I was drawn to this book by the charming cover, with the dog, the music notes drifting upwards, and the masc-looking love interest. Cait is a freelance editor working from home, sharing her flat with her Great Dane, Pancho. Allie is a musician and a music teacher, and after the unexpected closing of her rehearse space, she's forced to give lessons and practice at home instead.

And by "unexpected", I mean that she got several warnings probably months in advance and it only caught her off guard because she ignores her mail. On some level I relate to that, as someone who has ADHD and certainly forgets my share of things, but it was still tough to feel sympathy for her at first, especially when she blamed her friends for her own mistake. I was very much feeling Cait's frustration at her work schedule and life being disrupted without warning, and Allie's solution of earplugs doesn't work if she needs to make calls or anything.

Of course, that is the initial conflict described in the blurb, and I expected it to get better, but instead it got bad in a different way. This book ended up being much darker than I expected, with a rather explicit domestic abuse situation between Allie and her brother, and that's on top of Cait's editor blaming her for a male writer being an absolute unprofessional prick.

Overall, the tone was darker than expected despite the happy ending, I wasn't satisfied with how Cait's work conflict was resolved, and most of all, I didn't really feel the chemistry between the two main leads. I liked them as individual people, but I think they spent more time arguing or having misunderstanding than actually talking, and I just really wasn't feeling the relationship.

Would I recommend this? I'm not sure. It definitely had some bright points, like the dog, or Cait's background in Appalachia and the conflicted feelings around that, but unfortunately it didn't win me over.

I wasn't quite sure what to think about this one, I liked certain elements, but the overall progression didn't quite work for me. For instance, I liked that Allie and Cait were able to rely on each other for different reasons, such as dealing with Nick or Cait opening up more. However, I think Cait summed up one of my main issues with the book herself when talking about Tamara. There was simply too much exposition for me and not quite enough of the actual romance or relationship building. A majority of the book is spent on Allie's family issues and Cait's struggles at work rather than interactions between the two. It is only around the 60% mark where it feels as if they even stop disliking one another, and by 80% are finally ready to embark on a relationship. In that way, the pacing of it all just didn't quite work for me. I do think that much of the book was well written with the characters and their struggles very fleshed out, but there wasn't enough development for their romance to feel like more than convenience or surface level. Overall, 3.4/5 stars.

I loved this novel; however, it was NOT what I expected from the blurb. That blurb should be edited, although to what I am not sure. This novel is much more serious and complex than the lighthearted rom-com that I was expecting but thankfully I am flexible and still loved what I found in these pages. There was a romance plotline here, and it was satisfying, however the main focus of the novel was the individual character arc’s of these two characters (which was interwoven with the romance plotline, of course). This novel wasn’t perfect, but I think it was very well done and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would recommend it, and I’m giving it 5-stars (rounding up).

Highlights:
-This novel does an excellent job of digging into and discussing domestic violence and intergenerational trauma. Its some heavy stuff, and the reader gets an inside view. These topics were handled seriously and respectfully (I think) and the strong emotions are on-point.
-The start of the novel is a lot of fun. Neighbours bickering and all of the back-and-forth, it was what I expected from the novel going in and I enjoyed it a lot.
-This novel is very descriptive, and the beginning sections did a great job of getting the reader into the minds and lives of the two protagonists. The characters were fully formed and clearly had lives outside of the romance (NOT always the case, lol). The character motivations were very clear and made sense, which is important for this type of enemies-to-lovers story because otherwise it feels very forced.
-Their relationship, and the slow relationship development, was nice. It was fun at the start, and then it was sweet and heartwarming even though it certainly wasn’t easy. Characters supporting each other through their struggles, or challenging each other to be better versions of themselves, always works for me. Allie was able to stand up for Cait in ways she wasn’t able to do for herself, accept support that she wasn’t used to receiving, trust, and break through what was holding her back. Cait was forced out of her shell for the first time in forever, actually enjoyed it, and learnt to take risks that she previously wouldn’t.

Criticisms:
-The novel description didn’t align with the content of the book. I never understand why this happens. I think that some readers might go into this with the wrong expectations, and others who would love this might not open it up.
-Cait’s plotline felt like it lacked resolution to me, and the resolution that we got was lackluster and rushed. For most of the novel both characters have their parallel plotlines and are given equal billing, but at the end Cait’s seems to just drop off so that the novel can focus on Allie. It makes sense at the time, but in the end it left me feeling unsatisfied.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, for an ARC of this book.

Major CW: On-page domestic violence and homophobia.

I went into this book expecting a cute little enemies-to-lovers romance and was a bit taken aback to find halfway through the book we took a hard swerve into a domestic violence and inherited trauma story. I wanted to put that up front so that anyone who wanted to avoid triggers could do so easily.

That aside, I was quite enjoying the first half of this book. There's a fun dynamic with the introverted nearly six-foot-tall, muscled woman who has a giant dog and keeps to herself and the five-foot professional trumpet player and music teacher downstairs and their competing needs for silence and music during their workdays. I thought we were on track for a cute romance for half the book.

The second half of the book suddenly pivots to a fully realised story of domestic violence and generational trauma. Suddenly, the romance seems jarring to return to when such serious problems and interactions are in play. As a result, the book feels very uneven to me as a cohesive whole.

Honestly, I feel like if this book was marketed as the story of a young woman who is afraid of found family slipping away and being alone romantically while dealing with a terrible blood-related family, it would have been much better. I could almost feel Allie resisting the inevitable saviour complex that Cait would bring to her life and Cait's inability to express herself was deeply frustrating, and even more so since Allie is clearly not in a place to accept help or new friends and is incredibly rude at every turn. I can't honestly say I understood why the two would even be a good romantic pair aside from them finding each other physically attractive because they literally never interact in normal, healthy ways at all.

A positive side of this book was the attention to detail for the main characters' careers. It's refreshing to see such a vivid and detailed portrayal of both a freelance editor's job and that of a freelance musician. I enjoyed reading about each character's day to day job and how they enjoyed their chosen careers and this was honestly a highlight of this book for me.

Overall, I think the focus of this book is deeply diluted by wanting to pursue both a cute enemies-to-lovers romance and also delve into the mindset of abuse victims becoming abusers.

Pensé que sería un libro ligero y resultó que hay temas fuertes como abuso doméstico y homofobia.

Todo iba tranquilo cuando de repente hay escenas en donde un familiar golpea a una de las protagonistas o la insulta.

Me sorprendió que ninguno de los vecinos llamara a la policía con tanto grito, la indiferencia dolió.





Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Editor Cait Durant needs peace and quiet to do her job. What she does not need is pro musician Allie Coleman rehearsing one floor below her.

(I think the author didn't intend it, but I'm firmly behind Cait. You shouldn't be using a residence for music lessons, and Allie is lucky she hasn't called the landlord.)

And then Allie's brother shows up and Cait has job issues...

Finished, but was a chore. Allie never really recovers from being awful at the start at the book. If I was beta-reading this, I would suggest serious edits at the first chunk of the book.

Also, Cait's job issues are presented as serious, then just dropped and not brought up again. Felt weird.

2/5 stars. There's nothing mechanical wrong with the writing, but boy did this book not land with me.