I was really excited for this one, as I loved I Did Something Bad. Unfortunately, this one ultimately fell flat for me.

Poe and Zwe did not seem like a great fit. They spent a large majority of the book being awful to one another. We didn’t get enough glimpses of their good moments, so when they finally got together, it didn’t feel right or make me feel happy.

Also, the hostage story resolution was so far-fetched that it irritated me quite a bit. I guess I just wanted a more realistic resolution.

A big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a free eARC in exchange for my honest feedback. This one releases on 26 August 2025.

Here for a Good Time by Pyae Moe Thet War is a sweet friends-to-lovers romantic comedy set on a gorgeous and remote island in the Philippines.

I was drawn in by Poe and Zwe’s best friend relationship and their witty and sometimes over the top banter. (Poe and Zwe even had a “meet cure” as kids!) I stayed for the “when will they finally get their sh*t together and do it already” vibes. And then they are forced into telling each other what they really want when their island vacation gets infiltrated by masked, armed attackers who take over the resort in the middle of the night.

It was the perfect blend of comedy, romance and suspense, but cozy and sexy. Definitely recommend!

Fresh, funny, and surprisingly twisty.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Here for a Good Time is exactly what the title promises—but with way more heart (and chaos) than I expected. The setup is gold: a writer with major creative block escapes to a luxury island resort... only to end up in the middle of a mystery, some very unexpected danger, and a friends-to-lovers arc that absolutely delivers.

Poe and Zwe had such great chemistry—equal parts witty, vulnerable, and quietly romantic. I really enjoyed how the story balanced sharp humor with real emotional stakes, and the island setting added just the right amount of escapist fun.

The writing is clever, the pacing moves, and the twists kept me on my toes without ever feeling too over the top. This felt like a perfect blend of rom-com and mystery with a lot of heart behind it.

A fun, smart read that’s great for anyone who wants something romantic and a little offbeat.

I loved this author's first book, so I was excited to pick this one up! Poe escapes to a luxury resort to get over writer's block. When masked intruders take over the resort she flees with her friend Zwe. This is a friends-to-lovers romance, which isn't my favorite troupe but the plot of this book made up for it. I thought the author balanced the romance and action from the intrusion well. It reminded me so much of White Lotus season 3. It as mostly a predictable story, but still worth the read.

I was glad it was so well written and wanted to read more from Pyae Moe Thet War based on this book. I was hooked from the first page and was engaged with the characters during this book. It had that romantic comedy that I was looking for. It uses the concept perfectly and that the characters were everything that I wanted.

Here For A Good Time
3.75 ⭐️

I reaaaaally want to go on a tropical vacation now—just leave behind any of the thriller aspects of this book 😅

Poe and Zwe are two best friends headed for a much needed vacation to hopefully inspire Poe’s next book. When they wake to gunshots during the night, their tropical vacation turns a little sinister.

While I did love where these two, and the resort, ended up, I will say that I didn’t love love Poe the whole time. Such a fun quick read!

Thanks to @netgalley for this ARC!

I was really excited to read this, and I loved that the main characters were from Myanmar! The story started off as a fun read, but it started to drag in the middle. I never felt much of the romance between Poe and Zwe and it felt like the romance was more of a side plot than the main story.

Thank you to St Martins Press & NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!
Pub date: 8/26/25

This was OK - the setting was interesting and I think the resort was presented in an appealing way. Unfortunately, I never really felt any sparks between Poe and Zwe -- they seemed like good friends now and always, despite Poe's efforts to be as bad a friend as possible. She was really young and immature, and it felt like a stretch to think she was a bestselling author. Oh well.

Would I read more from the author? Maybe. This wasn't bad by any means.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Review for Here for a Good Time by Pyae Moe Thet War

What starts as a breezy writer’s retreat quickly spirals into chaos in this genre-blending rom-com by Pyae Moe Thet War. Here for a Good Time is a smart, funny, and heartfelt exploration of creative burnout, complicated friendships, and the sharp edge of unexpected danger—all wrapped in a wildly original premise.

Poe Myat Sabei’s career is a dream on paper—international bestseller, Netflix deal, and all the pressure that comes with it. Desperate to shake off her writer’s block, she heads to an idyllic island resort with her best friend Zwe. But instead of finding inspiration, they find themselves dodging bullets and wrestling with long-buried feelings as the resort is taken over by a band of armed and angry women.

The novel balances its romantic core with an action-thriller twist that keeps the pages turning. Poe is a relatable and delightfully self-aware protagonist, and her chemistry with Zwe is tender, tense, and deeply believable. The banter sparkles, the stakes feel real, and the emotional payoff is worth the chaos.

One star off for a slightly uneven pacing in the middle third—where the rom-com tone and thriller elements sometimes clash—but overall, this is a bold, entertaining, and emotionally rich read that stands out in a crowded genre.

Perfect for fans of: forced proximity, best-friends-to-lovers, and rom-coms with a surprising bite.

