Mixed Signals

Mixed Signals: A real take on heartbreak for an adult trying to ‘make it in the real world’. The second guessing, complicated family and messy but steadfast friendships paint a picture that isn’t drawn through rose colored glasses. I was glad to see the healthy aspects of self love and rebuilding hand in hand with the unavoidable self doubt that comes with a breakup. Nico is a character who slowly steals your heart. His down to earth qualities make you want to keep him around. The story kept me engaged however, there were a few instances where transitions left me wanting. While I agree to the mixed signals, there’s no mixed feelings on this one, I’m glad I read it. Thanks to NetGalley, publisher, and @miaheintzelmanauthor for this ARC in exchange for honest review. ““This is why I haven’t called you. Can’t you just see how I’m doing and not ask about him? It’s hard enough as it is, but when you keep bringing it up, I’m back at square one. And maybe I’ve got more things going on in my life that have nothing to do with him.”

I was a bit hesitant to read this after reading a few reviews, but it wasn't as bad as some of the reviews make it out to be. Yes, Julie is a bit insecure but how many other women are in that same boat after a break up? I thought Julie's character was real and dealt with similar issues as a lot of other people. I can personally relate to the need to improve yourself after a break up. Something about a new hair cut or new outfit can boost your spirits for a bit. I thought it was nice to have quite a few poc character in a romance and it was a nice change of pace. Overall I thought this was a fun, quick read that I finished in one day.

The premise of this book is cute but the execution fell flat. The narrative was all over the place. Hard to follow.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

I really wanted to like but book but, unfortunately, I didn't. In theory, the premise sounded like something that I would enjoy, however; I couldn't connect with the characters. I hated the main character, Julie, while she did seem real she was very unlikeable. I hated the fat shaming. I hated that she had toxic relationships all around her. Nico, I liked but he wasn't a fully fleshed out character either, none of the characters were. And I liked the chance meetings. The story was underdeveloped. I needed more to grab my attention. I'm thankful for receiving an arc but this book wasn't my cup of tea.

I had such high hopes for this book.
This book gave me so much hope with it's fun and bright cover plus a blurb that got me excited... it all fell flat.
I was so bored out of my mind 🤦🏻‍♀️

Mixed Signals Indeed!
This was a new to me author and the back cover blurb sounded great but unfortunately the whole book personified the title.
The heroine went back in forth on how she felt about literally everyone she came into contact with and was constantly hot and cole with the hero. It was a third person single point of view so we were constantly in the heroines head and she seemed to only have about fifteen different things to say over and over again.
I really liked Liz, Derrick, Nico, and her mom and would’ve of loved more scenes with them as sounding boards instead of just her internal monologues.
Sophia and the Aunt were odd choices for semi-villains but I’m thinking they may “see the light” in Sophia’s book.
In the end the book was okay but definitely felt like it could’ve been so much more.

Much thanks to NetGalley and Levi Lynn Books for this complimentary copy. This review is voluntary and opinions are fully my own.

📚 Series: Yes. First of a series.
📚 Genre: Romance
📚 POV: Third person, single POV
📚 Cliffhanger: No.

⚠ Content Warnings: A lot of push-and-pull, dealing with grief
⚠ Read if: you are looking for a quick, light romance read.

Mixed Signals was definitely promising. But after the clever blurb and the cute cover, there is nothing else to offer.

It is a story that has been told time and again, with a main character that is a little bland and boring aside from the times when she is mean. The story also focuses on hating other women, too, which should not be a thing anymore.

The push-and-pull in this thing was so intense and prolonged, it's all the book had to offer. A bit mindless and weirdly plotted aside from the MCs pining, self-questioning and double taking every few pages.

I mean, I enjoyed it still because it was light and quick to read. I appreciate that since I had limited time to read this past few days.

Author must work on plotlines and character development, should she continue this series.

I wanted to like this more than I did. I found the characters lacked depth, which made it difficult to be drawn into the story. I liked Julie okay, but not enough to really be invested in her story. Unfortunately this one just fell flat for me

This book has a good premise but I found it somewhat lacking in character depth and likability. Julie and Nico just didn't make me fall in love with them.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to.

While I was excited to read this one, It didn’t live up to what I thought it was going to be. There were plenty of cute & nice scenes but I just ended up not being the right book for me!

I went into this one with high hopes - that blurb had me hooked. Unfortunately I didn't quite get the story I wanted. It's definitely not a bad read. I found myself smiling in parts and happily reading away. The second half of the book was a little harder for and that's why it gets a 3 instead of a 4. I'd definitely check out more from this author though as there was plenty to enjoy.

