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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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:
Yes
Woah. Okay. This book was amazing. It was so fascinating to read about Alison and Adam. We follow Alison who agrees to play the grieving girlfriend of her ex who died suddenly and no one knew that he had broken up with her weeks prior. She then is forced to spend time with her ex's best friend. Hear me out, I know it's complicated but it plays out very well. This book deals with really deep topics. We deal with overall grief as well cancer more specifically BRCA breast cancer gene. We do have talks about double mastectomy (throughout the book) so if you are sensitive to those topics maybe skip this one. This book was so beautifully written. It reminded me a whole lot of Katherine Center books embracing romantic comedic banter and swoony moments but also dealing with heavy topics. This is not a sad book but embracing life to the fullest finding yourself and of course falling in love :) The icing on the cake, there was just a sprinkle of language. *chef's kiss
I truly loved Adam. What an amazing MMC. He made the book so fun and his grumpy nature complimented Alison’s sunshine. Ahhh this is probably one of my favorite romance couples. This book is fade to black. Also can I say, Alison had one amazing friend group which I am hoping get their own happily ever afters :)
The fact that I read this in two sittings and could not put it down. This book is single POV which was a nice
If you like:
- complicated relationships ( in a good way )
- grumpy /sunshine
- fade to black
- therapy rep
- deep topics
- forced proximity
- text messages
-light hearted romance
you should definitely pick this up!
cw: breast cancer awareness, cancer preventions, minor language, few fbombs , grief
I truly loved Adam. What an amazing MMC. He made the book so fun and his grumpy nature complimented Alison’s sunshine. Ahhh this is probably one of my favorite romance couples. This book is fade to black. Also can I say, Alison had one amazing friend group which I am hoping get their own happily ever afters :)
The fact that I read this in two sittings and could not put it down. This book is single POV which was a nice
If you like:
- complicated relationships ( in a good way )
- grumpy /sunshine
- fade to black
- therapy rep
- deep topics
- forced proximity
- text messages
-light hearted romance
you should definitely pick this up!
cw: breast cancer awareness, cancer preventions, minor language, few fbombs , grief
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3.5 but I rounded up because it’s an incredible debut!! I finished this in one sitting. Very readable, very sweet!
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow! I loved everything about this one. It was sweet, funny, and emotional with a great cast of characters and hits on the themes of loss and grief. Adam and Alison were just like Kristoff and Ana in my head. The writing felt fresh and I was immediately drawn in. LOVE the chapter titles, and I feel like more books need them!
Love love love!
This captured the perfect essence of my favorite classic rom coms.
This captured the perfect essence of my favorite classic rom coms.
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4 ⭐️ I really enjoyed this book! I was having trouble getting into my next read and I picked up and started no less than 3 books until this one reeled me in from the first chapter. For starters, I picked up the audio and Karissa Vacker is one of my favorite audiobook narrators so I immediately knew I would love the production. This book has an interesting premise, Alison goes to her ex-boyfriend’s funeral (unexpected death) and his family still thinks they were dating when he died. Enter grumpy best friend of her ex and the two of them end up agreeing to pack up her ex’s condo for his grieving family. This book was surprisingly filled with great banter and humor for such a dark topic, it was lighter than expected but still hit a few emotional spots since Alison is also mentally dealing with BRCA 1 gene mutation and survivors guilt from having preventative surgery to avoid cancer. Pretty much everything I love in a romance, good banter, cute FMC/MMC, an emotional plot and HEA.
The only negative for me was it slowed down around the 70% mark and you could totally see where this was going but I still enjoyed it and I really loved Alison and Adam’s love story. This was also a debut novel, I would definitely read more from Ellie Palmer and can't wait to read her 2025 sophomore book.
Tropes You’ll Find:
* Enemies to Lovers
* Grumpy x Sunshine
* Forced Proximity
* BRCA Rep
* Twist on Fake Dating
This was my 23rd book of 2025
Format: Libby, Audio
The only negative for me was it slowed down around the 70% mark and you could totally see where this was going but I still enjoyed it and I really loved Alison and Adam’s love story. This was also a debut novel, I would definitely read more from Ellie Palmer and can't wait to read her 2025 sophomore book.
Tropes You’ll Find:
* Enemies to Lovers
* Grumpy x Sunshine
* Forced Proximity
* BRCA Rep
* Twist on Fake Dating
This was my 23rd book of 2025
Format: Libby, Audio
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced