Not Here to Make Friends (#3) by Jodi McAllister

19 Aug 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Audiobook, Australian Women Writers, Fiction, Romance Tags: , , , , , ,

Published: 3 January 2024 (print)/2 January 2024 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Atria Books/Simon & Schuster Australia
Pages: 400/9 hrs and 35 mins
Narrator: Matty Morris, Aileen Huynh
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Romance
★   ★   ★   ★ – 4 Stars

Murray O’Connell is standing on the greatest precipice of his career. As showrunner of the reality dating show Marry Me, Juliet, Murray is determined to make this season a success.

Nothing and nobody will stand in his way.

Except perhaps Lily Fireball, the network’s choice for this season’s villain. Lily has classic reality TV appeal: She’s feisty, dramatic, and never backs down from a fight. She also happens to be Murray’s estranged best friend and former co-showrunner.

What was once a perfectly planned season turns to chaos as the two battle for control. Working in reality television, they’re used to drama, secrets, and romance. But what happens when suddenly they’re at the center of the storyline?

I love this series. This is the third version of this story but while there is a whole other side being explored, there’s obvious overlaps and seeing that cross over with what I’ve read in books one and two are great nods to the other points of view while also being a fresh new story on its own. Lily has intrigued me from the very beginning. I have been dying through two books to know Lily’s story. Now I finally have it.

It is amazing to see how easily people can be produced. It’s come up before, not in the reality TV space, but how people can be manipulated or at least be used to gain information or make people reveal more than they normally would. We all know about the editing to get the best TV, it’s something we’ve seen it in the past two books and now we finally have the answers.

Murray has suffered a lot as a result of this and I love how his rushed, tired, and frantic existence is captured in his narration. You can see how run off his feet he is, something that we’d seen briefly in the other books but it’s fun to see the poor man suffer at the whims of these characters who aren’t doing the story they originally planned on.

It isn’t all heart-warming and sunshine, nor a revisit to scenes and plots we’ve read before. Seeing behind the scenes of reality TV has never been my cup of tea. I don’t actually like seeing how manipulative producers and editing can be. Now McAlister has given us the perspective of those behind the scenes it’s hard to see the enjoyment in these shows. Where previous books showed how the characters could defy the chosen narrative and make their own paths, it’s hard seeing how those less fortunate can’t escape being manipulated by what makes “good TV”.

Having said that, it’s still great. It’s interesting because a few chapters in you know where it’s going, you’ve also read the other books so one side you’ve seen already. Yet McAlister has still makes these characters intriguing enough, their dynamic engaging enough, that you need to see how they both react to what happens in this story.

Despite being on the dodgy side of ethics, Murray and Lily do know they aren’t the best people. Coercing people into their narratives and staging things to get the outcomes they want are things they know aren’t good, but they know they are good at them as well.

The replay of scenes we’ve read before never feel repetitive and it’s a good reminder of what’s happened and the different points of view and how those events came to be. Reading the three books gives a perfect view of every angle of the story. The final story being the behind the scenes manipulations, puppetry, and wrap up of the mysteries of the previous books is perfect.

You can purchase Not Here to Make Friends via the following

QBD |  Booktopia

Wordery |  Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Here for the Right Reasons (#1) by Jodi McAlister

24 May 2023 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, Audiobook, Australian Women Writers Tags: , , , , , ,

Published: 6 July 2022 (print)/5 July 2022 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Simon Schuster Australia/Simon Schuster Australia
Pages: 352/9 hrs and 45 mins
Narrator: Jaimee Taylor-Nielsen
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fiction
★   ★   ★  – 3 Stars

When Cece James agrees to be cast as a ‘Juliet’ on the next season of the hit television show Marry Me, Juliet, it’s certainly not for the right reasons. She’s knee deep in debt and desperate for the associated paycheck. The last thing on her mind is the hunky ‘Romeo’ waiting for her at the end of the gravel driveway.

But Dylan Jayasinghe Mellor isn’t your usual fame-hungry TV star. An Olympic gold medallist with calloused hands, kind eyes and a propensity for panic attacks, it turns out he’s not here for the right reasons either. As spokesperson for a men’s mental health foundation, and the franchise’s first non-white male lead, Dylan’s got a charity to plug and something to prove.

When Cece gets eliminated on the first night, it seems like her and Dylan’s awkward first meeting will be their last conversation. But when the TV set is shut down unexpectedly, Cece and Dylan suddenly get a little more time together than they’d expected.

Will love bloom when the cameras stop rolling?

Reading these out of order was accidental so I knew what to expect but at the same time I was interested to see a whole new storyline because there is definitely two separate love stories happening despite being set during the same experience.

I loved that for the first part on the show we see the same conversations playing out because of course they’re all in the same group. It makes me wonder if I’d done it in another order I’d have the same surprises. The ending of book two was a nice reveal that you had an inkling about, whereas this doesn’t have the same feeling of mystery to it.

Without comparing the two books, I found I wasn’t invested in the Dylan/Cece relationship like I was before with the other story. I don’t know why, Dylan is perfectly nice, a little one dimensional at times, maybe too I couldn’t warm up to Cece as narrator. I found myself tuning out unintentionally which I felt bad about, but I couldn’t stay in the story. The conversations between Dylan and Cece didn’t grab me and it felt flat. It wasn’t that I need drama or anything, but I never became invested in their characters.

