An unlikely romance between two social media personalities which starts out as a dare and turns into more... Eva and Riley once dated in college, very unsuccessfully, since Riley was a fuckboy who ghosted Eva the day after they had extremely mediocre sex. Years later, Eva is at a dead end media job where she interviews B- and C- list celebrities over hot dogs on an innuendo filled (and kind of gross) pop culture beat, while Riley's career has taken off as a social media darling running a "feminism for men" podcast. On a drunken night, Eva decides to very publicly call Riley out on his hypocrisy given their own less than stellar dating history, which sets off a dare for Riley to win Eva over during a series of very public, publicity stunt driven dates.

I loved this take on the fake dating, second chance romance trope. Riley and Eva have to go on dates for their jobs, but there is nothing fake about the relationship - other than the fact that they're forced into it and also have to discuss it on air after the fact. The banter between Eva and Riley is top notch. I loved the romance and how much determination Riley showed in pursuing Eva, even as she continuously negged him in the most delightful ways possible. The man knows what he wants from the first moment and I have mad respect for that. I especially loved that Eva and Riley's banter did not wane in the least bit even after they got together and admitted their feelings to each other. I'm always so disappointed when the dynamics between a contentious couple suddenly change when feelings get involved, but Riley and Eva turned their negging into flirting and kept it going until the very end. Absolutely delightful romance.

Predictably, since we live in a capitalistic hellscape, Eva must also confront her work struggles and the fact that she is basically making dirty jokes over hot dogs for a living. I really enjoyed this arc of Eva's, although I felt the work drama resolution was maybe a little rushed. I wish the bad guys had really gotten their comeuppance in this one in a painful and visceral way, but it mostly happened in the time skips. I also really enjoyed Eva's personality as an extremely high maintenance girly girl, and her ultra petty side as well. She's all about the high heels and the flawless make up and the designer hand bags and I love it. It seems like such as an unpopular type of character to lean into and I enjoyed it immensely.

Big thanks to SMP for the gifted eARC, and my local library for the audio version. Speaking of the audio - the narration by Ariela Crow was utterly top notch.

I’m so glad I kept going with this one. I really did not like Eva at first, but by the end I grew to love her. I really enjoyed the banter between Eva and Rylie.

This was a fun read. Eva Kitt wants to be an investigative journalist, but everyone has to start somewhere and she is hosting a show that does not portray her intelligence or thought provoking topics. However, her ex Rylie Cooper is a well loved personality living his best life calling out toxic masculinity and bringing awareness to help men be better partners, which Eva believes is all a farce because she knows what Rylie is actually like from many years ago. Cue drunk rant to Rylie that goes public and viral overnight.

I was eager to see how Eva’s reunion with Rylie would go because the current Rylie and the past Rylie cannot be the same person, can they? However, people do change and mature and Rylie is eager to right a past wrong and prove Eva otherwise through a series of dates that will be publicized. I actually loved how much Eva would dish to Rylie and he seemed to happily absorb it, almost with hearts in his eyes. I like a guy who isn’t deterred by a female’s outer claws and knows she has a soft and vulnerable heart inside.

Reputations and jobs at stake, these two embark on a path that neither of them saw coming, but come to a mutual understanding involving feelings and hearts. I enjoyed their dialogue and banter. Rylie surprised me in many good ways and he didn’t give up on Eva. As for Eva, I really wanted her to quit her job and to leave on a high note given how condescending her bosses were and how much she put up with from them. I also needed her to see her true worth and to not require it to be validated by external sources and to create her own individual success. In that regard, Eva does not disappoint and she gets a happy ending.

I love Mazey and this book is no exception! I loved the characters, their development, the spice, and banter. I’ll never not read one of her books. Thanks for the opportunity.

"𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦."


Y'all. I finished a book. This year has been real tough in terms of reading, but I've been trying hard to not let it consume me. LOL

But, I did (finally) finish this book and I absolutely adored it - just like I do with everything Mazey does. She can do no wrong in my eyes.