I received an arc of this book.

Mixed Signals is about Julie who is a banker dealing with heartbreak after her Fiance ends their engagement and calls her boring. Julie is struggling with the break up and looks to her friend Liz for guidance. On Julie's way to see Liz she gets stuck in traffic next to a handsome stranger. She thinks she will never see him again but fate keeps their paths crossing again and again. Julie decides that she hates Nico when she over hears a conversation between him and Liz's boyfriend. Will her opinion change and will Nico be more than just a rebound?
** Possible Spoilers**
This book was an easy summer read but there were quite a few things that bothered me through the book. Liz, Julie's best friend was so mean to her. It had only been three months since the lover of her life ended things and she was so rude to Julie trying to get her to change everything about herself and get over him. Julie just seemed to take it. Julie was also super mean to Nico through the book and it wasn't until about halfway that she realized she liked him. Nico was so sweet to her the whole time and didn't deserve any of that! I'm all for hate to love tropes, and enemies to lovers but this was not anywhere like that. I literally wanted to scream at Julie. She was just plain nasty to Nico for over half the book. I actually felt bad for him. I am glad that she ended up shaping up in the end and getting her crap together. Nico was also described as a mix between Kahl Drogo (Game Of Thrones) and Clark Kent (Superman). Two completely different looks and styles. I couldn't picture how he is actually suppose to look. I was really excited to read this because the romance genre is on fire right now with releases but this fell so short for me! This was just my opinion.

The idea for Mixed Signals had potential, but it veered off into bland territory. It's a cute typical premise and nothing you haven't read before. There are okay moments. I'm bothered by the shallowness of the characters. I'm really bothered by the body shaming. I wanted to put this book down because of that, but I hate to not finish a book. It lost me,though, and I couldn't connect with it enough to really care about the outcome. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Mixed Signals gave me mixed feelings! It was an okay story, but most of the characters were not nice to Julie, the heroine. She is surrounded by criticism and malice. Even her best friend was not nice to her most of the time. The only ray of sunshine in her life and in this story was Nico. I really liked him. He was perfect and he liked her just the way she was. In his eyes she didn't need to loose the weight or change her appearance. Sadly Julie's lack of confidence got in the way and would ruin sweet moments.

Loved it! I would definately like to thanks netgalley for this book. Enemies to lovers is my favourite troupe and this one just rocks it! If you like hate at first site books with convincing plot,great characters,hillarious banters, an uptight heroine ,a swoon worthy hero then please go for it. It was an enjoyable read and I liked it a lot!

Mixed Signals by Mia Heintzelman is a summery read for those looking for an uncomplicated book for the beach or back porch. I really enjoyed the blurb when I requested this book but have some reservations after actually reading the whole story. When I’m looking for a beach read, I’m not looking for a very complicated plot with interesting sentence structure and an in-depth analysis of characters. I want a quick read with a cute guy and their happy ending. This book somewhat delivers.

But for someone that wants more than that and pays attention to grammar and dives just a little below the surface of the characters’ personalities, this might not be as enjoyable. While I liked Nico’s character, both Liz and Julie at times seemed too shallow, selfish and dramatic to me. I could not get myself to like them, which made it more difficult for me to relate and get into the story. I enjoyed Nico and Julie spending time together but was not a big fan of some of the other relationships (with friends and significant others) in the story. Julie also seemed more of a love-struck teenager with her very first love to me than a grown woman with other things to do and worry about than thinking of her boo all day long.

As somebody else stated, this does seem like a good first draft. I like the idea for the storyline a lot, but think that the characters need to be developed some more to make them more likeable (since this does not seem like a story where they would be unlikable on purpose). I have not read any other books by this author yet but do think there is potential for a very good story here.

“If she thought being face to face with Nico beneath the dim lights of a romantic Italian restaurant was a lot to handle, she’d drastically underestimated the effect of low lights and street lamps upon a good pair of cheekbones and a sharp chin.”

This is just a typical romance novel - Julie had a rough breakup with her fiancee and took a downward spiral. This book begins with Julie's friend Liz trying to pick her up, get her back into shape, and move on from the cheating fiancee. At Liz's gym, Julie begins working with a personal trainer and meets Nico, a guy she had a connection with when she ran into him previously.

