Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

It was a good read. Not the best I have read, but certainly not a bad book. I rank it a solid four. I would recommend for a light read, vacation, weekend, snowed in day. It was a quick read.

Light reading. Worth the read.

Can recommend.

I loved this book. The camping chapters? Pure comedy with the perfect amount of tension. Banter is the number one thing that can make or break a romance book, and this one had it all. I will say that while I don’t normally hate a spicy scene, I felt like spicy Zac and the Zac who loved Clover were very different people. I also think the whole 10 years of life altering actions over a high school ghosting was very over the top. Other than that. Beautifullyyyyyyy done.

Okay! First of all this was my first Football Coach and brother’s best friend trope. Ellie did not disappoint…the twist for Zac not going back to Melody 10 years ago was a surprise for me. Melody was unaware that life was being sucked out of her, Zac was wilting himself. And all it took was the two of them finally being within reach for life to be restored. They were made for one another! What I really appreciated was the sentimental touches-I was a sucker for them!

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC of Only in Your Dreams in exchange for an honest and independent review.

Can I just take a moment and get a standing ovation for Atria Books and the banger releases they’ve had lately? True to form, Only in Your Dreams is another swoon worthy addition to their already copious amounts of 10/10 romance reads. At this point, when I see an Atria author release, it immediately ends up on my must read list because I just haven’t been met with disappointment from their authors in the least. Ellie Wilde is definitely no exception to this continuing trend.

I loved this hot and heavy second chance romance. As a football girly myself, the fact that Mel and Zac’s love story revolves around the gridiron, could not make me happier. And another thing, just when I thought I’d reached my capacity of favorite book boyfriends, there Zac goes taking one of the top spots! That character was written to bring every female reader to her knees and I dare you to challenge me on that!

One thing I want to point out or draw attention to is just how spot on Emily paints the controlling nature of our FMC, Mel, with her ex boyfriend, Conner. It’s heartbreaking but so true that at times, many people don’t recognize the controlling nature of a relationship until they’ve reached the other side. While the subject matter is sensitive and may be triggering for some, Emily did a flawless execution of what it means to be tied to a manipulative, controlling, and narcissistic partner and how you can completely lose yourself to the other person without even realizing it. Maybe this depiction will help some readers recognize their own situation before it’s too late if they happen to find themselves in similar circumstances.

All in all, this book left me heated, excited, invested, and begging for more. If you enjoy spice and are looking for that sexy, enemies to lovers, second chance sports romance, look no further. I mean it. Stop right here and snag this book immediately! You will not regret for a second. Put this date in your calendar and star it—>January 21st! You’re going to want to pick this one up my friends.

A romance novel for football lovers!

The Gist: Melody moves back to her hometown after a breakup with her boyfriend of 6 years. She’s pretty quickly thrown into a “one bed” situation with the man who broke her heart in high school.

Things I loved:
1. The second chance trope gets me every time, but this time I really loved Zac’s character.
2. I’m really starting to love books with a sports story in there too!
3. The banter
4. Her nickname 🍀

Other thoughts:
I truly thought this was a perfectly written book! Zac and Melody are clearly a vibe!

Read if you like:
Second Chances
Only One bed
Fake Dating
Enemies to Lovers

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria, and Ellie K Wilde for the ARC!

“I’d burn everything to the ground for you and walk away without another look."
•

ten years ago, Zac Porter broke Melody Wood’s heart, so when she moved away to the city, she never looked back. but now she’s home again, and Zac is prepared to do anything to prove she’s the great love of his life, and she always has been. but fresh off a mentally abusive relationship, and with the pain Zac caused her always in her mind, Melody’s walls are sky high. even if Zac can prove how much he cares for her, will Melody allow herself to give him a chance after all this time?

