This was such a witty story that I laughed so hard reading it. The characters were fantastic and really well rounded. I would 100% recommend

I loved this. This had me hooked from the first page and I couldn't put it down and managed to read it in a day. I loved watching Ben and Lee slowly fall for each other again and seeing Lee realise that not all relationships are going to end badly. The writing was so well done I honestly felt sad when this ended. Highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Ashley Winstead is fast becoming a favourite author for me. Having read what I think is technically the sequel to this last year, I was pleased to see this was getting a re-release so I could catch up on Lee's back story. Winstead's novels are so well-written and the characters are so grounded in real-world problems that are completely relatable to the reader. Lee and Ben's relationship is authentic and well-developed, and I loved that the end-goal was Lee learning to love and forgive herself rather than changing herself or Ben for love.

I adored this book so much and really hope we get another one in this world! I loved Lee as an FMC and the contrast between her from Lex’s POV in Boyfriend Candidate versus what we see of her in this book. She’s messy and I loved that, she knows she isn’t perfect and I felt like if she had done a 180 early on in the book it would have felt disingenuous, so I felt the development was really well done.

Thank you to Head of Zeus for inviting me to read Fool Me Once.

I’m a huge fan of Ashley Windstead’s first foray into romance, The Boyfriend Candidate. I read it in one day; that’s how much I loved it! So you’ll understand how high my hopes and expectations were for Fool Me Once, a sort of prequel (if you really, really squint,) that follows Alexis’ sister prior to the events in TBC.

And maybe that’s where I went wrong.
How was anything going to live up to those expectations?

Fool Me Once took me much longer to read than I expected. I mainly put that down to the fact that I didn’t really connect with Lee in the same way as I did with Alexis. Alexis is me. I am a school librarian. I’m shy and nervous and apologise way too much. And Lee is the polar opposite of this. She’s so far removed from myself that I struggled to invest in her or relate to her. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a very well written character…but I just didn’t connect.

I think, had I read Fool Me Once before TBC, I’d have enjoyed it far more than I did, as it is a great rom-com novel, and please don’t let me review put you off as it’s a great book but it just could never live up to TBC.

Absolutely joyous, uplifting and heart warming read with a sharp witted heroine who you can't help but root for. This book mage my heart happy!

Whew - Ashley Winstead can write characters. I really feel like I KNOW them. And like them. In this political romantic comedy, Lee’s ex boyfriend comes back into her life and she is forced to work with him to get an important bill passed. Their break up five years ago was messy and she’s forced to confront her own issues, which drove them apart.

This was a romance novel, but it also felt a bit deeper with its political setting and focus on the environment. I liked that there was more to the main characters than just their romance. This was also absolutely hilarious. Lee’s narrative voice had me laughing out loud. I mean, the marathon - sorry HALF marathon 🤣 - chapter had me howling. Sad Crawler 😭

What to expect:

- political plot
- second chance romance
- forced proximity
- only one bed
- quite spicy

Really heartfelt and funny read. Lee and Ben dated in college, but had a nasty spilt.
Fast forward a few years, and Lee is working as a Communications Director at a female founded Tesla-like electronic car startup in Texas where she’s working with local state legislators to pass an State environmental bill that would also help her employer also.
Her local state representative employs Ben to work with Lee to get the bill passed, and you can bet Lee is not pleased to be anywhere near Ben who now is her sworn enemy.
I must admit that the first few chapters were quite challenging, as I couldn’t keep up with all Lee’s friends details. Once I got over these first few chapters the rest of the story was a joy to read!
Such witty banter back and forth between Lee and Ben, and Ben is a dreamboat

I LOVED The Boyfriend Candidate, and I really enjoyed reading Lee and Ben's story, which was just as smart and addictive. This was a really fun read.

Lee doesn't believe in love or relationships, especially after getting her heart broken 4 times while she was young, starting when her dad left her mum. She punished him by not talking to him at all and when he died in a car crash she lost her chance of ever getting to clear the air. But she won't admit that or else she'll have to face the fact she was wrong.

When Ben (her last major heart break and the catalyst for years of no strings fun) returns to her life she realises that her feelings for him never went away and its time to analyse why she did what she did at the time she blew up their relationship.

Lee is a bit of a dick really to begin with, she's almost 30 and a working professional in a fantastic role working with the political scene and she still acts like a child. Especially in her refusal to accept relationships work or love is worth it, even though her friends and family are all in relationships or at least willing to be in one.

Ben tries to get through to her and tries to keep being there for you but when she finally realises that the issues are with her, she may have lost Ben. Luckily for her, Ben believes in Lee and goes out of his way to convince her to run for state senate.

