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!

“Well, Actually” grabbed me in from the start and gripped me so fast, I couldn’t put it down. I loved this book and the characters and the spice! I loved the premise of the story being so rooted in culturally relevant media forms from podcasts/vlogs of minor celebs eating hotdogs while being interviewed to meeting your arch nemesis IRL from a duetted video. Mazey so beautifully has you work through the complex issues of relationships both within the characters and their relationships and this book was and absolute smash! I will definitely be coming back for more.

I think this is a fantastic book. I’m an old woman and I grew up in an era where I didn’t even know there WAS anything other than heterosexuality until I was a grown woman. I’m so glad to see the normalization of love in any of its many forms; however, this book is so very much more. Both the main characters have their own baggage and so don’t we all. The author does a fantastic job of gradually allowing us to see the factors from the past that are having such an impact on the current lives of these well developed individuals and their differing methods of dealing with their problems. This book also addresses the all too common occurrence of workplace hostile environments and the negative repercussions throughout an organization. The romance takes a couple of turns that may be a little predictable yet I was carried through by the momentum of the underlying storyline and the importance of friendship. This was not a page turner for me but if you are up for a thoughtful read about multiple subjects that will require your attention, then this is a book for you.

I appreciate the opportunity to receive an ARC and this is my honest opinion.

This book was so cute, I loved it!!

The story follows Eva, who has a podcast called Sausage Talk, where she interviews C-list celebs and eats hot dogs. She always dreamed of being a journalist and working in the field, so this has been a blow to her. One night, after a rough day, Eva goes home, starts scrolling online, and sees a video from Riley Cooper, her college ex. In the video, he’s talking about red flags in men, so Eva feels the need to call him out for his. Well, the next morning, the video has blown up, and now her management team wants to have a meeting. Her management team wants Eva to interview Riley, and during the interview, they end up agreeing to go on six dates so Riley can show Eva that he’s changed. From there, Riley tries his damnest to win back Eva’s heart and show her that the man he was in college is not the person that he is today.

I loved it when Eva and Riley did their first podcast together after she made the video of him. It was so funny to listen to their witty banter that I was giggling and kicking my feet. I love that Eva was unapologetically herself and isn’t going to shit from no man. I do think that it would have been cool to also see this from Riley’s point of view. I think seeing things from his side would be super interesting as well.

Eva- what can I say about you? I love a bitchy female character, especially her witty banter. I really loved the banter that Eva and Riley had together. Eva is quick on her feet when coming up with a good comeback. While she wanted to shove down her feelings for Riley, she couldn’t escape them. Sometimes I just wanted to shake her and let her take a compliment from him or to be nice to him! He was trying so hard lol.

I loved Riley’s character. He was so kind and caring throughout the book. You can tell that he was really trying to change from the person that he was in college. He wanted to be a better person and wanted to show that to Eva. He gives off total golden retriever vibes in the best way!! I love how dedicated he was to winning over Eva.

I loved the ending of the book, I thought that it all came together so nicely, and I was so happy for Eva and Riley.

Overall, it was a really great book. 5/5

Tropes:

- Second chance
- Enemies to lovers
- Witty banter
- -Forced proximity
- LGBTQ

Mazey Eddings bless you for freeing me from a reading slump. This is my first Eddings' book but I will be reading her backlist ASAP!

This book tackles so many incredibly relatable and difficult subjects with a heaping of slapstick comedy. I found myself relating to Eva's struggles with work and laughing along to her banter with her friends. This is a quick and lovely read that truly captures the strange social media environment we live in. This is perfect for fans of Ali Hazelwood's Not in Love.

3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

not bad but not my fave from this author. the banter became a bit much at times when i wanted more intimacy/vulnerability in the scenes

arc via netgalley

“Well, Actually” is a second chance romance by Mazey Eddings. This book took me a lot longer to read than I expected. The cover gave off “cute romance” vibes and, well, the old line about “don’t judge a book by its cover” played out here. Eva Kitt, currently a lower tier journalist/reporter than she wishes to be, sees a “relationship” video by her ex-boyfriend, Rylie, online. Eva decides to make her own video calling him out - telling the public what their few dates had been like a number of years ago. Eva’s video goes viral (to the joy of her bosses) and Rylie admits that he could’ve been better and wants to make it up to her with a series of dates to show that he’s changed. The book follows them through their dates, changing relationship, why things didn’t go well “back then,” and dealing with things in both of the current lives (mainly Eva’s). On the good side, lots of a variety of characters - however, in most cases, they’re so background that I really wanted to have them be more foreground because they sounded a) more put together than Eva, and b) their current passions/jobs sounded more interesting than Eva’s. I’m not a fan of Eva - she wore blinders so thick that she didn’t want to see how Rylie had changed (and obviously cared). I also wasn’t a fan of her immediate boss/friend - who seemed to waver between “I’m here for you” and “buck yourself up yourself.” It also seemed like Eva’s new boss was a bad guy to just be, well, a bad guy. I’m not “hip” to some of the current slang, so thank you urban dictionary for translating some slang (even the questionable ones). This wasn’t the book for me - it was a bit too mean, too unbending, and then suddenly too “ah, everything has worked out as it should be - let the angels sing” too quickly. However, I’m probably in the minority - so take this review with a grain of salt. I’d recommend this book if you’ve liked Ms. Eddings other books - and also if you like a diverse cast of characters.