A feel-good, light-hearted & funny read!

I loved this novel, brimming with laugh-out-loud moments and brilliant characters. The plot is thoroughly engaging, fast-paced, and kept in turning the pages until there were none left!

Perfect for all rom-com fans! Curl with a glass of vino and get swept away in this refreshing, relatable romance.

Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources, Boldwood Books & NetGalley for sending me this in exchange for an open and honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A really enjoyable, light read that you don’t have to think about. The lead character is very likeable and relatable, as are all her family function, date and wardrobe obstacles. It has a heart-warming ending too!

I’ll admit – being a tad shallow at times – that one of the first things that delighted me about this book was that it was set in Leeds. How often does that happen? Not nearly often enough – and what’s more, it was a Leeds I entirely recognised. What a refreshing change – and not just Leeds itself, but there’s a really pleasing Yorkshireness about the whole book (especially where Cara’s family are involved) that I thoroughly enjoyed.

But setting that aside, I really enjoyed the story too. Ok, I know the “plus one” challenge (and the coupled-up really have no idea how difficult that can be…) and the friends-to-lovers scenario have been done quite a few times before – but I think the main reason that didn’t matter one jot was because of the wonderfully drawn characters. I really did like Cara and her nice self-deprecating humour: she’s worked her way through every remotely suitable male on the dating site she uses, mainly by swiping left, and she doubts she’s ever going to find the coupledom she craves for.

Stood up yet again by one of her last chances, she’s approached in a bar by Millsy – fit, popular, and maybe a little out of her league. And so begins one of those lovely friendships where they both decide they can help each other out and make their lives rather more comfortable. What follows is a sequence of events where things frequently go distinctly haywire – misunderstandings big and small, a few secrets, a touch of slapstick at times – as we get to know both characters better at the same time as they get to know each other.

And of course, Cara and Millsy aren’t the only characters – there’s also a wonderful supporting cast of casual encounters, friends, employers, hairdressers, ex-lovers and extended families, and many of these well-drawn individuals could almost sustain books of their own. I had a particular soft spot for Cara’s family – her (very Yorkshire) mum and dad, and brother Oliver with his feminist fervour.

At well into my 60s, I do suspect I’m probably way outside this book’s target audience – but with my newly rediscovered love for a good rom com that didn’t bother me one bit. This was just an incredibly feel-good read, never remotely cheesy, filled with ups and downs and twists and turns – the dialogue absolutely sparkles, the humour’s well-judged alongside the emotional content, and the writing’s quite excellent. It was heartwarming, real fun, and thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end – and this certainly won’t be the last time I pick up a book by Portia MacIntosh…

This friends-to-lovers is an absolute delight from start to finish. Portia MacIntosh clearly has a talent for writing unputdownable rom-com fiction that is as funny as it is heartwarming.


Full review published on ALL ABOUT ROMANCE.

OᐯᗴᖇᐯIᗴᗯ: This is a story about Cara, a down on her dating luck, escape room puzzle creator who has just swiped away the last available guy on her dating app when she meets Millsy. This handsome guy quickly becomes Cara’s new best friend and they make a pact to be each other’s plus one for a bunch of upcoming events. But can they really remain just friends if one starts to develop feelings?

ᗰY TᕼOᑌᘜᕼTᔕ: This is an adorable read for fans of rom-coms. MacIntosh creates a perfect balance between funny and sweet. The characters in this novel are relatable, and I can really see myself getting into the same type of scrapes that Cara finds herself in all the time. This is a perfect summer read!

ᖇᗩTIᑎᘜ: ★★★★★

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

A little bit like background shopping precinct music - it’s there - it’s beige - it trots predictably along. The Plus One Pact is an easy to read romance - especially if you’re a teenager!
The plot machinations are as subtle as a brick! Honestly, the way Cara nearly stumbles into a pond, just so Millsy’s handsome step brother can rescue her ( Q - annoyed jealousy from Millsy ), is somewhat ridiculous!
If you can accept the contrived, two dimensional behaviour then read on!

What a cute book. A really lovely story and a different take on dating, plus ones and being friends! Perfect beach read.

So Cara who is the main character hasn’t had much luck with men! She has an ex called Lloyd but that didn’t end well!

Cara has taken to using dating sites but so far that’s not gone well and she’s had some of the worst dates of her life, including the one she’s on, which turned out to be baby sitting! That one also didn’t end well!

She keeps browsing the dating site but when it comes up with no more matches she thinks her luck has ended!

