If you enjoy grumpy/sunshine, second chance romance, sarcastic banter, fake dating and steam you might want to give this one a try.
I appear to be the outlier here as this has been such a highly raved about book but was just an okay romance for me. I do enjoy a grumpy FMC and if you do, you won’t be disappointed in Eva. I didn’t mind her cranky sarcasm; it was that she was so stuck in rehashing the past that turned me off. Additionally, the relationship between the two didn’t sit right with me. We never get to see it develop, let alone re-develop, so I never bought into their connection. One of the most touching parts of this book was when Cooper revealed what he was dealing with all those years ago. That felt true, and a very authentic part of the story.

Tired of her reporting skills being wasted on interviewing celebrities while eating lukewarm hot dogs on her show Sausage Talk, Eva Kit is determined to make her mark her own way. When she accidentally uploads a video blasting her ex Rylie, Eva is forced to have Rylie on Sausage Talk to feed the media frenzy she created. Rylie is determined to show Eva he is not the immature college guy she dated years ago. As the two go on disastrous dates and on each other’s shows using their newfound clout, Eva discovers no matter how hard she tries, she cannot hate Rylie. As their personal lives blend into their work lives, Eva and Riley must decide how much of their careers and true feelings they are willing to put on the line.

With LBGTQ+ representation, the image we project on social media, and toxic work environments, this romance tackles some tough issues we all should reflect on with humor and some fierce characters.

DNF @40%

ARC Review

This is my first time reading this author and from the blurb, I was very excited to read this book, but unfortunately, it wasn't for me.

This story was highly inspired by Chicken Shop Date, which I thought was very cute and was expecting Amelia and Andrew Garfield vibes, but to me it was a big miss.

I found the FMC overly rude, whiny, and annoying. I love banter and a snarky FMC, but Eva was just mean. As the story went on, I understood her more, but still very annoying. She was very "middle child" like and kept blaming others and circumstances for her situation in life. She didn't really have a personality other than being "snarky" and having a "crush" on every successful person she comes across.

The MMC Rylie was okay. I liked that he knew his mistakes, but never actually tried to explain himself to Eva, up until 40% even then it wasn't about why he left the FMC years ago. He also didn't really have a personality other than creating cute dates and coming out as bi. This might also be due to the book only being from the FMC's pov.

The first date was absolutely hilarious 🤣🤣 and the reason I continued to read more of the book. Other than that, the book was filled with so many cheesy puns and cliche thoughts(FMC mind) that it felt too much.

I had never read this author before and wasn't aware of her writing style when I applied for this ARC, which is on me. This story does have a lot of Queer/LGBTQ+/Transgender rep, which I'm not very comfortable reading and was not made aware of from the blurb. If you are comfortable reading this genre, this story would be perfect for you. It was an amazing representation of the LGBTQ+ community.

Well, Actually was the perfect mix of witty banter, and sizzling chemistry…and spice. The story felt fresh and unique, and I found myself genuinely enjoying every page. Eva and Rylie made for an interesting pairing, though I’ll admit, Eva could be a little rude at times. Rylie, on the other hand, completely stole my heart. He’s the kind of MMC so many women (myself included) would love to meet: emotionally intelligent, self-aware, and always striving to grow.
William and Landry? Absolutely insufferable. Every time they appeared, I could feel my frustration spike. But to be fair, Eva had her moments, too.
Overall, it was a fun, fast-paced read that I flew through in no time. Honestly, I could easily see this being adapted into a charming, laugh-out-loud rom-com movie.

I loved Rylie so freaking much, and while I thought Eva was too mean, she did grow on me. I love banter just as much as the next person but this felt too one sided for my taste. People who enjoy bully romance will eat this up for sure.

I really enjoyed this! The first 25-30% felt a little slow, but after that it picked up for me. I loved the banter between Eva and Rylie.

Perfect book to close the Summer out. I have to go pick up this physical copy expeditiously!! The banter and the yearning are top tier. The humor was great, she was a little mean and sassy but I didn’t mind it ! Picking one up for myself and a friend.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again…If Mazey Eddings is writing it, I’m going to read it. From her adult books, to her YA books, to her queer romance books, Mazey has a way with words that just draws you in and keeps you hooked the entire time. These are books that you simply can’t put down…and you don’t want to.

Well, Actually is such a vibe. The book (and Mazey) does a great job balancing humor and emotion throughout the book. She knows when the reader is going to need a laugh and when the reader needs a moment to live through the productive struggle of her characters.

If you’re looking for a great second chance romance with the best banter, you need to pick this book up immediately. You’ll thank me later!

A very special Thank You to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.75 stars rounded up.