And in honor of finishing said book, I took Riley and Eva to our local hot dog shop (IYKYK) @updog_hotdogcart - and the owner was so excited when I told her the premise of the book 😂

🌭 Second Chance Romance
🐈‍⬛️ Bisexual MCs
🌭 Forced Proximity
🐈‍⬛️ Ex-Situationship
🌭 Viral Social Media Callout
🐈‍⬛️ Black Cat/Golden Retriever Vibes
🌭 Learning to Trust

As always, a huge thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the ebook ❤️
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#bookstagram #booksta #books #booksbooksbooks #avidreader #ilovereading #thetwistedlibrarian #professionalbookworm #wellactually #mazeyeddings #secondchanceromance #bisexuals #forcedproximity #exsituationship #blackcat #goldenretriever #viralvideo #sausagetalk #rileyandeva #netgalley #stmartinspress #updoghotdogs #romance

🌭 Well, Actually by Mazey Eddings 🌭

Eva Kitt and Riley Cooper went on a couple of not-great dates in college before Rylie ghosted her. Six years later, they’re forced to reunite after Eva evicersates him on her celebrity interview show Sausage Talk. Rylie has built a brand around deconstructing toxic masculinity, and needs to show Eva he’s changed. He convinces her and her producers to a series of dates that start out fake but before long feel too real.

I thought this was cute! I love the premise of it, and Eva’s snarky personality really shines throughout. She’s not nice, but I liked her for speaking her mind and standing up for herself.

The romance with Cooper/Rylie was complex, and it was clear that they both had a lot of unresolved feelings from their earlier relationship. I liked seeing them work through those issues, and I especially enjoyed how Cooper knew Eva enough to know when to push her and when to ease back. He seemed to really get her and love her exactly as she was, and that’s always the dream.

The corporate intrigue added some interesting drama, even if I absolutely hated Landry and William. I love an opportunity for the heroine to come out on top of a plot to take her down, and Mazey delivers on that here.

All in all I’d recommend. Especially if you love:

🐈‍⬛ 🐶 black cat x golden retriever
❤️‍🩹 second chance
🤬 enemies to lovers
🌭 forced proximity
🥸 fake dating

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read this. All opinions are my own.

(2.5) I really wish I liked this one. The idea behind it, having podcasters come together as a second chance is something that I would normally devour, but the FMC continually made decisions that were SO frustrating. Nothing about Eva made me like her, I'm sorry... Riley on the other hand I did enjoy his development throughout the book. I am all for a strong willed FMC and someone who can hold their own, but I don't know on this one. Ultimately, this was a huge factor in what made me hesitant towards enjoying this one which is so upsetting. I think this idea could've been executed so much better and I wish that this was one for me.

Once again, thanks to the publisher for an opportunity to read this in exchange for a honest review.

Flawless. This book was so good! I love a good roasting and the FMC was a roasting queen. I loved the second chance aspect but most of all I loved how the MMC had so much personal growth between the time the FMC last saw him and from when the book started. Sometimes I don’t want both main characters to need to grow, one can start of already pretty okay and the other can still need some work. But I’ll read anything Mazey Eddings writes.

Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. This novel hit a lot of usual tropes in romantic fiction but was enjoyable as I read. Eva's retorts to Rylie and most of the people around her were hilarious but she definitely does work from a place of trauma and not trusting people to stick around. Rylie almost feels like too perfect of a person near the end so it is good to see how much of an idiot he was as a younger person. Cute wrapped up ending where the bad guys are punished and the good guys win and everyone lives happily ever after. 3.5 stars,

I really enjoyed this one! It was written really well and I was so in love with the couple and the topics spoken about in this book. So beautifully done and I loved watching them fall for each other.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martins Press publishing for the digital arc of this book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was pretty good over all! I liked the writing style of the author and felt it was strongly written. I loved that it was a play off the chicken shop! I enjoy reading about second chance romance and this was definitely it and I loved the banter between Ryle and Eva!