It’s her cousins wedding soon who she was supposed to be a bridesmaid for but after deciding she didn’t want to be bridesmaid, it made her family situation a little awkward! While at dinner with her family she soon finds out that her cousin has still invited her ex, and even worse, her mum has invited him to stay at their house for a few days! (Luckily Cara doesn’t live with her family but that doesn’t stop her not being happy about it)

While at dinner she gets one more match and arranged to go on a date with him, but when she turns up to the date it turns out she’s been stood up, when a guy called Millsy saves the day and wants to be her friend and invited her to an exclusive nightclub!

Cara accepts which is really unlike her but she decides it’s time to turn a new leaf and try new things!

Cara and Millsy soon become friends and start spending more time together and after realising they have a number of family and social events to attend they agree to be each other’s plus one AS FRIENDS! Cara has her cousins wedding with her ex going so definitely wants a plus one and more events and Millsy has lots of family gatherings!

At one of the family gatherings Cara meets Jay which Is Millsys step brother and they hit it off! However Millsy doesn’t want them getting too close because he doesn’t trust him and they don’t get on! But Cara just finds herself gravitating towards him!

She also however starts to see Millsy in a different way when she sees him in only his boxers in a changing room! Things start to become a little more complicated!

At each event something goes wrong and they have to cover it up and fix it quickly which they find hilarious but when something happens at a Hen party they soon question their whole friendship!

With Caras cousins wedding fast approaching what will happen with Caras and Millsys friendship? Will they always be friends, will they go their separate ways or will just a simple pact become more?

I really found this light hearted, refreshing romance so uplifting! It was funny, and silly and so easy to read!

I really liked both of the main characters! I really felt for Cara as she had pretty much lost all of her friends in her friendship group where they made different life choices! And dating for her had never been simple and never gone to plan! Her cousin and auntie treat her disgustingly but sometimes she doesn’t help herself when some embarrassing artwork goes wrong!

Millsy is just THE sweetest guy! Every woman needs a Millsy not just as a partner but as a friend! He is so caring and also funny, and he lifts his friends right up! He makes Cara feel so good about herself and he always has her back!

One of the things I enjoyed most about this book is how it’s written! It’s written in first person from Cara and the character is the same age as me, and even though I’m married with children I can totally relate to some of the ways she thinks, some of her self dialogue that goes on in her head, and there’s things that are mentioned in the book that if you are an early 90s baby you’ll just remember and smile!

Honestly this book was so lovely and from a Different angle and I love it when stories change it up and become so original!

I’d love to read more from this author so it’s definitely another 5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ rating from me 🙂

A warm, lovely, HILARIOUS, relatable, easy to read romance/ comedy that shouldn’t be missed!

Thanks to Boldwood Books for the ARC!

I've read a few books with fake-dating plots, so I thought I knew what to expect from this one. But I was wrong. This is my second book by Portia MacIntosh, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.

Cara doesn't have much luck with dating apps. After lots of bad dates, she's truly about to give up. Someone named Chad matches with her and sends a few nice messages. Maybe this time things could be better? That's what she hopes for, since Chad seems to be the last decent man available. But, well, he's not. He stoods her up. Millsy (Joe Mills) notices right away what's happening at the bar and, feeling sorry for her, decides to introduce himself and make her company.

At first, she's not so sure what's happening. Is he hitting on her? Is he gay? Why is he inviting her to another club? And who was the girl he was talking to at the door? But he seems pretty nice, so she thinks, 'why not?'.

They soon become friends. Since he makes it clear that he doesn't a want a girlfriend and is just being friendly, she sees no problem in talking about guys and going out with him. She even kisses another man and tells Millsy, but it's all fine, because they're really just friends.

Their personalities couldn't be more different, but one thing they have in common: many events to attend this summer. Weddings, a gender-reveal party, birthdays, school reunion, family gatherings... And for several reasons, they don't want to go alone. That's when the pact is made.

"'We’re not pretending we’re in love. We’re just plus ones.’
‘Just don’t go falling in love with me for real,’ Millsy playfully warns.
‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ I reply."

Of course not. lol

It's hilarious how they have such bad luck and always ruin something at the events. My favorite accident was the one with the balloon (which, by the way, is something that I can actually see happening in real life).

So, they spend a lot of time together, they meet each others families and obviously, we know how this will end. But there's something special about these characters. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I need to say that Millsy does something really stupid in the beginning, and I love when she confronts him about that in the last chapter.

