Tarah is such a feel good author for me. Just like her past books I found myself kicking my feet and giggling. I’ve said it before and I’ll day it again marriage of convenience is always a yes for me. I am not a second chance person but it works in this one.

As a fan of the forced proximity trope, I have to say I loved this book. It was so charming read, and I didn't want it to end. It is such a quick read, and I finished it in one sitting. I saw another reviewer describe this as "if beach read and you deserve each other had a love child" and that's truly the best way anyone COULD describe it. The characters were sweet and I loved them all. This was a five star read. It was my first by Tarah DeWitt, but I will be looking forward to more in the future.

I really loved this book. The banter was adorable and Deacon was such a refreshing character. LaRynn was a certified badass and I love that they were able to work through their trauma together. It was a fun read for sure, and I’m super thankful for NetGalley for the Arc!

I liked this book, but didn't love it. It did keep me entertained throughout most of the book. A fun second chance romance with a marriage of convenience.
I didn't like the fact that they had such a hard time communicating their feelings in the beginning, but when they were finally honest with each other I really started to enjoy their characters and appreciate their growth.
While I did grow to like both of their characters more, Larynn was not my favorite. Who spends that much on a pillow?! I understand she grew up with money and didn't have to think of the price of items, but she's in her 30's now and has been struggling financially for sometime. I feel like she should have been more financially literate than she was. Her character was honestly so frustrating sometimes. I did enjoy Deacon's character for the most part and LOVED when he called her "Lar."
I thought the ending was sweet though and overall I had a nice time reading this.
Thank you NetGalley for this arc.

This book. I am unwell.

“I want it all, LaRynn. You’re a fine friend and everything, but I can’t take having less than all of it with you,” he says, and I feel every word thump under my skin.

I urge you to give this book a chance. LaRynn is prickly and it may take you a while to get it but wow, l loved them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author Tarah DeWitt for the advanced reading copy, all my opinions are my own.

The Co-Op was my third book by Tarah DeWitt this year and I can emphatically say that she is now an auto-buy author for me. This story was a bright spot in a dark time for me. Deacon and LaRynn made me laugh and cry in equal measure, but most of all they gave me hope. 

These two broken-hearted kids were able to find their way back to each other as adults in the midst of a home renovation. It was the perfect backdrop for Deacon and LaRynn to work out their past issues and the close proximity created a level of tension that I could not get enough of. I am a big fan of the marriage of convenience trope and I loved how this one played out.

These characters are flawed and relatable in a way that had me fully invested in them as individuals and as a couple. The conflict happens earlier in the story and paves the way for Deaon and LaRynn to overcome their insecurities together in an extremely satisfying way. 

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book.

This was cute. I liked the young adult lovers, turned enemies, turned friends and lovers again. I thought it was well done. I really liked the two points of view - today and in the past. It made you feel as if you really got to know the characters. The chemistry and banter was incredibly well done. My only complaint was that it was way too slow of a burn. I felt like the book dragged on way too much. I am all for a slow burn, but this was just too slow. I struggled to pick-up the book for the first half, even though I wanted to know what happened with the characters, I was just kind of bored. The second half I read in an afternoon though. LaRynn and Deacon inherited their grandmothers' dilapidated building. In order to rehab it, they get married to access LaRynn's trust fund. They quickly learn that they have to move on from the past in order to find a future. Overall a cute read!
Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

Marriage of convenience, forced proximity, AND second chance romance??

This book was very good! The characters were very lovable and had so much depth to them!

I didn't love the dual timelines because those are sometimes hard for me to follow and I'll forget if I'm reading the past or present, but that is completely a me problem. The other thing that I didn't love was, the beginning of the book felt slow and I feel like the story didn't start to really pick up until about 40% into it.

Overall, a very good story and pretty easy read! If you enjoy Emily Henry books, you'll enjoy this one! This book is getting traditionally published and rereleasing under St. Martin's Press on November 12th, 2024!

Thank you netgalley and St. Martin's press for gifting me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good DIY home renovation story, so I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately for me, this was just okay. The backstory of LaRynn and Deacon felt off, and didn't make entire sense for me, especially since they're basically cousins in a sort of way? This seemed to be a big missing piece for me. The flashbacks were okay, but they didn't help me connect to the characters any more or understand their motivations any better. The romance was mostly lust, and overall I didn't feel any true tension build between them. Perhaps the dual POV made it a bit too choppy. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.

