I liked this book even though I found the characters frustrating at times I know it made them more realistic but a lot of the time it was just frustrating. I liked the second chance romance storyline and overall liked the book.

This book was very emotional and heart wrenching at times, yet quite enjoyable. I really felt for Nicole throughout the whole novel. The characters were very likable and despite their many flaws I was hoping for a happy ending for each and every one of them.

Thank you so much Avon and NetGalley for the ARC!

What an emotional wreckage 🫠😭

This was a unique journey through infertility and a broken marriage, and in the most heartbreaking way. (definitely check tw).

We meet Nicole, who has struggled through years of infertility and IVF and even started a podcast about it. We also get flashback chapters of when she worked in advertising and the interactions she had with a certain colleague, Logan (our own Jim Halpert 🤭)

I liked Nicole and you felt her pain, but at the same time I struggled with some of her actions. She seemed so incredibly indecisive and at other people's expense, but then again, she’d been dealt some very unfair circumstances, so it was simply part of her journey back to herself.

But let’s talk about Logan 🥺 Logan(!!) was THE green flag of this year 💚 He really was Jim Halpert and Nick Miller combined. He was driven, full of adhd, and a complete goon of a person. So so charming 🥰 And my gosh, the most patient and kind hearted person to walk this planet. The absolute star of the book. He and Nicole’s friend Mari!! She was the bring-you-back-to-earth friend that Nicole really needed to get her out of her own head.

This is written in third person, which I think made it harder to connect to Nicole, but that could just be me.

This book was wild from start to finish. I was instantly hooked (and hurt, but that's because the cheating that happens hits a little close to home for me).

This book was beautifully messy. I'm sure others think it was too messy, but I think it makes sense to me because there's a lot of healing that the main character has to do before she can even be in the right frame of mind.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The pacing was good, the primary and secondary stories were well written. I know that this hit me personally a little harder than the average person, but I still will be recommending to anyone who wants a not-so-typical romance!

This story explores heavy themes such as infertility, betrayal, and healing with genuine honesty and emotional depth. While I sympathized with Nicole’s journey, I didn’t feel a strong connection to her. The same can’t be said for Logan—he came across as warm, emotionally mature, and genuinely comforting.

The first third of the book felt rushed, and the third-act conflicts drifted into unnecessary drama.

That said, even though the story didn’t fully capture me, I’m confident it will resonate with many readers. It’s an honest portrayal of letting go of the life you planned in order to embrace the one that’s waiting for you.

Tropes:
— right person, wrong time
— dual timeline
— MCs in their 30s
— IVF & fertility journey
— debut novel

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a unique and fresh story. I’ve definitely never read anything that is so focused on fertility and surrogacy, it was heartbreaking but exciting. I found the relationship between Nicole and Valerie to be such a special one and I loved watching it grow and seeing it change and strengthen. Logan’s history with Nicole was full of years of yearning. Their relationship in the current timeline was so layered- she’s dealing with a husband who cheated that she may be bringing a child into this world with- but as heavy as that may be there was something so light and fun about their chemistry. I was a little frustrated with the will they won’t they but completely understandable given their situation. Aside from Gabe who was the woooorst, everyone else felt so real and people you’d want in your corner. This story is full of messy feelings and vulnerable characters, I really enjoyed it! Serious TW for a fertility journey, it’s definitely very present throughout the entire story.

The Best Worst Thing is out in October. Thank you @NetGalley and @Avon Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

👟👟👟
second chance
dual timeline
MCs in their 30s
IVF & fertility journey
debut novel

This was so good! I love when authors actually give us banter, humor, lust, and personality! I really enjoyed Nicole and Logan’s story. Her life was messy and out of control and she finally got it together during the end. Very good novel!

A truly beautiful story and another perfect example of why the romance genre is so much more than surface level smut. A painfully raw, beautiful story about infertility, infidelity, and perfectionism.

Messy imperfect characters who are still deserving of love.

Shoutout to the dorky MMC, Logan. If you need a book rec with a DnD playing, nerdy, ADHD man, Logan is the perfect match. Though it handles some deep topics with finesse, it is also hilarious and filled with banter that had me cackling and kicking my feet. Anytime, roasting is used as dialogue between the main characters, I’m sold.

I loved Okies’ writing. The short chapters and 3rd person POV was refreshing.

Infertility and pregnancy are the main themes of this book, so don’t ignore the content warnings.

