I absolutely loved The Italian Job by Kathryn Freeman, so I was very excited when I saw this one come up on Netgalley, with a cute cover and title to boot, I was so excited to read and review it. This book features a grump/sunshine, roommates to lovers set-up with two very cute and very sweet main characters. Overall it was a cute, quick, and fun read for me. For me this was actually a little too Insta-love/lust for me, and the conflict mostly felt like something they could have worked through pretty easy with more conversation. There was also some not great like stereotypical male/female typecasting going on, particularly with the male friends "ribbing" that was a little off putting. I absolutely loved all the references to my favorite rom-coms, it made me want to rewatch all of them, and gave me 2 new ones to add to my list! Overall an enjoyable read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Nobody Puts Romcoms In The Corner is a romcom (obvs!) about Sally, a hopeless romantic, and Harry, her gruff new tenant who doesn’t believe in love. Harry and Sally. Already the jokes are there. The two of them decide to reenact famous romcom scenes for TikTok as a way to make some extra cash and the sparks start flying. This book was a warm hug on a rainy weekend. All the romcoms were included and it was so fun to hear their takes on the pivotal scenes like Johnny lifting Baby or Sally eating that sandwich in the deli. Just a book of warm fuzzies, adorable flirty banter and goofy grins.

Super cute book!! Loved the characters, the storyline, and refreshing take on a rom com. Looking forward to reading more books by Kathryn Freeman

What a sweet read for romcom lovers! I was immediately drawn to this book because of the premise and the cover and it did not disappoint. As someone who loves to read and watch romcoms, this book was a wonderful ode to everything I love about the genre.

Sally was exactly what I wanted in an FMC - - spunky and quirky with some depth she doesn't show to everyone. This is my favorite kind of FMC and Sally was wonderful. Harry isn't entirely my cup of tea for a leading man, but they had a genuine relationship that Kathryn Freeman did a great job of taking us along the journey for.

I loved how timely this book felt with the social media references. It was a really unique concept and this book will make a great read for anyone who loves traditional romcoms and current pop-culture.

What an absolute delight! Grumpy/sunshine is one of my favorite tropes, and this did not disappoint.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

Nobody Puts Romcoms In The Corner
by Kathryn Freeman
Pub Date: 27 Feb 2023

Oh my! This book gave me all the feels!! How can you go wrong with a main couple named Harry and Sally who recreate iconic rom-com moments on camera. Our sunshine heroine believes in love and finding "the one" for whom the bells toll...Our hero has never been shown love or a healthy relationship due to his dysfunctional parents. (Boo, hiss to both of them!) My heart hurt so much for Harry's backstory, and it is understandable why he would question the validity of love. Watching Harry and Sally's relationship go from strangers, to roommates, to friends, to something more was so special. The side characters were well written, too. Yes, this is a rom-com about rom-coms...but there is a layer of deeper issues.

This book was such a joy to read...I am still smiling! This will be one I will also listen on audiobook.

5 stars

Harry met Sally when he rented a room from her. Harry fell for Sally when they started recreating classic romcom scenes on TikTok for thousands of followers. Sally is your classic romantic - she loves romcoms and happily ever afters. Harry is your classic cynic - he doesn’t believe in love and definitely not happily ever after. When Harry moves in with Sally and they begin recreating classic romcom moments for TikTok, he can no longer deny his attraction to her but still promises he will not fall for her. Sally on the other hand has to sort out what is real and what is part of their romcom recreations when her feelings become very real.

This was such a fun read. Perfect for those romcom lovers out there! Thank you Netgalley and One More Chapter for the egalley in exchange for my honest review.

MCs are Harry and Sally just like the classic romcom, When Harry Met Sally, and they’re similar to the movie characters. Sally is a hopeless romantic (and also has curly blonde hair) and Harry is a cynic who doesn’t believe in love or happy endings. I loved their chemistry and banter! Although the dialogue and texts could be cringy/unbelievable at times.

So cute with references to some of my fave movies, it made my heart so happy with all the nostalgia! The story made me giggle, cry, and blush-yet another reason why I cannot be trusted to read romance in public, no poker face 😂 I flew through the book, reading it in 2 days (technically 3 because I stayed up until 1:30 AM to finish) 🙈

Characters are okay, they could both be frustrating because there was a bit of miscommunication in the second half. Or maybe more accurately not wanting to admit their feelings for each other to themselves, and continuously denying their chemistry. Harry is understandable because of his past and the issues he’s dealing with but Sally irritated me. Bringing up the fact that she thought he wasn't ‘the One’ constantly, because of some stupid stereotypes about needing to feel “a spark” or “hear bells” when you’ve found ‘The One’ for about 60-70% of the book, was annoying and got old quickly! I also got tired of every page describing the color of Harry’s eyes; I know Sally they’re grey because you’ll never let me forget it 🙃

Good character development-at first they seemed flat but as they got to know each other you also got to know more about them. It was a lot more depth and dealt with some heavy topics which I wasn’t expecting. There was a huge amount of character development throughout the novel, which I always love!

