Date Me Like You Mean It

When R.S. Grey drop a newsletter for this release I jump up and brought it. I'm so happy I did because this story is AMAZING!!! This story is beautiful, funny, and all the feels. Maddie is sweet, smart, hilarious,and beautiful. Maddie is living with her sister husband's brother in Austin to be closer to her job. She is a gem. Aiden is broody, smart,funny, and handsome. Aiden is a man with few words. He's also something else too. Maddie been crushing on Aiden for a while. The writing was done beautifully and flows throughout the story. This story is in dual POV. Grey gives me everything I want and need in this story. Amazing work again R. S. Grey!

I first came across R.S. Grey’s books on Audible and fell completely in love. Since then, most of her books are a major hit for me. There are a couple that were complete misses, but I’m still a fan. This is the first time I’ve actually read her books as opposed to listening to it on Audible. The narrators for her books are just freaking PERFECT, so reading this book was a bit of an adjustment. HahaGrey’s style of writing is full of humor (love it all), heat (oh the teasing!), and realistic (mostly). I love how she writes the women in a relatable way, especially the most embarrassing parts. Most romance authors write the main female characters as “perfect” relationship role models, but not Grey! I enjoyed it when Aiden called out Maddie on her BS relationships and he wasn’t afraid to say it. She is as much of a heartbreaker as he was. I also enjoyed how Grey wrote about the hardships of being long-distance in the early stages of a romantic relationship. Another thing I enjoyed: she included a couple LGBTQ individuals. :-) Wish there was more of Dante and Brent!I do have to admit that I was a little “meh” about the cliche where men leave their dream jobs to be with the women (obviously in the old days, women used to give up their dreams for their men), however Grey added in a compromise, which was very nice to see rather than stick to the cliche. Both Maddie and Aiden got what they wanted in terms of dream careers, which is great. I do like how Aiden kept saying he was trying whenever he noticed Maddie got sad and that he really was making an effort to keep the relationship going. Maddie didn’t really do as much as Aiden, which is a tad disappointing since relationships are two-ways, but she stayed loyal to him. I also liked the story of the engagement ring at the end. :-)The epilogue wasn’t entirely sappy HEA nor was it completely boring. It’s different, like coming down from a high and mellowing out. At first glance, you might think it abrupt or unnecessary, but it’s actually pretty nice. They’ve been through enough drama already, so it’s good to have a moment of calm.Great job on the book!

I cried and laughed outloud and then I cried some more. Swoon and then just so envious of this beautiful, down to earth couple. This author makes her writing so effortless and good, I couldn’t put this book away. The circumstances, the conversations are so realistic, down to earth, yearning, beautiful, swooning and just a lot more. Highly recommend this very enjoyable book. Fast read but you want to read it again and again …. and again.

