“Well Actually” by Mazey Eddings is an enemy to lovers trope. Eva Kitt is an inspiring journalist who works at a low budget podcast where she eats hot dogs while interviewing C or D list celebrities. After having a few too many cocktails one night, her doom scrolling leads her to her ex’s social media page. Rylie Cooper is a successful podcaster whose show focuses on deconstructing toxic masculinity. Eva loses it and exposes the hypocrisy of his past behaviors and his current platform. Her post goes viral and her company jumps on the opportunity to benefit financially from her engagement. The surprising aspect is that Rylie actually agrees to a live episode of “sausage talk”. There the two arrange to have 6 dates and debrief live on either her show or his podcast.
I loved this book. It’s everything you want in a romance. It took awhile so it’s definitely a slow burn but it’s worth it in the end. 4 star read. I recommend this to any romance fan. It’s cute, witty, and spicy at times. Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This book has such an adorable idea for the storyline that from the get-go I had all the anticipatory glee. There were so many cute parts and for sure there is all the quipped comebacks that nake for fun reading. It feels authentic and the characters read as they should, for the most part. Warning spice level is way to high for me and so I found myself skipping great swaths of the book. The end is a bit of a slow fizzle but overall still meets the market niche and delivers on the genre. Thanks netgalley for the ARC copy for my honest review!

Mazey Eddings has become and autobuy author for me from the start. I'm kind of a "go big or go home" kinda gal and everything about her writing is BIG! Big emotions, big mental health topics and (in this new book) BIG SPICE! Overall, I really enjoyed it on the exact level I anticipated. On the spice note, it was heavier than I remember her other books being so there's that! Prepare to go on a fun adventure with Eva and Rylie (and fall in love with them along the way). Enjoy!

Wicked smart, hilarious, and sexy! Loved the tension and build up between the main characters. The second chance romance was easy to route for and love. It slowed down a bit in the end, but ended sweetly.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

The best straight dynamic is that of a man-hating, bitchy woman and a man who is turned on by it, and Well, Actually DELIVERS on that front. There is nothing sexier in straight relationships to me than a man who worships the ground that a woman walks on, making Rylie Cooper all the more sexier in Mazey Eddings' 6th novel. While I do have to admit that I am nowhere close to the age of the main characters, I was still able to fall in love with their romance as Eva and Rylie rekindle their relationship. Eddings does an incredible job at writing characters that you will either love or hate, depending on your personal taste.

Well, Actually is technically listed as a queer romance on Goodreads, at least, which is true to an exetent. Eva Kitt is a pansexual hot girl who processes her emotions by being a bitch to everyone around her with a bisexual boyfriend. This isn’t me criticizing her character; this is the character of the hot girl that Eddings quickly establishes within the first few pages. Throughout the novel, we see Eva’s evolution as she processes her emotions in a healthy way, despite the strange situation that her career has forced on her. I really enjoyed how Eva’s feelings about Rylie evolved with the very subtle detail of the name that she addressed him by. It is a detail in the actual writing that made me like it a little more.

I am not typically a romance reader, nor a “smut” reader. These genres feel like escapism for older women who need to remind themselves that love is real. I do not fit into any of those categories, so I am far out of the target audience that Eddings writes for. However, I was surprised by how much I did enjoy the majority of this novel. The writing style flows well, the pacing is fast and is easy to read for simple enjoyment rather than diving into the world of journalism, but still is strong in what it offers politically in the world of reporting.

Eddings is a talented writer, with an immersive style that allows you to visualize the setting and characters very well. Her passion for writing shines in the language used, and the cast complements each other highly in Well, Actually.

I've loved Mazey Eddings books since I read A Brush With Love so just add this to the greatness pile. Every book is just as good or better than the last. I'm amazed by authors that can do that. Congrats on an amazing book.

I haven't read a Mazey Edding's novel that I haven't liked. This one gave Chicken Shoppe Date vibes, and I love that!

Eva is a prickly woman who has a lot to say. I don't mean just about Rylie. She is intelligent, passionate, and wants to do right when it comes to true journalism. She has a tough exterior, definitely, but that is her defense mechanism. Growing up as a middle child in a household where she's told to toughen up, she did just that-learned how to put up a wall when it comes to relationship and use humor as a shield for emotions. After all the heartbreak from her own family then college Rylie, can't really blame her for that. She has so much love to give, yet no one seems to want it. Well, except for Rylie. Rylie messed up big time six years ago, and he knows it. Now, he is grabbing the chance to make up for his past behavior towards Eva. Honestly, this man is so charming, flirtatious, patient, and he can take (and love, love) Eva's personality, feminine rage and all. He is just who Eva needed. Eva and Rylie's relationship is complicated because of all the experiences they had outside of their own relationship. As college students, there was still a lot of growing up and learning to do. As adults in their late twenties, they have a better grasp of who they are.

