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fi293's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
gabbythebookaddict's review against another edition
3.0
I was pretty much sold on this one from just the title and while I love a good friends to lovers I felt like this one was missing a spark and some sizzle. The makeover concept was cute but I had a hard time with the main characters Leah and Eli. They had some chemistry but I was left wanting more in terms character development and their connection with each other.
There are a lot of good things about this book,though! I especially loved the authors writing style! If you like a sweet and predictable romcom this might be the one for you.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
There are a lot of good things about this book,though! I especially loved the authors writing style! If you like a sweet and predictable romcom this might be the one for you.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
lynnedf's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in return for an honest review (apologies for being a year late in getting it read).
Remember old school rom-coms? And by old school I mean: Say Anything, Sixteen Candles, Dirty Dancing. Toss in Love Actually and this is basically our story.
* Girl meets a guy and falls for him. He is charismatic, TALL, sweet, thoughtful ... and in love with someone else.
* There is a makeover. Of course there is a makeover.
* There is a gaggle of friends and family that just have to butt into everything.
* Hero needs to realize that the girl who has become his best friend - is really THE ONE and act on it.
* Girl has suffered a trauma (well several) and acts like everything is fine, until she can finally depend on new friends, and the guy to support her.
* Asshole comes and tries to bring her down (in this case her former foster brother) and the gang is there to tell him to get lost.
Told in alternating POVs (Leah and Eli) this was cute but something about it missed the mark. I think maybe it went a tad too long - the beauty of old school rom-coms is that they were rarely longer than 75-90 minutes. This book went about 75 pages too long. At the 70% mark I wondered what was going to fill the last 30% of the book. And honestly - we could have cut out more of the beginning, or even the entire getting Victoria back storyline - and still had a cute little story.
The good: Both Eli and Leah were great characters. This book is obviously the start of a little series about the rest of the friends (Gillian is next in "Hedging Your Bets", and I can't imagine not getting Gray and Delia's story)
The bad: Since I know more books are coming about "Willow Cove" I think maybe the"world building" of the whole group just took up too much bandwidth and stalled the story a little. Eli's sister Jenna is a tad annoying (like over the top - but I guess we need one of those characters if we are re-creating old school rom-coms).
That said. I was able to read this pretty quickly and loved how Leah was able to explain Love Actually to Eli in a way that totally addressed the issues we all have with it today - while still admitting to loving it.
My one question was... why no Jerry Maguire? When Leah tells Eli about the "grand gesture" - that should have been a reference point! At least based on the movies being referred to throughout the book. (I also found it a little strange that they would pick those movies when they likely would have watched movies from the late 90s and ealy 2000s based on their age... but that's just me).
3.5 Stars.
Remember old school rom-coms? And by old school I mean: Say Anything, Sixteen Candles, Dirty Dancing. Toss in Love Actually and this is basically our story.
* Girl meets a guy and falls for him. He is charismatic, TALL, sweet, thoughtful ... and in love with someone else.
* There is a makeover. Of course there is a makeover.
* There is a gaggle of friends and family that just have to butt into everything.
* Hero needs to realize that the girl who has become his best friend - is really THE ONE and act on it.
* Girl has suffered a trauma (well several) and acts like everything is fine, until she can finally depend on new friends, and the guy to support her.
* Asshole comes and tries to bring her down (in this case her former foster brother) and the gang is there to tell him to get lost.
Told in alternating POVs (Leah and Eli) this was cute but something about it missed the mark. I think maybe it went a tad too long - the beauty of old school rom-coms is that they were rarely longer than 75-90 minutes. This book went about 75 pages too long. At the 70% mark I wondered what was going to fill the last 30% of the book. And honestly - we could have cut out more of the beginning, or even the entire getting Victoria back storyline - and still had a cute little story.
The good: Both Eli and Leah were great characters. This book is obviously the start of a little series about the rest of the friends (Gillian is next in "Hedging Your Bets", and I can't imagine not getting Gray and Delia's story)
The bad: Since I know more books are coming about "Willow Cove" I think maybe the"world building" of the whole group just took up too much bandwidth and stalled the story a little. Eli's sister Jenna is a tad annoying (like over the top - but I guess we need one of those characters if we are re-creating old school rom-coms).