This book is the best thing one I’ve read in 2025. I will buy anything Lauren Okie writes from this point forward. Please continue blocking sex scenes on the backs of grocery receipts. The Best Worst Thing is so much more than an office romance. It made me understand what it’s like to struggle to have a baby because I felt what Nicole went through thanks to Lauren’s brilliant storytelling. She was also able to capture what it’s like to realize you’ve fallen in love with someone slowly but powerfully over a million tiny moments. I have never been so anxious for feet to touch in my life! Every reader is going to fall for Logan. Hard. I was rooting for these two from the first tipsy knock on his apartment door to the beaches of Mexico. Lauren’s writing is so detailed without being wordy. Her sharp dialogue kept me turning pages and is what hooked me in initial chapters when I wasn’t sure I wanted to read a book about pregnancy or the lack thereof. The story moved quickly and provided a thoroughly satisfying ending. Can’t wait to own a physical copy of this book so I can stay in until 3am again on multiple nights rereading.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a complimentary ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sometimes you just need a cute love story to give you some warm fuzzies. This checked all the boxes, but honestly was a little long and would've still been a good story with some tightening up.

Probably closer to a 4.5!

I just really like romances about messy people. It’s raw, it feels like real life, and it also makes you want to yell at them (affectionate) when they do something you wish they wouldn’t.

Lauren Okie’s debut is gut wrenching one minute, hilarious the next, and then has you swooning over a nerdy guy 🥹. Logan they could never make me hate you!!

Here is what you need to know:

Nicole has been on a journey to become a mother and after quitting her job at an advertising agency, starting a podcast about her fertility journey, and trying everything she can to get pregnant/have a baby, her and her husband Gabe decide to try an embryo transfer one last time. But that same day Nicole finds out that her perfect husband is not as perfect as she thought and has been cheating on her. On a drunken whim Nicole ends up at the doorstep of a former colleague, Logan, who may or may not have had feelings for Nicole in the past. Spoiler alert: he is Eagle Scout cute and a lovable nerd. Will Nicole be able to find love again as her life as she knows it falls apart?

My thoughts:
Nicole is going through it and this book is a lot of her growth through the ups and downs of her world changing. If you are not okay with the main character going through it and making mistakes then this book is not for you. Me on the other hand? I eat that up! And yall… LOGAN. MY NEW GO TO CINNAMON ROLL BOY. Playing DND with his friends 🥹. Also I love Nicole and Logan’s banter. Like the teasing was reminiscent of me and my husband 🤭. Am I a mean flirt? Maybe 😏.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the gifted eArc!

4.25! I loved the emotion and angst in this. The dual timeline was so intriguing and I enjoyed seeing how different and how similar Logan and Nicole were in both times. If you liked Shep from Cara Bastone's Ready Or Not, you will probably like Logan! The up and down of the romance and Nicole's life was a little too much for me at times, but I deeply felt for her throughout the story. Lauren Okie makes you feel everything with her writing - joy, despair, panic, love, laughter.

woman who has always been committed, for better or worse but mostly for worse, enters her cut and run era except it couldn’t be worse timing (love of her life and also baby). 4.5<3

this was so enjoyable!! i flew right through it. it starts with a ery dramatic premise (which i always love) but then turns into quite a tender exploration of what could be. the prose style was very simple which i didn’t always gel with but sometimes it was the perfect way to get straight to the emotional heart of things.

idk why this is an october release. it is the PERFECT hazy summer story—long sweaty days where the time barely passes. i’m sure it will still be good in october but.

the pacing of thsi book also isn’t perfect—the core relationship has lots of false starts, which felt entirely realistic but didn’t exactly lend itself to traditional romance book pacing, particularly since so many things are going on in Nicole’s life! and they each required screen time. i didn’t mind this too much but idk. just saying.

sorry y'all have to wait so long, couldn't be me, but enjoy!

This book!! I absolutely loved this story. It’s real, raw, drama, heartbreak but also hopeful. This book covers some tough topics such as infertility and cheating. The story is complex with many layers. Finding yourself, self-esteem and love were all reoccurring themes in this book as the main characters went through their story. The layers explored of infertility, and the impacts on self-esteem and relationships added additional richness to the story. Nicole is a complicated, yet relatable, character who has struggled through many rounds of iVF and is in her last hail Mary attempt when she learns her husband has been unfaithful.

I think this was just not the right book for me but I can see people loving it. While I felt for Nicole and what she was going through, I just never really felt a connection to any of the characters and it made it hard for me to enjoy the story. While I could objectively kind of see the connection between the main characters, I personally didn't feel much between them.

This was a very raw, emotional story about infertility, loss, and pregnancy that I thought was handled well and very real that I think will reach a lot of readers (check TW).