>> Tbh, I didn't really like Eva but she kind of grew on me
>> Hated the toxic work environment of Soundbites, Eva's employer
>> Loved Eva's and Rylie's witty banter

Thank you for the e-arc @SMPROMANCE!

Thank you NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for the arc and for getting me out of my reading slump!!!

I absolutely adored the first half. Loved that there were no meet cutes, just meet disasters. Loved the ANGST. Loved Eva being an unwavering snarky stubborn b*tch throughout the whole book and NEVER CHANGING FOR A MAN!!! It would be an honour if she insulted me. I was scared she would be another dimensionless fmc, but her character blew me away. She’s so real, so raw, so human. I am her and she is me.

AND RYLIE COOPER?!?? I fear I will never forget him.

My only issue is that once they got together, the plot was lost. I’m sure the author had reasons for including spicy scenes, but 3 back to back chapters (and many more times for the rest of the book) was a bit absurd when the entire first half was a drought. Some were definitely necessary, but not all.

Other than that, the ‘inclusivity’ felt very natural, it didn’t feel like I was being force fed lgbtq & queer representation. I thoroughly enjoyed Eva & Rylie’s story - MY true black cat & golden retriever <3

Listen, i LOVE a brash FMC. If you say she is “unlikable” I’ll immediately be adding it to my TBR. She’s not polite, she’s sarcastic and honestly, GOOD FOR HER.
I cackled my way through this. I’ve never highlighted so much in my life. The one liners are hilarious and Rylie’s love confession was immaculate.
The only reason it’s not 5 stars for me is because once they got together, the spice just kinda took over. I was hoping we would get to see more than 3 of the 6 dates. Once they started banging all dates went out the window. Otherwise i loved it.

Mazey Eddings books are really entertaining, I really enjoy her characters. This one was not up to par as her previous books for me. I appreciate the idea, and the originality of the story line. I liked Riley and I liked Eva, but I did not like their chemistry? I'm not sure what it was, it may have been that this was chemistry they originally had off page, even with recalls and some of the flashbacks, I felt like Eva had been seriously hurt by her situationship with Riley, even though he didn't seem all that into her, and maybe that's the point, Riley had a lot going on the first time he and Eva got together, so he was meant to seem a little cold. I appreciate the parallels between lack of communication the first time around and the constant presence of it the second time around. I liked Eva and Riley's black cat and golden retriever vibes (although I'm not gonna lie, sometimes they seemed a little cartoony). Overall a really fun book, I just wish I'd felt more of a connection between the main characters.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC!

Wow, I absolutely loved this story. I rarely read single POV. They usually make me anxious to know what the MMC is feeling if he is not verbally communicating his feelings.

Mazey nails the black cat x golden retriever trope with Eva and Rylie. I loved Eva’s character because I saw so many of my past in her character. Her fear of being vulnerable, always making a joke in a serious situation… but then her character growth! It was so beautiful to read.

I think the thing I loved most about this story is how raw and emotional the characters are. When Rylie opens up to Eva about why he was the way he was in college… I was hanging on every single word.

10/10 would recommend this book to anyone who loves banter, flirting, rawness and vulnerability.


Thank you St. Martin’s Press for providing this book review for consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I want to start this off my saying THANK YOU to St Martin’s Press, Mazey Eddings, and NetGalley for my very first ARC!


My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

My initial thought was to give this book four stars. But the more I thought about it and the other books that I classify as four star reads, the more I thought this one was a solid three. For me, three stars is still pretty good!


The rest of the review will contain spoilers.

Let’s start off strong with Rylie, he was a cutie pie. Sure, he messed up in college, but what guy doesn’t? He did what most people are afraid to do, own up to his mistakes and work to correct them. Not only with Eva but just with life in general. His story was one I really appreciated and actually kind of wished we would have gotten more of his story and his struggles with his identity and how he came to terms with it.

I really liked the premise of this book, taking a concept that’s pretty new in reality, adjusting it a little bit, and making it a rom com, seemed like the perfect fit. And the first half of the book was really strong, there was banter, there was even the aspect of trials with the dates Rylie was taking Eva on.

Here’s where it lost a little bit of its spark, about halfway through, the couple gets together and they stop going on the dates. Eva’s show isn’t talked about except as a plot device to cause conflict in her life and she throws everything she’s worked for away for Rylie. Don’t get me wrong, her employer sucked, but she did go MIA for a whole week, lied to them, got caught, and thought everything would be fine because she was in love and her boss was a woman.

Overall, this was a cute potato chip book you can really turn your brain off while reading and get through pretty quickly. It has good spice and the story is adorable. Rylie is a cutie. Eva has some funny one liners.

