4 1/2 Stars for this sweet romance!

I loved this book! It had me laughing out loud one minute and swooning the next. Elena just killed me ... she was just so real and didn't give two hoots that Jack was a famous NFL quarterback. If she was mad at someone ... she would let them have it. I loved when Devon (Jack's friend) said something stupid to her and she just up and slapped him on the forehead ... that still makes me giggle! And Jack just didn't know what to do with her ... he was used to women falling over him, he never chased after them ... ever ... until Elena.

I love how the book started with Elena mistaking Jack for her blind date and he was so stunned that she just came up to him and sat at his table. He never corrects her that he's not her date and when she finds out ... she is pissed at him for not telling her he wasn't the weatherman. It must be destiny that Elena and Jack get together because they keep bumping into one another. The author sure knows how to write the steamy scenes because they are ... VERY STEAMY! I highly recommend this book because it's a fabulous start to a new series!

I received an early copy courtesy of Montlake Romance through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

I had my doubts when this book began. Blind date on Valentine's Day. Stereotypical alpha male football player and librarian who designs lingerie on the side. But this book was so much more. It was funny and you really rooted for Elena and Jack to get over their issues and finally be together. A great read with a HEA.

Not My Romeo drew me in from the very beginning and I have to say, it's one of Ilsa Madden-Mills best books, in my opinion! This book has a bit of everything, but along with it being a great rom-com, it also has a whole lot of heart.

Elena Riley, the local librarian in her hometown of Daisy, has a blind date set up for Valentine's Day and it doesn't go quite as planned. When she sees the man she thinks is Greg, the weatherman she's to meet, she sits down with him and proceeds to have dinner. Not only that, she heads home with the man she had dinner with, however she has no idea that she has ended up with Jack Hawke, the starting quarterback for the local professional football team!

While Jack has trust issues and Elena was hurt in her last relationship, what starts to unfold between the two is not at all what either one of them expected! Add to that Elena's family, who has it's own zany moments, along with a staging of Romeo and Juliet, some other colorful members of the Daisy community and you've got yourself the makings of one delightful and entertaining story!

I enjoyed this book not only because it was a great rom-com, but also because the characters were fantastic. I felt like we really got to know both Jack and Elena, which made it easier to understand what they were both dealing with. There were some swoonworthy moments towards the end too that just made me smile. This is one I would suggest you run, not walk to pick up!

**I voluntarily read an early copy of this title courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

Lately with everything that's been happening in the world;  I've been wallowing in the safe and comfortable.  I finally decided to live a little on the wild side and check out a new author and the verdict is ............
A blind date on Valentine's Day ends with a night of hot sex in a luxury penthouse and an NDA. What's a girl to do but sign the NDA as Juliet Capulet with an address in Verona Italy especially given that she woke up alone to a note and an NDA.  Definitely not cool. Elena is quirky, feisty and fun and is definitely willing to give infamous football star Jack Hawke a run for the heart. 
Jack has a lot of baggage from a difficult childhood exacerbated by a tell all book by his erstwhile girlfriend and the painful lack of a superball ring. Oh and the guy is painfully shy and tongue tied in a crowd. Given his past, he's a paranoid commitment phobe and Elena will really have a hard time getting him to trust. He does have an interesting entourage of friends that I hope to read more about in forthcoming books. 
As the story of their romance plays out in the small town casting of Romeo and Juliet,  they play their roles in public with hot can't keep their hands and mouths off strategic body parts explosive episodes to enliven things up. The story has surprisingly a lot of sweet and emotional moments with a strong cast of supporting characters.
This is my first by the author and I can assure you that it's definitely not my last. I also see on her website that she has an interesting shelf of books that I'd like to check out while I wait for the next story in this series.

I read Not My Romeo all in one sitting, and I have no regrets. It started off with the most hilarious "first date" ever and was impossible to put down. I was rooting for Elena and Jack the whole way. Jack is not your typical athlete, he's arrogant (par for the course) but also a bit shy and awkward. I loved the combo. I also loved that he had a not so perfect past that he was trying to recover from. I adored Elena. She was strong, but still had doubts about herself and her relationship. She's someone I would love to be friends with.

