I liked the second half better than the first half.

The romance was good in some ways. The characters definitely had a connection. It was a second chance romance, and I can almost understand why they broke up. But I think that the hero should have tried to fix the relationship after he figured out his own issues.

I don't love how the author jumped back and forth in time. I think that the story could have been better arranged in a more linear fashion.

The audiobook narrator is amazing. ( )

I got 1 1/2 hours into this 11 hour audiobook...

From the moment Julia Whelan started reading I felt anxious. I remember when she read her own book, My Oxford Year. It had such scary unease, at a deeply emotional level, around the relationship in that book. This book reminds me of it - if the MCs don't get their communication right, I feel the world as we know it, as it should be, will end!

Two people meant to be together, who have an unreplicable kind of connection, will be lost in the darkness of space if they don't come back from the brink of horrific self destruction. The reader is subject to hours and hours of torture through the MC's misguided ghosting, ridiculous cancelling, distressing personal hurt, every form of cognitive distortion.

Harriet and Win are as dysfunctional as you will find when they face having to fake that they are still engaged. They are suddenly thrust into attending the wedding of their friends during their annual holiday week catch-up at a Maine retreat. Harriet has been waiting till this weekend to tell her friends that she and Win are no longer together.

I decided to skip to a point about 2 hours before the end, to avoid the above mentioned reader torture! I never skip to the end, but I'm so glad I did! It was a vote for self-care.

I came in at the point where finally Harriet and Win share a bed and care for each other. They talk from the heart. They finally know what they want, which includes each other, and they go for it. Happiness at last ensues, after years of being so afraid they'd lose the other that they did not "go for it".

Everything about this novel reminded me of the Christina Lauren series, Wild Seasons, starting with a tight trio of female friends.

I read the other day that Colleen Hoover and Emily Henry are by far the biggest selling romance writers. I wonder if they can even be called romance writers?

They are so ubiquitous, such big sellers, that to describe them as category writers, ie Romance, seems to miss the mark. They are in some overarching group: popular fiction. ( )

3.75 stars

It was fun! So much fun to read and the side characters were a trip.

One thing about Emily Henry, she can write some top tier punny banter.

I went through an entire range of emotions crying, laughing, confusion and frustration.

The smutty scenes could have been put somewhere else. They both came after the MCs were talking through necessary difficult conversations. The placement just didn’t make sense. One minute I’m crying with one of the MCs and then the next they are ready to hump each other. This really turned me off. It felt like they were trying to distract themselves and if they’re doing that, then the foundation of their love is wonky and that means I’m not fully sold on them.

Also Ms Babes did not need to change like that in the end. ( )

I kind of felt frustrated by the main characters, Harriet and Wyn. A bit stock up on both sides. The books ended by wrapping up everything nicely, but I am not too sure about the story line. ( )

A rom-com of a novel. Old boarding school friends meet at their rich friend's Maine summer home to celebrate the wedding of two of them. The other couple in the group has broken up, but they haven't told the others. Of course, they eventually reconnect. Very much a beach read. ( )