Only in Your Dreams by Ellie K. Wilde is the literary equivalent of being shoved into a tent with your childhood crush, a broken heart, and zero emotional bandwidth—but somehow still ending up with a swoony romance and a mosquito bite in the shape of hope. Melody Woods returns to Oakwood Bay post-breakup, post-career meltdown, and post-dignity, only to be roped into a camping trip with Zac Porter, her brother’s best friend and the guy who once fumbled his shot with her like a dropped s’more. What follows is a slow-burn second-chance romance so sweet it could give you cavities, with just enough emotional trauma to keep things spicy. Zac is basically a golden retriever in cleats—loyal, earnest, and ready to prove he’s not the same guy who ghosted her a decade ago. Spoiler: he’s not. He’s hotter. And he brought snacks.

This book is a rom-com with feelings, which means you’ll laugh, swoon, and possibly scream into a pillow when Melody insists on emotionally barricading herself like she’s prepping for a zombie apocalypse. But Wilde handles the heavy stuff—like toxic relationships and PTSD—with a deft touch, never letting the drama drown out the charm. The banter is crisp, the flashbacks are juicy, and the forced proximity is a gift from the romance gods. If you’ve ever wanted to watch two emotionally constipated adults fall in love while pretending they’re just “sharing a tent,” this one’s for you. Just don’t blame me when you start Googling camping gear and exes. You’ve been warned.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC!

Thank you to Atria Books for the review copy!

I am going to be so honest…when I first started this book, I was concerned about the vibes I was getting into. Melody has just gotten out of a relationship where he determined how many hours she worked, who her friends were, and other red flag controlling behaviors. But never fear, the red flags are the point, I didn’t stumble into a weird trad wife story!

This was such a fun cozy, campy, sports romcom. I love when the second chance romance is really a second chance at getting together, and loved seeing just a prologue of their past relationship, but the rest being in the present. Zac was so down bad for Melody the whole time, I just needed to know how he could have possibly fumbled things the first time around!!

The audiobook was so good - Teddy Hamilton and Carly Robins both did an incredible job!

I typically don’t rate books I DNF. I did not enjoy this one as I thought i would. Great premise but something about the story I just couldn’t connect to or get into. I tried several times to read and eventually DNF.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. It was incredibly long and I found myself skipping whole chunks by the end. I was also not a fan of any of the characters. I found the FMC annoying, the MMC borderline creepy after what the FMC just went through and the brother was actually a horrible person. I do appreciate that there was no third act break up but the rest was a miss for me.

Thank you to NetGalley & Atria for the ARC. First things first I absolutely LOVED this book!! Childhood besties to lovers is one of my all time favorite tropes! Zac is by far one of the sweetest, caring, and hella patient guy. Melody is a sweet girl who ended up with the wrong man at the wrong time. I love everything about Zac and his feelings towards Melody and how he genuinely cares for her and respects her space and time. Melody conquers mental abuse and as she comes to terms to it and takes her time to be her true self Zac is so patient and I loved seeing them come together.
I highly recommend this book who is looking for a good romance story and is looking for some spice which is so good!!

Thank you NetGalley for the ebook arc. Super cute rom com with witty banter and lots of spice.
She’s getting out a a bad relationship were her ex was controlling and he’s pined after her for years since high school. Giving him a second chance to make up for ghosting her, she then decided that she just needs a good rebound, but since they get stranded in the wood after a huge storm hits, all feelings come out and they realize they both never moved on. His ghosting left her damaged and jumped into the next relationship and now that’s she’s back in town he’s not letting her go again.

4.5⭐

I'm usually not the biggest fan of second chance romance AND to top it off a romance book that's 400 pages?! I thought I was going to be in for a looooong ride, but I ended up being super happy I started it.

Their relationship felt cute! He was so supportive of her and her goals.

I also loved the bits and pieces of them interacting with Noah. That was super sweet.

I liked that people talked things out and didn't drag out problems.

