I loved this book.
Sit back because this book is packed full. The perfect summer rom-com.
I enjoyed this book so very much. It felt to me as if I was part of three big storylines, and they were all melded perfectly together by very well-written characters.
Julia and her sisters were so enjoyable.
The family dynamics with their Mother's passing were done so well in this book.
I went through the whole continuum of emotions. I cried, I laughed, I fell in love, I felt heartbreak, and I hardcore rooted for characters.
For me, I felt as if I was in 3 storylines of the same family, but all 3 held to the main characters and how these storylines show their growth and development.
You had the passing of Julia's Mother and how she and her sisters dealt with those emotions and grief. Plus a big family secret/revelation.
A second-chance romance between Julia and Liam. The surfer whom she grew up next door to and consequently fell in love with before they were torn apart, and Julia had to leave home.
Last but not least, the joint efforts of the sisters to keep the family estate in their hands rather than their crazy, greedy cousin!
Such a ride!
The plot is so well written and beautifully structured. Even though the book was packed so full, it was done so well that the flow was ideal, and you didn't want to stop reading so you could find out what happened next! The pace is perfect.
This was my first book by Jenn McKinlay, and it will not be my last.
Do yourself a favor and give this book a shot.
Perfect for your summer TBR.
Thank you to NetGalley, Jenn McKinlay, and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!
Happy Reading!

Audiobook Review – I Can’t Even by Jenn McKinlay, narrated by Dara Rosenberg

I’ve recently stumbled across Jenn McKinlay’s romcoms, and I’m officially hooked. Her stories are always fun, smart, and full of heart, and I Can’t Even might be my favorite one yet. It’s set in a lively, memorable location (something she always does so well), and the characters are just the right mix of messy and lovable. There’s also a bit more steam in this one than I’ve seen in her other books—and I was absolutely here for it!

The audiobook is fantastic. Dara Rosenberg’s narration is spot-on and brings the story to life beautifully. She handles both the female and male voices with ease, which makes the whole listening experience feel really immersive. It honestly felt like I was right there with the characters. And I have to say, she absolutely nailed the spicy scenes—they’re done with just the right balance of heat and emotion, which isn’t always easy to pull off in audio.

If you love romcoms with great characters, fun banter, and a little extra heat, this is definitely one to check out. I laughed, I swooned, and I didn’t want to hit pause.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC—this was such a fun listen, and I’m so glad I got the chance to experience it early!

Here's a honest review to ALC of "i can't even" from a girl loves to read tension between characters,great communication trope and lovee romantasy and murder mystery. I do love to give romance a chance sometimes when i crave some soft cozy romance and this is what i expected when i request this. HUGE DISAPPOINMENT. i regret listening to every single chapter cause I don't DNF 😭 i need that super power.
Anyways, those girls should be bonding over their gried (which they didn't had any). one is coping it with clinging, stalking and just getting laid every chance she gets with her ex-boyfriend and other dyed her hair and wearing mini dresses??? becoming a Instagrammer?? i won't say anything to the older sister she had his own twins and husband to deal with.
These are grown up women we're talking about. Lets talk about how low ego our FML had or even the ML with zero communication. they just met after how many years again? I don't care but start making out with out any explanation?? more than making out and constantly doing it so. ughh i hate how worse ML was. He had coffee shop in town and he's a surfer and ride a bike and always pop up where we don't even need him. I don't think he had dialogue more than 2 pages. To be honest i stop focusing what's happening in book and left it playing. I have soo many other things to say but i think that's enough you get the idea 😭

I’m all about family dramas and this one featuring the sister dynamic caught my attention immediately. Bonus points that it’s also a second chance romance.

Julia returns to her Southern California home due to her mother’s failing health. She has an incredibly complex and traumatic relationship with her, and it gets no less so after her mother’s passing. A shocking and devastating secret comes out. In the aftermath Julia and her two sisters contend with their grief, a greedy cousin, and their personal lives in disarray. Julia also faces her ex who lives next door. Liam barely speaks in the first couple of chapters. It’s all lust and grunts, and it’s kind of hot! Julia won’t reveal why she abruptly left 10 years ago and broke his heart. And he’s not ready to forgive her just yet.

