Loved this one. I love second chance. I really loved how they were both fractured and put themselves back together later on. Great characters. This is my first Tarah DeWitt but it will not be my last!

Straight gobbled this up in less than 24 hours!!! NO BECAUSE I LOVED THIS SOOO MUCH!!! This surprised me, although I had a strong feeling I would enjoy the story, I had no clue I’d fall head over heels for LaRynn and Deacon. I’m a feral racoon for them and I could literally give Tarah that fattest smooch for writing this masterpiece of a book.
This book literally kept me so well fed, it had forced proximity, marriage of convenience, top tier banter and moments that had me laughing out loud, AND A DASH OF SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE.
Dare I say YUMMY!!!!

"Be my wife. Stay my wife"

I heard about this book for quite a while now and I was never interested, but I read Rootbound by this author and I love that book so I opted to request for this one. Thank you Netgalley!

LaRynn returned to her grand mother's house after she half-inherited her house. She shared the house with Deacon and they decided to renovate the house and rent it out.

The whole book was messy, full of angst, banter and tension. There are a lot of miscommunication or shall I say, them not communicating too much in the first half so we just saw them juggling their feelings while in close proximity of each other.

I honestly got frustrated with them for so long, it kinda ruined the book for me because they don't communicate much due to their history together and their traumas. Understandable but at the same time, they are both adults that I just want to grab them and force them to talk.

It's very nice to see their growth as we go along the book! Overall, a good reading experience and I did love the angst and the tension all throughout the book.

Where do I start?!?! This book was everything I hoped it would be and more! The story of LaRynn and Deacon, both present and past, had me invested right from the start. The feelings are there.....the tension is there......i just kept waiting for them to give in! They both have baggage and seeing how they navigate through everything had me glued to every page. The exact ending I was hoping for that left me feeling all the feels.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

DeWitt has solidified herself as a must read author for me with this book.

LaRynn and Deacon met as teenagers (thanks to their grandmas getting married), had a Summer fling a few years later, and then outright avoided each other because of how things ended. When their grandmothers leave their home to both LaRynn and Deacon, they're forced to reunite after nearly a decade apart. It turns out that the house is falling apart and the only way to fund the repairs would be to tap into LaRynn's trust... which she can only access if she gets married.

I enjoyed how complicated and messy their situation was. You have two people who genuinely cared about each other but were too young and ill-equipped to handle those feelings. Both LaRynn and Deacon had poor examples of what love and family should be and are ultimately damaged by the time they're adults.

It took a second to get into the rhythm of the book but this was a beautifully complex story. When LaRynn and Deacon aretogether again, the attraction is there but there's a hatred that's festered since their Summer romance. The dual POV allows us to really get into the grittiness of each's backstory. 
The home is such a nicely done metaphor for not only LaRynn and Deacon individually but as a couple.

LaRynn comes across as mean but she's learned not to become too attached to anything while Deacon's view of love was shattered. Both characters are flawed but they're doing their best. As they learn to conquer their insecurities and confront their issues, they're able to communicate with each other and together realize how things went wrong all those Summers ago.

This is my first by this author and definitely will be reading more!
I loved the mutual pining by both the main characters in this second chance / lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers story. I love that they secretly want each other throughout their whole renovation process. Their dialogue and how they approached their marriage was so REAL. And so PRACTICAL. Like first things first, make a budget, join finances, get on my insurance etc. I love that they just didn’t immediately jump into bed together. ALTHOUGH! I feel ROBBED. The author puts a blurb at the beginning about how there’s lots of sex between them at the beginning when they’re 19 and 20, but HARDLY. They just talk about how they do have some sexy times but we don’t get anything open door until lateeeeee as their reunion is a SLOW BURN. But that’s okay, totally worth it, but the blurb at the beginning is a tad misleading.
Also a marriage of convenience is so fun. Like of COURSE she needs to get married to access her trust fund. I loved that though. And this leads to forced proximity which I loooooove.
Our female lead LaRynn was a very angry gal. She was super mean to Deacon very often. But I understand that she does have a difficult past when it concerns feeling worthy and needing to be loved. And maybe feels left out / encroached upon when Deacon comes into the situation at her safe haven with her grandma. Anytime she’s embarrassed though she lashes out so much. Their altercation with the grocery list when they’re younger creating a feud for years?? He had no idea she was dyslexic!! Anywho she’s angry but I guess maybe sort of justified.
Deacon!!! SWOONY!! He’s so funny. And like always consistently funny. Like a big goof. When she throws out his towels and he just struts around naked? And then dries himself on HER. Hilarious, cackling at him. He’s so realistic about everything too. And the “my wife” instances. 10/10 love him being possessive.
The side characters were amazing. I want a whole Elyse story. I wanna know more about the cafe and her relationship with the Jensen brother. I love that they got together right away because Deacon broke LaRynn’s nose.
Also I feel fairly justified in being SO confused by the Quebec references. I listened to a podcast with the author and she mentions she didn’t have a big reason to pick Quebec and the French language for the grandmother. Totally okay, BUT as someone who lives right in the border between Ontario and Quebec, I find it hilarious that she thinks her Quebec grandmother wouldn’t dare eat non-fancy cheese or jell-o. Like it’s Quebec, not France.
Big fan she throws in a friends quote and an office reference. Oh how the turn tables. Hilarious. I use this in every day conversation, too.
📢 no third act breakup!

