I Knew You Were Trouble by Sandy Barker

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to Rachel's Random Resources and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

Don’t get mad. Get even.

Kate Whitaker has always believed in love, but when a stranger named Willem shows up on her doorstep, the news he has to share isn’t as exciting as his god-like looks might suggest. He’s come to tell her that Kate’s fiancé is also engaged to his sister.

Kate doesn't know how she didn’t see the red Jon’s work as an airline pilot having him flying around the globe, the postponed dates, the huge rock of an engagement ring that isn’t her style at all.

Overcome with fury – and entranced by the Nordic god’s piercing blue eyes and quiet allure – Kate agrees to accompany Willem to his hometown of Amsterdam to help break the news to his sister. Yet what begins as a simple gesture of support soon twists into a deliciously devious plan to get back at Jon.

Kate is drawn into a world of retribution, revenge and – unexpectedly – romance. Because sometimes the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else…

My Opinion

I have been enjoying this series so I went into I Knew You Were Trouble without knowing what the book was about – this was such a fun read. I Knew You Were Trouble is the fifth book in the series but it can easily be read as a standalone. From the opening chapters I was hooked. A fun, quick read with some well-written characters. This is a great addition to the series.

Rating 4/5

I really wanted to love this book - the title, cover and blurb really caught my eye and attention.

However I found the plot line to be far too thin and not believable - given the subject matter, of discovering your fiancee has another fiancee.. I also found the dialogue to be too childlike an unrealistic too. As hard as I tried to persist with it, I stopped reading at 20%.

Perhaps if I had read earlier books in the series I might have persisted further.. however this writing style was not for me - as much as I am an avid romance reader.

Thank you to Sandy Baker, Boldwood Books & NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for the honest review.

I was so excited to go back and see what the crew at the Ever After Agency were up to and this story did not disappoint. This was another light and breezy rom com with loads of witty banter and entertaining scenarios that keep the story progressing at a fast pace. And the setting-oh my stars! I love that it took place in Amsterdam! It felt so immersive and made me want to go there even more than i already did.
This is book 5 of the series and I've read all of them, which I believe added to my enjoyment of this one because I was familiar with the backstory of the characters, but there's also some new ones that are introduced so you may be able to read this as a standalone as well.
All in all, this is just another example of why @sandybarkerauthor is one of my go to authors when I need an escape read.

Thanks to Boldwood Books, NetGalley and Rachel’s Random Resources for my gifted copy in exchange for my review

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of I Knew You Were Trouble by Sandy Barker.

This is the fifth book in a series, but it’s marketed as a standalone. However, I found the first half a bit confusing because so many characters were introduced at once. It made me wonder if they had been established in previous books. If I hadn’t received this ARC, I probably would have started with book one to get more context before diving into this installment.

Once I got past the initial confusion, the book was an easy read. That said, I felt like there was too much happening, and some key details I wanted were missing. There were several time jumps that I wish hadn’t been there. For example, the premise of a group of women getting revenge on a man who played them could have been the main focus, rather than that storyline plus a romance squeezed in.

Speaking of the romance, the relationship between Kate and Willem felt forced, lacking the natural build-up I enjoy in a budding love story. I would have liked to see more development between them instead of it feeling rushed.

Overall, while the book had an interesting premise, the execution left me wanting more.

Thank you to Boldwood Books for the free copy of this book in exchange for a review!

I Knew You Were Trouble follows the duel POV of Kate & Poppy. Kate finds out that her fiancé is living multiple lives and is dating or engaged to multiple women.

I’ll start with the things I liked. I liked the premise of the plot. Multiple women trying to stick it to the loser of a man. This was a good story where women came together, trusted what they were saying, and worked together to get back at him.

Unfortunately there were many things I didn’t like.
1. The fact that all of these women were ok with dating a flaky man who wasn’t around for weeks at a time? I don’t care how “charming” he is. How do you get to know someone enough to get engaged when you’ve barely spent any time with him? Especially when he apparently was as lame as a bag of rocks and not good in bed.
2. How are these people just up and booking flights every weekend? In this economy????
3. When trying to plan revenge it was so lame to me that they chose to try to get him to donate a large sum to charity. And also that he was SOOOOO against the arts. It was just so stupidly specific. He literally could just use that to his advantage and say he donates to that to make him look better.
4. The fact that a match making agency would get so involved in the revenge of this man is not realistic.

This one was not for me. It was still a fast and easy read I just found myself rolling my eyes a lot.

