Dla Isabelli Shay to wielki dzień. Właśnie dziś ma rozpocząć nową wymarzoną pracę. Firma, w której została zatrudniona, jest jednym z najlepszych pracodawców w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Byłoby niezręcznie, gdyby Izzy spóźniła się już pierwszego dnia... A wszystko wskazuje na to, że dokładnie tak się stanie. Dziewczyna nie potrafi wyobrazić sobie poranka bez dyniowego latte, a kolejka w kawiarni ciągnie się w nieskończoność.
Kiedy więc barista po raz trzeci woła "Amy" po odbiór dokładnie takiego samego napoju, jaki zamówiła Izzy, dziewczyna pozwala sobie na drobne oszustwo – podaje się za Amy i zabiera kawę.
Pech chciał, że w pośpiechu wpada na twardą jak skała męską pierś obleczoną w wykrochmaloną białą koszulę, na której ląduje cała zawartość kubka. Co więcej – pierś ta należy do najprzystojniejszego mężczyzny, jakiego Izzy w życiu widziała. Ponieważ wciąż bardzo się śpieszy, proponuje mężczyźnie spotkanie następnego dnia o tej samej porze. Nieznajomy się zgadza, żegnając ją słowami: "Do jutra, Amy". Izzy już wtedy przeczuwa, że nieźle namieszała. Jednak jutro wszystko wyprostuje, więc nie ma się czym martwić, prawda?
Jakież jest jej zdziwienie, kiedy kilka godzin później poznaje swojego nowego szefa i okazuje się nim nie kto inny, jak mężczyzna z kawiarni... I chociaż Blake był czarujący wobec "Amy", to dla Izzy jest aroganckim gburem, który wcale nie uważa jej wyjaśnień za zabawne.
Przypadkowo Amy to rozkoszna, przezabawna powieść, która ogrzeje cię jak kubek dyniowego latte w jesienny dzień. Historia o nieporozumieniu w kawiarni, które przemienia się w niezwykle zabawną, zmysłową i przeuroczą komedię, przypadnie do gustu wielbicielkom i wielbicielom niebanalnych książek z figlarnym twistem.
"I dare you not to fall in love with Lynn's writing!" - Ali Hazelwood
Easy.
Just because I want to be funny, in the writing: "Gawwwd" was used twice. "Gawwwwd" was used thrice. "Gawwwwwd" was used four times. "Gawwwwwwd" was used once. "Gawwwwwwwd" was used twice. "Gawwwwwwwwd" was used once.
let me start off with everything i didn't like about this book.
the story starts off with the fmc, izzy, at a starbucks, waiting for her coffee and she didn't want to be late to her first day of her new job, so when the barista calls for “amy” three times and no one gets the drink, izzy gets it! she's such a rebel am i right?! 🫥
she ends up running into the mmc's chest, which happens in almost every book at this point. anyways, that's how they met and he thought her name was amy, she didn't correct him. when he found out it wasn't, he was so upset about it?! it really wasn't that serious...
→ the fmc was giving “i'M nOt LiKe OtHeR giRls”
“Now, don't be jealous of my strength, Blakey,” she said, dancing around like a boxer getting ready for a fight. “This isn't something everyone can do.”
“To be honest, I've never been a fan of the dough-dome pizza that they call calazone. I like my slices big, open, and melty. Just like my men.”
“Side note: Every time he called me Iz, a sex angel got its wings.”
“She grinned at me and said, ‘You couldn't stay away, could you? You just had to touch me.’”
“I was smiling again like a damn fool. You want me to text you before I sex you?” → mmc
→ seriously got the ick multiple times throughout this book 😭😭 fmc reminded me of liz from bttm (she was annoying as well)
→ her literal nickname for the mmc was MR. CHEST. it was so cringe. your telling me there both almost 30 years old and they were texting like TEENAGERS. a solid 1/4 of the book is just chapters of them texting or calling.
→ the third act breakup was so bad 💀 lynn painter couldn't even do that right. it wasn't even his fault either
→ i also hated how the POV switched throughout the chapter, multiple times sometimes. one second it's izzy and the next were reading blake's POV for no reason.
