Now this... this was FUN. If you are a sucker for banter, add this to your summer TBR. If you like MMCs who fall first and HARD, add this to your summer TBR. If you like MMCs who stick through it even when the FMC pushes, add this to your summer TBR. If you want to laugh and giggle and kick your feet but also shed a tear, add this to your summer TBR.

As a reader deep in a reading slump, a deep dark reading slump, this was a light at the end of the tunnel. Having started and put down 9 books in the last week, this one finally stuck. And not only did it stick, but I DEVOURED it. I usually try to read ARCs closer to their release date but when I picked this one up on a whim, I knew I couldn't wait. It is also making it to my Favorite of 2025 list, no question.

Add it to your summer TBR.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a digital advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

As a second chance romance this was full of banter and build up.

Eva had a hookup in college with this guy Riley who is now , sexi year later, internet famous for mending his ways and trying to be a better human. She is over his bs and drunkenly posts a video to call him out on it. As someone who also works in media, their bosses determine it would be great ratings for all if they do a show together to unpack this. On episode 1 Riley gets Eva to agree to 6 dates to change her mind. And this book takes you through their comedy of errors and anger and frustration.

Eva was a hard character for me to get into and I almost wanted to dnf the book. But that came around in the end for me. I’m glad I stuck with it.

A good reminder that people can change and sometimes it really can be for the better!

One of the most WITTY, STEAMY, and HEARTFELT romances I've read this year.

"𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐄𝐯𝐚 𝐊𝐢𝐭𝐭, 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧. 𝐈’𝐦 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐈’𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥.”

Cooper Rylie and Eva Kitt briefly dated in college before going their separate ways after a night that left Eva jilted. Fast forward 6 years - Cooper is a well liked podcast personality and Eva is a journalist on a pop culture beat (enter the chicken shop date vibes).  They are thrust back into each other's lives when Eva very publicly (and drunkenly) calls Cooper out for his past fuck boy behavior. Cooper is no longer the fuck boy that Eva knew. This man is soooo emotionally intelligent, it's slutty as fuck. And he's on a mission to right his past wrongs.

The BANTER between these two is un-freaking-matched. Eva is a fire breathing dragon of a woman and Cooper is OBSESSED with her. He is soooo down bad. Eva could spit in this man's mouth and he would say thank you so much-- stars in his eyes.

Eva is so relatable, she hit a little too close to home at times.

“𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞,”
“𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞?”
“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡.”

Nicknames that Cooper has bestowed on Eva that will live rent free in my brain: little demon, contrarian witch, headstrong fruit loop 🥺🥺 (it's so freaking cute I swear)

“𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟-𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 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. 𝐀𝐧𝐝, 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤, 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞. 𝐈𝐟 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈’𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫, 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞, 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐀𝐫𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐊𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮."

Tropes: second chance, man obsessed, she hates his guts and his *insert slutty attribute here* even more

My only complaint: this book is soooooo good, it deserves a more iconic cover tbh

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Griffin for the ARC! What a treat of a book. I loved Eva from the minute she drunkenly shared her dating history with Internet personality ex Riley with the whole world. The moment was cringey but the follow up of sorting through their communication issues, dealing with employers, and just trying to figure out what they mean to each other after all this time…it was fantastic. Mazey is such a wonderful storyteller and I truly enjoyed every bit of this book.

This is like the NYC book that no one knew they needed. There’s a light airiness to the story with the banter between friends and a long lost ex. It gets deeper as you dig into the backstories of the both main characters and learn so much about past trauma and how it comes it out in their relationships.
It’s a sweet redemption story where a douche ex shows how much growth and maturity he’s experienced since college. You can’t help but root for him and want the best for him.
I love the diversity in this book, as well as the undercurrent of mental health and seeking professional help when needed. I enjoyed how the ending wrapped up a thread that ran through the whole story but was never the main focus. You’ll have to read to see!
I would definitely read more books by this author.

I just finished an Advanced Reader Copy of “Well, Actually” by Mazey Eddings, and it was a cute enemies to lovers romance. It’s about a former couple who dated in college who end up back in each other’s lives six years later. The female main character, Eva, works for a media outlet and is working on her career when she sees a post from her ex, Riley, a successful podcaster, on social media and in a drunken state, drags him terribly. Riley then tries right the wrongs he did to Eva back in college, but she’s not letting him off the hook so easily.