You definitely see the two falling in love as they become better friends, a great contrast against the backdrop of reality TV and fabricated relationships for personal gain and fame. You also see Cece’s growth as she builds in confidence and finds out what’s she’s looking for, but she never felt complete. With the knowledge of book two I actually enjoyed their relationship from an outsider’s perspective more fulfilling.

I felt I got more out of the story having read book two. I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I did it the other way but there was something interesting about having extra knowledge that wasn’t being revealed in the story. Knowing the ending doesn’t ruin anything. You know where it’s going to go anyway, this is enjoying the journey and discovering the trials and tribulations on the way to the destination.

McAlister did a great job having two separate locations and so dual storylines could happen. We only see Cece’s side, and this focuses it more on a story with her inner turmoil than being about the dating show aspect alone. Often the television dating part is something happening in the background, something that we pop in and out of and connects to a wider story. That’s not to say we don’t see the drama of reality TV. There are extra characters to clash with but the situation McAlister has put Cece in means a lot of time is spent in her head which often felt repetitive.

I did like that both books give an unconventional conclusion; a romance that comes from unexpected places but still a place of sincerity and honesty. I can definitely sense there is a third book coming. If not there needs to be another story about Lilly, her social media brand and whatever is going on with that producer. I need answers because it’s mentioned often enough, and cryptically enough, in both books that it’s a failing if McAlister doesn’t offer any answers at all.

You can purchase Here for the Right Reasons via the following

QBD | Booktopia

Dymocks | Angus and Robinson

 Fishpond | Amazon Aust | Audible

Can I Steal You for a Second (#2) by Jodi McAlister

16 May 2023 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Audiobook, Australian Women Writers, LGBTQIA Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Published: 5 April 2023 (print)/4 April 2023 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Simon Schuster Australia/Simon Schuster Australia
Pages: 352/9 hrs and 45 mins
Narrator: Anthea Greco
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fiction
★   ★   ★   ★ – 4 Stars

Mandie Mitchell will do anything to get over her toxic ex. Even sign up to the polarising reality dating show, Marry Me Juliet. But with her self-esteem in tatters, she’s not sure she’s brave enough to actually go on the show until she forms a friendship with Dylan Gilchrist at the auditions that gives her the push she needs. 

Dylan is everything Mandie is not – tough, strong, and totally unafraid to speak her mind. Unfortunately, she also looks set to win, as she soon becomes the clear favourite of the Romeo, who also happens to share the same name. It’s annoying, really, just how perfect the Dylans seem for each other… 

Mandie’s jealous. But it’s not because she wants to win the show. It’s because in her effort to get over her ex, she’s gone and fallen right back in love… with the wrong Dylan.  

This is a sequel in the Marry Me, Juliet series but it reads perfectly fine as a standalone or a first read if you’re going out of order. I didn’t realise when I picked it up and when I learnt there was a second book I assumed it was a companion book from a new perspective. That one is next on my list but if you’re starting here like I was there is nothing wrong with this being your introduction to these characters.

Being set during the pandemic was creative for the story, kept everyone together and added tension and stress to all of the characters. But on the other hand it did bring back some horror memories I wasn’t expecting but thankfully being in lockdown and raging deadly viruses are a minimal inclusion.

This is the second behind the scenes dating show book I’ve read and I enjoy seeing the manufacturing of shots and dialogue, but at the same time trying to maintain a true love element. Mandie’s love of the show allowed some creative imagined scenarios that sounded plausible and it added a fun element as she imagined how conversations would play out on TV.

McAlister has written characters that felt real, that had their own flaws and made mistakes. I loved that a lot of conflict was internal and character driven – Mandie’s own self-doubt being a key factor as well, but at the same time the external situation of being on a literal dating show added problems too.

There were great surprises and revelations which adds nice drama. There were big reveals and twists but they never felt like they came from nowhere. McAlister uses the characters incredibly well in driving the plot and with each character comes their own wants and needs, not to mention their flaws and misgivings which interact and clash with other people. You really get a sense of being on reality TV, locked up with strangers, vying for the same goal while still trying to appear happy and supportive.

Seeing Mandie’s emotional development through the book was great, she wasn’t a wallflower by any means before, but her blindness to her ex and their behaviour was clear, and I loved the slow reveal that made us realise it too. The positive influence of Dylan was real and never felt sanctimonious or sappy. It always felt like it came from genuine friendship and support. I loved the relationship between Mandie and Dylan and it was nice to see support between two people who were essentially in competition with one another.

I’m still not sure what the deal with Lily was, I had theories but I’m not sure if I was right so I’m going to keep my theories as fact until told otherwise. It felt like a small loose end to never clear that up, but as there is another book it might have more to say.

I’m definitely going to dive into the first book now and get more goss on the other contestants and the different side of the competition. McAlister has so many players to work with it will be great to see another perspective on the reality show and the different possibilities it can bring.

You can purchase Can I Steal You for a Second? via the following

QBD | Booktopia

Dymocks | Angus and Robinson

 Fishpond | Amazon Aust | Audible