amor_fati's review against another edition
5.0
What a New Year! Allison just wants to make it her year. Mateo just wants her. And we get to come along for this epic love story of two friends.
I loved it from the beginning. I wasn’t sure how it would flow with all the different authors writing together. But it was wonderful. I found myself laughing and just simply getting lost in two people trying so hard to find what they want. One knows exactly what it is. And the other is just so caught up to see it’s right in front of them.
So go and read this. Read this if you have resolutions you never committed to, read this if you need to find your inspiration and read this if you believe fate knows who you are meant to be with.
I loved it from the beginning. I wasn’t sure how it would flow with all the different authors writing together. But it was wonderful. I found myself laughing and just simply getting lost in two people trying so hard to find what they want. One knows exactly what it is. And the other is just so caught up to see it’s right in front of them.
So go and read this. Read this if you have resolutions you never committed to, read this if you need to find your inspiration and read this if you believe fate knows who you are meant to be with.
clem_mathieu's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
This was a very cute take on New Year's resolution and the friends to lover/second chance romance trope. I loved Mateo although he did feel a little bit like the author's man of their dreams. He was incredible with Allison (almost to an extent that is impossible to replicate in real life). Allison, however, felt at times like the girl the authors didn't like very much. She had very unhealthy coping mechanisms and didn't hold herself accountable until the very end. In other romances, the conflict ends with both parties at fault but it felt very one sided as a relationship. Very cute romance story and good flow between the chapters written by different authors but not the healthiest of relationships.
This was a very cute take on New Year's resolution and the friends to lover/second chance romance trope. I loved Mateo although he did feel a little bit like the author's man of their dreams. He was incredible with Allison (almost to an extent that is impossible to replicate in real life). Allison, however, felt at times like the girl the authors didn't like very much. She had very unhealthy coping mechanisms and didn't hold herself accountable until the very end. In other romances, the conflict ends with both parties at fault but it felt very one sided as a relationship. Very cute romance story and good flow between the chapters written by different authors but not the healthiest of relationships.
joskypay's review against another edition
4.0
This was a great feel good story about true second chances and friends to lovers! So sweet and hopeful, Al and Matty's story was super heartfelt, with plenty of ups and downs and real life twists turns and hang ups to keep you guessing how they are going to figure their crap out! I love their journey of discovery and love for each other while also learning a lot about themselves. Really gives you all the feels and leaves you with a smile on your face. Speaking of a smile on your face, I love how the authors didn't shy away from sex, but also kept it tame enough you wouldn't mind recommending to a friend or laid back family member. The scenes weren't clean, but that part wasn't too huge or descriptive. Their banter was really fun and charming. Just a really great story and I hope we see more collaborations with multiple authors like this!
xiotisa00's review against another edition
4.0
Sweet love story of high school friends who lost touch and find each other again. Allison is a workaholic lawyer trying to become a partner in the law firm she works at, while Matteo is a fitness entrepreneur trying to open his own gym. Two complete opposites but these authors make them work. I loved Matteo, his love and support of Allison through all of her hang ups is something everyone needs in their lives. I had a love hate relationship with Allison. For as strong willed and determined Allison was in her career she refused to use that determination towards a relationship with Matteo. But I guess what they say is true you don’t know how good you have it until you no longer have it. For as many authors that wrote this it was good, a little more dialogue and less inner dialogue would have been better but good nonetheless.
gwensreading's review against another edition
4.0
I received an ARC from the authors and I am happy to give my honest review.
Happy New You stars Allison and Mateo, childhood friends who reconnect at a New Years Eve party. Allison is a workaholic lawyer who aspires to make partner at her firm but overhears her boss talking negatively about her. She decides to make nine resolutions to help her become more likely to get a promotion.
Mateo is a fitness guru on Instagram and does personal training. He aspires to open his own gym and desperately needs investors. He has been in love with Allison since they were in high school and decides helping her with her resolutions will get them close together again. He even adds in his own resolution without her knowing.
There were a few things I liked about this book as well as a few things I didn’t. I liked Mateo a lot. He was grounded and realistic and knew what he wanted from life. I wasn’t a huge fan of Allison, mostly because it was too close of a reminder of myself professionally. She worked hard at her career with a single minded focus which didn’t leave any room for socializing. That is basically me in a nutshell. I didn’t agree with her decisions to put work before her relationship or the way she treated Mateo when she got embarrassed at her office.