If you're expecting to find a couple desperate to have sex in every chapter, this will probably be a let down for you. In this book, the feelings actually come first. They need to go though a lot of stuff first before they realize that they're not just spending time together. They're not just friends. They're not just pretending.

I had a lot of fun! Nice read!

This was a sweet, slow burn romance. A solid addition to the author's brand.

Cara was very easy to identify with. Who hasn't felt left behind by friendships when they don't follow society's "checklist" for success? And I can attest to the fact that it is very difficult to form friendships as an adult. But she didn't sit around whining about her situation; she just got on with things. I think her job was brilliant and a clever choice.

The few problems I had with the book were Millsy's not giving details about his step-brother, and why there was animosity between the two. Yes, you want your friend to take your side automatically, but communication is the cornerstone to a good relationship. The incident wasn't even that embarrassing for Millsy, so I didn't understand why he didn't just tell Cara everything from the get-go.

And that leads into another small problem I had with the story. Because we don't get Millsy's POV, I would have liked to have seen more of a change in him from an outside perspective. Cara hears all about his wild ways and although she never witnesses this behaviour for herself, these people have all known him for longer. I think Ruby dropping a "we all used to be wild, but he's not as bad as all that now" or someone noting that he's never up for a night out anymore since meeting Cara would have given the reader a better idea of where his head was truly at. It would also have in a way added to Cara's confusion about things, not knowing who to believe.

But that was a small quibble in the grand scheme of things. This book doesn't have a high heat rating, but it's not missed. It's the connection between Cara and Millsy that's the important thing, as is Cara's relationship with herself and becoming more confident about things. And I cannot stress enough how much I love the fact that Cara isn't constantly being embarrassed! She does some weird things, but so does Millsy! So does everyone! This balance is much more believable than having an accident prone and awkward girl catch the eye of a "hottie". (I can never see the attraction in those books. Wish fulfilment to the nth degree.)

Overall this was a pleasant read, perfectly in keeping with the rest of the author's stories. I look forward to reading her next book.

Portia MacIntosh is my new favorite author in the Comedy-combined-with-uplifting-heartfelt-read genre and she is just getting better and better!

The Plus One Pact is a cute and funny read in which our quite dorky nerd Cara (Who works designing escape rooms – Super Cool isn’t it?!!) finds it very difficult to get herself a decent man for a date. Maybe she dresses to much black that makes her less approachable, or the fact that she lives in a flat filled with aspiring dancers and singers making it an unbearable place to live, or there are no simply no decent blokes available online. There has to be some other way to meet a nice guy. Isnt there?

Meet Millsy aka Joe Mills although Millsy is super adorable and suits his humble Jason Momoa exterior! He is too nice to be true and helps Cara get on her heel to meet blokes. Soon they are thick as thieves and began formulating a plan to be each other’s Plus Ones for a list of summer events in their families which would be embarrassing to show up all alone.

If you’re a fan of Portia’s books, you might have noticed the way she designs the families and friends of the main couple. Always a jolly bundle, a cool and over-friendly that embarassades the hero/heroine which is so fun and adorable to read. Also, she is a master in giving uber cool professions to the characters that makes me wonder if all those professions actually exist or is she making them all up? They super so good that I want to try them! Like for instance, Cara here is an ‘Escape Room Designer’!! Well, I am an Architect and I design homes, but ESCAPE ROOMS are cool stuff do design for a living!!!

As ever, I had so much fun, giggling and sneaking glances around to see someone noticing me and thinking if I had gone totally mad. It’s a perfect beach read – it has the gorgeous locations, fun & awkward weddings, parties and whatnot with lovely characters that could make you swoon. Well, what more do you want? I say, you do yourself a favor and get a copy of this cute, little book and you won’t regret it. Pinky promise.

Many thanks to Boldwood Books and Rachel for having me on the Blog Tour. All opinions are solely mine.

This is a laugh out loud friends first romantic comedy that I thoroughly enjoyed from the first page right through to the last. It really did have me laughing out loud and definitely kept putting a huge smile on my face! If you’ve ever been single and in dire need of someone to attend various events with you, you’ll soon relate to both main characters in this fantastic story.

Cara has been trying to find her Mr Right but just keeps meeting different ones who really are Mr No Way – or, like this last one, fail to turn up at all. That’s when someone comes over to talk to her and she gets to meet the very handsome Joe Mills – or Millsy as most folk call him. Soon they have the idea of helping each other at events where they’d like someone to go with comes from – they’ll be each others plus one! As their friendship grows so does the number of hilarious calamities they experience and rescue each other from!

