Betty Cayouette has quickly become an auto-buy author for me.

The tension, longing, and angst in One Last Shot and in her latest, Tell Me How Your Really Feel, are top tier. I also love the mental health rep (though in my opinion, maybe Maeve should’ve laid off the gummies a bit). It’s friends to lovers to enemies to lovers, with forced proximity and groveling, so it has everything you could want. It’s also very of the moment, with a Joe Rogan-like villain and central topics like the pay gap.

Oof. I so badly wanted to like this one but it just was not for me. It was way too much back and forth

Thank you to St's Martin's Press for the free ARC in exchange for a free review!

Tell me How You Really Feel follows both Finn and Maeve who are podcast hosts of the relationship centered podcast Tell How You Really Feel. On the podcast, they give relationship advice to people while also struggling with their relationship themselves. Finn and Maeve have been friends for a significant length of time. When they decided to take the next step in their relationship - it ended poorly. Now, they cannot stand each other; however, they still have to record their podcast due to their contract. Things to expect in this book are miscommunication, dual POVs, flashbacks, and mental health representation.

I would give this book 2.5 stars. I did not like either of the main characters. They both had their flaw - therefore, I did not really care for any of the tension or conflicts in the book because I did not like either main characters and a lot of the secondary characters as well. I thought it was kind of a superficial book. This book comes out on May 06, 2025.

Thank you NetGalley and Betty Cayouette for the opportunity and receiving an e-ARC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶️/5

💌 Dual POV
💌 Enemies to Lovers
💌 Mental Health Rep
💌 HEA

Although I enjoyed this book, I found myself completely pulled out of the story because it had so many “real world” references. Also, the couple reminded me of a Friends episode, and because of that, I wanted to see it resolved. It was a love/hate because you want to know what happens but also end up frustrated with BOTH characters. It felt a lot longer than it needed to be. I did appreciate the FMC and her experience with mental health. It felt raw, ugly, and true. It's hard to empathize with characters, but I felt so much. My favorite thing about this book was the mental health representation and how she went about it, not rushing through it and finding a quick solution, but going through the motions and finding what helps.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I wanted a fun and easy romcom and I got that-sort of. There were several times I could not get into it. I felt like since Maeve and Finn's prior issues weren't revealed until about half way thru it made the first half frustrations kind of hard to understand. There was just too much and and forth for me to truly love it. I felt like we could have done with a lot less of their bickering.

However, I did love Maeve and Finn! They were well developed characters who you could tell really cared about each other even tho neither of them knew how to communicate like adults and say it.

It was a dnf for me. I could not get into it. The cover is beautiful and it’s drew me in… and that’s about it.

Tell me how you really feel
Publish date: May 6 2025

This ARC was adorable! It takes a huge writing talent to compose a fairytale romance with a healthy dose of real life.

Meave and Finn are not perfect. They screw up in life and in their relationship. I like the “real” feeling of the characters .

I connected with this book, and adored it immensely! If you’re looking for a book that makes you feel - this is it! Plus I will always cheer for a book where the sisters have each others backs no matter what!

Also the moment where everyone claps for Meave had me bawling ! (In public!)

Thank you NetGalley, St Martin’s Press and Betty Cayouette for this ARC!

What originally appears to be a friends to lovers, second chance romance and call her daddy similar podcast turns out to be a novel with lessons about equal pay, feminism, therapy/mental health, and sexuality.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

The vision of this book is there, I really can see it. But I don’t think the execution was as strong as it could’ve been. The story felt blocked by all the back and forth and going around in circles with therapy and miscommunication. I actually hate miscommunication as a trope and didn’t realize that would be such a prominent theme in this book. I’m not sure I liked either of the MCs at all or was rooting for them to be together. I think this had promise and maybe will be for people who enjoy more dissonance in a romance, but I unfortunately do not.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I wanted to love this book, but I could not get into it. I had to force myself into it. Once I was there, I thought the writing was done well, but that took me a bit.

