Well, Actually is exactly what you would expect from a book that seems to be based on Chicken Shop Date and the speculation about Amelia and Andrew Garfield. The difference is Amelia and Andrew seem to be likable people with actual chemistry. Eva’s insta lust for Rylie was just not believable nor was her holding on to a few bad dates from college six years ago. She came across as very immature and I’m not sure why Rylie even wanted a chance with her. The supporting characters saved the story and I would have loved to see more from them.

𝙍𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙈𝙮 𝙃𝙤𝙩 𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙚


𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙏𝙞𝙩𝙡𝙚: Well, Actually
𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧: Mazey Eddings
𝙍𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: ★★★★☆
𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙇𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡: Medium
𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜: Check before reading!


𝙈𝙮 𝙃𝙤𝙩 𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙚:
This book is pure happy, lighthearted perfection—with a meaningful twist. It does such a beautiful job weaving mental health into the characters’ journeys in a way that actually sticks with you long after you finish. It’s the kind of book that makes you feel seen while also leaving you smiling.

I adored the plot, fell for the romance, and honestly just loved the warm, hopeful feeling it left me with at the end. A total feel-good read with heart.
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𝙃𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙨:#FeelGoodRomance #MentalHealthMatters #HeartwarmingRead #LightButImpactful #RomanceWithDepth

4 Stars

I wasn’t too big a fan of the beginning of this book, I just found that the chemistry wasn’t really there, although I did like both of the main characters. But towards the second half of the book, things def heated up and I was enjoying myself wayy more!

this sounded like everything i could have ever wanted and it didn’t disappoint.

i love love loved eva and rylie. she’s a hard, crunchy exterior with the softest heart. he’s a gooey sweetness with patience for days. together these two have chemistry and banter for days, not to mention A History they’re trying to work through. i love love loved going from wanting to smash their faces together to basically kicking my feet in the air.

plot wise, it’s a damn delight. yes, there are real life issues here (including bullying, corporate douchebaggery, and misogyny), but the open and honest relationship that eva and rylie talk their way into was refreshing and bright and i legit could not get enough.

overall, this is exactly what i wanted to read and i know it’ll be one i come back to when i need a pick me up.

**Huge thanks to the publisher for providing the arc free of charge**

4.5 stars!

This book was so funny, had so much heart, and had me giggling and swooning.

We have a prickly, mean, journalist working on a show not unlike Chicken Shop Date and a sweet and steady podcast host and social media presence who’s trying to challenge toxic relationships and men. These two also have a history. Eva and Rylie briefly were friends and dated in college and it didn’t end well. Eva has been holding onto this hurt since and drunkenly makes a video blasting Rylie online. Of course, it goes viral.

Eva’s employer and Rylie want to take advantage of the situation, albeit in very different ways. They’re forced to work together for content and start to find common ground after all these years.

Rylie is the kind of man that says “stop being so mean to me or I swear to god I’m gonna fall in love with you”. He’s quick, witty, patient, and kind. He loves that Eva is a pain in his ass, fierce, sharp, intelligent, and funny. Their banter is top tier! The characters have depth and complexity. I appreciated the exploration of depression, grief, loss, youth and firsts, wanting to be seen and known, family roles, toxic workplace, and more.

Eva and Rylie have chemistry and things reallly heat up in the second half. 👀 I already know that this book won’t be for everyone. People will call Eva “unlikeable” and won’t be able to see past her anger and tough exterior. However, I really enjoyed this book and I really enjoyed Eva, even though she could be frustrating at times. Eva and Rylie are a great match.

Mazey Eddings has done it again, created a character that I closely relate too! The perfect banter in this book. I enjoyed every bit of the character development in this story from their past reflections to therapy and present day.
Can we say, welcome to chicken shop date? lol All the vibes. I feel Mazey saw the Andrew Garfield episode and RAN with it and I am so glad she did.
Well, Actually may be my top book of the year, I laughed, I cried, It is living in my head rent free.

The amont of swoon in this book is swoonable, but the amount of jokes that will have you cackling is insurmountable but fictional men written by Mazey, are mountable. ;)

I am so thankful to Mazey and her team for allowing my an early advanced copy of Well, Actually and have already purchased my preorder. <3
Forever in my Mazey Eddings Era.