There's not a whole lot that's special about this book - I wasn't wowed by the writing. It was also way too descriptive - I don't need to read in-depth descriptions about every single aspect of a character's appearance each time we see a character. This makes all the characters appear super shallow, particularly Julie.

A lot of the book (particularly the gym parts) focus on body shaming, and I find it difficult to support any aspect of that. Liz is such a terrible friend for instigating this body shaming, and I truly dislike a large portion of this book because of that.

Julie is also a very passive character, and she really only follows Liz and Nico's direction. She has such low self-esteem and finds self-worth and acceptance of her body time from Nico. Julie attributes her feelings of confidence, accomplishment, and beauty to Nico when really we need more examples of women finding their own self-worth. This is just another instance of a woman finding confidence and comfort in her body from a man. We don't need another story like this to add to the mountain of sexist literature already in the world.

There were moments where I chucked - I loved the gym intimidation scene when Julie first shows up to her new gym, which sparked the invention of "gymtimidation" as a word. I personally love combining words together to make a weird new word that's not an actual word....

This book wasn't for me. I had a hard time connecting with the main character, even as a flawed character. I liked the premise but wasn't a fan of the execution.

This book was cute, but it felt a little simple and rushed. The main character clearly had some problems to work through, but everything felt so simple to resolve.

Recommended if you want a quick, cute read.

I am a hopeless romantic at heart and suck up chance-meeting romances like a sponge, especially those kind of realist vs romantic kinds of romances. But the story focused on too many of the wrong things. Between Julie's petty attitude and the constant body shaming and borderline-abusive relationships, this book did not turn out to be what I thought it was. Which sometimes isn't a bad thing, but in a book advertised as a meet-cute story, this was almost the exact opposite.

Nico was the perfect book boyfriend material, but Julie ruined the romance.

DNF at 33%

I hate to DNF an ARC copy but I cannot get on with this main character, she seems to just hate everyone around her especially other women for no reason. She also seems to make a big deal of everything, jumping to conclusions and getting angry at others with no evidence to back her up. Her best friend, Liz, also grated on me as she was talking about how Julie needed to get back in the dating game but by doing so she was trying to get her to change pretty much everything about herself. This was just not for me at all.

I’m not sure how to express my thoughts about this book. I liked it but also didn’t like certain parts or things that were said. Our main character is a woman called Julie, she has a strong personality but she’s struggling to put herself together after her fiancé dumps her. I get it, I can relate, I enjoyed her relationship with her best friend Liz and how the two talked about it. I didn’t appreciate how the weight “problem” was handled, but at the same time understood why it was like this. Of course, I don’t expect to agree with the characters in everything and this thing didn’t changed my overall feelings about this book.
I liked the characters, but found some of them a prop instead of part of the story. I did enjoy myself reading about all the times Julie and Nico were talking and spending time together, which was the point.
Overall I thing the main issue for me was the length of this novel, because it was 100 pages too long for me. If it got more stuff going on, different POV, or something like that I think this would have be more fun and not so slow.
Still interested in reading the sequel!

Let me start by saying I really wanted to love this book. I loved the premise and it started out strong, the storyline actually had a lot of potential but whilst I enjoyed some of it, I struggled with the flow and pace of the book. The jumping of scenes was confusing at times and hard to follow.

Overall it wasn’t a bad read, just not so well paced.

This is a cute story with an interesting plot, but it was boring to read at times. I was hoping for more Nico & Julie banter in the story and less over redundant talk of Patrick.
The writing confused me when it jumped to quickly from one moment to the next. I had trouble at times understanding where I was in the story and had to reread the lines again.
I liked her best friend Liz’s character more then the main character Julie.
Overall I was disappointed in the book, but thought it could’ve been better with more editing and explaining more with details after a scene happened, to give the reader a better understanding of what’s going on.