I finished this in 2 days! It pulled me in, and I lapped up all the banter and antics. I’m impressed by how McKinlay nicely balances grief, romance, and thorny relationships. Somehow this comes off more romcom-like to me despite the sensitive topics. And boy was I entertained by Julia and Liam! Years apart didn’t erase any chemistry. They are a whole sexy vibe!

Highlights:
🏄 Single POV, family drama, romance
🏄 Second chance, boy next door
🏄 Strong spice, open door
🏄 Funny banter

Be aware of: parent death (early on), unloving mother, queerphobia (towards a side character)

I enjoyed Rosenberg’s narration. She brought out the characters’ personalities and set the right tone for specific moments. This is my first time reading this author, and I have no way to compare this to McKinlay’s other books. I liked this so much that I’m going to check out her catalog. I say yes to adding this to your TBR!

Thank you @dreamscape_media for my ALC in exchange for an honest review. 𝗜 𝗖𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻 is out Tuesday!

Such an amazing story
This is by far one of the top stories I have had the pleasure of reading this year.
I loved everything about it from the sisters who were all loveable but mixed up and imperfect in so many ways, to the mother that ruled their lives and did not apologise for doing so.
Jules and Liam’s messy history and secrets added angst, sadness, frustration and lust to this story.
Loved the sister’s antics along with Jess and Dante and was so sad for the hurt Liam endured over the years never knowing what happened to those he loved.
Fantastic storyline that I would gladly give more than a 5 Star review.
The narrator of this audiobook Dara Rosenberg was perfection to listen to bringing the story alive.
Thank you to Jenn McKinlay, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this audiobook.

This book is a second chance romance full of mess and plot twists and I was here for it! It had me at the title tbh. Excellent on audio, narrated by Dara Rosenberg. This is the story of Julia, returning home to coastal Southern California from New York for the first time in nearly ten years and having to confront the past she abruptly left behind, including her surfer boy next door, Liam, the adolescent love of her life who she had zero closure with and who somehow still lives next door lol. She has to unpack a lifetime of a very fraught and complicated relationship with her recently deceased mother after learning a huge bombshell secret that both of her parents kept from her, revealed to her only in her mom’s will. On top of that, she has to reconcile a new, adult relationship with her two sisters while they all grieve the loss of their mother and while also carefully navigating the conditions required of them in order to gain their inheritance. And all while a villain cousin tries to literally steal their inheritance from them.

Lots of spicy mess and lots of messy spice and officially out today!

4.5 stars!

Thank you for Dreamscape Media for the ALC! ✨

🎧Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for letting me listen this ALC. 🎧

Hmmmmmmm, quite unsure how to feel about this one even a few hours after finishing it. It was ok. Nothing spectacular but more bizarre than good.

This story follows Julia, who starts off living alone in NYC with her cats as a web developer (who can afford this??) but swiftly flies to California to be with her older and younger sisters because their mom is dying. Julia and her mom have always had a tumultuous relationship and her mom basically admits she never loved her on her deathbed (ummmmm ok lol.) At the will reading, the Blumer sisters find out their mom left them her house and a ton of money but they can only get it if they follow her specific rules, otherwise, their inheritance will be given to their equally-hated cousin. Julia also finds out the real reason why her mom never loved her, making it harder to abide by the inheritance rules (which would have been a better title.)

Along the way, Julia realizes her ex bf, Liam, that she left (reasons only explained at the 90%+ mark) is still her mom’s next door neighbor. They have some neighborly interactions (voyeurism through the windows) before having sex that ends with the love interest leaving and saying he just needed to get her out of his system and make sure he was really over her (again, you don’t find out why till 90%+… a lot of people would dnf right there in a romance.)

Firstly - this was NOT a romance (which it’s labeled as.) This was general fic/women’s lit with a very small, horribly executed, side plot romance.

I would have enjoyed the overall story a lot more if it wasn’t marketed as a romance. I spent half the book thinking, “This is the MMC!? This is going somewhere???” Because it was that unbelievable that these people would get back together after what they’ve both done to each other. His behavior is warranted once you learn everything but her reason for leaving him in the first place made very little sense and Liam deserved better.

This one is a great summer read! It is giving me a blend of Elizabethtown, Persuasion, and Always Be My Maybe vibes. When the FMC comes home to care for her dying mother (and smooth out their relationship while she can), she is thrown back into memories of what her life was like long ago – and the boy next door she used to share it with. Then you learn another deep truth about why the FMC and her mother had a falling out in the first place. (Not really a spoiler, you won’t love the mother in this story.)

