I hate to start out with a negative, but I had such high hopes for this novel. I know what you’re going to say: “But, Heidi, you rated it four stars!” Yeah, that’s a lot of stars for a book you’re disappointed in. But here’s the thing: it’s still a good story. It still has good characters and a (semi) good and interesting plot. It’s complex in a way that only good writers can achieve. So, why then, am I disappointed? I’m sure if you’ve read any of my other Ali Hazelwood reviews (i.e. The Love Hypothesis, Love on the Brain, Below Zero, Stuck with You, Under One Roof), you’ll know that they all follow a very (very) similar format. For science’s sake, let’s make the Ali Hazelwood Formula:

• A man who is large (and we’re talking large here. Towering. Huge.).
• A protagonist who seemingly hates said large man due to some misunderstanding you later find out about.
• A hate for all other men except large man.
• Steamy scenes.
• The evil villain is a man.
• Did I mention a hate for men?

Not sure if I missed anything, but this is the basic makeup for an Ali Hazelwood novel. It’s sad, but the characters aren’t even that different either. The main girl and guy in the novel read very similar to every other main character of Hazelwood’s. Can you see now why I’m disappointed?

Again, I’m going to point this out. It was not, by any means, a bad book. Ali Hazelwood is an amazing writer. It’s a cute book (if you haven’t read any of her other novels). I just… wish she would branch out a bit. Unless I see a significant change in the description of her next novel, I probably will not be reading another one of her books because I am not the type to reread.

And as for what everyone wants to know about: there are two super steamy scenes in the novel that I remember. The second? It was great. The first one? Well, I don’t know if it was because I was shopping while listening to the audiobook, but a lot of the descriptions had me laughing and cringing at the same time. It definitely didn’t give off steam. But I did get a good laugh out of it. 

Last thing. For some God awful reason, I kept thinking this novel was called theoretically in love and sang about it in the tune of “Accidentally in Love” from the Shrek 2 movie. Now I can’t get it out of my head. Someone save me.

Overall, this was a quick read that I probably won’t remember much about in a week. Again, I think a lot of people will enjoy this novel if they haven’t gone through all of Hazelwood’s other books. But if you have, be warned, not much has changed between novels. 

Source: Audiobook from Audible