If there's one thing Chip Pons delivers, it's that spice!!! The romance between Theo and Asher was beautifully done. Both characters have their own personal battles that unfold throughout the story. Their journey wasn’t all smooth sailing, and those highs and lows really gave depth to their relationship. The pacing was perfect, allowing us to witness their connection grow while also getting to know them as individuals. I really appreciated how the book balanced their emotional struggles with the development of their bond! It was so so cute!!!

Warning: This book will make you crave mozzarella sticks.

What an incredible read! Chip Pons introduces us to two incredible characters with Theo and Asher. I spend the entire read rooting for them and living through their highs and lows with their romance and the Epic Trek's competition that brings them together. It was such a pleasure to watch both heros grow and develop. I just loved their journeys.

One of the highlights of this book was Chip's incredible writing. The banter was snappy and full of humor, but also tension. I laughed out loud multiple times with the great quips of Theo and Asher. The inner monologues were also excellent, providing great insight without telling us too much.

Overall, this was a really great read and I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for providing me with an eARC to review. And thank you to Chip for writing this incredible book.

This is a charming rom-com that centers around an Amazing Race-type reality show. The MCs meet cute after one is dumped by his boyfriend at the airport and a workaholic airline pilot agrees to be his pretend boyfriend for the show. I liked the contrast between the nerdy, high-strung Asher and the more calm, sweet Theo. It's a bit of a slow burn (which honestly seemed unrealistic for two attractive single guys who are forced to share a bed) but the build up of the tension between them and their eventual passion was very well done. 

The third act breakup at the end was frustrating (and I don't buy that the producer friend wouldn't have known about such a huge reveal on the show. Also another quibble about the show: why wasn't there fallout on the couple that cheated? Wouldn't cameras have caught that, and why didn't the MCs tell anyone?) but it was good to see Asher telling off his awful ex. Also it was good to see Theo reconciling with his past and reconnecting with his family, which seemed like an essential step to being able to build a relationship with Asher. Overall this was an enjoyable rom-com that will be a great vacation read this summer. Highly recommended for fans of The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun (another reality tv show MM rom-com). This is the first book I've read by Chip Pons and definitely won't be the last.

Such a great, well written story. Chip Ponshas the ability to tell a story in such a way that it’s hard to put the book down.

A delightful romantic comedy that shines through its endearing characters and compelling narrative. Theo's easygoing nature provides a refreshing counterpoint to Asher's meticulous, introspective approach, creating a dynamic and engaging relationship that feels both authentic and heartwarming. The story masterfully balances humor and emotional depth, making it an epic trek in words.

Just Finished: Winging It With You by Chip Pons
Available June 10th

✈️ Fake Dating
✈️ Mozzarella Stick Meet Cute
✈️ Only One Bed

5/5 🌟
3/5 🌶

I'm floored. I loved every page and I'm so in love with Theo and Asher. It was funny, heartbreaking and soul soothing all In one. I'll think of them over every plate of mozzarella sticks from now on.

The best kind of slow burn, is one that explodes in the spiciest of scenes and this delivers. When the walls come down and feeling are finally expressed, the spice heats up.

When it comes to MM romance, so many stories are built around pain—about characters who have to overcome trauma before they can reach happiness. While pain is certainly a part of both Asher and Theo’s journey, it’s not the center of their story. Instead, they’re chasing joy. And that joy is present in every moment of this book, even the hard ones.

Asher and Theo are both incredibly lovable, and the story does such a great job of bringing a true rom-com vibe into the MM space. It’s fun, heartfelt, and refreshingly light while still offering depth.

It’s not without a few bumps—the third act breakup felt a little heightened for my taste, and the ending ran a bit long—but those moments didn’t take away from how sweet, cozy, and genuinely enjoyable this story is. It’s the kind of story that leaves you smiling, and I’d absolutely recommend it.

Thank you to Chip, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the eARC and the early opportunity to read this book!

Asher is set to embark on an adventure. Taking part in the 25th season of The Epic Trek with his boyfriend Clint. There’s just one problem. Clint has just dumped Asher at the check-in counter…

Theo is grounded. Not like a child. But grounded from flying. A workaholic running from life, he has gone over the safe limit of flying hours and is on 3 weeks forced leave.

What starts as an attempt by Theo to buy the last mozzarella sticks in the airport from Asher turns into a fake dating scenario on a national tv scale as Theo is roped in to replace Clint on The Epic Trek.