This book soared behind all of my expectations.
First, I wanted impatiently for most of the book for Jon the Con (love the name!) to get what he deserved. I think he got off too lightly.
Second, I was ready to climb all over Thor I mean Willem the instant he was introduced. I mean, come on, a tall blonde Dutch hottie so supportive and protective?!
Thirdly, I think Margot stole a lot of the scenes away from Kate, which was fine with me because I thought she was hilarious!

John Tucker Must Die Vibes, but with adult, in Europe!

I loved this book! This story started with a bang and just kept getting better. The plot thickened and the characters were quirky and I just couldn't put it down! Sometimes the slow burn was a little too slow for me, but that's probably a me problem. It gave me friendship, revenge, and love all in one story! I couldn't ask for more.

Thank you @netgalley and @boldwoodbooks
for this fabulous advanced reader copy of #Iknewyouweretrouble

I absolutely love Sandy Barkers novels and the Happy Ever After Agency has been a blast!
Kate believes in love and after getting engaged looking forward to her HEA until a tall, dark stranger, Willem, comes knocking on her door to inform her that her fiancé is also his sister’s fiancé too!
The fabulous settings of London ,Amsterdam and Verona, sisterhoods sticking together and plotting revenge on the two timing, lying @#$%!
Enemies to allies to lovers and slow burn tropes.

Betrayal and revenge – now that’s something rather different for this series, isn’t it? But it’s a story with a central romance I entirely loved, plenty of fun and laughs along the way, emotional moments, wonderfully drawn locations, great characters, and a story that kept me turning the pages into the early hours, hopeful for a happy ending.

With the help of a matchmaking agency, Kate has found the relationship she’s been looking for. Jon is an airline pilot, travelling the world – and they’ve recently become engaged, although the blingy ring he presented her with might not have been quite the one she’d hoped for. Wedding planning is underway, but his job means she often finds herself home alone – and one Friday her quiet night in is interrupted by a visit from a (particularly hot…) stranger. He’s Willem, from Amsterdam, a bit of an IT whiz who’s been looking into Jon’s background – but only because his sister has just become engaged to the very same man.

Willem’s sister won’t believe her new partner is two-timing her – and the only way he can think of convincing her is by introducing her to Kate who can tell her the painful truth. Egged on by friend and cousin Margot, she’s started to thinking about revenge – and she’s already been in touch with matchmaker Poppy, hoping the Ever After agency can help while also perhaps righting some of the wrongs committed by the other agency that matched them.

Perhaps it’s a bit soon to be thinking about another romance – and maybe her growing feelings for Willem are only lust (my goodness, he’s gorgeous – and a rather lovely man too…). But when they discover Jon might also be stringing along another woman – this time in Italy – they jointly decide that they really must intervene. With a bit of forced proximity, Kate realises that she might just have found the perfect partner after all – although it’s a bit of a rocky road before that happy ending I wanted – and then there’s the small matter of getting even with the toad who’s behaved so very badly.

Yes, you do need to suspend your disbelief a little – all the jet-setting and travelling on a whim is something few of us could afford, but the Ever After agency does only engage with high-end clients. I loved Poppy’s undercover involvement – uncomfortable to say the least – but also loved the direction her personal story took, just perfect for the last book in the series. All the friends we’ve made in previous books in the series are here – colleagues too, and I particularly adore unconventional sleuth Marie, always effortlessly one step ahead of everyone else. And Margot’s a great – if sometimes bloodthirsty – addition to the cast, one of those close female friendships that the author always excels at, but also with a rather lovely relationship storyline all of her own.

And does Jon get his comeuppance in a suitably uncomfortable way? Ah well, you’ll need to read the book to find out – but it certainly worked well for me. This really was the perfect book to end this lovely series – I’ll miss Poppy, her lovely partner and Saffy the cat, her circle of friends, and I’m sad to say goodbye to the Ever After agency – but I’m very much looking forward to seeing what the author does next… .

It's another enjoyable book in the Ever After Agency series with familiar characters, some new ones, and a different slant on the matchmaking agency. Kate finds that her fiancé is not who he seems and discovers she is not the only woman in their engagement. Willem is the other fianceé 's brother and the deliverer of the devastating news. Kate meets Willem's sister, the other woman at his behest, and finds that she feels a sense of sisterly solidarity with her. Kate's attraction to Willem is a surprising complication, making this an engaging story with a delicious slow-burn romance between Kate and Willem. It's an escapist read with evocative visits to Amsterdam, Verona, and London, with complex and likeable female protagonists and a sizzling and satisfying romance.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

This wasn't the book for me, I really struggled to get through this book. The double POV was really confusing, I'd rather read the POV of the FMC and MMC instead of FMC and side character. The FMC, Kate, annoyed me alot. I couldn't get myself to like her.
Besides that it bothered me that the Dutch word for the disease cancer (Kanker) was used as a swear word.

