Book Review - The One Where They Fall In Love by Cristina Wolf

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Title: The One Where They Fall In Love

Author: Cristina Wolf

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Aria

Publication Date: 13th August 2026

Rating: 5 Stars

You never know when love may come knocking...

Hopeless romantic and romance editor Elle Thompson lives for happy endings – but real-life love? Not so much. Still, she's totally thrilled when her best friend gets engaged. Really. Not jealous at all.

Meanwhile, Oliver Cole likes things a certain way. Schedules and routines and order. So when his move back to New York is disrupted by the addition of Thor – the dog his sister adopted before moving to Italy – he's less than delighted. Even less enthused? His neighbour, Elle.

When Elle can't bear to hear Thor howling all night, she and Oliver strike a deal: she'll dog-sit during his shifts. But their reluctant arrangement soon leads to late-night chats, undeniable chemistry, and two guarded hearts learning to open up. Could Elle and Oliver finally get their own happily ever after?

Cristina Wolf is fast becoming a new favourite author of mine, that is two books out of two now that she has written and that I have totally fallen in love with. 

Elle our leading lady is best friends with Lucy from "How to Write a Rom-Com" so the books are related, but I do believe this can be read as a total standalone.  But why deprive yourself of an excellent other book! 

So Elle is trying to get used to living alone and she has a new neighbour.  Who just happens to be rather noisy, and worse seems to leave his poor dog alone all night barking.    Ollie is in fact a med student and working shifts, and is looking after Thor for his sister, and trying to get used to being back in New York. 

There is a wonderful meet cute between them, which I think could be referred to as the one where Elle sleeps outside Ollie's door all night, while letting Thor lick peanut butter off her fingers! 

For you see there are Friends references throughout this, which I absolutely adored and given the title of the book probably shouldn't be a surprise to hear either! 

I loved how Ollie and Elle start pet sharing Thor and at the same time Elle is determined to get Ollie happier to be in New York since she loves a project. She also sees Ollie for who he really is which is really refreshing. 

I loved the connection between our two leads, in this grumpy - sunshine rom com, and generally enjoyed all of the writing and character development. 

This is a fun story with depth and I was totally hooked on this. 

Thank you to Aria and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.