Portia Macintosh is an instant buy author for me. I love her books. They are relatable, easy and funny.
I've been so fortunate to be able to read and review a number of her books now and this one didnt disappoint. It was such a good read.

Her characters are always well developed and likeable and this one just had so many laugh out loud moments.

I cant wait to read more by Portia.
⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was absolutely beautiful.

Emmy Palmer, a renowned actress of a fantasy show is unexpectedly killed off. Now she is back in her town in the meantime for Christmas. She reconnects with her old friends who want a big favor of starring in a pantomime. Playing her opposite is her ex-boyfriend whom she may or may not have ditched to leave for London to start her acting journey.

The setting of this book was wonderful. The book started on a bit of a depressing note. While I did empathize with Emmy, it was a little hard for me to get into the mood. The characters are realistic. They weren't the most interesting, or lovely, or quirky, but they were realistic. I could almost pinpoint, like yes, a distant Aunt I know is like this. Yes, I know a guy exactly like that too. All this made the book all more engaging to read while feeling bad for the main character for being caught up in all this.

Now, a lot of people say reading fiction is just for passing time and you don't "learn" anything from it. I'll say that's entirely false because the message the ending gave me was phenomenal. I can't reveal it without giving major spoilers, but damn! It takes an entire lifetime for some people to learn that and get past that.

Overall, it was a great read. Will recommend.

Emmy Palmer is the female lead on a hit fantasy series, until a scandal hits and she’s killed off. At the same time, tragedy hits her family and her grandfather has passed away. Emmy returns from London to her childhood home to escape the drama and reconnect with her family. While home, she also reconnects with old friends… and even old crushes. The local theater is in danger of going under, so Emmy agrees to star in a show to raise money. Her co-star? Just so happens to be her childhood crush. Growing up, there were many times they nearly got together. Will they finally end up together a decade later?

This overall was a very cute story, but I felt like it fell pretty flat overall. The plot dragged through most of the story and there were times where I felt like there was no real purpose with the plot lines. For example, there’s one plot line with a character and Emmy that just completely is ignored for majority of the book, until the very end. There’s a few scenes about it and then poof nothing more until the story needs to be wrapped up.

3.5 stars
I enjoyed Will They, Won't They? a lot more than I thought I would. The plot is simple and fairly easy to understand. This is the story of Emmy, an actress who is forced to move back to her hometown after an unsavoury rumour is published by her in a tabloid and she is killed off her TV show. It sounds fairly cliched and in some ways it was. I think this played a factor in me not being able to enjoy this as much as I wanted too. There was also a lot of humor in her that I just didn't understand; some of the jokes just flew over my head. I couldn't really connect to the story, I'd say.

None of the characters felt memorable. Even Emmy was a little bland. And by the time I finished the story, I had already forgotten so many names.
But nevertheless, there were some really cute and also some hilarious moments that made the reading experience pretty fun. Overall, I'd recommend this book if you're looking for a fairly lighthearted and cliched read.

I want to fist say thank you to the author and NetGalley for giving me the eARC. Yo no tenía ni idea en cómo iba a parar este libro y no fue como hasta más de la mitad que me sorprendió y termino maravilloso. Que libro más bueno, el romance fue perfecto nunca se sintió forzado y fue tan dulce y disfrute tanto de sus momentos. Emmy es tan relatable y su tía es maravillosa la adoro verdaderamente. Me encanto forma de escribir de la autora, es tan refreshing.

This book was so, so good! I love unpredictable books and I can honestly say that I had no idea where this was headed until about the 70% mark!

This was a very enjoyable light read. Emma’s wacky aunt stole the show at times but all of the characters were fun and didn’t feel forced. The romance was sweet and time right, not rushed or fake. Lots of sweet lines from the make lead in this book. Overall a perfect choice for cuddling up with a mug of tea and relaxing.

This was a cute, overall uplifting story of love and family.
I was disappointed in the beginning of the book. Started out slow for me, with some hard times for the main character, Emma. I was glad I stuck with the book because it picks up about 1/3 of the way through. Fun story for lovers of Rom Coms.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I like Portia’s writing but in parts this was a bit predictable . I loved it. Written about an area I love. The aunt who dated made me laugh. Being famous is not all it is cracked up to be. Family does come first. Also falling in love with your old school crush is not what it is cracked up to be. A nice love story

Emmy Palmer is a famous actress starring in the international hit Bragadon Forest (think: Game of Thrones) but when an unsavory rumor begins about her having an affair with a married showrunner she finds her character getting the boot. This upheaval forces her to leave London and back to the quaint village where her family resides. Upon returning she finds out that her favorite person in the world, her grandad, has passed away. She decides to purchase and renovate his house with the help of sexy handyman, Tel. He may drive her crazy but he sure is nice to look at.

Meanwhile, her best friends from school Kay and Billy convince her to be in their pantomime at a small crumbling down local theater. Agreeing to help them only too soon when she realizes that the love of her life, her longtime crush, Scott, is also to star. Will now be the time for them to finally be together as she has dreamed of all these years?

I was rooting for Emmy to find her happiness but something was lacking here just a bit. I love when I read a book and I instantly fall in love with the characters but that didn't happen here. Sure, I liked Emmy but I didn't love her. She was somewhat wishy washy and I just wanted her to toughen up a bit. The other characters weren't fleshed out enough to care about them. Tel was, without a doubt, my favorite part of this novel. Also I should mention that a lot of the British humor in this one flew right over my head which is obviously a *me* problem but I hate feeling like I'm missing the punchline.

