Book Review: Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales

Helen

Dec 3

Title: Never Ever Getting Back Together
Author: Sophie Gonzales
Genre: Romance
Date of Publication: November 29, 2022
Publisher: Wednesday Books

Synopsis

When their now famous ex-boyfriend asks them to participate in a teen reality show, two eighteen year old girls—one bent on revenge, the other open to rekindling romance—get tangled up in an unexpected twist when they fall for each other instead in Never Ever Getting Back Together by nationally and internationally-bestselling and Indie Next Pick author Sophie Gonzales.

It's been two years since Maya's ex-boyfriend cheated on her, and she still can't escape him: his sister married the crown prince of a minor European country and he captured hearts as her charming younger brother. If the world only knew the real Jordy, the manipulative liar who broke Maya's heart.

Skye Kaplan was always cautious with her heart until Jordy said all the right things and earned her trust. Now his face is all over the media and Skye is still wondering why he stopped calling.

When Maya and Skye are invited to star on the reality dating show Second-Chance Romance, they're whisked away to a beautiful mansion—along with four more of Jordy's exes— to compete for his affections while the whole world watches. Skye wonders if she and Jordy can recapture the spark she knows they had, but Maya has other plans: exposing Jordy and getting revenge. As they navigate the competition, Skye and Maya discover that their real happily ever after is nothing they could have scripted.

- Goodreads

My Thoughts

Never Ever Getting Back Together is a perfect pick-me-up. It's a rom com that's genuinely hilarious–nicely melding both situational humour and amusing dialogue.

While I've only ever seen one season of the Bachelor (and I low key hated it), I'm obsessed with book adaptations of this reality TV show. While this is a spin on the "Bachelor" idea, I loved the references to behind the scenes production, including the way that people are edited to look a certain way (villain, anyone?) and all those fun mechanics of creating a reality TV show.

The book is told from two points of view - that of Maya and Skye. Jordy, the TV show's bachelor, cheated on Maya with Skye, but the latter had no idea of what he'd done. Maya thinks that Skye did know (because Jordy told her as much), so she hates her on sight. They have quite a few hilarious interactions, especially once production starts treating them with jello shots…

As a reader, I just loved to hate Jordy, the ex. This cheater thinks that he can manipulate all his exes into falling for him again? Is he ever in for a rude awakening! I loved the concept of the book and the way that the revenge is planned is just so comical and perfect.

This is a slow burn romance. Skye and Maya despise each other in the beginning. It was a little bit too much of a slow burn, however. I think the author needed to insert a few more tension-filled moments earlier on. Once they stopped hating each other, they were platonic. Then, they went from platonic friends to kissing friends in the blink of an eye. I needed a bit more build up than that!

Despite being a little annoyed by the abruptness of the romance, I absolutely loved this book. The side characters, like Perrie and Isaac, were perfection. I can't wait to check out more books by this author!