Deanna Grey has become an autoread for me now that I’ve read 3 of her books and loved them all. I love Sam. I love Aderyn. I really expected this to have a bit of a rival set up but it wasn’t -- there’s immediate mutual respect between these two and the bet they set up is just a result of them teasing each other. I also love that while she is into him, he falls first and he falls HARD. The ending kind of felt like a quick fix to a complicated problem and I think something could’ve been done there, but the book was sooo lovely!

Emily Henry and Julia Whelan (audiobook narrator) both want to ruin my life, plain and simple. This was so well written and performed, I definitely stayed up late and found myself doing things that allowed me to keep playing the audiobook just so I could get through it. It’s a second chance slash fake dating romance but the fake dating doesn’t feel like a big part of the story? We get a lot of flashbacks and a lot of what’s happening in the moment feels more like it’s just about the two of them and not really about convincing their friends that it’s real. And as always, Emily makes sure to include other relationship drama outside of just these two so we had some pretty major stuff regarding her other friendships, parents, etc.

Another absolute banger from Diana Quincy when I tell you I was YELLING AT MY PHONE while listening to this audiobook. Like okay our FMC is married and I was like “oh no how are we going to handle this storyline” cuz even when the husband sucks I’m just not a fan of reading about cheating! But nope! Diana came through and made it ABSOLUTELY OVER THE TOP DRAMATIC I was like WHAT IS GOING ON I LOVE THIS. Like, I need y’all to understand I voice messaged multiple friends and was telling them the storyline like it was a true piece of gossip like “and girl YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THIS” vibes.

One reason I can’t bring myself to give it 5 stars: absolutely wild that we’re all chill about these old men forcing their grandchildren to GET MARRIED? It’s absolutely wild and I’m like OMG EVERYONE IS DUMB. That said, the writing? Fantastic. I couldn’t put this down and I love these two together and I think it was a fantastic romance. I actually really liked the 3rd act breakup which is not typical for me and the way everyone came back together, while a little much, still somehow felt realistic? Idk idk I love it

I'm so sorry but I just love everything Diana Quincy writes