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Fall Into You
Fifteen years ago, Will Robertson ran from his destiny, leaving his family farm and everything he was meant to be behind. So when he's forced home to small-town Glenriver, only to find the farm's irritatingly sexy manager Casey Reeves living happily in his childhood home, naturally they hate each other on sight.
Will's plan is sell his late father's apple farm and return to the city ASAP. But when a collapsed bridge strands him with Casey, "simple" goes out the window—along with Will's carefully maintained emotional distance and, let's be honest, most of his common sense.
Between corporate vultures circling, family secrets, and one very distracting farm manager, Will has a choice to stick to the plan that's kept him safe for all these years, or finally stop running long enough to see just what he's been missing.
Emotional, feel-good, and swoony—an enemies-to-lovers slow burn romcom with heart and found family at its core. Perfect for fans of The Charm Offensive , Zarah Detand, and Casey McQuiston.
Will's plan is sell his late father's apple farm and return to the city ASAP. But when a collapsed bridge strands him with Casey, "simple" goes out the window—along with Will's carefully maintained emotional distance and, let's be honest, most of his common sense.
Between corporate vultures circling, family secrets, and one very distracting farm manager, Will has a choice to stick to the plan that's kept him safe for all these years, or finally stop running long enough to see just what he's been missing.
Emotional, feel-good, and swoony—an enemies-to-lovers slow burn romcom with heart and found family at its core. Perfect for fans of The Charm Offensive , Zarah Detand, and Casey McQuiston.
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Published June 18, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
August 27, 2025
I hated this so, so much 😬😬😬😬I don't even know where to start!
Writing Style: What on earth was it?? I think this was supposed to be 3rd person limited POV, but the narrator came across more as omniscient, but then the main character didn't seem to ever have any emotions.... We get to know the absolute bare minimum about the second MC and we never hear how he feels about anything. It was so weird and I just could not immerse myself in this story at all.
Lack of Dialogue / Communication: Other than a couple of arguments at the beginning, these two MC's don't even have a single conversation on page until after the 60% point of the book! There is endless inner thoughts from Will, who is the most wishy washy wet lettuce character that I've ever read. He doesn't want to deal with ANYTHING in his life, even the things he supposedly enjoys. He's as emotional as an android and behaves like an ostrich. He managed to bore me so much that I couldn't care less if he sold the farm or kept it. He overthought every single thing in the world, he avoided people like he was trying to get an Olympic gold for it, and there were endless anecdotes and recalling past events that had the very loosest thread to what was happening in the book.
The 'Romance': I cannot even express how aggravating this book was with the romance. I literally said that there was no conversation between them until the 60% point and that I was going to scream if the next chapter had the MC declaring he had feelings for the other.... Guess when he decided he had feelings?!?!!? They know NOTHING about each other, they've just been existing in the same location due to circumstances beyond their control. I can't even say this was forced proximity as I've ever seen it before. We don't get to see anything that they're doing or talking about during this time, because NONE of it is on page. We get vague recaps of what's been happening, but at no point did I expect these two to become friends, let alone actually get together. I genuinely thought I had wrongly assumed this was a romance book.
I don't even know what to say about the main plot of the big bad corporation that's trying to take over the town, or why not one single person could just tell Will what was happening, or at least point him in the right direction. The most infuriating part was that Will's best friend is a lawyer who sweeps in pretty much in the very last chapter, resolves the issue with the pushy consultant without even having a real conversation, and effectively tells the other MC that Will is staying because Will can't seem to use his own vocal chords ever....
I love enemies to lovers, small town, and opposites attract but this missed the mark on every single trope and microtrope that was 'promised'...
Writing Style: What on earth was it?? I think this was supposed to be 3rd person limited POV, but the narrator came across more as omniscient, but then the main character didn't seem to ever have any emotions.... We get to know the absolute bare minimum about the second MC and we never hear how he feels about anything. It was so weird and I just could not immerse myself in this story at all.
Lack of Dialogue / Communication: Other than a couple of arguments at the beginning, these two MC's don't even have a single conversation on page until after the 60% point of the book! There is endless inner thoughts from Will, who is the most wishy washy wet lettuce character that I've ever read. He doesn't want to deal with ANYTHING in his life, even the things he supposedly enjoys. He's as emotional as an android and behaves like an ostrich. He managed to bore me so much that I couldn't care less if he sold the farm or kept it. He overthought every single thing in the world, he avoided people like he was trying to get an Olympic gold for it, and there were endless anecdotes and recalling past events that had the very loosest thread to what was happening in the book.
