Thank you NetGalley and Wattpad Webtoon Book Group for an e-ARC of Situationship by EM Wilson in exchange for an honest review!

This story follows two frenemies that decide to embark in a sex-only summer contract to ease their mutual stressors. They both run in the same wealthy social circles and have been “friends” since childhood. Teagan is hardheaded and strong willed in everything she does and Heath is a playboy with a soft spot for the people he cares about.

This book discusses tough themes involving racism, homophobia, and ED so read with caution. However, the author does a pretty good job at addressing the issues and using the scenes to move the plot and character development. I enjoyed the subplots beyond the situationship at hand and really enjoyed some of the side characters as well (mainly Levi and Heath’s mom).

While there was some character development for Teagan and Heath, it didn’t start showing until late in the book. By that point, it started feeling like a strung out slow-burn. Spending most of the book stuck in their heads and avoiding any real conversations about their feelings, the sudden transformation into soulmates just felt a bit forced and impractical. I also hope I never have to read a male main character refer to his genitalia as a “not-so-little guy” again. The phrase was used in nearly every spicy chapter in the MMC POV, and every single time, it gave me the worst ick.

Besides that, I really did enjoy this read and definitely recommend if you like slowburn, frenemies with benefits, secret relationship stories with a bit of cringey dialogue.

There’s so much I can say about this book, and most of it isn’t positive but I’ll start there. I liked Teagan as a character. Her choices in the book didn’t bother me at all. I don’t really understand where the hate she’s getting in reviews is coming from. I will say, the author made some choices that I didn’t agree with. I felt like Teagan was made bisexual just so that the author could say the lead was LGBT+. Granted, bisexuality looks different for everyone but Teagan’s attraction to women only comes into play when strippers are brought up. Which personally rubbed me the wrong way. Jeremy was probably my favorite side character, albeit he comes off very stereotypical gay. His one character trait is him being snarky. Chapter 32 was my favorite chapter because I love when things blow up. I love mess and that was chapter 32.

Now onto the negatives…. The MMC Heath was a douche from the start and took several chapters before I found him somewhat redeemable. And it’s really only because he’s the only straight male in the friend group who sees and acknowledges color. This book also suffered from the classic saying, Jack of all trades, master of none. It tries so hard to touch on so many subjects. Race, Class, Wealth, Out of Race adoptions, Eating disorders…. And does none of them well. There’s also plot points brought up that go nowhere. There was a somewhat revelation revealed when the characters go to Vegas and honestly, this book would have been 10x better if that was the plot.

The reveal at the end of why Teagan and Heath are not in a good place felt weird and quite frankly like an ass pull. Two characters who have known each other since 2nd grade, and were very close up until their first year of college, can’t communicate?!?!?! Sigh. I have more thoughts but I’ll leave it off by saying, this book should not be labeled erotica. The sex scenes were okay, if not a bit repetitive and boring.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book, in exchange for a review.

Who hasn’t been in a situationship? The not knowing what is really going on or who is really catching feelings? This was cute while touching on some really important subjects- abortion, LGBTQ rights, racism, and wealth inequality, mental health and eating disorders. By the end it felt a little like a BINGO game, hitting all the key buzz words. Overall, it was good.

At times it was hard to root for Heath - the man didn’t know the word “budget.” But I’m glad he and Teagan got back together in the end. AND cut off their problematic friends (yay boundaries!). I’d recommend to others for a quick fun read for sure. A little spicy, but not the spiciest thing I’ve ever read.

2.5⭐️

This book was decent. It follows Teagan and Heath in their
"situationship" contract they create, all while rekindling their love for one another along the way. Overall, I enjoyed the storyline, though I did feel that at times the plot became repetitive, with some moments feeling a bit flat because of the repetitiveness.

One of the things I appreciated was the dual perspectives from both Teagan and Heath to get insight into each of their emotions and experiences. There was good character development throughout the story, and I was satisfied with the ending.

It was a cute, cliché romance, where you can predict the outcome, but I enjoyed it. I will definitely be looking forward to more books by E.M. Wilson in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing the ARC! This book will be published on 4/29/25.

Teagan and Heath decide to have a casual hook-up situation for the summer to help relieve stress and take out any added stress of trying to find a relationship. They are part of the same friends group, one of whom is getting married at the end of summer. Meanwhile, they are both dealing with complicated family relationships.

