Rebecca
I think I might have finally grasped what I was thinking about this book. It tries to be too many things at once. I felt like I was being pulled in too many directions. I'd get to one part then get sucked in and forget "oh right this isn't a whole mishmash of stories it's supposed to be one coherent story" which...it wasn't. So many of them could have easily been plucked out of the book itself and been it's own short story. The Great Jew, His mother teaching his daughter, their time in Italy, The flashback with his friends...the thing is those sections went on so LONG they could have been their own things.
The storyline didn't bring much to the characters...it "seemed too" at the end but it felt flat. I didn't care. The descriptions were phenomenal. The dialogue...that was off...that needed some work. Some of the characters felt...bleh. I don't remember his love interest or why he cared, I forgot half the time there even WAS a love interest. There were moments it shine and wow was it good but then it just goes into that "WTF" and "how did I get here" territory.
I think I might have finally grasped what I was thinking about this book. It tries to be too many things at once. I felt like I was being pulled in too many directions. I'd get to one part then get sucked in and forget "oh right this isn't a whole mishmash of stories it's supposed to be one coherent story" which...it wasn't. So many of them could have easily been plucked out of the book itself and been it's own short story. The Great Jew, His mother teaching his daughter, their time in Italy, The flashback with his friends...the thing is those sections went on so LONG they could have been their own things.
The storyline didn't bring much to the characters...it "seemed too" at the end but it felt flat. I didn't care. The descriptions were phenomenal. The dialogue...that was off...that needed some work. Some of the characters felt...bleh. I don't remember his love interest or why he cared, I forgot half the time there even WAS a love interest. There were moments it shine and wow was it good but then it just goes into that "WTF" and "how did I get here" territory.
It's corny but in a good way. I liked it. The characters weren't bad and the story was linear. Were there parts that moved too quick... Yes. Does it happen in real life...yes but the frequency of it lasting forever is highly unlikely...
I also wasn't really expecting the spice level...granted the cover was unassuming and well it's one reason I'm not fond of cartoonish covers for spicy books...yes they're close together all dreamy but that doesn't tell me dick diddly apart from it's cute...the saying don't judge a book by it's cover...well maybe we should start when it comes to the more spicy romance ones with cute covers.
It's corny but in a good way. I liked it. The characters weren't bad and the story was linear. Were there parts that moved too quick... Yes. Does it happen in real life...yes but the frequency of it lasting forever is highly unlikely...
I also wasn't really expecting the spice level...granted the cover was unassuming and well it's one reason I'm not fond of cartoonish covers for spicy books...yes they're close together all dreamy but that doesn't tell me dick diddly apart from it's cute...the saying don't judge a book by it's cover...well maybe we should start when it comes to the more spicy romance ones with cute covers.
*review in progress…trying to process.*
This book was good. The characters reminded me of people I knew and had development and growth. The writing style was easy to follow and I enjoyed it. There were moments here and there where it was sort of like ‘could this really happen?’ And it was almost like you had to suspend some disbelief but considering the short story aspect it wasn’t too bad. It was just believable enough because with enough human grit and ingenuity…maybe they could have done some of those things in that time.
From a technical standpoint it probably doesn’t stand up to scrutiny as much, from an emotional standpoint it does. Mixing the two two it does alright.
This is an ARC but a late one so I’m not going to post it as such since it’s already published now (it was published 1-Jan-2026) I have my moments of doing very well with ARC’s and then like this one I faceplant in the mud. Then there’s the ones from like 2024 where I didn’t realize they were ARC’s on Amazon First Reads so…yeah. That’s why I posted this part at the END of my review. I still want to thank the publisher and author for this even though I have egg on my face for the late response.
This book was good. The characters reminded me of people I knew and had development and growth. The writing style was easy to follow and I enjoyed it. There were moments here and there where it was sort of like ‘could this really happen?’ And it was almost like you had to suspend some disbelief but considering the short story aspect it wasn’t too bad. It was just believable enough because with enough human grit and ingenuity…maybe they could have done some of those things in that time.
