Well, Actually: A Novel

I’ve been looking for a romcom to hit all the buttons for me and this was it! Eva was definitely the grumpy black cat to Rylie’s golden retriever personality. Their banter was excellent. Their personalities were fleshed out very well. Rylie had one of the healthiest redemption arcs I’ve seen. The plot was interesting, reminiscent of Amelia D’s Chicken Shop Date. Communication was an important plot development tool, which was rather refreshing. Every time Eva backtracked, Rylie supported her through the conflict. The LGBTQ+ and mental health rep was great! The audiobook narration by Ariela Crow was done really well. I usually prefer dual narration but this was great just as it was. Wouldn’t change a thing. Complementary copy received and voluntarily reviewed.

DNF at 76%

I like that both main characters are queer and in a straight-passing relationship! It’s a dynamic you don’t see all that often.

A pet peeve of mine in romance books is an overabundance of body language descriptions. I know that body language is something we pay a lot of attention to in our significant others, especially when we’re first meeting them (or reintroducing ourselves after six years), but I can only imagine them biting their lips a few times in a regular conversation before it starts to sound cartoonish. It wasn’t that significant of a problem in Well, Actually but it got to be slightly annoying.

I had sort of a hard time believing Cooper’s story. From what I understand, their relationship in college was pretty bare-bones. Not much communication, not even a lot of getting to know each other. It’s possible that there was some exposition dump I’m just not remembering now, but if that was how their past relationship really was, is it not a little strange for Cooper to be so in love with Eva seemingly from the moment they reunite?

Especially with how frustrating Eva is. I understand her tragic backstory but half of everything she says is a functionally useless barb or mean-spirited quip that contributes nothing to the scene besides giving Cooper another opportunity to do more of that abundant body language at her. Their banter was just okay. Some pretty good jokes here and there but the conversations are not terribly interesting. They don’t have much chemistry. Their relationship is just very… bland.

I stopped reading because I was bored, but if you think you’ll like any of the things I don’t like about it, then you should give it a try.

4.25 stars

I loved this book so much! The only reason this isn't rated higher is that I wanted Eva to have more of a fleshed out life - I wanted to see more of her dynamic with her friends.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Edgy, funny, sexy, emotional! I loved this second-chance romance between a grumpy FMC and the sweetest golden retriever MMC. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 :)

"It wasn't because I didn't want you, I just didn't think I was allowed to have you."

"All of this is because I want to know you, be around you. Because I fucked it up once and saw a second chance. Because now I'm so deep in this I would crawl through hell on my hands and knees over a bed of broken glass before I let you go again."

"You mean something to me. You did back then, and you do now. I was too cowardly before to tell you that simple truth, but I'm not going to let you go another day believing anything but the facts. I like you. I care about you. I've lost my goddamn mind over you and I'll repeat it over and over again until you are able to trust it. Trust me."

"You can call me any name you want, as long as I can call you mine."

"Every part of me is yours, if you want it."

"Im yours, it's okay to be afraid. I'll be brave for us both until you learn to trust it. Trust me."