The side characters (whom I hope to see more of in future books in the series) were just as awesome. Despite what happened I grew to like Elena's sister, I adored Devon (I hope his book is next) and the rest of small town Daisy.

Not My Romeo had just the right amount of sexiness to it, and blended well with the humor and all the feels at the end. There are definitely some deeper feelings unleashed towards the end.

Highly recommend!

Being at the right place at the wrong time never sounded so good!!

Not My Romeo follows the story of Jack and Elena. When we first meet up with these two, it's Valentine's Day. Elena has agreed to a blind date, but has no clue what the guy looks like. She only knows the basics and that he's wearing a blue shirt. That's where Jack comes into play. A simple case of mistaken identity. He knows he should tell Elena the the truth, but it's so refreshing to him that she has no clue who he is. Jack and Elena spend an unforgettable night together. Too bad, everything went totally wrong the next morning....

Not My Romeo was a fun and refreshing read. Elena and Jack were easy to root for and connect with. I loved the mistaken identity and small town girl vibe. Jack started off completely arrogant, and wasn't afraid to go after what he wanted. He was a bad boy and completely irresistible. Elena was a fantastic character. Sure she seemed a little quiet and innocent. She is a librarian after all. But, there is so much more to this girl than meets the eye. When she falls in love, she goes all the way in. Together these two amazing together. I loved the push and pull and couldn't help but root for these two to find their way to a happily ever after. Speaking of happily ever afters, no romance would be complete without a few bumps in the road. Jack and Elena's story pulled at my heart and had me anxious to see how it would all come together in the end.

Not My Romeo was a terrific read from beginning to end. I loved the plot and fell head over heels for the characters. This story is filled with romance, angst, frustration and some seriously sexy good times. All in all, a wonderful book to spend your day getting lost in.

This was a cute and funny book, however I couldn't really connect with any of the characters. I loved the banter between Elena and her best friend Topher in this, and I laughed out loud a few times. But I didn't find myself invested in the relationship between Elena or Jack, and I found myself putting the book down a lot. I do think others might like this more than I did.

This is my first introduction to Ilsa Madden-Mills and what a fantastic introduction it was. As this story had me enthralled from the moment Elena sat down uninvited at Jack's table and started talking non-stop about everything from her c-l-i-t to her pet pig Romeo. And honestly, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. As not only was it utterly delightful and entertaining. But OMG these characters just stole my heart as they were fun, and very real. And in Jack's case sexy as hell, but he was also vulnerable, shy, guarded, and sweet and I adored watching him interact with Elena, her wonderful family, and the people of Daisy.

And with plenty of small town charm, laughs and little drama Not My Romeo was just perfect and exactly what I was looking for.

Would highly recommend.

Fun, flirty, and filled with small town charm -- <i>Not My Romeo</i> was filled with so many things I love about reading romance.

And so, it was a little surprising that it was also a little bit of a mixed bag for me.

When it was on – it was ~so on~. Like the banter and the chemistry and the whole dynamic between superstar quarterback and small town librarian really worked for me. In fact, it’s one of my favorite tropes – so I was primed to love it. And I did – in moments and scenes and chapters.

Unfortunately it wasn’t always ~.on~. for me. There were several times where I felt pulled out of the story as the author manipulated it in a way that didn’t feel organic or real. I felt like the connection between Elena and Shane should have stood alone, so when dialogue or situations were taken over-the-top in order to force the storyline – it was frustrating for me. I skimmed a fair amount looking for those bits that grabbed hold of my heart and kept my mind sparking.

In the end, I was won over by Shane and Elena and their sweet, adorable happily ever after. It was a sweet, sexy escape and I’m glad to have taken it – and there was plenty of delight to be found in the secondary characters – to the extent that I’m so curious and anxious to see where the series goes from here!