I love the phrase catching feelings. I love friends to lovers. Therefore, I thought this book would be one that I thoroughly enjoyed. But, it wasn't. The way it was written, I was unconvinced by their mutual catching of feelings. They spent 70% of the book hooking up and literally having no further conversations. Additionally, this book was set in the thoroughly privileged 1% of people and was then additionally hard to relate to.

Teagen is the girl with everything including crippling anxiety, a burgeoning eating disorder, and a broken heart. As she navigated her overcommitted life and all of the people she's assumed responsibility for the only person to "SEE" her is the one person who broke said heart. Isn't that always the case. Those closest to us can hurt us the most.

Throughout the story you are able to see a glimpse inside of Teagan's world and understand the pressure she's under. A bit of it self inflicted and you do find yourself rooting for her.

If you're a fan of Magnolia Parks then you will love this........it is VERY similar. Though I did enjoy the writing in this one a bit more. If you can overlook the cringy first chapter I think you will enjoy this one.

A good iced matcha latte works wonders to accompany this story along with crudités and sparkling wine.

Thank you Netgalley and Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group for an ARC of The Situationship by E.M. Wilson in exchange of an honest review.

I like that the author made an effort to tackle some difficult topics and include a diverse cast of characters. There was LGBT and POC representation in both the main characters and the side characters. There was also good mental health rep, and talk about going to therapy which is always encouraging to read about. That being said, I do feel like the book could have benefitted from choosing a couple of topics and covering them really well instead of choosing to only cover small bits of every topic. At times it felt like the topics were being brought up just for the sake of checking off another box.

For a standalone romance , I felt like there were too many side characters. The first couple chapters of this book was spent introducing a large friend group and all of their spouses. It was hard to keep track of the characters when they came up later in the book and most of them felt very surface level. At least 5 of these characters could have been left out entirely and the story wouldn't have suffered for it.

There were very few likable characters in this book. The MMC was written as a stereotypical "bro douche" that sleeps around and isn't ready for anything serious. The FMC was a POC in a male dominated field and friend group which is a trope that I love when it is done right. This FMC was written in a cringy "not like other girls" way. Her chosen friend group was entirely toxic males that she didn't even enjoy spending time with and had to babysit like children. She made a point of having no female friendships because she likes strip clubs more than wine tasting (those were her actual thoughts).

There was some character development from the 2 main characters but not until around the 80% point in the book. It was hard to be invested in their love story by that point. They had spent so much of the book being unlikable and unwilling to talk about their feeling so I didn't find it believable that all of a sudden they are soulmates and ready to tackle all of life's problems as a team.

If I never have to read an MMC refer to their penis as a "not-so-little guy again, it will be too soon. I lost count of how many times that phrase was used in this book and every time it gave me the ick in the worst way.

Thank you Netgalley and Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group | Frayed Pages x Wattpad for the chance to eARC this! I cannot explain my review for this one without mild spoilers, so, only read this if you're prepared and okay with that. I am going to be as vague as possible, but I do apologize.

I want to start with a huge disclaimer:
1) If you are not used to reading fanfiction, you will not like this.
2) If you do not like the current dating culture and hook up culture, you really won't like it.

Situationship starts exactly how you think it is going to. It's two frienemies single rolling into the summer season who agree to a strict hook up schedule. This story isn't new. However, Teagan and Heath are.

Teagan is a very determined, strong, and smart character. She isn't afraid of using her voice, telling her friends and hook ups what she wants, and she is motivated. Behind all of that, though, Teagan is very flawed and, in truth, insecure. She is complex and beautifully done. Heath is the same. He has levels to his character that were so well executed that I wanted more of their chapters that DIDN'T involve each other.

Because the problem lies there. I personally did not see the development between Teagan and Heath. They have small moments of vulnerability with each other, but not moments that validated them both slowly falling in love and deciding they wanted to be together. I feel like the 3rd act breakup into finding out why they were "enemies" to begin with is the only redeeming quality to the choice to have them end this story together. That sudden information twist being dropped to on us is really the only made the falling back together make sense.