There are times when I’m watching Project Runway that a designer puts all his ideas into one garment. The judge’s response? “Edit, Edit, Edit.” That’s how I felt with Mixed Signals by Mia Heintzelman. Mixed Signals is a good story. The beginning is a little Lalalandish-a traffic jam in Las Vegas, Julie notices handsome stranger in a truck next to hers. Unlike the hit movie, Julie would like to exchange numbers, but due to an ill-timed text, she misses her opportunity and hunky mystery man drives on down the road. Of course, since this is a rom-com, they are destined to meet again, and they do, at the gym where overhearing hunky man’s conversation with her trainer, Julie assumes the hunk is also a player and deadbeat dad, or as he’s known in the book, a “manwhore.” Julie loses interest. But as fate, or rom-com storylines would have it, they meet again. Julie’s friend, Liz, has a boyfriend, Derrick, and who should be his good friend? That’s right, Nico, the hunky mystery man. The four go on a great date, but the night ends in disaster. They meet again at the gym when Julie’s trainer is hurt (though the reader is never told how the accident happens), and Nico fills in as her back-up trainer. Eventually, the two decide they do like each other, romance ensues, and all seems right in the world. However, the path of true love in rom-coms never runs that smoothly, and there is a job offer out of state, an ex-boyfriend who has knocked up an ex-friend but still has feelings for Julie, and an assumption that their love won’t last. Mixed in all of this is: fathers (both Julie’s and Nico’s) who have died, complete with an overheard soliloquy at the gravesite; mother who gave up on her marriage (of course, father has died so hmmm), cousin who is pregnant but whose cheating spouse walks into the baby shower with his red-headed lover, bosses who “cockblock” job opportunities (is that really a thing???), and friends who don’t know if they want to be married. On top of all that, I think all this happens in a couple weeks?? The timeline is a little weird and is very distracting to the story line. Overall, the bones of the story are there. This is probably a great first draft. But it needs to be edited, edited, edited (said in my best Nina Garcia voice).

I received a free e-book from the publisher for an honest review. Thank you! #MixedSignals #netgalley

This story was super fresh and cute!
The majority of the characters were lovable and I really liked the ending!
Highly recommend!

This book had good bones but could have used a developmental editor to tighten the plot and dialogue. I wanted to see more of Nico/Julie and way less of Patrick. Good for her that she finally kicked him to the curb! I received an ARC from NetGalley with no compensation.

This is a Cute little romance for the modern young woman!!! The main character is adorable and realistic. I want to keep rooting for her as she tries to get her life together. I would like a little more main character development toward the beginning. Overall, this was a great read for chilling by the pool.

Mixed Signals is a cute, light-hearted, angsty at times, a bit silly, quick read. If you're looking for a romance novel that will be quick to read, resembling other comedy romantic films out there this might just be your cup of tea.

I was looking forward to reading this book as the cover especially caught my eye, it's one that I would guarantee would make me want to buy it in any bookstore. The blurb, as well, called out to me with the meet-cute, fate playing with the two characters. Unfortunately I couldn't connect with Julie.
While I don't have an issue with continuing to read a novel even if the main character isn't my cup of tea. However, apart from Nico, who sounded like a saint! honestly the perfect love interest, no one else in the book caught my eye. I went into this thinking I would love it but it was too silly and Julie's reactions were too abrupt at times for me. Not to mention some of the relationships seemed borderline toxic and I didn't appreciate the little bits of fat shaming in the book. Overall, it was a fine read, there were many instances of the book I enjoyed but many little things prevented me from enjoying it fully.

Struggled to finish this. I was excited by the blurb and the cover but the book itself just didn’t do it for me. The characters were undeveloped and the main character was extremely unlikeable.

This book is likely to be polarizing. It’s a cute concept with a cute cover design, there’s decent chemistry between the two main characters. However, it’s likely to be triggering for anyone with body image issues. For this reason, I cannot see myself recommending it.

Really fun and quick read! It was a story that reminded me of the class Christina Lauren books. It also helped my ease my craving for a juicy romance with drama. The title of the book seemed fitting for the story. It was originally what drew me in. The cover design was something that also drew me to the book because it was so similar to the usual Romance I read.

Great start but didn't follow through, kept falling asleep during kindle narration.Managed to finish the book, barely. Didn't like Julie much but Nico was a patient,loving and sweet man that didn't deserve to have to deal with Julie.The real star of this book was Julie's friend Liz,wish there was more about her.Not likely to read any more books by this author.

Find the full review on https://tmblr.co/ZP_xeh2i1pWup

Thank you Netgalley and Levi Lynn Books for this ARC.

Mixed Signals is the perfect weekend read. A quick and light romance with enough depth to keep you reading.

Julie’s character development was well written with an interesting dynamic with every character she interacted with, from Patrick to Celeste, to Sophia, her mom, and even Nico. All unique interactions that added to her character as a whole.

Nico is definitely book boyfriend material and enough reason on his own to pick up and read this book.

Unfortunately some parts of the book felt rather choppy and abrupt. The setting of Vegas also felt meaningless and could have been leveraged much more.

Overall, not a bad read.

*Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for granting me this eARC in exchange for an honest review*

Mixed Signals is a cute start to the series. Julie is a believable character who’s just recently suffered a breakup and her best friend, Liz, is trying to get her back in the game.

Nico is a friend of a friend who seems to be perfect for Julie but she’s resistant to let him in.

Heintzelman has written a cute story about second chances and being willing to put oneself out there and the prospect of finding love

Such a cute cover and premise. I did find the character a bit unlikable and struggled to find a connection to the characters. I love when I get pulled into the story and this one didn’t pull me in as much as I hoped.

Julie's been dumped and is struggling to get over the love of her life. She is struggling with the expectations of family, friends, and her own hopes and dreams. But.... She's kind of a mess. When she sees a random hit dude in a truck, cue fantasies and a string of disasters that bring them together and push them apart.

This was a one-day read, so it moved pretty quickly if that's what you're looking to read next. It felt like reading a slaptick comedy movie a la Bridesmaids. To be fair, those just aren't my kind of movies, so I might not be the target audience. The book heavily hinted at deeper themes, but to me none of them quite landed. Julie is struggling with having gained weight, but it is treated with way more fat shaming than support. There is grief at the previous loss of a family member, the ache to start a family of her own, and the complications of her remaining family, but none took the kind of deep dive I was hoping they would. I am glad that by the end the protagonist was able to recognize her previous relationship was crap. Unfortunately I needed the character to get her drama together or talk to someone about it... and to maybe address some of the other crappy relationships in her life head on, beyond just the ex (and a very believable creeper in a bar). If we're going to go into these issues, I wanted them to be less superficially treated, because the bones are there for this book to have been more satisfying for me.

There's chemistry between the leads, but it felt a little too high school in terms of emotional intelligence so I was hoping for more. Then again, as mentioned earlier, I finished it in a day. So while I quickly realized I could never be friends with any of these characters, I did read about them.

Advance reader copy provided by netgalley for review.

This... was really not my cup of tea and I'm pretty disappointed because the blurb sounded good, that cover is really cute, and who doesn't love a sweet romance about fate and tangled lines? But, no. I struggled to get through this and skimmed through the majority of it because we all know I hate to DNF, especially when it's an ARC. I could see the potential in this, but honestly, the story and the characters were so sorely underdeveloped I ended up feeling zero connection to any of it. The writing was also all over the place, which made it even more difficult to get into the story, though what I enjoyed the least was the main character, Julie Laurich.

Julie grated on my nerves. She was unbearably rude, selfish and completely self-absorbed. Her character found everything irritating and she lost her shit, going from 0-100 in the blink of an eye, so frequently and over nothing that it was just stupid. I absolutely couldn't stand her attitude at all. I understand what it's like to be defensive and to want to protect your own heart, but Julie's character had absolutely zero reason to blow every little thing out of proportion, especially when it came to Nico. None of it made sense to me, and if she did have a reason, it wasn't clearly articulated in the story. If I met someone like her IRL, I would likely run in the opposite direction, fast!

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers Levi Lynn Books for the free copy in exchange for an honest review. This review will be posted to my blog closer to the date of publication.

This was a quick easy book to read. However, I felt as though the characters were underdeveloped and the storyline was lackluster at best. Just blah for me unfortunately

Julie is late to meet her friend Liz at the skyline cafe. Who will fuss at her for being late. Traffic is held up due to an accident. Julie checks out a good looking guy in a black truck . Julie is hoping to get his phone number but cops are directing the traffic to move . Liz's on and off boyfriend Derrick works at skyline cafe and gives free drinks . Liz is trying to find a guy to hook Julie up with but Julie still wants Patrick . Julie misses the guy at the restaurant Liz wants to hook her up with.julie is a banker and lives in a condo. Luck is always on Julie's side. I can relate to julie being stuck on a particar guy even if you know he's bad for you. Julie is tired of waiting around on Patrick planning to go see him after everything he said to her.I can relate. I'm not sure about Liz's insistence that Julie find another man so soon after breakup. Liz says that Patrick does not deserve Julie and she should not feel like her life is over because he's not in it. I didn't care for the cussing. I can relate to needing to lose weight, I prefer walking.

While I was excited for this book prior to starting it, I had a very rough time truly enjoying the book. I could not connect with the main character at all. I actually did not care for any of the characters in the story, but its hard to like a book when the main character leaves such a bad taste in your mouth. I have heard great things about the author so I am hoping to check out one of her other novels in the future.

What an aptly titles book: Mixed Signals garnered Mixed Feelings in me about what I thought of the novel.

