Only In Your Dreams by Ellie K. Wilde is a delightful, swoon-worthy romance that completely captured my heart. From the moment I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down. The story is charming, fun, and full of heartfelt moments that kept me hooked from start to finish.

The main character is someone I could instantly relate to—she's witty, a little awkward at times, and just trying to navigate her way through the ups and downs of life, love, and dreams. I loved watching her grow throughout the story, particularly as she faced personal challenges and learned more about herself. Her journey felt so authentic, and I was rooting for her every step of the way.

The romance itself was absolutely adorable. The chemistry between the characters felt so real and natural. There’s this slow-burn tension that builds throughout the book, which made every moment between them feel meaningful. I loved how their relationship evolved, and I especially appreciated how the author explored themes of trust, vulnerability, and the importance of being true to yourself in love.

Ellie K. Wilde’s writing is smooth and engaging, making it easy to get lost in the world she created. The pacing of the book was just right—fast enough to keep things exciting but with enough depth to allow the characters and relationships to develop in a satisfying way. It was the perfect mix of light-hearted fun and emotional depth.

Overall, Only In Your Dreams is a charming, feel-good romance that I highly recommend to anyone looking for a heartwarming story with fantastic characters and plenty of swoon-worthy moments. It’s a book that will make you smile and leave you thinking about the characters long after you’ve finished.

Melody Woods moves back home after 10 years of a devastating last night before leaving for college getting stood up by her brother's best friend and the school quarterback, Zac when she confessed her feelings for him. Heartbroken and broke she moves in with her twin brother for a couple of months to save enough money to move back to the city and get back on her feet. The only problem is her brother pushes her to go on a camping trip with Zac the very same person she's been avoiding. To make matters worse they get stranded together and are forced to confront their past. She also can't fail to notice how much Zac has grown up and finds him irresistible.

Zac is now a college football coach and has never stopped loving Melody. He now has a chance to show how much he cares and prove to Melody they belong together. Even though she is just coming out of a mentally and emotionally damaging relationship get into another relationship and she can't resist falling for Zac. Their chemistry and sexual tension is off the charts. It's not long before they are sneaking around and hooking up just about anywhere they can.

This book was a bit longer than I expected but I really enjoyed it! I laughed, I blushed, I gasped~Zac is such a dirty talker and the spice was spicy!

This was my first book by this author and I can't wait for the next book!

Tropes-
🏈sports romance
🏈brother's best friend
🏈forced proximity
🏈found family
🏈he falls first
🏈second chance
🏈small town romance

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an E-ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Only in your dreams by Ellie K Wilde follows a set of twins, Melody and Parker. After her relationship with a narcissist ends, Melody moves back to her hometown and in with Parker so she can save money and get her life back on track. Since childhood Zac has been friends with Parker, and the two had grew up being football teammates. The story is told with alternating points of view from Melody and Zac. Favorite line from the book has to be "mother.fucking.fucker." which Zac says when he is pissed off.
This book was super cute and I loved the ending. My favorite part was the saucy banter between the main characters!

Thank you to Ellie K Wilde and Atria books for providing an ARC of this book to NetGalley. I received this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Good Lord this is a man who is truly obsessed. In real life I would be judging him, HARD, and I would be warning Melody away from such a crazy person. However, in book world, he is certainly a swoon-worthy hero. He has not spoken to or laid eyes on this woman in 10 years, yet basically his life revolves around the dream that someday he will be with Melody, his one true love (they've never even kissed).

This book had a lot going on, but it was enjoyable. In parts Zac reminded me a lot of Ryan Gosling in The Notebook (iykyk). There is no third act breakup, no OW drama, just a man who probably (definitely) needs therapy to handle his obsessive tendencies. However he's hot, rich, and got a filthy mouth so who am I to judge our heroine for going for it 🤷🏻

This was the first book I had read by Ellie K. Wilde and I absolutely loved it. You could argue that it’s second chance, which is my least favorite trope, but it barely qualifies. It’s a light read which I desperately needed this month. It was just a delight to read.

10 years ago, Melody had her heart broken by her twin brother’s best friend, Zac. After successfully avoiding him for a decade, she has to return to her hometown after being dumped by her boyfriend of six years. While she deals with the fallout of that breakup and starts to reconnect with her life in her hometown of Oakwood Bay, Zac is also thrown back into her world.

This book is fairly low angst for some of the stuff these characters are dealing with. Melody’s ex is the absolute worst and some of that stuff was a challenge to read, but overall, the book was a lot of fun. I highly recommend this one! Thanks to Ellie K. Wilde, Atria Books, and NetGalley for this advanced copy!

thank you to netgalley and the publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review! Melody finds herself back in her hometown and a second chance with someone who got away. Read if you like small town, reverse grumpy sunshine, second chance, and forced proximity! My only thing would be sometimes the pacing felt off when the story wasn't following Melody and Zac.

Say whaaaaaaat?! I got the arc of this a few months ago and I’m now kicking myself for waiting so long to read it!!! Because HELLO this was so good!!! This had me screaming and squealing. And so many laughs.
I wasn’t sure how Zach was truly going to win her over, but honestly it all played out so well and I couldn’t have plotted a better story if I’d tried. I love all the friends in the group. They were all 👩‍🍳 💋.
Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for sending me a copy.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the arc!

