If It's You

by Jenessa Fayeth

You can't win a war by falling for the enemy.

Christian wanted nothing more than a relaxing summer to forget about the loss he’d experienced at home. But the farm is anything but relaxing, and the farmer's beautiful daughter is determined to send him packing before he even makes it a week. But he needs a distraction, and teasing her seems to be the perfect way to keep his mind off of his life. It’s a harmless game because he’d never fall for a girl like her.

Maizie is no stranger to pain. Which is exactly what this handsome city boy is: a pain in her rear. She could’ve gotten over the embarrassment of their first meeting if he didn’t seem so hell-bent on ruining her life. Two can play that game, though, and she’s determined to win, even if it means losing something even more important.

Genres: Romance

354 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 22, 2021

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now this book just got in my feels. Now that was a super sweet YA right there. I loved it!

I love the country/ farm setting. YES! This is where my heart is. Reading a book with this setting is just the best. I loved it!

I fell in love with these characters and their stories.
Maizie drove me a little crazy at times but I loved her feisty, fun character too. Watching her character growth was great.
And can I find a guy like Christian because he was like the sweetest! Seriously. I love how he didn’t give up on Maizie even when she gave him a really hard time.
I love the Jensen family!!! They felt like family by the end of the book. I loved these people and their humor, especially Grandma. Grandma was the best, I just loved her! (And the fact that she wrote love stories in notebooks! I loved that!)
Jayce was really fun too.

The love story was incredibly cute and goodness!! The fangirl in me was a little giddy. Christian and Maizie were just so cute (even if they drove me crazy a lot too! But hey, I love a good enemies to lovers!)

The depth of this story really took me by surprise. I think when it comes to YA contemporary, I don’t always expect there to be much depth. But this one had depth and I loved it! Both of these characters are real, raw, and flawed. They’re dealing with hard, real life stuff. I found myself tearing up multiple times. There’s a message in here to live in the moment. Live and love without fear of the future!

That ending has my heart.❤️ *wipes tears of pure happiness*
I LOVE the epilogue!! I love, love when authors add epilogues, especially in YA contemporary so I can get a sneak peak of the character’s future! This one was just pure happiness for me.

This book was such a great YA contemporary. It was clean, fun, and impactful. I really loved it and can’t wait to see what Jenessa writes in the future!

*Thank you to the author for providing me with an ARC! All opinions are my own.

[Carissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

This book really held my interest! It reminded me a lot of That Fine Line by Cindy Steel which I also super enjoyed. Maybe it’s because I come from a farming community of sorts and I can relate to the settings a bit more or just because romances set around farms with strong, handsome guys hired to work there really capture my interest 🤣. Either way I’m all for it! Lol

Christian is absolutely swoon worthy. I loved him so much. And honestly, he put up with quite a lot from Maizie! I confess, her character did annoy me for most of the book. She’s overly stubborn and can’t decide what she really wants with Christian. Constantly pushing him away and then crying over him or getting upset if he’s with other girls. But she’s also 18 so I guess that’s allowed lol. And Christian definitely put his foot in his mouth many a time too.

I like that they both could really relate to each other. The loss, pain and heartache they both experienced made it easier to understand what the other was feeling.

Secondary characters were AWESOME! I absolutely loved the Jensen family! The grandparents (nosy grandma and her matchmaking, romance writing, ways! 😂), Eric, Anne, and he boys, Jayce and Hugh, the uncles!, Lyndsey, Christian’s mom and sister. They were all great. Minus Caroline. No one likes Caroline lol. Oh! And Rob. Yeah, wasn’t a big Rob fan.

But my favorite part… EPILOGUE!!! I love an epilogue! It was a wonderful confirmation that they worked things out for the long run and stayed together. Such a nice addition.

Overall this was a nice story where both main characters were able to heal from their traumatic experiences, find hope for their future, and love for each other in the bargain.

I received an advanced review copy of this book. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

[MK · Rating 4 out of 5]

If it’s You has a lot of depth for a contemporary YA. While the story is light and fun, as the two characters initially resist their attraction, they are also both working towards overcoming some pretty difficult things from their past.

Maizie and Christian meet working on a farm and have a pretty unique meet cute. I won’t give it away- but imagine cow manure being a part of it…

Their chemistry felt real, while their resistance made sense and was funny.

“He slid closer, and she experienced the exhilarating sensation of wanting to shove him off the roof and kiss him at the same time.”

While not long term enemies, they don’t initially get along and they play tricks and pranks on each other. They fight their attraction to each other, until they can’t.

As the wise mom says: “In my experience, love is often mistaken for annoyance when it comes to young men.”

Overall a really fun contemporary YA. This is my first book I’ve read by this author and I will certainly look forward to additional books. I kept thinking about this book and wondering what would come next.

[Luana Cavalcanti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was interested in the book because is enemies to lovers. It's slow-burn too. Very slow indeed.
At first, the story itself was veeeery slow for me. But it was worth it. The romance is well built and clean but still swoony.
I liked it because it was set on a farm.
Mazie's family is great! Parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins... I loved the big family.
I liked that the protagonists have their traumas, showing that they are very human.
TW: Grief
Thank you the author for providing me an ARC. All thoughs are my own.
🇧🇷Eu me interessei pelo livro por ser enemies to lovers. É slow-burn também. Bem slow mesmo.
No começo, a estória em si foi muuuito lenta para mim. Mas valeu a pena. O romance é bem conteúdo e é clean mas não deixa de ser swoony.
Gostei por ser ambientado em uma fazenda
A família de Mazie é ótima! Os pais, os irmãos, os avós, os primos... Amei a família grande.
Gostei que os protagonistas tem seus traumas, mostrando que são muito humanos.
Tem gatilho de luto
Obrigada a autora pelo ARC. Todas as opiniões são minhas.

