The Co-op is a second-chance romance that follows LaRynn and Deacon. After the death of LaRynn's grandmother, the two are unexpectedly thrown together when she leaves them both her house. Now, they must work together to fix up the dilapidated property in order to sell it—despite their mutual animosity stemming from a short but intense fling that ended badly seven years ago.

This novel beautifully encapsulates the struggles of adulthood while maintaining an underlying sense of optimism. Dewitt has a remarkable talent for turning the simple moments of everyday life into something special and meaningful. Both of her books that I’ve read this year resonate deeply because they address universal experiences like grief and feeling lost, yet they leave you with a sense of hope by the end.

The two main characters have a lot of personal issues to work through in order to build a healthy relationship. Their inability to communicate and address these issues is the very reason they didn’t end up together when they were younger. But in The Co-op, we get to see them grow—both individually and together—as they work through their problems and become deserving of the relationship they could have.

I enjoyed this one, but I didn’t love it. I really enjoy this author’s writing and story telling and will read anything she comes out with. I just didn’t feel like there was a lot of chemistry between the characters. I just wanted “more” in a sense. It was a quick and enjoyable read but not my favorite!

Tarah DeWitt is able to combine humor, love, fear and sadness into one book; that ultimately I couldn't put down. This is the third book I've read by DeWitt and I will continue to read anything she writes.

I can’t say enough good things about this book! I loved the banter between the main characters and I was hooked from the start. I am obsessed with forced proximity and this book delivers!

I want to thank NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review as well as the author for this free copy.

Ahhhh I have been waiting for this for what feels like so long! I fell in love with Tarah’s writing when I read Funny Feelings and just needed more!
I absolutely love a good forced proximity, slow burn, second chance romance and this book hit alllll the marks.
The sexual tension was THERE and did not disappoint. This book had everything I needed and more, especially since it was from Tarah; she can do no wrong in eyes!

I first read this story in October of 2022, and I loved it then. This re-release version adds so much more depth to LaRynn and Deacon’s back story. It was more fleshed out than I remember the previous version being, and it made their story more emotional for me. There were several points where I got teary eyed. I do not usually like dual timeline stories, but in this case, it worked for me.

I love a marriage of convenience trope, and this one was well done, with the added layer of this being a second chance romance. The way they came to trust one another made me smile, and their banter was top notch. I laughed out loud many times. It had a strong summer vibe, and was perfect to read outside in the sun.

I will happily purchase a copy for my bookshelves!

This book started off slow but got momentum by the end. I loved this book and the characters. I feel like this book is the perfect palate cleanser for anyone needing a change or a chill, laid back book to get out of a book hangover. I highly recommend to anyone who read romance!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advance reader copy of The Co-op by Tarah DeWitt.

LaRynn and Deacon met when they were young and had a fling that did not end well. Years later, these two are reunited through shared ownership of the same home. Naturally, what follows is a forced proximity, second chances romance as these two work through renovations on the home.

I had listened to an audiobook of the original print for this book and would highly recommend for those who have read the first to read this new print! There is a lot more built into the story of this revised and expanded version. The Co-op is definitely a slow burn but it’s worth it once these two get together!

If you enjoy a slow burn, second chances, marriage of convenience, and forced proximity this would be a romance to check out.

Thank you netgalley for the copy of this book!

I wanted to love this one but I just couldn’t bond with the childish antics of the heroine. The poor communication and the immaturity… it was too hard for me to get through. In the end I didn’t finish this one.

I’ve read another book by this author that I LOVED (savor it)- so if this one isn’t for you, definitely try another by the author!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!
I really enjoyed this book. This followed Deacon and Larynn in a second chance romance, in a marriage of convenience with forced proximity, and it really delivered. One thing I love about Tarah Dewitt's writing is how funny it actually is. She really delivers the comedy in every romantic comedy she writes. She writes excellent banter and spice, and it really feels like an actual relationship, not a fictional one. I found myself really relating to both Deacon and Larynn with their estranged relationship with their parents, and I felt extremely connected to both characters. I highly recommend this book, and you should definitely check this book out when it comes out November 12th, 2024!

LaRynn and Deacon have held a special place in my heart when I first read them in January 2023 and STILL does in this new (and renovated) version of them <3 I don’t know how Tarah managed to rewrite this already amazing story of two people learning to understand each other & fall back in love together to an even better version but she did and she did it masterfully!  I love the addition of the dual timeline, I love the small little changes and I love how LaRynn and Deacon remained, at their core, the beloved characters I’ve loved for almost 2 years. 

I have a very small list of authors whos books I will ALWAYS read and this just further proves why Tarah Dewitt belongs in it. 

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC.

I liked the history that the two leads shared but felt that the trope was basically just "bad communication" and misunderstanding one another. They actually worked quite well as a team but neither would communicate with the other until near the end of the book. I just felt like this couple kept hitting the same communication roadblocks over and over and the story left a bit more to be desired. It would have been nice to have more vivid flashbacks into how their grandmothers met and their relationship. That may have added more depth to the story. Wasn't the best...but wasn't the worst! 3/5!

This book was an ARC provided by NetGalley and my opinions are my own.

➸ 3.5 stars

it wasn’t amazing or my favorite but it kept me pretty entertained and engaged! the fmc annoyed me a lot at the beginning but i came to like her more at the end and i thought her and the mmc were cute together once everything was explained between them!

the only thing that had me like wtf was how they named their daughter dot. yup they named her dot…! and the reasoning: “Just Dot, because she is IT. Period. No more.” if my mother named me that i would never speak to her again what was she thinking?!

anyways here are some quotes i liked:

“I’ve never gotten used to sharing my stories because there’s hardly ever been anyone in my life around long enough, or interested enough to tell.”

