So Not Meant to Be

By: Meghan Quinn

Narrated by: Aaron Shedlock, Stella Hunter

Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

From USA Today and Amazon Charts best-selling author Meghan Quinn, and narrated in duet by Aaron Shedlock and Stella Hunter, comes a fresh take on a romantic-comedy classic, When Harry Met Sally. This steamy, laugh-out-loud enemies-to-lovers romance is about an annoyingly handsome coworker and the woman who refuses to be charmed by him.

Am I friends with JP Cane?

Ha! That's laughable.

Besides the fact that he’s adopted some far-fetched notion from the movie When Harry Met Sally that says men and women can't be friends and work together, it’s safe to say we're not friends. He's annoyingly loud, obnoxiously handsome, and has made an art out of poking all my hot buttons...multiple times a day.

So you can imagine how disgruntled I am when I not only have to fly to San Francisco with him for work, but stay in the same penthouse. Yup, we're sharing the same air, 24-7. We're talking full-fledged working roommates.

The man doesn't know what it means to wear a shirt, thrives off protein bars, and you guessed it, moans loud enough for people to believe he's Meg Ryan in a restaurant.

Spoiler Alert: I WON'T be having what he's having.

Tack on his continuous flirting and his polished good looks, and I'm caught staring down the barrel of a seductive temptation that makes it hard for me to sleep at night.

But guess who can control herself? This girl.

Because if there is one thing I know for certain, it's that JP Cane and I are so not meant to be.

©2022 Hot Lanta Publishing LLC (P)2024 Hot Lanta Publishing LLC

Good story!💜

I really wanted to love this story but I didn’t. It was just okay for me. It was bad but I’m sorry I absolutely hated Kelsey.
IMO she was a bitch. I kept thinking that there was a reason from their past. Maybe he did something to her but didn’t remember. Maybe, she overheard him saying things about someone and she misunderstood the meaning. But there was nothing. Even when she realized she may have been wrong about him, she’d turn around and make a remark basically accusing him of being a heartless man whore who only cares about himself.
Then there were the sexual intimate moments they shared and including their temporary companionship dates together one minute and she still went out with a man she barely knew. She also seemed extremely together and strong one minute and totally insecure and scared the next. I don’t know perhaps if the book was 1/2 as long it wouldn’t have been so bad because I did actually enjoy the book otherwise. In fact, I just about died when he had a fake orgasm during that first dinner. This book was funny and romantic but Kelsey was way too judgmental towards JP especially considering she was actually making excuses at one point towards a man who complimented the color of her dress then left with other woman. She just sat there and took it. Sorry for the rant, she just got to me.
The narration was good. Both Stella Hunter and Aaron Shedlock did a fantastic job narrating their characters. Unfortunately, on the technical side, the volume had to constantly be adjusted to hear the story completely. But I’m a huge fan of Aaron Shedlock, he has a smooth sexy voice that I could listen to all day so for me he’s well worth the adjustments.
This book has an HEA and can be read as a standalone.

Sisters Spotlight 💜

Definitely meant to be

I love how JP pursued Kelsey from the very beginning. I love her he just knew she was special. He may have been going about it in his old player ways, but once he realized that she as so much more, he flipped a switch & even she could tell. He was romancing her all along. Their friendship was definitely the perfect basis for their electrifying relationship. Kelsey was a little jaded from dates from the past, and she didn’t see herself for the gorgeous desirable woman she was…the woman JP saw all along. I love that he shared his name with her & how it effected him when she used it. Their connection was so special.
Excellent follow up to A Not So Meet Cute & I can’t wait for Breaker to fall like his brothers

Aaron Shedlock & Stella Hunter’s narration was *chef’s kiss*

A slooooowww burn.

3.5 STARS

What I liked:
1. The JP who woos Kelsey—the way he woos her, they way he talks to her, engages her, etc.
2. The humor! The slapstick physical stuff, the beyond embarrassing situations, and the pigeon infatuation (so adorable!)
3. I know many people disliked Kelsey for her insecurities, but that particular trait rang true for me. And I was able to better understand/identify with her

This book did take quite a while to get going, but once it did it rolled by quickly!

So much fun!!!

What to expect:
- Frenemies to Lovers
- Forced Proximity (Roommates)
- Lots of crazy laughter
- Heart jerking emotions
- Pigeons!!
- An amazing throwback love letter to the author’s back list

This book has all the trademark rom-com awesomeness I’ve come to expect from Meghan Quinn but it’s also a super fun Easter egg filled love letter to her back list within this shared universe. You don’t have to have ready any other books before this one to enjoy JP and Kelsey’s story but if you are aware of the other titles you’ll be doing a little happy dance every time one of these special moments comes up. I haven’t read all the ones mentioned, but I was aware enough to go “ahhh I know where to find that one”.

If you’re going to read only one other book to prep for this one, I would say A Not So Meet Cute would be the one since it introduces JP and Kelsey as side characters in the romance of his brother and her sister. What you need to know is given to you here, but getting the full story is totally worth it.

Both JP & Kelsey have deeper than the surface levels of complexity. Things they’ve never told their siblings but that come up as they get closer to each other. The banter between these frenemies is perfection and the dynamics with their respective siblings brings both warm fuzzies and cringey awkwardness. I loved it.