I am usually not much of a sports romance girl, but from time to time a book in this category will catch my eye. Such was the case with Only in Your Dreams by Ellie K. Wilde! This was spicy and oh so fun. The first part of this book had me absolutely ravenous to read on because I looooooved the “only one tent” trope.

However, I did struggle a bit with some of the middle of the book because the secretive nature of the relationship was just SO frustrating to me. I had a hard time believing that these folks were meant to be in their late twenties based on the way they were sneaking around from the Melody’s brother the entire length of the book like they couldn’t just be adults and tell him. But(!) I LOVED the years of Zac pining after her and all of the ways he demonstrated that. …and that bathroom scene was HOT! 🥵

Overall, this was a solid 4 star read for me, and I would definitely recommend it to sports romance lovers!

It was super cute! I had fun, it wasn't too serious, and I liked the characters. I would have liked to see a little more from the side characters, but that's okay. I was still giggling and kicking my feet from the romance and the dialogue was fantastic!

this was SUCH a great rom com to start of february!

i loved the friends to enemies to friends to lovers timeline, getting glimpses of main characters from childhood all the way to present day. the MMC was the perfect combo of sweet & spicy! so excited that this is going to be an interconnected series!

thanks to netgalley & atria books for the ARC!

3.5 ✨

This was a cute quick read.

One thing that will always capture my heart is a man obsessed with his woman, and Zac did not disappoint.

Melody struggling to find herself outside of her previous relationship broke me, because the way she slowly was starting to realize she had lost herself without seeing it while in it, was just too familiar.

I only wish it didn’t feel rushed from the ending of Melody’s relationship into rekindling with Zac.

This was a perfect palate cleanser..

While the setup of this story was amazing the beginning had me really lost. I went in expecting to read one thing and then you dive in immediately to a different scenario.

I do love the trope of best friends brother but overall this was a 2-3 star read for me. This should not dissuade other readers from reading it because I'm only one reader and many other could have completely different ones.

Second chance romances are my weakness and this one absolutely delivered!! Brother’s best friend who has wanted her for a long time? There is nothing better!! To make it even better, the spicy scenes were everything we needed! Melody goes through a lot and I became so invested in her journey in herself and her journey with Zac. If you like sports romance, second chance, brother’s best friend, and “it’s always been you” then this is the book for you!! Highly recommend.

This was probably 100 pages too long and way too cheesy for me. Its saving grace was the spice. That was really good 😅.

This is me just being nit picky but I feel like the story had a bunch of small holes. He says things like “it’s always been you” and then she gets emotional when he says he “loved someone and it took a long time to get over her” thinking he loved someone besides her… it was YOU girl. He already said it was YOU. Why they were both playing dumb and secretive I don’t know.

If you can deal with cheese and like your romances decently spicy, you might like this. Other than that, I’d say pass.

I loved both main characters and was yearning for them to get together from the very first chapter. The spice in the book was perfect. I cannot wait to read the next book in the series to read more about the other characters in this stories

PERFECTION, 10/10 NO NOTES. I immediately purchased all past Ellie Wilde books and cannot wait for the next book in this series!

Only in Your Dreams is a sweet, charming romance with a dash of whimsy. Wilde’s writing and the delightful characters make it a heartwarming, enjoyable read.

First off… A thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review🩷

Now I’m not a huge fan of second chance but this one WOW. I’m a sucker for a secret relationship trope and he falls first but the way Zac and Melody’s relationship was written truly made me love this book.

Them being stranded in the wilderness may have been bad for them but amazing for readers 😘. The banter had me giggling and kicking my legs. ZAC AND MELODYS CHEMISTRY WAS SCORCHING!!!!!!

The only issues for me was really the whole 10 years of silence and the fact outside of Zac and Melody the story tended to drag. But don’t let that stop you from reading this fantastic book!!!!

I really enjoyed Mel’s journey of self discovery. It’s something that SOOOO many people can relate to - being so absorbed in someone else that you forget who you are. I especially liked the self reflection (even tho it hurts) of how Connor manipulated/gaslighted her bc it’s so REAL. Seeing things you never noticed before, even when everyone else in your life saw it. I also absolutely LOVE the “its always been you” trope. And Zac fully
embodied that. He knows that Melody is it for him. The writing was also smooth/easy to understand and the addition of found family was really sweet :)

My issue with the book is that some plot points fell flat for me. The entire beginning scene in the woods was A LOT. and it honestly gave over the top damsel in distress vibes with Mel which I don’t think does her character justice. And idk if I just watch too much love island and they were never really together or the fact it’s been TEN years…but the plot line of why Zac and Mel never got together was a bit weak. I can appreciate that Zac has never really stopped loving her and can understand his predicament in why he did what he did, but the awkwardness/weird grudge at their big age? A little off to me. The book could have also been maybe 75 pages shorter.

Overall, this book was an okay read for me. Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Mel moves in with her twin brother, Parker, after being in a relationship with an emotionally abusive narcissist. She is only planning to stay with Parker until she can get back on her feet and then move out. However, her brother has other ideas when he throws her into a camping trip that she is *not* prepared for.

Zac is busy getting his tent ready for him and his best-friend Parker to share. When a car pulls up, the last thing he expects is for Mel to be taking Parker's space. A bad storm ensues and leaves Zac and Mel stranded there alone. As they work through former betrayal's and feelings, they have to learn how to be around each other for the time being until Mel leaves.

This is a cute, second-chance (?)/brothers best friend romance.