This had one of the cleverest “meets” I’ve read in a romantic comedy this year. I thought the author did a great job of making it authentic but interesting, as it allowed me to immediately get to know the characters.
For once, I actually related more to the male character (James) than I did to Cassie. There were several reasons for this.
One, I understood the need to get away. I haven’t had an embarrassing experience like James (and thankfully no relationship that went south like his), but the feeling of being claustrophobic in a big city was very familiar.
I also could empathize with his bewilderment at the rural aspects of his new home. When my husband and I moved from NYC to upstate NY, we were equal parts thrilled to be out of the city but also found it difficult to fit in to established norms of a small town. This was repeated when we moved to WV.
Interestingly, at least to me, I could relate to Cassie in that we just moved from rural back to urban. Her observations about access to stores, restaurants, etc. were similar to what we have been feeling lately. However, I didn’t feel that her singular personal focus actually fit her character. (You’ll understand that if you read it).
While I liked each of the characters individually (although James started off as kind of a jerk), I didn’t get much from them as a romantic couple. The author has a lot of conversations between the two, but I really didn’t feel any chemistry.
All of a sudden, they were both questioning their feelings for each other. Huh?
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I think that maybe had to do with the way the author time jumped through the plot. It felt similar to fast forwarding through a movie. For example, one minute Cassie has barely moved in and the next she’s going to dinner parties with the neighbors. It felt disjointed.
I also think this contributed to the failure (again, solely my opinion) of the romance. James and Cassie were at pretty much polar opposite ends of a very important aspect in a relationship, each for their own reasons.
As you can read in the blurbs and other reviews, the subject of their opposition is highly personal and could be difficult for some people to read – but it certainly wasn’t a lighthearted romance issue.
So, I’m left torn. I liked the individuals and the descriptions of the respective houses and locations. I really liked the Maine townspeople (and animals). But the main character romance could have used some juicing up.
I’d still recommend it for the initially stated unique set-up and some genuinely amusing moments.
Author Bio:
Jo Lovett lives in London with her family. She worked in Corporate Tax before taking a longer-than-expected career break to have more-than-expected children (five). She started writing romantic comedy when she realised that she was regularly begging her oldest son to let her do his English homework but she wasn’t actually that interested in haunted houses or Macbeth.
Jo was runner-up in the Good Housekeeping/ Orion First Novel Competition 2018 and shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Award 2019. Her first novel, ‘The First Time We Met’, was published by Bookouture in November 2020 and her second, ‘The House Swap’, comes out in April 2021. When she can escape from her laundry mountain, she enjoys reading, tennis and wine.
