3.5

Rating: 4/5

Ultimately this novel tried to be too much. Too hallmark. Too angsty. Too mysterious. Too dramatic. Had it just focused on the romance between Ev and Silas it could have been a beautiful cathartic story of love developing after grief, but instead it's a bit of a muddled mess. The mystery plotline is completely superfluous. The characters and setting are completely lovely but this novel needed more of a narrow focus on its heart, Si and Ev's love without all the tangents.

This book explored grief and loss in a way I haven’t read in these series before and it was beautiful. Si and Everett were meant for each other but I appreciated the slow burn into passion and later, love. It was the perfect amount of sweet small town love that tugs at my heart.

Okay read.

First, I'll admit, I've never particularly enjoyed the 'small town' trope. I've heard of small towns like these, but as somebody who grew up in a small town, the overly nosey, gossipy, frankly creepy involvement in everybody's lives was not my experience. This book wasn't as bad as many I've read, but it generally has me rolling my eyes. There were SO many secondary characters I couldn't keep them straight, and there were at least three couples the author was obviously setting up for future books, which I think is kind of a tacky practice--why don't you focus on getting us to care about the couple your writing about instead of trying to shove in characters for future books?

Second, I'm not generally a fan of the dead lover trope, as it's so very rarely done well. I actually appreciate the fact that the author did try and address the complexities of Ev's past relationship, but they fell into one of the traps I loathe which is feeling like they need to diminish the intensity/love/passion of the previous relationship so as not to ~overshadow~ the current one. I fucking hate this. You don't have to made Ev's relationship with Adrian to be lacking in passion and connection to justify him moving on. Frankly, it was a major turn-off. And it felt even more off because this was right alongside what we're told is Ev's overwhelming grief for Adrian, but I never felt like we really saw this, we were just told. It all felt very forced.

Third, I honestly just wasn't really feeling the connection between Ev and Si. Felt like it developed too quickly, and I just wasn't invested in their story. Si is supposedly afraid of commitment but jumped straight to forever. Neither of them gave the other a break, and the chemistry just wasn't there. I seriously cared more about the Hen/Diane side-story, which is not a great sign.

Forth, the mystery was not great. Super obvious, the pacing was atrocious, and the ~climax~ had me rolling my eyes.

[dnf ~60%] just ignore grumpy old me. i've been in a bit of a reading slump lately with very few books capturing my attention (hence the millions of titles on my currently-reading shelf). but if i had to point to what exactly had me losing momentum, i couldn’t keep track of all the characters - including a few who were introduced in a way that felt like i should’ve heard of/known them already - and my brief spark of interest in the MCs at their first meeting had petered out long before the quarter mark. there’s heavy-handed use of the deceased spouse trope as a source of conflict in the new, potential relationship, but few details are offered that allow us to connect to Everett’s guilt/grief.

so i'm going to briefly promote the german police procedural "Tatort Saarbrücken" instead, because i'm very happy to have it in my life now that a friend pushed me to watch it (even if we only get an episode a year)

I loved this book and the town of O’Leary so much!!! I’m going right into the next book, but before I do, here is a list of all the things I loved about this book:

- O’Leary is a town where there aren’t any homophobic jerks. It is accepting and it is a wonderful town to escape to.

- The meet-cute between Silas and Everett was amazing and I knew I was going to love them both from the first chapter!

- Grandpa Hen. Enough said