Lynn Painter

This story had my attention from beginning to end - never slowing down, never a dull moment! Mr. Wrong Number is all over the place is the best of ways, it’s an enemies to friends to best friends to lovers buffet. I laughed, I felt the heartbreak, I swooned, essentially I ricocheted over all the feels this book was able to invoke.

Colin and Liv have known each other since childhood, correction - have loathed each other for as long as they can remember. To Colin, Liv was a walking disaster show more and to Liv, Colin was a stuck up prestigious rich boy who thought he was better than anyone else. One unfortunate fire and generous brother later, Liv finds herself crashing in an apartment shared by her arch nemesis. Sans money, clothes, and pretty much anything she had in her previous life, Liv finds herself trying to make sense of her situation when a text message comes through from an unrecognized number. Meeting her match in wit and zingers (plus the added anonymity of the situation), Liv sparks a text-ship with her mystery man and finds herself sharing more than she ever imagined. As fate would have it, the recipient to the vault of secrets is her new found roommate. When Colin discovers the identity of his wrong number tryst, he has to decide if he wants to see how far he can go or cut his losses.

There are so many things I just loved about this book - the banter, the wit, the sarcasm - even Jack had me cracking up at times. What I loved most is that while this book could have been predictable, it wasn’t. There was always so much going on and with the parallel story lines of Colin/Liv and Misdial/Wrong Number, you were kept on your toes. The hook-up moments were on fire and the text messages were beyond smoldering. While she may have kept the spice rated R, it definitely ignited some NC17 after thoughts.

Action, excitement, tension, and mayhem, Mr. Wrong Number is what a romantic comedy should be! I couldn’t put it down even if I wanted to and can’t wait to read more by this author. show less

OMG!

I love love loved this book. I always love Lynn Painter’s books but this one is top tier. It’s a mix of nostalgia and emotional baggage. Ugh so good. I love Liz and her unapologetic quirkiness. Wes is the best. You can tell he cares about Liz from the beginning and it is fully swoon worthy.

Liz’s struggles with senior year without her mom who passed away were so real. It made so much sense and I sympathized with everyone involved, Liz, her dad, Helena, Joss… all of them. This is show more YA and about teens. Liz def has some teenage blinders on when she feels like everyone is a certain way because they were like that as a kid. She starts growing up and realizing everyone around her is also growing up. I really loved this one. It’s really great. I hope Liz and Wes live HEA show less

❤️📚✨ The Valentine’s Day That Refused to Quit 💘⏳
💘aka: My emotional support time loop rom-com 💘

Okay, imagine waking up… and it’s Valentine’s Day. Again. And again. AND AGAIN.
Now imagine it’s also the *worst* Valentine’s Day of your life.
Yes, bestie — we’re talking full-blown **Groundhog Day with a side of rom-com chaos**, Ben & Jerry’s therapy, and a cheating boyfriend who apparently never gets tired of making the same mistake. 😒🍦

Emilie Hornby, show more sweet disaster queen that she is, gets shoved into a time loop where every single V-Day turns into a rerun of heartbreak, humiliation, and “are you kidding me, universe?” energy. At first you feel SO bad for her — like wrap-her-in-a-blanket-and-play-soft-music bad. 💔 But then… then it gets GOOD.

Because on the flipside of this emotional tornado is Nick Stark — the grumpy, slightly brooding, accidentally charming boy who Emilie keeps literally crashing into. (The universe said forced proximity? Don’t worry girl, I got you.) 🤝💘

And listen… the way this book made me laugh, cry, swear under my breath, and then smile like an idiot??
I was emotionally ping-ponging like my heart had joint custody. 😭😂💗

The writing was so warm and fun that even during the heartbreak moments, it still felt comforting — like the book was sitting next to me whispering, “Yeah we’re in pain, but we’re in this together, babe.” And Emilie? I just wanted everything to work out for her so badly. Watching her grow through each repeated day was honestly the best part.

By the end, I was fully INVESTED. The universe better stop playing games because *I* needed those do-overs to count.

And these lines? Oh they live rent-free in my chest:

💬 Favorite Lines/quotes

“I had a marvelous time ruining everything.”
(My toxic trait is hearing this and thinking, ‘yup girl, sometimes chaos is self-care!!’)

“I love you, Nick Stark... It won't count tomorrow and it'll be like I never said it, but on this Valentine's Day, I fell in love with you.”
nope not crying at all -- lies, I needed tissues and water 😂

“I remember everything about you, Em.”
Sir. Please. I’m fragile.

💕 Tropes

✨ Time Loop
✨ Enemies to Lovers
✨ Grumpy/Sunshine
✨ Forced Proximity
✨ Day of No Consequences
(aka “we can be feral today, consequences reset at midnight”)

This book was honestly adorable. It made me cry, laugh, hurt, and hope — all at once. I fell in love with Emilie’s journey, felt every ounce of her heartbreak, and cheered like a proud auntie whenever she found little pockets of joy in the mess. It was written so well and kept me entertained the whole way through.

If you're into rom-coms with heart, humor, and a dash of chaos magic, this is *so* worth the read. 💗📚✨ show less

I did not realize going in that this was YA. I generally don't like YA, and I most likely would have skipped it had I known -- all that is to say I am glad I did not know, because this was lovely.

This is romance, and romance book boyfriends are supposed to be better than real men could ever be. Our lovely MMC Wes is definitely the ideal man. Given the rules of romance, it may seem unfair that I took some points away because the MMC is too perfect. I have a defense, though, or an explanation show more at least. Wes is 17. I have been around my share of 17-year-olds. This generous, caring man who always says the right thing cannot also be a 17-year-old boy. Even with the book boyfriend designation, there is only so much disbelief that can be suspended until the chain snaps and all hits the pavement. Luckily, that crash was not too serious, and Wes was mostly a delight.

Liz, our FMC is messing up all over the place, emoting like mad, hurting her parents and friends with her lies and outbursts. She is still mourning the early death of her loving and charming mother, who was addicted to romcoms and left her daughter trying to live the life portrayed in those movies to honor her mother's memory. Now a high school senior she is feeling her mother's loss acutely as she lives through these moments of transtion that one apparently normally wants to share with their mother (I 100% did not, and my mother could not have been less interested in college plans, prom dresses, or any other major events of my teen life, but that was not true with my son or my freinds' kids of all genders, so I know that is not normal.) In her grief and confusion, Liz does not see that her dreamy next-door neighbor, Wes, is crushing hard. Self-involved Liz is also resisting the charms of her super cool stepmother and avoiding hanging out with her long-time best friends because she doesn't want to admit to how bummed she is feeling, or that Wes is helping her capture the boy of her childhood dreams, while also becoming her best friend. Liz is living a weird double life, and it is about to topple. That is a 17-year-old I know! Liz is also funny and smart, but she is figuring things out -- Wes seems to have figured out everything already, and that was weird and a little bit of a mismatch issue. None of it was fatal; this still broke my heart and made me laugh, and provided loads of fun. show less