Reviews

This is a fine YA romance.

I'm sure I would have rated it higher if I had been younger, but the 1st POV drives me crazy despite being in both main characters' perspectives. Immediately I felt a fourth wall breach; consistently the characters seemed to be speaking directly to the reader and telling her their stories. So much of this felt like a long, one-sided conversation or a monologue.

The heroine grew emotionally at a slow pace but the hero at one point seemed to regress and become more emotionally immature, which isn't inherently a bad choice for a story but in this case, it weakened his valid, childhood experiences and made him seem melodramatic, behavior that is entirely out of character with the cool, James Dean/Franco bad boy he otherwise was.

I also have no problem with a slow burn, but for most of the story the embers barely/rarely glowed. There are some really fun kissing scenes but they probably don't number a half dozen, and they're fairly brief. The heroine was celibate, which is cool.

Spoiler

..because she wanted marriage or maybe just wanted the security that they would marry, then she had sex with the hero but refused his subsequent marriage proposal. And like Chopin's The Awakening or Romeo & Juliet, the sex all but occurs in the white space, meaning no real description, which is also okay although sex scenes can be exciting without the specific mention of body parts or weird allusions, like "the train slid into the tunnel," which would be disturbing. In the end, I suppose we don't need to be voyeurs.

Definitely a story that is sweet rather than spicy.

Most of the secondary characters aren't well enough developed to be relevant to the plot and are at times unlikable, particularly the sisters. All the town characters are quirky, which I loved, but a few drank a hyper quirk juice and became annoying and served little purpose.

Ultimately, the author offers the reader a fun story and setting, and despite how this reads, I honestly believe it would be a great YA read. Please take my comments as "cranky

Spoiler

old lady

blather."

Anyone who considers this spicy should avoid Lisa Kleypas, Stephanie Laurens, The Wolf and the Wildflower {which I

barnes_and_noel's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I think this book (along with the first one in this series) is the definition of a cozy romance. Small town setting, fake dating, fun & swoony banter - it’s all there. I love that we got so many moments with the characters around town and in Annie’s family, as well as some continuation from Amelia and Noah’s story. There’s also some surprisingly deep moments sprinkled here and there that gave some more meat to the story. Not to mention a little hint at possibly a third book in this universe👀 I was looking for a quick and cute romance, and that’s exactly what I got.

nathhh's review

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lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.25

Spoiler

spice 1, instalove, dating coach

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