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** spoiler alert ** original review: Feb. 2019

I think must be terrifying for an author to churn out a new book after a massively successful debut. Everyone’s watching you, everyone’s expectations are high, and everyone will inevitably compare anything you subsequently publish to your most successful book; I get it, but I think that’s a ton of unfair pressure to put on an author AND a new book! Personally, I tried my best to analyze this book on its own merit and to not compare it to The Hating Game.

the characters:

� Darcy is going to rub some people the wrong way, but I liked her, for the most part; she’s flawed and feels like a real person, even if some of her inner thoughts are really bizarre. She uses black clothes and a gruff exterior to mask her vulnerabilities and insecurities (same), but is actually a kind, fluffy marshmallow. Easier to be snarky than vulnerable! Conceal, don’t feel, am I right? She doesn’t realize what a mess she is (ignoring her heart condition, her alcohol and sugar consumption, etc) and has a serious case of imposter syndrome.
� Tom is a fucking saint. He’s a hardworking, patient, admirable guy, not to mention shy and easily embarrassed. Beyond that, though, he wasn't all that interesting because he didn't have a lot going on.
� Jamie is a dickhead and I found him really unlikeable overall. He redeemed himself a teeny, tiny bit at the end of the book, but it took him having a brick fight with his sister to realize he’s a piece of shit, and that was after he called her HUMAN GARBAGE. Congratulations, Sally, this is the first time I’ve raged at a character in 2019!
� Truly was great and I’d love to see a spinoff book or short story about her endeavors.

the issues:

� The timeline was strange. I think 75% of the book takes place over the course of a week, and then Tom abandons the twins and the renovation project for the next SEVEN weeks? At least, I think that’s correct� It wasn’t totally clear. I thought plot would've been better, too, had it been broken up by clips of the characters' shared past.
� Honestly, I felt like the story wasn’t that complicated. Tom and Darcy have mutually pined for one another their entire lives, but when he confessed his love for her, she chose to flee and used travel to escape her feelings for the next eight years. Why, though? Who doesn’t want to be loved and appreciated by someone that you also mutually love and appreciate? Other than not being emotionally mature enough to handle Tom’s confession, I never really understood the reasons for her leaving, or why her own grandmother encouraged her to flee.
� Darcy says whatever is on her mind and overshares to the extreme. There’s so much verbal diarrhea in this book, and it’s meant to be charming but is often annoying.
� I’ll be honest, I had trouble keeping up with some of the dialogue, whereas I did not have this problem in The Hating Game. Darcy’s thoughts and conversations were so rapid fire that she’d shoot from one topic to the next, and I kept going, Wait, what?, like often enough that it really had me questioning my reading capabilities. I don’t know if I was just suffering from lack of sleep, or what.
� I would have loved a dual POV so we could get inside Tom’s head and break up Darcy’s overbearing personality.

All of my interactions with Sally Thorne have been fantastic, so I love her and would happily read her shopping lists. She’s really sweet and actually takes the time to reach out to her readers, and I will always appreciate that in an author. I think she’s set a precedent for contemporary adult romance that is unmatched right now, and has a unique voice and writes the type of characters and plots that I most want to read, and the style of romance that I love best.

While this book didn’t give me a similar giddy feeling that The Hating Game did, I thought it was still a fun read.