Reviews

Not Here to Make Friends by Jodi McAlister

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hanhoffie's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

taylorc19's review

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funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

sungmemoonstruck's review

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I've enjoyed the whole Marry Me, Juliet series immensely but this one is unquestionably my favorite. I loved the angsty, fiery, emotional friends to lovers story between Lily and Murray--their chemistry crackles. But it's also funny and smart and swoon-worthy, as well as a snarky yet ultimately hopeful look behind the scenes of reality TV. The evil mastermind romance of my dreams.

melcolourful's review

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

bek_p87's review

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emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I loved this! It was such an emotional and heartfelt romance, and even though I've read both "Here For The Right Reasons" and "Can I Steal You For A Second?", having this book be largely from producer Murray's perspective meant it didn't feel like I was reading the same story a third time. I did get a little frustrated at times with Lily and Murray - stop being scared/stubborn/proud and be together already - but ultimately this was the my favourite romance of the three so far in the 'Marry Me Juliet' series.

Content Warnings

laurenabayne's review

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I'm not a fan of The Bachelor, but I was definitely a fan of this.

The love story between Murray and Lily was just so good. The mutual pining over the years, the recognition of different kinds of love, the dual POV with Lily set entirely in the past and Murray set in the present. These two deeply flawed, conniving, lovely human beings have a beautiful story of finding each other again after loss. From Lily's need to reinvent herself after the loss of her husband to Murray's desire to make everything perfect for the love of his life, to the point of rigging an entire season of a reality show, it was just stunning. I loved the meta looks at reality TV, and McAlister's research acumen is in full force here.

The best part of the book was definitely Lily's POV in the flashbacks. What a stand-out narrative device! The quasi-emotional cheating never really bothered me, especially since we already know these characters are morally grey.

I went into this book cold; I had never read anything by this author. While reading, I found myself getting confused a lot by the sheer number of side characters, especially since we are supposed to care about these other romances as well. It wasn't until I was so frustrated that I looked it up and found out this was the third in a series! It's pretty ambitious of McAlister to set three romances in the exact same time frame (we love subplots), but it was definitely confusing at times and took away from the central relationship. I'm sure for long-time fans of this series, seeing an alternate perspective to beloved characters was wonderful, but I found it distracting. I couldn't bring myself to care about any of them. Maybe I'm the morally grey one here.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.