If you are looking for a fun, sexy, love story, this is it! Wow! I can not get over how wonderful this read was. I devoured it. It was just fantastic! I loved it! It was such a good story.

I loved this story!! I am a sucker for a good second chance romance and this one was SO good!! Deacon and LaRynn are such good people who want to do right by everyone. I loved their dynamic and rediscovering their love and passion for each other.

I loved Tarah DeWitt's storytelling in Savor It and this one was no different!

If you enjoy second chance romance, enemies to lovers to enemies, marriage of conveniece, this is your book!

Thank you NeGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Tarah DeWitt has such an amazing way of combining sweet and spicy in her romance novels. This one is no exception. I loved the second chance aspect and the way that the characters bantered with each other. The story is more on the character driven side, and I loved watching the two of them grow throughout their work alongside each other. She’s an auto buy for me, and this is another hit!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of “The Co-op” by Tera Dewitt.

This story is a sweet second-chance love story between two former lovers-turned enemies- turned lovers. When they were 19, they shared a passionate summer romance that ended in a spectacular fashion. 7 years later, they find themselves co-owners of a house that is in dire need of renovation and find their way back to one another throughout the process as well.

One of the things I like most about Dewitt’s style is the fact that she creates realistic everyday characters. Her stories seem believable. Rynn and Declan didn’t work out because they were young, naive and didn’t know how to communicate properly. And let’s be honest; what 19 year old does?! But when they reunite, they start to slowly unravel their communication issues and work together to figure out that they actually never stopped loving one another and, even though they grieve the lost time they had together, they find a way to move forward together as well.

I thought this story was a sweet read. Their banter was witty and the dialogue fit well with the characters. She peppered in spice that just seemed to make sense and built the sexual tension between the characters well.

This is worth a read, especially if you enjoy a second chance romance story (with a bit of marriage of convenience peppered in).

This was fine but not great. The biggest issue for me was how much of a slog it was to get through. I'm generally a fast reader, but this book took me nearly three weeks to read. I just couldn't be motivated to pick it up, even if there wasn't anything wrong with it. This was difficult because I loved Tarah DeWitt's other book Savor It, which I thought was one of the best romances I read all year. Meanwhile this was just a little flat by comparison.

I wanted to like it. And I felt the characters were decent enough. But I didn’t love them. And I didn’t care to know more about them.

So much felt dull and not moving anywhere. It was almost 80% through and the characters were still being such dicks and hating each other. And then all of a sudden… they were not hating. It didn’t feel natural.

Spice was super minimal.

I LOVED this book! As soon as I read the first few chapters I knew it would be a 5 star read for me. Tarah's writing style kept me flipping pages fast and laughing at the banter between the main characters. They had so much chemistry and I couldn't wait to see what they would say to each other next. There were also a lot of emotions and character growth, which added depth to the story. This was a dual timeline and dual point of view book with some of my favorite tropes: enemies/rivals to lovers, second chance romance, and forced proximity. Marriage of convenience isn't usually one of my favorites but it worked perfectly for this book. I highly recommend this one!

The Co-Op will be published on November 12th, 2024. Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martins Griffin and Tarah DeWitt for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

Oh, I loved this book so much! No drama, no third act break up, just a perfect steamy romance to read in one weekend.
It’s got all my favorite tropes and writing elements-: marriage of convenience, forced proximity, dual POV/ timeline.
I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish. The pacing was spot on, packed with humor, and their relationship developed so aching slow in the best way. It kept me on my toes waiting for THAT scene. I kept thinking, ok, this is it, this is where they just rip the band aid of sexual tension” The wait was oh so worth it.
LaRynn and Deacon’s journey, both individually and as a couple, hit me hard. They start off not being able to stand each other but slowly build trust, and their connection really worked for me. The way their story unfolded? Perfection.
And that ending... that epilogue... feet kicking in the air. It left me feeling so content and swooning for then all over again.

DNF’d at 30%

The main characters just weren’t doing it for me and the romance didn’t feel realistic at all. All interactions felt way too convenient and not like authentic, real situations or conversations.

I wasn’t even rooting for the main character and her journey with her grief that felt nonexistent.

This just wasn’t it for me!

Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC!

The fighting between these two characters in the beginning of the book really cracked me up because it's so accurate when it comes to real marriage. I love the idea of a shared project, and the forced marriage was a great touch.
Personally, there was too much sex for me in the book and for some reason I got hung up on the fact that they're together because it's their grandma's house that they're working on. I know that they weren't blood family, but they were family by marriage and that kept throwing me off.
The end of the book does feel like it drags on and I had to really push to finish it. There are a lot of really sweet moments in this book and some exceptional writing throughout!