In the end I liked them together. Allison grew a lot and became the woman who could support Mateo. She found her priorities and the means to accomplish them.
Happy New You stars Allison and Mateo, childhood friends who reconnect at a New Years Eve party. Allison is a workaholic lawyer who aspires to make partner at her firm but overhears her boss talking negatively about her. She decides to make nine resolutions to help her become more likely to get a promotion.
Mateo is a fitness guru on Instagram and does personal training. He aspires to open his own gym and desperately needs investors. He has been in love with Allison since they were in high school and decides helping her with her resolutions will get them close together again. He even adds in his own resolution without her knowing.
There were a few things I liked about this book as well as a few things I didn’t. I liked Mateo a lot. He was grounded and realistic and knew what he wanted from life. I wasn’t a huge fan of Allison, mostly because it was too close of a reminder of myself professionally. She worked hard at her career with a single minded focus which didn’t leave any room for socializing. That is basically me in a nutshell. I didn’t agree with her decisions to put work before her relationship or the way she treated Mateo when she got embarrassed at her office.
In the end I liked them together. Allison grew a lot and became the woman who could support Mateo. She found her priorities and the means to accomplish them.
One of my favorite quotes from Mateo: “You’re enough. Just the way you are. And you don’t ever have to apologize for the woman you are.”
pinakamataas's review
2.0
Where to start?
The unlikeable main characters? The annoying 'Al' and 'Matty' that makes me feel like they're kindergartners? The subpar plot? The last resolution totally contradicting all of Mateo's chapters? The everything that just kept not happening. Even Mateo's frustration with Allison's attitude seems like a filler and falls flat, emotionless.
And in between all those annoyances and really just wanting to abandon the book there were glimpses of 'Oh. I might actually enjoy the book' but those were few and far between. Might have been just one writer out of the bunch that I enjoyed, but it made me come to a conclusion that writers probably shouldn't write books like this or I should avoid them. Was it round robins? Did they do chapters? Or did they write it during a conference zoom call? I have so many QUESTIONS that I actually don't care to receive an answer to (because it's going to be so forgettable).
So favourite bits:
Champagne stealing
Miko awkwardness
Mateo's "Other things in my life require my attention. Things that won’t take so much from me. Yes, I love you, but I can’t be with you" after arroz con dulce
The only reason it's not a 1 is because I've read books worse than this. I need to save 1 star for that.
The unlikeable main characters? The annoying 'Al' and 'Matty' that makes me feel like they're kindergartners? The subpar plot? The last resolution totally contradicting all of Mateo's chapters? The everything that just kept not happening. Even Mateo's frustration with Allison's attitude seems like a filler and falls flat, emotionless.
And in between all those annoyances and really just wanting to abandon the book there were glimpses of 'Oh. I might actually enjoy the book' but those were few and far between. Might have been just one writer out of the bunch that I enjoyed, but it made me come to a conclusion that writers probably shouldn't write books like this or I should avoid them. Was it round robins? Did they do chapters? Or did they write it during a conference zoom call? I have so many QUESTIONS that I actually don't care to receive an answer to (because it's going to be so forgettable).
So favourite bits:
Champagne stealing
Miko awkwardness
Mateo's "Other things in my life require my attention. Things that won’t take so much from me. Yes, I love you, but I can’t be with you" after arroz con dulce
The only reason it's not a 1 is because I've read books worse than this. I need to save 1 star for that.
nic_w's review
4.0
Happy New You is a sweet friends to lovers romance put together by a multitude of fantastic authors. It’s a full length contemporary to,acne which follows workaholic lawyer Allison and a Fitness aspiring entrepreneur Mateo.
Allison and Mateo are very well developed as individuals and they had great chemistry when together. It was a fun, sweet and inspiring read. My only irritations were the repetition of how they don’t want to cross that line but at the same time lust for a home other, and Allison came across a little too self absorbed. I felt like they were mentioned throughout the book all the time.
Apart from that, I enjoyed the journey.
Allison and Mateo are very well developed as individuals and they had great chemistry when together. It was a fun, sweet and inspiring read. My only irritations were the repetition of how they don’t want to cross that line but at the same time lust for a home other, and Allison came across a little too self absorbed. I felt like they were mentioned throughout the book all the time.
Apart from that, I enjoyed the journey.
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