This was a pretty good romance. I do like a sports romance. I also love a best friends brother trope! This book was about 100 pages too long in my opinion, but otherwise, it was a good book! 4 stars! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

Getting harder and harder to deny the sport romance lover allegations!

I thought this book was so fun! I'm a sucker for yearning, second chance romance, and he falls first tropes, so it's no wonder I just ate this up! Also, the 🌶️ is 🌶️ing, just fyi, you know, in case you're into that 👀

The story follows Melody as she leaves a 6 year toxic relationship and ends up having to share a tent on a camping trip with her childhood crush/the boy who got away Zac. I mean this in the nicest way Zac is like this pathetic sad wet man who is hopelessly in love with Melody. He has literally built his whole life around her. Like this man invented yeaning. Melody for some reason is completely oblivious to this and can not believe that he likes her, because he didn't kiss her 10 years ago when she was leaving for college. The whole time I was reading this, I was like girl...GIRL! THIS MAN IS ABSOLUTLY GONE FOR YOU!!!!! Ahgh! The self control and cluelessness of this woman is insane. (affectionately) Rip Zac and all his sad boy-ness. They could never make me hate you.

To be fair to Melody, though, she did have a ton going on. Her stupid ex boyfriend Connor is literally a garbage bag. I hate him. Girl was gaslit like you wouldn't believe, so it makes sense that she wouldn't believe Zac was into her. Even though Zac tells her he is in to her every couple of pages😒.

Anyway, read this book when it comes out in January, so I can have more people to talk about it with!

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I truly hate the miscommunication trope and the fact that this spanned YEARS... Ugh! This would have been so good without it!

As you may know, timing is everything from love to war, and Melody and Zac never had theirs right.

They met in high school, growing close as Zac and Melody's twin brother Parker were on the same football team. They both held secret crushes on one another, but in one night all hope of potential between the two of them was dashed. Now years later Melody is back in town after a breakup she's only now realizing was a terrible and manipulative relationship in the first place, and she and Zac face each other for the first time since that night.

He never forgot about her.

This book is what I like to call candy. It's not hyper realistic, but it is full bodied and compelling. There's just this layer of escapism required to really sink into. It's like some kind of bubble gum alter reality that encapsulates the story. That's not to say there is lots of drama, just that it's hallmark drama. If there's an issue, it's a big ass issue, and he's not just longing for her, he's framed his whole life around her. Everything is bigger, so you can't mistake the message.

Poor Melody was in a relationship with a real douchbag. He slowly but surely tricked her into getting the 'right' kind of job and having only the 'right' type of friends, dressing in the 'right' kind of clothes and eating the 'right' kind of foods. And then he dropped her like a hot potato when he wanted to sleep with other ladies on a boys trip.

This is what lands her back in her hometown. Her brother thinks it's a good idea to throw her directly to the wolves when he sends her on a camping trip with a handful of friends, one of them being Zac, who she hasn't spoken to since his broken promise all those years ago.

She's struggling to figure out what she wants to do with her life, and Zac has been pushed into a job he wasn't ready for as a head coach for a flailing football team. She was always his good luck charm in high school, and now she's back.

What she finds in Oakwood is a support network surrounding her, helping her to heal from the shitty things she put up with for too long from the ex-boyfriend Cooper. Only then is she able to picture her future.

I really enjoyed this book. It pulls on the romance heartstrings we love. The boys are really protective, the feelings stretch back for years, and the reconnection is fire. It wasn't perfect for me though. The camping trip rubbed me a bit of the wrong way and it turns out it was the basis for most of the plot in the first half of the book. I couldn't quite give it five stars for that.

Also, this book is very spicy. Not erotica territory, but I thought I'd mention it. If you're sensitive to spice, I'd pass on this one.

Note: I received an audiobook copy of this book from the publisher though netgalley. All opinions are honest and my own.

I really enjoyed this book (I feel like I say that about many books I read though). This book was really cliched and very spicy, small town, usual vibe where a character comes from a city back to her small town after break up and rekindles her feeling with her first love. And yet. I think I was in the mood for this so this really hit. This book is very palette cleaner coded and cheesy and cringy. But I didn’t care I liked the book anyways. Thank you for the arc of this book 😊

I was super excited to get the ARC for this book after reading the synopsis. However, I don't think this book was for me.

