"It just took Shane about twelve years longer to realize what you knew when you met him."
Look, everything about this book is
so wizard
. What do you mean you don't know what that means? Well, it means you haven't read it. Spoiler alert: it means this book was out of this world for me. It's not my favorite of Kayley's simply because... A Very Bossy Christmas is proving hard to dethrone.
"And I say this as a professional perfumer—if I could bottle up and sell this man’s scent, women would try to hump everything you sprayed it on. I would be financially secure for life. For life. But I wouldn’t. I’d keep it for myself. Because I want it all over me."
Shane is... I honestly don't even know how to describe him, because he's so damn perfect it's killing me to know that I can only meet him in the pages of this book. Seriously. There's so much to this guy, there's so much passion in him for everything he does. There's so much adorable cheesiness about him. I love the way he is with his kids. I adore his journal entries. And I share the same lack of sleep. Also, his passion seriously extends to the bedroom, and other rooms. Damn.
"She is stunning. She is surprisingly gorgeous in the way that a sunset is gorgeous. You just have to stop what you’re doing to marvel at the natural beauty and remember that it’s not your problems and To-Do lists that define you. It’s the things that take your breath away and give your life back to you by nudging you off track."
I love Willa and the way she sees the world. I love that people think she's so sweet and innocent, but well, she's not. She's so driven and she knows what she wants to do with her life. She's known it for a very long time. I'm so glad she doesn't doubt herself or who she is. My favorite thing about her is that she sees everything in scents. She remembers her grandfather, who passed away, but whose scent is still in her grandmother's house, like he's still alive. Like your memory of someone is awoken by scents. This seems like a romantic notion, but whenever I smell a certain brand of coffee, I remember my grandmother. So yeah, it really is a thing. Willa, you rock.
"I remember everything about that first time I met you. I remember everything about every second I’ve spent with you. I want to spend all the seconds with you."
Willa had the biggest crush on Shane when he starred in a hit TV show as a teenager, along with her brother. She was only 12 at the time, but she did one of those magazine quizzes and she was sure she was meant to be Shane's wife in the future. You know, those quizzes we all took when we were teens. You never know, right?
"This girl. She can explain sunsets to a five-year-old and convey her maturity to a twenty-eight-year-old, and I’m starting to wonder if I’m the one who can’t handle her."
Anyway, the future seemed to be leading them in different directions. Shane got married and had kids. Then he got divorced. Willa was doing her own thing, trying to get her career started as a perfumer, and living in France for a while.
These days, Shane has insomnia. He can't sleep for the life of him. He's exhausted. And he needs help, and a nanny for his kids. What could be better than his best friend's sister coming over to help?
Well...
"12. Loving someone this much is terrifying.
Maybe I’m just a big baby.
Maybe everyone is this scared when they’re in love and nobody tells you.
I don’t know."
These two are incredible together, I can't stress this enough. Their chemistry is off the charts. Shane's small gestures, how cheesy he is with Willa, and how much they want to give each other everything. That little revelation by Shane's mom near the end that got my heart beating out of my chest. All the sighing and small awww moments (that awww was definitely mine!) between them.
The fact that scents and smells permeate this book and the descriptions are so vivid I almost feel like I'm there.
"I don’t know that it would even be possible for me to capture the way I feel right now in a perfume. It’s a remarkable thing, to know that a person is yours but to still long for him. To be married to your first celebrity crush. To choose to love someone with an unguarded heart because he has proven to you, time and again, that he will be the one to protect it."
There's no angst in this book. I had two major feelings when I finished it. First, I don't think I ever felt this single in my life. At the same time, there's this wonderful thing, like I can take on the world, and maybe get what I deserve and my happily ever after (unfortunately, not with Shane, though, 'cause he's taken).
I swooned so hard I may need to get my head out of the clouds now, but it felt just right. Like great books do.
And that's definitely so wizard too!