"I want you for me," he says again. "I want your smiles for me, the ones that I've worked so goddamn hard for that come so much easier for everyone else. I want it to be easy like that for you to smile and laugh with me, not with Oscar and not just with the people at the café. I want you to get everything you want, but I want it to be with me, too, and I don't care if that sounds selfish anymore. I want this house, but I want it to mean something more. I want you to stay with me and I want you to never fucking leave. I want your bobby pins everywhere and your hair in the shower and I want to hear you snore."

thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

I will never ever stop rec'ing this book. You want a prickly girlie who scares you and turns you in in equal measure? LaRynn is ya girl. She is bisexual catnip. You want a hero who can build you a table and then lay you on it without fear for the integrity of the legs? Deacon. I was crushed by their past failures and healed by their present day success. I loved the incorporation of their grannies. I love the Cali of it all. MORE OF THIS and by this I mean Tarah Dewitt.

LaRynn and Deacon

Tropes-
🪛 Enemies to lovers
🪚 Forced proximity
🔧 Marriage of convenience
🔨 Second chances

Tarah hit it out of the park with this book! The banter was everything between LaRynn and Deacon! The enemies to lovers aspect with forced proximity was executed immaculately. LaRynn and Deacon had a fuzzy past in their teens that led to years of resentment and then following their grandmother's death led them to be forced to work together to sell their property that was falling apart. Doing any projects with a partner is doomed but these two had the banter down in order to keep the sexual tension to themselves. Add in the downstairs neighbor Sally and these two had to get along to get their property back in working order. These tropes are my absolute favorite and I loved every minute of these two!

Second changed, forced proximity, marriage of convenience and a slow burn - I loved the Co-op by Tarah DeWitt. I mean, really, I love EVERYTHING that she writes.. but this was delicious.

LaRynn returns home to her grandmother's house that she shared with her wife. She is forced to work with Deacon, the grandson of her grandmother's wife. They had a wonderful summer getting to learn each other when they were teenagers, but her heart was broken by him at the end of the summer. LaRynn has a trust fund, but needs to be married to access it. So, she and Deacon enter into a false marriage just as long as it takes to fix up the building, sell it, and make a profit. Of course, it can't be that easy, and it is hard to live together without bringing up old hurts.

The Audiobook was fabulous - Stephanie Rose and Nelson Hobbs spoke clearly and brought such clarity to the story. Just a joy to read!

I am a sucker for an enemies to lovers rom com trope (e.g. The Hating Game), so when The Co-op showed up on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to request it for review. Now that I have finished it, I can safely say that this book was not at all what I expected, and I mean that in the best possible way. While yes, the enemies to lovers plot did play a part, this story was so much more than that.

LaRynn struggles with feeling like she is enough, due to her complicated relationship with her parents. Deacon’s soured opinion of his father leaves him jaded. When they are thrown back together when their grans leave them a house, LaRynn and Deacon are forced to work through their differences and their complicated histories in order to salvage the family property. In doing so, they learn a lot about themselves and each other.

I adored this book. It reminded me a lot of one of my favorite writers, Abby Jimenez. If you’re a fan of well written, complex characters, with some spice and comedy, you will love this book.

This is a cute summer read featuring both second chance romance and marriage of convenience. The writing is fun, and the banter between the fmc and mmc combined with the dual pov effectively builds tension.

In this renovation romance Deacon and LaRynn are co-owners of the property their grandmother’s left to them, though it’s now falling apart. They have to spruce up the place before they’ll be able to sell it, which throws the two of them together in a doorless space with faulty plumbing. The two “dated” the summer before LaRynn went to college, but only loosely so since neither of them were willing to label themselves as girlfriend and boyfriend in their prior relationship. LaRynn has a trust fund, but has to be married to access the money in her trust, so Deacon offers to marry her to give them the funding necessary to make-over their shared house. These two are at each other’s throats immediately, each one trying to put the other off kilter, until finally the flirting and fighting raise the tension to a point of no return.

I always enjoy a dual timeline, but I found myself wishing this one had been more consistent. The flashbacks were few in number and stopped somewhat suddenly midway through the book. The opening scene, which is in the past, is never revisited through the flashbacks to further explains he situation, and the relationship in the past is never fully resolved. I wish there had been more of the past timeline, since understanding the prior relationship and its failings is so crucial in building a second chance romance.

I liked the characters, but I wish there had been more explanation of the fmc’s inability/unwillingness to share anything about herself, which she overcame somewhat jarringly, and how she got to the point of being willing to open up.

Overall, I think this book was enjoyable, but there were some areas where I wished there had been more.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

Absolutely loved this. I’m not typically a fan of second chance romance, but I just couldn’t get enough of these two.

This book has cemented for me that if Tarah DeWitt writes it, I’m going to read it. She wields magic with her words. Her love stories are deep, relatable, and HOT! LaRynn and Deacon have such a deeply rooted, entangled history and we go on a JOURNEY with them to untangle the web they laid for themselves when they were younger.

DeWitt’s love stories are far from easy, and we find the same in these pages. LaRynn and Deacon both are working through heavy themes! Add in home renovations, grief, and forced proximity and we are IN THE THICK OF IT.

Put this one of your radar if you love:

-Dual POV romance with a little throwback thrown in there as well
-Marriage of Convenience
-Second chance romance
-Enemies to friends to lovers
-Loveable cast of side characters
-Home renovations
-Flawed main characters
-Laugh out loud moments

Also, this one has the BEST, most heartwarming, biggest smile inducing epilogue I have ever read! It was worth the read alone just to see the little peek into the future for these two.