This is a great read, absolutely packed with humour, friendship, family members to love and others definitely not but sometimes you just need to discover things for yourself – and Millsy gives Cara the confidence to do just that. He’s a brilliant, supportive and handsome man with a surprising job (sorry, no spoilers allowed so you’ll have to read the story to discover what it is!) The story is mainly set in and around Leeds, and I recognised many familiar places, though I’d also like to visit his Gran’s home in Scotland!

I requested and was gifted a copy of this book and this is my honest review after choosing to read it and thoroughly enjoying doing so. It is another brilliant read from one of my favourite romcom authors – I can’t recommend her books highly enough and this is no exception. If you’re looking for a hilarious story to escape into, look no further and grab yourself a copy of this fantastic book!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this book! I think that MacIntosh does a wonderful job of tackling a popular genre. Women's fiction can often be dismissed as boilerplate, but The Plus One Pact is nothing of the sort. Cara and Millsy are normal people- they aren't caricatures and stereotypes, they aren't polar opposites, just regular people. And that makes the story that much more believable! (Also, the fact that Cara designs escape rooms for a living is amazing, and I would love a whole novel about that.)

I think I loved this book specifically because there weren't any major "LOOK, SEE!!!" meoments in their relationship. It developed as a friendship, and a believable friendship with hiccups. The secondary characters were slightly less 3d, but as most were only in the book for a few chapters, it doesn't detract from the story.

This is a perfect summer read, and I would absolutely recommend this for a weekend or vacation day!

A blissfully escapist romantic read with laughs, drama and hi-jinks aplenty, rom-com fans are not going to want to miss out on the latest treat by Portia MacIntosh: The Plus One Pact.

When it comes to dating, poor Cara has had a run of rotten luck. The last couple of dates she has been on have gone from bad to worse to disasters of gigantic proportions. Still, maybe the love of her life is just one swipe away – until she logs onto her favourite dating app and discovers that she has officially run of men. What’s Cara going to do now? It was slim pickings before, but now there are simply no more men left. With a packed social calendar, Cara wonders how she is going to face the never-ending weddings, family functions and gender reveal parties by herself. She simply cannot face going along to these occasions alone and looking pathetic and desperate, but when she meets handsome and confident Millsy on a night out, could her luck be about to change?

Like Cara, Millsy needs to get his family off his back. They are constantly badgering him about settling down and finding a nice girl – and Millsy is sick to the back teeth of it. His summer is equally packed with social activities which he knows will be full of impertinent questions about his love life – or lack of. Meeting Cara and hearing about her predicament gives him an idea that could be mutually beneficial for the two of them – they will be one another’s plus one for the summer and keep friends and family off their case and minimise the matchmaking, pitying glances and endless questions about why they haven’t settled down yet. It seems like a foolproof plan where both parties are aware of where they stand and nobody will get hurt in the process…or will they?

It was meant to be a purely platonic arrangement, but when feelings get involved, Cara and Millsy soon find their plans to remain just friends crumbling. Will they take a chance on love? Or will they let their fears and insecurities get in the way of their happiness?

Portia MacIntosh’s The Plus One Pact is a fun, feel-good and fast-paced romp that kept me gleefully turning the pages from beginning to end. An enjoyable and engaging read with terrific characters, laugh out loud moments, delicious banter, red-hot chemistry between the leads and heart-warming romance, switch off the phone, pour a glass of your favourite tipple and indulge in this outstanding read from a rising star of romantic comedy: Portia MacIntosh.

I enjoyed this book so much! All throughout I kept wondering will they, won’t they? I love that Ms. MacIntosh made us wait until right at the end to find out. A lot of times with this genre it’s pretty obvious from page one what will happen. With Millsy and Cara I was never quite sure how it would end. The way they met and their friendship progressed was just great. I cannot say enough good things about this book and Ms. MacIntosh’s writing— 5 Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Fed up of having to attend events alone? Cara definitely is. She's been through practically ever eligible man on a dating app on Leeds and just can't find a decent match she wants to meet. As the designer of escape rooms, Cara's used to solving problems and when her date doesn't turn up, it might be someone else's turn to solve some of Cara's problems. They agree to be each other's plus one to numerous family events and a brilliant friendship is formed.

