This was the cutest second chance romance. I knew I would love it the second I saw the cover. Eva and Rylie had the best dynamic. I loved how the hot dog talk show, which was not where Eva saw her career going blew up. It reminded me of the chicken shop dates. Eva had so many qualities that are similar to me, which made it easy for me to connect to her as a character. The golden retriever slow burn also made me giggle and fall in love with Rylie myself. I loved the plot as well.

📚 Well, Actually
✍ Mazey Eddings
📖 RomCom
⭐3/5
🌶️🌶️ 🌶️
📆 Out 8/5/2025

🙏 Thank you to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley and the author for an advanced digital copy of Well, Actually. All opinions are my own.
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🎯 What I loved: I really enjoyed Rylie's quirky character. Though I do think Eddings went a little too far in depicting him as the 'perfectly reformed, in-touch with his feelings MMC,' it was really refreshing to have a male character who was so much more patient and mature than his counterpart. I also really enjoyed the spice in this book. It was well written and wasn't rushed which I don't often find myself thinking when reading romance.

🙅‍♀️ What I didn't: I'm all for assertive female leads who know what they want and aren't afraid to go after it but Eva was less of a go-getter and was more entitled & cruel than anything else. She spent a lot of time talking up her work and desire to move up the ladder at her job but other than her blog, we were never shown any evidence that she put in the work to deserve a promotion. While it was clear that her boss was a jerk, I didn't feel particularly sympathetic to her plight. I could have gotten past that though if she hadn't been so miserable to Rylie. Yes, he ghosted her six years ago but her particular brand of snark made it difficult for me to connect with her character at all.
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Read if you love:
*enemies to lovers
*second chance romance
*arguing and snark as flirting
*both characters work in podcasting
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See also: How Freaking Romantic; Back After This; Today, Tonight, Tomorrow

I loved this one from Mazey Eddings! The ultimate black cat/golden retriever romance with a dash of second chance romance. The chemistry between Riley and Eva was off the charts and seeing Riley soften her up was perfection. Lots of laugh out loud moments mixed in with incredibly tender ones. Loved the character development for both of them and how we get to see Riley and Eva grow together.

Content flags for this one include toxic workplace, sibling death (off page and in past but a big part of Riley’s story)

I voluntarily read a gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book had so much potential but failed for one main reason: Eva, the FMC, was a terrible character. She’s supposed to have a tough exterior because she never felt good enough as a child. Ok, but that doesn’t give her the right to be an immature bitch as soon as we meet her. She inexplicably gets drunk and makes a video about how Rylie Cooper, a guy she dated years ago in college, ghosted her. Ok, we were all jerks at some point in college, get over it.

She is so mean and rude to this guy, yet he seems to love it, which makes no sense. Then all of sudden she decides she likes him and her personality does a complete 180, she becomes so sappy and annoying in a different way.

The book wrapped up with Eva back to feeling bad herself because her evil bosses fired her over the lack of content she developed for the media company. Rylie convinced her to write an expose on the bosses’ terrible behavior and she did it because she’s so brave? What? She was already fired, what retaliation did they have? Other than not giving her the severance pay since I’m guessing she broke the NDA they told her to sign.

I didn’t understand why Rylie liked Eva. I didn’t understand why Eva idolized her evil boss. I didn’t understand why Eva felt the Soundbites job was the only path towards a journalism career. None of it made sense and Eva was so unlikable, I really didn’t want to understand. I give this a D.

Plot - 7
Characters - 5
Writing - 6
Spice - 8

2.5 stars

No one is more surprised than me by this rating. The thing is, this book was just... bad.

I went into it expecting to love it. The cover is stunning, the premise tickled my curiosity, and in all honesty the beginning of the book seemed promising. Around the 40-50% mark is when things started going downhill. Not only did the romance develop in a weird and somewhat confusing manner, but the plot literally sizzled out. It was only around the 90% mark that the author finally remembered she had set aside a major part of what makes a book and scrambled to solve it.

And, as I already mentioned, the romance was just... so confusing. One moment she hates him, the next they go on one of the planned six dates they agreed on (and don't let me start on how weird and uncomfortable that "date" was), and the next they're together. It gave me whiplash.

