Never Ever Getting Back Together is Sophie Gonzales’ fourth YA romance book, and it’s just as fun and enjoyable as her first three!
Every other day Maya has to be reminded of the pain and humiliation of being cheated on and then publicly gas-lighted about it by her ex, Jordy Miller, who is constantly in the media now that his sister has married into minor European royalty. When she is given the chance to go on a reality TV dating show called Second Chance Romance, where Jordy’s ex-girlfriends compete to win his heart The Bachelor-style, Maya sees it as her chance to exact public revenge on him and expose him as the lying, cheating manipulator that he really is.
But when Maya gets there she comes face to face with Skye, the girl he cheated on her with, and suddenly everything gets more complicated. She must decide what is more important: avenging the wrongs of the past, or embracing a new love and a new future?
The story is told in alternating chapters from Maya and Skye’s points of view, and this renders the whole story deeper and their characters easier to relate to. It also makes the misunderstandings between them even juicier; it so easy to become emotionally invested in them working it all out when you can read both sides of the mix-ups and confusions they experience.
This is an excellent YA rom com, with Gonzales using the set of a reality TV show as the perfect setting for a group of young women to realise what a phony and manipulative person Jordy is – and it’s all on camera. Again and again, every time there is even a hint of sincerity from him, or any of them, it is drowned out in re-taking the shot seven more times to get the light just right. Any notion that reality TV dating shows are anything but a farce is left in a pile of dust, and it is from this pile that Maya, Skye, and the other four contestants rise with new friendships and new insights into the person that Jordy really is.
The ending is well-rounded and very satisfying, and the delicious queer element always found in Gonzales’ books absolutely does not disappoint, as ever.
You’ll hate Jordy, you’ll love Maya and Skye, and you’ll love the solidarity and satisfaction of simultaneously seeing a bad person get their comeuppance and two good people get their happy ending.
I was provided a free copy of this book by the publisher in return for an honest review.
