by Catherine Walsh
Rating: ⭐5/5⭐
A newly single girl. A tall dark handsome stranger. What could go wrong?
It’s 7 a.m. on a Monday morning and Abby Reynolds isn’t where she wants to be. She wants to be in her beautiful loft apartment in Manhattan, drinking a coffee with her fiancé.
Instead, she’s heading back to the childhood home in rural Ireland she swore she’d never return to, with some big old secrets. Namely that she’s suddenly found herself unemployed, homeless, and absolutely 100% single.
She’s feeling all out of luck. Until the first person she meets after she touches down is an absurdly hot guy called Luke, who offers her a lift home. Gazing deep into his sparkling emerald-green eyes, Abby knows instantly that he’s exactly what she needs to take her mind off everything. The perfect rebound.
It’s a flawless plan. Until the next day, when Abby realizes who he actually is. Not just a stranger. He is, in fact, Luke Bailey, aka the boy next door. Luke Bailey who—so help her God—she’s pretty sure she once shared baths with, back when they were kids. Not that she can allow herself to imagine him in a bath now, not without blushing from head to foot.
And judging by the smirk on his face, the same Luke Bailey who’s known exactly who she was the whole time… And who, like everyone in the village, still thinks she’s a high-flying New Yorker… who’s getting married next year.
Abby is certain getting under Luke will help her get over her ex. But the truth is stopping her. Can she admit to everyone back home that she’s single and has lost everything? Because, if she wants the boy next door, she may just have to…
This was an absolutely fantastic book! (also my first ever Netgalley 5⭐) And so much better (if also quite different) to what the blurb promised. I smiled so much while reading it 💗 Perfect for Christina Lauren fans and lovers of rom-coms in general.
It was such a fun, easy to read book. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t also have the necessary amount of drama to keep things interesting. The dialogues and character behavior were so genuine and real. And the plot progression! To quote the lovely Bangtan boys, it was Smooth like Butter I’ll take any chance to include unsolicited BTS gifs into all my reviews 💜
For a novel set in Ireland🍀, I don’t know that the Irishness came through very clearly (maybe if it’d had some slang thrown in there?) but nonetheless, the book was phenomenal. The relationships and interactions felt so true to life that at times I felt like I was watching a movie.
I very much loved the little side plot about Abby and her older sister. How they started off very standoffish towards the other, like they were little more than strangers living under the same roof, and how their relationship grew warmer and they got closer as they started opening up. Siblings fight, they butt heads, it’s the way of the world, and their interactions were so natural and reasonable. But it was lovely to see them bonding and becoming friends.
Speaking of friends, Abby’s friendship with Beth was so wholesome and sweet. Beth was just an overeager ray of sunshine and just what Abby needed to soften up a little and stop being so hard on herself. I thought it was also really cool how, in a way, Abby’s friendship with Beth was on the other side of the spectrum of her friendship with her NYC BFF, Jess. They were both very different women, but each of them spoke to different sides of Abby’s personality and that’s why she clicked with them.
I really liked Luke, too. He was such a good guy, a total sweetheart. But also a little petty and childish. It was like during his fights with Abby he reverted to being a sullen teenager with an unrequited crush. But when someone hurts our feelings, sometimes it’s hard to forget the years of history and react like a mature adult, so I can’t fault him.
I think it was fun how Abby and Luke’s relationship kept switching from friends(ly) to lovers to enemies to lovers and back again. There was this extremely obvious undercurrent of attraction between them throughout the book that I enjoyed immensely. Even when they were being curt to each other it was still clear they were (trying) to fight the pull and pretend the chemistry between them wasn’t there. It was very entertaining (sexual tension FTW).
I loved this book and very much look forward to reading more from Ms. Catherine. I think she has a brilliant future ahead of her, and am definitely gonna be checking out her other novel and any other future work she publishes!
And here’s a hilarious quote in case I still haven’t convinced you to read this:
"Do you think he's going to beat up Tyler?" "What? Why would he do that?" "For your honor!" "I lost my honor the summer before college, thank you very much." [...] "What if he is going to go beat him up?" Louise glances at me. "Please don't tell me you find that attractive" "Of course not," I say automatically. "That's so unhealthy." "Right" Right. "I mean, I guess a little part of me wouldn't mind if—" "Abby!"
**I received an e-copy of this book from Bookouture through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own**
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