This is such a fun story, and I'm a sucker for a second-chance romance. Deacon and LaRynn have a long history, connected by their grandmothers, who married each other in a beautiful touristy seaside town where LaRynn used to spend her summers. Now, they've inherited their house together, and need a marriage of convenience to be able to access LaRynn's trust to fund much-needed renovations. But ooooh that history - can they rebuild a house and their relationship at the same time?

This was spicy and fun and heartfelt all at the same time, with multiple tropes to keep you kicking your feet. If it sounds familiar, you may have read it previously - this is a "renovation" of sorts of a previous title. I'm not sure how much has changed as I didn't read the original publication, but it's pretty great as-is.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

The story of LaRynn and Deacon.
Think of it as an HGTV show with a second chance romance with added elements of pinning and humor.

Rynn and Deacon have a bond that neither time nor distance can change. When they agree to marry each for the sake of the renovation project, past feelings come out.

The two go down memory lane (dual timeline) and realize they’re more similar than they think. With the added shenanigans and stress that comes with renovating, the two start a new type of bond.

Tropes:
-Second chance
-Marriage of convenience
-Slow burn
-Forced proximity
-Small town


Thank You To NetGalley, Tarah DeWitt, and St. Martin's Press/Griffin for the eArc of this book. All opinions are my own.

This is my first book by Tarah DeWitt. I loved the note in the beginning regarding her struggles to write it. I am glad she persisted! It is phenomenal! It is a second chance romance with a slight dual timeline. It also has dual POV, which is my favorite. The chemistry is off the charts. You can really feel the longing between them. There's also a lot of character growth as they come together to understand themselves, family, each other, and grief. I loved it so much!
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this eARC!

4.5 stars! Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this fun book.

The Co-Op strikes a perfect balance between lighthearted fun and genuine emotional depth. The characters are complex and layered, crafted with care so that I felt a real connection to their emotions and could understand why they behaved the way they did. The portrayal of their trauma and the environments that shaped them adds a compelling realism to their journeys, with a nuanced approach to healing. I appreciated how the book acknowledges that closure sometimes comes only from within, a message that felt both realistic and uplifting.

The chemistry between the main characters is fantastic, with fun banter that keeps the story lively. And while the book tugs at the heartstrings, it never loses its charm. As for the ending—don’t even get me started! The epilogue was perfect, wrapping things up in the best way possible.

Overall, The Co-Op is a heartwarming read that I’d absolutely recommend to anyone looking for a story that’s both touching and entertaining.

LaRynn and Deacon have had a tumultuous relationship since they were teens. Their married grandmothers, and favorite people in the world, were always bringing them together. One summer the two made a go at romance, but it ended in utter heartbreak. In the present, the grands have died leaving LaRynn and Deacon their beloved home. The house needs more work than imaginable and LaRynn and Deacon will need to work together to get this house ready to sell, hopefully they won't kill each other first.

I liked Deacon more than I liked LaRynn. The contentious relationship between the two made it hard to like them. However, seeing them in the context of other characters alleviated that. Unfortunately, Deacon was shown with other characters more than LaRynn which made it easier to like him.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Tarah DeWitt for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Co-op is about LaRynn and Deacon, exes who inherit property together, and explores their first interactions together after several years apart. The characters are so fun to follow - a black cat FMC and a golden retriever MMC - and their banter and barbed interactions at times fade into a beautiful romance throughout the book.

This book is gorgeous. It beautifully weaves past and present, first love and enduring love, through home construction in a quiet beachside town. This book truly captures and describes the feelings and emotions of the first love and enduring obsession within a first relationship and made me remember exactly how that felt when I experienced it. The book was nostalgic, longing, heartbreaking, and wistful. I applaud Tarah DeWitt's writing and creating such an engaging community for these two characters that keep you rooting for them from the start. Through to the end though, the book is a stark reminder at how much we ourselves mirror continuous building and improvement as we grow, develop, and age.

I really loved this story. The depth of the characters, their history and their emotional connections to their “grands” and their home. There was angst, tension and so much banter.
It’s also made me long for a prequel, telling the grands’ story.

Give me any forced proximity any day of the week and I will devour it. There is just something about how this author writes that is endearing and charming and I cannot help but fall hard for her characters. LaRynn and Deacon are the definition of enemies to more, second chance romance. I loved the dialogue and their interactions together and overall this was a fun book to read.

My only qualm about this duo was the miscommunication. There are times where I can handle this trope but there are times like this book where I wanted to shake the characters so hard and yell “what are you doing?!” When simple conversations can solve problems from becoming bigger, I have a hard time understanding why they won’t just say it.

But overall this book was good. I definitely enjoyed the plot and the characters. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the ARC

4.5 stars! I loved this! I had no idea what to expect when I started this book. To be honest, the female main character annoyed me at first. However, I loved seeing her growth throughout the story and I love second chance romances also! Mix in a little forced proximity and fake marriage and you have the cutest book. This author was new to me but I will definitely be reading more!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. I loved a second chance romance. Marriage of convenience is not a trope I think I’ve ever read. Didn’t hate it. The FMC was an acquired taste that definitely had to grow on me throughout the book.