The 'Romance': I cannot even express how aggravating this book was with the romance. I literally said that there was no conversation between them until the 60% point and that I was going to scream if the next chapter had the MC declaring he had feelings for the other.... Guess when he decided he had feelings?!?!!? They know NOTHING about each other, they've just been existing in the same location due to circumstances beyond their control. I can't even say this was forced proximity as I've ever seen it before. We don't get to see anything that they're doing or talking about during this time, because NONE of it is on page. We get vague recaps of what's been happening, but at no point did I expect these two to become friends, let alone actually get together. I genuinely thought I had wrongly assumed this was a romance book.
I don't even know what to say about the main plot of the big bad corporation that's trying to take over the town, or why not one single person could just tell Will what was happening, or at least point him in the right direction. The most infuriating part was that Will's best friend is a lawyer who sweeps in pretty much in the very last chapter, resolves the issue with the pushy consultant without even having a real conversation, and effectively tells the other MC that Will is staying because Will can't seem to use his own vocal chords ever....
I love enemies to lovers, small town, and opposites attract but this missed the mark on every single trope and microtrope that was 'promised'...
June 24, 2025
What? Enemies-to-lovers that's actually enemies-to-lovers? In this economy????
I've ranted elsewhere about the watering down of the enemies-to-lovers trope, so it's great to see an author really leaning into the arsehole potential of both MCs from the jump. (Although Will isn't really trying to be an arsehole, or at least his actions are more understandable to the reader; but his inability to relate to the situation he's in can justifiably be read by Casey as a hostile move.) This is a really well-written slow-burn with two likable, relatable MCs whose initial mutual antipathy feels authentically grounded in the circumstances they find themselves in, and whose gradual armistice-to-friendship-to-loverdom is equally rooted in how their understandings of those circumstances change as they get to know each other better. Will is a frustrating character, at times, especially in how he ices out Selma, although his self-awareness of the unhelpfulness of his coping mechanism goes a long way, even as he is unable to change it. Casey, the non-POV character, is genuinely unsympathetic at first, but also takes responsibility for his antagonistic behavior once he gets the full story; he's also in a difficult situation, which explains his reactions but is not used to excuse them.
ymmv on the whole "going back to the small town you justifiably fled" trope, which is not typically my jam; it has a conservative Hallmark-ian tone that puts my back up, quite frankly, and was definitely the part of this book that I resisted the longest. Although in Will's case, it was really his family he fled; his recollection of the town itself is mostly neutral, and part of the story here is Will untangling from that mess of memories what he actually was running from. Points for Morrison not making the townspeople a collection of quirky stereotypes, though, which seems to be the norm in these cases and is invariably cringe. They are, for the most part, just normal people, which is much more interesting to read than a self-consciously cutesy collection of weirdos.
The epilogue was a bit sugary for my taste, but, hey: no secret baby! No kids of any kind! Huzzah!
I really loved this author's fic (not an unmasking; they mention their fic writing in the acknowledgements, but since they don't give their pseud, I won't either) and am delighted to see them making the leap to tradpub. So good that I almost didn't notice it's fade-to-black. Excited to see what this author comes up with next!
I got an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I've ranted elsewhere about the watering down of the enemies-to-lovers trope, so it's great to see an author really leaning into the arsehole potential of both MCs from the jump. (Although Will isn't really trying to be an arsehole, or at least his actions are more understandable to the reader; but his inability to relate to the situation he's in can justifiably be read by Casey as a hostile move.) This is a really well-written slow-burn with two likable, relatable MCs whose initial mutual antipathy feels authentically grounded in the circumstances they find themselves in, and whose gradual armistice-to-friendship-to-loverdom is equally rooted in how their understandings of those circumstances change as they get to know each other better. Will is a frustrating character, at times, especially in how he ices out Selma, although his self-awareness of the unhelpfulness of his coping mechanism goes a long way, even as he is unable to change it. Casey, the non-POV character, is genuinely unsympathetic at first, but also takes responsibility for his antagonistic behavior once he gets the full story; he's also in a difficult situation, which explains his reactions but is not used to excuse them.
ymmv on the whole "going back to the small town you justifiably fled" trope, which is not typically my jam; it has a conservative Hallmark-ian tone that puts my back up, quite frankly, and was definitely the part of this book that I resisted the longest. Although in Will's case, it was really his family he fled; his recollection of the town itself is mostly neutral, and part of the story here is Will untangling from that mess of memories what he actually was running from. Points for Morrison not making the townspeople a collection of quirky stereotypes, though, which seems to be the norm in these cases and is invariably cringe. They are, for the most part, just normal people, which is much more interesting to read than a self-consciously cutesy collection of weirdos.
The epilogue was a bit sugary for my taste, but, hey: no secret baby! No kids of any kind! Huzzah!
I really loved this author's fic (not an unmasking; they mention their fic writing in the acknowledgements, but since they don't give their pseud, I won't either) and am delighted to see them making the leap to tradpub. So good that I almost didn't notice it's fade-to-black. Excited to see what this author comes up with next!
I got an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
August 11, 2025
Ah, the good old "queer person who fled small town returns and finds true love" trope: not one I usually have much patience for, especially if the small town is in a red state. Suspension of disbelief gets to be a problem, especially in this great year of 1933 2025. Having loved Dylan Morrison's fanfic, though, I was willing to go along with it this time.
MC1, Will Robertson, is a botanist, which scores the book some points with me right away: there are so few scientists in romance novels. He's engaged in developing a strain of apple rich in vitamin D. MC2, Casey, has been living on the Robertson family farm, which Will left nearly two decades ago under inauspicious circumstances and has now inherited. The conflict between them is a lot more genuine than in most enemies-to-lovers romances: not only is Will possibly about to sell Casey's home out from under him, and to an entertainment conglomerate at that, but also the two men have radically different experiences of Will's father. Casey, knowing nothing of how abusive the elder Robertson was, assumes that Will is basically a jerk who dumped his old dad.
When the only bridge into town is washed out by a huge storm, we enter the forced-proximity portion of the narrative, during which Casey and Will's assumptions about each other fall apart.
So, fine, I was enjoying myself, despite a niggling concern about Will's friend Selma, who's a lawyer in Chicago, being neither a real estate attorney nor licensed to practice in Ohio. Then I developed another niggling concern about Will's certainty that he's going to develop dementia, because his father and grandfather did. In general, although dementias have a heritable component, having relatives with the disease doesn't make getting it yourself a done deal. (For a discussion of Alzheimer dementia, see this page.)
Then I got to a financial plot point that was minor in itself but that got me poking at the narrative and watching it deflate. I've left a long rant about that point -- the cost of a year-long nursing home stay -- after the body of this review. Then I hit a logistical snag. The bridge into the town of Glenriver has washed out, and some of the townspeople are stranded on the other side, plus it seems that no food can come in. This makes no sense unless either Glenriver is on an island, or the river is infinitely long and there are no other bridges across it.
Then, too, the replacement bridge is built in two weeks, even though this storm was so fierce that multiple old trees have been knocked down, which implies a lot of damage regionally, and even under the best conditions building a bridge isn't a two-week project. (Yes, okay, a pontoon bridge in wartime. This is not that.)
And then I hit a realization about the central emotional conflict. This is a small town and Casey has been living there for six years. He's friendly with everybody. How likely is it that in all that time no one has said anything to him somewhere in the realm of "It's great that you're taking care of old Bill's place. And what a shame that he didn't treat his son as well as he treats you"?
And yep, Selma does save the day, in spite of not being a real estate attorney or licensed to practice in Ohio. (Or at least, if she is either of those things, we aren't told about it. Property law is state law, as is the law of wills and estates.)
I really liked Will and Casey. I liked the town of Glenriver. I would happily pick apples at Robertson Family Farms. The trouble is that the story's exoskeleton fell apart around it. I hope that with their next novel, Dylan Morrison gets stronger editorial and copyeditorial support. I also hope that their next ARC isn't an atrociously formatted PDF.
Thanks to Storm Publishing and NetGalley; this is my unbiased review.
----
The nursing-home-cost rant I posted before the above full review:
This is not the review yet! This is me losing my mind over authors and copy editors not doing their fucking jobs!
*deep breath*
As the copyediting manual used by one of my longtime clients notes, it's part of a copy editor's job to check basic information, and also a good copy editor has a wee early-warning system in the back of their head that tells them when something is off, so when Character B tells Character A that he "helped pay for" someone's approximately year-long stay in a nursing home, and when Character B, who is 28 and has spent much of his life as more or less a nomad, says he could afford this because he's "more or less allergic to rent" and has "a lot more saved up than most people do," the klaxons should have been blaring. That is:
Medicare will pay for 20 days of nursing home care, after which there's a copay, as of 2025, of about $200/day for 80 days, then nothing. Alternatively, there's Medicaid, but for complicated reasons it's not an option in this book.*
We are in Ohio. The nearest city is Canton.
And now for some numbers. Let's say the nursing home stay lasted 300 days, much less than a full year. Per this site, the approximate daily cost of a nursing home in Canton, with a shared room, is $290.
So we have 20 days @ $0 + 80 days @ $200 + 200 days @ $290, for a grand total of $74,000.
Definitely a sum of money this until-recently-nomadic 28-year-old has just lying around.
