From Lemnos, With Love

by Naomi Swan

With a week to spend in paradise, Niko and Elea find themselves in a classic fake dating act, where it’ll take both parties pretending to convince everyone they’re a serious couple. In reality they’re ex-high school peers, both who have very different lives and paths. Could one week really change anything?

Genres: Fake Dating, Romance, Closed Door Romance, Booktok, Summer Reads

344 pages, Paperback

Published November 4, 2023

Reviews

[Imani]

I was driven by pure hate to finish this book.

[Risa]

it’s okay.

The Female lead is so unlikable! I believe this is a grumpy sunshine and the FMC is the grump but she’s just down right mean for no reason and her logic for why she behaves the way she doesn’t never makes much sense. All the issues they had trying to come together were because of her. The male lead made some mistakes at the end but she was always just so rude idk how he fell for her. The plot it’s self is fun and light hearted. I just had a really hard time connecting to the girl.

[Ashika]

if the fmc was a real woman who spoke to me like the way she does in the book her and i would Not Be Friends

[Nadja Abakar]

She was so rude but he was sooo cute so he gets 2 stars

[mel]

fast read, but her judging him all the time was kinda annoying 😭 and wdym you ran straight into a pole just bc you wanted to get away from him, be serious!

[Soha]

Thanks jeebs for the rec

[Anaïss]

2,5 ⭐️ que pour Niko

La meuf au début CHIANTOOSSSS avec Niko vraiment ta gueule. ELLE EST DÉTESTABLE TOUT AU LONG DU LIVRE…

Après le milieux étaient sympa on va dire mais la fin on est au collège pour se comporter comme ça Lucy reprend toi ma grande

Et Elea qui laisse même pas le bénéfice du doute à niko alors qu’elle l’a traité comme une merde tout au long du livre mais lui toujours il était la

VRAIMENT ELEA TA GUEULE PUTAIN TU PARLES TROP LA VIE

Mon poto niko va te trouver une meuf qui te mérite s’il te plaît…

[Books.with.Ana]

I loved this book and I have a lot to say about it.
First of I want to say that Elea was so rude and judgemental at times like hon omg that was really mean. I honestly thought she was a little too rude sometimes for no reason, like you can be grumpy but she was just a little rude and prejudiced. I am glad to see her grow throughout the book, I like that she noticed her mistake and tried to fix it, and even though she changed I like how she kept her wit.

I do like her character though don't get me wrong, I also really relate to her, I also self-sabotage myself in order not to get hurt. I also relate to her cuz I'm also a 24 year old woman who has never had a boyfriend or been kissed before. Like Naomi why did you write a book about me? AUWCH no need to call me out like that.

I absolutely loved Niko though, he is so cute and sweet and I love the golden retriever guy! I loved how even though he was mad at her, he slept in their room because of her fears. I want him!

I loved his relationship with his family, especially his brother and sister, I love my siblings and I know I would do anything for them.

I also love how it took place in Greece, I was born there, lived there for a while and still have family who I visit as often as I can. So it was really nice to read about a place that means so much to me, it makes me miss my family tbh. Also love the Greek terminology that was used, I call my grandpa 'Papuli' so it felt a little like coming home reading them. Gonna get emotional thinking about it

I thought this was just a fun summer romance and everyone should read it right now. It's just a good feel book with a little bit of Mamma Mia vibes. Even thought it doesn't contain smut I do love this book because I do enjoy reading them as well.
Loved it!
Can't wait to see what you write next

[aureliereads]

Going into this book, I had immense expectations. Reverse Grumpy Trope, Black fmc, and a trip to Greece. Count me in! However, the excitement went downhill after reading a few chapters. The fmc was so rude. She was disrespectful to the mmc for no reason. Constantly pushing him away every time he tries to get close to her and form a bond, she gets mad when he does. The couple's dynamic is an epidemy of a hamster on a wheel, going into a circle, never-ending. Towards the end, everything felt rushed. The proposal came out of nowhere. Overall, I'm disappointed. I spent two days reading this book for nothing, wasting my time.

[Ruddy]

I'm 7% in and I want to dnf it.
the plot seems quite nice but the FMC it's just straight mean for no valid reasons, maybe I'm just to early in the book but she is so unlikeable, and judgemental...
will see if I finish it

[leslie]

It was good but Lena’s self discovery arc, whilst relatable was slightly annoying she was just mean ngl.

