You Again Review: Reylo Fanfic Done Well (ish)

📖 Genre	Romance, Contemporary, Adult
📃 Number of Pages	448 pages
🪴 Average Goodreads Rating	3.67 ⭐
🌻 My Rating	3.50 ⭐

I’m back at it again with more fanfics turned published novels. Can you sense a pattern here?

To be completely honest though, I didn’t know this was fanfic. I went into it because I saw it all over my Instagram, and even though the cover is ugly (I mean, look at it, it’s like a child playing in Paint), it had me hooked.

Now, looking at the art on the cover and character descriptions, it’s pretty clear this is a Reylo fic. This isn’t a bad thing – it’s just that there are just so many out there now, that it’s hard to avoid. And it’s becoming annoying.

Despite all of that, I kind of liked it? It isn’t my favorite book in the world by any means, but it was good enough to keep me reading (and in one-two sittings too). The writing is great, sharp, and quick without needlessly lengthy descriptions, and the dialogue is snappy and entertaining to read.

Plot & Romance

The main premise is this: Ari (I take offense at that name for some reason) and Josh (why is every MMC in romance called Josh) keep meeting at various points in their lives while living and working in New York until they finally meet when they’re both at the rock bottom and decide to become friends. And once they become friends, sparks fly (of course, they become more).

Ari is a comedienne (or trying to be), and doesn’t believe in monogamy. She’s bisexual and we hear a lot (and I mean A LOT) about her sexual exploits. Which, you know, good for her, but it was truly too much, especially in a romance novel where we’re supposed to root for the main couple. She’s also not very funny, which is strange considering her desired profession, and is a really bad friend.

Josh, on the other hand, is a stuck-up, posh chef who wants to find true love. He’s also huge, and it’s mentioned a lot. Other than that, he doesn’t have much of a personality. Yes, he’s a jerk sometimes, and no, it’s not really redeemed, but I didn’t care much either way.

It’s imagined as a reverse When Harry Met Sally retelling. I haven’t seen that movie in a while, so you can be the judge of whether it works. I personally liked how they kept meeting, and that portion of the book is my favorite.

Where it went wrong

The middle portion is where it got a bit boring for me. So they’re both depressed, both just got out of painful, long-term relationships, and they’re spending a lot of time together. You’d think that this would be fun, but it’s really not. It felt like one long self-help or therapy section. They both cried and complained about their former lovers, and the chemistry just wasn’t there (like it was in the first bit).

They’re also both aware, almost the entire time, that they want each other. They avoid it, but then they kiss and Josh is already picking out wedding rings, while Ari is panicking and trying to find new hookups. Then they sleep together, and it’s more of the same.

The Iffy Consent

If you can’t tell, I didn’t like this part either. Ari sleeping with other people to forget Josh aside, it felt like he kept forcing her to do things she wasn’t comfortable doing. Take the first sex scene, for example. They’ve been avoiding each other for days, and then when they finally meet, Josh sets an ultimatum (either she wants him, or they can’t be friends). Which is a horrible thing to do at that point because he’s literally her safe space, the one person that helps her feel better. So, of course, she says yes and agrees to sex.

And then when they start doing it, he wants to make it more emotional than she is comfortable with. Look, I get Josh’s point of view, he has to do what’s best for him, but practically making someone be with you or give you up completely is not the way to go.

Then Ari finds a job that would take her out of New York (which you’d think would be great because she hasn’t had a stable job ever, and it involves comedy, but no, she hates it) and Josh verbally abuses her because her decision hurt him.

In the end, she gives up her job, comes back to New York, and begs Josh to be with her again. Of course, since this is a romance story, they end up together.

You Again Review: Bottom Line

All of this may sound like I didn’t enjoy it, but I did. It was a fun little story to pass the time with, and I would give it another reread for sure at some point. Some things were iffy, it wasn’t perfect, but it’s still well worth reading.