Quick Synopsis

Two broken hearts decide that the best way to get over their first loves is with a no-strings-attached relationship in this spicy and charming debut romance.

Publisher’s Synopsis

Librarian Marcela Ortiz has been secretly in love with her best friend for years—and when he gets engaged, she knows it’s long past time to move on. But before she gets the chance, she has a bigger problem to contend with in the form of Theo Young, ex-NFL player and older brother of the man she’s in love with. When she discovers Theo’s plans to confess his feelings for his brother’s fiancée at their engagement party, Marcela is quick to stop him—despite how tempting it is to let him run away with the bride-to-be. She manages to convince Theo to sleep off his drunken almost-mistake at her place and when they arrive at a family brunch the next day together, everyone wrongly assumes they hooked up.

Since Theo needs a cover for his feelings for the bride and Marcela needs a distraction from her unrequited feelings for the groom, they decide to roll with the lie. Until one late night at a bar, they take it a step further and discover a layer of attraction neither realized existed. Soon, they find themselves exploring the simmering chemistry between them, whether in library aisles or Marcela’s bed. There are no boundaries for the rebound relationship they form—just a host of complicated feelings, messy familial dynamics, and uncovered secrets that threaten to tear them apart before they can even admit to themselves that their rebound is working. Maybe a little too well.  

Book Review

I went into The Next Best Fling completely blind, knowing nothing about the book or synopsis. I requested this novel purely based upon the cover. I am all about representing all types of bodies in books and love to see a fat woman finding her joy.

The Next Best Fling is about two people still in love with their exes. Librarian Marcela Ortiz has been secretly pining for her best friend and ex, Ben Young, for years. Former NFL player Theo Young is in love with his younger brother (Ben)’s fiancé, Alex. At their engagement party, Theo is determined to finally tell Alex how he feels until Marcela interferes. After Marcela intervenes and takes Theo home to sleep of his drunken state, they show up at family brunch the next morning… together. Everyone assumes they hooked up. To get through the pending nuptials, Marcela and Theo decide to roll with the fake relationship… and embrace the rumors.

The beginning of The Next Best Fling surprised me… not in a good way. It was my mistake for not reading the synopsis. I found the entire set up with Theo trying to profess his feelings to his brother’s fiancé at their engagement party to be beyond cringey. (Do I doubt a grown man would do this? No, but I wanted no part in it.) It made me recoil so hard that I put the book down and debated whether to finish it for 3 months. Obviously, my guilt won out, and I decided to overlook the start. And when I did, I was pleasantly surprised.

I was blown away by Gabriella Gamez’s writing and found it hard to believe this is a debut novel. In fact, this is one of the best written romance novels I have read in ages. It is both a well-written and deep read. Gamez’s descriptions and narrative are emotionally evocative, allowing the romance to build over time. The chemistry sizzled and transcended the page. In addition, I appreciated the different representation that is included in the novel: fat, asexual, Latine, and more. It was addressed as one facet of a character and not made their entire personality, never feeling like tokenism.

While I initially was skeptical about the protagonists, they quickly endeared themselves. I think this says a lot about how well the characters are developed in The Next Best Fling. Beyond the protagonists, Gamez created depth with the side characters. This made it easy to hated who we were clearly supposed to and love those who we should. I also really enjoyed seeing the growth of the protagonists over the narrative’s course.

Overall, The Next Best Fling is a well-written, emotional romance novel despite a cringey start. I definitely recommend it. And I will be keeping an eye on Gabriella Gamez and picking up the next book she writes.

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