If you’re looking for a light hearted book, easy to flip through without devoting too much time and energy and don’t mind underdeveloped characters, then this is for you.

For me, however, I hated Julie, the main character. I hated the fat shaming. I hated her best friend. The relationships in her life were toxic. I can deal with this if characters are developed further. But this wasn’t. This book seemed to throw bits down and expected you to make what you could of it.

I liked the premise; I enjoyed the revenge body idea - who hasn’t broken up with someone and decided to revamp their hair or wardrobe? I just thought it could be a little more sensitive and bypass the body shaming our main characters goes through. Who’s best friend would tell them to go to the gym because they’ve got fat, and allow them to be measured in front of an audience and then screamed at until they accepted they were angry with themselves for allowing themselves to become so disgusting? Urgh. It just puts me on edge.

I liked that Nico and Julie kept running into each other. I thought that was well done.

Overall I wouldn’t recommend this book. It made me more angry than happy and when I open a book like this I just want to feel better, not worse.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this review are my own.

I am trying to be more intentional about reading books from authors of color so I was really excited to read this. It definitely seemed right up my alley. It is a very light and easy read. However, I had a hard time liking the characters and that made it difficult to connect with the characters. The beginning of the story was great and I thought the rest would be like that but it wasn’t. It was difficult to even finish. I would not recommend.

Mixed Signals is my first book by this author. And even thought this is first book in a series I would not be continuing this series.
I would say this is light, chick lit read...perfect for summer read. But I found it at times very boring and hard to continue. I couldn't connect with the characters. They were annoying, without depth and overall toxic to each other. I loved the beginning of the story and plot line was very promising sadly actual book was not for me.
Not my type of read even a lighter one.

This was my first book from this author so I wasn't sure what to expect. From the summary, I thought this would be a great book. Great storyline and I love books where enemies fall in love and become lovers. This novel is about Julie and Nico.

I disliked Julie from the start; she was a walking disaster. Liz, her best friend, is mean. She tells Julie to get back to her ex she needs to exercise and get a makeover (insert eye roll). I just couldn't get into the stories that were told, they seemed so far fetched and the judgments that Julie jumped to when overhearing conversations about Nico was just stupid. I was mad at her for being so naïve. LOL Not sure why Nico would still be interested in Julie after how she treated him, with the mixed signals (that's for sure!) throughout the book. It was a light read and a little too superficial to truly enjoy it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
#mixedsignals #netgalley

This is Julie and Nico‘s book, Julie is a corporate banker when she gets stuck in traffic the man of her dreams just happens to be right next to her in a sexy black truck ,he would just be the perfect rebound that is until he opens his mouth! Julie doesn’t even know him but she knows she already hates him and because the universe is blind to all the warning signs sexy Niko just keeps happened to pop up in all the places that she’s at but soon Julie discovers he’s not what she thought he was oh he still hot but he’s not a jerk like she thought he was !LOL this book was definitely ok it was funny and a light read no major drama and angst happens it’s just a nice even keel book, it has some steam to it but not too much if you like a nice light read this one’s for you! Thank you netgalley and the publishers for sharing this book with me!

I received this book from NetGalley for a honest review.

Seeing a hot guy in traffic is the best and worst thing that can happen, especially when you never see them again or talk to them. Rip all hot guys in passing. ;(
I liked this book a lot and thought it was funny. I do wish Julie would have been a little more easy going with Nico but I’m glad they actually go together. Seemed like she needed to sort through her stuff in order to move on and I’m so happy she did. Also that sex scene caught me by surprise lol. Her ex is trash and I do wish Nico would have beatbox him up lol

If uh the author is seeing this, can we get a book from Nico’s pov :p

This book had such a good start! I was hooked right off the bat. While our MC isn't necessarily the most likable, I can think we can all admit that we've been there, or been our worst version of ourselves at one point or another. I'm a reader who doesn't need to like a character to be able to like a book, if that makes sense. So I took our MC's outbursts, and poor interactions with fellow human beings with a grain of salt. Not to mention that her father had died, and her boyfriend had out-of-the-blue broken up with her. The girl was probably due an outburst or two. Some people (coughs-me) hide away in their room eating their body weight in ice cream until they're ready to face the world again, while other people just take out their aggression on the wrong person. That's how Julie meets Nico.

