3.8/5⭐⭐⭐⭐
2.5/5🌶️🌶️
Tropes:
-Enemies to Lovers
-Second Chance Romance
-Small Town Romance
Overview:
Our FMC, Hazel, is a 28-year-old real estate agent. She lives in her hometown of Bayshore and is happy with her successful business. But she feels as if something is missing. All the men in her town are either married or she wouldn't date. But after 10 years she cannot get over or stop thinking about her high school boyfriend, Gray. Everyone in their town would call them "soulmates" as they were born on the same day, only ten minutes apart.
Our MMC, Grayson, is a 28-year-old ambitious investment banker living in New York. His grandmother suddenly passes which causes him to return to his hometown of Bayshore. He inherited his grandmother's house and is looking to sell it in order to use the money to invest in a company. He seeks out Hazel to get her to sell his home. From there they embark on a journey into reconnecting and finding out what went wrong 10 years ago.
My Thoughts:
This book was on its way to easily being 4-4.5 read but around the 70-80% mark, it fell flat. Once they admitted their feelings towards each other and wanted to be together, the only dilemma was their living situation. Grayson for some reason had hated coming back to his hometown and felt like it was too "small" for his aspirations. Even though he hated his job, he never considered moving back to Bayshore and making a career change. He was staying for a month in Bayshore and decided to do some renovations on his house in order to increase the resell price. When his month in Bayshore was over he immediately wanted Hazel to move to New York and be with him. But he never considered all the things she would be sacrificing. She'd be sacrificing her career/business, family, friends home, etc. He was dead set on making her move. Never once did he consider the option of moving back to where his family lives. Until she decided to end the relationship over it. Hazel had gone multiple weekends to New York in order to consider a move there. She quickly realized she liked New York but more as a vacation spot not for her everyday life. It pissed me off that it took "losing" her for him to realize that he had to move back to Bayshore.
Another thing I wasn't fond of was they clearly had a connection and chemistry but besides the physical, we don't know how they connected. Obviously, they previously had a relationship and both weren't over each other but I wish it were shown more. They said their "hate" had gotten confused and it was actually "love". And though I see that since there was some miscommunication when they were together as teenagers, I felt like we didn't see much of the reconnecting. They had started a physical relationship and then suddenly started hanging out almost every day, sleeping over together, going on dates. But I missed the development, I felt like it was rushed. If we would've seen those phases then I think it would've added more depth to their growing relationship.
I got this during Stuff Your Kindle Day, so I definitely enjoyed this read and will be continuing the series.
Quotes:
"I know she has no reason to pick me. But fuck, I want her to. I've always wanted her to."
"I hate you" I whisper to him. He grins and captures my lips in a kiss. Because he knows what I mean, "I love you too, Hazel," he whispers back. He's always known.
"Hazel, you and I both know that we are the perfect match for each other. And this tennis game is the last one you'll ever win by default. Because I promise to never go easy on you. As long as you promise me the same. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, babe. Matching you"