As Asher and Theo compete on the show and try to convince viewers they’re madly in love, they start moving towards something that is hard to continue faking.

Look. I wanted to love this so much, like 5+ stars. It has everything that I want in a comfy novel. It’s funny, it’s cute, all of the main cast are loveable (we exclude Dalton and Clint for reasons…), and it’s an Amazing Race type show scenario - and I’ve always wanted to compete on The Amazing Race! But something about this felt a bit off to me, and I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Did that stop me devouring this? No. Did it stop me swooning over Theo and Asher? Definitely not. Did it make me want to drink limoncello in an Italian bar with Jo and Arthur? Absolutely.

Without spoiling anything, I think that what I found lacking were a few additional plot points. There were just a few things that happened without much context that jarred me a bit. And I was a big confused by TET. Like is is just The Amazing Race without the race part? Or like Fear Factor with travel? I dunno.

Anyway, I’m curious to know what happens after that ending 😬

I fear I will never shut up about this book and that it quickly will become one of my comfort reads. Chip does it again with his phenomenal storytelling! I loved “You and I, Rewritten” so I knew this one would be just as good and it definitely delivered! You can tell he really put his heart and soul into this book. I loved Theo and Asher’s story. I laughed, I cried, I squealed. My god I didn’t want it to end! Easy 5 stars ⭐️ ❤️😍

Oh how I love the sweetness that is Asher and Theo and this book! With the reality tv competition angle of this strangers to lovers romance, there was not a moment where I wanted to put it down. The subtle tension between Asher and Theo while they’re figuring their feelings out is delicious, and I just about died every time.

I’m not sure there will ever be a day where the one bed trope does not hit. It was PERFECTION here. Watching the shift between Asher and Theo from their discomfort in the shared bed to a longing for the other was delightful. I am team #thasher for life- on and off their reality show Epic Trek.

Something really special about this book was the storytelling of Theo’s military experience and his forced coming out. It made me angry (as it should!) and highlighted a specific part of being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community that needs to be spoken about more. Justice for younger Theo, and justice for all who have that moment taken away from them.

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the opportunity to read and review this book! I received a free advance copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I was so excited to receive an e-arc of this after seeing the synopsis! This gay rom-com had me in a chokehold the entire time I was reading. They meet at the perfect time for both of them and despite the speed of the start giving me a bit of whiplash, I loved that we slowly got to know more about both Asher and Theo. Finding out the boys’ respective histories gradually gave you more reasons to root for their happy ending. Not to mention the spicy scenes!! 😍🔥 Overall this book flew by and I was sad to be done with it. Wouldn’t be mad to see more of the minor characters in the future 👀

I loved this! I was hooked from the beginning, and couldn’t put it down. Asher and Theo’s story takes a whole new view on fake dating. Not only do they jump in head first together as complete strangers, they tackle hard obstacles and challenges as well, on television. They not only learn about one another as time goes on, but they discover things about themselves along the way too. The banter and slow burn between them was great, their story was full of fun and emotion. One of my absolute favorite parts about Asher and Theo- the way they communicated with one another - it pulled at all of my heart strings. I laughed, I cried and I just over all enjoyed this read so much,

Thank you to Chip Pons, Putnam Books & NetGalley for the advanced copy.

A game show based romance with fake dating?! Sign. Me. Up. and it surely did not disappoint. Theo & Asher romance was everything; the chemistry, great banter and an overall swoony worthy story that had you bought in. I loved the writing style, a plot that was engaging and keeps the reader engaged the whole way through. Characters were so well written, with complexities that were done with grace and many people will be able to relate to, while getting the fuzzy feels of a good romance. This is a new auto buy author for me & 5 stars!

Theo and Asher had a fantastic meet, cute chemistry, and apparent physical attraction from the beginning.

Competing together on an around-the-world reality show, there was lots of opportunity for fake dating moments to turn into real feelings. I loved the attention to detail in each local. Each date/ challenge/ activity Theo and Asher were doing reflected the location and genuinely felt like a book where they were traveling.

I thought there was a good balance between the reality show moments and Theo and Asher having time alone to build their relationship. The book's pacing worked really well!

The premise of being on a reality show allowed their evolving feelings to feel real and made their shared connection very believable. I loved how mozzarella sticks played into their story and the way they approached the lead-up to discussing heavier topics.

The secondary characters were really well done, particularly the way Theo and Asher interacted with their competitors, Jenn and Ellie. They were the perfect foils for Theo and Asher.