When her friend sets her up on a blind date for Valentine's Day Elena knows it's surely going to end in disaster, seriously how could it not. She is having trouble having faith in the opposite sex right now, after her ex left her for her own sister. So she goes into this date with the hope of a good meal and maybe some decent conversation... but finds so much more than that when she sits down across from her uber sexy date. The man waiting for her was nothing like she expected, and the night ends better than expected too. The next morning however.... not so much!

Not My Romeo is an enthralling little literary romp that will have you swooning, smiling like a fool, and laughing the whole way through. This unlikely pairing are united by a little mistake, but it's their undeniable chemistry and mutual attraction to one another that keeps them coming back for more. Jack is a one night stand kind of guy, he doesn't do love, relationships, one night is really all he is comfortable offering. And Elena is anything but that, she wants date nights, cozy nights at home, love, a relationship to build upon. She knows Jack is not up for that, but for some dumb reason she can't seem to shake her attraction to him. She tries her best to walk away, but he keeps finding reasons to pull her back in, and she knows it's just a matter of time before things become dangerous for her heart. Watching these two fall for one another was rough on the ticker at times, with both of them constantly wavering, not willing to go all in for fear of getting hurt, and pushing each other away. But there were those moments when they let their minds take a back seat to their hearts, and that is where the good stuff was lying... the stuff you knew was bound to lead to a happily ever after, and those moments would have you swimming in happy feels. I loved this one, it was a perfectly blended tale that was impossible to put down! Highly recommend!

I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest and unbiased opinion.

I've been such a fan of Ilsa for years. Every book she writes gets better and better. I loved this book. Elena is such a great character and I love her relationship with Jack. It was a beautiful story with a lot of emotions. Aunt Clara needs her own book. Another great one for my collection.

Thank you Netgalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

We have an opposites attract/mistaken identity. So we meet elena a cute quirky shy librarian or so we thought, Elena is going on blind date. And then fun began. Jack ends up being her blind date but not the one that she was supposed to me but honestly friend this is going to be a better option, now Elena seemed to flip a switch and her fighty/sassy side come out. This was cute fun book. Enjoy!

This is a cute story. I have always enjoyed books by this author. Thank you for letting me be a part of this advanced read. this Romeo and Juliet story is really sweet. I can't wait to read more in this series.

What a great start to this new series by this author. From the moment I picked up this book and began reading I had this giant smile on my face that never went away. There was so much chemistry between the main characters. What starts out as mistaken identity turns into so much more. If you are looking for a book that will have you laughing out loud and a book that will steal hours away from you life then look no further this book is for you. I can't wait to see where this series goes next. Thanks NetGalley. I voluntarily reviewed this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

So Elena was hilarious, quirky and super adorable whereas Jack was super broody, closed off and super alpha and they were so perfect together. My heart hurt for Jack and the struggles he went through, but I just loved how Elena really brought him out of his shell. This book loses a half a point because I think Jack needed to grovel a bit more at the end but this is a funny, engaging and super swoony read!

I really enjoyed this book. Elena has had some bad luck with men. Her gay BFF, Topher, has set her up with Greg, a local TV weather guy on Valentines Day. Elena doesn’t watch TV, so she doesn’t know what her date looks like, other than that he is wearing a blue shirt. When she enters the restaurant, she sees only one single guy in a blue shirt, so she assumes it is her date. Jack Hawke is a star quarterback who is having a bad couple of weeks, when Elena sits down at his table, his isn’t sure if she is a crazed fan or a reporter. This is the meet cute that start a delightful romance. I loved both Elena and Jack and all of the other side characters who I assume will be in future books. This is a nice easy summer read. I received an arc of this book from NetGalley for my honest review.

4,5 stars

“I received a free, advance copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my unbiased review”

‘Not my Romeo’ is sweet, fun, light but still emotional read. It’s the second story that I read of the writer Ilsa Madden-Mills and I’m very happy that I got the chance to read it. I have a few more stories of this writer on my TBR pile. After enjoying this story I will put them a bit higher on my pile.

