Finally, finally, in this, my year of reading romance, I have found a contemporary romance that I actually like. Maybe I've just had a bad run, but honestly, I don't think I ask for much. Two likeable protagonists should be the bare minimum, but in book after book I've been presented with arseholes. This is not the case here. Caroline, the main character and narrator, is immensely likeable. She's kind and honest and put together. She has friends who she supports (and who support her). She treats others well and has a healthy level of self-respect, and she has a sense of humour. These things are invaluable in making a likeable protagonist. Equally important, this nice woman has met a nice man. He has all the qualities she does, and because they are both decent, likeable people it was easy to get invested in seeing them happy. It's true, Simon does get a small side-eye for almost falling prey to that seemingly ubiquitous backstory for men in romance, the tragic past, but he skates by because his parents died when he was eighteen instead of an actual child, he had a support network that got him through it, and he's aware of the emotional toll it's taken and uses that awareness to almost immediately better himself when he makes a small mistake in his developing relationship with Caroline. (I am very sick of seeing Men With Sad Backstory Being Emotionally Unavailable In Romance. Go die in a fire, that particular trope.)

Finally, as the cherry on the top of seeing decent people get a happy ending, Wallbanger was very, very funny. I cackled all the way through it.