My first foray into the romance genre: not great, not terrible, I am largely just whelmed.

I liked:
- the representation of chronic pain and fibromyalgia
- the cat
- finding out what tropes like grumpy/sunshine look like when they're played out
- ridiculous banter and over the top spicy scenes that had me chuckling

My gripes:
- Redford being designed for the female gaze: buff man who loves his mom but also paints and is sensitive and a little broken but also a generous lover and extremely attuned to our MC's needs. It was just A Lot
- Redford growled about 17 times too many in the book

Will I read more romance? Possibly only in audiobook. I didn't mind this being read to me while I focused on other things, but it truly is a "popcorn" read. 2.5 stars rounded up.

Recommended if you're looking for some saccharine romance with multiple steamy scenes, are annoyed with the rollercoaster of chronic illness, and don't mind characters who truly are caricatures (is that the point? Perhaps that's the point).

More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/7rhiwvWp9YY