I want to say that the added throw in of racism and homophobia also felt forced. I 100% understand why it was used. I 100% support the message being sent, but it felt like those big issues were used to just be plot device. These big serious discussions and fights over racial inequality, gay rights, and Teagan's pretty much al cishetero and wealthy 1%er white friend group would be overshadowed by a smut scene. With Heath and Teagan being the only BIPOC members of their friend group, it felt odd that they'd just... ignored it, especially for as long as we are made to believe when this issue is introduced. The conflicts within the friend group were so unnecessary if the intention was for them to be used as a plot driving device. The time line of summer ending, therefore Heath and Teagan's situation ending was already a huge looming factor for readers, especially since we hardly got to see Teagan and Heath growing closer until right before 3rd act breakup. I feel like either the racism and homophobia needed to be explored deeper to create a more character driven plot or the or timeline needed to be set deeper to allow it to be a true plot driven device. With how both of them were done, they both failed to accomplish the goals I believe they were introduced for.

I also want to say, the wording throughout this book gets very repetitive. Any time Heath was turned on his "not-so-little guy" was "rubbing against his zipper," Teagan's body is constantly described as perfect, even the positioning during the spicy scenes and descriptions of them was repetitive. Things like that made the ability to skip the smut so easy because we as readers already know what's happening and how it ends each time. When you get to that point, with how this book is written, you would be skipping (rough estimate) 90% of the book. I feel like cutting some of that repetition down would have allowed for more time to introduce further vulnerability within Teagan and Heath's relationship that made the ending feel more real.

I, overall, struggled with this one. Between the way the plot just didn't flow to the repetitiveness, I really considered DNF-ing this. Teagan and Heath's character kept me going. They are truly the stars in every sense of this book.

This book is a big ol nope for me, there was a lot of things I did not like about this book, I’m not a fan of the mysogony and homophobia from the friend group. I am also not a big fan of hookup culture and also couldn’t stand the fmc and the mmc, that being said it was well written it just wasn’t for me but I know that there are people out there this book is perfect for and who will love it

Thank you Netgalley and Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group | Frayed Pages x Wattpad Books for the arc

I loved this! The tropes were friends (enemies?) to lovers and one bed. I can never pass up a good one bed situation! There were some twists and turns that I couldn’t predict, and these two had quite a group of friends that embroiled them in some hot water. I was seriously hooked after the first few pages.

This is so dang cute! Relatable characters, dramaaaa, strong fmc, dual pov…. I really loved the classic rom-com feel of this book, it felt nostalgic but left me eager to get to the next chapter. I even cried towards the end which doesn’t happen often 😂

Def read this if you like a fast-paced, HEA, second chance / forced proximity romance!

This would be such a fun one to read by the pool!

Thank you Netgalley and Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group for an ARC of The Situationship by E.M. Wilson in exchange of an honest review!

Teagan knows what she wants and how she wants it, especially when it comes to her private life. However her parent approved boyfriend isn't quite meeting her expectations and she needs to find someone to make her busy schedule less hectic. Knowing she doesn't need a man she enlists one of her friends from forever, Heath. Knowing he isn't exactly relationship material himself he finds himself drawn to this contract in hopes they can both meet each others expectations.

The Situationship is a spicy fake dating romance that is fast paced leaving the readers wanting more! I devoured this book! I loved the characters and plot line and honestly was a little sad to leave Teagan and Heath's story when it was over. Super cute with some spice, I would have to recommend to those that like a little heat!

Situationship by EM Wilson is a frenemies to lovers romance about Teagan and Heath, two privileged but career oriented nepotism-babies. Neither of them have time for a relationship, so they decide to hook up over the summer while planning for their mutual friend’s wedding.

This is the authors published debut and I think they have a lot of potential. The banter in this book was impeccable and once the character development hit, it was well done. The romance ended up being really sweet. There were parts of this book I enjoyed, but I struggled with other aspects of it. I like my romance with a bit more plot, but I felt like the plot and character development took a back seat to the spice. I feel like I might have liked Teagan and Heath more if I’d known about the “big reveal” earlier in the story. Instead I disliked them both for a big portion of the story. The entire friend group in the book was super gross when talking about women, including Teagan who was the only girl in the group. The privilege and sexism was called out, even in the main characters, so that helped a bit. There also desperately needs to be a content warning page which hopefully will be added in the final copy.

Thank you to the author, Frayed Edges, and NetGalley for the advance copy!

I really loved this book! I’m no usually the biggest fan of second chance romance but this one was so so good!! It was also a very touching and heart felt!! I will absolutely be recommending!

