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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a sweet rom com about childhood friends finding each other again after each having their hearts publicly broken from long time partners.
There are themes of family love and friendship and grief. The main character has a good growth arc and the male lead is a likable character.
Mild spice, low stakes, fun banter, and a satisfying denouement.
A perfect light summer read! ♥️
There are themes of family love and friendship and grief. The main character has a good growth arc and the male lead is a likable character.
Mild spice, low stakes, fun banter, and a satisfying denouement.
A perfect light summer read! ♥️
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
June went back to her small beach hometown when her sister died to take over the tea shop they created together. When both her and Levi - her sister's best friend turned family friend turned her high school crush who turned her down - go through viral break ups at the same time, they decide to fake date while helping plan for June's brothers wedding. June can get attention to her business, Levi can get his ex back, and June's best friend can publish everything. And it'll all be okay because they're just friends! Totally!
I hadn't read from this author before, but I'm usually a sucker for friends to lovers, so I thought I'd give this a shot. My main takeaway from this book was that it was so bogged down with trying to accomplish so many tropes that it didn't really succeed in any of them. For friends to lovers, I didn't fully believe that they were such close friends for a long time. For fake dating, I found a lot of the romantic stuff they were trying to do cringey instead of swoon-worthy - and all the "trying to go viral" stuff felt so untrue to real life to the point of being annoying. This book has solidified that I will avoid romances with the internet anywhere in them like the plague. Then with the wedding planning forced proximity, it didn't pay off in the end (because we don't see the wedding) and they even say in the book that most of it has been planned so what they're doing doesn't really even matter. This book is the exemplification of the romance genre sticking way too hard to tropes rather than telling interesting stories. I didn't have any huge problems with the characters, but I didn't find myself invested. I did think the small beach town/ small business was cute, but I wish that June's arc about what she wants to do with the business was much more developed. This third act conflict was one that I typically don't like, and I didn't like the beginning of it, but for some reason the ending did end up landing for me. I thought the characters handled everything in a really mature way. I think that's the first time I've ever liked the ending of a romance book I otherwise didn't end up liking.
Overall, this book tried to do too much and ended up with very little. I didn't find myself invested with any portion of this, and often was annoyed.
June went back to her small beach hometown when her sister died to take over the tea shop they created together. When both her and Levi - her sister's best friend turned family friend turned her high school crush who turned her down - go through viral break ups at the same time, they decide to fake date while helping plan for June's brothers wedding. June can get attention to her business, Levi can get his ex back, and June's best friend can publish everything. And it'll all be okay because they're just friends! Totally!
I hadn't read from this author before, but I'm usually a sucker for friends to lovers, so I thought I'd give this a shot. My main takeaway from this book was that it was so bogged down with trying to accomplish so many tropes that it didn't really succeed in any of them. For friends to lovers, I didn't fully believe that they were such close friends for a long time. For fake dating, I found a lot of the romantic stuff they were trying to do cringey instead of swoon-worthy - and all the "trying to go viral" stuff felt so untrue to real life to the point of being annoying. This book has solidified that I will avoid romances with the internet anywhere in them like the plague. Then with the wedding planning forced proximity, it didn't pay off in the end (because we don't see the wedding) and they even say in the book that most of it has been planned so what they're doing doesn't really even matter. This book is the exemplification of the romance genre sticking way too hard to tropes rather than telling interesting stories. I didn't have any huge problems with the characters, but I didn't find myself invested. I did think the small beach town/ small business was cute, but I wish that June's arc about what she wants to do with the business was much more developed. This third act conflict was one that I typically don't like, and I didn't like the beginning of it, but for some reason the ending did end up landing for me. I thought the characters handled everything in a really mature way. I think that's the first time I've ever liked the ending of a romance book I otherwise didn't end up liking.
Overall, this book tried to do too much and ended up with very little. I didn't find myself invested with any portion of this, and often was annoyed.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was good but I feel like it was a pretty basic story to have with this trope. I enjoyed the characters and what they did with the story but I wish it was a bit more exciting and had more depth to the characters.
June and Levi were best friends, but after a careless comment and a big misunderstanding their friendship fell apart.
Levi has now moved back to their small Town of Benson Beach, to focus on his writing, and to escape the constant attention following his very public and very humiliating breakup.
June, wouldn't you know, has also gone through a very public and very humiliating breakup, and as though things couldn't get worse, her landlord has given her a deadline to amp up business at her beachside cafe 'Tea Tide', or move out.
When an innocent photo of Levi and June begins circulating, they are dubbed "the Revenge Exes" With all the attention, revenue is up at Tea Tide and Levi wonders if this is enough to win his ex back.
So the pair lean into it and start their fake dating journey.
This book was cute albeit predictable.
My main issue was with the characters. While entertaining, they felt very one dimensional. Nothing made them special, you could replace one character with a different character from the book and the story wouldn't change.
I did enjoy seeing Junes character grow and really come into her own, but that only happened in the last few pages.
Levi has now moved back to their small Town of Benson Beach, to focus on his writing, and to escape the constant attention following his very public and very humiliating breakup.
June, wouldn't you know, has also gone through a very public and very humiliating breakup, and as though things couldn't get worse, her landlord has given her a deadline to amp up business at her beachside cafe 'Tea Tide', or move out.
When an innocent photo of Levi and June begins circulating, they are dubbed "the Revenge Exes" With all the attention, revenue is up at Tea Tide and Levi wonders if this is enough to win his ex back.
So the pair lean into it and start their fake dating journey.
This book was cute albeit predictable.
My main issue was with the characters. While entertaining, they felt very one dimensional. Nothing made them special, you could replace one character with a different character from the book and the story wouldn't change.
I did enjoy seeing Junes character grow and really come into her own, but that only happened in the last few pages.
The premise sounded great. I was not expecting it to be so sad though. Maybe it picks back up at some point but I’m not attached to any of the characters and it’s falling flat.
Because it was legit FREAKY. And a little too graphic. *shudders*