→ THE SPICE. lynn painter, stick to YA. that was so poorly written i was internally screaming. the MC's were saying “you want me to sex you up?” 🤦🏻♀️
→ the office romance. he's her boss but that did not contribute AT ALL. the main point of the book for a while was that they could only be friends because he was her boss, and then out of no where he just was like “hey, if you want to be more than besties, lmk! 😉”
→ the “meet-cute”. IT WAS NOT. when she ran into him, she spilled coffee on his shirt and started looking at his chest. he asked why and she said she was looking for a THIRD NIPPLE. if i were him, i'm running as far as i can 🏃🏻♀️
the 1.5 stars is for the blake, he was a lil cute.
there was random and pointless scenes 😭 for example, why was josh (fmc's cousin) in the book? he didn't contribute at all. or the fact that blake had cats, it was just... well, useless.
i did enjoy some of this, it was a little interesting and i was excited to write my hate review. best part of my day 🤪
also, just to clear things up this is the NEW EDITION that is being released in 2025. on the app it doesn't let me go to the different editions and i'm too lazy to get on the website
Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Came here for the cover, but the story wasn't as good..
Don't get me wrong, it was an easy read, cute, and I liked Izxy and Blake together, but they were both so immature, especially Izzy, and she was just pure chaos! I liked it better than Mr Wrong number, but this author definitely likes her ditzy, clutzy, no filter heroines! Also why so much pizza?! Just got weird after a while 😂🍕
this story starts off with our FMC, izzy, running into our MMC, blake at a starbucks. the barista ends up saying the name "amy", and after no reply, izzy runs up to pretend it's her drink. when she turns around, she ends up splashing blake with the drink, without realizing he is the VP of her new job. while this meet cute, is cute, i felt there needed to be more for this to relevant and make me feel a connection. the entire premise felt very forced and insta-lovey.
this is pretty much the entire premise of the novel. my main issue was that i felt like lynn was trying to portray too many different aspects, which unfortunately made this novel an overall mess. our FMC was constantly giving the circa 2012 : i Am NoT LiKe oThEr GiRlS which was very jarring and cringy given the prose. given their ages and professions, i was not vibing with their deportment and mannerisms. both the main characters felt very jejune and unfledged to AND around each other, even though they just met. lastly, i did NOT like the smut and the third act breakup, as it was not salient for this novel.
overall, this was not horrible, but compared to her other work, this unfortunately lacks in many areas.
The latte larceny to lovers pipeline. Lynn Painters’ Accidentally Amy is ‘uh, kind of a funny story’ where stolen lattes leads to stolen hearts and a whole load of HR violations. I know I said I was done with Painter’s adult novels but this just got a reprint having originally come out in 2022 and, well why not? I have not learned my lesson because I still find her to work better in YA where the characters feel more suited to their age and roles in life but this had its charm. And a lot of pizza—why is getting horny with pizza a thing in so many romcoms lately? My town apparently needs better pizza. After a strong meet-cute premise giving way to confusion and her crush who happens to also be management material at work gets all disappointed dad, this was a quirky and cutesy little tale of the “Shes Not Like Other Girls gets the super hot but emotionally unavailable until he’s suddenly a firehose of emotion with the equivalent of a firehouse in his pants” variety. Fun, feisty and a cute quick read.
‘Those conversations belonged to Mr. Chest and Scooter’s Amy, two free-spirited people who happened to now be textual friends. AVP Blake and HR Izzy were definitely not those people.’
Good news friends, Blake and Izzy are gonna roleplay Mr Chest (yes…its eye rolling every time) and Amy til the day they die. This has a lot of rather well crafted frustration as the duo navigate the initial rocky start with Blake going from text flirting to ‘ultrahot , über-judgemental asshole’ and the whole rigamarole of their romance being fairly frowned upon by corporate standards. Speaking of standards, this is fairly standard fare without much deviation from the romcom formula beyond a clever opening but that’s also not necessarily a bad thing. Unless you want them to be bad (with each other) and don’t worry, they will. Also horny elevators. I’ve apparently read enough romcoms in the past year to have a spice compass and I’ve never found Painter to be the best at it but having read that Tessa Bailey Christmas novella I gotta say it could also be a lot worse. I also liked this significantly more than Happily Never After.
A relatively cute and only moderately cringy (I’m being kind) little romance with the third act drama centering around why dating a supervisor tends to rock the waves in the office politics which, comparatively, isn’t the worst plotline for third act drama. Accidentally Amy isn’t a show stopper but you get what you expect and that’s not so bad. And Izzy also gets what she expects when she asks ‘Do you believe in fate, Mr. Chest?’ If you guessed this bland ass suit of a man might actually open up and say ‘I didn’t until I met you’ well you win. +1000 cool points to you
Isabella Shay is usually very honest. But it was the first day that Pumpkin Spice Latte was being offered for the season, and her annual vice could NOT be denied despite the fact that it was also her first day at a new job.
