First read 2020: didn't rate it.

Re-read 2022: 

Apparently the only thing I want to do lately is read Mhairi McFarlane, because now I am re-reading everything I finished before 2022. 

It's hard to rate this one without the context of the rest of her work. I think when I read it the first time I liked it more (would be nice if I had written something I could now refer to but laziness abounded in 2020 [fair]), but then it was my second book by her, so I had less to compare it to. This is just so clearly a first novel. I still enjoy it more than most of the romance I have tried to read, but it's nothing close to what I know she is capable of. So in the context of the Mhairi McFarlane catalogue I'd maybe give this a 2.75, but in the context of my (limited) experience reading romance (a genre I really struggle with but LOVE when it works for me), this would be more of a 3.75? 

TLDR; there's a lot of first-novel-syndrome going on, McFarlane can do better, but I flew through my second re-read so... 🤷🏻