What I loved:
- Found family
- The relationship between Zac and Noah, and later on with Melody

What I didn't like:
- The book felt like it dragged on, and after looking at the book details this book really did not need to be 432 pages long.
- Melody seemed very immature for a 28 year old.
- I didn't really feel any tension between the main characters.

Overall, I think that there are many others who will truly love this book, but it's me not the book.
I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick read. 3 stars. Due to misunderstanding and secret she's avoided going home...

**********I received an ARC for my honest opinion from NetGalley.***********

He's been yearning for her for 10 years and she's been mad at him for 10 years. A brother's bestfriend second chance sweet and spicy story!

Melody Woods always dreamed of moving to the city and leaving her hometown of Oakwood Bay behind. Leaving right after the most heart breaking night of her teenage life, Mel is back 10 years later, trying to get her life back on track after a nasty breakup. Things couldn't get any worse for Melody until Zac Porter reenters the scene. Head coach of the local college football team, Zac is determined to get back on good terms with Melody and this time, he won't give up so easily!

Thoughts and potential spoilers:

This was a fun read! I thought this book had just the right balance of plot, tension and spice! And talk about the found family aspect!? There were multiple times I found myself getting a little choked up and teary eyed over some of the character dynamics, but especially between Mel, Zac and Noah!
The banter and tension between Zac and Mel was fun! It sometimes felt immature, but considering they hadn't seen eachother since they were 18, it makes sense to me and I thought it really worked in the story. Shifting into familiar habits despite growing and maturing in their separate lives. One thing I really loved was how determined Zac was. I'm a sucker for a man that doesn't waver even when things get complicated. He's loved her since he was 14 and it showed through every single dynamic, especially when he was trying to support Mel, but let her have her freedom to make her own decisions, something she desperately needed after her past relationship. This is a recurring subplot as well. Melody had recently been dumped by her long term boyfriend Connor. After discussing her relationship with her twin brother and hometown friends, Melody realized how aggressively manipulative and controlling Connor had been. This came up a lot and though I understand that Melody was working through her trauma and ability to judge someone's character, it got a tad annoying sometimes. Especially in comparison to Zac. Yes, he unknowingly broke your heart at 18, but prior to that, and when reconnecting he didn't give any sign of being untrustworthy!! He literally built the dream house from her vision board?! It's giving *The Notebook*

Thank you so much to Atria and NetGalley for inviting me to read this ARC.

Only in Your Dreams follows Melody, who moves back home after a rough break up with her boyfriend of 6 years. While home, she is back face to face with her brothers best friend Zac who broke her heart years back. This book is a true second chance romance with the brothers best friend trope, two things that I definitely love!

I really enjoyed both characters -- for Melody I personally related as she dealt with many insecurities post-break up and from being in such a toxic past relationship that broke down her self worth. Zac was literally just so sweet and supportive and I loved how he was always there for her and has always, only had his eyes for her.

Unfortunately for me the main conflict of this story I didn't enjoy. I strongly dislike miscommunication, especially one that ends up spanning years and years. I also felt like the book dragged on at times, and definitely could have been shortened. I also disliked Melody's brother, who was super controlling and it felt very toxic as times.

Overall this was a pretty good read, and I'll definitely check out more of the authors books in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Such a great, easy read. Perfect for fans of second chance romances and MMCs who help their girl heal (think Peyton Corinne’s Unsteady), with a dash of sports romance mixed in. Can’t wait to see Wilde’s career take off after this one!

Thanks Atria and NetGalley for the ARC!

This was such a fun love story! Get ready for a story full of love and adventure. It was darling! Loved the characters.

Ellie K. Wilde has SO QUICKLY become one of my favorite authors. This book was everything I wanted it to be and the writing is so real. 👏🏼 justice 👏🏼 for 👏🏼 football 👏🏼 coach 👏🏼 romances 👏🏼 Can’t wait for the next book in the series!!!

Thank you to Ellie + her team for the ARC!

