Reviews

The Quit List by Katie Bailey

carebearmoseley's review

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3.0

cutesie lil read. 

kristinemholt's review against another edition

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5.0

This was such a sweet book! Holly has been looking for love after holding out for her ex boyfriend/ current boss for many years. She meets Jax after he saves her from one of her many failed dates. He agrees to be her dating coach and help her find Mr Right.

I really liked how there was no miscommunication nor was there a third act breakup! It was a light romcom with an easy happily ever after! Itโ€™s also a closed door romance.

I listened to the audiobook for this book and enjoyed both narrators.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to this book prior to publication in exchange for my review.

eliv_bookstagram's review

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5.0

๐“๐‡๐„ ๐๐”๐ˆ๐“ ๐‹๐ˆ๐’๐“
ส€แด€แด›ษชษดษข: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ

๐ŸŽง ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฎ ๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜๐—š๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜†
โณ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ๐—› ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿด๐— 
๐ŸŽ™๏ธ ๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ผ & ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐—•๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฎ

๐Ÿ’™๐™ฒ๐š•๐š˜๐šœ๐šŽ๐š ๐™ณ๐š˜๐š˜๐š› ๐š๐š˜๐š–๐šŠ๐š—๐šŒ๐šŽ
๐Ÿ•๏ธ๐š‚๐š๐š›๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ๐š›๐šœ ๐š๐š˜ ๐™ต๐š›๐š’๐šŽ๐š—๐š๐šœ ๐š๐š˜ ๐™ป๐š˜๐šŸ๐šŽ๐š›๐šœ
๐Ÿ’™๐š‚๐š‘๐šŽโ€™๐šœ ๐™ป๐š˜๐š˜๐š”๐š’๐š—๐š ๐™ต๐š˜๐š› ๐™ป๐š˜๐šŸ๐šŽ
๐Ÿ•๏ธ๐™ท๐šŽ ๐™ฒ๐š˜๐šŠ๐šŒ๐š‘ ๐™ณ๐šŠ๐š๐š’๐š—๐š ๐™ท๐šŽ๐š›
๐Ÿ’™๐š‚๐š•๐š˜๐š  ๐™ฑ๐šž๐š›๐š—

๐Ÿ’“๐—ฃ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ: ๐—›๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐Ÿ’–

โ€โžท โ ๐’๐ก๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ. ๐„๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ˆ ๐ง๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ค๐ง๐ž๐ฐ ๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐. ๐„๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ˆ ๐ง๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ค๐ง๐ž๐ฐ ๐ˆ ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐๐ž๐. โ

โ สœแดสŸสŸส ษช๊œฑ สŸแดแดแด‹ษชษดษข แด›แด ๊œฑแด‡แด›แด›สŸแด‡ แด…แดแดกษด แด€๊œฐแด›แด‡ส€ ๊œฑแด˜แด‡ษดแด…ษชษดษข สแด‡แด€ส€๊œฑ แด๊œฐ สœแด‡ส€ สŸษช๊œฐแด‡ แดกแด€ษชแด›ษชษดษข ๊œฐแดส€ แด€ แดแด€ษด แดกสœแด ษดแด‡แด แด‡ส€ ษขษชแด แด‡๊œฑ สœแด‡ส€ แด›สœแด‡ แด›ษชแดแด‡ แด๊œฐ แด›สœแด‡ แด…แด€ส. ๊œฑสœแด‡ สœแด€๊œฑ ส™แด‡แด‡ษด ๊œฑแด˜แด‡ษดแด…ษชษดษข แด›ษชแดแด‡ แด‡แด แด‡ส€ส แดกแด‡แด‡แด‹แด‡ษดแด… แดกษชแด›สœ ส™สŸษชษดแด… แด…แด€แด›แด‡๊œฑ แด›สœแด€แด› ษดแด‡แด แด‡ส€ ษขแด แด€ษดสแดกสœแด‡ส€แด‡. สœแด‡ แด„แด€แดœษขสœแด› แด›สœแด‡ แด‡สแด‡ แด๊œฐ แดŠแด€x, แด€ ส™แด€ส€แด›แด‡ษดแด…แด‡ส€ แด€ษดแด… แด€ ๊œฑแด‡สŸ๊œฐ-แด˜ส€แดแด„สŸแด€ษชแดแด‡แด… แด˜สŸแด€สแด‡ส€ แดกสœแด แด€๊œฑแด˜ษชส€แด‡๊œฑ แด›แด ส™แด‡ แด€ แดกษชสŸแด…แด‡ส€ษดแด‡๊œฑ๊œฑ ษขแดœษชแด…แด‡. แด›สœแด‡ส ๊œฑแด›ส€แดœแด„แด‹ แด€ ๊œฐส€ษชแด‡ษดแด…๊œฑสœษชแด˜ แด›สœแด€แด› แด…แด‡แด แด‡สŸแดแด˜แด‡แด… ษชษดแด›แด สœษชแด สœแด‡สŸแด˜ษชษดษข สœแด‡ส€ ๊œฐษชษดแด… แดส€. ส€ษชษขสœแด› แด€ษดแด… สœแด‡ส€, สœแด‡สŸแด˜ษชษดษข สœษชแด แดกษชแด›สœ สœษช๊œฑ ส™แดœ๊œฑษชษดแด‡๊œฑ๊œฑ. ส™แดœแด› แดกสœส สŸแดแดแด‹ แดกสœแด‡ษด แด›สœแด‡ ส€ษชษขสœแด› แด˜แด‡ส€๊œฑแดษด ษช๊œฑ สŸษชแด›แด‡ส€แด€สŸสŸส ษชษด ๊œฐส€แดษดแด› แด๊œฐ สแดแดœส€ แด‡สแด‡๊œฑโ€ฆ โ

