We’re Falling For The Next Best Fling By Gabriella Gamez

It’s no secret that one of our biggest weaknesses is a swoony adult romance. Gabriella Gamez’s debut novel, The Next Best Fling, may just be our favorite one this year! And we can’t think of a better time to read it (or re-read it) than now, just before the peak of the summer.

The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez follows Marcela Ortiz, a plus-size, Latina librarian who’s been secretly in love with Ben Young, her best friend from college. When Ben gets engaged, she realizes it’s time to move on. But what she doesn’t realize is how much Theo Young, Ben’s older brother, will change her life with a rebound relationship.

We read this book in one sitting, so we can tell you just how much we’re obsessed with this debut! Here are three things we love about Gabriella Gamez’s The Next Best Fling!

Book Overview: The Next Best Fling

Content Warnings: fatphobia, parental abandonment, divorce, codependent/toxic friendship, emotional manipulation

Summary: Librarian Marcela Ortiz has been secretly in love with her best friend for years—and when he gets engaged, she knows it’s long past time to move on. But before she gets the chance, she has a bigger problem to contend with in the form of Theo Young, ex-NFL player and older brother of the man she’s in love with. When she discovers Theo’s plans to confess his feelings for his brother’s fiancée at their engagement party, Marcela is quick to stop him—despite how tempting it is to let him run away with the bride-to-be. She manages to convince Theo to sleep off his drunken almost-mistake at her place and when they arrive at a family brunch the next day together, everyone wrongly assumes they hooked up.

Since Theo needs a cover for his feelings for the bride and Marcela needs a distraction from her unrequited feelings for the groom, they decide to roll with the lie. Until one late night at a bar, they take it a step further and discover a layer of attraction neither realized existed. Soon, they find themselves exploring the simmering chemistry between them, whether in library aisles or Marcela’s bed. There are no boundaries for the rebound relationship they form—just a host of complicated feelings, messy familial dynamics, and uncovered secrets that threaten to tear them apart before they can even admit to themselves that their rebound is working. Maybe a little too well.

Marcela’s Relatability

We love when a book makes us feel seen, and The Next Best Fling does exactly that! The main character, Marcela, has a lot of baggage. But who doesn’t? Her father left her when she was 12, and she’s been pining after her best friend Ben for years. She’s dealt with dating and hooking up with people who have treated her terribly for being plus-size. Marcela’s character is so relatable, both in how she copes with trauma and in the growth she goes through. And it helps that she’s a huge bookworm like us, even starting a YA book club at her library. We want to be her when we grow up (we say as if we aren’t around the same age).

Theo’s Green Flags

If we ever met someone who treats us the way Theo treated Marcela, we’d fold immediately. Because we fell in love with the way he communicates with Marcela and is as honest as he can be, given his past trauma. Theo respects Marcela’s boundaries, making sure she initiates the intimacy she’s most comfortable with. He took two weeks to plan a proper date with a super sweet surprise at the end of the night. And he pays attention to so many details about Marcela that even we forgot about. Theo’s just a 10/10 love interest. We want to know how to find someone like that ourselves.

Their Chemistry

Okay, we need another section just to talk about Marcela and Theo’s chemistry because hello?? We can honestly say we’ve never giggled this much reading an adult romance before! Their flirting and banter checked off all our boxes. We can feel the passion radiating off our main characters. Not only that, but they make each other better people when they’re together. They share so much patience while figuring out their complicated relationship. And there’s a perfect balance between the sweet romance, the emotional angst, and, of course, the spicy scenes!

Good news! The Next Best Fling is only the first in Gabriella Gamez’s Librarians in Love series, so we’re already excited for the next installment. Will it be Marcela’s best friend Angela exploring her asexuality? Or will it be the mysterious managing librarian Erica? Either way, we hope this isn’t the last time we’ll see Marcela and Theo!

The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez is out July 9th, and you can preorder a copy of it here!

Have we convinced you to read The Next Best Fling yet? Are you giving this debut romance a try? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!

Want to hear some of our audiobook recommendations? Here’s the latest!

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