A super cute read! Never Gonna Happen is a hilarious romcom. Emily has had a bit of a bad luck streak where her boyfriend/boss dumps her to get back with his wife, and her apartment burns in an accidental hair straighter fire literally on the same day. So not only is Emily recently single and homeless (aside from staying with her parents), she’s out of the job, too. Emily quickly finds a new job, and an unexpected new love! The characters are funny and relatable. Carol, Emily’s mom, especially made me laugh out loud on several occasions with her fantastical assumptions and antics. This book has a perfect amount of romance and drama, and you end up loving every character (expect for maybe the eldest Hunter child).

This was a quick, light, closed door romance which was just okay for me. I struggled with the writing style a bit….the dialogue was drawn out too much, a little repetitive and I felt that the transitions between scenes were very abrupt. Overall I felt that the plot fell flat. However, I did appreciate that at age 29 Emily’s life gets upended and she is strong and confident enough to just go with it and make it work. Though it wasn’t my favorite romance I’ve read recently, it was generally a feel good story..

Thank you to Net galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book early

Never Gonna Happen is Heidi Stephens’s debut romantic comedy. Emily Wilkinson is a 29-year-old Personal Assistant who has recently moved in with her low-income parents due to her flatmate setting fire to their flat. She lost all of her personal belongings and must wear her high school wardrobe until she replaces her things. Her employer gives her two weeks off to handle her personal business and then her married boss decides to end their two-year affair. Emily decides that it’s too painful to continue working with her boss, Mark, so she quits her job. She decides that she is “off men” for a while.

Emily finds a new position with a multimillionaire, Charles Hunter, at his estate which is a few hours away from London. She immediately befriends the chauffeur, Leon, and the handsome horse stable manager, Jamie. The housekeeper, Anna, instantly dislikes Emily and is cruel to her, causing Emily to liken her to Mrs. Danvers. Emily finds out that Jamie is Mr. Hunter’s younger son and won’t date him until Mr. Hunter approves, and Jamie agrees to keep their relationship separate from her job. Emily doesn’t like Mr. Hunter’s oldest son, Adam, and suspects that he’s up to no good.

Emily spends her Christmas holidays with her parents and lifelong best friend, Kelly, in London. Then Mr. Hunter arranges for Emily, Jamie, and himself to travel to Mauritius to check on a possible investment. Jamie is injured while surfing and is unable to travel, so their stay is extended. Emily is a very talented assistant and is invaluable to Mr. Hunter. Emily’s parents, Carol and Martin, provide comic relief between some of Emily and Jamie’s relationship angst.

This is a romantic comedy that doesn’t have explicit sex scenes. The characters are very likeable, and the plot is well-paced. Even though the story takes place in England and contains many British idioms, it is very understandable to American readers. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and look forward to reading future books by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance review copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review.

Emily has lost everything, but takes it as a chance to start over, moving to Norfolk to work as a PA to a businessman. There, she learns about herself and manages to find love.

This book was too long and the last 25-30% really dragged. The characters were easy and interesting to read about, and the settings were incredible! A good romance, but could do with being shorter.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this story. I loved the main character Emily and the cast of supporting characters were also all really well done, I especially liked Jamie and Mr Hunter. This story was really sweet with lots of interesting plot points that kept me entertained the whole way through!

I loooooved this cover. I really enjoyed this read. If you’re a fan of romcom, this one is for you. It will keep you engaged from beginning to end. It has a good pace and it works for the story and its characters. I’m looking forward to reading more books from Heidi.

Emily’s broken relationship with her boss leads her to reevaluate things and take a job at a manor in Norfolk as the owner’s assistant. Life in Norfolk has its ups and downs and Emily loves it-especially when she meets Jamie the owner’s younger son. They hit it off much to the anger of the older brother, a real jerk. This is a great story of love and family.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The cover of this book suggested that 'Never Gonna Happen' would be a sun-drenched summer read which is one of the first things that drew me towards it (the bright artwork is beautiful!) however, the majority of it is set in Norfolk/Chichester during a cold UK winter and snowy Christmas with only a small proportion being set on the island of Mauritius.

As a easy and quick read, this book didn't disappoint but I feel that it fell slightly flat in certain areas. The plot was slow moving and there wasn't a lot of action but sadly I felt that the characters weren't strong enough to keep me fully engaged or invested throughout. The relationship between Emily and Jamie wasn't entirely convincing.

I thought this was a cute story. I really enjoyed the way the story was told and the main character's personality. She just seemed like such a fun person who keeps having things go a bit wrong. I loved the estate descriptions, and the people that work there. The romance was fun, and overall, this was a great beach read!

This was good, but wasn't great. I think Stephens writes compelling characters and drama, but something about this fell a bit flat for me. Potentially things moved a bit too quickly to be believable, which definitely took me out of the Moment, but overall this is a satisfying romance!

Thank you headline publishing , NetGalley and author for the e ARC.
The book had described the Mauritius beutifully and the vibe was so good! I think the story has a lot of potential but the writing style was so weird. The plot and time line confused me a lot! I had to reread some paragraphs again and again to understand what's going on! And also there's miscommunication trope which is a big no for me and there's was unnecessary conflict between characters. Also I couldn't connect with the character and felt like there was no chemistry between them at all.

I loved this and simply could not put it down! I loved how organically relationships were built and it was so nice to just have a nice read where there wasn’t tons of relationship drama. Fab read!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Steam Level: 🔥🔥🔥 (mildly descriptive sex scenes)

Emily Wilkinson has just been dumped by her boyfriend (and boss) and lost her flat in a fire, so she's decided it's time to find not just a new place to live but also a new job where she can focus on herself. When she's hired as personal assistant to the wealthy Charles Hunter and moves into his estate, she never expects to fall for his attractive son Jamie. Suddenly she finds herself mixing business and pleasure once again all while living a lifestyle she never had access to even in her dreams. Will Emily really find true love with her employer's son or will she end up with another broken heart?