She orders, pays and waits and waits and WAITS!
The barista yells “Amy”-“Amy”- AMY! (3 TIMES)
“Amy” never steps forward to claim her latte- so Izzy does the unthinkable- She swipes the Pumpkin Spice!
But Karma is a “witch” and as she turns around with her hot coffee-she runs directly into an even hotter man-spilling the drink all over his expensive shirt and tie.
Luckily, he is actually pretty forgiving and sparks fly as they flirt a bit and agree to meet the next day.
“See you tomorrow, Amy.”
Not so luckily-he turns out to be Blake Phillips, the VP of her department, and her new boss and he doesn’t take dishonesty lightly!
This “Meet-Cute” started out as a Serial that author Lynn Painter sent out to her subscribers one chapter at a time, and once it concluded, (2022) she published the manuscript in book form for those who requested it. In the foreword, the author shares that she always wished she could go back and change a few things. When Berkley offered to publish this she got her chance and she added about 10,000 new words, wrote it from a different POV, and gave us more Izzy and Blake along with some new characters.
So, you might say that Accidentally Amy, accidentally became this 2025 book!
The result? A Rom-Com filled with lots of witty banter and spice-and not just the Pumpkin Spice variety and the story was as cute as the book cover!
I enjoyed my first book from Lynn Painter and was definitely rooting for this pizza 🍕 loving gal and her 🐈⬛ cat loving boss to find a way to be together despite company rules that PROHIBIT them from dating.
It was entertaining from start to finish, and just what I needed this week! I will definitely looking to read more from this author!
A buddy read with MarilynW-be sure to watch for her amazing review too!
This UPDATED version is NOW AVAILABLE!
Thank You to Berkley for the gifted ARC provided by NetGalley. As always, these are my candid thoughts!
Zgadzam się, że to najsłabsza książka tej autorki. Relacja rozwija się zbyt szybko i trochę brak w niej konsekwencji. Niemniej jest przyjemna i można się przy niej odprężyć.
Dodatkowy minus za użycie tabletki gw@łtu w kontekście zapachu męskich perfum.
Started out as a promising 3-4 star read but quickly went downhill after the first half. I loved Lynn's other book and was kind of hoping that this one would also be a cute romcom but idk there was no plot, no character personality and no conflict/struggle. Hell it wasn't even cringe. Or cheesy. Or any other emotion one can associate with a romcom. By the end I felt nothing. Nada. Zilch. Not even disappointment. Wow. This was so badly written. I can't believe it. Would definitely advise against reading it. The only saving grace of the book is it's cover.
“This is – by far - the most shocking thing I’ve ever heard. Do you believe in fate, Mr. Chest?” “I didn’t until I met you, Starbucks Amy.”
I am telling you, this book has given me a serious book hangover! It surprised me with it's witty dialogues, oh so hilarious banter and such an intense kind of chemistry between Izzy & Blake that made me melt into a puddle. It had me laughing, swooning and rooting for Blake & Izzy throughout the entire span. No other book has made me laugh as much as this book did in this year. It was so memorable, well written and beyond any doubt romantic! These characters were just so unintentionally funny, sweet, quirky and charming. Blake was just so hot and the smooth moves he made had my stomach flutter with butterflies. And Izzy was just so fucking adorable. When Blake told her to never change herself, I was like "I totally get you dude". 😂😂😂 Overall, this made me feel all the FEELS lol! These characters had so much soul and personality to the point that they felt real to me tbh. I literally felt Blake & Izzy's connection because it was just so palpable. THEY ARE EVERYTHING!!! I'm so obsessed with Lynn Painter's books so this is obviously a five star read for me and I'm just so in love with this story!
a genuine waste of time and the main character is fucking intolerably quirky and keeps saying “PSL” for pumpkin spice latte and it made me want to KMS if we are doing acronyms
Lynn I love you but no 😭 absolutely not, the first mistake was naming a cat “the darkling” then proceeding to write “The Darkling is sitting on your lap. Why does that conjure the unfortunate image of Ben Barnes reclining on my thighs?” , this was so bad it’s comical, please just stick to writing cute little YA rom-coms bc those are superior 😭
Boli mnie serce bo kocham Lynn ale nie jestem szczególną fanką tej książki. Za szybko wszystko się dzieje, relacja między bohaterami jest dosyć płytka. Brakuje mi tutaj kilku rozdziałów, dłuższego zachowania tajemnicy o Amy.
