Love story between an aspiring country singer named Emmett, and Luke, a country music hating cook. The two end up working at country music superstar’s amusement park and begin their relationship.

The story is told from alternating POVs and we get to see that they have their own aspirations to become more; Emmett wants to make it big as a gay country singer and Luke wants to be chef. 

 The pacing threw me off between the start and finish. It seemed like we spent a lot of time setting up the conflicts at the beginning and ended the book with an afterwards solving them.

Not enough time was actually spent fleshing out the resolutions between the characters and I would’ve liked to see more time spent on redeeming Luke. 

I really didn’t like him, and couldn’t figure out why Emmett did. He had no likable qualities and very little personality. 

 We also don’t see Luke come to terms with

his internal homophobia

, which was a bit depressing.

The side-plots seemed to take up more space from the main characters, especially with some cheating plot that felt random. 

We also didn’t get to see what becomes of our main couple; the ending is completely unresolved.

Do they stay together and work it out to be long-distance? Who knows!?

Overall this was an easy but unsatisfying read within a country music setting. 

Very enjoyable ❤️. I appreciated the honesty around the difficulties many people face when coming out. 

I really enjoyed this little gem of a romance! I felt it was perfectly balanced in every direction. All characters felt very real and complex, and I liked the couple's push and pull together. This story excellently balanced the levity of a YA romance with the actual gravity of being queer and/or coming out in the US south (or US southern culture). The story also juggled a lot of messages, but they all worked together well; nothing got muddled or lost. While some were less important, the narrative reflected that and devoted just enough screen time as needed. I was also pleasantly surprised by the characters' physical relationship – yet again, I thought it struck a perfect balance of addressing the topic while remaining a YA story. Some of the concepts were a little cliche or twee but they were so well executed, I gobbled it up. Overall an excellent romance.

This made me smile, cringe in embarrassment, and it broke my heart at times. I related to both  Luke and Emmett which was surprising to be honest. When I first heard about this book I was so excited and instantly thought I would love this. And I’m glad to say I was right.

The atmosphere was nostalgic and gave me a cozy feeling. I loved the characters, the Dolly references were great and this is a book I can see myself re-reading many times in the future. I highly recommend this.

😘 RomCom

The backstory to this was so good, the family secrets, hidden songs, and some good old gay country music.  As someone who grew up listening to country music it is so satisfying to see all the queer artists gaining recognition.  So I loved this book and Emmett fully committed to his dream.

I am so happy with how this book ended.  I was a little nervous there for a second.  The internalized homophobia ran deep.  Having said that the character development was amazing.  All the characters were written nicely, they had depth and personality.  I really enjoyed reading this.

Release Date: 07, June 2022

POV: Switching, First Person

Spice: 🌶️ (mentioned)

Rep: Gay (MCs), BIPOC (SCs), Multiple Sclerosis (MC’s Mom)

If you're looking for something lighthearted to pass the time, this one's good. And if you like country songs, even better.

Growing up listening to country music, this book was absolutely adorable! I loved the homey feel of the writing and references to country music. I wish the two boys meshed a bit better together. I don't know if I could picture them in real life together, I feel like their personalities are a bit too different.