Review – Exes and O’s by Amy Lea

Hello Everyone!

Today I’m bringing you a review of Exes and O’s by Amy Lea!

Title: Exes and O’s

Author: Amy Lea

Genre: Romance

Age Category: Adult

Publication Date: January 10, 2023

Number of Pages: 400

Buy the Book: Amazon, Indigo, Book Depository

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About

A romance novel–obsessed social media influencer revisits her exes on her hunt for true love in this romantic comedy from the author of Set On You.

Romance-novel connoisseur Tara Chen has had her heart broken ten times by ten different men–all of whom dumped her because of her “stage-five clinger” tendencies. Nevertheless, Tara is determined to find The One. The only problem? Classic meet-cutes are dead thanks to modern dating apps. So Tara decides to revisit her exes in hopes of securing her very own trope-worthy second-chance romance.

Boston firefighter Trevor Metcalfe will be the first to rush into a burning building but the last to rush into a relationship. Love just isn’t his thing. When his new roommate Tara enlists him to help her reconnect with her exes, he reluctantly agrees. But Tara’s journey is leading him to discover his own new chapter.

The more time they spend together, the more Tara realizes Trevor seems to be the only one who appreciates her authentic, dramatic self. To claim their happily-ever-after, can Tara and Trevor read between the lines of their growing connection?

Review

This was a buddy read with my bookish bestie and it was such a fun book! This book follows a pair of roommates. Tara is a nurse who is obsessed with romance novels and Trevor is a firefighter who has no interest in romance. When Tara decides to revisit her exes to try to find love, Trevor reluctantly agrees to help her, and as the experiment continues, sparks start to fly.

My favourite thing about this book is that it made me laugh. There are a lot of books right now that are advertised as rom-coms, but they lack the “com” part. This book did not disappoint in the comedy department and I was laughing during the first few chapters.

I also loved the characters in this book. I liked that Tara had an open heart and that she was willing to risk getting hurt in order to find love. I also liked that Tara was a book influencer because it’s nice to see something familiar on the page. I liked Trevor because I thought he was a sweet character. He had a rough exterior, but it was clear that he was actually a giant teddy bear.

As far as tropes go, this book had a lot of great ones. It had a very memorable meet cute, roommates/forced proximity, friends-to-lovers, and some grumpy/sunshine vibes.

As far as the story goes, I thought this book was cute. I enjoyed the idea of Tara going through her list of exes and trying to find a second-chance romance. I thought that some of the dates and conversations with her exes were quite hilarious. There were some cringy moments, but I think most romances have a handful of those where the reader cringes due to secondhand embarrassment. I also liked the side stories in this book, especially the birthday party planning.

One final thing I want to mention is I like that this book went into how the term “crazy” is misused and often weaponized. I think it’s important to have conversations about how language and certain words are used.

Overall, this was a fun book and I’m looking forward to reading Set on You sometime soon.