*posted to Goodreads, Instagram, Lemon8, and TikTok*

Heard this one reminded people of Chicken Shop Date & that sold me.

Loved the dynamic between these characters and how down bad this MMC was for her from the jump. This FMC took a whileeee to soften up but made the wait so worth it when we finally broke past her hard exterior.

Tons of fun

well, actually by mazey eddings

well, actually is a contemporary romance novel that follows eva kitt, a podcaster (think chicken shop date) who after publicly humiliating her college ex and beloved social media star, riley cooper, is forced to participate in a series of dates with him.

i loved the premise of this book and think that mazey eddings has a strong voice. however, i really struggled with a few parts of this book.

i found that the two characters had almost no chemistry and as a fan of flawed characters i actually found these two unbearable. i also think the story relies on the assumption that the reader is an expert on all things pop culture and social media and found it difficult to see past the very modern day setting including the unironic usage of the word clout.

while this wasn’t for me, i could definitely see fans of banter really loving this one and readers who enjoy books set in our modern day.

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc!!

This was SO HECKING GOOD!!!!! It’s a change to see Mazey write a book that’s a bit more edgy than her usual soft and cute books but this felt so on brand for her!! I love Rylie Cooper hes the love of my life.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3. The first half of this book was about extremes - Eva and Rylie were over-the-top caricatures of the people they were supposed to be and it just felt too unbelievable and exhausting. I actually rolled my eyes at both of them some times.

There were some best friends in the mix but I think their relationships with the main character were vastly underdeveloped and their existence was solely for plot points. I really prefer when a romance is about more than just the romantic love and there’s some well-developed platonic love in there as well.

The ending, where the characters finally shed some of their armor, was introspective and nice.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC

I want to love Mazey Eddings' writing so bad, but like Late Bloomer, this one also fell short for me.

Well, Actually follows Eva Kitt (essentially Amelia Dimoldenberg, but American), the host of Sausage Talk, a podcast where she interviews celebrities while they eat hot dogs. One night, she sees her ex, Rylie Cooper, who now hosts a podcast breaking down toxic masculinity, on her feed, and drunkenly stitches a response to the video, where she calls him out for being misogynistic and bad in bed when they dated in college. The video goes viral, and Eva's boss forces her to bring Rylie onto the podcast. Once on the podcast, Rylie offers her a deal, go on a series of dates with him so that he can show her he's changed, and she gets a nice career bump from the exposure. She agrees, and the plot ensues from there.

Spoilers ahead:
Everyone in this book felt like a caricature to me. Rylie (our MMC) has trauma which explains why he acted the way he did years ago, but continues to talk like some weird slime-y guy in the present day. His (supposedly) total 180 from the jerk he was bag then felt totally unrealistic to me.

Eva's friends are completely one note, to the point that I can't even remember their names. Her one female friend is the producer of her show, and her entire purpose seems to be a minor antagonist, contributing to the third act conflict, but it felt totally unwarranted, and just painted her as a bad friend. Her one male friend, Ray, has slightly more agency, but again could have been left out of the book entirely and nothing would have changed.

Eva's boss Landry was one of the most unbelievable characters I've ever read. There is no world in which a woman who is framed as being this super powerful, respected, but also feared woman is making a speech about Gilmore Girls in the workplace. And that wasn't the only pop culture reference that felt completely random and took me out of the moment.

All in all, this was a cheesy rom-com with a bunch of flat characters.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Mazey Eddings and NetGalley for this eARC.

#secondchance
#goldenretriever
#slowburn

Love me a GOLDEN retriever... have you MET Rylie Cooper?!?

When Eva sees her college situationship (first love?!) on social media, living his journalism dream, she claps back and calls him out on his B.S. In the past 6 years since they were together and she was ghosted, Eva has grown up and put her big girl pants on. She won't take this lying down again.

The cover of this book sums it up better than any review I could write. He praises her through all her snarkiness. I could relate to the walls Eva put up regarding love. Rylie was relentless in his pursuit of her. That is THE dream.

4/5 Stars

Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

4.5 stars, rounded up.

"Well, Actually" is a hilarious story. The banter - *chef's kiss*. The golden retriever/black cat trope - *chefs kiss*. The second chance trope - *chef's kiss*. I literally read most of it in one sitting while kicking my feet and smiling like a fool. If you're into spicy scenes and ENJOYING reading, then definitely give this a try.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc. This was a cute story overall. I found the main character insufferable at times. I know she was supposed to be this major bitchy character, but it felt over the top at times. I love Eva and Rylie together. He is definitely the kind of person she needs in her life. Eva pushes people away with her attitude and Rylie makes a stand to let her know he isn’t going anywhere, and does it in a charming, lighthearted way.