For the most part, I found this book incredibly fun! The romance was hot and messy, the family dynamics were even messier, there were great friendship moments, delicious sibling clashes, side plots that were just as compelling as the main storyline, and Kian's run-on inner monologues made me openly chuckle quite a few times. On top of that, there was some good (I felt) discussion of heavier, really important topics such as race and class that gave me a lot of food for thought, but it also never got so heavy that it overshadow the overall romcom vibe. 

At the same time, there were a couple of things that left me unsatisfied. This story builds on two of my favorite tropes: second chance romance and fake dating. The latter was done wonderfully; the former left a lot to be desired for me. Mostly because there's so little discussion of how things used to be between Kian and Hudson before the break-up. We don't even know *why* they broke up in the first place! And that, for me, is possibly the most vital part of a second chance romance: what was good, what went bad, how can the characters avoid making the same mistakes / show they've grown from the experience / heal the emotional wounds they've inflicted on each other, etc. But we don't get that. Sure, there are some hints; the difference in class/riches probably was a part of it, and the differences in approaching life in general, and it's also clear that Hudson didn't open up about a lot of things their first time together. But like, what exactly happened? How similar was it to that big dramatic moment that nearly drove them apart again closer to the end of the book? How can we compare and contrast it with the initial break-up to fathom out that yes, this time, if they manage to make up, things *will* be different? Even Kian doesn't do any real comparing and contrasting, at least not on page!

Also, everyone keeps saying that Kian is really smart and would make a wonderful investigative journalist, and while I wound't call him *not* smart, I just... hardly saw him actually display any qualities I would associate with a person who's good at digging for truth and pulling facts together and such? The one exception may be that side plot around his little chat with Danni that culminated in the aforementioned big final drama. But even there, that seemed more like general empathy. That was... a little werid, tbh. I mean, I can choose to believe Kian simply thought he wanted to be an investigative reporter, but would be happier just writing about stuff that mattered to people; the overall plot even supports that. But there were all those comments about him having the qualities that he doesn't display, and that took me out of the story a bit.