Romance, for me, lives or dies by the two protagonists. I need them both to be decent people or I simply don't care if they get a happy ending. A surprising number of romances that I've read fail this basic condition, but luckily for me, Esme and Khai are good people who deserve to be happy. Even better, they're surrounded by people who are also likeable - Khai's brother Quân gets a special mention for his kind, no-bullshit approach to supporting both parties. I like everyone. 

I read this, honestly, because it was the first library book I found that would allow me to tick off the romance-with-a-neurodivergent character task from this year's Read Harder. My local library is small but mighty, so it was good to be able to find something there to fit the bill, and I'm glad it was this. Khai has autism, and is not perhaps the best at interpreting his own emotions (let alone anyone else's), but there were plenty of heartwarming and honestly funny moments. His tendency to interpret Esme's behaviour through a natural history lens was especially endearing - I think the funniest moment for me was his determination not to upset the poisonous octopus!

I do think the end got wrapped up a bit too quickly, with a somewhat wobbly turn into melodrama, but everyone ended up happy and they all deserved to so I can't really complain.