I loved how down bad these two were for each other. I am a sucker for character characters lasting after each other, especially within a closed proximity/fake dating situation. Chip Pons can write some spice, and that shower scene was excellent. Also, YAY, let's normalize the use of prEP.

I really enjoyed the moments when Theo was able to communicate with his family. It really added to the book to see his vulnerability and understand more of his backstory. Theo’s arc with his family and their love of him were some of my favorite elements!

The last third of the book felt a little rushed, and while I loved the resolution of Theo’s arc, I feel like the book would’ve benefited from seeing how Asher dealt with the fallout of the trauma. It felt like there was room for nuanced feelings, and I was left wanting a little bit more.

Overall, this was a fun, flirty trad pub debut, and I cannot wait to read Chip’s next book(s)!

3.5- rounding up

This book had me hooked from the very first page! There was so much going on from the very beginning and I loved it. I thought it was going to be so much more cringe than what it was I actually enjoyed it so much more than I thought. It was a lot more realistic and unexpected. I loved how it was so detailed when it came to describing the show.

Th author did such a great job on their back stories and the mental health aspects, and how we treat our Vets. I just found it to be such a great story on self love and self worth that doesn't often get told and we need more of.

Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC on exchange for an honest review, as always all words are my own.

Overall: 4.25/5
Spice level: 2.5/5
Tropes: fake dating, reality TV, forced proximity, one bed, strangers to lovers, opposites attract

This was a cute story! I really loved the chemistry between Theo and Asher. Theo's golden retriever, go with the flow energy was exactly what Anxious Asher needed in his life.

In this reality TV, adventure-based plot, the pacing was fast, but not difficult to follow.

There was great character development and a unique plot. I really enjoyed this new to me author.

Chip wrote an absolute stunner with this one!!! I loved the romance, travel and location settings, side characters and family, and the concept of The Epic Trek. The spice was well-written and I was engaged in the story throughout.

The only thing I didn't like was the 3rd act conflict, it felt a bit out of left field and didn't 100% make sense. It also annoyed me personally lol, I hated Asher's ex! But the conflict didn't detract from my overall love for the book and the characters. I highly recommend this one and am so honored to have received an ARC!

I loved “You and I, Rewritten,” so was so excited to receive an ARC of Chip Pons newest book.

Asher and his long term boyfriend Clint are checking in for their flight to do an Amazing Race style reality show when Clint drops a bomb: not only does he no longer want to do the show but he also wants to break up.

While drinking away his woes at the airport TGIFridays, Asher meets Theo, a pilot who had just been grounded for the month because of flying too many hours. Theo agrees to come on the show as Asher’s boyfriend since he has nothing else to do for the next few weeks and is looking for an adventure.

What follows are challenges around the world while Asher and Theo fall in love. I absolutely loved these two guys. They were both guarded but kind and honest and knew how to apologize.

This would have been a 5-star for me if Asher hadn’t literally just been dumped by his boyfriend of SEVEN years. I just could not get past being with someone for that long and just jumping into something that turns out to be your HEA. Other than that detail, the book was pretty perfect.

I received this Advanced Readers Copy via NetGalley. It releases on June 10, 2025.

Add it to your TBR if you like the following:
-crabby/sunshine
-golden retriever energy
-open door scenes
-reality show challenges

When the opening quote is credited to "Dr. Taylor Alison Swift," I automatically am like "oh, this one is going to be super pretentious." And it 100% was! This book glossed over the meet cute, claimed a pilot carried poppers in his carry-on (they're flammable), there were way too many pet names, and did not do justice to the Amazing Race inspiration. The author is a little too in love with his story, if that makes sense.

But, like, parts of it were still really good. Pons can definitely write the spice, and he does a nice job of including a balance of queer trauma with a heaping dose of queer joy. I also liked Jo, Ellie, and Jenn as side characters. You can tell that Pons put in a lot of his favorite things in this book (i.e. Ben and Jerry's, elephants, La Tomatina, etc.), and it was nice to see his own queer joy on the page.

I'm trying not to be a complete asshole, so that's why it's three stars. But as an Amazing Race fan, this one was NOT IT. The challenges were stupid, the incompetence of the two leads pissed me off, and the social media elements read as someone who has never been on social media (which I know isn't true of Chip Pons). I get wanting to make it your own, but when it is so clearly ripped off a real show, at least do it justice.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Fantastic read. Chip does a great job of creating likable characters whose relationship builds naturally through well written events using a fun travel game show premise.