Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on November 18, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Fiction, Romance
Rating:
Goodreads
She's found the perfect man . . . There's just one big twist.
Stuck in a Production Assistant job and living at home with her parents after a painful breakup, thirty-one-year-old Chloe Fairway isn’t where she wants to be in life. The last thing she needs is to face the people who once voted her "most likely to succeed" at her upcoming ten-year college reunion. And she definitely doesn’t want to see her former best friend, Sean Adler, who is now a hotshot film director living the life Chloe dreamed of. Desperate to make a splash—and to save face in front of the man who might be the one that got away—she turns to a mysterious dating service.
Enter Rob, her handsome, well-read, and charming match, the perfect plus-one to take to her reunion. The more she gets to know him, the more perfect he appears to be. Could it be that this dating service knows her better than she knows herself? And can she overlook the one big catch? As Chloe reconnects with old friends, she begins to question everything she thought she wanted. Maybe, just maybe, revisiting the past is exactly what she needs to move forward.
What's worst than a reunion to remind you of all the things you didn't accomplish? Going to the reunion alone, that's what. In order to avoid that sort of pity, Chloe enlisted Rob, a Perfect Partner, to accompany her to reunion weekend.
Sophie Cousens is an auto-read author for me. Her stories never fail to make me smile, laugh, and feel warm-fuzzies. These are things I actively seek in my reading material, and she was able to make me experience all those things, once again, via this fake-dating tale with a sci-fi twist.
I know it seems out there for someone to hire a robot escort, but Chloe had her reasons. She had spent two years in a toxic relationship where she hid and lost parts of herself, but worst of all, she lost her trust in herself and romance in general. Being with a BoiBot was a safe bet. He was programmed to be the perfect mate and to make her life better by improving her health, self esteem, career, and other aspects of her existence. He was thoughtful and doting and never aggressive or controlling. He was the type of man Chloe thought she needed.
But when her present met her past, she realized there was someone who owned a piece of her heart the whole time. She was just too blind to see it. Friends-to-lovers and second-chance romances are my top picks, and here, I had an interesting combination of them both. The reunion setting was brilliant for allowing Chloe to reconnect with old friends and reflect on some of the choices she made while finding clarity about her future.
I truly loved all the moments shared between Chloe and her old friend. Is it wrong that I didn't really care about the bot?? I cannot decide, but I was thrilled with the ending. That final two chapters were what my heart craved. It was perfect and on-point rom-com gold. Shout out to Richard (the dog). I adored him!
Overall: A warm and whimsical spin on the fake dating trope packed with humor and heart and even some interesting commentary on our modern world.
Published by Berkley on November 18, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating:
Goodreads
Childhood best friends and first loves are reunited on a make-or-break work trip to Iceland, with old feelings coming to the surface in this charming romance from debut author Megan Oliver.
Mona Miller lives her life by she’s just fine, thanks; all good; not a problem! Everything is right as rain—even if it’s all a lie. Everyone at the travel magazine where she works knows her as a team player (in other words, the one who won’t complain about the endless fluff pieces pushed her way). But, feeling snubbed after being passed over for a promotion, Mona jumps at an international assignment to Iceland, even though she’s woefully unprepared.
She’s determined to prove her worth, though, and her can-do attitude will scale any glacier. But the freelance photographer paired with her is none other than Benjamin Carter. Ben, her childhood best friend who understood her even when her family didn’t. Ben, her first love—first everything. And Ben, the boy who ghosted her fourteen years ago and left her brokenhearted.
There is a decade’s worth of resentment Mona needs to ignore if she wants to make it through this trip. She’ll put on her “No worries!” façade and hold Ben at a distance. But the more time they spend together, the more the ice around her heart melts. And as those old feelings spark back to life, Mona must decide if she’s willing to go on the biggest adventure of all.
Mona dreamed her whole life of traveling the world and hoped a job with travel magazine would help her fulfill those dreams, but she had been stuck covering local events...until now! Mona was finally getting her big break as an "international", selected to visit and write about a trip to Iceland. This was a dream come true until she realized the photographer accompanying her was her first love, her first kiss, and the biggest heartbreak of her life. He shut the door on their friendship and relationship 14 years ago and just disappeared. Mona's head was struggling with forgiving Ben, but her heart didn't seem to be getting the message.
There is nothing I love more than a second chance romance. Ben and Mona had so much history, starting their meet-cute in kindergarten which was quite precious. The whole time, I was dying to know what happened. How did those secret nights they spent as kids falling in love turn into a complete break? Let me tell you, I would have known the answer a LOT sooner had Mona let Ben talk about it. Every time she brushed him aside, I wanted to scream. Maybe Mona didn't want to know about their past, but I sure did. I had some very outlandish theories as well since I had so much time to think about it. But, I cannot complain too much because I enjoyed the journey. Oliver deftly blended the past with the present while allowing Mona to experience quite a bit of self-discovery and growth. The explanation was plausible even if I didn't think it should have had the effect it did.
Ben's healing took place before this reunion. He had a past that he kept hidden. He was lucky enough to be welcomed by Mona's family with whom he spent a lot of his time as a kid. It broke my heart that he felt like he had to end that relationship and essentially "leave" the family. But it was wonderful that he found a mentor who helped him carve out a career, and that he was finally in a good place and ready to renew his friendship with Mona and the Millers.
In addition to a great romance, I absolutely LOVED traveling with Mona and Ben. Iceland is on my long list of places to visit, and Oliver did an incredible job transporting me there. My knowledge of Iceland was pretty much volcanos, Reykjavik, and The Sugar Cubes, so it wonderful to learn so much more about the land of fire and ice.
Overall, this was a spectacular debut! I found myself fully immersed in both Ben and Mona's second chance at love as well as the Icelandic setting. The book was filled with humor and emotion which left me in a state of elation.
*ARCS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER
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