending their rocky past with the slow, steamy rebuild of their relationship in the present. The story is more than just a romance; it’s about the work that goes into building trust and the joy in finding a true partner. This second-chance romance is a must-read for anyone who loves a mix of humor, steam, and heartfelt character growth. Highly recommend!

Read if you like:
🔨 Second Chance
🔨 Dual Timeline
🔨 Marriage of Convenience
🔨 Forced Proximity
🔨 Home Renovation

I really needed a book these past few weeks that was light-hearted and would make me feel good, and Tarah delivered! I’m so excited to have gotten an ARC of The Co-op in its newly updated trad published version! This second chance romance made me so giddy and was the perfect thing to help me feel better.

This story follows LaRynn and Deacon, who reunite a decade after their summer fling that ended in heartbreak. As teens, they met through their grandmothers, who had lived in the same house (that was split into three units) and fell in love, knocking down the wall between their apartments to make one home. After both grans pass away, they leave the place to the two grandchildren, which is where our story begins. With the house falling apart and in need of repair, they must work together to get it back into shape in order to rent or sell it off. The problem? Both of them are low on funds unless LaRynn gets access to her trust fund, which she can only do if she gets married. Told through flashbacks and present moments, we see what happened to these two that fateful summer that led to their resentment and bitterness towards each other now. But as they begin to fix up the house, they find it isn’t the only thing that will be restored.

I truly loved their relationship so much. They started out bitter and angry at each other, with many jabs and arguments to be had, but as time goes on, we see them learning to open up and communicate, something they struggled with in the past. The story isn’t just about rebuilding a house, but about rebuilding a relationship and finding the beauty in what once was broken. These two are so precious and I adored all of their flashbacks to when they were kids. It is a sloooow burn with lots of tension, but so worth it in the end! The pacing of the book was well laid out, with plenty of humorous moments and heart touching scenes too.

I also adored the epilogue, set ten years in the future. I love getting to see characters and how far they have come!

Thank you NetGalley for the copy of this book!

Pick this up if you love:
❤️ spice
❤️ second chance romance
❤️ ENEMIES to lovers
❤️ dual POV
❤️ dual timeline

Be sure to pick up the edition that just came out this week! It has some updates. I love dual POV. I just love getting both perspectives. The timelines got a little messy for me and the characters were borderline mean to each other in the beginning. But I really enjoyed the fixing up of their grandmothers' home plotline.

I love this book so much. I read the first version of it two years ago and while I couldn’t tell you what has changed, I can say that this new version is absolute perfection. It’s full of tension, banter, push and pull and so much growth. LaRynn and Deacon are two flawed characters but seeing their love for each other felt truly special. As they slowly renovated the house, they were also building their relationship and their trust in each other. It was so beautiful to see them overcome their past trauma together and move past their previous mistakes.

I really enjoyed the back and forth between the present and their first summers together. It added so much depth to the characters to know where they were coming from and to see how the relationship had been shaped before.

My one tiny little complain is that I had hoped that the French mistakes would have been corrected in the published version. I know it won’t bother most people, but as a French speaker, specifically from the province mentioned in the book, it hurt a little to see such easily fixable mistakes.

Read for:

Marriage of convenience
Second chance
Forced proximity
Home renovation
No third act breakup
Dual timeline
Dual POV

LaRynn and Deacon inherited their grandmothers’ house when they pass away, but Deacon and LaRynn haven’t spoken in years. The last time they saw each other was when their summer fling ended badly, and now they co-own a home that needs major renovations. They have to put their feelings aside to work together and fix the house.
This was a fun mix of tropes - we had second chance romance, enemies to lovers, and marriage of convenience here, and it was cool to see how they all played out. LaRynn and Deacon’s very complicated past was made more clear through all of the flashbacks in the story. Their love story was messay and full of miscommunications, but it was nice to see them slowly open up to each other and fall in love again.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advance copy.

➻fall vibes
➻small town vibes
➻enemies to friends to lovers
➻marriage of convenience
➻second chance romance

Marriage of convenience is not a big trope that I enjoy, I went in blind to read this so I was kind of taken aback. I think if I tried again I might be more all-in, but I was not fully convinced on their love. It was a great palate cleanser and a good romance story for just any day. Nothing groundbreaking.

“Be my wife. Stay my wife. Forever, LaRynn. I don’t care where we end up or what we do as long as I have you.”

+ marriage of convenience
+ second chance
+ slow burn
+ forced proximity

This was my first Tarah DeWitt book and I’m OBSESSED. I loved every minute of it and I’m absolutely blown away by Tarah’s writing. I can’t wait to read more from her!

There were so many things I loved throughout this book. For starters, the tension!!! *chefs kiss* I love a relatable character, with flaws and lessons to learn and character development. It makes a story feel so much more authentic. Not everything can be a perfect fairytale, ya’know?

