~thank you to the publisher Piatkus and to NetGalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review ~

Tropes include: childhood friends-to-lovers, childhood best-friend's, celebrity/hollywood romance, forced proximity, one bed, secret dating, childhood crush, insta-love (ish)

I remember stumbling upon Ivy Owen’s Instagram page after seeing an author I love rave about Scandalized back in May, immediately rushing to read the synopsis and then praying, wishing, hoping arcs would be available. I screamed when I saw the arc pop-up on NetGalley UK, ran to request and let our yet another screech once the request was approved. Safe to say my expectations were somewhat high prior to going in to reading Scandalized and can confirm they were met! I knew from the beginning I was going to love this one, it took all over three pages for me to send multiple voice notes to a friend professing how much I swooner over one little glance.

Scandalized follows the the story of investigative journalist Georgia “Gigi” Ross who reconnects with her childhood best friend’s brother after a chance run-in at the airport. When their flight back to LA is cancelled due to a storm, Gigi is left stranded and in comes her knight in polished brown shoes, Alexander “Alec” Kim who swoops in and offers to share his hotel suite for the night. What follows is a one-night stand turned steamy (oh so steamy), whirlwind secret romance as Alec and Gigi attempt to navigate their complicated separate lives and their relationship. I was a little worried at one point that this would be all smut, no plot, but that was a very misguided thought since that was not the case here!

I loved this book. I absolutely DEVOURED Scandalized in one sitting. Alec and Gigi’s story was equal parts steamy and swoony, and it really made me rethink my stance on insta-love/lust because it was handled in a way that really worked for their story and the chemistry between these too was clear for all to see. There was also an engaging subplot (please check content warnings prior to reading) that I was invested in just as much as the romance. While at times it could be a touch predictable, this did not take away from my enjoyment at all and I was quickly swept into the story.

p.s. I would be remiss if concluded this review without sharing two things:

1 - I will only be referring to future book boyfriends as people who look like ‘god’s pet-project in the human-designs studio’ henceforth - what a brilliant line, I laughed more than was probably necessary

2 - Whilst I do adore Alec and Gigi, I am first and foremost an Eden (Gigi’s best friend and roommate) stan. We all need an Eden in our lives.

4.5☆

BOOK REVIEW: Scandalized by @helloivyowens

4 Stars

I was really looking forward to this book and although it didn't quite live up to my hopes, it was still a great read that I definitely recommend to romance lovers.

Scandalized is based around our lead female Gigi. She is an investigative journalist who is currently working on her first big case. I really liked Gigi, she had the perfect balance of being smart, outgoing, vulnerable, trusting and funny. I connected to her really quickly and although I wish we had seen a little more of her personality away from the lead male, I still loved her. The lead male is Alec, a very successful actor whose sister was Gigi's best friend growing up. Alec is a cinnamon bun of a man and I loved him so much. I felt their characters worked really well together and the romance and smut was done well.
The side characters are excellent and I really hope we get another book based on Alec's sister Sunny and also on Gigi's best friend (who brought the humour to this book!).
My only wish is that the story Gigi investigates is a relatively dangerous one and I wish more had come from that. I know this isn't a suspense romance but I thought that could have added an extra dangerous dimension to the story which for me was missing.
I also wish we had had more scenes of Gigi and Alec doing normal things. I love lots of smut but I wish one of those scenes could have been them doing something else to add a little more connection and possibly humour as well.
The writing was great, really engaging and I read the book quickly as I couldn't put it down!

Overall, a great romance debut and I cannot wait to read more by this author!

Please note that I was #gifted this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This book is going to be huge this year - I'm sure of it!! Perfect for fans of Abby Jimenez and Emily Henry.

Tropes: celebrity, brothers best friend, childhood friends to lovers, reconnection, pining.

The chemistry between Georgia and Alec is electric. This book has a lot of smut, and all of it is hot. Smoking hot. This sexual chemistry does then move into romantic chemistry. I rooted for them, and got puzzle piece vibes for sure.

<spoiler> My only negative about this book is that the blurb and title lessened my enjoyment of it. We are told that there is going to be a scandal, so you are constantly just waiting for it. And then it only appears 80% in??? and it lasts like 10 pages??? It feels like a spoiler, not a description of the book. </spoiler>

This was a 4.5 star read for me - I recommend picking it up when it releases - WHICH WAS TODAY!!!

Thanks to NetGalley, Nosy Crow and Ivy Owens for the e-arc. All opinions are my own.

