The Co-Op: A Novel Paperback – 12 Nov. 2024

Love! Love! Love! Love this story. Just like her first two books Tarah's writing just does something to my heart….I find it really peaceful, she creates these little moments of normal life that makes me feel like I'm there with the characters and I just love it so much. This is an enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers and I am here for that!!! While visiting her grandmother for the summer LaRynn meets Deacon (her Grandmothers partners grandson) when she is 18 but is left heartbroken by Deacon and doesn't return until she inherits her Grandmother house 8 years laterAnd even though they can barely look at each other the pair embark on a summer renovating the house to sell while living in it…. together obviously! LaRynn and Deacon have sizzling hot chemistry right from the first page. Deacon is a wicked flirt and LaRynn is all in at playing him at his own game which makes their banter brilliant and so funny. It's so obvious from the very start that they are madly in love, but boy do they have to WORK to get to that HEA but that pay off is so so swweeeeeet!! This book also has one of my favourite epilogues ever - it just made me so insanely happy. Tarah is a queen and you absolutely need to read all of her books immediately if you haven't already.

I loved this book so much, the characters were dynamic and each brought their own parental issues which added to the tension, the slow burn, the anger, it all builds to revisiting beautiful moments of past friendship and their teenage lust.The joys and stresses of home renovations are weaved through the story which gives brilliant moments of humour and comedic scenes.Loss, grief, infidelity and health issues are dealt with in a delicate way that although don't happen on the page but wouldn't heavily trigger readers.This was an easy read and would be great for anyone in a book slump, its redemption, its love and its perfect

"Dipped cones taste like the first time with her, every time. Like trembling, fumbling limbs and foggy windows and being verbally whipped and then sweetly kissed."Some of my all-time favorite romance tropes in one story is like a dream come true. Forced proximity, marriage of convenience, enemies to lovers, and a second-chance romance, the Co-op delivers all with exquisite plot, lovable characters and amazing writing. I've instantly fallen in love with both LaRynn and Deacon, their banter, constant aggravation, screams and laughs, but most importantly in their shared determination to make a partnership between two people, who could not be any more different, work. What certainly helped is that I relate to LaRynn's character on so many levels, her part in making it work felt motivating, like I too can be a great team-member if I open my heart to it.Congratulations Tarah and thank you for yet another amazing romance story, which I will always recommend!Read if you like:- second-chance romance- marriage of convenience- forced proximity- enemies-to-lovers- swaying together to favorite songs at random moments

I really loved this book not only for the story but for the fully fledged characters, they really felt like real people who are both flawed humans and capable of love

This second-chance golden-retriever-boyfriend and black-cat-girlfriend rom-com contains a great combination of enemies-to-lovers and marriage-of-convenience tropes, with deeper layers of restoration, not only of homes but relationships. Too many dashes in my sentence? Too bad, you should be dashing to read it instead! Seriously, a heartwarming and lovely read though there were some things I wish I had vibed better with. For fans of “How To Lose a Guy In 10 Days”.After reading "Savor It" back in May, I was obsessed with Tarah DeWitt’s manner of writing. She captures the essence of her characters and the story she is telling and touches the soul. While I prefer her other book, this has a special place in my heart.This story is actually the book she began after her debut Rootbound but she didn’t get the chance to finish it when there was a demand for Funny Feelings. It was released in 2022, but it has been re-released in 2024, with tweaked – or you could say “renovated” haha! – and bonus content added. Now, as someone who has not read the original, I cannot compare but I just know that it has been redone well because of how much I love this.DeWitt considers this her favourite work, and I can see why in terms of the story itself. There are very raw heartfelt moments and those who have had experiences like strained relationships with family or still harbouring feelings for someone will find this rather relatable. Both LaRynn and Deacon go through these things. I wish I could put into words how much their dynamic meant to me, because it felt so realistic: seeing two broken people misinterpret each other so much when they were younger, trying to play it cool, to them years later eventually allowing their barriers to come down, seeing the real sides of themselves and embracing their flaws. And their flaws were so well-defined, so human, I just want to hug them both!Tarah DeWitt hooks you into this book so well through the prologue. The date the story is set is “Some Wednesday in May” where LaRynn is marrying Deacon. This firstly, sets the scene and tension because a wedding is considered one of the most important days of a person’s life so by describing as some Wednesday shows LaRynn’s feelings: that it is strictly business, not a special day, therefore the details do not matter. Secondly, it makes you immediately want to read more, as it is established that she is getting married to the man who broke her heart nearly a decade ago, and it’s like “Wait whaaat? What happened? How did it come to this?” – this was done excellently! The momentum after that was neither here nor there for me and only picked up around the halfway point when they became more communicative and open.In a lot of ways, this book reminded me of the contemporary romance I read earlier this year called "The Ex Vows" by Jessica Joyce. Interestingly, this book was also planned to be released earlier and contained a dual timeline. It also reminds me of "The Reno" by Maggie Grant, another 5-star read which is about renovation and strained relationships with parents, too!A few things that made this a 4 star instead of 5:I feel the time-jumping was confusing at times, and then the “Before” sections stop some time well before the end, and I think the buildup should have been more progressive and less telling at once.LaRynn’s character irritated me at times, especially in Chapter 13 when she overdoes the spending of the budget and buys ridiculous things without consulting Deacon (particularly when they share the budget). I understand, especially the more you read, that this is her way of healing her inner self and giving herself comfort she never had (furniture for a permanent home because her parents were always moving place to place). She does deserve to have nice things but she was being unreasonable. She could also be rather petty and it was too petty for me.I didn’t vibe with when Mrs. Gold and Deacon’s mother find the pair of them canoodling in the shed. It was amusing, don’t get me wrong, but it felt too silly for my liking. I wanted them to have that moment to themselves.