The first half of the book was difficult for me to read since I did not find the female main character, Eva, very likable, but she got better the second half of the book. The author is quite gifted with her vocabulary but was quite acerbic with the dialogue of Eva, which I found a bit off-putting.

I’m glad I kept reading the book though since it ended great and I got to see a softer side of Eva. All in all a cute romance and 3 stars from me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy of the book!

I appreciate the opportunity to review this novel for NetGalley.
For starters, I love the author's voice, her writing is fun and clever and snarky. The story was interesting and kept me reading, The relationship between the protagonists was fun and believable (mostly!). He was likable.
Now the other part of it--I found the heroine to be just a bit too whiny--at first I found her amusing but soon I kinda wanted to smack some sense into her.
I know, I know, to make a book long enough writers sometimes drag out conflict that doesn't have enough legs to drag out that long. But it just started to feel like kicking a dead horse. The other thing was that the hero did a lot of emotional bloodletting with the heroine but she did not reciprocate a lot. I don't recall her ever talking to him about the inadequacies she felt from a childhood in which she felt marginalized. He sort of deserved this information, considering how much she was obsessed with protecting herself emotionally because of this.

‘Well Actually’ is a fresh, fast-paced witty second chance romance. Eva Kitt is the host of an online show called ‘Sausage Talk’ (seemingly inspired by ‘Chicken Shop Date’, which I love). When she publicly calls out her college ex (now a famous influencer) for how he treated her, they make a deal to go on a series of dates and debrief them on his platform.

This book was so modern and funny and fast paced, but also so incredibly heartfelt and full of depth. I adored Eva and how incredibly feisty she could be, and Rylie is the perfect golden retriever character.

Something that really stood out to me was the representation of a pansexual FMC, bisexual MMC, conversations about internalized homophobia and SSRIs. These topics were really treated with care and it was wonderful to see such raw representation, as I can relate to all 3 of them.

The spice was great! Loved that it was second chance but also enemies to lovers, both of these aspects created so much tension and pining throughout the book. Their flirty banter was perfect.

I will say that him calling her kitten definitely gave me the ick, even though it’s a little bit better that it derives from her last name. I just couldn’t do it, but that’s definitely personal preference!

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s for the ARC!

This was sweet but had some depth, I really enjoyed!

My only beef was with the inserted gen z slang to make it relatable. The references were already dated and the book doesn’t even release for another six months, so they just did not work for me.

This was perhaps my favorite Mazey Eddings yet! The voice leapt off the page, full of unhinged jokes and references, and yes this entire book has massive Chicken Shop energy. The exploration of old mistakes, trauma, and redemption was nuanced and well-drawn, but it was coupled with romance, heat, and so much joy. A total delight!

I really liked this book. It had me laughing and kicking my feet the whole way through from Eva and Rylies humor. I would deff recommend this read

Read this one if you enjoy:
*** Second chance romance
*** College hookup
*** He falls first
*** Golden retriever MMC

College hookup situation gone way wrong. Our FMC Eva is sick of Rylie’s facade of being a “good guy” on his podcast, when she knows first hand how he treated girls back in college. She calls him out on a video and posts it to the world, and of course, it goes viral. Once their studios find out, they get both of them in a room together. She agrees to go on 6 dates with him for him to redeem himself.

The premise behind the novel could have worked. It just didn’t for me because I wasn’t a huge fan of our FMC. Yes she was hurt in the past, but who isn’t in college? She redeemed herself in the end but if I’m not rooting for our female lead from the beginning, it might not be the read for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this novel; all opinions are my own.

I truly adored these characters (think Theo and Winter vibes) and believe they were the best part of the story and I’d read it again just for them.

It’s very much reminiscent of Chicken Shop Date in my opinion and gives chronically online vibes, so if you don’t fall into that category it may not be as much your style as it’s the basis of the entire story and can cause it to feel a bit chaotic.

Considering the plot I was happy with the progress of the story until the end (which is why I took off a star) only because it started to feel a bit thrown together/scattered. I would’ve loved to see a time skip of them down the road for a little bit more of a complete feeling.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

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.