From a technical standpoint it probably doesn’t stand up to scrutiny as much, from an emotional standpoint it does. Mixing the two two it does alright.
This is an ARC but a late one so I’m not going to post it as such since it’s already published now (it was published 1-Jan-2026) I have my moments of doing very well with ARC’s and then like this one I faceplant in the mud. Then there’s the ones from like 2024 where I didn’t realize they were ARC’s on Amazon First Reads so…yeah. That’s why I posted this part at the END of my review. I still want to thank the publisher and author for this even though I have egg on my face for the late response.
This was an Amazon First Reads pick for January 2026 (publication stated for February 1st 2026) Thank you to the Publisher and Author for this ARC.
This is the first novel I have read by this author and I will read another. For this one, the characters were ok. There was a lot of repetition with how the main protagonist was so meek and intimidated by this big bad main antagonist. Then the reason for it all turned out to be something so mundane and a little ridiculous that it does sort of sound like it would cause bullying but could have easily been remedied by another action. I will post the spoiler of what Fern did to piss off Haven and why it seems a little eh with a warning below so if you don’t want to read it don’t scroll lower. I’ll also spoil what happens to Dani and Haven.
The writing: I liked the flow of the writing, the pacing of it was nice. The dialogue was a little off at times, but it wasn’t enough to detour me from finishing the book. I did find the ending to be disappointing. The buildup to what happened to Dani and…that? Then what goes on with Haven…it’s just…*sigh* It started out pretty good, but it was all very lackluster in the end. A few clunky areas but like I mentioned at the start I will be reading another of this authors books.
*Spoiler*
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fern gave Haven a laxative cookie in middle school and Haven took that and made Fern’s life a living hellhole for the rest of middle school and high school. Fern only gave Haven a cookie…now if Fern had given a few people cookies (not laxative ones but cookies in general) and didn’t just single Haven out with the cookie there’s no way that Haven could have known for sure that it was the cookie that made her sick.(Which she did because...jealousy...Dani could only be HER best friend!! And she thought that Fern was being Crazy at that point.)
Dani confronts her ‘friends’ asking them to stop, Haven is a bitch and goes “Don’t you remember what she did? She’s suck a freak, she—” and at “freak” Fern pushes Haven to her backside because she had enough a tussle ensues and Dani trying to break them up ends up falling off a cliff. Like…really? ALL that buildup over this mystery and we get a “no you!” “No you!” and an “oh shit...” as they stare down the cliff then decide to pretend it didn’t happen after Haven basically threatens Fern to blame it all on her…really?
Haven commits suicide when Fern does an op-ed and the internet cancels her. Which I can see how much pressure that can do for a person, especially when their career is an influencer. But given how Haven had been portrayed throughout the book…that seemed way out of character. Maybe some sort of comeback or retaliatory thing but to just end it?
This was an Amazon First Reads pick for January 2026 (publication stated for February 1st 2026) Thank you to the Publisher and Author for this ARC.
This is the first novel I have read by this author and I will read another. For this one, the characters were ok. There was a lot of repetition with how the main protagonist was so meek and intimidated by this big bad main antagonist. Then the reason for it all turned out to be something so mundane and a little ridiculous that it does sort of sound like it would cause bullying but could have easily been remedied by another action. I will post the spoiler of what Fern did to piss off Haven and why it seems a little eh with a warning below so if you don’t want to read it don’t scroll lower. I’ll also spoil what happens to Dani and Haven.
The writing: I liked the flow of the writing, the pacing of it was nice. The dialogue was a little off at times, but it wasn’t enough to detour me from finishing the book. I did find the ending to be disappointing. The buildup to what happened to Dani and…that? Then what goes on with Haven…it’s just…*sigh* It started out pretty good, but it was all very lackluster in the end. A few clunky areas but like I mentioned at the start I will be reading another of this authors books.