The beginning on of the book was average but oh my gosh, you get to 30% and boy does this book TAKE OFF!!!!! I loved that the author did a play on words with the main characters name "Poe Myae" is her name with the first letters switched (Pyae Moe). I absolutely loved the chemistry between Poe and Zwe. Setting the scene is necessary but once Poe wakes up with Zwe's hand over her mouth reassuring her that it is him as the world falls apart around them I was a GONER!

When Poe became an international bestseller she thought life was going to be perfect, that is until she was coming up on the deadline for her second book and she had writers block. When she received her book advance there was only one thing that she wanted to go, take her best friend Zwe on a relaxing beach vacation. The trip was meant to inspire her but also to give her and Zwe a chance to reconnect since they've gotten so busy with life. Things were going great until gunshots woke them up one night and they realized that the report was being held captive by a group of masked women. Now instead of relaxing, they must figure out how to survive.

I thought this book was fun and cute. It made for a quick read. At times it was a bit like it was unsure of what genre it was trying to be. There is a lot mixed in like some elements of a thriller and mystery but yet I think overall meant to be a romance book. They did get the happily ever after but the romance, I think, was the least exciting of it all. Them dealing with the masked gunwomen was the exciting part.

This was such a fun, campy story with a little side of romance. You get action. You get angst. You get armed gunmen taking over a luxury resort. There was a little something of everything! I also loved that the protagonists were Myanmarese, which was a refreshing twist.

Fun concept! Characters were a bit all over the place, and the writing style didn’t always work for me. However, great beach read that keeps you entertained for what it is!

I wouldn’t really say Here for a Good Time worked for me, but I also didn’t hate it by any means. The story starts as a pretty standard friends to lovers scenario, but takes a turn into a heisty adventure story. There’s a lot of talk about developing stories because the heroine is a writer, and I found a lot of that to be clunky. If you like romance mixed with adventure, I think this is a good book for you.

Friends to lovers WITH a pinch of high stakes crazy and a dash of world building to boot? This is a romance all its own and sure to be a new favorite among romance readers across the spectrum(sub genres)!

Here For A Good Time by Pyae Moe Thet War (out August 26, 2025) is a fresh, feel-good rom-com that lives up to its name in every way. It’s fun, funny, adventurous, and unexpectedly heartfelt—with a sharp, witty voice that makes the pages fly by.

The story strikes a perfect balance between laugh-out-loud moments and emotional depth, making it more than just a breezy read. And the supporting cast? Absolutely delightful. Every side character adds charm and energy, making the world of the novel feel fully lived-in.

Whether you’re in the mood for a clever romance, a little chaos, or just a good time (pun intended), this one’s a winner. It’s the kind of book you’ll want to recommend to your friends and reread yourself.

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this ARC!

#HereForAGoodTime #PyaeMoeThetWar #RomComReads #SummerBookRelease #BookReview #Bookstagram #WittyReads #FeelGoodFiction #netgalley #netgalleyarc #stmartinspress #stmartinsgriffin

I am a sucker for a friends to lovers romance no matter what, and this pairing was no exception! The story picks up in a great spot, where we meet the characters and grow to feel we've known them as long as they've known each other. The epitome of a slow burn, you root for them all along. While the pacing was unusual (the main conflict the book blurb is about doesn't really start until about halfway through), I didn't mind having so much of the book to spend getting to know Zwe and Poe. I will say the ending extended the HEA to other characters in a way that felt sweet but slightly flat, though you understood the rooting for them, too. I think I often like a romance with an HEA but where some loose ends feel like a question mark, and the epilogue really fixed everyone's lives (not just the FMC's and MMC's). Regardless, I really enjoyed this book and think romance readers as a whole will too!

In this ode to the sophomore novel, Pyae Moe Thet War's sophomore romance misses the mark.

The cover makes you think that Poe, the main character, is an interesting character. She's not. She's bland, annoying in a way that didn't feel intentional, and she doesn't have much character growth. The romance here does not build, there isn't much pining before all of the sudden they are saying "I love you." Zwe was kind of flat to me too. What saved this for me are the anti-capitalist messages and the side characters, who were much more dynamic than the leads. I would read a whole book devoted to Leila.

This is an interconnected stand-alone to the first book, but you can read this one without needing to read the first.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced reader copy.

I thought the premise of this book--after an author who wrote a bestselling novel finds herself with writer's block, she takes her best friend on a vacation to a remote island which gets taken over by masked women--sounded like an interesting mash-up of romance novel and soft thriller. Unfortunately the execution of the story didn't work for me. The main character was a bit too chaotic from page one; I couldn't get a clear sense of who she was as a character. The book also did a lot of telling.

This wasn’t really for me. I didn’t hate it, but the friends to lovers trope was really obvious and not steamy or interesting. The thriller/mystery part of it was pretty obvious for me from the beginning. I did think it was interesting pointing out the stolen land etc, but overall it just wasn’t doing it for me.

I did enjoy the two main characters themselves and their development and growth.

Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an e-arc. All opinions are my own and freely given.