Tarah broke my heart, and she put it all back together. Deacon and LaRynn are everything to me. Dancing in the kitchen AND no third act breakup?! SAY LESS

I’ve seen so many people raving about the epilogue and I have to agree, one of the sweetest epilogues I’ve ever read. the cherry on top right at the end, so incredibly well done.

A huge thank you to Tarah DeWitt, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the arc of this republishing!

This is the second book by DeWitt I’ve read (the first being Savor It which I rated highly), and I’m disappointed that I struggled to get through it. I’m giving it the benefit of a doubt because I’ve been distracted by life, but the story didn’t compel me enough to want to put everything else aside to focus on it. First and foremost, I just didn’t care for LaRynn, the FMC. Yes, she had major baggage after being abused and neglected by her father and abandoned by her mother, feeling like she was incapable of being loved. However, her behavior towards Deacon, the anger, the rudeness, and her inability to be vulnerable and to share important parts of herself and her history, really frustrated me.

The use of a dual timeline (present-day and when they were lovers for a summer prior to her first year of college) and alternating chapters from both points of view, gave a full picture of their love story and the mistakes they both made along the way. However, in a character-driven romance, I need to believe in both main characters, and I just couldn’t with LaRynn for about 75% of the story. So, I was actually really thankful for the insight provided by the epilogue ten years in the future.

It’s not a badly-written book, and, if I were in a different frame of mind, I might have enjoyed it more. Unfortunately, I was just bored.

Apologies all, work is crazy and I had reviews sitting in a document that I posted while I had some time to myself. This wasn't that great. Give me a second chance romance and marriage of convenience and I can usually get into it. But, I started this book in July and it took me until November to get back to because it was not very good unfortunately. I think that Rainbow Rowell recently did a second chance romance better in my eyes because you have the two adults actually talk about what happened. I just can't with these books that have people acting as if they are teenagers when they are not.

"The Co-op" follows two friends (teen years) whose grandmothers left them shared ownership of a building. The two leads, LaRynn (which I won't lie I kept messing up her name) and Deacon were just boring and I didn't get any sense of chemistry from the two of them. Long story short, LaRynn has a trust she can't touch until she's married [we are still doing this shit? I guess with Trump 2.0 though it may become a reality that women can't have bank accounts again] and Deacon needs money for his business.

I think that this book was a very rough first draft but there were not enough pieces for this to be an enjoyable romance novel.

4.5⭐
1.5🌶️
Tropes: second chance, forced proximity (sorta), marriage of convenience, one bed, flash backs, slow burn, it’s always been you
Dual POV 1st person

When Deacon and LaRynn were younger, they had a friends with benefits summer. LaRynn fell in love, but Deacon apparently didn’t feel the same, so she went off to college and he stayed home working at his family’s campground. Fast forward several years, and Deacon’s grandmother has passed away. The apartment she shared with her wife, LaRynn’s grandmother, has been willed to them both, but it needs lots of work to get it up to snuff to be put on the market. LaRynn begrudgingly comes back to help him with the repairs.

This was such a great, satisfying book. I think if I were younger/closer in age to the MCs (they are in their late 20s) I wouldn’t have liked this book as much- I saw a lot of reviews complaining how whiny and childish they were, especially LaRynn. But at my ripe old age of “40s”, I get it. This is a romance but it’s also a women’s lit coming of age book. (yes, even in your late 20s!) I enjoyed watching them navigate the dynamics of their relationships, but also watching LaRynn come into her own and find her place within herself and family. It’s also just very sweet and swoony seeing them fall back in love with each other.

My only complaint- and this is probably a weird one- the author mentions at the beginning to not read if you don’t like reading about 19/20 year olds having sex….That honestly made it so I was very confused on the timeline and their present ages in the beginning of the book, so I tried to make the timeline clear in my review lol.

I usually enjoy Tarah's books, but this one was challenging because it often felt like there were missing parts that should have connected the events more smoothly.

The Co-Op by Tarah Dewitt
Standalone Romance Novel
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 Stars

This is such a fun marriage of convenience, forced proximity, and a second-chance romance! LaRynn and Deacon met when they were kids after their Grandmothers fell in love and would spend time together at their house, which eventually led to a summer fling that ended in disaster. Then 8 years later are thrown back together after their grandmothers both pass and leave them their condo, the only issue is it is in disarray and needs so much work. LaRynn is desperate and broke with no other place to go, so she goes back to the small coastal town to sell her Grandmother's condo, the only issue is she is co-owner with Deacon and doesn't know how much work is needed. Deacon is frustrated and angry with LaRynn for staying away so long and then not answering his calls when he needed her to get this condo fixed. So when they are stuck together to figure out this project and how to get along, it ends up being a banter-filled entertaining read! I loved the slow burn between them and the sexual tension from the start! This book was such a fun and easy read. The small-town aspect was also heartwarming and made this book so much better with all the fun side characters! I also enjoyed the flashbacks and learning their history. This is such a fun romance read and would definitely recommend it to romance readers.