Scandalized is such a hot and spicy romance from the get go ! To be honest a whole lot of the plot is spice but I really enjoyed it. The underlying plot worked really well, helped the story to progress further as well. This is a childhood friends to lovers troupe after Gigi and Alec reconnect after years apart. 
 
I felt the attraction and the pull between Gigi and Alec which really helped make this a binge read. A big thank you to @yourswithlovex and @netgalley for this ARC in exchange of a honest review. Scandalized is out today so happy publication day !

I LOVED this book - I laughed, I cried, I swooned.

The story begins with Georgia and Alec, both having their flight cancelled and needing somewhere to stay. Georgia recognises Alec and realises that he is the older brother of her childhood best friend, they get to flirting and spend a (very intense) night together. At the airport the next morning, Georgia realises that Alec is actually a famous actor and it later transpires that he knows information that could help with the article she is working on. The connection they feel is so strong that they decide to see each other for the two weeks they will be in the same city.

This book starts with some incredibly steamy scenes right out of the gate, and these scenes really showed the developing connection between the two leads. I also really enjoyed the side characters - Eden and Yael were brilliant, and I would have loved to see more of Sunny.

Georgia was such an awesome heroine for the way that she deals with various issues and the way that she owns all of her actions. There is discussion of sexual assault on page due to the subject of Georgia's job as an investigative journalist and the article she is working on throughout the book - the edition of Scandlized I read contained content warnings at the beginning and related resources at the end which I thought was excellent.

Thank you to Gallery, Netgalley and Ivy Owens for the opportunity to read this ARC, I can't wait to reread!

Loved this! It was an endearing and exciting romance, but also enjoyed the crime plot alongside this.

Enjoyable, steamy, and implausible in all kinds of ways, with a hero that’s too good to be true. The writing style is very smooth, but next to the bubbly romance, the grittiness and assault of the story George is investigating is quite jarring.

I really enjoyed Scandalized! A fun, steamy read, with plenty of great dialogue and chemistry! Anyone who is a fan of celebrity romances will love this.

Wow. I don't quite know where to start without just gushing about how much I loved this book.

Gigi - tough investigative journalist bumps into Alec, her childhood best friend's brother on an unexpected layover from London to LA. They end up sharing a hotel room and embark on a one night stand......only a one night stand has never felt so meaningful and perfect to either of them. When they get to LA, Gigi realises there's a lot about Alec's current life she didn't know, including the links to the huge story that's about to make her career sky rocket. Neither can hide their attraction and neither is ready to part ways, so they embark on a love affair while Alec is in town. Will they be able to let each other go after the two weeks, and can their relationship weather the massive storm coming their way?

This one just had me from the start, I was invested in the characters, the seedy story Gigi had uncovered, and their obvious blossoming love. I'm a sucker for a HEA ❤️

A fantastic debut from Ivy Owens, please write more - I want more!!

Reviews posted on 19.08.2022

This was such a fast paced easy yet enjoyable read. The plot kept me intrigued throughout and I actually liked all of the characters which is not very common for me. The tropes were some of my fav - best friends brother- and I also liked the celebrity element. I felt that his life and way of thinking was exactly how I’d imagine celebrity life to be. The parts about UK and US media were so well written and gave it that even more realistic touch. This book had me laughing, confused and blushing all at once! Hearing Alecs POV could have been a fun touch but I loved it none the less!

This is a quick and steamy read about a journalist who has a one night stand with her childhood crush (whom she hasn't seen for several years) only to discover that he is now a kinda famous actor. Not sure I believe that she wouldn't know about that, but ok.

Some bits were a bit cringey (which is fine, it is a romance novel after all), other bits were very sweet. I didn't really connect with the characters or care about where everything was going though, so that is why it doesn't have more stars!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 stars

“I think I fell in love with you in a matter of minutes”

Scandalized is a super cute but steamy whirlwind romance between Gigi (an investigative journalist) and Alec (a famous actor)

Gigi and Alec reconnect after their connecting flight to LA gets cancelled, leaving them stuck in Seattle with only one hotel room between them.

Tropes: instalove, only one room, best friends brother to strangers to lovers

TW: sexual assault (none on page assault happens but there are descriptions of it linked to the article that the heroine is writing)

The epilogue boosted my rating massively as it shows all the highlights of both their personal lives and relationship over the coming years, wrapping up the story perfectly which is honestly chefs kiss

I loved this book.
It read so easily, flowed really well, story was just seamless and engaging.
Loved the premise and the entire plot I just devoured it really.
Such a good room-com genre book.