I enjoyed the banter and some of the dialogue between the characters, however I found the plot of the story to be very confusing and didn't find any of the many subplots included to have been developed at all.

When LaRynn finds out she has inherited a house from her deceased grandmother and her wife, she has to go back to the town of Santa Cruz to decide what to do with the property. Unfortunately, she didn't inherit the house alone; she co-owns it with her first love, her ex-boyfriend, Deacon, who broke her heart when they were teenagers. In order to afford the renovations, LaRynn is forced. to marry Deacon so she can receive her inheritance from her overbearing father. Can LaRynn and Deacon put their differences aside to flip this house or will they be able to make the house a home?

This was a really sweet second-chance/fake marriage romance taking place in Santa Cruz, California, which is just south of where I live. All the references to the city of Santa Cruz, Highway 17, the Boardwalk, and the beach were on point! Made me nostalgic. This book brought more depth than a lot of second-chance romance stories do. Both LaRynn and Deacon are grieving deeply for the 2 grandmothers who they felt loved them best during their difficult childhoods. LaRynn struggled to distance herself from her overbearing, unsupportive, disconnected parents who thought money could make her happy. Deacon also feels like he was never enough for his deceased father who died before Deacon could forgive him. It was beautiful to see both LaRynn and Deacon reflect on their past and mature to realize they were worthy of a deep love without strings attached.

*** I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. ***

4.75⭐️
🌶🌶🌶

Oh, Tarah, how you always manage to tie me up in knots with your love stories 🥹

The Co-op is about two people thrust into a marriage of convenience (who also happened to have had a little summer fling when they were teenagers). But the two who have had absolutely terrible examples of love throughout their lives, yet they yearn for the easy, fiery love they once had. As Deacon and LaRynn furiously trying to save their beloved grandmothers' home, old (and new) feelings are brought to the surface while the two try to coexist under the same roof.

This book made me laugh, cry, and swoon a million times. LaRynn and Deacon are both such flawed individuals, but their love was so strong. The miscommunication was a struggle at times, but this book was truly about self-discovery, with romance on the side, and got so much better once they were honest with one another. Buckle-in and get ready for the most delicious slow-burn that Tarah Dewitt has ever written.

💍marriage of convenience
👩‍❤️‍👨second chance
💘hate to love
❤️‍🔥enemies to friends to lovers
🦥slooooow burn
🏡forced proximity (and they were roommates)
🐚coastal small town

thank you netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review 💜

Unfortunately this book was not a good fit for me, and I ended up not finishing. I found the writing in this book to be very chaotic - something would be happening, and then the character would go off on a tangent in their mind, and then another, and then circle back to reality and what was happening. It felt like there were SO MANY thoughts, all the time, and I just wanted to follow the storyline! It didn't help that some chapters were marked as in the past, but others were not, and the same two characters were involved in both timelines....it was way harder than it needed to be to figure out what timeline we were talking about. Overall, this book had potential but was executed poorly.

the characters in this really felt fleshed out to me, like i knew them personally and i could relate and really understand them. second chance with a dual timeline is one of my fave things! there’s just something about reading the present and also learning about the past at the same time that keeps things interesting for me! i couldn’t put this book down! thank you, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this one! The characters were well developed and flawed in the best and most human way. Found myself wanting the story to keep going! If you’re looking for a beautiful read that’s still fun and makes you lose yourself in the story this is it!

This was so cute! I had seen this book everywhere and finally got around to reading it. It’s a quick read with likeable characters.

4.5 stars!

LaRynn Lavigne felt love and support in only one place, with her grandma CeCe. Spending summers and holidays with CeCe was the balm she needed to heal the parts of her that were emotionally damaged by her parents. CeCe fell in love with Helena and they married. Enter Deacon Leeds into her safe space. The two circled around each other in the beginning. He found her snobby and aloof; she thought he was irritating. But one summer they explore more together and he rejects her. Now they're back at the grandmothers' home trying to fix it up. Told in dual POV, this story alternates between before and present. We get to see the history between the two as well as how that history has tainted their present interactions. While I was quite frustrated with LaRynn in the beginning (get over yourself, girl), I soon realized that her demeanor and personality were a front to protect what little she felt she had. If she didn't engage, didn't open up, she was less likely to be hurt. Their marriage of convenience to get her trust fund may have been a means to an end, but they got more than they bargained for in the end. Finally revealing everything that happened to her and learning how to trust Deacon was what LaRynn needed to love with her whole heart. They both had things weighing heavily on them, but with communication and support they were able to let it all out and finally love each other wholeheartedly.

I received an advance copy of this book at my request and voluntarily left this review.

dnf at 44 percent.. I fear this book is going to put me in a slump and we cant have that! i dont like past and preset time line its really not for me. Also if the main characters would communicate they be back togehter in the first 30 percent of the book

Definately would recommend this book. I ate it up. i love me a good enemies to lovers. It was a little slow to start but picked up and I finished it fairly quickly.