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

This book is for all those of us who love Nesta as well as all of the other mean, prickly fmcs that never get enough love and way too much misguided hate.

There were so many things that I loved about this book, I honestly don't even know where to begin?? Mazey Eddings really excels at writing refreshing romances and tackles mental health discussions with so much care and knowledge - it's remarkable.

I'll start with the wit and banter in this. Both Eva and Riley were so quick with their wit and they were always on. Their banter was top tier and had me legit laughing out loud several times. They never held back with each other and I truly think teasing and insults were a love language for both of them. It brought me so much joy to watch them bicker with each other and try to out do the other. A match made in comedy heaven lmao.

Next, I really appreciated Eva's character. Yes, she was mean and petulant and always on the offensive, but it was so clear to see how a lot of it was just defense mechanisms and the only way she knew how to protect herself from getting hurt like she had in the past. She was also incredibly intelligent, witty, and a badass bitch. I loved her.

Riley was one of my favorite mmcs I've read in a long time. I loved the honest and raw approach he had towards life and the vigor he had in maintaining that rawness and honesty in every aspect of his life. He wasn't afraid to have the hard conversations and I really appreciated the way he helped Eva approach life the same way. I had no doubt that he put in a lot of time and effort into working on himself and was continuously putting in that work. We love to see it. The patience he had for Eva was unmatched. I love that her prickly attitude was not something he just "tolerated" but instead something he truly loved and even encouraged. This man loved how mean she was to him lmao. It was really fun to see him give it back as good as he got.

Aside from all of the above, I also loved loved loved how this book ventured into important topics like toxic masculinity, misogyny, mental health, and the diverse representation we got of marginalized communities. You could tell it wasn't just things the author was trying to check off a list, but that she felt passionate about. It came through on the pages for sure.

This comes out on August 5 and I really think it's one you should pick up!!

Well, Actually has a fun and interesting premise that drew me in right away from the first page. I was immediately cracking up and found the book hilarious. I enjoyed where the story was going with Rylie taking Eva on 5 dates but around page 114 I did become a little tired of Eva's attitude. She seemed to get so easily angry with Rylie too often. If it wasn't for that I would have given this book 5 stars. All in all, I enjoyed the banter and the storyline.

Thanks to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for a free advance reader copy of this book. Funny and heartbreaking, I loved every minute. Five stars.

First things first, and I’m probably on my own here, but I kind of hate that it’s so obvious that the inspiration for the FMC came from Amelia Dimoldenberg. I adore Amelia and Chicken Shop date and it just annoys me a bit that Eva in WELL ACTUALLY feels so heavily based on her. I mean, sarcastic and snarky Eva makes a living flirtatiously interviewing celebrities over hot dogs and I just personally feel like that’s a bit of a rip off. Again, I know this is very likely an unpopular opinion so obviously ignore me if you disagree!

Now onto the plot. After a Hot Dog Shop interview and a few glasses of wine, Eva finds herself scrolling through videos of an ex-boyfriend turned good guy influencer preaching to a choir of tiktok watching young people about not settling for losers. Of course, she drunkenly posts a reply that snowballs into reconnecting with her ex.

As a whole the story is fun and sexy but I’m probably just too old or grumpy for it. I really liked Rylie even if he was a little too flawless at times (aka a total man written by a woman) and I enjoyed learning about both characters’ backstories to better understand why they acted the way they did. The humor was occasionally a smidge over the top for me but Rylie and Eva had some incredible banter and snappy one-liners that I ate up.

If you took the workplace drama out of this story I might have liked it a lot more. I understand a pot has to be stirred, but the toxicity of Eva’s job was so frustrating especially because she’s such a bold and confident woman in every other area of her life that it was odd to see her behave the way she did. And don’t get me started on Aida.

Finally, a warning: the pop culture references in this one are on steroids. Even if you’re chronically online I feel like you have a very short window of time to read this book before it starts to feel incredibly outdated.

Thanks to the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader! All opinions are my own.

While the premise wasn't necessarily anything new - they hate each other - no wait, they actually love each other! - It was the banner that had me in hysterics throughout the book. The characters felt like people I would want to be friends with in real life, if only to get the hysterical texts they send each other. Can't wait to go back and read all of the authors other books now!

I loved everything about this book: the banter, the characters, the storyline. I was smiling the entire time I was readings. I didn’t want it to end! Such a good, romantic, funny read.