Niemniej jeśli szukacie lekkiej książki to polecam, ale raczej szybko o niej zapomniecie
Came for the cover. Left because of the "Ohmigawwwwwd", the "Ohmigod" in 2 consecutive pages, and the random references to fatal attraction and silence of the lambs.
their 2nd meeting:
"Izzy made a noise in her throat and felt like she needed garlic or some type of dagger she could plunge into Mr. Chest’s chest as protection, because statements like that were a straight-up assault on her ovaries.
Just take my heart now, you gorgeous wank."
I'm sick and tired of the insta-lust. Call me when she makes a new Wes Bennet
(Speaking of - Elizabeth Bennet's husband was also mentioned here "It reminded her of the way Darcy said Mr. Wickham? and stepped closer to Elizabeth during his rain proposal")
it’s not in first person btw which I don’t usually mind but I hated it here
- - - - - - - - - - -
Love the cover. Hate the premise. Hate 3/5 Painter books I read. So yeah. this might be a hate read after the mess that was Betting on You.
Current Lynn Painter book rankings:
1. the do-over 1. better than the movies 5. betting on you 5. love wager 5. Mr. Wrong number
could've been three stars bc it was kinda cute but i literally cannot encourage reylos to keep publishing actual books. “number three,” she said, using the same tone a teacher would use if a student were interrupting, “I’m a little obsessed with reylo fanfic” my brother in christ this is a disease that is infecting literature and i WILL act as a gatekeeper if i have to in order to keep that shit out <3333 at my heart i am a hater
I absolutely loved this one! From the start, I loved Izzy (FMC). She's quirky, fun, awkward and relatable. The meet cute and accidentally Amy bit truly made me giggle throughout the story. Literally LOVED Blake. This truly had me rooting for them the entire time! I loved how the ending played out. Cute, funny and spicy bits! Great all around!!
I received this ARC to read/review from Berkley Publishing Group. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.
ew. i love some of lynn painters books, but this was nothing short of exceedingly cringeworthy and icky. those would be euphemisms if i could think of better adjectives right now. it was just ludicrously nonsensical. imagine showing this atrocity to a victorian child. why lynn?? i wish i could give zero stars. i’d highly recommend you to steer clear from this book if you like lynn painter otherwise you will be irrevocably traumatized.
“i dare you not to fall in love with lynn painters writing” and then her writing reads like a 12 year olds wattpad fan fiction in this, actually, those are probably better. anyway, what are you on ali hazelwood? cause that’s debatable, and i beg to differ. HOW could i dare TO? “wow - he was so tall. he towered over her, which was probably why she felt fidgety and frazzled.” 😀. “izzy looked at him, feeling like a total derp.” then there’s all the questionable ubiquitous word choice. if i read “gahhhhh”, “bonkers”, “ohmigod”, or “ohmigawwwd” again, i’m gonna go livid.
there’s nothing much to say about isabella other than the fact that she’s your never-seen-before-not-typical-tiny-unlike-other-girls-fmc, as shown through a plethora of statements! every single opportunity was taken to reiterate that. another one including, “he looked at her - damn, she was short - and she grinned.” or “he wondered why - what the hell was wrong with him - her unorthodox everything was charming the hell out of him.” or “‘they don't like people,’ he said. "’oh, well, i’m not people,’ she replied”
concerning blake/mr chest (that nickname makes me want to SOB. violently, that is. as a society i firmly believe we should abolish such nicknames‼️), i remember nothing at all about him other than the fact that he’s tall, apparently handsome, and has a hard chest with a six pack. (maybe? i’m not sure exactly). though, i’m pretty sure that’s all there was to him.
sometimes i forgot they were adults after seeing how petulant they were and reading their texts: “Izzy: I'm not answering because I need to think. Blake: Um...? Izzy: Imma b honest w/u. I like u and want 2 b ur friend. Blake: Wtf happened to your texting? Are you a middle schooler now? Izzy: I'm trying to jot down some ideas before I lose them so that was my attempt at quick-texting.”