[readbyaone]

Elea isn't grumpy she's just mean all the time

[Fayruzg]

So cuteeee

[lisa’]

4.5 ⭐️ yes Elea was rude, I’m not seeing the contrary, god, she didn’t even like mamma mia, but everyone has flaws no? It made mad sometimes but it kept the dynamic going, you know? It was a really really good romcom, got me kicking my feet from all the cute stuff Niko was saying. So cute.

[Sofia]

grrrrrrrr the pro to con ratio on this is pretty equal.

pro: greece, kick ass Niko, solid Latino representation
con: she waS INSUFFERABLE, literally assumed the worst every chance she could and lowkey bullied him about his ADHD

[Hailey Tuel]

niko…

This was beautiful, id been counting the days down to be able to read this after waiting for the release. Although im pretty sure I said Eleas name wrong the entire book, forgive me, Niko and Eleas story was so sweet but something I loved that stood out to me vs other fake dating trope books was the timing of the getting back together. Im happy it happened in Lemnos and not back in Brooklyn after spending time apart … I loved getting to hate on lucy … I loved Cassandra and Dylan … I loved hating on Elea and then realizing I was her… and did I mention I loved the book???

[Ashley]

the first 70 maybe even 80% of the book was the fmc being an asshole and insufferable and i really REALLY didn’t like her and was forcing myself to finish the book the real redeeming thing of this book is niko and truly he’s a saint however that lil fight at the end felt so out of character for him and really felt like it was just to make him seem less perfect than he’s been and give a reason to elea to be mad

[Saskia]

Liking the book so far, only fault is the main characters constantly being described as small and petite so many times it starts to get jarring and redundant. Can people relate to this?? I could tell this is the first novel of this author.

[Ale emery]

the fmc was pretty unsufferable

[elodiee]

I read it in 6 hours and it was cute and enjoyable but I had a problem with the « ennemis to lovers » thing since she was only hating him because he was rich (it was more jealousy than hate to me) and at some point it was beginning to be annoying but she got over it
The end also happened very quickly with lots of drama, that was a little bit to much but at the end, the book was okay

[ann]

genuinely so ass pls don’t read main character makes me want to rip my eyes out she’s so selfish and rude and this authors whole petite thing was JARRINGGDHDHEJ. mc wasn’t even grumpy she was outrageous and disrespectful the whole time poor boy has to end up with her😞😞. legit felt like a wattpad book written by a 12 year old girl . just because you can’t write doesn’t mean u should !! 😜😜

[Saja Khalid]

LOVEE IT. I love the girl main character. She’s so relatable. I love her. The fact that when she’s feeling something, she just comes out and say it she was like don’t make me feel bad for you when you did something wrong and I was so proud. She’s so confrontational. It made me laugh so much in the beginning everything was so funny. He was all right there is definitely better. I just love her so much. I didn’t really care for the psych characters. They were just kind of there, but I love that his grandmother let her stay in their house, but his ex couldn’t they didn’t let her in the house. And he said he begged his grandmother to let his ex come and stay in her house. She STILL said no. But when Ella came, they didn’t even have to ask. They just let her in. The only thing I didn’t like about Ella is the fact that she was insecure. Give the vibe confident own up it because you’re making me mad. The guy said a lot of messed up things and they just threw it under the rug and didn’t really acknowledge it. She would not talk to him for like two hours and then they were OK. Which is really bad. In the epilogue, They got married. I didn’t think there was last for that far. In fact that they were kind of thinking that they loved each other from just spending one week together was weird. that’s the main reason. I thought they weren’t gonna last. How do you love someone from just one week? Kind of thought they were delusional. But it’s so sweet. It’s so fluffy. And then nickname thing. The best. I’m just wanted her to be more confident. The main reason I loved Ella was because of how much I relate to her. And she genuinely doesn’t care for his bullshit. Or anyone’s bullshit. She was like oh here comes the humans again. Her made me feel that she felt superior. And then she went on about her being insecure. So it didn’t really fit. But that is the only thing about her character that I didn’t like the rest of the look perfect must read. Goodbye

[Mwyika]

Tiktok… you did it again!

My god, I was waiting on this one for weeks and I wasn’t disappointed!