I really enjoyed how their lives were constantly crossing paths. It put me on the edge of my seat, wondering when they would by chance meet again. Nico is honestly described like a saint. He handles all of Julie's outbursts, bad behavior, and vomit (uh...yeah) like a champ. If there is one redeeming character in this book, it's Nico, Nico's mom, and Julie's mom (okay, I guess there are a couple redeeming characters).

I do think a few of the relationships portrayed here borderline on toxic. Julie's relationship with her best friend is in many ways uncalled for, and how the women in her family treat each other was a little displeasing. As a personal note, I've dealt with a lot of toxic relationships in my own life, and tend to see them everywhere. Maybe girlfriends really do yell at each other, tell each other they are ruining their lives, and then five seconds later say they're the best in the world? To each their own.

In terms of writing, this was an admirable attempt. I felt at times really thrown off when scenes would cut in and out of each other. One second we were in a conversation with Julie and her mom and the next second she was with Nico two days later. There was no explanation of how things left off with conversations, or how a date would end. Suddenly, after a major event (like running into the ex), we just flashed forward to the next day with no mention of how Nico reacted? It felt really unrealistic and pulled me out of the story a few times.

I think the overall plot was super cute, but felt the novel was strongest in the first half of the book. It sort of lost steam after that, and I stopped caring what happened to our characters. I finished the book because I wanted to know how their love story ended, but I didn't necessarily need all of the descriptions of why her ex was such a tool, or how her heart was changing now that she had Nico. I think a little more editing would have been beneficial, but it wasn't an overall disappointment.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks for the opportunity.
I want to preface this review with this - if my best friend were to EVER speak to me the way Liz speaks to hers, there would be no friendship. I struggled so much at times with their interactions.
At times I felt like Nico was trying too hard but, at the end of the day he was kinder about the misconceptions. I liked how there wasn't a great deal of drama thrown in by some of the side characters and stories. These two were doing a good enough job of that themselves.
Overall this was a quick, relatively entertaining read showing how human frailties have the potential to spoil our greatest chances. A little humility goes a long way.

“Mixed Signals” by Mia Heintzelman
I’ll start by acknowledging that I have never read a book by this author and had no prior knowledge of this book before I selected it on Net Galley for review. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but found the read to be enjoyable.



Julie is the main character in this novel and she has experienced some serious break up heart attack. She feels lost and betrayed by her ex-fiancee Patrick who described her as boring. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but ladies… would that not be a reason to drown your sorrows in a couple pints of cookie dough ice cream. Maybe throw in a couple bottles of a good red to stay hydrated. It comes as no surprise that this was what happened to Julie. With the badass best friend, Liz, she plans to get back at Patrick with her “revenge body” (enter Khole Kardashian stage left). Certain that the new Julie will be able to convince Patrick that he made a huge mistake, Julie commits to returning to the gym and a new make over.



From the very beginning of this novel, the chemistry between Nico and Julie is evident. And I’ll be honest, the guy tolerated so much crap in order for us to get the happy ending. After two bad experiences that included Nico, Julie has already made up her mind that he isn’t worth her time. That is until fate steps in, with some assistance from Liz, and sets them up on a double date. The date probably would have gone okay had Liz’s boyfriend proposed causing a series of unfortunate events.



But for some reason, fate isn’t done yet and she is ready to put Nico through the trials of wooing Julie. Let’s face it, the girl is a walking talking time bomb for embarrassing moments. Holding up traffic to check out the hot guy — check. Splitting the arse of her skirt trying to get into the hot guys truck — check. Humiliate herself by taking a tumble off the treadmill resulting in a gash to the head, which the above hot guy helps her with — check. And then finally, throwing up mid kiss with the hot guy after punching poor old Carl in the family jewels.



Let’s move on to some of the scenes that I felt lacked some details or clarity. There is a scene when Nico and Julie are at the cemetery visiting Nico’s father. Julie overhears / ease drops on the conversation whereby Nico is asking his father for a sign that Julie is the right girl for him. Nico’s last name is associated with the English word butterfly and when Julie comforts him at his father’s grave, a white butterfly sits on her shoulder. I feel like there should have been more details in that part. Did Nico notice the butterfly? Did he take it as his sign from his father? So many unanswered questions.