The writing was good, but even then the dialogue between the characters was so fake. Real people don't talk like this. It made me laugh.

Regarding the characters, I've seen a lot of reviews mentioning how insufferable the FMC was, and while I agree, I'm surprised they never talk about how annoying the MMC was. Dude is a literal walking stereotype of a fratboi who got therapy and now he nods emphatically at you and says things like "I acknowledge your feelings" in the most condescending tone he can muster. At least, these are the vibes he gave me.

It's a real shame because I actually liked the first half of the book, and I had such great expectations for it, so the two stars and a half are for these reasons and the great LGBT+ and mental health rep.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Unfortunately this book fell flat for me. It is highly immersed in contemporary culture - slang, social media, and trends play a strong role here. For some this might be delightful, but I found it hard to get to the story around all the dropped-in cultural references. When I did dig in, I wasn't super pleased by what I found. Without all of the references and comments (which I believe were intended to ground the story in reality) I actually may have enjoyed the escapist, Hallmark-y nature of Eva and Rylie's story. Fake dating or dating challenges can be a fun trope, but with too many reminders of the "real world," I found it off-putting and unrelatable. For readers who enjoy a lot of immediate context and modern references, this would probably be a fun read. If you're like me and prefer to keep real life far away from your romance tropes, you might want to pass on this one.
2.5 stars

What a refreshing fun read.
The characters were hilarious.
The story was great.
I had fun reading this book.
Mazey Eddings did a great job of taking some serious issues and making them fun and enjoyable.
Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

5⭐

Well, Actually follows Eva who hosts a segment called Sausage Talks where she interviews B-List celebrities over hot dogs. After one night where she has too much to drink, she calls out her ex who now is an internet famous for deconstructing toxic masculinity. The video goes viral and the next thing she knows, Riley is on her show and they are going on six dates to make up for him being such a terrible boyfriend to her all those years ago and debrief them on his podcast so they both get good publicity. Eva tries her best to keep her negative stance on Riley, but it gets harder and harder to ignore how he has changed.

I needed this book, it was the perfect mood lifter for me, and it was so good! This was so cute, and I adored both characters. I loved how Riley acknowledged his mistakes and was actively working to make it up to Eva even though she resisted him so much. Eva's struggles were relatable, and I felt for her as she tried to grow in her career. Eve and Riley's banter was the highlight of the book for me; I loved the way they just volleyed off against each other and how it developed from hate to flirting. I loved the NYC setting and I enjoyed all the side characters too!

I've read and loved all Mazey Eddings books and this is by far my favorite one yet. I would highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc of this book in exchange for my honest review. This book is expected to be published on August 5, 2025!

There's black-cat mean and then there's up-through-50%-Eva mean. I could not pinpoint why Rylie liked her until she finally thawed out and I could finally start liking her.

Once she chilled out some, Eva was funny, and her back-and-forth with Rylie was enjoyable. Outside of their relationship, however, there wasn't much to talk about. Eva's friends absolutely disappear, Rylie had two friends, only one of which reappeared again, there were some allusions that Eva and Rylie had family we never saw (she had six siblings and there was one flashback with three of them, so who are the rest?), and the whole work thing came and went as needed, only to be rushed in the end.

It's hard to see these two as developed characters when the whole book is spotlighted directly on them the entire time. Yes, that's how a book works, but I'd have liked to see more about the characters than just what Eva was thinking. Which- I also would have liked Rylie's pov solely so I can see what he was thinking the first half of the book.

I just wanted more about the characters, and the storyline was a bit too boring for my tastes.

thank you Netgalley and Mazey Eddings for the arc!

Well, Actually, to be honest, I loved this book! If anyone deserved a second chance to rekindle their relationship and heal old and lingering wounds, it was Eva and Rylie. It just needed to happen.

I love how this book was flirty and fun, with much banter, but at the same time it got down to the grit of a relationship, not leaving anything out in terms of hard tough feelings and how you might deal, accept, and move on from them. It was a perfect balance. This book was a great reminder that people have pasts and sometimes you don't know what they went through that could drive their behaviors.

I also adore the cover, it represents the energy of these two perfectly.

After one fed up night of listening to Rylie on his podcast, Eva goes on camera posting a video of how awful Rylie was of a lover to her six years ago and how could anyone could praise him now. Rylie rebuttals with offering six dates to make it up to her and to try to change her mind.

