This was such a great second chance romance. Eva works as a host in a show that is not giving her the career she dreams of. On a drunken night, she goes on a rant about an influencer that she went out with in college.

Rylie agrees to go on Eva's show to take advantage of the viral rant. He gets her to agree to date him to give him an opportunity to redeem his past.

The story is so much fun. The banter between Rylie and Eva is top notch. Their first date was full of laugh out loud moments. Rylie is truly the perfect golden retriever energy and I love how he has grown.

The story always has some deeper subjects like toxic work environment. The sex steam was 🔥🔥.

Ariela Crow did a great job on the narration. I do prefer dual POV on romances and this is all from Eva's POV.

Thank you @youhadmeathea @macmillan.audio for a copy of the audiobook.

This was an absolute delight! The banter my god it was perfect! I audibly laughed at parts to the point my husband asked me what was so funny. I had so much fun reading this book and have recommended it to everyone I can since finishing!

This book is all the things: hilarious, sad, tense, romantic. On a drunken night, Eva posts a video about a famous podcaster, Rylie. Rylie has made a living talking about how men can be less toxic, but Eva remembers a very different Rylie from college. He pursued her, and when she finally fell for him, and let him in, he broke her heart. Because of Eva's stunt, Eva and Rylie are forced to work together six years later. They have to date and then talk about the dates on Rylie's podcast. There is a ton of drama in this book as Rylie explains the tragic circumstances behind his behavior in college. And it took me a while to get into the book because Eva is pretty mean to Rylie. He's definitely a golden retriever in this book, But their chemistry is pretty undeniable, and Rylie softens Eva a bit. Just a bit. What's most endearing about Mazey Edding's writing is how funny she is. The banter between Eva and Rylie is really fun. Overall, I would recommend this book, a RomCom with some bite.

Thank you NetGalley for the free digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

✨ Review ✨ Well, Actually by Mazey Eddings, Narrated by Ariela Crow

Thanks to and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

Eva Kitt calls out her college boyfriend and now internet celebrity Rylie Cooper online, and ends up in a work-sanctioned segment of her show Sausage Talk. When he asks her for a do-over, the two have a chance to work through what went wrong in the past.

It made for one of my favorite romances of the year so far and here’s why:

🌭 there's a hot dog themed talk show
🌭 it has the best banter (grumpy-sunshine, he falls first)
🌭 a second-chance romance -- it's usually not my favorite but it works here because of the dual timeline and character growth
🌭 a takedown of toxic masculinity
🌭 lots of queer rep - bi and pan main characters and queer side characters
🌭 dual timeline which shows so much character growth

This one was just so much fun to listen to, even while it tackled tough topics like mental health, exploitative bosses, and grief. The witty banter just made this book fabulous and I loved every minute of it!

🎧 The audio narration was extraordinary. She nails the sassy FMC and does a great breathy growl for the MMC. Loved! You need this book!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: f/m contemporary rom-com
Setting: New York City
Length: 11 hours 33 minutes
Pub Date: August 5, 2025

4.5 ⭐️ Buckle up for some serious quick wit, a spicy FMC, and utterly dorky but smooth MMC. Mental health rep and working through past trauma is a wonderful component.

Have you ever been ghosted by the person you were extremely infatuated with only to have him be your newest interview? Eva knows this all too well. She never wanted to host interviewer with lukewarm hotdogs but here she is. Now Eva must interview Riley Cooper. Her college ex that has been a big social media personality. He talks of knowing what women like and how to make other men good partners. But he was the worst possible partner. How could he be any different now.

Thank you @netgalley @stmartinspress and @mazeyeddings for the advanced reader copy.