4.5/5- Oh this was better than I thought it would be. The plot was plotting and the spice was spicing. Second chance romance is very hard to do right. And this was where it's at. I kept hating when she would compare, or mentally revisit her past relationship, I just wanted her to move on already and let go but that's not how it works. Real people do compare and do have to process getting out of a bad relationship, so I gotta say that was done well too. It was cute and fun, but my god was it hot too. And the found family.. icing on the cake, really. Definitely plan on reading more from this author.

“Only in Your Dreams’ is the first book I’ve read by Ellie K. Wilde, but it definitely won’t be my last!

This surprisingly good story came to me via NetGalley, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to have read it as this is SUCH A GOOD BOOK. If you love Abby Jimenez books like I do, you will definitely want to read this.

While “Only in Your Dreams” does have a lot of romance tropes going on… second chance, brother’s best friend, fake dating, small town romance–maybe even a little forced proximity–but Wilde handles them deftly and weaves together a beautiful and fun tale.

Melody is a little lost in her life when she moves back to her hometown after a breakup. Zac is the old crush who left a brokenhearted Melody behind in high school. This excellent book navigates their reunion as adults, the lengths they go to in order to clear up the misconceptions about the past, and also support one another as they move forward into their new chapters. Both characters are trying to figure out where they belong in their careers and it’s very modern and relatable. The book is not just fun and games and spicy times; there is also a lot of weight to it as Melody deals with the fallout of her life under a controlling ex, and Zac helps a student whose father is an alcoholic.

You know I really love a book if I give it 5 stars, so definitely check it out when it’s released in January!


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Second chance romance? Sign me UP.
Forced proximity? Sold.

This book was the perfect balance and I highly recommend it.

This one was really cute! Brother’s best friend was pulled off perfectly and the camping trip was the perfect forced proximity situation. I understand that Melody just got out of a bad relationship, but the fact that she stayed in it for so long and didn’t even spend the time that her and Zac were apart figuring out what happened between them?? like if you really liked him then why did you ghost him and not do a lil investigation…? It was just an odd storyline that made 0 sense. Seems like it could have been cut in half if they had like 1 conversation.

Thank you to Atria Books for the ARC! This book started off strong, but I felt it could have been a bit shorter. The tropes were classic, and overall, it was a sweet read, though the buildup to the heartbreak reveal felt a bit overdone. All in all, it was an easy and pleasant read.

Thank you to Atria books and NetGalley for the E-ARC of this title.

I love a good second chance, and this book did not disappoint. The story follows Melody and Zac from their high school days where they ran in the same crowd, Zac is Melody's twin brother's best friend, whom she happens to harbor a major crush on. When their friendship threatens to cross the line into something more, Zac suddenly withdraws and leaves Melody to question herself and her feelings. She moves on, grows, up and leaves Zac as a distant memory.
A decade later, Melody finds herself back in her home town and face to face with Zac. While Melody moved on, Zac was in the wings waiting for his moment. Zac is the ultimate golden retriever MMC, as he is relentless in his pursuit of Melody. There were so many sweet moments from Zac as he finds ways to show Melody how much he loves her now as well as then.

Despite the constant affection and blatant hints that Zac gives her, Melody questions Zac's motives and intent. Her failure to see what is right in front of her was frustrating at times.
The story is set against the backdrop of a college football team that Zac coaches. This provides additional depth and character development.

This book is an open door romance and is oozing with sexual tension. For such a good guy, Zac has the dirty talk down.

If you love a second chance, childhood friends to lovers, forced proximity story full of swoon and sexiness, this one is for you.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the advance reader copy of Only In Your Dreams by Ellie K. Wilde.

Melody has returned to her home town following a break up. She ends up on a camping trip with none other than the boy she fell for in high school. Zac, who messed up his chance with Melody 10 years ago, is the local football coach. Zac is aiming to develop a winning team and win back Melody’s heart.

This book really hooks you from the very beginning. I was immediately drawn into the chemistry that was between Zac and Melody. When we have the 10 year flash forward, the camping trip shows us that the chemistry still exists between these two. This story follows Zac and Melody has they navigate their relationship and what each of their next steps are in life.

If you enjoy a second chance, situationship, brother’s best friend romance, this is one to check out.

Overall I really liked the book. It took a while to get into it, since there is a lot of emotional heavy lifting in the beginning. The angst was so delicious though! I liked the character arcs and I’d read a sequel!