I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the audiobook ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

I usually really love romance audiobooks, so I was super excited when I was approved for this one. I actually ended up quite enjoying the narrators themselves, even if they aren’t new favorites, and felt they fit the characters quite well. I wasn’t always a big fan of how the male narrator did female voices, especially for some side characters, but it didn’t end up bothering too much. I think the narration itself is what made me stick around and finish this book, instead of DNFing it.

I wanted to love the romance itself, and it had many elements that I felt like could build to a good romance, but it just never got there. My biggest issue with the book were the female characters, and how it felt like there was just women hating on other women. About 50% of the named female characters were simply there to prove how hot James was and ogle over him (and that 50% is counting family members and older women). It was just such a frustrating pattern: we’d meet a woman who served some other narrative purpose at first (played a role in the wedding, was a shop-owner, etc.), and as soon as James shows up, they’re just there to ogle him and make Ivy jealous. Even if I had been enjoying the book besides this, this would have ruined it for me.

Alongside that, I also just didn’t feel any chemistry or sparks between Ivy and James. It felt like so much development happened off-page, with dates or scenes being introduced but then ending up being summarized instead of actually diving into conversations between the pair. I also just never felt any real fire behind their ‘rivalry’, and since this is what the entire book is kind of built on, it made a lot of the story fall flat. Don’t get me wrong, Ivy and James were cute together, but I would’ve been just fine if the story ended up with them not being together. Their journey also felt like such a straight path, with no deviations, that it was uninteresting because there was no tension behind any of it.

Overall, while I enjoyed the narration and will definitely be listening to more audiobooks done by these narrators, the story itself just wasn’t for me, unfortunately!