I’m still sitting on my thoughts for this one… emily henry has the ability to craft any story into a masterpiece - and I’m constantly in awe of her!! this one was no exception, even if the romance was the b plot this time around 🫢 

contemporary romances are my JAM - they touch on my heartstrings every single time!! I love when I can relate to the characters, really get into their minds, and feel every single emotion with them - which was why I was so thrown off when I felt so detached from hayden and alice in this one!! 😭

insta love is not my jam, contrary to my fairytale views, and I think we spent so much time on margaret’s story (more about that in a minute) that I couldn’t connect with alice and hayden as much as I wanted to… however, I’m a sucker for groveling and second chances, and the ending was EVERYTHING to me!!

margaret was 100% the main course of this story, and while it gave SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO vibes, it didn’t match the intensity in the slightest. the back and forth between margaret’s story and alice’s was too much of a whiplash for me and didn’t give me enough time to remove myself from one story before diving into the next.

however, I LOVED the old hollywood vibes of margaret’s story - and even though the big secret felt obvious to me, I lapped up every single detail of her family history and cried along with her 😭😭 I wanted so much more detail!!!!! 

all in all, I will continue to read anything and everything that emily henry writes because she’s a genius and we are not worthy!!

rating: 3.5 stars
wine pairing: sonoma coast chardonnay