----------
*The complicated reasons may have something to do with the fantastically convoluted legal requirements for Medicaid, specifically those to do with how much property the person on Medicaid is allowed to retain. There's a reason why anybody who owns anything at all, not just rich people, would do well to consult a lawyer specializing in these issues well before any possibility of life in a nursing home crops up. (Yes, inherited wealth is grossly unfair. On the other hand, we might be talking about a small coop apartment or a family farm, not a gold-plated hotel. And besides, the really rich people aren't going to be troubled by any of this.)
MC1, Will Robertson, is a botanist, which scores the book some points with me right away: there are so few scientists in romance novels. He's engaged in developing a strain of apple rich in vitamin D. MC2, Casey, has been living on the Robertson family farm, which Will left nearly two decades ago under inauspicious circumstances and has now inherited. The conflict between them is a lot more genuine than in most enemies-to-lovers romances: not only is Will possibly about to sell Casey's home out from under him, and to an entertainment conglomerate at that, but also the two men have radically different experiences of Will's father. Casey, knowing nothing of how abusive the elder Robertson was, assumes that Will is basically a jerk who dumped his old dad.
When the only bridge into town is washed out by a huge storm, we enter the forced-proximity portion of the narrative, during which Casey and Will's assumptions about each other fall apart.
So, fine, I was enjoying myself, despite a niggling concern about Will's friend Selma, who's a lawyer in Chicago, being neither a real estate attorney nor licensed to practice in Ohio. Then I developed another niggling concern about Will's certainty that he's going to develop dementia, because his father and grandfather did. In general, although dementias have a heritable component, having relatives with the disease doesn't make getting it yourself a done deal. (For a discussion of Alzheimer dementia, see this page.)
Then I got to a financial plot point that was minor in itself but that got me poking at the narrative and watching it deflate. I've left a long rant about that point -- the cost of a year-long nursing home stay -- after the body of this review. Then I hit a logistical snag. The bridge into the town of Glenriver has washed out, and some of the townspeople are stranded on the other side, plus it seems that no food can come in. This makes no sense unless either Glenriver is on an island, or the river is infinitely long and there are no other bridges across it.
Then, too, the replacement bridge is built in two weeks, even though this storm was so fierce that multiple old trees have been knocked down, which implies a lot of damage regionally, and even under the best conditions building a bridge isn't a two-week project. (Yes, okay, a pontoon bridge in wartime. This is not that.)
And then I hit a realization about the central emotional conflict. This is a small town and Casey has been living there for six years. He's friendly with everybody. How likely is it that in all that time no one has said anything to him somewhere in the realm of "It's great that you're taking care of old Bill's place. And what a shame that he didn't treat his son as well as he treats you"?
And yep, Selma does save the day, in spite of not being a real estate attorney or licensed to practice in Ohio. (Or at least, if she is either of those things, we aren't told about it. Property law is state law, as is the law of wills and estates.)
I really liked Will and Casey. I liked the town of Glenriver. I would happily pick apples at Robertson Family Farms. The trouble is that the story's exoskeleton fell apart around it. I hope that with their next novel, Dylan Morrison gets stronger editorial and copyeditorial support. I also hope that their next ARC isn't an atrociously formatted PDF.
Thanks to Storm Publishing and NetGalley; this is my unbiased review.
----
The nursing-home-cost rant I posted before the above full review:
This is not the review yet! This is me losing my mind over authors and copy editors not doing their fucking jobs!
*deep breath*
As the copyediting manual used by one of my longtime clients notes, it's part of a copy editor's job to check basic information, and also a good copy editor has a wee early-warning system in the back of their head that tells them when something is off, so when Character B tells Character A that he "helped pay for" someone's approximately year-long stay in a nursing home, and when Character B, who is 28 and has spent much of his life as more or less a nomad, says he could afford this because he's "more or less allergic to rent" and has "a lot more saved up than most people do," the klaxons should have been blaring. That is:
Medicare will pay for 20 days of nursing home care, after which there's a copay, as of 2025, of about $200/day for 80 days, then nothing. Alternatively, there's Medicaid, but for complicated reasons it's not an option in this book.*
We are in Ohio. The nearest city is Canton.
And now for some numbers. Let's say the nursing home stay lasted 300 days, much less than a full year. Per this site, the approximate daily cost of a nursing home in Canton, with a shared room, is $290.
So we have 20 days @ $0 + 80 days @ $200 + 200 days @ $290, for a grand total of $74,000.
Definitely a sum of money this until-recently-nomadic 28-year-old has just lying around.
