Will They or Won’t They by Ava Wilder
Contemporary Romance
June 27, 2023 by Dell

Review by Melanie

I was a huge fan of Ava Wilder’s debut novel and was especially intrigued by the premise of her second novel, Will They or Won’t They, which, based on its description, happens to be a second chance romance, one of my favorite tropes. One could argue that it’s also an enemies-to-lovers trope but I would say this is more of a costars to casual sex to secretly pining to antagonistic costars to enemies to eventual lovers trope, but that’s quite the mouthful. 

Lilah and Shane, the two MCs, meet at an audition for a tv pilot. They get cast, the show gets picked up, and they become famous tv stars. They also secretly start sleeping together during the first season but by the time the season has wrapped, they’re barely on speaking terms. Cut to season 9 of their show and Lilah, who left the show after 5 seasons to pursue an ill-fated movie career, has returned to help bring the show to a close and also to try and resuscitate her flailing career. However, returning also means having to work with Shane, her one-time lover, and current nemesis. Not only that, but they play love interests on a tv show that is finally giving the pairing their long-awaited happy ending. This means, lots of close contact, forced proximity, a very heated magazine cover shoot, and when tensions inevitably run high between the two, network mandated couples therapy. 

The true crux of their initial breakup takes a while to suss out since the story tends to stay in current times and occasionally goes back to the past to give us the briefest of glimpses at what went wrong between Lilah and Shane. Ultimately, the reason for the almost decade long separation can be boiled down to the fact that both of these people, thrust into the limelight and completely unprepared for that level of public scrutiny, were immature and emotionally ill-prepared to handle that level of fame or the intensity of their feelings. 

Shane, for his part, definitely has feelings from the get-go but also is dealing with imposter syndrome. His rise to fame is the typical story of a waiter being discovered by a producer and he lands a starring role on his very first audition. The kicker here is that he actually never even dreamt of becoming an actor, much less a bonafide television star. 

Lilah, on the other hand, is Juilliard trained and has been working towards this very thing for much of her life. She is intense and earnest and also struggles with anxiety and panic attacks. There’s a dichotomy to her personality in that she’s an actress, well used to having all the attention on her but also struggles with being the center of attention and desperately wants to have boundaries between her professional obligations and public persona and her private life. 

When these two are brought back into each other’s orbit, the relationship is ice cold but there are signs that the two still have unresolved feelings for each other. Despite their attempts to one-up each other and cut each other down at every opportunity, there are also moments when they are fiercely protective of each other. 

I really enjoyed both of the MCs. I could see how much they had grown from back when they first met and began filming the show to the present day, nine years later. It makes sense that they needed the time apart to grow and acquire some maturity and wisdom, but also to explore what else (or rather who else) was out there. Neither one lived a monastic existence during their time apart, which feels far more realistic and appropriate in this situation. And when they finally admit their true feelings for each other, it also makes it far more believable and earned. 

I also really loved the on-page therapy between the two and I wish we had gotten more scenes about that. Both of these characters have a lot of psychological baggage, whether it be Shane’s lack of self-confidence in his abilities as an actor or Lilah’s panic attacks, and her issues with her own parents and their less than amicable divorce when she was young. I not only liked that they had on-page couples therapy to work through their issues (which also gave us great insight into their relationship and how it fell apart to begin with) but also, there is mention of them both getting individual therapy as well. 

I’m always a sucker for second-chance romance where both characters have exhibited character development and growth and this book definitely had that. It is also very much a slow burn of a book and I appreciated that Lilah and Shane don’t just jump into bed at the first realization that there is still a lot of attraction between them. They’re smart enough to realize that there is more at stake here and they need to work through all of their issues before they even think of sleeping together because this time, it might actually mean something – it might mean everything. That’s not to say that there’s no sexual tension building up to the scene where they finally do sleep together, there are plenty of scenes where I wanted to just reach into the book and smack them both and say “oh, just kiss already!” 

If I have one complaint about this book, it’s the way the ending is resolved. Without giving too much away, it feels weird that they make the choice they do in how to proceed with their relationship, especially when the beginning of their relationship was so shrouded in secrecy. I’m not saying I don’t understand why Lilah would make the choice she made but it does feel weird they sort of make the same choice they made the first time around. (I don’t want to be super vague and let me be clear, there is very much a HEA and the two do end up together). Regardless, I still enjoyed the book very much and I really like this author’s voice. If you’re a fan of second-chance romance and books set in the world of tv shows, this is definitely worth the read.

Grade: A-

Content Notes: on-page drug use, past mention of drug abuse by secondary characters, mention of parental divorce and dysfunctional family dynamics

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