read for PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge: a book published in 2019

I wish I could bottle my joy of starting a Sally Thorne book. That way the moment I'm feeling down, I can take a swig and instantly be happy again.

I, like many others, loved The Hating Game so much, that I was almost nervous that this book would let me down. In fact the response to this book hasn't been as glowing as THG, so I put this off for a few weeks because I was so nervous about being let down. Great news -I wasn't! I mean this can't top my love of THG, but that's a really high bar for any romance novel. This book is an excellent sophomore attempt from Thorne. She gets the chance to try out a new voice, someone who isn't as sweet and naive as Lucy, and she clearly had a lot of fun with Darcy. Darcy and Tom's sexual tension was... whew. I'm fanning myself. Thorne is a master of sexy banter and tension building and building until it all explodes in the best way.

Some of the things I thought Thorne improved on since THG: adding more side characters! There's Truly, Darcy's best friend (yes, a female friend! finally!), Vince, the sort of slimy hook up, the renovation crew, and Holly (who I actually wanted more from! She was so sweet). Plus we get Jamie and all the weird and loving complicated family dynamics (who I wish had popped into the story a bit earlier!). Don't get me wrong this book is so focused on Darcy and Tom, but interactions with side characters are another way to give the reader a glance at who the person really is, and I felt that THG was often just so zoomed in on Lucy and Josh you saw nothing else. It did work for THG because Lucy and Josh change so much in the book. I didn't think that focus would affect

That leads to my main gripe: character development. I don't feel that Darcy and Tom changed much from the beginning to the end of this. I think the main issue is these characters already have a decades long history and have really intense and complicated feelings. The structure of that kind of love story is different than witnessing two people who barely know each other fall in love. But this love story tended to lean more into the second half. The history is obviously there and talked about, but there's no discussion about why nothing happened until now.

I really wanted Tom to confront Darcy on why she ran away when he first said I love you. I think she owed him that.

I guess what I'm saying is I wanted a tad more angst that wasn't just wrapped up in sexual attraction.

All in all, this book was a delightful little gem, and I'm so happy it's in the world! Sally Thorne, I absolutely adore you.