There is also a scene, with scumbag Patrick and Celeste (I commend Mia on the name choice here. I can totally picture this character with that name) at the movie theatre. Julie is starting to understand, as her relationship with Nico grows, how horrible Patrick was to her. We can outline those reasons as a) calling her boring (what a douch canoe) b) cheating on her with some evil stalker c) conceiving a child with the evil stalker d) believing he had ownership of her. Julie is slowly developing a back bone and some self confidence. She has no trouble shutting down Patrick and his lame attempts at rekindling any relationship. So, while they are having a brief and uncomfortable encounter outside the theatre, Nico has gone inside to get the keys for the car. Upon his return he identifies Julie as his girlfriend (WHOA, relationship status change) and finds out that Patrick visited her at work a couple days before. Julie had not told Nico about the exchange, but it was clear at the end of the chapter that her and Nico had an argument after they left. But this scene is missing. I would have loved to have read a heated exchange between the two of them.



Overall, the novel was a solid read. It was entertaining and the characters had distinct chemistry which kept us on the end of our seat. As noted above the plot could use some additional information to keep bring forth a better picture of how things came to happen. I would recommend this book to friends if they are looking for a romantic comedy with a happy ending. I will definitely be reading more novels from this author.



-AG

A Stack Above The Rest.

Sometimes it takes a whole lot of time to work through the hurt and disappointment of love before you give yourself room to love and feel again, and that's what happens with Julie here. She's intelligent, a great friend, a loving daughter and all this doesn't stop her from hurting when her boyfriend, Patrick, decides to leave her for another woman because in his view she's "boring."
Then comes along, Nico, and she's attracted to him and he's not what she expected and she does not know if it's a good thing or a bad thing and the rest of the story is about her figuring out what to do.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

I received this book from NetGalley for a honest review.

4 1/2 stars

Mixed Signals was an unexpected surprise for me. At the beginning, I thought I was going to dislike Julie and this had me a little worried, as I continued to read her story I started to like her more. So Julie has been dumped by her ex and she hasn't been able to let it go. In this story, Julie keeps running into Nico, sometime literally and she can't help but like him but there are a couple of moments of misunderstanding which make her confused about how she feels about him. I liked Nico, I only wish we could have had his POV, it would have made the connection between these two deeper for me. Otherwise, this book had me cringing and laughing, sometimes at the same time.

I enjoyed this romantic novel. The characters were well developed. It had the opportunity to be a heavy read, but the author kept the plotline light. I would have enjoyed an epilogue that let us know how their relationship matured. If I had to choose the best part of the book or theme it would be the relationship between the protagonist and her best friend - I loved how she was there for her and told her things she did not always want to hear. Now the romantic interest was terrific - I wish we were able to see more character development with his side of the family. Overall Mixed Signals was an engaging read that I will recommend to friends and readers of my blog.

Mixed Signals is an apt name for this book, because I kept having mixed feelings while reading it. When I was offered an ARC in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley, I was excited to read the book because the description was intriguing - I love a good enemies to lovers romance and thought the book might follow that sort of trope. When the main characters, Julie and Nico, kept running into each other unexpectedly, I liked that they got to know a little more about each other each time. I also liked the humor in the book, and the author’s writing style was enjoyable.

Unfortunately, I really REALLY did not like Julie. Her personality was grating, her doubts seemingly endless, and her treatment of Nico unacceptable. She overheard one conversation about him and lept to some pretty extreme judgements, then used that conversation as a reason to write him off and treat him poorly. I think there was definitely a way to handle her snap judgements better; I get that the point of the book is not to judge someone without getting to know them first, but it was even clear at the time that Julie had overreacted. So while there were things that I enjoyed about the book, overall I had a difficult time getting invested in the story.

The story of Julie and Nico.

A series of events mean that Julie and Nico nearly meet, but not quite. When they do meet, she is not sure she likes what she hears, so will she give him a chance?

Overall an entertaining read.

Looking forward to the next book in this series

Really enjoyed this. Refreshing read, great job. Full review on the blog coming shortly. . Really great job!

This book was a fun read. Having never read anything from Heintzelman before, I based this selection purely on description alone. The premise of finding someone by fate or kismet is a fascinating plotline to play with because it can so easily become clichéd and an easy card to play. The main character Julie has solid character development throughout as we meet her struggling with heartache, gaining confidence and a new love interest and fixing other personal and professional relationships in her life. My criticisms through are based on the type of characters she chose personality wise. Julie was, unnecessarily so, very jaded by Nico at first based off of an overheard conversation and kept giving him attitude with not a single apology. Not sure if her lack of father or terrible boyfriend were reason enough to create such an annoying character. Nico was also bothersome in that the author never touches upon why he puts up with her difficult behavior. Nico, although dreamy and seemingly perfect, lacked any real substance. It was a solid read but could've been better. Thanks for the ARC NetGalley