A well-blended concoction of tropes - best friend's brother! librarian x football player! fwb to lovers! - Gamez's work is charming in all the right places, even though it suffers from an unnecessary third act breakup. Fortunately some solid work unpinning toxic dynamics gives this spicy and sweet romcom some extra depth and flavour.

I respectfully DNF at 10%/ after chapter 3.
I'm not proud of myself to give up so early, but I just can't.

I already had a weird feeling during the first chapter, but thought that I just needed to give it some time.
Well, what can I say.
The FMC is pining after her best friend, who is now engaged to another mutual friend. She has been in love with him for 8 (!) years and still has some sort of hope (?).
I feel like I read her whining and pitty herself nonstop during those chapters.

There's also this constant thought that Alice (her best friend's fiancée) is planing something behind her back?

And don't get me started on that weird love triangle, or as someone else said love quartett, because that just took a really weird turn for me.

On top of that, there's was something in the writing, especially the way the FMC talks about other characters, that didn't work for me.
This book is surely for someone, but that someone is not me.

This book reminded me of why I love romances. Sweet, steamy and sexy with a LOT of hearts on sleeves...all the ingredients needed for a indulgent romance that is unapologetic in celebrating the heroine's beauty and honouring her hang ups and insecurities at the same time. It does help when the hero is absolutely obsessed with her....
I adored Marcella and Theo's journey to each other and had so much fun watching them just completely fall in love with each other amidst the MESSSSSS.

This was so fun and swoon worthy even to the point that I can excuse some of the pop culture references that would normally grate.

Emotional depth and growth pepper this book but never weigh it down too much, though I must admit the 3rd act break up had me on my knees...

Just the right amount of angst, drama, chemistry and heat made this a very enjoyable book to read. I loved that Marcela is a librarian and that the author has done a wonderful job of getting across her love of books and reading. The characters are complex and the relationship between Theo and Marcela melted my heart. I am definitely looking forward to book 2 in this series.

Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez is a heartwarming and spicy romance that masterfully blends humor, chemistry, and emotional depth. When librarian Marcela Ortiz and ex-NFL player Theo Young form a fake dating pact to navigate their unrequited loves, sparks fly in unexpected ways. Marcela’s insecurities as a plus-size woman are explored with authenticity, making her journey of self-acceptance deeply relatable and inspiring.

The chemistry between Marcela and Theo is electric, their banter delightful, and the steamy moments perfectly balanced with genuine emotional connection. This debut is an addictive page-turner with lovable characters and a satisfying exploration of love, vulnerability, and healing.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this amazing book. This review has also been posted on Goodreads and StoryGraph.

Absolutely fantastic read, lovely summer escapism with great characters, addictive plot and so much chemistry. As a big girl myself I adored the plus size rep and I could relate to Marcela brilliantly, definitely be back for future books from Gabriella Gamez

Oh this was such a fun one! It was well written and had a fast pace and I really liked both the main characters!

We’ve got some fake dating, some friends to lovers, a tiny bit of forced close proximity and a library and librarian too. So if you’re someone who loves book talk in your books, you’ll enjoy this!

From the blurb -
Librarian Marcela Ortiz has been secretly in love with her best friend for years - but when he gets engaged, it’s time to move on. Before she gets the chance, she has a bigger problem to contend with in the form of Theo Young, ex-NFL player and older brother of the man she loves.

When she discovers Theo’s plans to confess his feelings for his brother’s fiancée at their engagement party, Marcela stops him - despite how tempting it is to let him run away with the bride-to-be. Managing to convince Theo to sleep off his drunken almost-mistake at her place, when they arrive at a family brunch the next day, everyone wrongly assumes they hooked up.

Since Theo needs a cover for his feelings for the bride and Marcela needs a distraction from her unrequited feelings for the groom, they decide to roll with the lie. Until one late night at a bar, they take it a step further. Soon, they’re exploring the simmering chemistry between them, whether in library aisles or Marcela’s bed.

No boundaries. No strings attached. Until their rebound starts working. Maybe a little too well...
*ARC from NetGalley ✨

This book was so beautiful and heartwarming, I finished it in one sitting because I just couldn't bring myself to put it down. I thought that the pacing was perfect, I didn't find myself growing bored at all - I thought each chapter was a perfect length and the actual story was was told perfectly.

I loved the plot, I found myself so interested in all the characters and the development between them all. I loved our main characters, Theo & Marcela, but Angela was such a lovable character.

I love finding books that have a plus size main character, especially if they are the female main character. As someone who is plus size and has struggled with it, Marcela's insecurities really hit home and it was beautiful to read about her being able to accept herself and love herself - it was just a beautiful book and I'm looking forward to reading more by the author!

This was a really fun and easy summer with great characters, and a whole lot of chemistry. The plus size rep was doing beautifully well and allowed Marcela to be a very relatable character.

An easy summer read that didn’t require any effort. But sadly the characters didn’t quite ring true for me and it was really all rather predictable.

I don’t know what to say about this because I did enjoy reading it a lot but there was just something a bit odd about the story. Some of the things left untold just felt so unnecessary. No reason to pretend to be together etc. etc.

