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I think this is Holmes' best book yet, although it's very possible I'm bringing in my own biases. I am not a big romance reader but Holmes gives me enough outside the tropes to chew on that I enjoy her books. And this time the meat of the story that the romance works around is working in media, something I just spent the last several years doing. So it felt familiar and relatable and that was nice. Holmes also just brings so much warmth to her characters and her setting, you cannot help but care about the things she and her characters care about.

The romance here is quite trope-y (they literally keep running into each other at the most opportune or inopportune times) but the manufactured obstacles don't feel overly manufactured. The chemistry feels genuine and so does the conflict.

What really surprised me was how much I enjoyed the subplot around the wellness coach and how complex Holmes makes the character. She is not at all a plot device or a cardboard cutout. She feels real and as Cecily starts to care about her, so do we.

This book was really comforting and fluffy and enjoyable while also being about people who are not just cute and adorable but who have their own spikiness and prickles. A wonderful comfort-slash-distraction in just the time we need such a thing.