“My home, my girl, my pain in the ass, my world. That fucking force of nature. I want her on my side, that formidable, fierce woman”.

2 exes who had a summer fling years ago are forced to reconnect when their grandmothers leave them a house along the beach front that needs A LOT of work.

Of course, each of them have refused to admit how much that “fling” all those years ago meant to them. But instead of either showing any vulnerabilities, the gloves are off and they are fighting and bickering with each other every single interaction. The phrase “hurt people hurt people” comes instantly to mind with LaRynn and Deacon.

Here is the thing, this story is actually beautiful. The struggles that the characters face are very real. LaRynn’s struggles with her parents hit particularly close to home. The grief that both of them have for their grands was palpable and raw.

But the first 70% of the book is them fighting, with very little successful communication, or even attempts at civility. This is a second chance romance, but in order to fund their house project there is a marriage of connivence at play as well so LaRynn can get access to her trust fund. I absolutely eat up that trope, but it didn’t end up really influencing much of the plot besides a few scattered “my wife” comments.

The last 30% of the book really does shine, but at that point it lost much of it’s impact for me because the bickering and fighting didn’t result in the butterflies I chase when I read my romance. It felt like they went from such disdain, to none in the blink of an eye, and I just could not get back into the story as much as I wanted to at that point.

However, I will be trying more books by this author, because if I can get a story where they don’t hate each other for almost 3/4 of the book, I think I could really love it.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC of this title! It came out Tuesday and is available now!

I was pleasantly surprised by this rom-com! The story didn't initially sell me, but the BANTER.  Exactly what I love.  Forced proximity is one of my favorite tropes, and DeWitt did a stunning job making the interactions seem realistic.  My only cons were the time gaps and the epilogue.  Sometimes it felt like it would skip weeks at a time and I think it would have been better to just shorten the timeline and up the banter and will-they-or-won't they tease moments.  The epilogue was more than cringey and unnecessary.  I guess some readers like the family HEA? Not me, but everyone already knows I hate a pregnancy trope.  Still very much a DeWitt fan! Keeping her backlist on my TBR ❤️

Thank you NetGalley, DeWitt, and St. Martin's for an advanced copy I'm exchange for an honest review!

tarah dewitt’s books never fail to bring a smile to my face and make my heart so full by the end.

larynn and deacon are perfectly imperfect people who had to work through their past to get the happy ending they deserve. to fully renovate the house they inherited from their grandmas, they got married to access the funds needed. through this process, they had to work everything backward, learning how to communicate and trust one another, ultimately falling back in love and loving each other's messes.

it was so fun reading about their house renovation scenes, seeing them banter and bicker over home decor, while pulling pranks on each other. there were many laugh out loud moments. i love the past chapters, getting to see how they met through their grandmas and be their fun, reckless teen selves sneaking around. it gave a backstory to how everything all started and made them revisit their past to fix what was broken.

the way deacon loves larynn is everything! he makes her feel seen and mattered. the epilogue was my favorite. it was heartwarming to see larynn have the love she never experienced growing up. it's so healing for her to start a family with deacon, who all look at her like she is their entire world. the scene of them putting music on in the house and dancing in the kitchen? that's the kind of love i dream of

"i'd find you...and i don't think there’s a version of you i couldn't love."

tropes: second chance romance, marriage of convenience, dislike to love, forced proximity, beach town, pranks

thank you netgalley and smp for the arc

I enjoyed this book. It had characters that I felt connected well with. I like the second chance storyline and was really into how they were going to work things out.
The house renovation was interesting, and I liked how it was handled.
This book will have the attention of many readers. For me it is a book that I will not think about for too long after I have now finished reading.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the copy of The CO-OP.
This is my personal review.

This was a second chance, enemies to lovers, and marriage of convenience all in one. My top favorite tropes all in one book. So did I enjoy every second of it?! The answer is yes, I definitely did!!! The banter in this book was hilarious. I found myself laughing out loud on many occasions. Such a fun read.

I enjoyed this book and liked the fact that the book would go from present day to back when they were teenagers. I was confused at first by the fact that their grandmothers were married but realized that they weren’t related. The book was well put together and had some moments that made me laugh and others were I thought awww that’s sweet.

ahhh!! Tarah added so much to this story and made me love it even more. I'm so happy we got more context to Deacon and LaRynn's past, it added so much more to the story and their rekindling.

I love a marriage of convenience so much, but add in all the angst and old feelings from their previous relationship that ended in heartbreak?!? Truly, fantastic banter, tension you could cut with a knife and a second chance romance that has you rooting for these two to get it right this second time around.