A review by bookishbunny_
The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez

3.0

This started off as a great read, but the last half wasn't my favorite. Honestly the whole situation was kind of toxic and I didn't love how Theo and Marcela got together and handled everything. Initially, I liked how Theo and Marcela were both aware of needing to move on and they found comfort in each other. However, Marcela grew to be a frustrating character. There was transparency from Theo but Marcela was so focused on choosing to blindly read into his words and she was overcomplicating things. There was a lot of miscommunication at the end of the book and it was starting to get silly. I think it would have helped if we saw their relationship develop more, especially beyond a physical level. Marcela felt like a very juvenile character and my biggest issue with her was how messy she was making everything. There's not much to the plot but it started to feel like they were running in circles at the end and it would have been less frustration if there had just been more communication between all the characters. Theo was a great character and I love how clear he was about his feelings/stance but the excuses Marcela was trying to use were disappointing. Overall, there were lots of red flags in the characters and I wasn't invested in the story enough to be convinced about their relationship. Even at the end, it still felt like a rebound relationship and the character development wasn't enough. There were definitely some cute moments though! I wouldn't have minded if we got to see the librarian side of Marcela more.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!