400 pages passed by in a blur.

3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book. I thought the romance and character development was great. The characters were lovable and the premise was sweet.

If you're looking for a light book to pass a weekend, this one might do. I haven't found it particularly engaging, but it wasn't a complete letdown either.

Only in Your Dreams has a dreamy premise—quite literally—with a touch of magic and romance that had me intrigued from the start. Ellie K. Wilde’s writing is whimsical and imaginative, and I appreciated the unique twist on the dream-meets-reality trope.

That said, while the setup was promising, the story didn’t fully deliver for me. The pacing felt uneven, and some emotional moments didn’t land as strongly as they could have. I liked the main characters individually, but their connection sometimes felt more told than shown.

Still, it’s an enjoyable, low-commitment read for fans of soft, slightly surreal romance. It just didn’t quite live up to its full potential.

Thanks NetGalley for the arc
(Yes, I’m like 6 months behind don’t look)
This was ok. Zac scared me at times because he was too obsessed
I don’t really have much to say. It’s very difficult for a romance book to shine in this oversaturated market, and sport romance are really not my thing

4.5 stars!

This was exactly the fun, light, spicy romance that I needed right now! I loved that it had the feel of a sports romance, but the characters were a little older (Zac is a college football coach). It started out with a wild comedy of errors that held my attention right from the beginning. It was childhood friends to lovers with “it’s always been you” vibes, and Melody and Zac had great banter and chemistry. She was the grump and he was the sunshine, and it fit the story perfectly. Zac is Melody’s brother’s best friend, and she has always been off-limits, so it was entertaining to watch them try to hide their developing relationship from their friends. I loved their friend group and I’m so excited that Only Between Us just released (featuring Brooks’ love story). I recommend this book for anyone looking for a fun sports romance!

Thank you to Ellie K. Wilde, Atria, and NetGalley for this e-ARC; all opinions are my own.

Read if you like:
💕 Childhood friends to lovers
💕 Brother’s best friend
💕 Second chance romance
💕 “It’s always been you”
💕 Dual POV

I love this second chances romance! It had great characters, an interesting setting, and it was the perfect weekend read!

Small-town, brother's best friend, second chance, sports romance, and fake dating make up the core of this wonderfully, fun rom-com by Ellie K. Wilde.

"Only in Your Dreams" is the start of the Oakwood Boys series and I felt that it was definitely a strong start indeed. I loved the tension between Melody and Zac and the hesitation that will have readers rooting for them.

I cannot wait to read more from Ellie K. Wilde. She will be an auto-buy author for me from now on for sure.

Thank you Atria for selecting me for this ARC.

I liked the characters. I love me a good best friends to lovers trope. I ate it up like candy! Hahaha there were a few things that were like oh jeez, that would never happen irl but I can look past it. The spice was wayyyyyy too much for me. Way too soon. I also read this book after the second book and I'm not sure how I didn't piece that together but it's okay. I love this group of friends! I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you for the advanced copy! I'll admit there was some cute banter in this book and the jokes were cute. I love a second chance romance trope when it is done right and Ellie did it right. Melody and Zac's dynamic was good too, and they were easy to connect to.

Such a cute fun read. I really enjoyed both of these main characters. I also really liked the build up of their relationship. It was also sweet to see how much they grew changed but how they actually never grew apart. Also loved the little bit of "single dad" aspect they had in there. Def a book I would recommend!

This was a cute read, but not for me. The whole time I was a bit confused and the characters were not my favorite.

I was in the mood for a sports romance and when I heard about this one, it sounded like something I would enjoy - the characters were in their late 20s+, it sounded like it had a bit of drama and tension. Ultimately this book did not do it for me. I probably should’ve DNFed it but I stuck to it. The characters came off as very juvenile - their behavior would’ve made more sense if they were freshman in college. I also found the writing to be very basic.

This one started out too slow for me or maybe I didn’t give it enough of a chance - sorry! If I come back to it, I’ll update my review.