This story hits way too close to home for me, Holly is approaching her 30s and feels like she didnโ€™t accomplish anything in her life and was wasting her 20s. She was waiting for a man who dangled a promise off forever but kept putting her off the side. Jax is the one who shows her that itโ€™s alright to demand more, in fact, she deserves it. Jax has a lot of baggage from the past, he frustrates me so much because heโ€™s in denial for most of the book. But he makes it up in the end, I love how they both find a way to put themselves first and ultimately bring them to choose each other. 

Iโ€™m really enjoying Katie Baileyโ€™s writing, she wrote the most fun banter chemistry without the spice and I love it! I highly recommend this to fans of sweet romcoms with a witty sense of humor!

๐ŸŽง๐—”๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜„๐ŸŽง
Bumping the rating to 5โญ๏ธ after I listened to the audiobook. I have read this book upon release and loved it, so when the audio is available, I grab the chance to revisit this story. Both Abigail and David are new to me narrators, and I do enjoy their performances. David is perfect as Jax, the sexy and confident mountain man, while Abigail is just as fun as Holly. This was a great experience and I highly recommend the audio version. 

โœจ ๐šƒ๐š‘๐šŠ๐š—๐š” ๐šข๐š˜๐šž ๐š๐š˜ KATIE BAILEY #NETGALLEY & DREAMSCAPE MEDIA ๐š๐š˜๐š› ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šŠ๐šŒ๐šŒ๐šŽ๐šœ๐šœ ๐š๐š˜ ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šŠ๐šž๐š๐š’๐š˜๐š‹๐š˜๐š˜๐š” & ๐šŽ-๐™ฐ๐š๐™ฒ ๐™ธ'๐š– ๐š•๐šŽ๐šŠ๐šŸ๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š๐š‘๐š’๐šœ ๐š›๐šŽ๐šŸ๐š’๐šŽ๐š  ๐šŸ๐š˜๐š•๐šž๐š—๐š๐šŠ๐š›๐š’๐š•๐šข โœจ

#QuitListThe #NetGalley

missdevo's review against another edition

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4.0

The Quit List is a fun closed door rom-com from Katie Bailey. 
This is the first book I've read from this author, and while I don't typically seek out closed door romance, I enjoyed this audiobook. There's a lot to like here.  Abigail Reno (as Holly), and David Bendena (as Jax) both do an admirable job with the narration, but I can't help wishing that David's voice was a little rougher to go with Jax's mountain man persona. Bendena's Jax sounds like he would be more at home in an office instead of leading hiking tours in the Appalachian Mountains.  It's a small quibble though, and he still does a good job with the material. 
     Overall I appreciated that the big lesson for Holly was one of self discovery and choosing to discover what she really wants out of life. Jax is a great example to her as someone who planned and worked hard to make his dream a reality when it would have been easier to just coast in his job as a bartender. I also liked that Jax had his own challenges with leaning into an actual relationship with Holly. The big "screw it" moment is a fun payoff for the slow burn of their friends to lovers transition. I would recommend this book to rom-com lovers who like closed door or "clean" romances. This one is sweet and funny, with no third act breakup as it builds to a satisfying end.
Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media, and Katie Bailey for the ALC opportunity.

justmyfantasyworld's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

5.0

โ€ข ๐‘ฉ๐’๐’๐’Œ ๐‘น๐’†๐’—๐’Š๐’†๐’˜ โ€ข

๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: โ˜†โ˜†โ˜†โ˜†โ˜† 5/5

I listened to this book as an audiobook, and I can not get over how pleasant the narrators sounded. The story is told in dual pov and had a nice flow to it. This book was such a surprise for me, I would never think I would love it as much as I did. The character are fun and have their own things to overcome. The pacing was very realistic and made me giddy on how this couple met and fell in love.

