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Review
3.5 stars
I’m a big fan of Vi Keeland, and always look forward to her releases. The blurb of this book sucked me in, and I’ve been so excited to read it, but this one just didn’t hit my romance-lover buttons.
Stella and Hudson have a great meet-cute. She and her best friend are crashing a wedding, and Hudson is a groomsman, and brother of the bride. They flirt and dance, and I was all excited over the awesome banter, until he finds out her secret and (after a humiliating display) she makes a run for it. Stella thinks she’s free and clear of the mortifying experience until she realises that she’s left her phone behind.
Of course, Hudson is the one to find her phone, and their second meeting is awkward and full of tension, but it turns out that Hudson works in investments, and Stella is working hard to launch her own business, and through a series of twists and turns, he ends up as her investment partner and they end up working together.
You can’t force chemistry to exist where it doesn’t – the same way you can’t stop it from existing where you don’t want it. There are some things we’re just powerless over.
I really liked these characters. Stella is smart, sensible and hard working. She’s a relatable heroine and her best friend, Fisher, is lots of fun. Hudson is really dreamy – single father to an adorable little girl, he is sweet and successful with a huge heart, and he initially has this standoffish demeanour that slowly breaks down the longer that he and Stella work together, which I really enjoyed.
While initially Hudson and Stella had great chemistry, progression of the love story seems to stop for the majority of the book, only to pick up towards the end. Instead, there is a lot of story time spent talking about Stella’s business, her friendship with Hudson’s sister, and her hobby of buying and reading others’ diaries, which was all well written and mildly interesting, but I read for the romance, and for most of the book it just wasn’t there.
For me, this book was missing the delicious interactions between hero and heroine that Keeland writes so well. We eventually get there, and when we do, the romance was everything that I wanted – fun, flirty and functional with lots of heart (though low on steam). They are honest about their feelings and about where they want things to go, and their relationship develops quickly and naturally (quickly probably because they don’t even hook up until late in the story), with strong emotion, and I was swooning hard. I just wanted more of it.
As always with Vi’s books, there is a twisty dramatic element, and though this one was obvious from the very beginning, it still packs a punch. Was it necessary to the story? No, I didn’t think it was needed since the drama pretty much fizzles out and left me a bit unsatisfied over the non-resolution. But the emotion of it is written well.
“I needed to let go of what I thought my life was supposed to look like in order to write a new story.”
So sadly, this isn’t my favourite of Vi Keeland’s books, but in a bonus, the audiobook is narrated by Andi Arndt and Sebastian York, and they do a great job as always.
I liked it, but I didn’t love it. 3.5 stars.
About the Author
Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles have appeared in over a hundred Bestseller lists and are currently translated in twenty-five languages. She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six!
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