It has a good story line, good amount of humor and heartbreak. I felt like the main character needed a little bit more self growth, I feel like she never acknowledge her own wrong doings, I also felt like he let her walk all over him. Also for being so in love, she seems to do nothing but resent him? I get she’s trying to point out gender inequality but It kind of irritated me how Finn has to grovel, and apologize profusely and yes he may be naive but it’s like she’s painting him to be this sneaky snake but then the rest of the story he’s giving up so much just to support her. She’s seems very self entitled, and it’s kind of hard to truly connect with her. She’s so willing to steamroll him just to achieve her goals when he’s been right along side her from the beginning. ALSO she had a podcast teaching people how to communicate and apologize but she’s so stubborn she won’t hear anyone out cause she thinks she’s always right or needs her ego stroked!! Rant over. But other than all that, it was a cute story.

Really enjoyed this books from Betty Cayouette! Finn is the nepo baby of two celebrities who is maybe not so secretly I love with his love term friend and podcast co-host Maeve. Maeve is facing a lot of change in her life since becoming a famous podcast host and moving to L.A. including supporting her sister’s various activities. When a look-up between Finn and Maeve ends in a wya neither of them expected they need to find a way to continue to work together. I really liked how this book was told from both of their point of views and how the story went form the current timeline to before they scored their major podcast contract. This book was such a fun read and I very much enjoyed reading how the sorry unfolded!

If you’re looking for your next romcom, check out Tell Me How You Really Feel by Betty Cayouette. It’s worth the read.

I really enjoyed this one! I’m usually not a fan of the miscommunication trope, but for me the characters made it work. The fact that we as the reader could see what they were thinking from the very start all the way through to the end made it up to me. It made them feel a lot more real, because I can see this actually happening in real life. I could appreciate it more.

Speaking of the characters, I loved them all! Especially Evangeline - she’s such a bad ass mom. I like how the character’s weaknesses were addressed and it was shown how they are constantly working on themselves. Again, it just makes them feel more real to me.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press, Betty Cayouette, and NetGalley for the eARC!!

Did not enjoy this one.
Truly interesting premise initially, but struggled to connect with the character and felt the writing was bit a too simple.
I also didn't necessarily like or agree with the characters or the characterizations of them. They didn't feel real or thoroughly thought through. Made for the romance to be hard to root for.

After reading this author's first novel, "One Last Shot", I was excited to get this ARC. The premise of this book is great but unfortunately I just could not get into it. I am sure plenty of readers will enjoy this one but ultimately I decided to DNF.

Thank you for the opportunity to ARC read.

Long time friends and podcasting partners Maeve and Finn have just signed the deal of a lifetime. But due to some recent developments in their personal relationship they can hardly stand to be in the same room. Maeve attempts to find ways to make the podcast work without them spending time together but all her plans fall apart. They are required to attend events and record the podcast together. Finn is desperate to win Maeve back. They must navigate their new fame, complex relationship dynamics and threats from a fellow podcaster's audience.

I was so excited to read this after loving the author's first book One Last Shot. There was a lot that I enjoyed in this book but I also had quite a bit of frustration. So much of the plot could have been resolved with having a single conversation. The characters repeated the same actions over and over without just speaking with each other. The book takes place in two timelines, I enjoyed the flashbacks the most. Even without completely enjoying this one I will still check out what Betty does next!

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

Well, this one sadly fell flat. The description completely pulled me in so I was a bit disappointed but it it what it is.

I started this book weekend ago and kept getting distracted as it just didn’t pull me in. One thing with getting ARCs so early is a book make have several more drafts before the finished copy. I give a lot of grace to take that into consideration but with this one it needs so much editing that it was too hard to move past it.

That being said the bones are there so this may be a great romance for folks to read down the line when it comes out on May 6th 2025.

My biggest issue is that I didn’t connect or care about the main characters or care if they got together. Part of that is with the choppy prose and choices made. Plus you have a therapist who can’t express what she feels? It’s bizarre. I’m going to go right down the middle with a 3 ⭐️ and will amend it after it’s published to see if the needed changes are done.

I am thankful to have gotten an eARC for free from At Martin’s Press through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

I thought this book was really cool in the sense that it discusses podcasters in an ever growing in popularity field. Will Maeve and Finn be able to achieve commercial success or will their rocky history stand in their way? Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Oh my goodness! I am a sucker for a second chance romance and One last shot was absolutely perfect to me, that is until now, I can safely say Tell me how you really feel has taken my spot for favourite romance.

I love the podcast element of the story and being forced together, the tension! Love it all

Highly recommend!