Let me start off by saying that I was not all in on THE CHECKLIST - the first book in this series by Addie Woolridge. I didn't connect with Dylan as a character and I wished there had been a bigger deep dive into WHY she is the way she is.

Now, let me say that is the OPPOSITE of how I feel about Neale & THE BOUNCE BACK. I absolutely loved Neale as a character & the MANY insights we got into her mind. We saw her inner turmoil as she tried to figure out what her passion is & why everything she had tried in the past just wasn't working out. And, as I write that, I wonder if maybe I loved Neale & reading her story (as well as her blossoming connection with Anthony) because I relate to her in a way.

Finding your passion is hard.

Finding your path is even harder.

After literally crashing & burning at an art show, Neale decides that she has GIVEN up on art & is going to find a real job in the real world. She's going to do what everyone keeps telling her to do & move out of her parents house and try to support herself. She finds a job kind of - oddly - in a peripheral field to performing arts at a greeting card company who seems to work as a middle man for other companies who need music for their cards. There she starts to find a place among her coworkers & immediately develops a connection with the on-staff artist, Anthony.

The slow burn (pun intended) of Neale & Anthony was satisfying in a complete way. A lot of romance books really rely on avoiding the fade to black scenes when the heat is turned on, but I appreciated that Woolridge allowed you to see the foreplay and then shut the curtains. It left Neale & Anthony a little bit more innocent (even if what they were doing was far from).

In summary, I love Neale & I would read another book all about her self-discovery and watching her commit to challenge after challenge.

10/10 would recommend.

Favorite quotes:
- "...especially since she had been invited to the workout and declined because only monsters chose spin over sleep."
- "You don't want the pain that comes with pursuing what you love, so you only put half of yourself into something That way, if you fail, you can walk away and say you never really tried. You are half-in, half-out."

Thank you NetGalley and Montlake Publishers for the chance to read and review this book.

Almost all of Neale’s close family members are artists apart from her older sister.

Neale is putting on performance art using fire one evening but the audience is not getting her and then her coat catches alight.

She is asked to leave the art Collective and the whole episode is recorded and goes viral. Then her boyfriend breaks up with her and her parents ask her to grow up and leave home.

She finds an office job working at a card company, and meets kind and thoughtful co-worker Anthony, who also happens to have a hot body and great looks.

This is a cute story about being honest with your loved ones and putting effort into the things that are important to you. There is a lot of finding-yourself-angst though that ran on a bit longer than was maybe necessary.

Public humiliation and disaster strikes Neale Delacroix as she accidentally sets fire to herself during her multimedia performance in an art show. The sprinklers ruin the other artists' work. She gets exiled from the artist group in front of her family. And if that isn't bad enough, the video of her performance goes viral. Her parents are desperate for her to gain some independence, and she is ready to become the New Neale that doesn't make bad decisions, works a regular day job, and most importantly can stand on her own two feet.

I have not read The Checklist, which follows Neale's sister Dylan, so I do not know how Neale was portrayed as a side character in other books. I cannot say I particularly enjoyed her as a main character.

The writing itself is good. It is an easy read with a good pace. It's lighthearted and full of humour. I think the reason I feel so dissatisfied is the character development arc of Neale.

The growth of Neale seems a bit stunted. Without giving too much away, the entire plot is based on her family and friends believing she is incapable of fully committing to her art, hard work, and relationships. By the end of the book, I still wasn't convinced she had grown all that much. It is hard to provide reasons why without giving spoilers so I'm afraid I will have to leave that comment there.

I liked Anthony, her love interest and coworker, he seemed like such a no-nonsense character in the sense that he didn't play games with Neale; he was always pretty clear with his intentions. I hated how she messed him around so much but realise it was so they could have their romantic climactic moment. I suppose it was hard for me to see why he stuck around when she didn't treat him all that well. Saying that, I found their interactions funny and enjoyed them as a couple, I simply liked Anthony more than I liked Neale.

Also, I feel strongly that there should have been a better karmic moment for Darin and Jenna for being less-than decent people.

What I will say for the author is wow, Woolridge is inclusive. This was the first book I have read where there are non-binary characters (Morrigan and Callen), which was honestly a joy to behold. There was a sapphic roommate, and Neale and Anthony, the heroine and hero of the novel, were black. Genuinely the most inclusive novel I have read so far.

Super cute! It was nice to read a romance for once that wasn’t filled with overt angst and a controlling alpha make. Sometimes sweet guys are just really sexy!

This was a follow-up or deep dive on one of the minor characters in The Checklist. The Checklist was a great book. I found the characters in that book enjoyable. However, the characters in The Bounce Back were less enjoyable. I loved Dylan in The Checklist. However in this book, she was a busybody. The main character, Dylan, was okay. Nothing was developed as far as why she acted the way she did. Was she changed at the end of the story or was she just doing what was easier since she didn’t like her job? What was Billie’s real reason for coming back to town? The sisters seemed to look down on Billie. Overall, the book was good. I’m hoping the next book about Billie returning to town dives deep into why she returned to town. I feel their could be a great story full of detail and more information about how she grew closer to Dylan as an adult since she was closer to Billie growing up. Thanks for the ARC.

This was a very cute romcom- type book. I would say it is pretty typical of a romcom book with free surprises - but isn’t that what we love about them? I loved Neale and Anthony and appreciate the character development that occurs. This is a great summer read for 2021!