This is a 2 or 2.5 for me. If you're looking for a romantic comedy, this is not the book for you--McFarlane writes about heavy topics (TW: ending a long relationship; death; mention of childhood sexual assault) with a deceptively light premise.

The book begins with Dan ending an eighteen-year relationship with Laurie; the set-up was strong, and I was looking forward to see how both characters (especially Laurie) developed afterward; it's not a premise one often sees in a romance book. Unfortunately, I felt like the story became mundane because McFarlane tends to tell rather than show her characters--for example, she focuses more on the past events of Dan and Laurie's relationship and only includes brief mentions of how Laurie actually dealt with the breakup--and that, for me, affected the chemistry between Laurie and Jamie. Also, as a romantic prospect, Jamie lacks depth (likely as a result of McFarlane's telling rather than showing character attributes and development), which affected how I felt about him and Laurie (especially toward the end). While Laurie is a stronger character, I felt like I enjoyed the side characters (like Bharat) even more; I'd love to see some stories featuring them. Also, there is something a little off about how McFarlane describes her non-white characters; at times it felt like she was checking off a diversity/inclusion box instead of authentically incorporating her characters of color.

Ultimately, by the end of the book, it felt like McFarlane wrote it to throw every potential challenge she could think of at the couple, which also took away from the story; as a result, I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would.