Honestly, it wasn’t my favorite book, but I have recommended it to my friends and that is only my personal view! I’m glad that friends have taken my advice!

I also loved the cover of the book as well! ☺️

Thank you @youhadmeathea for the eARC.

This is my 4th Mazey Eddings book, and this might be my new favorite! I loved the banter between Eva and Rylie, and loved both characters. This was such a fun read, but also contains emotional depth and heavier topics. This book explores so many topics grief, sexuality, workplace harassment and bullying, and was really well written. I also loved the brief cameo with Lizzie Blake- one of my favorite Eddings’ characters. Highly recommended this one!

Read if you enjoy:
✔️Enemies to lovers
✔️Bi + pan MCs
✔️Second chance
✔️Fake dating
✔️Black cat x golden retriever
✔️Forced proximity

Favorite quote: “You can call me any name you want, as long as I can call you mine.”

First lines of the story that had me laughing: “I always expected my career would revolve less around wieners than it does. I assumed there would be some wieners, of course (more euphemistically, less the ingested type)…”

This book had a fun concept, but I do wish that it wasn't basically an exact replica of the Chicken Shop Date show, all the way from the awkward interviews, to the host's personality being replicated in the FMC. I didn't like it. During the shows, everything was a bit bland, but outside of the shows, the FMC actually let her personality show and the banter between her and the MMC was fantastic. Fortunately, they didn't spend a lot of time with her doing the show and interviewing other people, but even her chats with the MMC weren't all too enjoyable.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Mazey Eddings, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book. This is my honest review.

This was a DNF for me, I love the author, but this fell flat for me, and the show title "Sausage Talk" was just too cringy for me to see beyond, With that said, I look forward to reading more from Ms. Eddings in the future!

What I loved about this book:

the second chance nature of this book! It was so satisfying thinking of some of the sh*tty situationships in collge turning out to be nice men who want to make it up to you? WHAT A FANTASY.
the banter. The two main characters were so quick-witted, it was fun to watch them verbally spar.
I liked the character development! We got to see a glimpse of these characters in their college years and then again further in their adulthood.
I did really like the plot set up, of him agreeing to be on her online talk show, and her agreeing to be on his podcast.

What I wished would've been different:
It seems like the plot got lost in the last half of the book. Suddenly the agreed upon dates and podcast recordings were never mentioned again?
A jean comforter was a ......choice lol

Ultimately I really enjoyed this book! It lost a little steam at the end but it was all around entertaining.

Thank you to SMP for the ARC!

Mazey Eddings has such a way with developing characters - she makes them real, raw and relatable. I loved the competing podcast concept here and appreciated that the MMC was comfortable in his sexuality and was not afraid to be real and honest about who he was. Another absolute winner from Eddings.

Well, Actually was such a fun read! Eva and Rylie’s second-chance romance had the perfect mix of sass, heat, and heart. The internet drama, fake dating chaos, and their unexpected chemistry kept me hooked the whole way. It’s witty, spicy, and super relatable—definitely a new fave rom-com.

This was such a well-rounded and entertaining book! The comedic relief was always well placed, and the characters felt believable. It was gratifying to read diverse, lgbtq+ friendly characters as well.

I can easily recommend this book to so many people! There was an ease and coziness to it that felt reminiscent of the classic 90s/00s romcoms.

Will definitely look out for more work by this author!

This might be my favorite Mazey book yet! Mazey writes the best "unlikable" heroines and I am obsessed with Eva. Rylie is adorable and the perfect golden retriever book boyfriend. I loved the whole set up and thought the book was a perfect balance of humor and heart.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.3)
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Well, Actually by Mazey Eddings!
A refreshing and fun take on second-chance romance 🌭. Eva and Rylie’s dynamic is sharp, funny, and layered with real emotion. Their banter sparkles, the chemistry sizzles, and the deeper themes of healing, toxic masculinity, and online double standards give the story both weight and heart.
A smart, spicy rom-com with bite — perfect for fans of messy, chaotic heroines and emotionally mature heroes who know how to love out loud.