“Izzy: Serves you right - the whole thing was your fault (it didn't have to be like that). I have an orange, Saturn-shaped stain in the center of my shirt, so your tie is child's-play. #CountYourBlessings Blake: Have a good afternoon, Starbucks Amy. Izzy: Same to you, Chestie McBestie.” count your days isabella.
romance you may ask? what romance? romance where? all i remember is them being overtly obsessed with each others smell, taste, and appearance, as well as them perpetually making out, having sex, or praising each others appearance. how can you even say you love each other? HOW. i’m genuinely baffled. hence, the lust is prevalent and the romance is practically non-existent. just like my will to live after reading this. i give them 2 weeks before they realize that they don’t like each others appearance anymore and they break up even after saying “i love you”. little horny liars. i don’t care if he said he loves her cause she’s quirky and funny. i’m convinced it’s a lust-induced statement.
more absolutely vile quotes: -“mr. chest's chest was chestal perfection.” -“you want me to text you before I sex you?” -"honey, I was hooked the minute you felt me up in starbucks, checking for a third nipple in those dirty-ass glasses." -“he is a poo-poo about his flowers”
other random complaints: -the third act breakup was abhorrent. -on what felt like every page there was a statement like “was s/he getting butterflies from [some random aspect of the other persons appearance]? no way.. what’s wrong with her/him?” everything. hope this helps! or there was also the question “is it hot in here” an unnecessary amount of times. please stop. -i don’t care if this was only 200 something pages. it felt like a chore to read from the absurd amount of times i cringed, said “ew” out loud, or grimaced and had to continue.
yada yada. this book and review was a mess. i can’t tell if this was as bad as the spanish love deception or worse. yes, this review mostly consisted of quotes, but honestly a bunch of quotes are all i needed to elaborate. someone come back and tell me when she makes a new do-over and nick stark please and thanks!
I had high hopes but this one did not live up to my expectations at all.
I just could not wrap my head around the fact the girl started texting her boss random shit only after meeting him for the first time. I mean she is either nuts or was high as fuck
I first read this back in 2022 through Kindle Unlimited and absolutely loved it. Since then, it's always been my favourite Lynn Painter book. If you’re unaware, this is a revamped version published by Berkley! You can expect a POV change, new characters, and additional chapters!
There’s something really special about Lynn Painter’s writing. Her dialogue is so addictive. I practically inhale her stories! This one begins with a stolen latte, sparking an instant connection between Izzy and Blake (a.k.a. Amy and Mr. Chest). But when they discover Izzy works under Blake at her new job, they have to get extra creative to continue their newfound friendship.
Izzy is such a memorable character! Her sense of humour is utterly chaotic, but I adored her for it. I loved how Blake totally embraced her quirks, even playing into them. Their texts and banter were so funny! And I must add, Blake spoiling his cats was definitely a highlight.
But for some reason, I didn't enjoy this updated version as much. Was it the switch to first person POV? Or maybe my preferences have just changed? The romance itself felt much more lusty and erratic than I remember. It’s still a very fun and silly read—I'm just surprised that my opinion changed. I really wish I had my original copy to compare and contrast!
3.5 ⭐
(heat level: a few open-door scenes, mild to moderate details)
Thank you Berkley Romance for the gifted copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
3 ⭐️ A mixture of cute and cheesy with a dash of cringe but it was still an easy audiobook to get through
WHAT TO EXPECT: ✨ contemporary rom-com ✨ coffee shop meet cute ✨ insta attraction ✨ boss x employee ✨ forbidden romance ✨ forced proximity ✨ he falls first ✨ .25/5 🌶️ ✨ HEA
My Thoughts:
I really like insta lust/attraction/love but this was insane! Blake broke up with his fiancé 3 weeks ago, meets Isabella, and is immediately in love. Like, what??? Also, his breakup has zero emotional impact on him or this budding relationship with Isabella. They never talk about it and when he does think about it (one time), he pretty much is like, "I realize I never really loved my fiancé because I never cared for her as much as I do for Isabella, who I've only known for two weeks." Excuse me, sir. Why were you engaged then? How am I supposed to believe you when you say you love Isabella?? This would have been a really big red flag to me. So if this would really bother you, don't read this story. Eventually, I had to just accept that we weren't going to get a lot of depth from Blake and his past, so I just sort of accepted that this was their situation and ignored how unrealistic it all was. But deluding myself made it possible for me to listen to the rest of the story.
While I did like the story and the characters overall, Isabella and Blake falling in love so quickly felt immature and I also didn’t really understand why they developed such strong feelings so fast. It was giving the 'fated mates' trope but in a contemporary world.
One small thing that bothered me is how Isabella and Blake would sometimes speak to each other. They were supposedly being playful, but it came off as childish and cringe instead of cute at times.
I liked the audiobook narrator. She did a fantastic job voicing Isabella and Blake, and bringing this story to life.
Overall, this is not a perfect story, but if you can get over some of the ridiculousness, I think you'll enjoy it. 😅