The audiobook was performed by Aaron Shedlock and Stella Hunter in duet (he performs all male dialogue and she performs all female dialogue regardless of the narrating POV). It was a superb performance. They both had me laughing with the various awkward situations they found themselves in and tears came to my eyes as they dealt with their emotional baggage.

Kelsey is so fragile in her self confidence (or lack of) and the anxiety she feels when something doesn’t go according to plan is so tangible to me. Stella brought this to life in a way that gripped me and didn’t let go.

JP’s low points were so well done by Aaron. The depression, the desperation, the drunkenness, they were such a well performed balance with the flirty banter, the sharp witted barbs and the comedic moments. Full spectrum of talent here.

I will definitely listen to this one multiple times and recommend it to others.

I requested and was generously provided and advance copy of this audiobook. These are my honest opinions.

It missed a star for me, performance was amazing

For some reason I absolutely loved the 1st stand alone in this interconnect series but this one missed a mark for me.

Before anyone decides to not read/listen remember that this is my personal opinion and my likes may not be what others agree with, so for me the heroine was a bit too stuck on a mindset that every other chapter brought up those insecurities, while I understand to mention them a handful of times thru a book because let's face in real life we all go thru those moments it is the repetitive mention and thinking of it that got me done.

The Hero was also a bit too soft for my liking in the sense of when he finally decided to tell the heroine this is what I feel I would've liked some more passion not the just my heart out to you scene that was given and again this is my personal preference said scene may have worked for others.

The performance was excellent and I would recommend this for anyone looking for a book to listen too.

SO FREAKING CUTE

This book is about JP and Kelsey. They are the cutest dancing around each other like they don’t know how to approach each other. Kelsey was a little rough to handle in the middle and towards the end with her insecurities but JP did a really good job of helping her heal them.

I ADORED the podcast! Such a fun idea to bring in characters from other books! And at the end how it was brought full circle was just perfect ❤️

Aaron Shedlock performed the male voices in this book and was amazing as ever.

Stella Hunter performed the female voices. I think she was a great choice too. Her soft voice leant more realistic tones to Kelsey. ❤️

So Not Meant to Be

So Not Meant To Be is a romantic comedy and is JP Cane and Kelsey Gardener’s story.

I have to say that the beginning of this book Kelsey was not nice and I had a really hard time relating to her character. In fact JP called her a “Hypercritical Fish Wife”. And, I couldn’t agree more.

I am happy to say that Kelsey did get nicer. Even though she needed a kick in the behind or her head to see what was right in front of her, JP! I loved JP throughout the book! I thoroughly enjoyed Kelsey’s Podcast! It was fantastic! Meghan Quinn brought in characters from some of her books and even brought in characters from other series that she has written.

It’s always great when characters from one book make it into my current reading. Rowan and Bonnie from The Highland Fling were introduced on Kelsey’s Podcast. As well as Arlo & Greer from See Me After Class. Huxley and Lottie from A Not So Meet Cute, BTW Lottie is Kelsey’s sister and Huxley is JP’s brother. Griffin and Ren from That Second Chance. Sawyer and Fallon from Runaway Groomsman. Jason and Dottie from The Line Up (Brentwood Boys #3).

If you haven’t read any other of Meghan Quinn’s books you can easily read this book as a complete standalone. If you want more of Meghan Quinn books then checkout the list of books in the above paragraph.

I also got the audible version for this book and it was exciting to listen to Kelsey and JP’s story. The narrators are Aaron Shedlock and Stella Hunter. They were very good! Meghan Quinn is the queen of banter and Aaron and Stella brought the book to life for me.

They had me chuckling and laughing out loud and talking to myself about scenes from the book! All in all I loved listening to this book.

BTW Meghan Quinn you out did yourself on the covers for the Audible version, E Book and Paperback for this book.

Will they or won’t they?

A funny, irreverent, silly, ironic, ridiculous, over the top, listen. Enemies, (but are they really?) to friends to lovers with so many sweet and laugh out loud moments along the way. The banter between Kelsey and JP is riotous. Their respective siblings are getting married and they work together, but seemingly cannot stand each other. They’re sent on a forced business trip (2 weeks...aaahhhh) that includes sharing an apartment together. Hilarious banter, unspoken jealousies and finally getting to know each other all lead to the expected HEA. Not a lot of surprises, but great writing and fantastic narration will have you wondering where all the time went. Enjoy the listen. I surely did. As always, look forward to what comes next from this author. Her stories are the mental palate cleanse from the crazy of the world.

Amazing Audio Duet

I loved JP and Kelsey's story! Her podcast with throw backs to all of MQ previous couples was a fantastic addition to this book.

They had an enemies to lovers start but once forced together on a work trip complete hilarity followed. So many laugh out loud moments I couldn't pick a favorite.

I was lucky enough to listen to the audio of this book and the duet narration done by Stella Hunter and Aaron Shedlock was amazing!

best one yet!!

omg. I laughed so hard! I was dying!!! the voices were perfect and reflected the humor or emotions. definitely tugged at my heart strings. highly recommend