While that all sounds negative, it shouldn't. This really was a cute, sweet, and uplifting story that I am glad to have read. I would gladly recommend this to rom-com lovers. 3.5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for my copy.

Emmy is kind of a big deal. She has been on a fantasy tv show as one of the front runners for the last six years (think Game of Thrones) but now she has been killed off, and her beloved grandfather has died.

She returns to her hometown to help out her family and to say goodbye to her grandfather, not able to tell anyone about losing her job (due to an iron clad non-disclosure agreement. While Emmy is worrying about where her next job will come from, her old high school friends are worrying about the old community theater being shut down. Hoping that a play with a big name starring will raise funds to keep the theater alive, her friends talk her into staying in town awhile and helping out.

Her mother and sisters are also having issues deciding what to do with their father’s run down home. Emmy offers to buy it from them and intends to renovate it and sell eventually, giving everyone time to properly empty it and to say goodbye to the old place,

Emmy has her hands full with all of the promises she has made to everyone, and then in walks the guy who got away. Scott and Emmy have circled around each other since they were young, but always somehow got the timing wrong, With Emmy cast as the heroine in the play they are putting on, and Scott as the hero, is this finally the time they’ll get together?

This book was a fun romance that kept you guessing. The cast of characters is large, and each and every one of them is flushed out just enough to make you care about them and what they are hiding (and it seems like just about everyone of them has a secret or is up to something). A very enjoyable read!

I have read Portia books before, and really loved them, but I just couldn't get into this one. The main character was...not all that strong, and really not funny, she was just tragic. It's nearly 1/3 of the way through the story before we even meet the love interest...up to that point we are just learning all of her tragic background. And I don't know, maybe it's because the entire world seems like such a tragedy at the moment, but it just wasn't fun to read. I will try her next book when it comes out because, as I said, I've enjoyed everything else she's written up to now.

I loved this book. It starts of with Emmy Palmer (Emma Watson) possibly ending her career as an actress. The story follows Emmy on her journey home following a family tragedy and her getting back on her feet again. It's charming and funny. The supporting characters were awesome and hilarious too, especially Aunt Vee.

Emmy grew as a character and ended up learning so much on her journey being home. Whether it was more about her future career goals or the relationships in her life, she found happiness.

I would recommend this book along with other books that Portia MacIntosh has written. Read these books for awesome stories and humor.

NetGalley and publisher, thank you for an advanced copy in an exchange for an honest review.

This is a light and quick read for the days when you need something fun that will leave you feeling good. The characters were likeable, in the way that some were awful, but they added a bit of a twist The main character has a lot going against her at times but she plows through and comes out on top. I feel that there were some situations that should have seen her standing her ground as she turned into a person that ended up doing everything for others instead of herself. I think she could have stood up to more people which would have given the story some bite. She had several possible love interests and I liked her choice but there wasn’t excitement to their story. They met, they got along and then suddenly they are in love. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Why have I not heard of Portia Macintosh before?? Thanks netgalley for allowing me to read this. Needless to say I loved every pagans will definitely be looking up her back catalogue

This was a cute read! It felt fast and sweet,

Ultimately I couldn’t quite get through the whole thing. While this was a fabulous premise, I just couldn’t get into it. I would definitely try to read it again because the concept was great.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So when I saw this one was about an Emmy, who came from a seaside town, who was going to do a Christmas panto I thought it was all too familiar and had to read immediately. It was my life, tick tick tick.
And when the book has a bereavement early on too I was like woahh.
However, I do think that very first chapter is like nothing I've ever read before. I had no idea where it was going and it was shocking.
The rest of the story was nothing like my life. It was sweet, poignant, cheeky, fun, surprising. The rest of the panto cast also made for some really entertaining reading.
Lots packed in and words bounced off the page into life. Adorable, loved it.

Emmy is an actress whose character has just been killed off as she refused the advances of the person in charge of the series, she is also then accused of having an affair with him and it's splashed all over the papers. To make things worse she finds out her beloved grandad died the day before so she packs up and goes home for a while to allow things to calm down and plan what she is going to do next.
Needless to say things don't go quite to plan
A lovely easy read, didn't want to put it down

✨ REVIEW ✨ Will They, Won’t They by Portia Macintosh.

There are so many things I loved about this book so let’s not waste any time.

✨ The references. So many references that spoke to me as not only as a 30 something year old woman but also as a Northerner myself! My favourite reference has to be that of Emmy having nails that would rival Tania Turner! I had a good laugh as I remembered how batshit crazy that show was!!

✨ Emmy. I really identified with Emmy which at some points was quite terrifying as it’s almost like Portia had written about me. Obviously not the famous actress parts but the real stuff!

✨ Tel and the window... that’s all I’m saying, no spoilers here but 💙 swoon!

The main thing I loved was the story itself, it was wholesome, hilarious and had me hooked right from the opening chapter!

Thank you to Boldworld books and Portia Macintosh! I can’t wait to join you on the #blogtour!

To be fair I am a little bit fed up of books that start out with a celebrity and a scandal, fouth one in the last 3 months. At least with this book the characters are believable, well written and likable. It all goes wrong for Emmy when she is killed off from her long running TV show unexpectedly, a story leaked to the newspaper and a death in the family sends her back home. Back to family, old friends and a jack of all trades builder. Enjoyable book with plenty to keep you hooked