Scandalized is a fun and swoonworthy book that is definitely going down as one of my favourite reads of 2022! It has everything I am looking for in a celebrity romance and features some of my all time favourite tropes. It was a bit instalovey, which I actually liked in this context since Alec and Georgia's chemistry was off the charts. It featured some very steamy scenes, which were both hot and heartwarming at the same time. Ivy Owens painted such a beautiful romance that is bound to capture the hearts of romcom lovers!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a spectacularly good romance, with the chemistry between the main characters dripping off every page. The well-loved trope of celebrity meets normal feels fresh and exciting in the author's hands, and the payoff of their is worth every minute of angst

Super cute and fun read and I loved the premise of it... but it was too much of an insta-love for me and I just never vibe with insta-love plots... that's all there really is too it.

Ivy Owens book ‘Scandalized’ was an enjoyable, intensely steamy romcom with encounters that were detailed and not rushed. I enjoyed the power relationship between the two main characters, one of whom being famous and the other a journalist. The action gets going fairly quickly which I liked. Although the ending was fairly predictable, Alec and Gigi face a few unexpected hurdles along the journey. I’d definitely look out for books by Ivy Owens in the future.

“Watching you play a piano would be like watching porn.”

This is the line that made me think “this novel is going to be steamy”.

I have to be honest, that estimation wasn’t wrong, it was steamy, however, it was also ridden with cliches that I have read in multiple other books of this type.

The central characters, Alec and Georgia were made for each other, but there were moments that saw me frustrated and moments that didn’t make sense.

The strangest thing is that the one element which pulled me from the story was the name of the BBC/Netflix TV show ‘The West Midlands’. It just felt out of place and decidedly unglamorous.

More than anything, I loved Erin, the best friend, she was a spark of lightness, especially when the worst happened and the Georgia and Alec hit a roadblock that seemed to be impossible to get through, though it lacked depth and purpose and as a twist, it didn’t have the sort of emotion I expected.

Georgia is ambitious, strong and determined, she knows what she wants and she definitely goes after it. Alec is successful, secretive and lives an exciting life.

All of that said, it was well-written, the characters are well-rounded and they are likeable.

This was a good first novel and I would like to read more. The perfect summer holiday read.

I have to completely honest, whenever I see a Romance with plenty of reviews and/or recommendations saying it's "really spicy" and I decide to read it I'm usually disappointed with the amount of spice. Not this book! Not this one! Not only is it truly spicy, it's well written and not a single one of the scenes feels gratuitous.

What I wasn't expecting at all was the absolutely outrageous levels of honest communication. Never in a million years did I think I was going to read this book and have main characters who communicate like Alec and Gigi did. I'm still shocked, I finished reading this 4 says ago and I'm still thinking about the way their relationship was so absolutely drenched in communication. I don't think I need to tell anyone how rare a Romance that isn't 90% miscommunication is!

This is getting 4 stars from me because I think the epilogue deserved to have been a bigger part of the story. So much happens in so few pages. I wish the book had been longer and we'd gotten to see more of the progression of their relationship as it unfolded.

Gigi is stranded in Seattle after a flight cancellation, and after getting to a hotel to try and find a room she bumps into an old childhood friend. They haven't had contact since he left with his family for the UK, but he invites her to his room for a shower because she looks so exhausted, and that's where things escalate and thier chemistry is magnetic from here on in. She has no idea who he really is, and won't find out till after they share an intimate night together, but when the big bombshell drops, the drama keeps coming and she's not sure she can handle it all.

This book was almost a rom-com on paper and I really did feel like I could visualise the characters and the settings. A lot of the writing in this book felt very raw especially the parts where the pair think about each other or they share intimate nights. There are so many tropes explored in this book: childhood friends, age gap, celebrity, and fairytale romance. There is almost some of the most chemistry and spice in this book which just seals this book up into an amazing romance book package. I could not put this book down, and I am not sorry for that because this book was so easy to read and just the perfect little romance. Although, this book did have another big storyline that underlined the whole plot, and I will warn you now, that little plot is not guessable and even when you think it's all over something else happens, so don't think you know what's going to happen.

A big congratulations to Ivy Owens for the release of this book, and hopefully I get to read more of her work very soon, but I am going to need a spin off for all the different characters.

4 stars / 3.5 spice