That said. I was able to read this pretty quickly and loved how Leah was able to explain Love Actually to Eli in a way that totally addressed the issues we all have with it today - while still admitting to loving it.
My one question was... why no Jerry Maguire? When Leah tells Eli about the "grand gesture" - that should have been a reference point! At least based on the movies being referred to throughout the book. (I also found it a little strange that they would pick those movies when they likely would have watched movies from the late 90s and ealy 2000s based on their age... but that's just me).
3.5 Stars.
chandlerainsley's review against another edition
2.0
super cute concept but kind of lackluster execution. i think my main issue was with eli and his friends/family lol. leah, the heroine was really sweet and dealing with a lot. but so much emphasis was placed on helping eli get his ex back. i didn't understand why his friends/fam couldn't give him some tough love and say "hey dude, get over it."
i think it would have been cool if he was trying to do some work on himself just for the sake of being a good partner. rather than trying to win back an ex. would have made the transition of being intent on winning ex back to being head over heels for the heroine a little easier to accept.
not bad at all, just not perfect for me. would be interested to read more from this author in the future. i think she could write a really good emotional romance a la Abby Jimenez
i think it would have been cool if he was trying to do some work on himself just for the sake of being a good partner. rather than trying to win back an ex. would have made the transition of being intent on winning ex back to being head over heels for the heroine a little easier to accept.
not bad at all, just not perfect for me. would be interested to read more from this author in the future. i think she could write a really good emotional romance a la Abby Jimenez
peakeinsideabook's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC! This book was enjoyable to read in one sitting on a long flight home but won't stick with me in anyway. I didn't feel like there was enough development of the main relationship. This guy just thought he loved this one girl after 4 months and tried to propose, then spent the entire book trying to change himself to win her back, but at the end we're supposed to believe that him falling in love with Leah in 4 months is genuine? Also I usually love rom-com movie references but it was just a lot here. I feel like there should have been more to this makeover plan than new wardrobe and watching rom-coms.
merryberries's review against another edition
(3/5) The fact that it took me an entire week to read this book and I still wasn’t into it is kind of telling
thereadervee's review against another edition
4.0
This one was cute, but was a little toooo slow for me. We follow Leah and Eli, who live in a small town. After accidentally overhearing Eli getting dumped while proposing to his girlfriend of 4 months before leaving to study abroad, Leah tries to make sure she doesn’t run into him. Eli doesn’t know she overheard - so to him, the only person who knows what really happened at the breakup is his ex girlfriend across the world. Instead, Eli’s friends and family determines that if he really wants to win his ex back when she returns, he needs a full makeover. Leah, trying to stay afloat financially after helping take care of her foster mother before her passing, has a bunch of random side jobs as any way to make money.
She gets roped into helping with Eli’s makeover. The makeover consists of more than just clothing, they have him watching movies to learn how romantic he should be, down to even learning grand gestures. Throughout this time, Leah and Eli become pretty great friends and Leah finds herself wanting to stay in town because she loves this little group.
So lowkey, we get friends to lovers, which always manages to melt my heart. ALSO, it happens to just end. No warning. No epilogue. And I’m still salty about it because WHAT HAPPENS? It left a ton of room to probably come up with your own happily ever after for them, but that ain’t for me - I need details and confirmation.
She gets roped into helping with Eli’s makeover. The makeover consists of more than just clothing, they have him watching movies to learn how romantic he should be, down to even learning grand gestures. Throughout this time, Leah and Eli become pretty great friends and Leah finds herself wanting to stay in town because she loves this little group.
So lowkey, we get friends to lovers, which always manages to melt my heart. ALSO, it happens to just end. No warning. No epilogue. And I’m still salty about it because WHAT HAPPENS? It left a ton of room to probably come up with your own happily ever after for them, but that ain’t for me - I need details and confirmation.
emily_loves_2_read's review
4.0
The Rom-Com Agenda
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Rom-Com
Format: Kindle eBook and Audiobook
Date Published: 1/10/23
Author: Jayne Denker
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press and Dreamscape Media
GR: 3.49
I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Dreamscape Media and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.