There is a third act breakup but thank god it wasn’t miscommunication! Plus it was fairly original and it added to the character development, so I wasn’t as bothered about it.

If you love romcoms, or the grumpy x sunshine trope, pick this one up! This was my second novel from Kathryn Freeman, my first being The Italian Job. I did enjoy TIJ a bit better than this one (mainly because it’s my two fave tropes-fake dating and enemies to lovers) but I’m intrigued to read more from Freeman!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.5/5)
Spice rating: 🌶️ (1.5/3; one very graphic scene and then the rest are alluded to/fade to black)

Tropes: grumpy x sunshine, forced proximity, friends with benefits/friends to lovers

This book was adorable!!! If you love rom coms and are a huge hopeless romantic this is the book for you! It had me laughing out loud, and cheering for the two main characters! It also had me angry at other characters… if you’re feeling so many emotions towards a book you know it’s good! Highly recommend this book to anyone who likes romance books or movies.

Nobody Puts Romcoms In The Corner is a sweet and spicy book for any romcom lover. With a friends to lovers dynamic with so many fun scenes and references to some of the most iconic movies of all time.. this book is adventurous and full of emotions.

3.5
Cutie book it is heart warming and everything roommates and friends to lovers.
Grumpy sunshine book.

Would recommend this book for those who love grumpy sunshine roommates suckers.

This book was an absolute delight! Sally is lovely and sweet, running a cafe and trying to support the sister she raised. She meets Harry when she becomes his landlady. They are opposites in almost every way, especially in movie tastes. Harry loves to tease Sally about her love of rom-coms, but when she uploads a video they make for fun of them recreating a rom-com moment, it goes viral. Harry and Sally then dance around one another with loads of tension and longing. This book has all the feels!

I’ve enjoyed Kathryn Freeman’s books before, and I was excited to read this one, but I just had some trouble connecting with it. Maybe I was in a bit of a reading slump that it took me two whole weeks to get through it, instead of two days. The premise was cute… roommates-to-lovers… one is Sally who is a rom-com obsessed hopeless romantic and the other is Harry, who is quite the jaded guy who believes true love doesn’t exist. Classic opposites attract. And they are certainly attracted to each other as Harry humors Sally by acting out classic rom-com movie scenes with her for TikTok. But when they give in to the attraction and feelings get involved and it all just gets too messy, someone’s bound to get hurt. If you love romance movies, you’ll definitely love this book!

If I could rate this book based on the title and the cover, it would be 5 ⭐️. Unfortunately, the lack of genuine chemistry between Harry and Sally and the poor execution of the plot leaves us with this 2.5 ⭐️ review.

I’ve read a lot of grumpy x sunshine romances and this one just didn’t hit the spot. When Harry moves in with Sally because his ex is living in his house (red flag #1), we meet this unlikely pair. Harry doesn’t believe in love while Sally spends her evenings rewatching romcoms. When they start to make TikToks of famous romcom moments for money, we begin to see a spark.

Although I appreciated the many romcom references in this book, it wasn’t enough to sell the romance between Harry and Sally. The plot started to get a bit repetitive after a few famous romcom moment TikToks and don’t even get me started on the miscommunication trope.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review 💗

This is a quick read, perfect for an evening. Sally has rented her spare room to Harry. His former girlfriend has not vacated his house and he has no desire to stay with her there.

One of the things that Sally enjoys is watching rom coms. After a night watching Dirty Dancing and having margaritas, Sally and Harry try recreating The Lift as a joke. Sall;y uploads the video and to her surprise, the video gets lots of views. Excited at the prospect of making some money, she convinces Harry to make more videos with her....

I adored this original story and loved the interaction between Harry and Sally.

Harry is forced out of his home due to his ex refusing to leave which means he ends up as Sally’s lodger. Sally loves a good rom con and they end up creating videos for TikTok featuring references to certain famous films.

So this is a book I really enjoyed and would recommend to anyone who loves a good Ron com. There is lots of content to keep up interest which includes the forced proximity between Harry and Sally. It felt relevant because the references to TikTok throughout and honestly it had me laughing out loud throughout.

