I somehow hadn’t read a book by Andie J Christopher yet, and from the title + cover alone I knew I HAD to read this one! Thanks to Berkley Romance I was able to read and review this one to join on the blog tour, and I had such a fun time reading it.
Book Title: Thank You, Next
Author: Andie J Christopher
Publisher: Berkley Romance
Release Date: June 14th, 2022
Synopsis:
Alex Turner is never The One–but always the last one an ex dates before finding love–and now she’s determined to find out why in this hilarious new rom-com.
Single divorce attorney Alex Turner is watching reality TV when she sees her latest ex’s new fiancé picking out her wedding dress. Yet again, the guy she dumped went on to marry (or at least seriously commit to) the next person he dates after her. Fed up with being the precursor to happily ever after, she decides to interview all her exes to find out why.
Up-and-coming chef Will Harkness mixes with Alex like oil and vinegar, but forced proximity growing up means their lives are forever entwined. When Will learns Alex and her friends are going on a wild romp through Los Angeles to reconnect with her ex-boyfriends, he decides to tag along. If he can discover what her exes did wrong, he can make sure he doesn’t make the same mistake with Alex.
On this nonstop journey through the streets of LA, Alex realizes the answer to her question might be the man riding shotgun…
About the Author:
Andie J. Christopher is a USA Today Bestselling author who writes sharp, witty, sexy contemporary romance about complex people finding happily ever after. Her work has been featured in NPR, Cosmopolitan, The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, and The New York Post. Prickly heroines are her hallmark, and she is the originator of the Stern Brunch Daddy. Andie lives in the Nation’s Capital with a French bulldog, a stockpile of Campari, and way too many books.
Website | Instagram | Goodreads
My Review:
A new to me author, I was thrilled to finally get to read an Andie J. Christopher title, and I have to say Thank You, Next made me want to reach for the author’s backlist. I am a total sucker for a play on words title, I feel like it just sets the right tone for the book I’m picking up. As soon as I was sent this one I had to read it, and I have no regrets.
The concept of this book had me really excited as it puts a spin on second chance romance as we meet Alex, a divorce lawyer who has been a serial dater and has never been interested in the idea of marriage.
She’s been in love with her grandmother’s ex step-son, Will, for years and we get a complicated childhood friends trope storyline that is refreshing and full of emotion. What I liked most about the story was how different it was, this fierce female who is successful and set in her idea of never wanting to get married struggles when she realizes she is the last girlfriend before each of her exes gets married.
“And just maybe excavating old shit was part of her DNA. That’s what her mother did for a living, after all. How would she understand her past and be able to move forward if she didn’t look at all the mistakes she’d made? If she didn’t spread them out on a plastic tarp, examine them closely, document them and file them away.”
As we’re taken on her journey of self-awareness and discovery, we meet a variety of men in her past dating pool and her delightful friends who made the story even more fun and interesting. I LOVED the diversity and each personality of every character, even the exes we were meant to not like – who DOESN’T have an ex like that?!
While I enjoyed the flashbacks of Alex and Will’s past and present, at times I did find myself wishing we hadn’t gotten MORE from the action and less in their head. The thoughts and feelings were important of course, but I would’ve loved more scene-setting / visual aspects of the romance versus the retrospective viewpoints.
I can’t write a review without loving on this book cover, I thought it was SO perfect!
After being a part of the tour, I also got to meet Andie herself over at Apollycon and get my physical copy signed by her — head here to this post on instagram for a fun reel featuring this book + many other Berkley Romance titles!
Thank you to Berkley Romance for providing me a digital copy of the book to read and review, and for having me on this blog tour!
Books Are Magic Too 