Over the past few months I’ve been seeing a lot about The Next Best Fling online which lead to me having high hopes going into reading it. Unfortunately, these hopes were not lived up to. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it for a mixture of reasons. That being said I do think it may be perfect for some people!

Librarian Marcela has been secretly in love with her best friend for years. But, when he gets engaged she knows it is time to move on. She has a bigger problem to deal with first in the form of Theo, an ex-NFL player and the older brother of her best friend. When she discovers Theo’s plans to confess his feelings for his brother’s fiancée, she stops him and manages to convince him to sleep off his almost-mistake at hers. But, when they arrive at a family brunch the next day, everyone wrongly assumes they hooked up and they can’t help but roll with the lie.

The concept of this book sounds exceptional but the execution was not completely there. That being said there were moments and characters I enjoyed throughout! Theo is sweet, caring and has such a big heart. I enjoyed the moments we had with him throughout the book. Marcela was so indecisive and in my opinion, very hard to get along with. Theo lays all his cards on the table whereas Marcela seems to keep everything from everyone no matter what. Their moments together were fun and it was lovely to watch their feelings for each other change.

One thing is very clear, the way that Ben (the best friend) is written makes you hate him instantly. That is very much as intended and I very much enjoyed reading about his downfall. There are a number of side characters in this book but I feel none of them were fully fleshed out. They all seemed very similar which was a shame.

This book discusses some heavier topics and it does this in a honest and raw way. There are discussions of emotional abuse and body image. The author has dealt with these in a wonderful way and I feel that should be applauded.

A personal issue I had with this book were surrounding Marcela’s job as a librarian. As a librarian myself, a few of the things she did in her role just rubbed me the wrong way. But, these are likely things other readers would not even question.

Even though this did not live up to all my expectations, it is still a very good debut. I will still be looking out for other books by the author and I’m excited to see their writing progress.

Overall, if you like family drama, love squares and unrequited love then this is the book for you! If you are on the look out for those things, I would recommend giving it a read.

The messy and chaotic energy worked so well with the romance and how Marcella and Theo fell in love. I love seeing good plus size rep in books and I feel like I can relate to the characters more, definitely one I will pick up on release

Marcela has spent years in love and hoping for a reconnection with her ex, who is now her best friend and is soon going to marry the love of his life. Theo is her best friend's brother and is in love with Alice, his brother's fiancée. At the engagement party, Marcela stops an intoxicated Theo from confessing his love for Alice and ruining the engagement. Soon after, they decide that the best way to move on is to have a no-strings-attached relationship. But what happens when this fake relationship starts to become a little too real....

This was a fantastic read, I was hooked from the very start right to the end. I really loved the relationship between Marcela and Theo, they had amazing chemistry and I loved seeing their journey together. This was a really fun and cute book with a bit of spice to keep you engrossed in the story, making this an easy page turner!! I will definitely be reading more books from this author!!

4.5 stars!!

The Next Best Fling is a very enjoyable fake dating romance with also a friends-to-lovers tinge too. It's very enjoyable, even when Marcela is a little frustrating - she self-sabotages in a way which feels unnecessary. But then... if I feel like this about a character then it probably means she's incredibly well-written, as she feels like a real person. Anyway, I'd highly recommend this if you're looking for an enjoyable romance with some spice.

The Next Best Fling was a cute slow burn spicy romance.
Marcela and Theo both agree to be each others rebound and everything goes wrong, or right from there! A great read.

I really enjoyed this warm hug of a book!!

It tracks the tale of 2 unlikely star-crossed lovers who help each other overcome long-time loves - and grow into something even greater.

The storyline was very sweet and the characters very loveable. I usually prefer a slightly more show-don’t-tell approach in romance reading - however really enjoyed the lightness and sweetness of this read.

I also really enjoyed reading a curvy heroine coming into her power and accepting the love she deserves from her love interest.

I really recommend for anyone looking for a sweet and funny pick me up.

A very special thank you to Dialogue Books | Renegade Books, Gabriella Gamez and Netgalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my review.

Can 2 people with unrequited love for others console each other with a "no ties" relationship? Will things become more complicated? a different romantic theme, enthralling waiting to see if their relationship will develop.

I have been struggling to find something to fill the Emily Henry shaped hole in my reading. This does it!

Main tropes =
Fake dating
Forced proximity
Falling for best friend's brother


The librarian and ex-NFL player protagonists have electric chemistry and they are great rounded characters on their own too.

A great debut! I look forward to reading whatever the author writes in the future.

Thank you Dialogue Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this book, which I was pleasantly surprised about as it was one of those that I requested and then wasn't really sure why as it's not normally a trope I love.

I couldn't put this down from the second I started reading it. Marcela was absolute perfection and Theo is definitely up there on the list of top book boyfriends.

I definitely did not love Ben but that was kind of the point, I suppose!

I loved this authors style of writing and this is definitely one of my favourite books of this year so far. I loved the relationships between all of the side characters too.

Tropes:
• Best friends brother
• Unrequited love
• Fake dating (but not really)
• Sports star romance