This story is about Jack Hawke, a professional football player (quarterback) for Nashville and Elena Riley, a librarian who lives in the small-town Daisy. There are both in their twenties. When they first met, Elena didn’t know that the handsome man before her, wasn’t her blind date. Jack is used to strange women coming on to him but this time there was something strange happening because he’s almost certain that the woman before him didn’t know who he was. Could that be true? Or was she just playing him? From their first meeting Elena and Jack were attracted to each other but both had their doubts and fears. Elena lost her ex-boyfriend to her younger sister and Jack’s ex-girlfriend published a book full of lies about their relationship. So it’s totally normal that both are careful with their feelings but there always comes a time where you just have to trust your heart. Can Elena and Jack do that? Or is that too hard to do?

You got both POV’s in the story. The two main characters (Jack and Elena) were wonderful. I love it when a male character is alpha and dominant but I equally love it when the male character is sweet and shy. It all depends on my mood and the story. Here, I would describe Jack as shy, more specific, socially shy (and awkward) . He doesn’t like meeting new people (of course, if you are as famous as he is, a lot of people want to meet you!) and he isn’t good with expressing his feelings. But there is one place where he isn’t shy or awkward and that is in the bedroom! There he totally knows what he is doing. I liked both side of him very much. I can totally understand why Elena felt for him.

Elena has a warm personality. I loved her friendliness, soft heart and her quirks. Where Jack had the eyes of the world on him, Elena had the eyes of her mother and the inhabitants of the small-town on her. Both characters hide parts of themselves for the outside world. The chemistry between Elena and Jack was insta and wonderful. The secondary characters in this story were very entertaining, Jack’s friends and teammates Devon, Aiden and Quinn and Elena’s friends and family brought fun and emotions to the story. And I adored the epilogue!

‘Not my Romeo’ may be about a quarterback but it isn’t really a ‘sports’ book. The focus of the story is mostly on the couple and the positive and negative sides of being famous.

I’m already looking forward to the next story in this new series.

I totally loved this book. A hot, but shy and insecure, football player, Jack Hawke. And sweet librarian, Elena, with her no nonsense attitude and a bit of a wild side.

A blind date on Valentine's Day. What could go wrong? Nothing actually. Everything goes soooooo right! Lol!

Jack.has major trust issues and Elena's been recently hurt. But they have this intense connection that just leaves you wanting more!

Elena's small town charm of Daisy is loved by her and her crazy family! Loved all the characters! And Jack can't help but be taken in with it all. He even agrees to partake in the small town play, Romeo and Juliet. And yep, you guessed it, he's playing Romeo and Elena's playing Juliet.

But he is very guarded and finds it so difficult to express himself and let go. Trust is a major issue for him. And of course there's some drama and miscommunication.

Loved how the whole play went down in the end, and the Epilogue was perfect!

Love this author......Fake Fiance being one of my favorites!

Thank you to Amazon Publishing and NetGalley for a gifted copy of this ARC. All opinions are my own.

A sexy librarian and a hot shot football player together made this steamy sports romance an absolute delight! I loved how sassy Elena is - she stands her ground and goes after what she wants, never caring about Jack's fame or money. Jack sounds like my cup of tea - singing and dancing to pop songs, watching k-dramas and even loves to read. It's also set in a small town and those are always cute and fun. The Romeo and Juliet play is hysterical and it will make you laugh out loud just picturing that train wreck in your head. I especially loved all the side characters and I can't wait for the next book!

TW - abuse, death

What can I say? I freaking loved this book. It was just what the doctor prescribed and I needed.
It was so much fun to read Elena and Jack’s story.

From a blind date, trust and commitment issues, to falling in love with a portion of Shakespearean theatre mixed with juicy dirty words, lots of hilarious talks and sizzling rounds in the sack, this story was simply brilliant. And let's not forget his ex, the lies that complicate things enough to have you all excited for the outcome.

I loved every second of their journey and let me tell you....the end....OM Gosh....le sigh.