This new story by Rachel was ok. I can’t say any one character stood out to me or was a favorite - they are similar, as is the plot, of the last few releases.I don’t get why the female characters keep getting written as uncommunicative, run from their problems and immature in how they handle interpersonal conflict.The story starts off with Maddie’s POV only and she meets Aiden for the first time at their siblings’ wedding. It seems the author hints that Aiden finds Maddie attractive too, but it is never confirmed.At the wedding, Aiden realizes Maddie is interviewing for jobs in the same area he lives and lo and behold, his roommate just moved out. Fast forward a few weeks, Maggie moves in with Aiden. Fast forward again a couple of years (or 3) and Maddie and Aiden are still roommates, but she is telling the readers she is in love with him. Even though she is in love with him, she constantly invites his exes into their home, listens to them lament how they want to get back together with Aiden and then lets them take a piece of Aiden’s personal property...that isn’t disturbing or inappropriate at all. At the same time, Aiden is hooking up with other girls so loud, Maddie can hear it all. Nice. Then, in a quick couple chapters, the synopsis of the books starts and Aiden and Maddie start to “fake” date...kinda, but not really. The first instance is when Maddie lies to her boss and tells them Aiden is her BF when they see her out to dinner with him and want to hit on him. They all notice that Aiden is looking at Maddie like he is into her, but this is one of the many examples Maddie ignores regarding Aiden’s feelings.Aiden acts all jealous and possessive one night when he has a co-worker over that used to date Maddie...casually. Again, Maddie seems oblivious even though it is obvious to the reader, even w/out Aiden’s POV.Then, a friend from Maddie’s childhood, invites her to a bachelorette/bachelor party and apparently it’s couples only. So Maddie lies again, and says she is bringing her BF Aiden.They show up as a “couple” and what could be a good opportunity for the author to throw in some UST and romance, is just some short chapters of mis-communication. They share a room, but nothing happens. The second night, Aiden and Maddie have a short make out sesh out by the pool, and then just go to sleep. No talking about their feelings (“what does this mean?”). The next morning, Maddie is being mature and avoiding Aiden. At breakfast, Maddie’s friend tells everyone Maddie has been OBSESSED with Aiden since they met. The crowd teases them and then asks Aiden if it was love at first sight for him. He starts to say “not exactly...” and Maddie cuts in and runs away. The readers never find out what he was thinking in that moment or was going to say-the lack of detail is frustrating. Maddie attempts to avoid Aiden and lies to his face about her true feelings, even when he point blank asks her if she has feelings for him.Again, she acts oblivious to his obvious disappointment and disregards their kiss the night before. Apparently, she doesn’t think it means anything and is ok lying to his face. Then in the span of a couple of hours, Aiden gets a call about an interview in NY for the NY Times and Aiden abandons Maddie and their fake relationship vay-cay, and then...wait for it...NEVER EVER RETURNS OR SEES HER FOR A YEAR.Apparently, the NY Times just hires him on the spot and immediately sends him to Paris on a job assignment. Maddie tells him it’s fine, it’s his dream job and he should take it, and then proceeds to cut off all communication with Aiden for a year. She ignores all his texts, calls and emails. *sigh*So then we get to part 2, and we finally get Aiden’s POV. Aiden and Maddie are finally seeing eachother for a family get-together with the same siblings whose wedding they met at. Aiden, after a year of no contact, decides now is the time to make it official with Maddie and make her his (what he sees in her at this point...is ?). Except he shows up, and Maddie is SO ANGRY at him and has a fake BF there. While I can understand Maddie was hurt by Aiden leaving, she pushed him away, lied and cut him out of her life. She deserved some of the anger.The rest of the story is more avoidance from Maddie, until Aiden pretty much forces her to woman up and admit she loves him. They have one night together, and then Aiden leaves and they don’t see each other for weeks, though they are BF/GF now. They finally see each other for a weekend, Aiden leaves again, changes his mind, returns to Maddie, quits his job and they get married. Again, we never get to hear about how long Aiden had feelings for Maddie or really how their relationship developed. Characters are mentioned once (Nate, Dante, Maddie’s parents, etc) and never heard from again. Again, the story was a quick, light hearted, low drama, entertaining read, if that’s all you want. RS Grey has and can write much better though, check out her earlier stories!

Enchanting storyline with interesting characters. Quite humorous especially Maddie. Most enjoyable read! Epilogue was good, whereas I most often do not care for epilogues. Overall great job, which you can always expect from Ms. Grey.

Whoa! Definitely one of my favorite books and R.S. grey’s best for sure! Steamy slow burn and kinda funny in spots. Aiden is up there on my list of favorite book boyfriends. Recommend 10/10

I think this book is one of my favorites from Rachel, it’s just so real you know? the feelings, the fear, the long distance relationship and we saw the bad part from it where both of them feel sad, confused and just wanna be with each other but the distance doesn’t help.Maddie is iconic, I loved her and I laughed most part of the book cause of her, she’s hilarious. And I think why I liked her so much is that she’s human, she makes mistakes and while making bad decisions and getting in the confusion she made us laugh a lot. I see myself in her a lot in the position of not speaking about feelings cause of fear of change and I sympathize with her.Aiden......I fell in love with him just like Maddie, in the first sight. You can’t not love him cause he’s so smart, handsome and say the right things in the right time......I could go on talking about him but the list is long.Their relationship since when they were friends was amazing to read, how they understand each other and know every single thing about one another, they always had the chemistry there. But I think this time they spend as friends was great to them cause when they really got together they already skip a lot of stages in a relationship.And in the whole time they just had to have courage to open themselves and see what could happen......but that’s why this book was so real to me cause in real life we are also scared of what’s gonna happen when we speak up. So yeah I loved this book, I loved them and I’m happy they finally got to live they happily ever after (if only this existed).

Loved sweet story . The story starts with the secret crush and how long one can wait for a true love .

I love this author and have read, well everything, but I’ve struggled with her past few books feeling like they were missing something. So I was a little nervous when I started reading this one, but I really shouldn’t have been. It’s funny, sweet, frustrating and emotional to read.It’s a great take on a friends-to-lovers story and Aiden & Maddie are great together. I felt Aiden in particular was a great character, and I loved his character progression in the book as we learnt/saw more of his character.As with all R.S Grey books, I was snorting with laughter at bits. She has a fantastic way of writing real (and somewhat embarrassing) situations, that make you fall in love with the characters.Overall, a good solid read.

I really enjoyed this book, it was exactly what I needed, a bit of angst, and a lot of fun. This author never disappoint me