I was lucky enough to get ahold of an ARC for one of my most anticipated releases of 2022: NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER by Sophie Gonzales.
NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER follows bisexual Maya, who joins a Bachelor-style dating show designed to let her cheating ex Jordy re-date all his exes to find the one that got away. But Maya’s not interested in getting back together: instead, she plans on making it to the end just so she can reject him on live television. When Skye, the girl Jordy cheated on Maya with, finds out about Maya’s plan, they form an alliance to help one another tear Jordy down once and for all.
NEGBT is brimming with drama, excitement, and a romance far more satisfying than you’d find on any reality show. There are so many highlights—far too many for me to list out in a single spoiler-free review—but here are just a few:
First, the romance. The relationship between Maya and Skye and its evolution from rivals, then partners-in-crime, to romance is Gonzales writing at her finest. Maya and Skye are such fully developed characters who complement each other so well that you’re rooting for them to get together, even when they’re at each other’s throats.
The setting would make it easy for the competing girls to all hate one another. Instead, Gonzales deftly writes each of them as multi-dimensional characters and even when they’re in opposition to one another, there’s never a sense of internalized misogyny.
You might have noticed in my brief description that I mentioned Maya being bi. Since the central premise involves two girls on a competition to win a man who fall for each other instead, the two main girls being bi is essential to the plot. It’s great to see a romance between two bi girls, where their relationship is kept secret not from fear of being outed but from the need to pretend they’re in love with someone else as part of a revenge scheme.
It's refreshing.
On that note, Jordy. Yes, he’s a highlight of this book. Not for being likable—good grief, not for that. No, Jordy is a highlight as one of the most infuriating villains I have read this year. Gonzales does an outstanding job of writing him with enough charm that you can get glimpses into what made Maya and Skye fall for him—and then he says or does something awful that reminds you of why Maya’s set on vengeance.
The last 40% of the book had me constantly screaming. I might’ve been tempted to throw my kindle across the room, except I wouldn’t dare do anything that would cause a delay in getting to read the next page.
NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER comes out on December 6 of this year, and I can’t recommend it enough. Anyone who’s ever watched the Bachelor and thought that the women were way too good for the guy they were fighting over (and maybe rooted for them to start dating each other), this book is for you.
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