----------
*The complicated reasons may have something to do with the fantastically convoluted legal requirements for Medicaid, specifically those to do with how much property the person on Medicaid is allowed to retain. There's a reason why anybody who owns anything at all, not just rich people, would do well to consult a lawyer specializing in these issues well before any possibility of life in a nursing home crops up. (Yes, inherited wealth is grossly unfair. On the other hand, we might be talking about a small coop apartment or a family farm, not a gold-plated hotel. And besides, the really rich people aren't going to be troubled by any of this.)
July 3, 2025
I loved this book so much.
Not only is this book beautifully well written that I need to get my hands on a physical copy so I can highlight beautiful passages, it made me laugh, it made me cry and it made me laugh some more.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
Not only is this book beautifully well written that I need to get my hands on a physical copy so I can highlight beautiful passages, it made me laugh, it made me cry and it made me laugh some more.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
July 3, 2025
Real review later, if I have time. But FYI, this is fantastic, and I will be looking forward to the author's future books.
The only nit I can pick is I noticed a handful of what I'll call continuity type errors, where something minor didn't make sense in light of something stated a few pages earlier, but they're of no real consequence.
Really glad I took a shot on this. I borrowed it from KU but will have to buy a copy now.
The only nit I can pick is I noticed a handful of what I'll call continuity type errors, where something minor didn't make sense in light of something stated a few pages earlier, but they're of no real consequence.
Really glad I took a shot on this. I borrowed it from KU but will have to buy a copy now.
July 15, 2025
This book is just dense unrelenting paragraphs of what goes on inside Will's head. Every memory, every thought, every opportunity, every fear, everything. And he has reasons, but JFC he's an asshole. He kicks the can down the road until he's circumnavigated the globe; hiding from any decision or communication to anyone near or far. There is so much panic and anxiety in his thoughts that it's too much. I cannot be trapped in his brain anymore! I skimmed after 60% because I do not care what happens to Will. At all.
Read
July 9, 2025Paused at 41%
This feels unnecessarily long! Maybe I’ll return when in a different mood.
This feels unnecessarily long! Maybe I’ll return when in a different mood.
June 18, 2025
Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this through Netgalley. It’s the first of this authors works for me.
Will returns to his hometown after the death of his father, having left years ago, and never having returned. Upon doing so he’s planning to sign his fathers house and orchards over to a developer. During some stilted negotiations Will meets Casey, his father’s orchard-hand and is promptly smitten, though this feeling is briefly disguised as outrage. Casey in truth is similarly outraged after having only Will’s deceased fathers version of events for the past 6 years.
What follows is a particularly slow-burn, closed romance set against the backdrop of Will’s former home. There’s a lot of introspection from Will, with most of the story from his perspective, so much so that Casey sometimes feels like a side character instead of the love interest. Will is quite immature, for having made it in the big city in his own, as a scientist.
I’m not sure whether it was the closed door aspect or not but these two didn’t seem to have chemistry. Sure there was understanding and empathy but it seemed like there was insta-love without the ardour, and as the relationship progressed, there was no proximity or intimacy, which didn’t make the pining during a period of separation very realistic.
What worked for me was the small town setting and feel which was translated well, as were some of the side characters.
An interesting read, importantly during Pride month (read queer all year). Definitely sweet but not effortless by any means.
Will returns to his hometown after the death of his father, having left years ago, and never having returned. Upon doing so he’s planning to sign his fathers house and orchards over to a developer. During some stilted negotiations Will meets Casey, his father’s orchard-hand and is promptly smitten, though this feeling is briefly disguised as outrage. Casey in truth is similarly outraged after having only Will’s deceased fathers version of events for the past 6 years.
What follows is a particularly slow-burn, closed romance set against the backdrop of Will’s former home. There’s a lot of introspection from Will, with most of the story from his perspective, so much so that Casey sometimes feels like a side character instead of the love interest. Will is quite immature, for having made it in the big city in his own, as a scientist.
I’m not sure whether it was the closed door aspect or not but these two didn’t seem to have chemistry. Sure there was understanding and empathy but it seemed like there was insta-love without the ardour, and as the relationship progressed, there was no proximity or intimacy, which didn’t make the pining during a period of separation very realistic.
What worked for me was the small town setting and feel which was translated well, as were some of the side characters.
An interesting read, importantly during Pride month (read queer all year). Definitely sweet but not effortless by any means.
September 22, 2025
B / 4 stars
Dylan Morrison’s Fall Into You is billed as a romantic comedy, but I think the best description I’ve seen of it (genre-wise) is along the lines of ‘Emily Henry but gay’. There is a romance here, but the focus is more on the emotional journey of the narrator/protagonist, so I’d say it fits more into the space currently occupied by those ‘romance hybrids’ that are so common now.
