Media reviews are subjective at the best of times, but some books will come to you at precisely the right or wrong time and any hope of objectivity is lost. This is one of those reviews.
Plot: Nora is your classic urban bitch. She’s the antagonist in every romance, but especially small town romances. She’s the high maintenance, career driven woman with zero fucks and a killer manicure. There is only one thing outside of work Nora makes time for – her sister, and she’s having a hard time right now. So when Libby begs her to take some time off and spend a month in a small town where one of their favourite books is set in, Nora begrudgingly agrees, even if she won’t actually be taking any time off to do it. Enter every small town romance trope, but also Charlie, a professional antagonist of Nora’s from the big city and the asshole from every romance you’ve ever read. Shenanigans ensue.
So I think, having taken a couple of days after finishing the book to write this review, that it’s probably not as good a book as I feel it is. This is likely going to end up in my top 3 romances of all time and possibly top 10 books of any genre. But I know that beyond the fact that it is very well written and funny and lovingly but thoughtfully challenges well established Truths in romantic stories across genres, this level of love for the book is probably a niche opinion.
For example, I would not recommend this book to a person new to romance. Yes, I just said it challenges things that happen across genres, but I think to really appreciate it, the reader really needs to reach a level of saturation. Sort of how Lower Decks is loved by many people new to Star Trek, but the more of Star Trek you’ve seen prior to watching Lower Decks, the more you’re going to love it. Non-romance readers may well appreciate it, but this book was written for permanent residents of Romancelandia. Nora and Libby’s trip is literally structured around small town romance tropes.
The other issue with subjectivity is that in many ways, I am Nora. I LOVE city living, and my job, and my child free life. I have often resented the way women like me have been depicted as villains in romance because we don’t want to be stay at home parents in a small town without an internet connection and access to quality vegan Pho. That’s a great life for some people I’m sure but it’s often positioned as The Right Way to live in our fiction. It’s never the small town farmer that goes to The City for a short trip and ends up falling in love with a busy lawyer, selling his farm, and moving into her penthouse to spend his days as a downtown chef or something.
Notably though, Henry doesn’t fall into the trap of saying “akchually, city good! small town bad!” Indeed, the theme that runs through this story is that people are different, and different things will make them happy. More than that, life is long and people change and the things that make them happy will change too, and that is more than okay – it’s good. Even when that means you have to compromise on the place you thought you had in their lives and vice versa. To love someone is to let them bloom, wherever that takes them, and that’s the kind of thing we need to hear a lot more of.