A review by reads_esther
Let's Call a Truce by Amy Buchanan

challenging emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Feeling very mixed about this book. Because on one hand, it was a really excellent workplace rivals/enemies-to-lovers between single parents and it was really good. Juliana and Ben had explosive chemistry from the jump. From their initial meet-disaster, through two years of tension and bickering, to that first kiss, I was giddy for the way their relationship would pan out. 

Juliana is leaning how to single parent after the loss of her husband. There’s layer of grief here that I think were navigated quite well, in regards to both Juliana and her daughters. And despite grief and trauma, I really loved that when Juliana was an asshole, her friends told her that. There was no entertaining bad behaviour for the sake of friendship. 

But the entire third act was so incredibly messy to me and I couldn’t quite understand why we were entertaining this.
Ben’s ex-wife, who divorced him and signed away all her parental rights, comes back to make a weird power play and ruin everyone’s lives again? She absolutely destroyed everyone’s lives and there was not nearly enough resolution involved in the aftermath.
I think that the situation was drawn out far too long and should have been resolved differently. I also wish that we had been let in to the conversation that Ben and Juliana would have had with their children to tell them about their relationship. 

Let’s Call a Truce is a romance between messy people and while I was so invested in everyone’s lives, I can’t help but think that everyone in this story deserved better than what they got. I truly loved Juliana and Ben and their girls, but their HEA was simply not enough for me. Maybe if we had had Ben’s POV for a couple of the more pivotal moments, it would have felt more closed and final, but I have so many questions. 

The narrator for this audiobook did a phenomenal job. She truly brought the characters to life. 

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for both advanced e-book and audiobook.
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