This would've been a five star if it weren't for all the miscommunication. I LOATHE miscommunication. Even though Jess knew that everything was a miscommunication and that Jamie was a good dude, she STILL got caught up in thinking that he wasn't. If she would've stopped being annoying/immature about it all, this book would've been way better.

Wow, what an entertaining read this started out as! The first 20% of the story drew me completely in. The banter and flirting in this story was absolutely top notch and I found myself blushing and laughing simultaneously on several occasions.

Jess is the independent, won't-take-sh*t FMC. Jamie was her first love, and first... Everything. He also happens to be the one that got away.

What's important to note is that while Jamie was her first love, he had no idea of how she truly felt about him. His muddled, teenage brain (heart?) also handled things quite poorly (via text, lawd) way back when it all went down. However, Jess has basically spent the 12 years since she's since him hating his guts. The last thing that she expects is to run into him at a wedding that she's working.

Of course, their first encounter as adults goes almost as well as their first encounter as teenagers did. In fact, in Jess' mind, it further justifies her low opinion of him.

However, from their second encounter to their third, and fourth and so on, Jess begins to see a different side of Jamie. At the behest of her close friends, she's also challenged to consider that she might just have misunderstood his actions when they were teenagers.

Time and time again, Jamie continues to prove himself to her, until they finally confront the night in question from 12 years ago and they both realize that not only were they not on the same page, they might have been reading completely different stories. Jess starts to let him in, and they finally embark on a relationship.

And this is where the story began to go downhill for me. I've mentioned many times that I'm not a huge fan of the single parent trope. However, when done correctly, it can really enhance the romance of the plot. In the case of this story, it seemed like more of a haphazard addition to add some drama and dimension to the story. Now, while Lizzie was stinkin' adorable, her existence didn't play a significant enough role in furthering the plot. Instead, it highlighted what I disliked about the heroine.

I previously mentioned that Jess' poor opinion of Jamie turns out to be the result of a misunderstanding. As teenagers with raging hormones, this is acceptable, mostly because it occurs prior to the start of the story. What you'd expect is that the characters would have matured as adults and grown past the ridiculous misunderstandings as a result of assumptions.

However, we see that, once again, when confronted with something that "looks" different than what Jess is expecting to see, she assumes the worst, and we see yet another misunderstanding that results in a low opinion of Jamie. This is the part that I disliked the most. It felt like a cheap way to add a third act breakup to the story and shattered the strong foundation that they had been building together.

And this is why my rating is a solid 3 ⭐️