The story focuses (to me) an equal amount on the romance as it does the family aspect. The grief and regret are pretty hardcore emotions in this book. There is deep complication with the FMC’s mother, and you can tell there is a lot of work to be done there (on both sides). There are moments of regret with her former romance, and a deeply emotive moment with the FMC and her best friend when her friend tells her parents about her life choices. This is not an emotionally light read. There is equal amount of laughter as there are tears in this story. I do love the family aspect though when it comes to the sisters. I feel that they become closer together, which is exactly what each of them needs. I do think though that, if there had been a bit more conversation, then there would have been a lot less heartache.

It is a wild emotional wide, but a good one. Highly recommended.

The narrator is great! Her pacing - slow and fast when necessary - is perfect for such an emotive story. She embraces the FMCs sarcasm and gives her anger depth.

3.5/5 ⭐️ Summer Read!

- Second Chance
- Family Drama
- Coastal Beach Town
- Grief
- Plot Twists
- Surfer MMC and MFC

Plot:
Gripping story full of family drama, with plenty of twists and turns. Julia and Liam have wonderful romantic moments and angst throughout the book. I really like their chemistry and I enjoyed the second chance aspect of their relationship. I wanted more babs, and more of the sister’s love life drama. Some of the side characters fell a little flat for me but overall a good plot, and worth the read.

Audiobook:
Personally at first I didn’t think the narrator was a good fit- not bad just didn’t fit? Then grew on me by the end of the book.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ALC in exchange for an honest review!

🎧ALC REVIEW🎧
📚I CAN’T EVEN by Jenn McKinlay
🎤Solo narration by Dara Rosenberg
💘Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ALC.


4.5⭐️- A super fun and unique take on a typical trope - unique terms of a will/inheritance of the family home, and make it second chance with the boy next door.


**scroll down for my 🎧 audiobook notes too!!

—

📚general review📚

This was such a great surprise and such an enjoyable read. There is a lot of predictability to the romance genre these days and so finding something new and unique feels extra special. And you definitely get that here!

I love any second chance story and I thought this part was done well - you are really hooked on trying to figure out where things went wrong and it’s so satisfying to slowly get that information. I wish there was a tiny bit more backstory on their relationship but also was glad it didn't make up a majority of the plot.

There’s a great mixture of different types of love here - which is what I love seeing in a romance. You have of course your main romantic love, but then here you get to see familial love and especially friendship love. People you’d do anything for.

Some parts of the writing felt slightly millennial-cringe, to be honest. But I also feel like I can say that as a millennial. It felt almost tongue-in-cheek and zooming out I didn’t mind it as much as I originally thought. Something about the dramatics of it felt like a good 90s romantic drama.

Such a great read and I’m looking forward to reading more of this author!

🎧audiobook review🎧
-solo narration by Dara Rosenberg
-single pov, single timeline

Dara is new to me as a narrator and I thought she was incredible. I was immediately immersed in the story, and her voices for other characters were so distinct and clear. Just a perfect audiobook, really!!

Fun, flirty, and surprisingly heartfelt—this one had me smiling from start to finish. I Can’t Even by Jenn McKinlay is the kind of summer read you can breeze through in a day, but it still has enough emotional depth to give it a little extra weight. The characters felt real, the writing was sharp, and the story struck a great balance between light moments and meaningful ones. Perfect for tossing in your beach bag or devouring on a lazy weekend.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 stars
Rated 14+ for language, romantic content, and some mature themes.

I really wanted to like I Can’t Even by Jenn McKinlay. The premise—watching the main character cope with a devastating family loss while possibly rekindling a romance with her first love—was full of emotional and narrative potential. I was genuinely intrigued and hopeful going in.

Unfortunately, by the 40% mark, I had to DNF. The romance threw me off almost immediately. The way the two leads spoke to and about each other felt off-putting and jarring. What should have been a heartfelt or slow-burn reconnection came across as forced and uncomfortable.

Worse, the grief and emotional healing I expected never fully materialized. The story didn’t deliver the depth or sensitivity I was hoping for in either the family dynamics or the love story.