The Co-op
Tarah DeWitt
Pub 11/12
4☆

They say love and construction don't mix.
By that logic, hate and construction may as well be condemned.

DeWitt does it again! I absolutely adored LaRynn and Deacon’s story. It was not only a fun story about home renovation, it was also a heartwarming story about also relationship “renovation”. It was a wonderful mix of humor and heart and done so perfectly without the dreaded miscommunication or a third act breakup! Book by book my love for Tarah’s writing (and her covers omg 😍) grows exponentially and I cannot wait for more.


What I adored:
🪚 Slow Burn
🪚 Enemies To Lovers
🪚 Second Chance
🪚 Marriage of Convenience
🪚 Home Renovation
🪚 Forced Proximity

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Co-op is a beautifully layered romance about more than restoring a home. It delves into the emotional renovation in relationships, especially when two people have walls built from past heartbreak and ultimately misunderstanding one another. While the setup sounds like a lighthearted romcom, this book takes a deeper, more intense dive into the complexities of trust, vulnerability, and the slow work of unlearning self-protective habits.

DeWitt’s signature style of creating complex, messy characters shines here as LaRynn and Deacon grapple with their own insecurities and the patterns that keep them at a distance from others—and each other…one choosing to charm and keep people “close” while the other pushes them away as quickly as possible.

This book probably isn’t for you if you shy away from miscommunication or tension; The Co-op thrives on it, presenting the realistic frustrations and incremental progress of two people slowly learning to communicate honestly. Both LaRynn and Deacon are frustratingly relatable, especially in the way they guard themselves against disappointment and rejection. Their conflict might feel like a lot to navigate, but DeWitt’s careful pacing and thoughtful insights make their journey towards understanding feel genuine.

DeWitt doesn’t hold back on heavier themes either, so if you have experienced parental neglect or emotional distance, this book could hit particularly close to home. I strongly recommend reading the content warnings and author’s note to gauge your readiness for the story’s emotional depth.

Overall, while The Co-op was a challenging read at times, it was equally rewarding. DeWitt’s ability to craft characters who are real, raw, and in need of understanding is one of the best things about her work, and it shines through here. This isn’t easy for me to give a star rating to, but if you’re looking for a heartfelt, authentic love story that embraces the beauty of imperfection, The Co-op is worth every page.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy of this book. My apologies for not getting to it before publication day.
This book took me awhile to read and get in to. But once I really got into it and started getting to know the characters I enjoyed it! The main characters and their friends were relatable and made me think of my friend group. I wished we could have gotten more on the "Grands" story, and I loved that they were mentioned and talked about throughout the book.
I would recommend this book to my friends and family.

I have reached a point where I'm just gonna go ahead and pre-order whatever DeWitt writes next.

This love story about LaRynn and Deacon, two teens who fell into one another as teens then broke just as swiftly, grabs your heart from the start and doesn't let go.

The way she weaves the passions and stumblings of youth with the weight of a lifetime's baggage and how these two people find ways to process their past and shift those weights to be able to become what they could be together is moving and relatably awkward/uncomfortable, sweet and steamy, entertaining and unputdownable.

Highly, highly recommend.

For fans of:
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren
The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce
Homebound by Meredith Trapp
A Proposal They Can't Refuse by Natalie Caña

Book Review 📚
Title: The Co-Op
Series: Standalone
Author: Tarah DeWitt
Format: Audio
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tropes:
🏚️ Marriage of Convenience
🪚 Forced Proximity
🏚️ Second Chance
🪚 Roommates to Lovers
🏚️ Dislike to Love
🪚 It’s Always Been You

Favorite Quotes:
“I’m angry at the parts of him I’ll never get.”
-This was a gut punch and I felt it in my soul.

“Alright Lar, let’s pick out a shitter.”
-I literally did a spit take 😂😂

“Because when I’m not what works for people at that time in their lives, when I’m not a convenient version of me, I always manage to lose them.”

“When you have a bad day ma fille, think about it from beginning to end. Walk your way through it. Was it really a bad day, or was it a few bad moments? What part of your day would you like to hold onto before you close your eyes? Find that good bit, and let it be the thing you go to sleep to.”

“That I’m happy here with you, in our half torn apart house. That I think—I think I’d be content to serve coffee every day and watch the waves and never do anything extraordinary and still feel like I have the best life.”