Let me start this review by saying that this is a fast burn, low conflict story which normally would have left me bored. Luckily, the characters were so lovable that I still found this deserving of a four star rating. I was laughing out loud at Emily's mom and all her crazy stories. Mr. Hunter won me over with how kind and compassionate he was towards Emily. I adored Leon, Mr. Hunter's driver, who was so deserving of the happy ending he got. And I loved Jamie and Emily's relationship. We got lots of domestic, blissfully in love moments between these two, and I had a huge grin at how everything wrapped up for them in the final chapter. Now, I will say that the cover and title don't really fit the story. Emily does go into her new job determined to avoid romance, but that is thrown out quickly because of how sweet and affectionate Jamie is towards her. They also are only on the island of Mauritius for a small portion of the book, and there's actually a lot that takes place during winter in London and the Hunter estate. So just keep that in mind going in to the story. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a heartwarming, sweet story, and I will be interested to see what comes next from author Heidi Stephens.

Thank you Netgalley and Headline Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Emily lost her home, her job, and her boyfriend. She has to find a way to start over and fast. When she interviews to be an assistant to a rich tech tycoon, Mr. Hunter, she has no idea that it will include a move to the English countryside and a cast of interesting characters. Emily swears off all men...that is until she meets Jamie the hunky horse handler (and a Hunter). Less than half the Hunters love her, the rest hate her and want her gone. Read this book to see what happens...because we all know you never say "Never."

This romance gave off strong Inheritance Games vibes but less YA and more adult - the poor girl thrown into the life of the rich and famous. The writing was fantastic. I was a bit skeptical when it started with a hair straightener fire but this story was really charming. I loved watching the love story unfold and getting to spend a good deal of time with the main characters. The conflict was believable and not overdone. The typical romance huge kerfuffle where it seems like all hope is lost was pleasantly absent from Emily and Jamie's story and it was refreshing for them to just have normal (or as normal as you can get when one is filthy rich) relationship issues. This cast of characters were well developed and everyone served a purpose without any wasted pages. I truly enjoyed reading this book!

I can say it again and again there is nothing like a pick me up romance to cheer you up! I really enjoyed the plot and I read it in one sitting! Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read an advanced copy!

This was a really cute read surrounding Emily Wilkinson and the handsome stable hand, Jamie. Emily thinks she can avoid Jamie and the prospect of a relationship but the more time they spend together, things begin to change.

I loved Jamie's character and how he wouldn't stop letting Emily know she was worth it. I wanted to give Adam a good ol kick! There was some miscommunication and unnecessary conflict but besides that it was alright. I loved all the characters, and this was definitely a nice quick read :)

This is my first book by this author but it definitely won't be the last, this is a sweet and funny romance that will make you laugh and sigh.
Our heroine Emily, has definitely had very bad luck with work, her apartment and love, in general her life is upside down so she decides to get a job with a millionaire man named Charles Hunter to help him run his Bowford Manor, because she thinks a change is what she needs.

I really liked the story, Charles is an amazing boss, although some of the family members are so obnoxious, but Jamie is so sweet. I love their dialogues and scenes together,

This is a romcom that will make you fall in love and captivate you from start to finish, if you are a fan of slow burn romcom this is definitely for you.

Review in exchange for an ARC from NetGalley.

3.5 stars. A very charming romantic comedy, but a tad bit slow for me.

The best part of this book are the characters, specially Emily. So many romance and romcom books feature wavering, not confident women. Emily is competent, handles her shit, and knows what she wants. Even though this book starts with her life falling apart, I found her so refreshing.

The romance and story in general felt pretty slow to me though. I found myself wondering when we’d “get there” already. But overall the story and characters are worth the wait.

Thanks to NetGalley & Headline Accent for providing a free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you've ever read a romance before that wasn't focused on heaving bosoms and lace up trousers, you have encountered this plot before: cute girl, unappreciated by her previous love interest(s), goes fish out of water and finds happiness, success, and love. The object of her affection is handsome and intelligent, and usually rich (but acts like a regular person, ofc). She has a wacky friend who is the salt of the earth. Her parents are lower middle class but devoted and loving. She is not model-gorgeous but she is attractive and has plenty of inner beauty and kindness.

Add a teeny little bit of strife in the form of a bad-intentioned villain, vanquished by our heroine through her smarts and good nature, and you've got a book. Is it a good book? It's fine, but it's not new. It's enjoyable. It's the equivalent of a Hallmark movie in a book. But you might like that?

I'm ... OK with it. It's a way to pass time. Frankly, I was a little bit surprised that the road to love with the son of her wealthy boss was so unstudded with rocks - there were the minor issues of the chauffeur with the crush, the house manager with a chip on her shoulder, but I was waiting for Jamie to turn out to be an entitled ass, and Emily to find love elsewhere. This book goes all out on the Cinderella story: basic girl gets the prince because she is smart and hardworking.

Look, I don't love it when there's a huge rivals-to-lovers trope, either, I'm just saying that there wasn't much in the way of friction in the plot. There was a plot point involving an accident, but again, relatively minor.

It was an OK book, but I am not in a rush to find more Heidi Stephens work to pore over. Cute, fun enough, not setting the (romance) world on fire.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC. Never Gonna Happen was a sweet, light-hearted read with enjoyable characters and a fun plot. I did find the writing style a bit odd - although i’ve never been a fan of third person narratives, and as a Brighton girl I do want to point out a massive plot hole - there are no donkeys in Brighton and I don’t think there ever have been, sorry! Other than that, this was a cute and enjoyable read!