I really wanted to love this one but I couldn’t get past how mean the FMC is. This book definitely follows a reverse grumpy/sunshine trope (where the FMC is the grumpy one) but usually with that trope I feel like the person usually has a soft spot for their partner and is nice to them but this entire book Eva was a straight up bully to Rylie. I honestly don’t even know what Rylie sees in her because she is so nasty and rude. She’s so mean that her office didn’t even include her in a work groupchat because she’s unapproachable. All she does this entire book is call Rylie names and say really rude things and he just takes it and acts like a complete simp.

I personally think Rylie deserves so much better and for that I can’t really get behind the romance. I was still entertained by the plot (it got a little messy towards the end) and really loved Rylie as a character I just could not get over how self-centered and rude Eva was this entire book.

The second chance romance of my dreams!!! A perfect, butterfly-inducing romcom.

This story follows Eva, who is currently going viral for publicly slamming her super sucky college ex on social media, Riley. Since college, Riley has re-branded. He's now an expert on getting out of toxic masculinity. (Extra annoying for her.) He's also beloved on social (very "baby girl") , while Eva hosts a celebrity short style interview show (think Chicken Shop Date). This public shaming leads to a forced collaboration for these two with Eva's job hoping to capitalize on said virality. The tension is high. Eva might be one of the spunkiest (and funniest) FMC I have ever encountered. She is not going to quickly let Riley off the hook. But Riley, sweet Riley, is the most CHARMING! Like I said, the definition of "baby girl" would have Riley's photo next to it. He is set on making up the mistakes of his youth and starting over with Eva. Can he win her over this time??

I had so much fun with these two. They are spicy, they are combative, they pick on each other relentlessly. It's delicious. Eva keeps this man on his toes, while Riley is constantly creating the swoons. The man is obsessed with her, while she's a little mean and definitely fighting her feelings, and making nothing easy for him. She's held onto a lot of hurt from their past situationship. There is lots of room for trust to be built but getting over her walls is a big thing. This is very much a right person wrong time thing.

This book deals with grief and healing, bi and pan main characters, black cat fmc meets golden retriever mmc...I love Eva and Riley. I need more of them. I could have read 200 more pages. Their growth and venerability was beautiful.

thank you to netgalley/the publisher for the arc!

I’d say this is a 2.75 for me. It took me way longer to read than it should have, I sadly kept dozing off on it. The fmc was written with a chip on her shoulder and a mean sense of humor. I can see how that would bug a LOT of people, but in the beginning I didn’t hate it. The fact that it kept dragging on and she kept getting worse and just straight-up mean for NO REASON reeeeally grated on me. I wanted to like her but in the end just could not hang.
The mmc was just like… a dog for her? For no reason at all. The simpiest simp character I’ve ever read, but not in a good way! I love when a person is down bad but this just didn’t feel natural or real to me. Like he really was soo into her immediately after he sees her again 6 years later… and the last time they were together he had some traumatic stuff going on. I just didn’t buy it. I also think a lot of his backstory just seemed like unnecessary and boring.
Oh a really weird picky point I had with them together was when he was like throwing the fmc around (in a sexy way ha) and picking her up but then we’d be reminded she is a tall, not tiny woman or something. Just seemed like a weird thing to pop in so that people might not complain about the tiny woman, big man shit we’re all sick of reading, but it didn’t feel legit.

I liked Lilian’s character, and wish we’d learned more about her. I hated the way the friend/coworker character was written (didn’t feel like she was her real friend?), and everyone else kinda blended together to me. The boss/son thing was not interesting at all. Like just quit, you’ll live.

This book was so fun! The banter is top notch, and the tension!? 🫠 I saw so much of myself in the FMC, Eva, and my husband in the MMC, Rylie. Probably the most relatable book I’ve read in a while. Well, Actually will make you laugh one page, and then destroy you the next.

I suppose I was not the target audience for this book because I did not connect with it at all. The female main character is a raging bitch for no good reason for the first 50% of the book. I just don’t relate to that kind of person, no matter the trauma behind it. I just know she is the kind of person who would be nasty to the server if I am at a restaurant with her. The trauma that made her so closed off and bitchy did not land with me either. I didn’t feel the reason was enough. The male lead was more likable, and he is why I kept reading. To me this book was adequate. I liked it, but it is really difficult for me to love a book when I hate the main character.

I gave this one a 3.5/5.

The plot was cute and the FMC really grew greatly in this story. It was certainly a "he falls first" situation here, he is a golden retriever type character and very sweet, while she is absolutely, not. There was witty banter and the story was definitely inspired by Chicken Shop Date which was fun.