This was an absolute gem of book. It had me laughing out loud, smiling and enjoying the chaos of Cara and Millsy's pact. Their friendship was brilliant and seeing it develop throughout was pure escapism. The calamities that seemed to happen at each family event were brilliant. There are lost dogs, lock picking incidents and even burnt frying pans in one event alone!

Another fabulous book by Portia MacIntosh, who is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors. Her books are sure to make you laugh, smile and transport you away on a fantastic adventure.

It took me a few days, but thanks to Netgalley, I can count this as finished. This review is going to bit a touch different since I made some distinct notes to mention, so bear with me.

Have you ever read something that was super adorable but also drove you batty at the same time? This was that book for me. Here are some of the things I enjoyed about it:
-Both main characters have unique jobs, ones I frankly haven't come across in a book before.
-I found her struggles with old friends to be very relatable. As someone who has drifted apart from friends in the past, I found this to be a very well presented representation of that.
-Nothing is clearly put together or perfect. They didn't have perfect romantic moments that brought them close together.

Now, with that being said there were a few things that I felt really strongly about:
-COMMUNICATION! This is starting to become a thing in books that I have the hardest time with. Repeatedly failing to communicate with each other isn't cute or romantic. I find this to be very frustrating. Especially in this instance where we have a woman getting close to thirty not communicating her thoughts, take other people's gossip, and not clearly expressing her emotions in a mature manner. This is something I expect from YA, which might be why I have moved away from that more, but not in adults.
-I have heard someone being referred to as "woke". I don't really care for the term in describing a male who is aware of feminism and supports it. Use it once, I can look over it; however, when you use it repeatedly it is just pestilence. Not even mentioning how out of place it felt.
-There was a bit of tit-for-tat going on that felt a little immature. I am glad to say this calmed a bit in the end, but while it was occurring I was close to DNFing it.

Overall, I think it is a fun read with several flaws in the overall story.

Loved this book. Great for a good summer/beach read. It was also great to have a book about dating that wasn't about where women and men always seem to go wrong with dating... communication. Instead the book flowed through and the cover is lovely too.

Really lovely book.

I had a lot of fun reading this novel! The author’s style is witty, sassy, and sarcastic with many references to popular culture. The story is well-written and enjoyable.

The storyline isn’t too predictable–right until the end, you’re wondering whether the lead pair will get together or fail to get over their misunderstandings.

Everything about this romantic comedy is a bit different from the usual plots and that makes it a book I’d stay up all night to read. 🙂

Take the female MC, Cara Brooks, for instance. She has a unique profession–she designs escape rooms!

In her own words,

“I’ve always loved puzzles. Jigsaws when I was a kid, a little pocketbook of Sudoku when I used to commute, endless puzzle apps on my phone–all far easier than playing the dating game on Matcher, that’s for sure.”

The male MC, “Millsy,” is an actor–which, we find out later, is a euphemism for something entirely different. I won’t give away what that is.

Cara and Millsy meet in unusual circumstances and after a series of dating mishaps, decide to accompany each other to family dos and other parties as the plus one.

Millsy gives Cara uncertain dating advice, which didn’t work. But there was one piece of advice that I loved:

“That’s exactly what you need to do. Be more man.”

Through the pages of The Plus One Pact, we meet Cara’s and Millsy’s families, attend parties, weddings, and school reunions, and tackle jealous ex-boyfriends, feminist brothers, and creepy stepbrothers. There’s a delightful 80+ granny in there who transcends flesh-and-blood relationships to bond with grandchildren-in-law.

What can I say? This was a great book and the story ends with a bang. Only we could have perhaps had a few less events for Cara and Millsy to attend because I was getting impatient for them to move on in the evolution of their relationship.

Thank you to the author and Rachel’s Random Resources for the opportunity to read this hilarious book!

Cara, our heroine, is convinced that she has run out of men. Her dating app has told her she has no more matches and she has just found out that her ex is coming to her sister’s wedding! She needs a plus one asap.
She thinks she’s found a possibility as she exchanges flirty texts and arranges a date but, she’s been stood up and now she’s miserable. Then she meets Millsy and her life starts to look up. He’s kind, handsome, funny and has Cara’s best interests at heart. He also needs a plus one. Could it really be that simple?
I read this book in one sitting and absolutely loved it! Portia MacIntosh just knows how to write a romantic comedy that ticks all the boxes. I laughed out loud, smiled and cheered for the happy ending which, you’ll be relieved to know, is perfect.
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Millsy, it was a pleasure to read about a handsome man who is happy to be kind and supportive with no ulterior motive.