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betweentheshelves's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I basically listened to this entire book in one day; I was hooked by Sam as a narrator. That's part of the reason I love Alexis Hall books so much; he sure as a knack for writing good characters. It's a rom-com, so you can kind of guess what's going to happen in the plot, but I didn't really care because I loved the characters so much.
Honestly, the last book set in this universe ([book:Husband Material|58323892]) was a bit of a miss for me, so I'm glad this one wasn't. My only complaint, really, was that I wished we could have gotten a bit more of Sam's background. It's briefly mentioned at the end, but I wanted a bit more. I guess this is going to be a series, though, so maybe we'll get more in a future book!
All in all, if you're looking for a fun rom-com with the fake amnesia plot and the grumpy/sunshine trope, definitely pick this one up!
Honestly, the last book set in this universe ([book:Husband Material|58323892]) was a bit of a miss for me, so I'm glad this one wasn't. My only complaint, really, was that I wished we could have gotten a bit more of Sam's background. It's briefly mentioned at the end, but I wanted a bit more. I guess this is going to be a series, though, so maybe we'll get more in a future book!
All in all, if you're looking for a fun rom-com with the fake amnesia plot and the grumpy/sunshine trope, definitely pick this one up!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Toxic relationship, and Cursing
Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Grief, Sexual content, and Car accident
readwithria's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
10 Things That Never Happened is a cute, funny romcom with the wit and banter I’ve come to expect from Alexis Hall! He has somehow written a book with both poop jokes and emotional depth, and I really enjoyed it!
Read if you like
- forced proximity
- slightly dysfunctional families
- grumpy/sunshine
- Christmas setting
- fake amnesia
- antagonists to friends to lovers (closed door, euphemisms only)
I will say, I’m not sure why the book is called 10 Things That Never Happened. There’s fake amnesia, but there aren’t fake events… honestly I don’t care I’m just a little confused.
My only complaint is that the climax and resolution of the book felt a tad bit rushed, and there wasn’t quite as much tension in the will-they-won’t-they as I tend to prefer. Still a great book, and I’d definitely recommend! 4 stars.
Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for the review copy. All thoughts are my own.
Read if you like
- forced proximity
- slightly dysfunctional families
- grumpy/sunshine
- Christmas setting
- fake amnesia
- antagonists to friends to lovers (closed door, euphemisms only)
I will say, I’m not sure why the book is called 10 Things That Never Happened. There’s fake amnesia, but there aren’t fake events… honestly I don’t care I’m just a little confused.
My only complaint is that the climax and resolution of the book felt a tad bit rushed, and there wasn’t quite as much tension in the will-they-won’t-they as I tend to prefer. Still a great book, and I’d definitely recommend! 4 stars.
Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for the review copy. All thoughts are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Vomit, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Car accident
dianaschmidty's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book gave me butterflies! I loved watching Sam and Jonathan fall for each other over the course of this book. This was like a Hallmark Christmas movie in book form, complete with an extended, meddling family, oddball coworkers, some Christmas party planning, and an adorable romance. The LGBTQIA+ representation was just like icing on the cake.
The plot of the book is super unique. A guy accidentally faking amnesia leading to him having to live with his rude boss is far from your average romcom. As you can imagine, hilarity ensued. Watching how bad of a liar Sam is was almost as great as watching Jonathan be so enthralled by Sam that he didn’t even notice the bad lying! I think the only thing that could have made this book better would have been seeing Jonathan’s descent into madness as he tried to keep his feelings for Sam to himself. They gave me a lot of “JUST KISS ALREADY” moments. This book was really forced proximity at its finest. My only question is, how did Sam not fall for Jonathan as soon as his cat claimed him?
Also, I rarely say this, but I loved the third act conflict. It was relatively short and their reunion was weirdly sweet in spite of its location (iykyk). My heart broke for them while it was happening, but the payoff was worth it to see them come out the other side as a stronger couple.
I also loved Jonathan’s family. They reminded me a lot of my own family, especially at the holidays. His mom made a great addition as the wisdom giver for Sam, who really could have benefitted from her wisdom during the entire book instead of just at the end. I really hope we get to see them again in another book.
Overall, this was a really fun read that I would highly recommend!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Minor: Car accident
apersonallibrary's review
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This review potentialy has some spoilers, be warned.
I'm rating this books two stars. The story had so much potential but it just did not work out. Let me explain:
First of all, the characters: Sam is said to e the nice one, and Jonathan the asshole or dick (as is often said in the book, will come back to this later). But in reality these characters were both assholes, who were so immature. And Sam's jokes really were mean very often.
The the writing, I loved how quickly it read, and the Lord of The Rings references were nice, but the amount of swearing in this books was putting me off. It felt unnecessary and did not add to the story. Also Jonathan was continiously described like an asshole or dick. I lost count how often that happened. It just made me wonder if there was really no other way to describe this character and his moods. It could have been said less or in a different way to get the message across to the reader.
And then finally about the story in general. The first thing I want to say about this is that the ending was too hurried. I think it would have been better if the amnesia issue had been cleared up earlier in the book. Because now it just made it all feel so hurried and not finished.
Also I enjoyed the moments Jonathan and Sam were so cute together, but was it realistic to me? No, it all moved to quickly and sudden.
I really wad looking forward to reading this book but it simply wasn't what I think it could have, and should have been.
I'm rating this books two stars. The story had so much potential but it just did not work out. Let me explain:
First of all, the characters: Sam is said to e the nice one, and Jonathan the asshole or dick (as is often said in the book, will come back to this later). But in reality these characters were both assholes, who were so immature. And Sam's jokes really were mean very often.
The the writing, I loved how quickly it read, and the Lord of The Rings references were nice, but the amount of swearing in this books was putting me off. It felt unnecessary and did not add to the story. Also Jonathan was continiously described like an asshole or dick. I lost count how often that happened. It just made me wonder if there was really no other way to describe this character and his moods. It could have been said less or in a different way to get the message across to the reader.
And then finally about the story in general. The first thing I want to say about this is that the ending was too hurried. I think it would have been better if the amnesia issue had been cleared up earlier in the book. Because now it just made it all feel so hurried and not finished.
Also I enjoyed the moments Jonathan and Sam were so cute together, but was it realistic to me? No, it all moved to quickly and sudden.
I really wad looking forward to reading this book but it simply wasn't what I think it could have, and should have been.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing and Medical content
Minor: Car accident and Death of parent
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