I wasn't so keen on the book in the beginning because of Lee being a knob but as her story unfurled it got better and better. She starts to realise that she needs to work on her shit and starts to make some changes in her life. Once she did that, she became a much more likeable person. Ben was a good character though, he definitely showed a lot of personal growth as he grew up.

Thanks to NetGalley and Aria & Aries for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Lee works for an electric car company and is trying to get a green climate bill passed to make Texas a greener state. Her ex boyfriend is introduced as the person who has to help her do it. Lee broke Ben’s heart 5 years ago and neither of them are over it, but have to put their issues aside to work together.

I ordered what is technically the sequel to this (the Boyfriend Candidate) and am so glad to have read Lee’s story as well. Ashley’s writing is exquisite - she’s so funny and dry, with characters that feel so human. I wanted to go straight back and re read her sister’s sorry.

Lee isn’t remotely like me (whereas Alexis could be my twin) and I wasn’t sure if I would love her, but her redemption arc is well mapped. It’s interesting seeing reviews say that her cheating is excused, which it really isn’t and is a massive focus of the plot in my opinion.

At least one of these stars is just for Ben. He is an exceptional MMC, full of love and spark. I think we would all love to be loved by a Ben, especially with his opinions on how women are treated in politics and the media.

Ashley’s stories are very complex and give a lot of back story to the characters. This one has a lot of US politics (as does its sequel) but despite not knowing much about it I enjoyed being along for the ride and routing for the greener bill.

This is a very women powered story which is as equally loveable as every other part of it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Lee and Ben's relationship imploded in a pretty fantastic fashion 5 years ago. Lee is working on a green car initiative and learns that the governor she is working for has hired Ben. Meaning the pair will have to work together. This book is a mix between enemies to lovers and second chance romance. As the 2 compete to turn the most votes they cannot deny the attraction that still. exists between them. Lee has a lot of trust issues that she will need to work through if she and Ben are going to try to be together again and Ben may not have the stamina or the patience to wait why Lee figures her stuff out.

I absolutely loved, loved, LOVED this book - I previously read The Boyfriend Candidate (not knowing this book existed and I'd be working my way backwards) and despite knowing how it ends for Lee Stone, I was absolutely hooked on her story.

Ashley Winstead is a master of witty banter - between the characters and within the protagonista's own mind. I kept putting my Kindle down desperate to be Lee's best friend.

Oddly enough, I also found this book politically informative? I'm an American Ex-Pat in Britain and I honestly didn't quite understand the Texan legislative system quite as well as I thought before reding this book. Winstead blends fact with fiction seamlessly, in a way that's reminiscent of Red White and Royal Blue. As a reader, you know this *isn't* the current trajectory for the country/world... but that truly doesn't matter.

Every single character in this book felt fully realised and perfect - I wouldn't change a thing. This book goes up there with some other Holy Grail reads of mine where I'd honestly say if you don't like it... I'm not sure I like YOU.

Despite centring a highly flawed person – Lee makes some major mistakes – this romance wasn’t as hard to read as I would have anticipated. Somehow the author managed to get me to sympathise with Lee even though I knew I would not want to be friends with her in real life. I appreciated how it was outlined why Lee was the self-destructive way that she was. It didn’t excuse her behaviour but it did help explain it. I liked how fiercely protective she was of those she loved, so she did have some redeemable qualities. I was willing her to stop imploding the good things in her life.

I felt the chemistry between Lee and Ben, but honestly, Ben deserved better. Lee completely messed up his life. He should HATE her, yet in reality, he was still obsessed with her. I didn’t understand how he could not hold a grudge. In fact, Ben admired her work ethic, career ambition and protective nature. They kept hurting each other but kept circling each other. I felt bad for Ben because in comparison to Lee, he was a saint.

It was a testament to the author’s skill that, despite the main character’s mistakes and the fact that I didn’t quite connect with her, I was rooting her on. Still, I wished there was less angst.

I loved The Boyfriend Candidate so I was really excited to read this one, but cheating is just something I can’t deal with and while I tried to be understanding at first and even enjoyed the beginning of the book, at one point it seemed almost every single character in book book was either a cheater, the other person or had been cheated on. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, they went on to try to justify all the cheating and argue that we are all human so it’s not THAT bad. And while it might be true that we’re all human, cheating is still THAT bad in almost all situations.

I also think this book really would have benefited from a double POV. First because it was NEVER clear what the MMC was thinking; second because I think after the way things ended between them the first time they were together, we really needed to see what made him come back and what he was thinking and feeling about everything.