William Josiah Robertson IV was expected to follow in the footsteps of William Josiah Robertsons I, II and III and continue the stewardship of the Robertson Family Farms, founded over a hundred years ago by the first William - Bill. Bill Robertsons are supposed to be rugged and charismatic and smart, with a head for business, numbers and the bottom line – but it quickly became apparent that the fourth William a ‘Will’ and not a ‘Bill’. Quiet, sensitive, easily injured and often ill, Will was certainly smart - “too smart” according to his father whenever Will made a suggestion he didn’t like – but he was smart in a way nobody knew what to do with. After eighteen years of trying hard to be what his family wanted him to be, and exhausted by his father’s constant disappointment and criticism, Will turned his back on Glenriver and the farm, fully intending never to return.
Fast forward sixteen years, and Will, now a research botanist based in Chicago, is on his way to Glenriver having inherited the farm and orchards after his father’s recent death. He’s only going back in order to tie up some loose ends and to finalise the sale of the property to an entertainment company that plans to expand a local festival. As he takes a walk around the farm and the orchards, he notices the place is obvously being well cared for and that a lot of changes and improvements have been made he’s sure his father would not have been capable of in his final illness. This impression continues when he enters the market building, which is bright, airy and well-organised rather than the dimly lit slightly shambolic place he recalls. Then his eyes come to rest on the seriously attractive guy behind the counter, tall, blond, broad-chested and square-jawed; in short, everything a Bill Roberston is supposed to be and who is clearly content living the life Will never wanted. They chat amiably for a while, until the guy – farm manager Casey Reeves - realises who Will is and the friendly atmosphere changes abruptly as both men jump to unfortunate conclusions.
The enemies-to-lovers vibe is done well here (it so rarely is, these days it seems!) with the author unafraid to paint his characters in a poor light. Will is the sole narrator so we only get his perspective, but the reasons behind their conflict feel genuine; Casey believes Will is about to sell the home he’s lived in for the past six years out from under him, and because has no idea how Robertson III treated his son, he thinks that Will simply ran off and left his dad in the lurch. And Will, whose feelings towards his dad are a complicated mess he’s not even begun to unravel yet, and who is already on edge at simply being back home and expected to make big decisions, can’t help feeling perhaps just a little bit aggrieved at having been so easily replaced – even though he didn’t want to be there. Still, Casey had no right to say the things he did and Will is determined to dislike him.
Fall Into You is, then, one of those protagonist-who-fled-their-home-town-returns-and-finds-love stories, although honestly, the romance takes a bit of a back seat to Will’s emotional journey as he faces his past trauma and comes to see his father and their relationship through a more mature lens. So I suspect the degree to which you enjoy (or not) the book will depend on how far you relate to Will, who is sweet and kind and nerdy; a loner with a tendency to over-think everything and who is uncomfortable in social situations.
I enjoyed it for the most part, and the author does a very good job of showing Will starting to unpack all the complex emotions being back home has stirred up, and starting to come to terms with them and what they mean for him going forward. I liked Will coming to realise that his memories of the town and its people aren’t particularly accurate and coming to see that the place isn’t so bad after all... and starting to understand what he actually ran away from. Extra points to Morrison for not making the townsfolk the quirky collection of misfits so often found in this type of novel; instead they’re a bunch of regular people living their regular lives and doing their best, like the rest of us.
The romance is, as I’ve said, not the main focus of the story, but Will and Casey have good chemistry and I enjoyed watching their initial antagonism transform into something sweet and genuine. Casey is a good guy – he’s not very sympathetic at first, but he does own his poor behaviour when he gets the full story, and his being in a tricky situation as regards the farm does make it easier to understand why he acts as he does. But because the book is really about Will’s personal journey, Casey can sometimes feel like a secondary character rather than a love interest.
There are a couple of things that require a rather large suspension of disbelief. The first is Will’s statement that after he left home at eighteen, he “found an apartment, and then a job, and then I applied to college, and got in.” I don’t know how things work in the US, but Will being able to rent an apartment on his own at eighteen without having to provide proof he could afford it/proof of income couldn’t happen in the UK. Then later, there’s Casey’s offhand comment that he’d been able to pay for Will’s father to be in a nursing home for the year before he died because he’s “more or less allergic to rent” and has “a lot more saved up than most people do.” That would have to have been a LOT of money (I’d say well over 50K in my neck of the woods), so how on earth could someone of Casey’s age (twenty-eight) who had lived a fairly nomadic life (so wouldn’t have been making big bucks) have afforded that?
As the book went on, I admit that I struggled a bit with Will’s tendency to drift off into long internal monologues, because they disrupt the momentum of the story. That wasn’t too much of an issue in the first part of the novel, but by the final third, it was happening too often and I was starting to zone out a bit.