*Spoiler*
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fern gave Haven a laxative cookie in middle school and Haven took that and made Fern’s life a living hellhole for the rest of middle school and high school. Fern only gave Haven a cookie…now if Fern had given a few people cookies (not laxative ones but cookies in general) and didn’t just single Haven out with the cookie there’s no way that Haven could have known for sure that it was the cookie that made her sick.(Which she did because...jealousy...Dani could only be HER best friend!! And she thought that Fern was being Crazy at that point.)
Dani confronts her ‘friends’ asking them to stop, Haven is a bitch and goes “Don’t you remember what she did? She’s suck a freak, she—” and at “freak” Fern pushes Haven to her backside because she had enough a tussle ensues and Dani trying to break them up ends up falling off a cliff. Like…really? ALL that buildup over this mystery and we get a “no you!” “No you!” and an “oh shit...” as they stare down the cliff then decide to pretend it didn’t happen after Haven basically threatens Fern to blame it all on her…really?
Haven commits suicide when Fern does an op-ed and the internet cancels her. Which I can see how much pressure that can do for a person, especially when their career is an influencer. But given how Haven had been portrayed throughout the book…that seemed way out of character. Maybe some sort of comeback or retaliatory thing but to just end it?
I'm...teetering between 2 and 2.5 for this one. It wasn't bad at first, but there's a lot of filler, it drones on and on the characters are...eh, they're there I suppose. Things happen that do not make sense for people who divorce...for the reasons they divorce...*sigh* There's "twists" and "turns" in the book that are unnecessary and there just seems to be more filler than actual movement in the plot itself. It's there...
This is the first book I've read from this author and I'll give her another shot, I always do even though this book didn't strike me another might. I've been surprised before.
I'd like to thank the publisher and author as this is an ARC from Amazon First reads February 2026. The book will come out March 1, 2026.
I'm...teetering between 2 and 2.5 for this one. It wasn't bad at first, but there's a lot of filler, it drones on and on the characters are...eh, they're there I suppose. Things happen that do not make sense for people who divorce...for the reasons they divorce...*sigh* There's "twists" and "turns" in the book that are unnecessary and there just seems to be more filler than actual movement in the plot itself. It's there...
This is the first book I've read from this author and I'll give her another shot, I always do even though this book didn't strike me another might. I've been surprised before.
I'd like to thank the publisher and author as this is an ARC from Amazon First reads February 2026. The book will come out March 1, 2026.
It's good and a solid book. It's not a full 5⭐️ for me because I does have some cheese to it and the question of how comfortable the characters were right off. It's also not always easy to write time skips in short stories and it was done ok but it was a little awkward. But all in all, the characters were solid, the motivation was clear, the writing style was good, it was a nice romantic short story. It was cute.
I wanted to thank the publisher and author for the chance to read this as an ARC from Amazon First Reads:February 2026. It will be published March 1, 2026.
It's good and a solid book. It's not a full 5⭐️ for me because I does have some cheese to it and the question of how comfortable the characters were right off. It's also not always easy to write time skips in short stories and it was done ok but it was a little awkward. But all in all, the characters were solid, the motivation was clear, the writing style was good, it was a nice romantic short story. It was cute.
I wanted to thank the publisher and author for the chance to read this as an ARC from Amazon First Reads:February 2026. It will be published March 1, 2026.
It's good and a solid book. It's not a full 5⭐️ for me because I does have some cheese to it and the question of how comfortable the characters were right off. It's also not always easy to write time skips in short stories and it was done ok but it was a little awkward. But all in all, the characters were solid, the motivation was clear, the writing style was good, it was a nice romantic short story. It was cute.
I wanted to thank the publisher and author for the chance to read this as an ARC from Amazon First Reads:February 2026. It will be published March 1, 2026.
It's good and a solid book. It's not a full 5⭐️ for me because I does have some cheese to it and the question of how comfortable the characters were right off. It's also not always easy to write time skips in short stories and it was done ok but it was a little awkward. But all in all, the characters were solid, the motivation was clear, the writing style was good, it was a nice romantic short story. It was cute.
I wanted to thank the publisher and author for the chance to read this as an ARC from Amazon First Reads:February 2026. It will be published March 1, 2026.