✨ … anger became my quiet companion, something l'd wear like a shroud. I'd take their love where I could get it, which usually came in the form of pride whenever I did manage to do something impressive. I'd like to impress myself for a change. ✨

✨ I don’t care about a wedding. I’d rather have a kitchen floor ✨

4 ⭐️ (sort of miscommunication trope, overlying theme throughout the book about the I love you scene), 3🌶️

✨4.25✨

if you’re a nesta girl (iykyk) this one is for you

she is messy and sometimes mean with a big ass heart and a whole luggage set of trauma but god i loved her

after the loss of both their nans (happy married elderly lesbians?! need more of em) our fmc and mmc are left a home in need of some serious home repair in order to be sold and the only way to get the cash from her trust…marriage 😏

and this is no ordinary man she’ll be renovating marrying and living with, it’s none other than her first AND ONLY love- Deacon

deacon…swoon. he is a dichotomy of rugged handyman/electrician/overall fixer of things and soft emotional puppy who wants to be loved by her so badly🥹🥹


there is so much to unpack between them and this author navigates it like a pro, emphasizing the journey of grief, the different ways trauma is expressed, and what years of miscommunication can do to people who love each other so much

you’ll laugh, you’ll love and maybe even cry

would recommend

This was my first Tarah DeWitt book and I’m hooked! I loved the relationships in this book - not only Deacon and LaRynn, but also the friendships, the parents, the grandparents, they were all so complex.

The mutual pining of the two main characters was so well done and I love that we got to see the dual POV of their love story, plus how they fell in love the first time. It felt like they were hiding so much of the sleeves though, which I suppose was the point for some of it, but it really felt like they didn’t know some very important details about the other one (her dyslexia, for instance).

Overall, this book was swoony, spicy and full of love! Would absolutely recommend!

It’s official — if Tarah DeWitt is writing it, I’m reading it. I haven’t read a single book from her that I don’t love! This was such a good second chance story. I loved it so much! So much growth and genuine love 😭
Thanks NetGalley & publisher for the digital copy :)

I’ll get straight to the point, this book had me hooked from the beginning. Two people’s paths intertwine when a property is left in their possessions and a deal is struck to get the funding to repair it. Deacon is a sweet guy and LaRynn is a fierce woman. The tension between both is evident and the dual pov adds to it. Overall great read, definitely worth hyping.

Reading is such a personal experience and this book while crafted so well, was not a fit for me. The premise was golden- grandchildren by marriage (not blood related) inherited a home that’s almost in shambles. Said grandchildren have a history together and the chemistry is still there, years later.

I think it was the writing style that didn’t work for me, but like I said, the idea and storyline were great.

I have been a fan of Tarah Dewitt since I read Funny Feelings, so it doesn’t surprise me that I loved this book. Forced proximity years after a previous fling? Tarah Dewitt created a book with some of the best tropes, and she did it SO well.

Enjoyed! I'm generally a Terah DeWitt fan and this book was no different. I actually enjoyed the slower pacing and the true enemiiiess to lovers play out. I was interested in the characters and invested in their story arcs. Perhaps some of the conflict and trauma was overdone considering the context, but overall I think it explored difficult themes decently well. I'm not sure this is a book will really stick in my mind now that I'm done with it, but it was a perfect little escape. I recommend.

A lovely story of two messy characters that reno their relationship and selves as they reno the home they both inherited. If Tarah writes it, you know it’s gonna be magical✨

Sweet, tender, raw and vulnerable. I loved how real the characters felt and the struggles they worked through to grow both personally and in their relationship. I loved their story! Second chance romance done right! Another incredible book by one of my absolute favorite authors!

The Co-op by Tarah DeWitt is a steamy second chance romance featuring LaRynn and Deacon. LaRynn and Deacon had an intense summer fling when they were teens, with LaRynn about to go to college she wanted a summer of firsts. This fling ended poorly though and for the next ten years they barely spoke. They were forced to reunite when their late grandmothers left them shared ownership of a multi-unit home that desperately needed repair and to be sold. Along with the problem of them not getting along, they have no money to repair the home...unless they legally marry to LaRynn can access her trust fund.

This was a cute read with some small town vibes! It's dual POV and has two timelines, which I appreciated, as it helped you to understand what happened when the characters were teens. Both characters had some baggage to work through and the process of them building trust in themselves and each other was touching. Both characters were flawed and realistically written and I felt connected to their journey. There were some hilarious moments throughout the story, especially when LaRynn was feeling stubborn or frustrated at Deacon, and there were also some swoon-worthy sweet moments as well. This book also has some spicy scenes.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for granting me an advanced copy of the eBook to read and review. This did not influence my review in any way. The Co-op is expected to be published on November 12, 2024.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I had an okay time reading this. Unfortunately, I was going through a bit of a reading slump, which is probably why I was having such a hard time getting through it.
I will say that I think it was a bit of a pointless marriage of convenience/forced proximity considering the situation that the MCs' are in. I just felt no chemistry between them really. Also, the FMC was no my favorite, she's a selfish brat.
The book just fell flat at times, which makes me sad because it did have a lot of potential.

I'm not going to lie, as an OG reader who loved the original book, I was quite thrown off by the changes. It took me awhile to sort out my brain and get into the revamped story- I'm still not sure how I feel about the changes with Elyse and Jensen's characters. I'll definitely need to read it again. That said, it was still really great. LaRynn Is a well written as a very complicated character, but I still have a hard time accepting that she essentially ghosted her grandmothers over a boy.
I still prefer the original and don't think it needed the re-write at all. I love the author though and look forward to her new book.

Love this one! I love seeing each character’s perspective of relationships and shared memories. Deacon and Larry :) were such strong characters and I’m so glad to have met them. Would immediately read more from this author.

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

I don’t even know where to start. I tried to wait a day to reel in my emotions on this one but thinking about it makes me tear up. I loved Sal & the grans love story! I love a second chance romance & seeing the glimpses of them as teens/young adults. I loved that they pulled their boot straps up & put in their own blood sweat & tears to make it happen. Deacon had me wanting to just wrap my arms around him I loved his love for Larry! Thank you for this story Tarah DeWitt