Thank you to NetGalley and Frayed Pages x Wattpad Books for the eARC!

I enjoyed this! There were a lot of topics that I found refreshing, specifically dealing with friends who you grow out of. The fmc and mmc are in the same friend group and they’ve all been friends since the third grade, i think. They all come from well off families, so most of them are privileged white boys who don’t understand and refuse to acknowledge the prejudice that the fmc faces as a black woman or one of their other friends, who is gay. I loved how the mmc addresses it and sticks up for her.

Teagan and Heath start off with a friends with benefits relationship (or a situationship) to get through the summer with all of the events they have to go to. They even make a contract (she’s in law school). However, while I don’t think this is a spoiler, it could be considered one: they were in a relationship previously, for many years. I think this is where my rating goes down because it’s not addressed at all until the last around 15%, I believe. I would have rather known this and not be confused about all the weird hatred going on.

The connection between the two is palpable and the sex scenes were good, and usually started in the midst of it already happening.

There was also discussion about eating disorders and how Teagan has poor eating habits due to her anxiety. Heath was very supportive with this because he’s had previous experience with someone in his family.

Overall, I think this was a good romance, I just think it would have been beneficial to know a bit more of their history before the end.

3.25 rounded down

this is my first opportunity to read and review an ARC and also, my first time reading an interracial romance. i was pleasantly surprised by how engaging it the storyline was. it starts off a little slow, but you can easily sense that there’s a strong connection between Tegan and Heath that goes beyond just being friends, but when they finally reveal how deep their bond really is, it caught me off guard (in a good way). throughout the story, i found myself yelling at my kindle, begging them to be honest about their feelings, not fully grasping just how difficult that could be because of the grief they share.

i really enjoyed the POVs of their lives separately and seeing the issues they dealt with on a personal level — meeting in the middle to be each others confidant in a sense. once their past was brought to the light it made a lot more sense of why they were hesitant to open up to each other again. but once they cast those fears to the side, it was beautiful to see how their love blossomed even more.

Jermey and Levi are two of my favorite supporting characters, they kept it real and spared no feelings. They understand at the end of the day whatever i have to say is going to get said, regardless. I love how they both stood up for Tegan before she could really stand up for herself.

overall this was a fun and spicy read, some of my favorite quotes include:

"What can I say to him? That I fucking miss him? That standing next to him right now is the first time I’ve felt alive in days, even though it’s killing me that I can’t touch him? That he shouldn’t try to be happy with someone else, he should be miserable with me instead?" - Teagan

“You say borderline homophobic and racist shit all the time. ‘No homo-ing’ with Ritchie, talking about Teagan like she’s not even a person.” Not sure why I’m getting pulled into this, but here we are. “You voted for a guy who said he’d take away my right to get married.” - Jeremy

"It has always belonged to Teagan. It always will. I will ruin every relationship I have as long as there’s a whisper of a chance to be with her." - Heath

You can’t go back to before everything happened, but you learn to accept it, and move forward.” -Levi

This book was okay but it never did grab me. I wanted to like these characters so much but I just never really got into it.

Okay, okay. IF we took this one back through another editor, this could really be something. It has great bones. It just really needs more editing. Multiple times I was lost and I couldn't tell where the story was going. And there wasn't any story indicating the "enemies to lovers" trope we were trying to play, saying you hate someone isn't the same as making me believe that you hate them. But we have other good things happening with throwing in the adoption themes or talking about racism. And growing apart as a friend group, but we need the build up. Because I could not understand why Teagan was friends with anyone other than you saying "oh, they're friends."

I thought this was a relatively quick and easy read which is what I love about romances, you can tell that author has wattpad origins which can be a draw for a book, however, I don’t think it was for me.

I absolutely devoured The Situationship by E. M. Wilson! Teagan and Heath go way back. As a reader, we find them in the present as young adults navigating the complexity of their high pressure family and high status friend group while trying to makes sense of their relationship with each other. After years of animosity, they establish a situationship contract for the summer which ultimately prompts them to unpack their baggage from the past.

I found myself picking up this book every chance I got! There’s plenty of spice in this book, but also a lot of plot to keep you interested. Wilson also waits until the end to reveal what caused the rift in Teagan and Heath’s relationship all those years ago, which keeps you turning every page until the very end! This story is very reminiscent of a modern-day gossip girl. Would definitely recommend to all romance lovers!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!