Overall, this would have been a great book if it weren’t for all the cheating. Unfortunately I can’t get past that so it wasn’t the book for me.

Thank you to Aria&Aries and Netgalley for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Usually I will happily read books that contain cheating (not that I condone it in real life), however, I really hated how it was dealt with here and felt like the reasons for it happening weren't believable, even though they tried to justify it, I struggled with a few other issues too so decided not to continue reading.

Thank you to Aria & Aries and Ashley Winstead for the chance to review Fool Me Once in exchange for a fair review. Delight doesn’t cover how I felt seeing another political romance comedy from Ashley Winstead. I loved The Boyfriend Candidate – this book catapulted Ashley Winstead into my top ten list for romance authors. Her unique political romance niche sets her stories against an edgy space with lots of tension and pitfalls to put potential love interests through their paces to test their chemistry, hatred, and love for the entertainment and joy of the reader.

Second chance romance with environmentalism and political tensions spicing things up with the competition between the characters had me on the fence. Second chances romance aren’t my bag; if it didn’t work the first time it is rarely going to work out the second time. Even if you are still madly in love and the chemistry is off the charts, unless you fix the problems you had in the first place and have counselling to grow as a person, it is all going to go wrong again. However, the conflict and wrongs of the past are played out delightfully in the plot of this book – warts, flaws, and bad choices on show for the world with chilling enemy-to-lover vibes and consequences between Ben Laderman and Lee Stone.

From the hook at the start of the book, which is an evil genius, the book lures you in and won’t let go until you fall in love. An engrossing slow-burn story delivering heart-wrenching moments and honest expression of the human condition of how we can do such horrible things to each other in fear and love that is addictive. I could not stop turning the pages even when the lives of the characters were a car wreck on the page, I could not look away.

Character arc and development are a super skill of Ashley Winstead. She can craft unique fictional characters full of flaws, raw emotions, and regrets that worm their way into a reader's heart. Her female characters are powerful, intelligent, undaunted, imperfect, and don’t shy away from being difficult or bold. The men have the same real rawness about their character; vulnerable, sensitive, hurt/bruised by their emotions, and deeply driven by their internal compass. Not to mention good-looking, strong, and gold retriever book boyfriend types, we all long to have in our lives. I read Ashley Winstead’s books for the quirky plots and the unique angles of the story, but I keep reading them again and again for the characters who are like old friends to me.

If I were a Texan, I think I would be saying ‘Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit’ like some of my friends in the Lone Star State have said to me before with eyebrow-raising effects. Ashley Winstead, you wrote a book about a topic I avoid with a barge pole, and made me love it. Well played, I concede you are a genius and have succeeded where many great romance authors have fallen foul of my absolute hate of this element that usually has me closing a book faster than lightning. I’m not saying what as it’s a huge spoiler for the plot – trust me you need to read Ashely Winstead. She’s a star-quality author who is winning the war for space on my bookshelf and my Kindle.

Fool Me Once By Ashley Winstead
I give this book 4.stars.


Lee Stone kicks butt at her job as a communications director at a women-run electric car company and after work she is 'Stoner', drinking guys under the table and never letting any of them get too comfortable in her bed...
Then her grad school ex boyfriend Ben shows up as a policy expert for the Texas governor, just as Lee is trying to get a clean-energy bill rolling. They're forced to work together, fanning the flames for a romantic dustup the size of Texas.

This author has an enjoyable writing style and the plotline was a little bit different from my recent rom coms which was a refreshing change. Lee our FMC had a lot of layers to her character to peel back, but for me I couldn’t really take to her but that didn’t spoil my read ( I’m not a fan of cheating but it happens and sometimes there’s more going on underneath ) I love a 2nd chance romance though and I found the political/climate aspect of their jobs added to the story and gave it depth.The banter was great and the tension between them was palpable especially in the workplace. This author is an autobuy for me,no matter what genre she writes.
With thanks to Netgalley,Ashley Winstead and Aria and Aries books for my chance to read and review this book.

I would like to thank netgalley and Aria & Aries for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I love how politically driven and conscious this authors work is. This one felt a little bit more all over the place, mainly due to the fmc being a bit of a mess.

Thank you netgalley and Aria & Aries for this ARC of ‘Fool Me Once’
At first I was unsure if I was going to enjoy this book as it does include the cheating trope. Now before anyone comes for me I am in no way saying cheating is right but I do believe there are reasons people do it. I think this book explores reasons why very well. I loved both main characters, Lee and Ben, which pulled me in fairly quickly. I am not usually interested in politics in romance novels but in this case I really enjoyed it. My only critique is that I wish there was more in the epilogue about Ben and Lee’s future.