This was my first book by Mazey Eddings. I finished it last night and I’m still thinking about it. This was such a great romcom, and I couldn’t stop laughing the entire time. The banter was perfect. The back and forth between Eva and Rylie was hilarious. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves grumpy x sunshine and forced proximity. Thank you so much for the ARC!

I loved the combination of rom com vibes mixed in with a more emotional aspect of this book! I did not want to put it down and loved all the mental health representation in this book. Would definitely recommend this if you're in the mood for something fun and flirty to binge this summer!

Read if you enjoy: rom coms, second chance, banter, black cat x golden retriever, mental health rep

I adored this book so much!

The banter was *chef’s kiss*. The back and forth between Rylie and Eva was hilarious. I love a simp that is so down bad for his girl.
The spice was also spicing 🔥

Love love love

Eva Kitt is the host of Sausage Talk where she interviews B-list celebrities with flirty banter for views. One night she gets drunk and vents about an old flame of hers who happens to be the famous podcasters, Rylie Cooper.

After this video gets an overwhelming amount of views Eva's boss sees this as an opportunity for the show to thrive and Rylie sees it as a way to right some wrongs.

The chemistry was fire! The dialogue, laugh out loud funny too.

Even though there were moments things got too spicy and other times I wasn't fully on board with the plot, I still fell in love with this couple and enjoyed the journey to their happily ever after.

A fun & flirty take on an enemies to lovers/second chance romance with forced proximity!

Eva is such a strong female character that truly grows an insane amount over the course of time. From learning how to be more respectful of others that she may have previously not recognized herself being disrespectful to, to even learning a lot about the Rylies reasons for behaving the way he previously had.

This was a phenomenal book!

Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

"I want to spend every day listening to you be an absolute shithead to me."

Kinda hard to beat that declaration amiright 🔥

A slightly meh beginning that picked up speed and then ended way too quickly.

So I had some small issues when I initially started reading this. The MMC wasn't quite what I was hoping for and he winked about 10 too many times. He was also touted as this uber feminist but then he didn't really come off that way at the very beginning, not that he was an asshole but he just seemed pretty average.

FMC was quite the character, and at times I think I did have a hard time with her personality but she had a lot of good snark. She also didn't really develop throughout the story. She was pretty stagnant and then had some choppy changes here and there.

I'm more accustomed to Mazey's stories being really well developed and emotionally hefty with natural progression, but this is also the spiciest book of hers so far so I think that took some of the space that's normally pegged for her character's emotional growth.

The middle of this book was pretty great and there was a good amount of time that I was really enjoying the book, but then the end conflict comes like right at the end and then there is one chapter that is basically the epilogue and it's done 🤔

But overall would recommend for romance readers 🩷

This one was just okay to me. Idk for some reason it took me a bit to get into it. While I didn’t dislike the characters I just didn’t connect with them. I did find a lot of cute moments with the romance. I wish the entire focus had stayed there instead of on her job security but I get it. Overall a cute book just wasn’t a hit for me. I’d still recommend if you like a second chance “work place” type romance!

Thanks to St Martins Press & NetGalley for the ARC

Thanks to netgalley and publishers for this ARC!

I wanted to love this a lot more than I did. I often love Mazey's books, and I liked the general idea of this novel. I didn't love the execution or the characters, unfortunately. I found there were way too many modern references ("Pedro Pascal's internet", "slutty little glasses", for example) that will likely not be relevant in a year or so, and I worry that it toes the line of creating excuses for bad male behaviour. Still cute and fun, but nowhere close to a 5-star or recommendation from me.

As a Chicken Shop Date lover, this book was a lot of fun! The banter was always dialed up, and I love that there wasn't a time once they got together when they had some silly misunderstanding that pushed each other away. All of their issues were rooted in the past, which made it a more enjoyable read. I always enjoy a golden retriever energy main male character, too.

4.5 rounded up!

