2022 Advent, Day 19: Today's book was a young adult romance. It sort of reminded me of pride and prejudice, and I think it's an important reminder that first impressions are not always correct. The book also was a lot about healing from loss and moving on from our fantasies and how we wish things could be to living in real life. I was very satisfied that the main character got to confront her frenemy in what I thought was a mature way that showed a lot of growth and there was an adorable scene where they celebrated Christmas in May, so it felt seasonally appropriate (adjacent). ( )

Maybelle inherits dead aunts dilapidated hoarder house and grumpy groundskeeper Willie..I mean Wesley..
during the course of a slowwww renovation wholesome love blooms. This had a trope I don’t love and then that airplane scene??? I understand having phobias and mental health issues but hell no, what happened to maybell would be traumatising for me. Almost zero spice. And way too long (also the numerous daydreams were a bit much). ( )

Fair warning: my experience of this book may have been colored by an annoying audio narrator. Without her interpretation of Maybell as a character, I might have liked it more.

This is a very typical grumpy-sunshine/enemies to lovers/opposites attract contemporary romance that suffered from not enough character development and a lack of chemistry. Two people jointly inherit an old estate in the Smokey Mountains and have very different ideas about what to do with it. Conflict ensues. And then all of a sudden, they're in love. And it ends in Scotland....?

2.5 stars ( )

The daydreams confused me a bit.
Enjoyed this version of enemies to lovers. ( )

BookRiot recommended this as a “gentle, low-drama romance”. Amazon describes this as “the most hilarious and feel-good romance of 2022”. Admittedly humour is subjective but “hilarious” is a massive overstatement -- at most, I grinned with amusement. But feel-good? Absolutely. I really enjoyed reading this.

Maybell inherits a half share of her great-aunt’s dilapidated house -- and so does her great-aunt’s grumpy groundskeeper, who has his own ideas about what should happen to the property.

I was invested in seeing Maybell’s circumstances improve -- when the story begins she’s underpaid, unappreciated and heartbroken after being catfished by a friend. I liked watching her grow closer to Wesley and I liked how, because this is another single POV romance, his perspectives are sometimes a genuine surprise for both Maybell and the reader.

Some of Maybell’s experiences cleaning and restoring/renovating the house get glossed over but I was interested and would have liked more. Objectively I don’t think more details were needed per se -- it’s a romance, of course the romantic relationship is going to be the main focus! -- but I came away with the odd feeling that there was something incomplete about the story. Subjective reactions not always reasonable, I guess… ( )