This review has taken me a while to write just as this book took me a while to read. I’m a big Timothy Janovsky fan - every other book of his I have genuinely enjoyed if not absolutely adored. He’s an expert at juxtaposing campy humor with heartfelt characters. I tend to have a love-hate relationship with his characters but very much in the “this is wonderful writing and even though I am tempted to fight this character on sight, I am absolutely engaged with them and their storyline” way. Unfortunately You Had Me at Happy Hour fell short for me. 

The thing is - the story was fine. The plot was fine. Greg and Julian were fine. It was all very fine. But nothing was memorable. Nothing hooked me. Part of this falls to the plot. Admittedly this was the first story I have read where tiktok played a major role and even though I expected a contemporary romance, it felt a little too real. The backdrop did these characters no favors - every side character felt more like a prop than a real person and I knew so little about the restaurant, the people behind it, or the role it played in the community that I had very little investment as to whether it succeeded or not. 

Greg and Julian were… you guessed it - fine. On their own they were interesting but I don’t feel we really got to dig our teeth into either of them enough to really fall in love with either of them. Honestly I feel like their romance felt the same way. Where was the chemistry!? The stakes felt low because I never quite felt like they cared enough for me to care. 

All in all - this book was fine. I don’t have anything awful to say nor anything spectacular. It’s a quick read and the characters and plot are cute! 

Special thanks to Netgalley and Afterglow Books by Harlequin for the ARC - I am leaving this review voluntarily!