Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Well Met

What a fun story! There was so much I thoroughly enjoyed. From April and Emily really developing a sisterly bond, to Simon’s first time kissing Emily (as himself), to the small-town wholesomeness, Well Met is a charming summer read!

The only real issue I had with the story was Emily’s lack of comprehension skills overall.

Like, obviously Chris isn’t going to train you in additional responsibilities and then fire you, Emily, new part-time employee or not! Obviously you’re getting a promotion! 🙄

Emily was a repeat offender with these weird, short-sighted conclusions, but by the end of the book she finally got it right.

Like many romances, Well Met did rely heavily on the miscommunication trope. However, these miscommunications, while relatively frequent, were also quickly cleared up — a much more realistic approach to miscommunication than the usual “letting things grow and grow and grow and then causing an unnecessary and melodramatic third-act breakup.”

I disliked the cover, as it seemed to show Emily’s misinterpretation of the situation with Simon in the first half of the book, rather than the reality. His posture and gestures indicated disgust, which was never actually the case — he’s just intense, reticent, and has his own stuff going on.

A perfect, fun beach read I definitely recommend!

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cressida's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

This book was so much fun, I really enjoyed it. It was a bit contrived and I found some of the character development very sudden, so I don’t know if I could give it a 5⭐️ but it definitely earns the 4⭐️ from me. I really enjoyed learning about the faire and seeing character interactions and I’ve placed a hold on the next in the series in the hopes that it is just as good.

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witcheep's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a great feelgood read while being emptyheaded myself. 🤩😅 Just enough plot and character intrique to keep me hooked (and enough to deepdive into analysis if I felt like it), but I didn't need to make an effort to follow the plot. Very enjoyable! Bonus points because there are multiple possible characters subtly hinted for potential sequel romances. I'll be sure to grab the next book in this series as well!

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jourdanicus's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Ugh... I wish I had DNFed this, unfortunately. I love the Renaissance fair I've been to so I thought it would be a cute setting for a romance novel. Sadly the story and characters just lacked depth. Sometimes that can make for a fun, light read, but I struggled to suspend disbelief enough to enjoy. And then the icing on the cake (derogatory) was when Emily, a gal Simon had known for what, 6 weeks? Told him

he basically needed to get over his dead brother and put her first.

Grief is complex and this book didn't have the depth to handle that topic.

Edit: if I find out the lasagna + milk for dinner mentioned at the end is a Twilight reference, I'm adding half a star to my rating for that Easter egg 🤣

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kyeruhh's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I was so excited to read this based on the fact it was set around a ren faire, and the setting definitely lived up to what I wanted. I thought the ren faire of it all was really fun and I enjoyed the fact that Simon was a stickler for historical accuracy. That said, I didn’t really love any of the characters and the relationship moved both very slowly (at the start) and very quickly (at the end). It was also single POV and I thought that Emily was just a bit…thick? Like everything said to her went in one ear and out the other? So that left me a bit frustrated as the reader. Overall, enjoyable enough but not sure I’ll pick up the rest of the series.

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cassroberts89's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Super, super cute! And definitely on the steamier side in a couple of scenes, if you’re wondering about that sort of thing.

One thing I went back and forth on was Emily’s mental state. In one hand, there were definitely moments where it was clear she was spiraling. Anxiety maybe, or just her past experience with dickhead-ex? I can emphasize with that and understand how sometimes it’s not always a rational line of thought.

I do think that bit was a little overdone though. There were other times where her thoughts were clear contradictions with her experiences, or even with her own previous thoughts. When everything seemed peachy, I was wondering what sort of conflict could possibly necessitate another half or so of the book. I think a lot of that conflict was forced by the author injecting her with some of these irrational thoughts. As if those thoughts were there for the sole purpose of propelling the story forward.

I hope that makes sense. I need to stop writing reviews late at night 😅 Still a great, what I like to call, “palate cleanser.”

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beth_s98's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really, really enjoyed this one! I loved the setting and the care given to the description of the Faire. The characters were strong, and I felt as though the growth was reasonable. There are some spicy scenes, but not over-the-top and they felt very realistic.

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sotnasck's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Buddy read with my "agreement" squad Ailin and Heather, thanks for the quarantine read girls!

Alright, this has way less sword innuendos than I expected so take from that what you will. It was an enjoyable and cute read, nothing more than that. And the reason for this is that I kept waiting for more to happen, for more development, more drama, more faire shenanigans, more romance (in a romance book? that's weird I know) but it never came... Another point, that was raised in our discussion, is that the book would have benefit greatly from Simon's POV so it was too bad that we didn't get it.

That being said, I did enjoyed what I got. Especially Emily's relationship with her family. I wish the second book was about Emily's sister April, I'd read that.

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