Truly stunning. A must read. 

Fantastic narrator as well. 

This was fine! I don’t really enjoy the plot device where a woman’s mysterious and abusive past is hinted at obliquely for the bulk of the book, and then in one pivotal dramatic scene it all comes out. This book wasn’t as funny or snarky as Hibbert’s usually are, so I missed that aspect. Certainly spicy enough tho. I do wish Evan had a personality other than being extremely good looking, loving to cook for Ruth, and a slight savior complex. We brushed by most of his background, as he was mostly there to be the perfect partner. 

Again, this was not bad, but probably my least favorite of Hibbert’s work that I’ve read thus far. 

I think short stories aren’t for me. These were objectively good but also I didn’t really get them. I did enjoy the look into Cambodian life. I didn’t know much about the genocide before this (other than that it happened), and it was impactful to read about it from a fiction perspective, how the effect trickles down across generations. 

The last story was my favorite, by far. 

It’s hard to describe specifically why I DNFed this one. It felt very “tell not show” right from the start. I thought the premise would be fun but the straightforward/choppy writing style didn’t work for me. Maybe it was that the protagonist Brinkley also thought in black & white, with quite abrupt decisions that were not thought out on the page so I failed to follow them or see the logic. On her second “date” she is abruptly seduced by the guy, almost immediately? Why? They kiss/lightly grope each other briefly at the bar and somehow Brinkley claims to be on the brink of an orgasm as a result? How. 

Here’s an example of the baffling writing style/lack of logic. Brinkley plans to bump into him at an art supply store, they reach for the same book “accidentally” and exchange 5 (short) sentences each. And then somehow this happens:

This happened on page eighteen, for their SIXTH extremely non-flirty/non-sexual sentence to each other. To be clear, other sentence examples included “Don’t be.” and him saying his name with a “Mark.” So for her to be imaging what he sounded like mid-orgasm was a surprise. It just felt weirdly sexual and completely out of place in the context. “Weirdly sexual” is not something I say often, as I am a gal who loves smut. But again, I think that’s bc I wasn’t “shown” their sexual chemistry, I was “told” it.

This is not a dealbreaker but now that I’m ranting I’ll note this as well: somehow he smelled like “light rain and moonlit nights.” What. At one point he had “storm cloud eyes” and then later they were “the color of tornados.” 

Basically I was frowning for the entire 46 pages so I figured I should DNF. 

Overall very sweet and I’m glad I read it. I was nervous bc I don’t typically enjoy prequels as the next step after the first book. The conclusion was quite unexpected and thrilling, it was great. I quite enjoyed the epilogue tho there were some spoilers in it for Legends & Lattes, which is a surprising choice in a prequel, even though the prequel came out later. 

Legends & Lattes was in my top 12 of the year, and this one was ultimately sweet and gentle which I was hoping for, but will not make any of my “best of” lists. 

I will read anything Talia Hibbert writes. 

Insta-love is not my favorite trope but fake dating is, so the combo still worked for me. I would’ve liked more details about the events of the “dark and foreboding prologue” went down and impacted Aria, but I am still a fan.