"i love you everything about you. i love you because you try to understand my brain even though you're terrible at being patient, and because you're passionate about the stupidest things, and because you're the most beautiful person i've ever seen. i love how you make me laugh. i love your ugly cargo shorts, and i love how cranky you get when you're hungry, and i love how stubborn you are, and i don't love you despite those things. i love you because of those things."

chose this quote to note down at the top because i think it perfectly encompasses what this book is about, loving someone not despite their flaws, but because of their flaws. because of what makes them imperfect and so utterly human. charlie and dev's love story is so beautiful, and they've both been through so much and i loved reading about their journey not just the two of them individually. seeing them grow as people and learn to love themselves and realise that they deserve love and they are so, so worthy of the love that they want, and how they found it in each other. the CHEMISTRY these two have is insane, right from the moment they meet you can feel the spark and i was pretty much hooked right from the beginning, it was written so well. and honestly, i was not expecting what looks like from the blurb, a very fun, lighthearted rom-com, to make me feel THIS MUCH. it genuinely made me so emotional. the book deals with a lot of heavier topics sometimes, like OCD, anxiety, depression, and panic attacks. the representation of mental health in the book was dealt with very well and i felt like it was very nuanced and that there were important conversations the characters were having with each other about their mental health and about how that affected their view on relationships and love, and how they eventually learned to change that and help each other through it. i do love this book, however i will say that the ending to me felt a bit flat. there was just something sort of, well, missing i guess? i don't know, maybe it was the fact that (spoilers ahead) the ending of the book took place after dev and charlie had not spoken for 3 months and dev closed himself off from everyone, and then suddenly all of his friends showed up at his house and showed him the ever after stuff and then convinced him to profess his love for charlie on LIVE TELEVISION?? something about the abruptness of the ending kind of jarred me to be honest. and okay this is going to sound hypocritical, but, i honestly found it a bit... cheesy. and i love a good cheesy moment in a romance book, but even for me this was a bit tooo cheesy, so it felt less real/genuine. it was a little disappointing considering i spent the majority of the book being so so invested in the story and the characters and wanting to have the perfect happy ending. and while the ending was actually very happy, it just didn't really happen in the way i wanted it to, so it didn't feel as satisfying. but that's just a me thing, so i would definitely still recommend this book, and i ultimately did love it :)