“You still being petty about that boy?” Jeremiah asked. In my mind I could see my panties flying on the flagpole where Ben had put them for everyone in the high school to see them. Vaguely, I remembered the sensation of my chair being pulled out from under me in kindergarten, too. “He started it.” “Yeah, but y’all are both adults now.”

An enemies to lovers contemporary romance take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, with a side order of family issues and responsibilities, dueling barbeque restaurants, and a grudge that goes way, way back. This one was a less than an easy read for me: The drama between the two main characters (Emma & Ben) seemed to simultaneously be too big to overcome (like they literally hated each other for unknown reasons at the beginning and middle of the story) and so … secreted that, as a reader, it was hard to understand what the hate was about.

Because of course, they both seem like otherwise reasonable, kind, and responsible humans, (for the most part) but mere mentions of the other one and the hackles are up, defensiveness assumed, arguments with everybody else & themselves are imminent. They can’t, as grown ups, hate each other this much because he pulled the chair out from underneath her in kindergarten, and they spent the entirety of their school careers pranking each other, surely? And they don’t, in the end, but I felt like the reveal for “why” they don’t like each other was left too long, and there was too much time for me, as a reader, to be annoyed & exasperated with them for acting the way they were.

What Kilpatrick did really well was creating the setting for their battle royale: The small, southern town, the two competing family restaurants, both peopled with interesting, vibrant secondary characters, that frankly, I would rather have read about – Jeremiah’s story seemed a lot more compelling than these childishly stubborn main characters, up until the last five chapters or so, honestly. I’d still go back to Ellery for his story, even though I don’t quite care all that much about revisiting Emma & Ben, checking in on them. Also, the descriptions of the food are startlingly appetizing: I don’t even like barbeque, but I wanted some when I was reading this.  The dialogue is snappy and smart, there’s humor woven through the storyline (I think I would’ve DNF-ed otherwise), but I just couldn’t get past what seemed like an irrational behavior pattern for grow-ass adults.

I got my book via NetGalley, for an honest review.