I’ll mention that it is written in third person, which is not my preference so I think that was a small factor in my enjoyment.

I really enjoyed this book! It was a bit insta-love for me in the beginning but I enjoyed the way it shaped out.

This was an emotional, vulnerable read. Okie packs a punch with the blurb alone, so I knew I was getting into a raw story once I cracked open this arc. I found myself really enjoying reading about Nicole's self-discovery as she reflects on the last several years of her life, reshaping and rethinking how everything has panned out for her. I loved how complex her story and her character ended up being, but I found myself incredibly frustrated that she couldn't see how privileged her thought-process was until the very end until her close friends confronted her about it. Like you mean to tell me the entire third act breakup could have been resolved if she was just more... empathetic? It made the whole book fall flat for me, unfortunately. The book felt a little repetitive in that regard, as she was flip flopping the entire book about Logan and what she wants/what is right for her. I also felt like Logan was made out to have literally zero flaws, he was polite at all the right moments and pursued her at just right respectful pace, that it felt upsetting that he kept getting swept to the side. I LOVED the epilogue and how things turned out for them in the end, but I don't think I liked the FMC enough to resonate with this incredibly emotional book.

But on a positive note, I'm so thankful this book was written the way it was in regards to Nicole's infertility. I loved how Okie didn't shy away from the brutality, hardship, and grief infertility can cause. I wouldn't change a thing about those aspects of this book and really admire the strength it took to put these difficulties into words.

Going into Lauren Okie's "The Best Worst Thing," I had a sinking feeling that it would be an emotionally challenging read – and holy moly, was I right. As someone who navigated the difficult path of infertility for years, this book landed a significant punch straight to the gut. The raw yearning depicted in these pages is something that should be studied. It's a unique and profound exploration of a specific kind of heartbreak I haven't encountered in fiction before.

I also really enjoyed the budding relationship between Nicole and Logan. Their humor was heartfelt and definitely giving me Pam and Jim vibes from "The Office," which provided a welcome lightness amidst the heavier themes.

I intentionally chose to read this on Mother's Day as a poignant reminder of everything I endured to finally have my daughter. The sadness, the loneliness, the sheer heartbreak – it all felt worthwhile the moment I received that life altering phone call confirming my pregnancy. Even now, years later, that memory remains the clearest and happiest of my life.

A particular quote in the book, "to want it all so badly she’d try anything, give up everything, become someone she barely knew," utterly destroyed me because I felt it in my bones. With my daughter now three, the intensity of those infertility struggles often fades into the background. This book, however, brought it all rushing back. In a way, it was a cathartic and deeply therapeutic experience. "The Best Worst Thing" may not be perfect, and definitely had its flaws, but for those who have walked a similar path, its emotional truth and resonance are undeniably powerful. What an incredibly beautiful debut novel.

“The Best Worst Thing” by Lauren Okie was an emotional, beautifully paced read that had me hooked from start to finish. The drama felt authentic and compelling; especially as it tackled infertility with rawness and sensitivity—it added so much depth to the story without overwhelming it. As someone with firsthand experience with infertility, I definitely went through my fair share of tissues and accompanied this read with a decent glass of wine.

Nicole, the FMC, was such a complex and well-rounded character. There were so many moments when I wanted to shake her out of frustration, but just as many when I was wholeheartedly rooting for her or aching alongside her. That emotional push-and-pull made her feel incredibly real and kept me invested in her journey.

And Logan—oh, I absolutely loved Logan. I need my own Logan. His nerdy, golden retriever energy was so endearing; and the way he showed up for Nicole, even when things were hard, melted me into a puddle. He was gentle and steady in a way that balanced out all of Nicole’s emotional turmoils, and you could feel how much he loved her pouring off the pages like warmth from a sunbeam. Their connection was so palpable, it made the romance feel truly three-dimensional.

While I didn’t love that there were two third-act breakups—it made the ending feel a bit stretched for
me personally—the emotional payoff was still satisfying. I also found myself wishing for a bit more “show” over “tell” when it came to Nicole’s internal journey; some moments felt more explained than felt, and I would’ve loved to experience those shifts more viscerally. Still, this is one of those love stories that sticks with you, messy and beautiful all at once. If you’re into emotionally rich, character-driven romances with real stakes and deep heart, this one’s absolutely worth your time.

While The Best Worst Thing is well-written and features short, engaging chapters, the story itself didn’t quite work for me. There was a heavy reliance on miscommunication, and the characters’ deep flaws made it difficult for me to connect with them. That being said, fans of literary fiction, especially those who’ve experienced similar life events, may resonate with this book more than I did.