Do I Know You? — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Austin Siegmund-Broka & Emily Wibberly
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 352

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): When a couple starts to feel like they’re married to a stranger, a flirtatious game of pretend becomes the spark they need to reignite their relationship.

Eliza and Graham are anticipating an anything-but-sexy, weeklong getaway to celebrate their five-year anniversary. Nestled on the Northern California coastline, the resort prides itself on being a destination for those in love and those looking to find it. For Eliza and Graham, it might as well be a vacation with a roommate.

When a well-meaning guest mistakes Eliza and Graham for being single and introduces them at the hotel bar, they don’t correct him. Suddenly, they’re pretending to be perfect strangers and it’s unexpectedly…fun? Eliza and Graham find themselves flirting like it’s their first date, and waiting with butterflies in their stomach for the other to text back.

Everyone at the retreat can sense the electric chemistry between Eliza and Graham’s alter egos. But when their scintillating game of roleplaying ends, will they still feel the heat?

First Impressions

This duo is one of my favorites. I first got into their YA books, but they recently started writing adult romance as well. Even though I wasn’t crazy about their first one, The Roughest Draft, I loved the cover and summary of this one. When I was offered to read it for review I was beyond excited to get my hands on it before it was published.

What I thought

I’m not normally one for second chance romances but I adored this one.

Eliza and Graham are celebrating their 5 year anniversary at a resort, provided to them as a gift from Graham’s mom. They’ve been going through a rough patch in their marriage and are both worried that it is slipping away from them. When they get mistaken for strangers early on in their trip, they decide to continue with the charade for the week to try to bring back the spark of dating into their relationship.

I loved the message of never stop dating that this book brought. What drove me nuts were the problems Graham and Eliza were actually having. I also felt like Eliza ended up getting a lot of the blame for their issues, while it felt to me Graham’s issues were the bigger problem. Eliza, basically, shuts down and hasn’t been sharing some of the emotionally difficult pieces with Graham. However, Graham at his core believes that he is not good enough for Eliza and constantly worries he will never live up to being the person that she needs him to be. Basically, if they had gone to therapy and talked just once, then their problems would’ve been solved.

I enjoyed the shenanigans and seeing how Graham and Eliza would play off of each other. They had great banter and it was cute to see their connection and it easily explained how they fell in love in the first place.

One annoyance I had was Graham constantly thinking that Eliza didn’t like him and only wanted the fake version of himself. It felt a little repetitive and annoyed me that even though she and his new friend were pointing out the obvious, he still didn’t believe it. I didn’t understand his self-confidence issues and it just drained on me after a while.

I very much appreacted how the story ended. I think my biggest issue with second chance romances is when they don’t address the issues they had the first time around, and I do think Eliza and Graham did this. I loved seeing their growth and I thought the entire concept of this book was fun.