Only in Your Dreams is a story about one true loves and second chances that poignantly explores the trauma of mentally abusive relationships. read with care!
•

this and that:
♡ brother’s best friend
♡ chocolate chip cookies
♡ dual pov
♡ fake dating
♡ forced proximity
♡ four leave clovers x good luck charms
♡ friends-to-strangers-to-friends-to-lovers
♡ friends-with-benefits
♡ golden retriever mmc
♡ getting stuck in the woods during a storm
♡ he’s obsessed
♡ it was always you
♡ one tent
♡ open door spice
♡ secret relationship
♡ she wears his jersey
♡ slow burn
♡ small town
♡ sports romance
♡ “totally platonic mattress-sharing”
•

triggers:
☞ alcoholism
☞ gaslighting
☞ infidelity
☞ mentally abusive partner
☞ physical violence
☞ toxic realtionships
☞ verbally abusive parent

Melody has just moved back to her hometown after a bad break up and no way to afford rent on her own. All she wants to do is find a job that pays enough to move back but everything gets derailed when she runs into her childhood crush who devastated her right before she went away for university. And he is determined to grovel and make her his. This is a really cute second chance romance with a great book boyfriend. I loved how gentle Zac (and everyone in Melody’s life) was to her after her realization of how bad her previous relationship was. We see Zac do everything he can to make sure Melody feels safe and comfortable in their relationship after being manipulated for so long. The book felt a little to long, it could have been 50ish pages shorter to make the pacing better. I did feel like the reason for Zac not pursuing Melody after he realizes his mistake ten years ago felt flimsy. From the way his character is I felt like he would have tried to reach out to her multiple times. It didn’t feel true to his character to have behaved this way. Overall, I enjoyed the book and had a good time reading it.

Only in Your Dreams is a fun, cutesy insta-love romance novel with a relaxing setting and really interesting characters. I liked how Melody had meaningful obstacles to overcome in her personal life while going through this story.
I expected this to be more of a slow burn when it came to the relationship between the two characters, however it was quick-starting and long burning. From chapter 2 on their chemistry was clear and was almost a fully forged relationship that just extended until the end of the book. I do think there was growth and lots of fun side plots in the background to keep the story engaging, but I wish it would have been more tense or slow going at the beginning to give them time before they fell into a relationship.
Since I personally am not a huge lover of the insta-love tropes, I did wish this book explore more tension and individual dynamics, rather than it being 14 year old pining that finally ends through them coming together. Still, this was such a well written book and full of lots of humor and fun!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

to be loved is to be seen and WOW does zac porter KNOW his woman. i love to see a man actually LONGING for someone.

If you can look past the improbability of most of the situations in this book, it's a fun time. A good amount of spice without feeling overdone - the balance between plot and spice was actually quite good. I really liked Melody and found her journey to be wonderful to read, but Zac was a bit bland imo.

Thank you to the publisher, author & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book! I voluntarily read this book, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Only In Your Dreams by Ellie K. Wilde is a second chance romance. Zac and Mel (Clover) have had feelings for each other for a decade. They also haven’t seen each other for as long. Once reunited Zac is on a mission to get Clover to fall in love with him. Zac is so sweet, I really loved reading from his point of view. I loved his relationship with Noah and how much he loved Clover. The misunderstanding from years ago takes quite some time to be fully addressed. I think the book could have been a bit shorter but I read it very quickly. I can’t wait to read the others in the series.

I really really loved the story in this book! The banter between the two main characters was excellent as their romance was adorable. I could read a whole series about them and still need more.

This is a second chance brothers best friend and sister trope

It starts ten years ago after high school graduation when Melody asks Zac to kiss her. She is his good luck charm and brothers best friend. That makes her automatically off limits. So even melody asks for that kiss - Zac said he would be right back but never did while also never reaching out for an explanation.

Fast forward ten years and melody is getting out of a long term relationship. She begins the process of grief and healing. She moves back home to get a few things figured out when she is found in a situation stranded with Zac.

As we move through the story we get the dual point of view from both Melody and Zach.

This is a story of second chances and finding yourself. There are several open door spicy scenes in the book.
I appreciated that there was no big third act mishap. Any issues, The characters communicated.

FMC- I felt like I could feel her struggles and conflict within herself as she comes out of an abusive relationship ( mental and emotional). While the book is more happy and focused on the two mains reconnecting we still are able to see what it is like for someone who now has to question everything. It is obviously simplified more for context of the book and HEA.

I will say the ten years without contact is crazy to me. I don’t understand fully the not contacting her in Zac’s part and going all notebook with the house but I was able to look over that because I was charmed by his character. That said, their issue would have been easy to talk about sooner rather than later. The rift between friends too I feel like would have been settled way before that time too.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I like the fact that the main male character never straight from his purpose and was a big cinnamon roll. I felt like I could also put myself in the female male characters point of view and realize I may have acted the same way she did on Page

**| received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher Atria Books. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**

I liked this book a lot. It had a great story line and the character’s personality’s were very fun! I think many people are going to like this book if they like sports romance or just romance in general!