Like, the romance was romancing, the chemistry was chemistring, the tension was tensioning, it was EVERYTHING! You could describe this book as a grumpy x sunshine, but the FMC was the grumpy one, which is nice because there are not that many books with a grumpy FMC and goddamn, she was GRUMPY. The FMC, Elea Flores, is a hard, strong and stubborn woman. Lately, she hasn’t been able to get a job and after a failed interview she runs into her old friend, or enemy of hers, the one and only Niko Larsen. Here’s the start of the fake dating plot and lemme tell you, it was great from the start to the finish.
Miss Flores is a grump, sometimes she could go overboard and be mean toward Niko. But, through the pages, she softened. Elea is so funny; she was cracking me up with remarks. But her personality shined because Niko was also a freaking good character. Like the sunshine was SHINING, Niko was so patient and funny, but no pushover. Their interactions were top-tier, and the chemistry was out of this world. URGH IT WAS JUST THAT GOOD!
The side characters were good too! I loved Cass and Andrew, Niko’s siblings, like they were so supportive of their baby brother.

I didn’t know it was a novel debut for the author and what a debut! Can’t wait to read more from her.

GO READ IT ASAP ASAP

[Agnes Mtenga]

I think this has to be one of my favourite booktok books and this is coming from someone who doesn't trust booktok. Firstly I really appreciated the lack of sexual scenes, this is the first time in a very long time that I haven't had to skip a couple of pages. I really liked that it didn't take the characters 7 chapters to make up and realise that they loved each other. The entire book was about those cute little moments they had and not them crying about how they miss each other. The book basically took place within 7 days but it did not feel rushed in any way. I loved that Niko ran after her right after the whole Lucy debacle. I also loved that the author didn't make the book focus on Lucy at all. I'm glad we didn't get to know her up until the last chapters and even then she was insignificant.

Although it was a great book, Elea kinda annoyed me because of how she was constantly on Niko's back about being a spoilt rich player. I understand that that was the whole point of the book but that didn't stop me from getting annoyed a couple of times. It wasn't too cringe except for when they arrived in Greece and Niko said something along the lines of "Whoa tiger, don't pull a muscle before the wedding". I almost stopped reading the book when I read that but I'm glad that I did not.

[Stella]

this book felt like the perfect book like almost like ideal situation to meet your love. elea and niko have an agreement to fake date at his sister's wedding in greece and they fall in love. any book that is taking place in greece just doesn't feel like a real thing. i just think about sisterhood of traveling pants and how lena finds her love in greece and elea realized niko is her person.

unrelated but editors need to look at some of the grammar mistakes because there were some in here. this book is told in dual POVs which isn't my favorite way of telling a story like this and this was definitely a case of girl falls hard, boy falls harder. this book really hammered home how much of a hypocrite elea was like how she was open to growth and changing from high school, but if niko wanted to grow from his reputation in high school, elea was so mean about it. anyways, it ends well in greece so it was a fun read.

[ireadsometimes]

another book done and dusted in less than 24 hours.

5/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

beautiful story of Niko and Elea Flores who pretend to be in love from NYC to Greece for Niko’s sister’s wedding week. they went to high school together and of course Niko was in the popular scene and Elea was the quite girl who secretly hated him. they end up bumping into each other years later and thus falling in love in the midst of all their arguments and denial. a beautiful fast paced story.

TROPES:
bwwm
he falls first
hea
fake dating

in the end they move to greece after niko graduates from med school and he proposes to her on the beach 🏖️

[Stephanie]

I was really looking forward to this debut and I wasn't disappointed. Niko was super cute and I loved it. I really liked the development of their story and it was a quick and fun read. The fmc was too judgmental and mean at times but there was also a lot of growth and I'm glad they had their happy ending. If you are looking for a cute clean romance to read this summer, this is the perfect choice. There were also a few grammatical errors toward the end but they didn't disrupt my reading experience.

[Simone]

I've just got one question. What was her problem? Elea was a mean twat for over half of the book! I truly didn't understand what her issue was. She judged Niko for how he was in high school, and felt that was justified. I just didn't understand why. I'm serious when I say over half of the book. She didn't adjust her attitude until after the 60% mark of the book. Niko was a sweetheart, and had the patience of an angel.

[Andrea K. Hampston]

Refreshing

I was pleasantly surprised with this read. I’ve been reading a lot of smut and this has none in it lol. So you can imagine my surprise that I wasn’t disappointed at all because the author kept me enthralled. Niko is a dream 😍😍 just beyond swoon worth! There’s something about a fake dating trope that gets me. Elea stressed me out I can’t lie but glad she finally came around.

[Sunflower98]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was in a reading slump for 2 months, but this book deserved every second. I’m in love with a book and I relate to Elea in so many ways. If I were a fictional character, I would be her. When she did something she was not comfortable doing just to make Nico smile and laugh I would totally do that for someone I love. It’s really about the simplest thing and the fact that Nicole noticed that Elea's love language is a physical touch was cute.