Publishers Weekly
★ 05/20/2024
Pierce’s top-notch debut puts a dishy spin on the second-chance romance and forced proximity tropes. Wedding dress designer Andie Dresser is on the precipice of a career breakthrough when a client cancels an important order. She’d been banking on using that money to fund her debut show at Atlanta Fashion Week, and now she must scramble for cash. Then she learns that First Look at Forever, a reality show in which “perfect strangers marry, then they have eight weeks together to decide: stay together or walk away,” is filming locally and offers contestants $100,000 for their trouble if they choose to divorce at the end of the season. She signs up—only to find globe-trotting architect Kit Watson, the man who broke her heart in college, waiting for her at the altar. Kit is just as gobsmacked to see Andie. Will their televised marriage reignite their old spark? Pierce gets readers invested in her characters from the first page, and the romantic drama reads like an addictive season of reality TV—with a bonus peak behind the scenes. This will be catnip for romance fans. (July)
From the Publisher
Praise for Not You Again:
“[A] top-notch debut . . . Reads like an addictive season of reality TV—with a bonus peak behind the scenes. This will be catnip for romance fans.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“A second-chance, marriage-of-convenience mashup delight . . . [For] contemporary-romance fans who like second-chance plotlines, and of course to reality-TV-show junkies.”
—Booklist, starred review
“[This] second-chance romance follows a slow-burn path that is filled with corrective conversations, healing, and tenderness.”
—Library Journal
“Completely charming . . . A magical second-chance romance packed with sizzling chemistry and aching emotion.”
—Lauren Layne, New York Times bestselling author
“Not You Again is as swoony and angst-filled as the best second chance romances and as bingeable as the most dramatic reality show. Having to marry a stranger is one thing, but having to marry the ex you never got over? And let it all play out on TV? I was salivating over this premise.”
—Alicia Thompson, USA Today bestselling author of With Love, from Cold World
“Pierce knocks her debut out of the reality TV park. Funny, heartfelt, and sexy all in one, this second chance romance gives you ALL the feels!”
—Amy Andrews, USA Today bestselling author Breaking All the Rules
“A beautiful second chance romance about fighting your inner demons, breaking out of the past, and choosing to love someone and keep loving them every single day. Ingrid Pierce shines in her debut.”
—Meredith Schorr, author of As Seen on TV
“Witty and charming with chemistry that pops off the pages. I am forever an Ingrid Pierce fan!”
—Kate Robb, author of This Spells Love
“With snappy prose and expertly balanced levity and depth, Not You Again is as addicting as your favorite reality TV show.”
—Livy Hart, author of Some Kind of Blunderful
“A masterclass in intricate and intimate romance, sizzling sexual tension, and satisfying second-chance romance . . . Pierce works magic with such authentic and relatable characters, full of poignant romantic and personal growth that will have readers everywhere swooning like crazy.”
—Mallory Marlowe, author of Love and Other Conspiracies
“Andie and Kit are the kind of magnetic, multidimensional leads you simply can’t look away from . . . As bingeable as reality television—only it's infinitely hotter and way more emotionally savvy.”
—Jen Devon, author of Right Where We Left Us
“Snappy, sizzling, and sexy . . . Readers will love this page turner that will have them yelling ‘kiss already!’”
—Sarah T Dubb, author of Birding with Benefits
“Not You Again bravely shows that even after hitting a breaking point it’s possible to come out on the other side stronger than ever before.”
—Desirée Niccoli, author of Called to the Deep
Library Journal
06/01/2024
DEBUT Former college sweethearts get a second chance at love through a reality show in Pierce's romantic comedy debut. Andie is an up-and-coming wedding dress designer vying for a spot at fashion week, but she's in need of funding. Her friend clues her in to a chance at $100,000—if she marries a complete stranger, agrees to participate in the First Look at Forever reality show, which would follow her for eight weeks, and signs divorce papers at the show's conclusion. Then there's Kit, who has hustled his entire adult life as a traveling resort architect to provide for his mother and pay her medical bills. She has one request that he can't refuse, that he try to find a life partner by appearing on First Look at Forever, where Kit's first look down the aisle at his new bride reveals not the stranger he was expecting but Andie, whom he left brokenhearted a decade prior. VERDICT Andie and Kit's second-chance romance follows a slow-burn path that is filled with corrective conversations, healing, and tenderness for each other's experiences, while the reality-show backdrop provides a contrasting tension.—Shanel Slater
