DISCLAIMER: i'm just a girl and these are just opinions!

real rating is like a 4.5

isabella you're fr sooooo sick and twisted for recommending this. ALSO SO SICK FOR SAYING THAT

the ending "wasn't what you expected, but was perfect for them" ?????!!!!!!! because why did you make me think they weren't going to end up together like that was so fucking evil.

i very much identify with nora, a woman who is literally nicknamed the shark because of her approach and commitment to her work. and while i love love love books where the hardass main lead falls in love with a soft yeehaw main lead, it's so refreshing to see characters that encourage each other and support each other in their careers. for context tho, i say "refreshing" because i'm not too much of a book reader. maybe there are millions of books who do this trope and do it better. idk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

other than the romance, i also love how nora and libby's relationship is portrayed - two sisters forced into the role of a parent and a child...? woah so weird who wrote that !!! anywhore - while i agree with some reviews that side characters could have been fleshed out more (re: clint), i think that emily henry did an amazing job balancing the different characters and giving enough information to let us understand them as people. if there's one thing i hate, it's big exposition dumps for the purpose of giving backstory, and the slow release of information was done well imo. even when i didn't know all of a character's backstory, i was curious while reading, not lost.

i needed a little bit more of them being enemies because it was giving enemies to horny VERY quick. i like that they had real reasons for hating each other (bad first impressions because they were both having very bad days), but i wish that it was drawn out just a liiiiiiiittle bit longer. do i love their lil banter over email? yes. but also if i hated someone and held that grudge for over a year, i would notttttt be bantering about bigfoot erotica during my supposed vacation.

the build up to the jakob reveal was so ... built up... that i expected it to be more than what it was. not saying that what happened wasn't traumatic or that it wouldn't also scar me, but it was just painted as SO BIG that the reality felt disappointing. sorry !

also i need to stop trying to do audiobooks because they just do not do the books justice.

my thoughts on the ending: spoilers, duh!
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whyyy would you spend 5+ chapters in this book building up their break up and telling me ALL the reasons that they wouldn't be good together,,, just for them to end up together! that is so sick. because now i've come to accept them apart and accepted the fact that they just aren't meant to be. but you're telling me that they're together now?

- will they stay together? 

i think yes, but not because i think their love will last, but because i don't think either of them have the willpower to break up with the other one. hear me out! i know they're both headstrong and stubborn, but that's not why i am saying this. the two of them are so indebted to each other for how much they've helped each others' families over the last month. also, their families are so heavily intwined that it would give them pause if they wanted to break up. libby liduhwuhlly works at his mom's book store and helped revive their stream of income. charlie got nora an editing job and was going to give his apt to her sister. ykwim? even if they wanted to break up, there's now too much on the line for them to separate.