Deacon and LaRynn have my heart. I was in a book slump and this sucked me right back into my love for reading. This is a book that I will read again. It's a story of two people with pasts that built them into iron, but realizing that in order to not be engulfed by their past, they have to melt and mold themselves through that hurt. LaRynn's character was whom I connected with so much in the sense of how high her walls were built and also giving guys what she thought they wanted in order to keep everyone else in her life happy. Such a deep journey that happens for both of these characters. In summary, an amazing plot with some really good spice!

Oh, the absolute ANGST I had to battle throughout this book was a struggle in itself 😫 but in a good way. 😏

As my first Tarah DeWitt novel, I have to say, I am so grateful to have been approved for this ARC! I know this has been previously published before, but I feel like this is the perfect time in my life for a book like this.

With the perfect mix of spice, nostalgia, and heartwarming new memories, this novel is everything I would want in a second chance romance and much much more! 👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏻

LaRynn and Deacon couldn’t be more perfect for each other. I could feel the sexual tension, I could see the hardships to come, and I could picture everything that their younger selves have been through in order to reach where they are at today. What made this book so special is the fact that I could relate to a lot to both LaRynn and Deacon in different ways.

I highly recommend this book! It feels like coming home at last. 🥰

The Co-op by Tarah DeWitt is an engaging read with a premise that immediately pulled me in. I’m a sucker for the forced proximity and fake marriage trope, and this book delivers on both in a fun and heartfelt way.

Deacon is hands down my favorite character. He’s everything you’d want in a romantic hero—capable, strong, and with a rugged charm that’s hard to resist. Honestly, he can fix up a house for me any day! His interactions with LaRynn were often the highlight of the book, with their tension and chemistry sparking off the page.

However, I had a hard time warming up to LaRynn. Her pride and defensiveness often came across as more annoying than endearing. While I understood where she was coming from, her personality made it hard for me to fully connect with her at times. That being said, the overall dynamic between the two leads worked well enough to keep me invested in their story.

The plot’s balance of romance and home-renovation charm made it a satisfying, easy read.

Reno & Romance Count Me In!! 🏠👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️

After fumbling a summer fling in their youth, LaRynn and Deacon unwillingly reunite to renovate their beloved late grandmothers’ love nest.

Hidden underneath a home renovation set in an idyllic, community beach town and a second chance romance is a tale of overcoming childhood traumas and learning to show up for yourself and others.

This was a difficult one to get through at times. It was literally like watching two children fumble with communicating their feelings and often resorting to temper tantrums. And yet, it was so honest in how adults with abandonment issues struggle to navigate relationships. How children who were often silenced grow up to be adults that don’t know how to use their voice and that resonated with me.

I loved the light and simple moments between LaRynn and Deacon and how observant they were of each other’s needs when it mattered as adults. For that, I bump my rating up to 4 stars.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Warning: This book does involve the discussion of childhood trauma, emotional abuse, abandonment, infidelity, and familial death (off-page).

~This review will contain slight spoilers~

This book was a bit of a roller coaster for me. I absolutely LOVE forced-proximity and marriage of convenience tropes so I knew this book sounded right up my alley.

To start off, Tarah DeWitt has an absolutely wonderful writing style. She instantly pulls her readers in and keeps their attention with how well she characterizes and provides plot. I personally loved that this book jumped between the past and present, but got lost at times at where exactly they were in the past. I would have LOVED for there to be a little more detail in the chapter headers about where we were jumping to/from.

I also loved seeing the growth between these two characters and how they interacted. I struggled a bit at times understanding all of the decisions, but absolutely adored seeing how they overcame their past and brought their friends and family into the story. Overall I would definitely recommend reading this! Although if you're a non-spice reader, beware there are a few chapters of spice.

I read The Co-op in November 2023, and absolutely loved it. It was a five star favorite. I probably should have left it at that. The new version feels like it lost a little bit of its soul, and the beginning felt like it was rewritten to make LaRynn seem more likable and sympathetic. The charm was falling for these characters slowly as they revealed parts of themselves to each other over the course of the renovation. Obviously, a lot of parts in the back half remained mostly unchanged, and the ending is still cute, but I just feel like it is missing something now for some reason.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This wasn't my favorite or the best book I read this year, but it kept my attention. The marriage of convenience and the forced proximity were done well, and I was glad there was so third act break up.

LaRyan and Deacon had a short fling in high school, but when their grandmothers leave them equal shares in a Santa Cruz building, they are brought back together.

Ehh I didn’t love this one. The characters were fine but the jump in history to how they got to this point is not my favorite way to progress a story. I like the aspect of fixing the house up while dealing with life. Overall, I’m sure it’ll do well but I wasn’t a fan and felt slowed down while trying to read

LaRynn Lavigne & Deacon Leeds reunite as adults when their grandmothers leave them with a shared property after their passing. They could fix it up, but finding the money for renovations could take some creativity. LaRynn could have access to her trust fund if only she was married.
As the two come together for the sake of turning a cherished home with many memories from their lives as teenagers, their old flame gets rekindled.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.