This. was. INCREDIBLE. You know when you start a book and immediately know you're going to love it? This book was one of those. I've never read anything by Mazey Eddings but will now be reading her backlist.

Rylie Cooper is officially one of my favourite love interests. Sweet, funny, and head over heels for Eva. What more could you want? <spoiler> "I would crawl through hell on my hands and knees over a bed of broken glass before I let you go again" ... ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS? </spoiler>

I really loved their dynamic. I could see how Eva might not appeal to some people, but I loved her prickly exterior. It was very clear to me that she used her humour and snark as a defence mechanism (honestly so relatable). I went in to this not knowing entirely what to expect and I loved the LGBTQ+ representation. It was woven in to the story in a way that felt incredibly natural .

The Banter? A+++. The Yearning? A++++. And it was so refreshing to read a romance without <spoiler> the typical third act breakup. </spoiler>

I was lucky enough to get both an ARC and ALC and I'm so glad I did. My only criticism would be that I couldn't read the ARC because the font was so hard on the eyes. But the audiobook was incredible.

3.5 rounded up

This book was a highly anticapted read for me. I absolutely love the cover, the marketing materials, and the LGBTQ+ rep. I devoured the first 50% of the book, and it was rapidly becoming a 6 star read for me. I heavily resonated with prickly Eva whose sarcastic quips are actually a piece of her armor. I loved Rylie’s dedication to unlearning the toxic masculinity. I giggled at their banter, laughed at their disaster dates and loved seeing them break the dates down and truly become friends before anything else.

However, the spice simply wasn’t for me and instantly dried up my enjoyment for this book. I was taken for a loop as the cover and marketing materials, especially the author’s IG, really marketed something else (gentle femdom) but ended up being in my opinion the same cliched and extremely cringy kink checklist relentlessly forced into almost all M/F romance books (with the exception of one different and interesting scene near the end). I think it’s doubly disappointing because Eva was such a hardass, and I expected her to take that into bedroom but instead we got the reverse trope where of course the dom FMC in the sheets needs to a sub in the sheets. The spicy writing to me was similar to Tessa Bailey, so if that’s your jam, and if you’re into a non-stop dirty talking (seriously this guy does not shut up) soft dom MMC, then this may be for you!

Thank you to Mazey Eddings and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for providing an ebook. I am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

This book was adorable and funny with a couple so down bad for each other, I was practically sweating! Seriously Rylie and Eve had so much chemistry, it oozed off the page. I also really loved the cameos from the author's other books, especially Lizzy Blake since that's my favorite!

Rating: 4.5/5
I received an ARC for my honest opinion

Man, I love a woman, who comes off mean, and bitchy but after you get to know her more throughout the book you will see that it’s just a defense mechanism. Eva has learned to build a wall around her heart to protect herself. She wanted to be a journalist, but things didn't work out and instead to play bills she interviews B & C celebrities on her podcast in a dank basement and while she is interviewing them, she acts like they’re not that big of a deal all while eating hotdogs. One drunken night she calls out one of her exs who is a hypocrite. His podcast is called Recovering from toxic masculinity, she goes through and calls him out for all the crap he did in college. She thought by doing it on her personal account no one would see it because of how small her followers are until she woke up the next morning to more followers and her boss telling she will be co-sharing a podcast with him. She has to go on 6 dates with him and recap the dates and the experience to the followers. Rylie is determined to redeem himself to her.

This book was well written; I found the pace to be fast and easy to read. There is spice in this book and some of it had me fanning myself lol. I really loved the banter between the characters in this book, man I found myself laughing out loud so much. Both characters gave as much as they could take. I found the characters developed to have been good, Rylie character more so over the years since college so more development with Eva. First can I say that the first date started out great but then it majorly took a turn for the worse and omg I could see it perfectly in my head and it was written so believable. I liked that Rylie was the one who wanted to open up more for once in a book. It was a male character who wanted to open up more and I was all here for that. I didn’t think I would like the back-and-forth feelings that Eva was having but once I sat down to write this review, I could understand her feelings of not knowing if she could trust her feelings and his words. I loved that Eva was so real and raw, I loved that she was hard, untrusting, real with her emotions and her words. She is a character I would love to be friends within real life. Actually, all of the characters I would love to have as friends.

I want to thank NetGalley and SMP for the opportunity to review this book.

I requested Well, Actually because I really enjoyed my other read from Mazey Eddings, Late Bloomer. However, I just didn't mesh with the two main characters/love interests in this book. I get wanting to do the whole black cat/golden retriever trope, but OMG Eva was SO mean?!?! Like sometimes it felt she said mean shit to people JUST to be mean. And Rylie aka Cooper (the author keeps interchanging his first and last name throughout the whole book which lowkey kind of drove me nuts), seemed to enjoy her being mean to him?

