A review by yarnreader
April & Oliver by Tess Callahan

3.0

To start off, this is a very well written novel. The writing had me immersed in the story every time I picked up the book. It was a refreshing read after all of the young adults' novels/series I had been reading. (Sometimes you need a change of pace before you get burned out with a genre.)

Now, my only gripe I have with this novel is that the summery in the book jacket and here on Goodreads is kind of misleading. To me, it gives the impression that it's going to be this romance novel about two people who have a history of being best friends since being teenagers with a hint of deeper feelings underneath that come out while one character is about to get married and the other deals with abusive relationships. Then, possibly, in the end, they get together and live happily ever after. This isn't necessarily the case. There is a lot of tension, some romantic tension but mostly tension from unresolved issues from some tough topics from the past. And the ending leaves a bit of a melancholy feeling to into, not the happily ever after you expect from novels listed in the romance genre. It wasn't what I expected but not in a bad way.

This is one that will be sticking around on my bookshelf for a while longer and we'll see how I feel about in the future whenever I re-read it.