My Thoughts: The premise was so cute in this book. While I believe the narrator was fantastic, I would loved to have seen a separate voice for Eli, I think it would have made the audiobook even better. This follows a friends to lovers trope, which is one of favorite type of tropes. The book opens with Eli’s break-up and he spends a good amount of time in self wallow and then his friends try to help him make self-improvements in an effort to win Victoria back. Leah just lost her foster mother, after taking care of her for a longtime, and is trying to find herself. Leah finds a family of friends, helps Eli self-improve, and along the way finds the family she has been yearning for.
This was a dual narrated story in third person POV by Leah and Eli. Leah was independent and had a good heart but lacked confidence. Leah had a lot of self growth during the story and really was able to stand in her truth, I love seeing this type of self-discovery in a story. Eli was stuck on his prior breakup and all of the self-improvement was oriented towards winning Victoria back, which I did not care for. If you want to self-improve after a break-up, then that should be the end game. The supporting character Patrick, was an idiot, and played his part well. The characters were well developed with depth, witty banter, chemistry, and were just adorable, for the most part. The author’s writing style was complex, humorous, fun, crisp, and kept me engaged.
Overall, this was a cute and fun book. This is the perfect light read for a beach day. I adored the 80’s and 90’s references and it brought up some fond memories for myself. I had the amazing pleasure of having both the ebook and audiobook. I preferred the audiobook for this one. Devoured it in under 48 hours. My con for this book was too much time was spent on the ex, I wished that would have been a little less and little more on Leah and Eli’s budding relationship. However, having said that, I still believe this is a cute rom-com. I would recommend picking it up, it is worth the read/listen.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Rom-Com
Format: Kindle eBook and Audiobook
Date Published: 1/10/23
Author: Jayne Denker
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press and Dreamscape Media
GR: 3.49
I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Dreamscape Media and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.
My Thoughts: The premise was so cute in this book. While I believe the narrator was fantastic, I would loved to have seen a separate voice for Eli, I think it would have made the audiobook even better. This follows a friends to lovers trope, which is one of favorite type of tropes. The book opens with Eli’s break-up and he spends a good amount of time in self wallow and then his friends try to help him make self-improvements in an effort to win Victoria back. Leah just lost her foster mother, after taking care of her for a longtime, and is trying to find herself. Leah finds a family of friends, helps Eli self-improve, and along the way finds the family she has been yearning for.
This was a dual narrated story in third person POV by Leah and Eli. Leah was independent and had a good heart but lacked confidence. Leah had a lot of self growth during the story and really was able to stand in her truth, I love seeing this type of self-discovery in a story. Eli was stuck on his prior breakup and all of the self-improvement was oriented towards winning Victoria back, which I did not care for. If you want to self-improve after a break-up, then that should be the end game. The supporting character Patrick, was an idiot, and played his part well. The characters were well developed with depth, witty banter, chemistry, and were just adorable, for the most part. The author’s writing style was complex, humorous, fun, crisp, and kept me engaged.
Overall, this was a cute and fun book. This is the perfect light read for a beach day. I adored the 80’s and 90’s references and it brought up some fond memories for myself. I had the amazing pleasure of having both the ebook and audiobook. I preferred the audiobook for this one. Devoured it in under 48 hours. My con for this book was too much time was spent on the ex, I wished that would have been a little less and little more on Leah and Eli’s budding relationship. However, having said that, I still believe this is a cute rom-com. I would recommend picking it up, it is worth the read/listen.
caseyispunk's review against another edition
3.0
I've always been a big romcom girlie so I was sold from the title alone. It was a fun way to take some of the best romcom cliches and give them a twist. I enjoyed following Leah and Eli's slow burn romance, and found myself rooting for them to get together from beginning to end. This is definitely a great book if you're looking for a pick me up or just enjoy reading something to make you smile. I finished this in one sitting.
laurapellegrino92's review against another edition
3.0
A pleasant read.
I like the premise a lot. Leah is a great main character, Eli means well and his personal growth was decent. I think I envisioned these characters being in their early twenties rather than early thirties with how it was written. I also think the second half became really rushed after a slow burn first half. I listened to the audiobook version and think the narrator was great
I like the premise a lot. Leah is a great main character, Eli means well and his personal growth was decent. I think I envisioned these characters being in their early twenties rather than early thirties with how it was written. I also think the second half became really rushed after a slow burn first half. I listened to the audiobook version and think the narrator was great