I was not super excited to read a book set at a Renaissance Faire, but tried this out and … what do you know?! Check out my review of Well Met!

Well Met by Jen De Luca. Published on September 3, 2019 by Berkley.

Synopsis: When Emily relocated to the small town of Willow Creek to help her sister recover from an accident, who could anticipate getting roped into volunteering for the local Renaissance Faire alongside her teenaged niece? Or that the irritating and inscrutable schoolteacher in charge of the volunteers would be so annoying that she finds it impossible to stop thinking about him? The faire is Simon’s family legacy and from the start he makes clear he doesn’t have time for Emily’s lighthearted approach to life, her oddball Shakespeare conspiracy theories, or her endless suggestions for new acts to shake things up. Yet on the faire grounds he becomes a different person, flirting freely with Emily when she’s in her revealing wench’s costume. But is this attraction real, or just part of the characters they’re portraying?

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Review: Well Met

Maybe it’s because that my parents love things like Renaissance Fairs that I really don’t. That’s what kept me from trying this initially, but when I needed a few more books to fill out my rom-com readathon, I thought: why not?

What surprised me? I loved the parts of the book I didn’t expect to like. And vice versa.

Emily has moved into her older sister’s house to help her recover after an accident and gets convinced to volunteer at the local Renaissance Fair alongside her niece. She’s very reluctant, especially since the director of the fair is an annoying control freak who seems to have it in for her. But Emily begins to see that he does look pretty fine in that pirate costume….

I love a good small town story, I thought the cast of characters in Well Met was a lot of fun: Simon and Emily, Emily’s sister April and niece Cait, Chris the bookstore owner, Emily’s new friends Stacey and Mitch.

The Fair stuff was actually interesting and I didn’t mind it at all. Bring on the turkey legs!

What I didn’t I love as much? The romance. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: romance is a very taste specific thing. I’ve thought and thought about what the issue was. I don’t really have a preference between single POV and dual POV narratives, but I think that in this case, getting more of a glimpse into Simon’s head might have helped me understand him and the progression of his feelings for Emily.

I also wished I’d had the chance to see Emily come into her own more and come to terms with her past relationship and what she gave up for her ex .

There was a lot I really liked about this, and others on my Goodreads timeline have loved the romance, so if you enjoy hate-to-love stories, you definitely might want to give Well Met a try!

Want more rom com reviews? You can find all of mine here on my Rom-Com-A-Thon page!

Read my review of the Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren. I am obsessed with fauxmance stories and twin stories, so this book seemed perfect for me!

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A friend recommended this book. I tried it and after a couple chapters … I was worried. Did I change my mind about Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating?

Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren. Published on September 2018 by Gallery Books.

Synopsis: Hazel Camille Bradford knows she’s a lot to take—and frankly, most men aren’t up to the challenge. Their loss. Josh Im has known Hazel since college, where her zany playfulness proved completely incompatible with his mellow restraint. From the first night they met, Josh has always thought of Hazel more as a spectacle than a peer. But now, ten years later, after a cheating girlfriend has turned his life upside down, going out with Hazel is a breath of fresh air. Not that Josh and Hazel date. At least, not each other. Because setting each other up on progressively terrible double blind dates means there’s nothing between them…right?

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Review: Hazel and Josh’s Guide to Not Dating

I love characters (and people) who are unique and authentic. But I have to be honest: Hazel worried me at first. I’m a fairly low-key person and larger-than-life people can be overwhelming to me. Also, in a book or movie, there’s the Manic Pixie Dream Girl pitfall.

Happily, as I got to know Hazel better, I liked her. And I found this friends to lovers story extremely sweet. Josh and Hazel have known each other since college. Josh breaks up with his girlfriend and becomes depressed. He and Hazel start setting each other up and going on double dates. Humor ensues and they start wondering … could they actually be perfect for each other?

The book does use one trope I’m not super-crazy about (don’t want to say because it’s a spoiler but if you’re curious check out my Goodreads review) but overall I was quite charmed by this one! The double dates were really funny and the chemistry between friends Josh and Hazel ended up being way steamier than I was expecting.

Have you read Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating? Tell me what you thought in comments.

Want to check out other rom com reviews? Click here or on the image below.

Welcome to Rom-Com-a-Thon! I’m reading all the romantic comedies I can find and giving you my take. At the bottom of the post you can find links to all my review! Read on for my review of Marriage on Madison Avenue!

Marriage on Madison Avenue (Central Park Pact #3) by Lauren Layne. To be published on January 28 2020 by Gallery Books. Thanks to the publisher for sending an advance copy for review.

Synopsis: Can guys and girls ever be just friends? Audrey Tate and Clarke West have been best friends since childhood without a single romantic entanglement. Clarke is the charming playboy Audrey can always count on, and he knows that the ever-loyal Audrey will never not play along with his strategy for dodging his matchmaking mother—announcing he’s already engaged…to Audrey. But what starts out as a playful game between two best friends turns into something infinitely more complicated, as just-for-show kisses begin to stir up forbidden feelings. As the faux wedding date looms closer, Audrey and Clarke realize that they can never go back to the way things were, but deep down, do they really want to?

This post contains affiliate links and I may receive a small percentage of qualifying purchases. See more here.

