Melanie Sweeney’s Take Me Home is a wonderfully assured debut romance. There’s frenemies to lovers, a road trip, only one bed, a promise to not catch feelings if they just mess around over the holidays, and that emotional growth spurt that happens in your mid twenties. Hazel and Ash are such lovely characters to spend time with – funny, smart, generous, and doing their best to be good people. They are both adults, doing adult things, taking care of their adult lives, but kind of still kids when it comes to each other and to family. In Take Me Home, they are able to put the past behind them in a healthy way, laying a foundation for their future.
I saw a discussion on social media with some authors expressing dismay that readers say they hate the miscommunication trope. A couple of authors were frustrated because miscommunication is a realistic source of tension between characters. I was getting ready to write a lengthy reply offering some thoughts and I realized I was about to write the central theme of my review of Take Me Home, so I paused letting social media distract me and wrote the thing (as always, it isn’t the trope, the problem is misusing the trope). Sweeney puts miscommunication to good use as a foundation of her characters’ arcs. Misunderstandings, faulty assumptions, and secret keeping are the root of the antagonism Hazel feels for Ash, at the heart of Hazel’s dysfunctional relationship with her father, and at the center of the tension Ash feels with his family. What Sweeney does with miscommunication is a masterful look at healing relationships and growing into maturity. She really captures the awkwardness and relief of letting go of assumptions and accepting people as multi-dimensional.
When put in proximity with Ash, and broken out of their standard communication patterns, Hazel realizes Ash is pretty great actually. Ash promises not to catch feelings for Hazel, but he already has feelings for her and plans to gently woo her into a longer term relationship. But Ash has his own family mess to contend with, his father has MS, and Ash has been keeping secrets for and from everybody. Hazel has to learn to let down her guard, and Ash has to learn to stop being a white knight. I really loved their third act break up. Melanie Sweeney knows how to use romance tropes in service of the characters and plot. I’m already looking forward to more books from her. She’s definitely an author to watch.
I received this as an advance reader copy from Penguin Books Putnam and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.