Thank you St. Martin's Griffin for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Griffin and Netgalley for an ARC of this book which I voluntarily read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Plain and simple, WELL, ACTUALLY wasn’t for me. There were definitely some good parts—I really enjoyed the back-and-forth between Eva and Rylie (I’m a lover of bits and banter through and through) and there was some great LGBTQI+ representation, but otherwise, unfortunately, the whole book fell flat for me. The first 50-60%, was tough for me to get through, so much so that I picked it up and actually stopped multiple times throughout to read other books which I never do. And then it felt like a switch was flipped for the last 40ish% where Eva was constantly launching herself at Rylie (seriously, it felt like every sexual encounter they had started with her being so overcome with lust that she couldn’t hold back). I don’t have a problem with smut or multiple sex scenes, but the last bit of the book felt like nothing but, with just a sprinkle of outside conflict thrown in for fun at the very end.

Ultimately, I could see what Mazey Eddings was trying to do with these characters but, in my opinion, it felt like they were too extreme in their opposite personalities to have a believable and lasting love story.

The synopsis for this book is what drew me to it, but unfortunately it just didn’t work out for me the way I hoped.

I don’t mind a little bit of enemies to lovers in a romance, but when the “enemies” part feels like too much, it really takes me out of the story. Eva was pretty unlikable to me throughout most of the book. She was unnecessarily rude and argumentative, and I just did not feel the chemistry with her and Rylie as much as I was hoping. That said, I thought Rylie was very sweet, and I enjoyed his character (even if I thought he deserved better than Eva).

This one just didn’t get better for me, and I found myself trying to finish it just so I could say I did.

Okay okay okay but this was soooo cute!!! I agree with others when they say it’s like Andrew Garfield and the girl from chicken shop date because….. well you know 🤭 great job!!

Loved this hot take on a Hot Ones/Chicken Shop Date online talk show host who is forced to prove that her ex who hosts a podcast about being a good man (think Justin Baldoni before the lawsuit and scandal) has changed from the selfish boy she dated in college. I loved how of the moment this novel is! I loved the queer representation! I love the depth these characters had, when they could have easily been stereotypes. I appreciated how Eva allowed herself to grow and become vulnerable. Oh man, I really liked both Eva and Rylie. I liked the dates they set up and all the fumbling. Mental health was treated so carefully in this book. I couldn’t put this book down- it was just so likeable! Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. 4 stars

The very first sentence had me doing a double take!! I genuinely wasn’t sure this would be my kind of read. A drunken viral video ranting about an ex? Not usually my vibe. But once I got to know Cooper… I was hooked. There was so much more to their story than a messy college breakup. I could feel the history simmering under every interaction, and watching Cooper work so hard to win her back? Total heart melt.

Their brunch run in? Iconic. The forced proximity moments? Chef’s kiss. And don’t even get me started on the Met date, I would have absolutely swooned, even if it didn’t go as planned. The tension between them was next level, but what really got me was the emotional depth and how beautifully their relationship evolved.

This was also the first book I’ve read that wove LGBTQ+ support so deeply and intentionally into the storyline. It was authentic, heartwarming, and made me love the characters even more. Cooper’s backstory wrecked me in the best way, it gave so much context to his growth and made his protectiveness over her feel even more powerful.

And let’s just say… I’m not usually a second-chance romance girl, but this one converted me. It was raw, redemptive, and spicy in all the right ways. That moment when he refuses to let them break up? 🥹 PERFECTION.

Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin's Griffin for the arc!

**4 stars** Adored this! This one’s for the avid 2000s rom-com movie girlies.

Eva Kitt is a host to her “Sausage Talk” podcast where she interviews B-list celebrities while having a hot dog date. After a night of drinking her sorrows away, she comes across an old flame, Rylie Cooper–who now happens to have a social media platform talking about toxic masculinity and how to treat your partner better. Fueled by liquid courage, Eva posts a video calling out her ex’s past toxic behavior... and never expects it to go viral. Her boss catches wind of the outburst, and now Eva is forced to record an episode with none other than Cooper himself. Cooper, recognizing his past mistakes, proposes an idea: go on a series of do-over dates to make up for how he treated Eva, and the two recap them on his social media. Thus begins the second-chance love story of Eva and Cooper.