Review:
If you can’t tell by the amount of quotes I loved (that isn’t even all of them), I really loved this book! This book follows Deacon and LaRynn, who had a fling when they were teens and haven’t seen each other in years. They both inherit a home and have to enter into a marriage of convenience to pay for the renovations.

This book had me in tears because I was laughing so hard. I literally did a spit take during the toilet shopping part. The pranks they pulled on each other were hilarious. The banter and the tension were perfect and when Deacon said, “that’s my wife,” I was done for. Both main characters had a lot of growth throughout the story, which I also loved. Tarah DeWitt writes books that I feel in my soul. I always finish reading her books and have a new perspective about things. The characters she writes and their problems are so real and I really appreciate that. I highly recommend this book 🧡 The paperback releases in November 12th.

I listened to this book on Audible. Stephanie Rose and Nelson Hobbs did a great job!

The Co-op by Tarah DeWitt is 5/5 stars!
I devoured this book in one day and loved every word I read.

LaRynn and Deacon have a unique relationship. They shared a summer together a decade ago, after being introduced by their grandmothers, and now they’ve both inherited a dilapidated building from the grands. LaRynn has the money needed for the project but she can only access it once married. Deacon and Rynn haven’t spoken since that fateful summer and now the pair have to navigate renovation and restoration of both the building and their relationship. They hurt each other in the past and reading about how they healed each other in the present was an absolute joy. Deacon and Rynn are flawed, complex, and oh so lovable. They show up for each other while also bringing all the humor. If you couldn’t tell by now, I LOVED this second chance romance!
Read this if you like: second chance romance, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine, marriage of convenience, dual pov, flashbacks, and banter!!

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

I big thank you to NetGalley, Tarah DeWitt, and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: LaRynn and Deacon inherit a beach house from their grandmothers - but in order to get the money to fix it up to sell, or they need to get married. The only problem is they both ended up heartbroken after a summer fling years ago as teenagers, and now they can’t stand each other.

Thoughts: Reading this book made my heart so happy! LaRynn and Deacon are both flawed but lovable, and their chemistry is spot on. Tarah does banter SO WELL. The home renovation and forced proximity leads to some fun hijinks and humor, but there are also lots of deeper moments. And *spoiler alert* there’s no miscommunication drama or third act breakup PRAISE BE. Go grab a copy, you won’t regret it.

Read this if you like:
🔨 home renovation
🔨 forced proximity
🔨 marriage of convenience
🔨 second chance romance

This is definitely my favorite of Tara Dewitt’s books TO date.

I’ve just finished so I’m honestly at a total loss for words, but this book sucked me in so quickly. Not a single dry moment of this book. Every chapter was carefully and perfectly crafted, written, executed.

LaRynn and Deacon are some of the most realistic characters I’ve read in a romance book in a while. Everything about their personal journeys, insecurities, worries, etc was relatable in some way. The author had no trouble bringing these two to life, so much that they genuinely felt like real people I knew.

The chemistry between these characters was hot as a volcano, truly. I haven’t read a romance book in so long where they complemented each other so well. I love love love that there was no third act conflict and this was simply a well written story of real, raw, true love and all of its ups and downs.

Thank you so much to the publisher for granting me an early copy.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this book!

I loved this book and I love Tarah DeWitt! Cannot recommend this book enough.

LaRynn and Deacon inherit their grandmothers’ house that is falling apart and they come up with a plan to fix it up and sell it. However, they have so much history and chemistry between the two of them that it’s not that simple. It’s a close proximity, second chance, grumpy and grumpy romance.

Although, I enjoyed sone of the characters and their development it felt spotty in timeline and slow at times.

📚 ARC Review 📚
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed this book. I feel like the epilogue just made the book.

I love that their grandmothers and a summer break are what brought them together. This book was just so emotional.

I absolutely love a strong willed MFC and LaRynn is that. She was so closed off and Deacon was determined to break down all those walls. Overall, the characters were all realistic and loveable.

Troupes
🌊 Marriage of Convenience
🌊 Second Chance
🌊 Dual POV
🌊 Small Town
🌊 Forced Proximity

This is book is a standalone.

Thank you, Tarah DeWitt, and NetGalley for allowing me to have an e-ARC of this book! I truly enjoyed it.