This book simply didn’t meet my expectations—for either a compelling romance or a meaningful exploration of loss.

I DNFd pretty early in. Pretty much from the beginning the FMC's internal monologue made me dislike her strongly, and the MMC clearly does not understand consent at all. I didn't like the characters and weren't rooting for them at all. I thought the narrator did a good job, but aside from that, this book was not for me.

This second-chance romance had me fuming fairly early on. Julia's "mom" was a foul human and I found it difficult to be compassionate to her even in her last days. Julia's ex, Liam didn't do himself any favors either after their "encounter". The fact that she was dead-set on still winning him back after the words he spoke to her really pissed me off, but I stuck with it. What unfolded was a heart-warming story about a broken family, a heart broken mother, a childhood friend struggling with their true identity, two sisters that were lost in their own troubles, a cousin that needed to be put in her place, and Liam and Julia dealing with the unresolved issues they left behind 10 years ago. I'm so glad I kept going. This story was far deeper than I originally thought and so worth the read.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for approving my request.

I usually don't care much for second-chance romances, but I adored this one. The characters were written so so good. I'm going to check out this author's other books. 5 stars

Many thanks to Net Galley and Dreamscape Media for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This had the potential to be really good! I really enjoyed the concept but it was kind of a book that was so much more that I was a little surprised because none of it was mentioned in the synopsis? So it was a little overwhelming. All in all it was a cute story. I found the FMC a little relatable and loved her way of sticking it to the man with the posters in the closet but honestly couldn’t get over the way the mom treated her and then hearing why just made me incredibly sad.

I really struggled with the way the narrator did the MMC voice and do feel like this one would have benefited from having a male narrator.

I Can’t Even by Jenn McKinlay has the bones of a compelling story—sisters navigating grief and a second-chance romance—but ultimately, it falls flat.

Julia returns to her coastal California hometown after nearly a decade away to care for her terminally ill mother and support her two sisters. After their mother’s death, a surprising family secret and some unusual stipulations in the will shake up everything Julia thought she knew about her life. Meanwhile, her high school sweetheart—who she hasn’t spoken to since leaving—is brooding next door.

What worked: I appreciated the dynamic between the sisters, the nuanced portrayal of their grief, and the intrigue of the family secret revealed during the will reading.

What didn’t: Julia and Liam haven’t spoken in nine years—which might be easier to believe if phones didn’t exist in this universe. When Julia left town, she did so abruptly and never reached out to explain why. Once they reconnect, Liam is repeatedly cruel, and Julia forgives him instantly and without question—even after he either lies or cheats (she’s not sure which at the time). They’re both consistently awful to each other and refuse to have a single honest conversation. It’s frustrating to read and comes off less like a beautiful fated love and more like emotional immaturity.

The story also suffers from too many unresolved plot threads and a rushed ending that left things feeling cluttered. And the steamier scenes? Let’s just say repeated references to “girl parts” and “boy parts” did not help.

Had the book focused more on the sisters or made Liam a more swoon-worthy character, I would have enjoyed it much more.

Thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest opinion.

I did not feel like the narrator fit my impression of the FMC and it distracted me from the story at times. I thought the overall plot was interesting but I wasn't a fan of the execution. The writing felt stilted at times and a lot of the FMC's sexual thoughts sometimes seemed out of place- especially in the beginning. The FMC's dynamic with her mother was problematic. I did appreciate the sister relationship and I did enjoy the small town summer vibes of the setting.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

WOW! Perfect summer read! This book is a roller coaster of emotion and makes sure to hit all of them.. from loss of d a family member to new romance! AND THE DRAMA! There so much family drama!!

It is so easy to fall in love with all of these characters. The writing is spectacular. And the audio book narrator did an amazing job bringing these characters to life!

This book had good LGBT+ representation. With the ups and downs shown on page..

Over all amazing book. If you love romcom, small town romance with the vibe of “is it too lake to come home” this is the book for you!!

I love Jenn McKinlay and was so excited for her newest but this was not it.
First off, it really bothered me how bad the relationship between the female main character and her mom was. Maybe I’m just lucky to have my mom as my best friend, but I really need an explanation as to why she despised her daughter so much.
I also found this to be way more raunchy than her previous works and that was a turn off to me personally
Unfortunately I Dnf at 45%