In reality, I probably could have given this less than 3 stars, but... I love hot dogs (yes, seriously) and I was just SO happy there wasn't a third act breakup that I said "whatever" and gave it 3 stars.

Oh wow ok I am obsessed with this. I knew I would be because of the ~vibes~ and because I love everything I read by Mazey, but I was blown away by this one. I had so many lines highlighted by the end, you’d think I was trying to memorize it for a quiz. Highly highly recommend, ESPECIALLY if you’ve ever watched a clip of chicken shop date and thought “I hope Amelia finds love.” Also so beautifully casually queer. Truly 10/10 want to read again.

Mazey Eddings delivers yet another sexy and swoony romcom, this time in the form of a second chance romance between Rylie, a chaotic golden retriever and Eva, a sharp-witted black cat who absolutely did not come to play nice.
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Eva Kitt is stuck hosting Sausage Talk, a hot dog centered web show that’s somehow both deeply cursed and weirdly charming. When she goes viral for publicly roasting her college ex, now a heartthrob social media darling known for dismantling toxic masculinity, she’s dragged into a high stakes redemption scheme that involves fake dating for the internet.
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What follows is an emotionally layered love story filled with banter, feminist fire, introspective growth, and, yes, more than a few phallic food jokes. I laughed, I swooned, I may have gasped out loud during a spicy kitchen scene!
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And the audio! Ariela Crow nails Eva’s sarcasm, vulnerability, and reluctant yearning. I felt like I was inside Eva’s head the entire time. Easily one of the most delightful listens I’ve had in ages.
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This one is an absolute joy!

Favorite Quotes:

I roll my eyes so hard I see spots.

I’ve never been a particularly touchy person, but something about Rylie has me constantly reaching for him like I’m a plant and he’s the sun.

My Review:

I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this book as much as I did, as I had a hard time finding anything likable about the female main character; she was caustic and rather vile, and my distaste for her in the first half of the book was palpable. But she came around, and so did I. The primary and secondary characters were authentic and well-drawn, and realistically flawed. The writing was well-paced, well-honed, easy to follow, cleverly amusing, and smoking hot. The storylines kept me engaged and interested, even when I was annoyed and exasperated with Eva. I truly loved the ending beyond measure - girl-power!

I always look forward to a new Mazey release! I had a lot of fun reading Rylie and Eva. I am not chronically online so some of the references were over my head. Mazey always handles sensitive topics with such care and this book was no different. It falls somewhere in the middle for me overall.

Thank you to the author, St Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the #gifted e-book and ALC!

I loved this book whole heartedly! I haven’t laughed this hard while tandem reading/listening in such a long time. The plot and premises of this book made it so unique and fun!

I adored Eva’s black cat personality. It made her so relatable in so many ways because not everything (most things in fact) are not happy go lucky for her. The incredibly tall walls she built around herself to protect her feelings made her such a raw and emotional character for me.

Rylie is the perfect golden retriever to Eva’s black cat personality. He is a man in the sense that he can own up to his past self mistakes and does everything in his power to prove to Eva that he’s a changed man. I was literally on the floor laughing at the back and forth banter between the two, it left me wanting so much more. I’m convinced I could read and dozen more books just on Rylie and Eva alone.

If able to choose, the audio is 10000% the way to go with this one. Ariela Crow did a phenomenal job as a single narrator. She really made the entire story come to life for me and the emotion within all the characters was portrayed perfectly with her voice.

I would highly recommend to all my book besties who love hilarious banter between main characters and one of the sweetest, full circle love stories!

This is a sweet and angsty take on a second chance romance. Eva has spent her life struggling with "being enough". Eva find she was to being loved in all the ways she longed to be. Those feelings are complicated and Mazzy Wedding did a great job and demonstrating working through previous emotional trauma to create the life you've always wanted.

Eva + Riley 4eva!

Podcast meets influencer culture in a contemporary romance? I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this one, but I ended up loving it!

Eva was is real to me. Black cat energy often comes across as just mean, but Eva's character shows the vulnerability beneath the claws nicely.

Riley Cooper was a study in safe men. He apologizes for his past, shoulders her anxieties and emotions, doesn't care what anyone thinks about him choosing and loving her.

The banter between these two is excellent, and the steam is palpable. With a perfect dash of praise.

A diverse and interesting cast of side characters, even if her bestie's actions were questionable to me at times. We did hear how brilliant Eva was at writing, I wish we'd see a little more of that before the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, thanks to NetGalley for the arc. Will definitely be reading more from Mazey Eddings.