All in all, however, Fall Into You is an enjoyable – if predictable and slightly syrupy - story featuring likeable characters and a sweet slow-burn romance in which the explorations of grief, expectations and identity are nicely done. I enjoyed it enough to want to keep an eye out for whatever Dylan Morrison comes up with next.
Dylan Morrison’s Fall Into You is billed as a romantic comedy, but I think the best description I’ve seen of it (genre-wise) is along the lines of ‘Emily Henry but gay’. There is a romance here, but the focus is more on the emotional journey of the narrator/protagonist, so I’d say it fits more into the space currently occupied by those ‘romance hybrids’ that are so common now.
William Josiah Robertson IV was expected to follow in the footsteps of William Josiah Robertsons I, II and III and continue the stewardship of the Robertson Family Farms, founded over a hundred years ago by the first William - Bill. Bill Robertsons are supposed to be rugged and charismatic and smart, with a head for business, numbers and the bottom line – but it quickly became apparent that the fourth William a ‘Will’ and not a ‘Bill’. Quiet, sensitive, easily injured and often ill, Will was certainly smart - “too smart” according to his father whenever Will made a suggestion he didn’t like – but he was smart in a way nobody knew what to do with. After eighteen years of trying hard to be what his family wanted him to be, and exhausted by his father’s constant disappointment and criticism, Will turned his back on Glenriver and the farm, fully intending never to return.
Fast forward sixteen years, and Will, now a research botanist based in Chicago, is on his way to Glenriver having inherited the farm and orchards after his father’s recent death. He’s only going back in order to tie up some loose ends and to finalise the sale of the property to an entertainment company that plans to expand a local festival. As he takes a walk around the farm and the orchards, he notices the place is obvously being well cared for and that a lot of changes and improvements have been made he’s sure his father would not have been capable of in his final illness. This impression continues when he enters the market building, which is bright, airy and well-organised rather than the dimly lit slightly shambolic place he recalls. Then his eyes come to rest on the seriously attractive guy behind the counter, tall, blond, broad-chested and square-jawed; in short, everything a Bill Roberston is supposed to be and who is clearly content living the life Will never wanted. They chat amiably for a while, until the guy – farm manager Casey Reeves - realises who Will is and the friendly atmosphere changes abruptly as both men jump to unfortunate conclusions.
The enemies-to-lovers vibe is done well here (it so rarely is, these days it seems!) with the author unafraid to paint his characters in a poor light. Will is the sole narrator so we only get his perspective, but the reasons behind their conflict feel genuine; Casey believes Will is about to sell the home he’s lived in for the past six years out from under him, and because has no idea how Robertson III treated his son, he thinks that Will simply ran off and left his dad in the lurch. And Will, whose feelings towards his dad are a complicated mess he’s not even begun to unravel yet, and who is already on edge at simply being back home and expected to make big decisions, can’t help feeling perhaps just a little bit aggrieved at having been so easily replaced – even though he didn’t want to be there. Still, Casey had no right to say the things he did and Will is determined to dislike him.
Fall Into You is, then, one of those protagonist-who-fled-their-home-town-returns-and-finds-love stories, although honestly, the romance takes a bit of a back seat to Will’s emotional journey as he faces his past trauma and comes to see his father and their relationship through a more mature lens. So I suspect the degree to which you enjoy (or not) the book will depend on how far you relate to Will, who is sweet and kind and nerdy; a loner with a tendency to over-think everything and who is uncomfortable in social situations.
I enjoyed it for the most part, and the author does a very good job of showing Will starting to unpack all the complex emotions being back home has stirred up, and starting to come to terms with them and what they mean for him going forward. I liked Will coming to realise that his memories of the town and its people aren’t particularly accurate and coming to see that the place isn’t so bad after all... and starting to understand what he actually ran away from. Extra points to Morrison for not making the townsfolk the quirky collection of misfits so often found in this type of novel; instead they’re a bunch of regular people living their regular lives and doing their best, like the rest of us.
The romance is, as I’ve said, not the main focus of the story, but Will and Casey have good chemistry and I enjoyed watching their initial antagonism transform into something sweet and genuine. Casey is a good guy – he’s not very sympathetic at first, but he does own his poor behaviour when he gets the full story, and his being in a tricky situation as regards the farm does make it easier to understand why he acts as he does. But because the book is really about Will’s personal journey, Casey can sometimes feel like a secondary character rather than a love interest.