“I can’t even begin to predict what godless thing you’ll say or do next, and I have a very healthy fear of your bad side.“
~~~
This book was so cute! Loved the characters, the banter/dynamic of the main two. That ending had me turning pages just to see what was happening!
Thank you @netgalley @mazeyeddings @stmartinspress for allowing me to read an eARC of the book!

Thank you St. Martin for the eARC and Macmillan Audio for the ALC! This one came out earlier this week and I highly recommend grabbing a copy ◡̈

𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑫 𝑰𝑭 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬:
♡ she’s black cat x he’s golden retriever
♡ second chance
♡ hate to love
♡ workplace romance
♡ LGBTQ+ rep

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑮𝑯𝑻𝑺:
I loved being able to read this one while listening to the audio. The narrator had such an amazing voice and actually loved her MMC voice; it was so sultry!! 🤤

I won’t lie, I typically have a hard time with black cat FMCs because I, myself, am such a passive peacekeeper, but I LOVED Eva. She was so relatable and had me LOLing at some of her thoughts that I’ve also absolutely had 😂 Her journey to claw her way out of a job that she hated and wanted more from while protecting herself with snark and indifference is somewhere a lot of people are or have been.

Through reconnecting with Riley, who btw is such a cinnamon roll MMC (I love him), she’s able to have a lot of character growth without losing who she is. I feel like a lot of “mean” FMCs completely switch up their personality after falling in love but Eva was still sarcastic and Riley took it in stride. He didn’t ask her to change, he knows just how to manage her and never wants her to be anyone than who she is.

I enjoyed the storyline of her trying to find her way out of her hot-dog eating, B-list celebrity interviewing podcast into something she felt mattered and enjoyed. Those just desserts at the end were just too good too!!

I loved A Brush with Love and I loved this one too. Time to scour Mazey Eddings’s backlist!

This was a pleasant surprise. I ended up loving this. The story captured me right away. Eva was a character that I backed from the start. I know she rubbed some people the wrong way, but I loved her sarcasm and her snarky humor. Riley was a sweetheart and balanced Eva well. This romance is one of my favorites this year.

THE ROMCOM TO END ALL ROMCOMS

Mazey has an indescribable talent of creating the most ridiculously lovable characters you’ll ever read, but she somehow even outdid herself with Eva and Rylie

The banter, the jokes, Eva’s coarseness and the way Rylie lets everything she says roll right of his shoulders because he’s so. damn. obsessed.

I was giggling— actually, CACKLING through this book, I’m already ready for a reread

Thank you Mazey and NetGalley for the e-ARC, all opinions are my own!!!

This is not my first Mazey Eddings book and certainly won’t be my last. Well, Actually follows Eva Kitt as she navigates her journalism career while fighting the money-hungry, soul-crushing management of the media company that employees her. Stuck recording videos eating hotdogs with B List celebrities and influencers, she is thrust into recording content with her ex- college lover after drunkingly recording a video about him. Fighting her own insecurities about their past the entire time, she learns how to let go and let herself be loved.

I devoured this book. The raw emotion the entire time has you hurting and screaming “you idiot!” the entire time. If you want to live, laugh, and love (you’ll see why I said that), you need to read this.

I had high hopes for this one but it just didn’t hit the way I wanted. Eva felt really immature and was honestly a pretty bad friend and Rylie (why this spelling for a man??) felt a little too perfect and magically emotionally healed. I’m not usually one to notice if writing is super great or not but some of this was absurd. Eva’s use of the word “bombastic” to describe Rylie’s ass in her head will never not baffle me. I would have liked if there was more discussion/resolution about her relationship with her family but it kind of felt forgotten. I did really enjoy the cameos of characters from past books and I really liked Lilith as a side character.

This book was a huge miss for me. I did not feel engaged and I felt that the characters could have been developed more. I will have a hard time recommending this one.

Eva Kitt works with her best friend Aida for a company called Soundbite. There she films a podcast called Sausage Bites where she interviews minor celebrities asking goofy questions. After a long day, she heads home and ends up drinking a bit more prosecco than she should have. Scrolling social media, she sees Riley Cooper who has a very popular podcast. He gives men advice on how to be good and fair to their lady friends. Eva knew him in college and goes on a video rant where she ditzes him as a pathetic date. The next day, she ends up on a Zoom call with her higher boss who seems angry at her outburst but is actually thrilled. Now, her boss wants her to interview Riley.

At the interview, Riley is smooth and Eva, secretly taken with him, tries to act cool. Riley suggests that she date him several times and see if she feels like he has improved as a date Knowing she has no other choice, she agrees.

The first date finds Riley with some over-the-top ideas but some things happen that makes the date end up with her heading home on her own. So, they shoot to try it again.

I’ve read two other books by this author one of which I truly loved and the other was given 3 stars. Unfortunately, I’m only able to squeak out 2 stars on this one. Good grief. Eva is an idiot. I cannot imagine any man wanting to be around her for 5 minutes let alone for an entire date. There is so much juvenile dialogue here and what dialogue there is, simply filled with nonsense. Sorry. This one is not for me.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Beautifully written, this romance explores grief, sexuality, forgiveness, all interwoven and seamlessly integrates with witty banter and an intriguing plot.

Eva and Rylie have a second chance at redemption , forgiveness and healing. I do wish there was a little more focus on Eva's healing, as her trauma was a significant aspect of her personality and the book in general. Rylie was a complex MMC, and I loved his determination to forgive himself, grow, and seek forgiveness and love.