[gabby · Rating 5 out of 5]

“He’d found a woman who had replaced his heartache with joy. Even if that joy came from teasing her and fighting with her. He had no clue what he wanted out of life, except her.”

Christian aka “city boy” is now spending his summer working at his friend’s family farm. All he wants is a relaxing summer after the loss he has experienced. That is, until he meets Maizie, his friend’s cousin. When Christian dodged Maizie’s handshake on their first meeting (involving manure, iykyk), she’s determined to have him pack his belongings to go back to his city life.

Maizie wants nothing to do with Christian, which is difficult because he’s always around. Things between them don’t go easy especially since they’re constantly teasing, bickering and pranking each other. Realizing that they both have lost a loved one, they soon start to open up and become more friendly to each other.

Help! I can’t stop SMILING from this adorable YA romance! Two strangers. One summer at the farm. Can they survive that long around each other?

🐮READ IF YOU LIKE🐮:
- dual POV
- enemies to lovers
- city boy x farm girl
- off limits
- witty banters & teasing
- closed proximity
- not-so-cute meet-cute
- basketball x dancing
- slow burn romance

cw: loss of family members, anxiety/panic attacks, mention of seizure, cheating

Thank you to Jenessa Fayeth for the advanced copy! if it’s you is available on October 22, 2021!

[Whitney Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed If It's You. This story caught my interest with in the first chapter. Mrs. Fayeth did a great job setting up two broken and real characters right from the start.

Both Maizie and Christian have experienced a devastating loss of a loved one unexpectedly. They both are still healing and immediately fight the attraction they feel for each other when placed together on Maizie's family's farm. She calls him 'city boy' and he thinks her a spoiled 'princess'. For the first half of the book they literally are attempting to skirt around their feelings by making each other's lives miserable.

However, once they begin to open up and reveal their vulnerability was when I started to enjoy this story the most. The banter is fun, but them working through their pain to find a happy ending was delightful. I definitely wouldn't hesitate to recommend this wonderful book to sweet, clean rom-com fans!

Content Rating: PG

I did receive an ARC for an honest review. All opinions shared were given freely and are my own.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was NOT prepared for the emotional rollercoaster of this book. I thought it was going to be one of those cliche farm girl/city boy enemies to lovers story, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much depth was woven throughout. The characters are raw and broken and we watch them grow over the course of the book. Both Maizie and Christian were fun and exciting characters with fully fleshed out backstories. Their relationship has banter, teasing, pranks, a little bit of hate, and a whole lot of cuteness!! Having family to add that 'oh so annoying' element of teasing and matchmaking was great. I love Grandma the best!
This is the 3rd book from Jenessa that I've read so far, but I think it might be my favourite because while the others were fun, this one had a meaningful story to tell!

Content guide:
Language - crap x9, bugger x2, heck x7, shucks, darn, gosh x4, dang x7, shoot x8, unspoken curses, geez x2, gee, freaking x3, B.S. x3, unfinished cr**

Sexual content - mention about cows giving each other "piggyback rides"
- mentions of making out
- mentions of a girl going through boyfriends in 2 weeks
- lots of noticing of each other's bodies
- guy helps a girl unzip her dress with his eyes closed
- unfinished "I'd like to see you push a baby out of your...."
- light to moderately detailed kiss x2
-lightly detailed kiss x1
- barely detailed kisses

[Kimberley Mcclintock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been finding a lot of new-to-me authors recently and I am loving it. Jenessa Fayeth is one of these new authors. If It’s You is the first book of Jenessa’s that I have read.

This is another book where there is just so much to love. This is a YA romance with one of the characters still in highschool for the majority of the story, but that doesn’t mean that only teenagers can read it. I am definitely not a teenager and I still loved this book.

I really enjoyed the contrast of the seriousness and the lightheartedness of this book. This contrast was done really well and did not take away from importance of both parts. I also really appreciate how well the themes of grief were covered in this book.

There was so much emotion is this book. There were moments I laughed, moments I cried and of course there were the swoonworthy moments as well.

There is an element of enemies-to-lovers in this book and as I am sure you know, this is not my favourite trope. However, I did not mind this trope in If It’s You. I did not feel as if the “hating” was over the top or unnecessary. Jenessa did a great job and tempering the hatred and justifying the emotions the characters were having.

This was a fantastic book and I am definitely looking forward to reading more from Jenessa.

Definitely check this book out, you will not be disappointed.

[A.M. Hogue · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the feels.

If It's You gave me all the feels. I was grinning, crying--both happy and sad tears-- and couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I really enjoyed watching Christian and Maizie fall in love, even if they were both too stubborn to admit it at first, and both of them healing together. I loved it!

[Jessica]

DNF. I DNF this book not because it was bad or that I wasn’t into it. The problem was that I wasn’t in the right mindset for this book. Both main characters are dealing with a death in their own families and I can’t and don't have the mental capacity to handle that right now.

[zen_s]

[did not finish @ 12%]

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Farm hand stays on for summer work. Falls for farmers daughter. Even learns to dance

[Kenzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[PottWab Regional Library]

A

[Marilyn Burrows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of ups and downs. Death, hurts and disappointments. But. A lot of friend family and love too. It’s a story about life and what happens. More love of family than most. Ilovedthis it

[Lindsay Rankin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this sweet story!