This book does have a more serious side which does include trauma, past relationships, heartbreak and dealing with the fact love is different and it comes in different forms. I love that there is different reasons why these two hold back from one another and I loved how the friends got involved to help overcome these which showed what a good friendship circle they have. Last thing to note, I loved what Kathryn called her characters because it also the same names of the main characters in when Harry met Sally( I have never watched !) so clever to do this with this book.

This is the second book that I've read by this author now, and I've immensely enjoyed them both. As an avid romcom watcher, the title of this book alone was enough to make me want to read it.

The premise of the book was a lot of fun - two roommates who barely know each other realise they can make a bit of money from TikTok by recording themselves recreating famous scenes from romcoms. It delivered exactly as I hoped it would - all of my favourite romcoms were discussed or recreated, including some of the lesser-known ones that it takes a real fan to know. The way the scenes were recreated was adorable and I enjoyed every single one; they gave me all the same feelings as the scenes in the movies themselves (a testament to the writing).

Both Harry and Sally (even the characters names are a little nod to the genre) were brilliantly written characters. Sally's total dedication to her idea of love was a perfect depiction of how romcoms can skew your view of reality if they are taken too literally. Harry's blunt refusal of the idea of love in general made him the perfect romcom hero, and of course, he comes round to the idea in the end (as they all do in the movies). Behind both of these surface-level traits, both characters were dealing with some real hard trauma that made them face how real-life can get in the way of your own prejudices and happiness. Those traumas were, rightly, tough to read at times and made me want to reach into the book and give both of them a big hug (another testament to the writing).

Their chemistry jumped off the page from start to finish, with a wit and humour that charmed me throughout. Like in the movies, their happy ending was inevitable, but also like the movies, I was totally bought into solving the mystery of how they were going to get there.

This was a beautifully written, funny and charming love letter to a movie genre that often gets a bad rap. I adored it as much as I adore the movies that it pays homage to.

Another book I truly wanted to love, but something simply fell flat for me. We follow the story of Harry and Sally, but not those Harry and Sally. This pair of unexpected roommates decide to take on social media via recreating iconic romcom scenes from the movies we love the most.

The setup sounds perfect: a romcom told through the lens of stories we already know bringing the characters closer together. But the plot did nothing for me, nor did I hold much interest in Harry and Sally either. If I happened to stumble over videos like theirs on TikTok, I doubt I’d even notice.

Too many times did I consider giving up fully just to watch the movies mentioned instead, but I kept going with a small hope that something might draw my interest back. Alas, I just distanced myself even further to push through it.

On a personal note, I did take way too much issue with the word “orb” used to describe a character’s eyes. That might’ve been where the initial ick started, but it certainly isn’t what drew me away.

While this wasn’t for me, others might enjoy it. If you really like heavy referencing to extant romcoms, it might just be the one.

3.75 ⭐️

"Sally is a classic romantic and Harry is a classic cynic, but when a drunken bet leads the new flatmates to (badly) recreate 'the lift' from Dirty Dancing, and the video goes viral (#EpicRomcomReenactmentFailure), they both realise there's potential financial benefit in blundering their way through the romcom lexicon for their suddenly vast social media following.
Now, as Harry and Sally bring major romcom moments to new life - including recreating that classic diner scene - their faking it turns to making...out and suddenly they're living a real life romcom of their own!
But like all the greatest love stories, the road to happily ever after is paved with unexpected challenges for this hero and heroine.
Thoughts
Such a cute story! The idea behind it was adorable, some of the moments had me laughing out loud! I really liked Harry a lot, even in his Grump, he was an absolute gentleman.
The book was a smidge too long for my liking. I honestly felt like it could have easily wrapped up around 60% mark.
Also didn't feel much character growth for Sally (although I didn't dislike her at all).
You'll love this book if you like:
- all the best romcoms
- Grumpy/sunshine
- forced proximity
-fake dating (or are they/aren't they)
Thank you @netgalley and @harpercollinsuk for this #gifted ebook

As an avid Rom-Com lover, the cover, title and author inspired me equally to read this new release. The carefree and charming storyline was a pleasure to read, and although some parts were inevitable, it was still very entertaining.

This contemporary story ended up being a quick read for me, and could have quickly become a 24-hour read, had life allowed for it. Both main characters were incredibly likeable and amusing. Along with the feel-good writing style of Kathryn Freeman, I read this with a smile throughout!

There are a few 'spicy' scenes within this plot, but nothing that offended me, and my preferences were incredibly tame. However, some readers may need the warning.

Overall, I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a lighthearted, mood-boosting read.