I absolutely devoured this. The witty writing was amazing–not overly cheesy, but still funny and realistic. The banter between the two characters was everything I love in a rom-com. Eva and Cooper’s chemistry was off the charts. There’s spice in this, and I honestly can’t remember the last time a spicy scene made me blush this much. I haven’t laughed this hard from a book in a long time. And like any good rom-com, this story is layered with a complex history between the characters.
If you’re like me and thought the chemistry between Amelia Dimoldenberg and Andrew Garfield in the Chicken Shop Date episode was palpable, this felt like fan fiction based on them. I also loved that it was set in NYC—it highlights how this city is full of eccentric, fascinating people, and Eva and Cooper fit right in.

This is the perfect summer read and I can’t wait for people to read this once it reaches the shelves!

The concept was fun, very Chicken Shop Date, but make Amelia meaner in real life, which I enjoyed quite a lot. I know people will complain, they always do when an FMC has a true black cat personality, but I liked Eva. Her ice queen personality was a highlight for me.

I liked most of it but it was a bit repetitive. Eva was very distrustful and was kind of sabotaging their relationship. One step forward, two step back kind of vibes, and at some point, it got to be too much. Her toxic job was a lot, and it made me really not like her friend. She was super pushy in the name of a shitty job and I would have dropped her if I was Eva's shoes.

Eva and Rylie were very entertaining together, there’s nothing better than a man who loooooves when a woman gets mean to him. Eva really deserved to be worshiped the way Rylie did, that man was obsessed. That being said, the mmc name bothered me. Rylie and Cooper were used interchangeably, and I could never remember which was his first name.

Read for:

🌭Chicken shop vibes (but hotdogs)
🐈‍⬛Black cat x Golden retriever
💞Second chance
🌈LGBTQ+ rep

I kicked off my poolside reading this year with this book, and, I must admit, I was not anticipating laughing out loud quite as often as I did! Sorry, not sorry, to my fellow poolside loungers!

I will be the first to admit that I am not up to date on social media trends, but even I had heard about Amelia's Chicken Shop date with Andrew Garfield, and this book is seriously giving vibes that it was inspired by that viral sensation.

Our girl Eva wants to write hard-hitting journalism pieces, but instead, she's stuck eating hot dogs while interviewing B-list celebrities. After a night of drinking, she decides to go online and write a rant about her ex, Cooper, who happens to be loved by many for his podcast breaking down toxic-masculinity. Eva knows it's all a ruse - after all, he took her virginity and ghosted her the next day.

She wakes up the next morning with a hangover and a phone that just won't stop buzzing. Turns out her post went viral overnight, and her bosses want her to host Cooper on Sausage Talk. Needless to say, their tension is PALPABLE, and Cooper somehow convinces Eva to give him a second chance. Six dates to show her he's not the man he was in college.

I, like his fans, got swept up in Cooper's charm, and I was eagerly turning the page, just waiting for Eva to admit to her feelings as well. That being said, this wasn't a five star read for me for a few reasons. Based on her previous experience, Eva needed to protect her heart from Cooper, but I felt it went a little too far. She sometimes was down-right mean to him, and Cooper was a bit too quick to forgive. I wanted him to hold her accountable for her words and the way they impacted him more. I also just really could not handle the way that Cooper called Eva kitten. It's just not a pet name for me, and he called her that way too often for my liking.

Read this book if you love:
🌭 Top tier banter
💕 Second chance romance
🌭 Black Cat x Golden Retriever
💕 Bisexual / Pansexual Representation
🌭 Hate to love
💕 He falls first

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc

i didn’t realize this was the same author as late bloomers, which i also dnf’d because the characters were insufferable, and 20% into this book i realized the same.

Mazey is a new to me author and I’m so glad I’ve been introduced to her work. Well, Actually is very funny and heartwarming and is a love letter to the women who have a hard time letting down their barriers and the men who love them for it.

I’d say that while I appreciated the banter between the characters, at times the humor in this book was a little childish which I found to be distracting. I really don’t think the duvet on the bed needed to be made from denim AND look like an actual pair of jeans. It was just too much.

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Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.