Sweet and swooningly enticing, a love story in between a former beauty queen and a quarterback legend— Nova and Ronan having their first meet cute in a party that ended up with an awful one night stand. Years later a twist of fate brought them again as neighbours in a small town of Texas— he’s a high school football coach and she’s an English teacher. From hatred to a love-hate friendship that later turns into a fake dating scene. Nova craves for a possibility hoping for a chance, but can love really break the stoned laid fortress in Ronan’s heart and let him move on?
This was truly an unputdownable to me. I love Nova’s chracter so much— she was smart and fun, her maturity was admirable and even though Ronan’s character was full with emotional struggles yet his backstory was riveting much for me. Love the dual perspectives; a perfect plot structure for a love story as I can delve into both personal thoughts, characterization and dynamics. Their conflicts were enthralling and I like those references on Stars Wars (Ronan was a huge fan!) also the fact that Ronan owns a bookshop— I wish scenes at the bookshop could be more though.
Gripping plot development despite few intimate scenes felt quite draggy and unnecessary to me. Likeable secondary characters especially Sonia and Skeeter; they were hilarious also Sabine was so adorable; love her sudden thrown of random facts, and I think adding Melinda as the mean girl was engaging much for that pinch of a high school type drama.
On adulthood, family and friendship, of grief, trust and how it explores the relationship challenges: of commitment, hesitation and afraid of failure. Love the improbability of a happy ending to their love story, a both emotionally driven and humorous written prose and also, I think the author did great in articulating the interactions and dialogues between the characters; such an appealing storytelling and execution. Hopefully the author could do a sequel for the missing fragments in between the last chapter and the epilogue, I would love to read that! 4 stars to this!
Thank you Times Reads for sending me a copy to review!
ps: I would definitively go for the 2nd book next!