Thanks so much to Netgally and Boldwood books for giving me the opportunity to read this in advance and give my honest opinion about it.

The book “I Knew You Were Trouble” by Sandy Baker is my first foray into the Ever After Agency series. It is the fifth book of the series and it checked a lot of my favourite book tropes off in the storyline. Kate is a project manager that finds out that her fiancé is actively dating or engaged to multiple other women from one of those woman’s brother, Willem. She flies with him to Amsterdam to break the news to his sister. Thus begins her healing, her hunt for revenge as well as other women he is dating and the possibility of a spicy new connection with Willem. Question is whether she is ready to start something new so soon after her fiancé deceived her?

This closed door romance included a really nice chemistry between Willem and Kate. There was some good banter, some tension but also some longing between the characters. The tropes were well done with an only one bed scenario, some forced proximity as Willem insists on helping Kate through the process of handling her fiancé’s deception. The matchmaking agency and the role they played in the revenge plot was an interesting addition. I found it a good book that I enjoyed overall. Having said that there was nothing that really stood out and called my attention, it wasn’t a book that hooked me and made it so I couldn’t put it down and I think that is because of the slow burn between the characters and also a fairly slow paced plot line. Overall a decent read.

Whilst I’d not read the other books in this series, I have to say I did enjoy it and thought that the plot was very engaging.

Kate was an interesting protagonist and I cared about her immediately. It was a pacy start to things and I had to know how Kate would deal with her situation.
I thought the settings were well written and it made me want to go back and read the others from the series.

Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood for this ARC copy. All opinions are my own.

"I Knew You Were Trouble" tells the story of Kate, a woman engaged to the love of her life. However, after meeting Willem she finds out her fiance is a no good cheating liar who has multiple fiancé's.

Overall, this book was okay. It reminded me a bit of the movie "The Other Woman". I was unaware that this book was part of a series, which is probably why the Poppy chapters didn't make sense to me. To be honest, the Poppy chapters took me out of the story. I would have loved a traditional dual POV between the FMC AND MMC.

The story itself was a great idea, but I felt like there was so much going on that I couldn't focus on the main characters.
I did highly appreciated the John Cleese mention.

Thanks NetGalley and the author for the ARC!

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity!
It can have spoilers !!

Is it a very nice book, at first the story sounded rare, was it like: Seriously 2 parallel lives? A man (Willem) who appears this way in your department and you go to a bar to listen to what he means?
But in the end I really liked the development of history, that each one can have its happy ending.
I would have liked what that first night of Willem and Kate (The Spicy One) But it’s okay! I really enjoy even without that part.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My mistake for not realizing this was the fifth book in the series. I absolutely loved the setting of the book, but I wasn’t as fond of the characters. I think I would’ve connected more with them if I had the context from the earlier books, especially since there were several references to characters from previous installments that I didn’t fully understand.

Thank you Netgalley and Boldwood books for providing an advanced reader’s copy 🤎

This book had me hooked from the very first page. Kate Whitaker’s journey felt so real—her heartbreak, anger, and eventual empowerment were so relatable. When she learns about her fiancé’s betrayal (from another *fiancée* no less!), I was right there with her, feeling the shock and outrage.
And then Willem enters the scene. Can we talk about how perfectly mysterious and charming he is? Their chemistry is just *chef’s kiss*! The way their revenge plan turns into something so much deeper and unexpected made my heart flutter. I couldn’t stop rooting for them the entire way.
What I really loved, though, was how the book balances the humor of their antics with such a strong message of resilience. It reminded me that even in life’s messiest moments, there’s always room for growth, adventure, and maybe even a little romance.

Kate Whitaker’s world is turned upside down when she learns her fiancé is engaged to someone else. Instead of drowning in heartbreak, she teams up with Willem—the man who broke the news—to expose the truth to his sister, who is also engaged to the same man. Their journey from London to Amsterdam and Verona, initially fueled by revenge, soon sparks unexpected romance.

The novel is lighthearted and entertaining, with humor, strong female friendships, and engaging interactions. However, Kate’s reaction to betrayal feels oddly muted, and the revenge-driven plot lacks depth. While the pacing and underwhelming Amsterdam storyline could have been stronger, the likable characters—especially Willem—keep the story enjoyable.

I found this book ok.

Although probably not one I'd pick up again. It wasn't for me.

I didn't realise it was book 5 in a series.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Boldwood Books for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an enjoyable revenge plot with destinations around Europe. A good end to the series.