Only In Your Dreams is a heartwarming childhood friends to lovers romance. I am finding out that I really love a second chance romance between old friends. This was honestly the perfect romance, the perfect mix of romance, growth and spice.

Mel moves back to her hometown after getting dumped by her long term boyfriend and ends up trapped at a campsite in a storm with her brothers best friend who left her hanging 10 years ago after she asked him to kiss her.

Zac is one of my new favorite book boyfriends and he was as close to perfect as a fake man could be.

I would highly recommend this book if you like sports romance (Zac is a football head coach), found family, second chance and guys that are obsessed with their girl.

Only in Your Dreams
By @elliekwildeauthor

The story is about Melody and Zac. Melody has a twin brother named Parker and Zac was Parker’s best friend and was always around the house along with Summer. Zac and Melody obviously become close friends. There was this one rule that Parker had though amongst the guys at school. A rule that Melody never knew about - can you figure out what it is!?

Melody comes home after being gone for 10 years and moves in with Parker. Can you imagine what she finds out from being gone? Can she just get back in with the friend group like she didn’t move away? She was in a bad relationship that she realizes and keeps overthinking about. The confusion she didn’t realize she had, the things she did without even thinking if they were right, how condescending her ex was … and so much more she unpacks. She just wants to forget about it and move on with her life. What does she do in order to do that? You’ll love it but you gotta read the story.

Fave Quote (although there are so many):
* She’s that first ray of sunlight after a bad storm. Peeking through the clouds.

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#bookstagram #bookreview #romancereader #momlife #booknerd #bookcommunity #bookrecommendations #weekend #sportsromance #teacherlife #thanksgivingbreak #netgalley #arcreader

The time was right for this book. Although it was longer than necessary and had some unlikable characters (the brother was worse than the ex boyfriend), it was a perfect way to disassociate while jumping into a happily ever after. I've not read any of this author's other books, but I will look into doing so, which makes this book a win for me.

3 stars (get rid of the brother and it would be 3.5 easily)

First, I’d like to thank NetGalley and Atria publishing for allowing me to read this book! I ended up really enjoying it.

I think the brothers best friend trope can be overdone, but this was written very well! The groveling from Zac, the sap, The Notebook reference?? Swoon-worthy. Zac is definitely on my list of top book boyfriends.

There were definitely times when the book felt a little repetitive and like it was dragging-I definitely think it could’ve been shorter. However, the other scenes made it so worth it.

I didn’t expect the amount of spice in this book! I was very pleasantly surprised. It was very well written and both Mel and Zac have filthy mouths!!

I didn’t love that Parker never really got called out for his controlling behavior, especially after everything Melody went through with Connor.

Overall I really enjoyed this book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

When the synopsis says spicy and sizzling it means SPICY (🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥/5) 😱 Definitely proceed with caution where you read or listen this one 🤣 This book is definitely all smut and very little plot but sometimes you need a light and easy book.

This is a classic older brother's best friend trope and it is done well. I found the cast of characters very likable and relatable, I actually hope some of the side characters get their own book 🥰

Thank you Atria for the ARC!

Red shoelaces and four leaf clovers are the ultimate romantic talismans in this second chance romance. This was a spectacular exploration of how history can be both an impediment and solid foundation to a relationship. It is also full of sweet and sexy moments that will make you want to put Zac Porter on the list of top ten book boyfriends.

Mel moves back home after her toxic boyfriend breaks up with her. Having avoided her hometown for 10 years in an effort to not see her brother’s best friend who broke her heart as a teen, she is thrust back into his orbit during a camping trip. When Zac realizes that Mel has returned, he knows it is finally his chance after fourteen years of pining to show her they belong together.

Mel’s journey of realizing how much she was gaslit and controlled during her past relationship and the steps she took to regain her sense of self was so well done. I cheered for her as she recognized her worth and stood her ground.

Zac is a man obsessed in the best of ways. He has always loved Mel and never waned on that. He loves Mel explicitly; he tells her so with his words and by quietly providing support in the background so that she can feel confident.

Absolutely recommend this book.