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ข ๐˜•๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜Ž๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ข ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ๐˜ซ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ, ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฏ.

A lot of my reviews are also available with photo at my Bookstagram: @justmyfantasyworld

headcanonheadcase's review against another edition

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5.0

Oh. My. God.
Pardon me for a moment.
*Pterodactyl Screech*
Ok. I'm back. Now, where were we? Oh, yes, please allow me to tell you how much I love The Quit List and why I think you'll love it too.

Hit it or Quit it. Holly enters the new year determined to start living after having spent too long in a holding pattern. Her attempts to find love lead to one bad date after another. All at the same restaurant. It's there that she catches Jax's attention. After he comes to her rescue (not once but three times), Jax ends up as Holly's relationship coach, and she helps him market his new wilderness adventure business. They're both chasing after what that want, but what will happen when what they want changes?

Friends to Lovers with exceptional chemistry, witty banter, and sizzing tension? Yes. To all of it. The writing was so clever and snappy that I couldn't put it down. The characters were so well developed and fit together so perfectly that their chemistry leapt off the page. This is exactly the type of book I'd read again and again. Katie Bailey is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine. I'd gladly read anything she writes, including her grocery list.

The banter had me giggling and kicking my feet up. And the tension had me turning the pages at a feral pace. The slow burn was utterly swoon worthy. Everything about this book felt like it was perfectly tailored to me and everything I love. I really related to Holly. She came across as neurodivergent and I loved her journey on this book. Holly is easily the favorite character I read this month. And Katie Bailey wrote her so well. And wilderness man Jax can be my book boyfriend any day. Iโ€™d hike the AT with him and spend the night sharing one tent with him.

I really enjoyed how Holly started with a hit list (things she was looking for in a partner) only for it to evolve into a quit list (things she needed to leave behind to move forward). And the support Jax and Holly shared was everything. From a slice of cheesecake to a marketing campaign. These two are clearly perfect for each other. The slow burn worked so well for them that I couldnโ€™t even be mad about it. It was just another thing to love.

I can't recommend this enough. Please read it. You won't be disappointed. Itโ€™s set in the same world as Seasonโ€™s Schemings, but you donโ€™t have to read that first. The Quit List is a complete standalone.

kthornette's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

pre-read: there's no plot atm but the dude is hot soooooo *adds to tbr*

pre-read, again: got approved for the arc and realized this released back on my birthday so what a win for everyone involved.

You know what? This book was fun at the start. I loved Holly and Jacksonโ€™s POVs. They were so much fun together and I enjoyed their banter so much.

But:

Admittedly, I didnโ€™t know what the plot was. Even when reading the summary over and over, I couldnโ€™t grasp what the book was about. I loved the start cause Holly was so funny. However, it became a little boring. This book transitioned into my background noise.

Damn, maybe I was underwhelmed.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC!

booksaremyfavthing's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

3.0

Jax meets Holly after a terrible date she has had. He tells her she needs a hit list of what she wants in a man. Later this becomes a quit list of what she wants to quit doing. While he is supposed to be her dating coach to help her learn to read people, this slowly becomes them having feelings for each other and him hating her ex-boyfriend/boss. 

Holly steps outside of her box and finds out more about herself and has a great time doing it. A great read, but a littlepredictable. ๐ŸŒŸ ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŒŸ ๐ŸŒถ 

I listened to the audiobook and the narrators were great. 

Read this if you love
Grumpy/sunshine
No Third Act Break-up 
Kisses Only
One Bed
My Girl 

sesteed's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

steen19's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

This was so cute!! Holly is on the latest in a string of bad dates when the bartender, Jax, steps in to help her diffuse a situation. aka, the guy is throwing a fit after she says she'd like to end the date. 

Holly is a self proclaimed poor judge of menโ€™s character, while Jax is able to read their profiled like a book. He doesnโ€™t want a relationship though, and Hollyโ€™s ready to settle down. So she asks him to help find her perfect man.

Itโ€™s dual POV, with two narrators. I generally donโ€™t enjoy male narrators, but I thought both did a great job!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced audio copy!