3.75 stars

I enjoyed this book. I absolutely adored Beckett–and Evelyn, but especially Beckett–in Lovelight Farms, so I was so excited to read their love story. I had a hard time connecting in the beginning, but I think that’s a me thing. I have a really hard time connecting with a romance when the main tether between the characters, and the driving force behind the romance is sexual chemistry and/or tension alone, and for the first chunk of this book, that was the case. I felt like I needed more from the emotions between the two of them, and I didn’t get that until halfway. I also wish we saw more of the duck. For the amount of discussion over him, I really thought he would play some on-page role, and I was disappointed when he was only in one scene.

That said, though I didn’t connect with the characters as a couple, I was connected to them as individuals. I liked watching their personal growth and reading from their perspectives, but since this was a romance, my enjoyment took a dip when I was unable to connect with the actual romance aspects. The end picked up, but then we had the third act miscommunication trope and it was pretty poorly executed. I felt that way about the third act miscommunication trope in Lovelight Farms as well, but that one was resolved within a couple pages and this one just drug on and on.

I did enjoy the ending, after that point, and I enjoyed all the personal growth Evelyn experienced in finding her happy and in her career, and Beckett’s growth in standing up for himself and putting his own needs first.