Review: Marriage on Madison Avenue

I have really liked some of Lauren Layne’s books, and of the Central Park Pact series, I liked this one the best.

This book had a few favorite tropes: friends-to-lovers, a fauxmance, and a fake engagment. There was also a Wedding Belles cameo appearance.

Audrey and Clarke have been friends for years but are spurred into a fake engagement when an internet troll goes after Audrey for being a homewrecker. If you haven’t read this series, there’s backstory: two of the Central Park Pact characters were sleeping with the husband of the third, then they all become friends after he dies. That in itself is a whole other topic, as I don’t think that aspect of these stories is fully developed or integrated into the stories.

In any case, Audrey and Clarke announce their engagement and start to plan a big, lavish society wedding. That aspect of the story was fun. Audrey is an influencer (which I had mixed feelings about) so she documents all the wedding prep on her social media.

The best part of the book for me was the couple. I liked their dynamic and thought their romance was sweet. Some of the side stuff (the pact stuff, the internet troll, Clarke’s ex-girlfriend) felt a little thrown in. The heart of the story is really that each is falling for the other and doesn’t know what to do about it.

If you’re looking for a sweet rom com with a wedding theme, I’d definitely say that Marriage on Madison Avenue is worth a read!

Have you read any of this series? Do you have Lauren Layne books to recommend to me?

Find all my Rom-Com-a-Thon posts here!

For December (at least) I’m doing a Rom-Com-a-Thon and reviewing romantic comedies! You can find links to a master list of prior and future reviews at the bottom of this post and scroll down to read my review of Meet Cute!

Meet Cute by Helena Hunting. Published on April 9, 2019 by Forever Books.

Synopsis: On her first day of law school, Kailyn ran – quite literally – into the actor she crushed on as a teenager, ending with him sprawled on top of her. Mortified to discover the Daxton Hughes was also a student in her class, her embarrassment over their meet-cute quickly turned into a friendship she never expected. Of course, she never saw his betrayal coming either…Now, eight years later, Dax is in her office asking for legal advice. Despite her anger, Kailyn can’t help feeling sorry for the devastated man who just became sole guardian to his thirteen-year-old sister. But when her boss gets wind of Kailyn’s new celebrity client, there’s even more at stake than Dax’s custody issues: if she gets Dax to work at their firm, she’ll be promoted to partner.The more time Kailyn spends with Dax and his sister, the more she starts to feel like a family, and the more she realizes the chemistry they had all those years ago is as fresh as ever. But will they be able to forgive the mistakes of the past, or will one betrayal lead to another?

This review contains affiliate links. I may receive a small percentage of qualifying purchases. Find out more here.

Since this is my first Rom-Com-a-Thon post, I’ll first define:

What is a Rom Com: (According to me)?

1. To me, a Rom Com is first and foremost, a romance. The primary storyline is of two people meeting (or reconnecting or rediscovering each other) and falling in love. There IS a HEA.
2. Tropes! As I discussed in this post, trope is NOT a bad word. A rom com has tropes we know and love. Meet Cutes, Hate to Love, Friendship to Love, Fauxmances….
3. Some humor. This is where a rom com might differ from an angsty romance or a sweet romance. The humor could range from whimsy to slapstick to snark. NOTE: This does NOT mean a rom com can’t address serious issues, as the book below does. But there needs to be an element of lightness as well.

Review: Meet Cute

Don’t be confused: a book I reviewed a week or so ago, Would Like To Meet, was all about meet cutes, while this book, which is called Meet Cute, starts with one but is about a lot of other stuff.

The first thing I’ll say is that this book is a little more serious than the cover and title suggest. If you want a purely sweet and funny book, be forewarned!

Meet Cute begins as Kailyn is starting law school, and literally runs into her childhood crush, actor Daxton Hughes, on the quad. And then trips over him in class. She’s mortified but they end up being friendly classmates. Until he does something (we’re not sure what) to stab her in the back.

Fast forward around eight or nine years. Both Daxton and Kailyn are practicing lawyers. Daxton gets some shattering news and has a legal issue he needs help with. So he goes to Kailyn, who still hates him for that past betrayal.

As indicated by my purple graphic above, this book definitely had tropes. Love with a celeb can be predictable, with a lot of time spent convincing us the celeb is actually Just a Regular Person. Luckily in Meet Cute, Daxton’s celebrity status was in the past and more of a running joke than a major part of the plot. In fact, Daxton seemed to be based on Dawson from Dawson’s Creek (due to the similarity of the names and the fact that they both have a crying meme.) I do love a good Dawson shout-out, so that was a big plus for me.

The hate to love in this one was a different approach, as the reader doesn’t know what Dawson– I mean Daxton– did to make Kailyn hate her until the very, very end.

This book had alternating POVs, and I really liked Daxton’s POV chapters. As mentioned above, his storyline was a tough one, with some truly heartbreaking stuff. So if you aren’t looking for that, maybe keep this in mind for later.

All in all, I enjoyed this one! If you like rom coms that make you laugh AND cry, definitely check Meet Cute out.

Check out ALL my rom com reviews here on my main Rom-Com-a-thon page!

And if you like Love with a Celebrity Stories, be sure to check out my full list here!