many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was soooo good. I love a romance where the man's so in love and she's a bit reluctant. The only thing that would have made it better would be getting to read Rylie's point of view, I KNOW he was YEARNING!

The cover really caught my eye and honestly made me think of Chicken Shop Date, you know the viral podcast type thing that's been happening for years now but didn't gain much traction until 2021 (imo). That alone intrigued me so I was excited to get accepted for the eARC and the ALC so I could immersive read this book. Normally IRL references bother me in books sometimes because it dates it, but I feel like it meshed well with the story and I was laughing 99% of the time.

What I loved:
I really liked Eva as a main character and I understand that there's gonna be people that think she's rude as hell, abrasive, and a bitch but that's why reading is subjective! I seen some of myself in her because she's always felt like she is the problem and why things don't work out for her in all aspects of her life. Could she be the problem sometimes? Yeah, aren't we all? But I don't think she is majority of the time. She made me laugh so much honestly and I could so see myself being besties with her. She felt so relatable and not just "nice and palatable", she has some fire to her and I love it.

"I know it may be hard to believe, what with my calm, cool demeanor and mature responses to life's biggest curveballs, but I do sometimes overreact in certain situations. Rarely, but it happens."

Rylie also made me laugh a lot throughout reading this book and I think Eva is the perfect woman for him. They balance each other out really well and she's the fire and he's the ice, ya know? He doesn't get a good rep in the beginning of this story because he did treat Eva horribly six years before they end up meeting again. (all because Eva drunkenly talked about him on socials lol) I really liked the therapy scene with the both of them and it showed us more about why Rylie was that way back in college and how he's trying and wanting to do better. ALSO RILEY IS SO DOWN BAD MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Because now I'm so deep in this I would crawl through hell on my hands and knees over a bed of broken glass before I let you go again."

What I disliked:
Eva's bosses-- mother and son duo William and Landry, IRKED me to no end and I really wanted to deck them in the face every time they were mentioned. I understand toxic workplaces but I feel like they were on a whole other level. And in the topic of this there was a point in the book where Eva's bestie was more preoccupied about damage control than her friend who felt like shit because of a video they were doing because William is an ASS. Eva also should have quit her job SOONER because no job is worth that bs.

"I have no idea how to do this, but I'm going to try with everything I have."
"And that will always be enough."

Overall I loved this book so much and I was constantly giggling and kicking my feet. Eva and Rylie are some of my favorite fictional couples and I would so read another book about them. THIS WAS SO GOOD ON AUDIO BY THE WAY and I think the narrator did SUCH a good job.

————————
thank you to Netgalley and the publisher(s) for sending me an eARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review. all thoughts are my own.

One of my anticipated releases of the year! I hope everyone loves this as much as I did. Personally, I love Mazey Eddings Adult romances, and she hit this one out of the park.

The prose for this book is very original and thought out. I honestly would watch this play out in real life. I love how she showed trauma play out and how they were able to play a safe space for each other to heal themselves to destigmatize mental health. I really enjoyed how Eva's toxic work environment was written into the book and Riley was supportive yet let Eva figure that out on her own.

I'm trying not to give out any spoilers just trust me this is a book that needs to be on your TBR.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an EArc copy in exchange for an honest review as always, all words are my own.

Wow.

I've really been enjoying this authors writing, this one didn't disappoint.

The banter, emotion, story and characters made this such a fun enemies to lovers romcom! It was fun, enjoyable and a great palate cleanser!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Mazey Eddings and St. Martin’s Press for a NetGalley ARC copy of Well Actually!

Rating 1.5/5 ⭐
Spice 3/5

Unfortunately I didn’t like this. For starters, I don’t know how I went from mildly disliking this couple to majorly disliking this couple. As a couple they gave quirky millennials in the worst way possible with a “we’re not like other couples” twist - I was physically cringing through the second half of the book.

As far as the FMC goes, the idea of holding a grudge over bad sex and and some uninteresting dates for 6 YEARS is actually insane. Not to mention the FMC continues to have no accountability for her actions throughout the entire book and continues beating the dead horse that was their previous relationship. *Spoiler Warning* As a final note, while her workplace was grossly toxic she honestly deserved to get fired (seriously, have you ever heard of a social media policy?).

The MMC, it didn’t seem like he had a personality outside of a sweater collection and spouting inspirational quotes. I would find myself skimming over his sections by the end because it was more of the same and never came across as genuine. Also, the pet names? Eww.

Another INCREDIBLE book from Mazey Eddings!

Towards the beginning of the book, I couldn't fathom how Eva and Rylie would *ever* end up together with how much resentment she seemed to have for him. But like a golden retriever, he kept coming back to her & breaking down her walls one brick at a time. Big kudos to Mazey for being able to make me cry on one page and burst out in laughter on the next! I teared up so many times relating to Eva's emotions and life experiences but also with Rylie's situation of major loss and grief. The spice was perfectly mixed in to give a very good balance between the emotional scenes and the funny ones. This book is perfect for anyone who loves good banter between main characters!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Mazey Eddings for sending me an early copy!