Reviews

This was alright. I decided to borrow it before a long flight because the premise intruiged me, but I wasn't planning on finishing it. However, Hibbert's books are very short and very easy to read, so I ended up blasting through this.
Ruth Kabbah is the town pariah, Evan is the guy who just moved in next door. Evan takes an immediate interest in her, which she halfheartedly tries to fend off, before romance blooms rah rah rah.
I was mostly intruiged by the town drama, the love story wasn't as compelling. Evan shows up, immediately thinks she's attractive, and then goes about singlehandedly trying to improve her life and get into her pants. I understand that romance is essentially a fantasy, but I can't help but roll my eyes at the ridiculousness sometimes. Evan was kinda boring to be honest, he's tall, he's hot, he's got dead parents, and he loves Ruth. There's not much conflict between the two, or at least not any that I felt was interesting enough to push the book forward. However, their romance was inoffensive and cute at times, so I didn't have a reason to hate this book.
I mainly read this because I wanted to know WHY Ruth was a shut in who is hated by her entire town. I now know why, and it's not really what I was expecting. It was sad, and it wasn't her fault. Misogyny and racism was clearly at play, but wasn't really delved into by the author (i dont think that's a bad thing, would've been mad out of place).
I actually might continue the series, it introduced some characters I'd be interested in reading more about.
One thing I didn't like was that the cover features a very thin woman, and it's revealed halfway through the book that Kabbah is fat. Book cover designers Go Fuck Yourselves.

tyras_bookshelf's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

instalovewithbooks's review

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I just couldn't care anymore about reading this book. It was fine but definitely not Talia's best.

starrywonder's review

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4.0

Cute Story with Snall Town Drama

In a small town it's hard for everyone not to know everyone's business. Which prevents Ruth from really going out and moving past a bad-ex.

Evan, new to town becomes enamored with his new neighbor Ruth.

It's nice to see them both heal with each others help.

And fall in love.