Title: Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It
Author: Brooke Averick
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Rom-Com
Format: eARC
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐✨ (3.5–3.75★)
Release Date: May 26, 2026
Synopsis
Phoebe Berman is about to turn thirty… and she’s determined to finally lose her virginity before her birthday arrives.
After an awful experience as a teenager left her struggling with anxiety surrounding intimacy and relationships, Phoebe has spent years avoiding dating altogether. But now, armed with romance novels, a chaotic checklist, and questionable confidence, she decides it’s finally time to change her life.
Unfortunately, navigating romance is much easier in theory than in practice.
Especially when multiple potential love interests suddenly enter the picture all at once.
My Thoughts
I have to admit, the blurb immediately made me curious, and I was genuinely excited when this got granted as a wish on NetGalley.
And honestly? This book ended up being kind of a hot mess… but in a very entertaining way.
Phoebe is almost thirty and still a virgin, mostly because of a really bad experience during her teenage years that left her with intense anxiety surrounding dating, intimacy, and relationships. Determined to finally move past it, she creates a plan to “fix” her situation before her upcoming birthday.
I do think a lot of readers will relate to the anxiety aspects of the story. Those moments often felt very genuine and emotionally believable. At times, Phoebe’s fears, overthinking, and spiraling thoughts were honestly a little too relatable.
That said… the situations she ends up in throughout the book? Oh boy....
Some moments were genuinely hilarious, while others reached full secondhand embarrassment territory. There were several scenes where I had to stop for a second and just stare at the page thinking:
“Girl… what exactly are we doing right now?!”
The multiple love interests storyline also became increasingly chaotic once everything started colliding together, and there was definitely a point where I just sat there going:
“Oh. Oh no.”
The friend group itself worked well enough and helped keep the story fun and light overall, even if none of the side characters became major standouts for me personally.
One thing I will say is that the book was incredibly bingeable. The pacing kept things moving quickly, and despite my occasional frustration with Phoebe, I still wanted to keep reading to see what disaster she’d accidentally create next.
And while Phoebe definitely experiences meaningful growth throughout the story, there were also moments where her reactions felt somewhat immature for someone approaching thirty. I completely understood where her anxiety stemmed from emotionally, but occasionally the behavior itself felt a bit younger than expected.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It was messy, funny, awkward, and surprisingly relatable underneath all the chaos.
It may not have fully worked for me in every aspect, but it absolutely kept me entertained from beginning to end.
ARC Disclaimer
Thank you NetGalley and Headline for granting my wish and providing the ARC. All opinions are my own.
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