I really enjoyed the banter between these two! Riley Cooper had me blushing, Eva is a stronger woman than me, whew! I love a woman who is unapologetically herself and a man who loves every bit of her. Riley and Eva both had heavy things to work through in their pasts but I felt like overall this was a fun one. There were so many “microtropes” in this one that I loved but Riley’s slutty little glasses need their own mention. He wore the hell outta those. This book felt fresh and unique, I think today’s romance readers will thoroughly enjoy!

Nice romance. I liked how both characters had explored their sexuality thoroughly prior to getting together. That felt very authentic and contemporary.

Well, Actually you had me in the half but then you lost me. Well, Actually had a lot of promise, it's funny and has fun characters but it just felt boring the last 100 pages or so. When Eva graduated with a journalism degree, she never thought she would be hosting a talk show interviewing celebs. She very surprised when she goes viral for making fun of her ex who happens to be very well liked on the internet. The solution is to bring Rylie, her ex, on to her show. He wants to give her a deal to try to fix his toxic behavior.
Now, normally I love second chance romances but something about Eva and Rylie just didn't work for me. However, I do think Well, Actually was pretty funny and a great concept for a book. The cover is super cute! I think tons of people will fall in love with this story but I just wasn't one of them.

**4.75 stars

Thank you Mazey Eddings and St. Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

TLDR: One of my top reads of the year - banter, Chicken Shop Date vibes, a man who has fallen HARD. Definitely recommend.

What to Expect:
-Bi + Pan MC's
-The Meanest FMC
-Black Cat x Golden Retriever
-Second Chance
-Social Media Call Out Goes Viral
-She Hates Him, He's Obsessed With Her
-Lots of Praise

Content Warnings:
-Anxiety Attacks
-Death of a Loved One
-Homophobic Behaviors x Rhetoric
-Grief
-Loneliness x Abandonment Issues
-Workplace Abuse x Bullying x Harassment

Ok, I don't know how I'm not seeing this book all over bookstagram. This book is everything. We get banter (SO. MUCH. BANTER), a man who has fallen hard, Chicken Shop Date vibes, LGBTQ+ rep that is just a natural part of the book, and so much more. I have so many highlights. Some that were just hot and some that really hit home with me.

"Stop acting like all your dreams need to be manifested before you've even had a chance to strive for them."

"What is this, a f*cking swoon? Good god, I need to get a grip."

"Happiness might not be the outcome but it's worth a chance."

"Don't you dare stop yourself, Eva. F*cking use me."

While this book had a lot of funny moments and a lot of tension, it also touches on mental health. How the family environment you had shapes you, intense grief, feeling unworthy, and continuously learning to better yourself. We even get a therapy session in detail in the book, and I really enjoyed it.

One of my favorite things about this book is hard Rylie tries. He's always trying to be a better person, he sticks up for Eva, he doesn't try to change her (in fact, he loves her sass), and he just really is an all around good guy. He didn't even shy away from how he treated Eva in their past, instead saying he just wants to make up for it and showing how he's changed.

There were only two things about this book that I didn't love, which is why I dropped the rating from a 5.

1) The text messages aren't separated from the rest of the book - no bubbles or italics. It would have made it easier to stay in the story if they were separated in some way. However, I did read an ARC, so this might be different in the final version.
2) I felt like Aida was not a very good friend to Eva. I understand their dynamic is complex since they also work together (and Eva didn't handle things 100% perfectly), but I felt like Aida really invalidated Eva's feelings, especially during the hate comment segment. And this was really just glossed over. I wish there would have been some more understanding from Aida's end and some communication between the friends around the arguments and actions in their relationship too.

Overall, definitely a book I'd recommend. Had me hooked, even in a major reading slump.

I was excited for Well, Actually because everyone was raving about how emotional and hilarious it was… It is — and those aspects carried me through more than half of it. But, ultimately, I DNFed because the level of spice was just not for me.

I can handle open-door. But I can’t handle when books are overtaken by some sort of sex haze, when lust is more at the forefront than the characters’ emotional issues. I prefer sex serving the plot, rather than plot serving the sexy times.

That being said, I’m probably in the minority, and am sure other romance readers will love this!

Thanks for the opportunity to read.