Thank you to the publisher and author for the advanced copy!

I ate this book up. Thank you to the author for allowing me to read this as an arc. I enjoyed this book so much. There were spice romance enemies to lovers. I could ask for more. I look forward to reading other books from this author.
On that note, let’s dive into the book and what it was about. This book was about two people that met when they were in college. They developed a short relationship. The female main character Eva fell in love with him during that time. He Riley ghosted her after their first sexual encounter. Riley became a social media icon as well A podcast. Ava was on a social app as well as working for a social media company. She did weekly hosting shows where she recorded interviews with other people. Riley had a huge falling online and posted one day while Eva was drunk. She saw this post and went on a rant about how terrible he was as a person and as a lay and a date. Overnight this post blew up in Eva‘s face. Her Work had to do damage control and at the same time wanted her and Riley to work on a series together. She was forced to interview interviewing him. They agreed to go on six dates and record it during that time. During those six dates they didn’t even get to the sixth state and they already fell in love just to let you know spoiler alert, but They ended up having crazy amount of banter. It was great. They fell in love. They did the cutest little things. The book had steam to it. Their Work tried to get involved in their relationship. And I am just going to leave it at that because I don’t wanna give you any more details. I’d rather have you just read the book.

Really love this book! The FMC had really great growth and it’s refreshing to not have a third act breakup. I had already been excited about this book after seeing it on Instagram, and all the advertising was right. It was a fun read and I will be recommending it to everyone!

This book was incredibly charming and I appreciate the growth the FMC demonstrated through the story. The author had the opportunity to use predictable tropes to create drama and I commend them for not doing so, further enriching the story and growth. I'll be looking into other books by this author and recommending this one to my friends.

Loved this one! It’s a witty, heartfelt romance about journalist Eva Kitt, who unexpectedly reunites with her ex, Rylie Cooper, after calling him out online. Their staged dates for social media turn into something real, blending humor, personal growth, and sizzling chemistry. With sharp banter and emotional depth, this novel is perfect for fans of smart, engaging contemporary romance.

This was my second Mazey Eddings book, so I had pretty high expectations. For the most part, the premise was really interesting. Obviously being inspired by Chicken Shop Date, it was still a unique book and was a great idea.

I think this book fell a bit short for me with my connection to the characters. I understood that she had an on-screen persona in which she was presented as a dry/witty character, but I don't think it translated well into her everyday life. Because of this, I found some parts of the book hard to get through. The MMC on the other hand was well-written. I think he was able to really work through the mistakes he had made years before.

Super cute read with fun plot points that move the story along. Every character got on my nerves at some point throughout and that was mildly frustrating and hindered my ability to connect with them, but overall really enjoyed this second chance romance.

*potential spoilers ahead*
Wow this book was SO MUCH FUN to read! How I haven’t read anything else by this author is beyond me, because I absolutely adored and ate up the whit. The plot 🥰 the main characters 🥰 their chemistry 🥰 the side characters 🥰 the whole thing 🥰🥰🥰🥰 and the BANTER!
I absolutely adored this second chance romance and our main characters growth! The therapy-positive stance throughout and the deep dive into Eva’s internal battles was so well portrayed. I typically enjoy dual POV books more than single, but this author did a great job at writing in detail that I didn’t mind just hanging out in Eva’s brain. And Rylie Cooper- this man put in the WORK. We love to a changed man who isn’t afraid to right his wrongs 👏
The only thing I hated? Our ‘friend’ Aida 🥲 imo she should have done a LOT more grovelling to get back in Eva’s friend books for the icing out she did after SHE WITNESSED Eva being raked over the misogynistic coals. Eva’s clearly a better person than me cause I wouldn’t forgive that easily.

Tropes:
-grumpy x sunshine
-second chance
-no third act breakup
-LGBTQ2S+ rep!!

this book was too cute! this is a second chance romance that’s black cat x golden retriever vibes with a words of affirmation king! i LOVE the idea of this book and riley might be one of my favorite fiction ppl ever. the first 60% of this book was 6+ stars, and i was OBSESSED! i’m not sure why, but after that, the vibes of the book changed drastically, and it was almost difficult to continue reading. but, once i got through that little slump, i really enjoyed the ending and overall this was SUCH a cute book!

i’m going back and forth w rating this book, but for right now i believe it’s a good 4⭐️ book!