There are a couple of things that require a rather large suspension of disbelief. The first is Will’s statement that after he left home at eighteen, he “found an apartment, and then a job, and then I applied to college, and got in.” I don’t know how things work in the US, but Will being able to rent an apartment on his own at eighteen without having to provide proof he could afford it/proof of income couldn’t happen in the UK. Then later, there’s Casey’s offhand comment that he’d been able to pay for Will’s father to be in a nursing home for the year before he died because he’s “more or less allergic to rent” and has “a lot more saved up than most people do.” That would have to have been a LOT of money (I’d say well over 50K in my neck of the woods), so how on earth could someone of Casey’s age (twenty-eight) who had lived a fairly nomadic life (so wouldn’t have been making big bucks) have afforded that?
As the book went on, I admit that I struggled a bit with Will’s tendency to drift off into long internal monologues, because they disrupt the momentum of the story. That wasn’t too much of an issue in the first part of the novel, but by the final third, it was happening too often and I was starting to zone out a bit.
All in all, however, Fall Into You is an enjoyable – if predictable and slightly syrupy - story featuring likeable characters and a sweet slow-burn romance in which the explorations of grief, expectations and identity are nicely done. I enjoyed it enough to want to keep an eye out for whatever Dylan Morrison comes up with next.
Read
August 8, 2025Wasn’t really into this, but most importantly: this is not a Romcom. I don’t think it’s even a Romance Novel. The focus of 90% of the novel is Will’s emotional reckoning with his abusive father after his father’s death. The main couple kiss maybe twice and have a closed door sex scene. The plot, when not focused on Will’s father, is extremely Hallmark Christmas movie. Idk, not for me.
June 27, 2025
(This review is based on an advanced reader’s copy provided by NetGalley.)
A cotton candy book: fun, silly, moderately twee, and comfortingly ridiculous. Requires a robust suspension of disbelief. Recommended as a beach read (especially if the beach is a Midwestern lake).
The publisher’s comps to Casey McQuiston and Alexis Hall are accurate, though this book is less skillfully written. The prose is kind of awkward, the dialogue unconvincing (“Gee, thanks, mister!”). Honestly, I think the author’s fanfiction is better written. (That’s not an insult, I really like his fanfiction!)
A lot of things in this book get handwaved, in a way that strains my credulity. The main character is an academic, but the portrayal of academia is glaringly unrealistic, both in the small details and in the major plot points. (If it were that easy to set up a lab wherever you want, everyone would be doing it!) Similarly, he left home abruptly at 18 and had no contact with his family after that, but he somehow “found an apartment, and then a job, and then I applied to college, and got in.” But how did he get an apartment with no job, no rental history, and no co-signer? (There’s no mention of him knowing anyone in the city he moved to.) How did he go to college with no FAFSA and no family support?
The major characters don’t quite feel like real people. The love interest is a little too perfect; it feels like the main character is allowed to have flaws but the love interest isn’t. And the main villain is wildly cartoonish. The author might as well have drawn a big red circle around the villain’s face with a big red arrow and a label reading “WE DON’T LIKE HER! YOU CAN TELL SHE’S EVIL BECAUSE SHE’S ANNOYING!” which made me feel patronized as a reader. That said, the other villain—Will’s deceased father—feels more real and nuanced. And the love interest’s backstory is fleshed out well and really makes sense for the character and the plot.
While the major characters are somewhat unconvincing, the side characters unexpectedly shine. It was the side characters, the townspeople who haven’t seen Will in 20 years, who made me cry. In fact, I was more invested in Will’s personal arc of becoming reacquainted with his hometown and finding community there than I was in the romance.
In spite of the shortcomings, this was never a chore to read, and I generally enjoyed it. It’s the candy you buy at a gas station on a road trip: it’s not a hot meal made with fresh ingredients, but sometimes gas station candy is exactly what you want.
Rep: Main character is a cis white gay man. Love interest is a cis white man who describes himself as pansexual and queer. Nonbinary side character with a male love interest.
Content notes: Emotionally abusive parent. Parental homophobia. Family estrangement. Death of an estranged parent. Child endangerment (detailed, on page) . Most of the bad stuff happening is backstory; it’s mostly only the child endangerment that happens in the present.
A cotton candy book: fun, silly, moderately twee, and comfortingly ridiculous. Requires a robust suspension of disbelief. Recommended as a beach read (especially if the beach is a Midwestern lake).
The publisher’s comps to Casey McQuiston and Alexis Hall are accurate, though this book is less skillfully written. The prose is kind of awkward, the dialogue unconvincing (“Gee, thanks, mister!”). Honestly, I think the author’s fanfiction is better written. (That’s not an insult, I really like his fanfiction!)
A lot of things in this book get handwaved, in a way that strains my credulity. The main character is an academic, but the portrayal of academia is glaringly unrealistic, both in the small details and in the major plot points. (If it were that easy to set up a lab wherever you want, everyone would be doing it!) Similarly, he left home abruptly at 18 and had no contact with his family after that, but he somehow “found an apartment, and then a job, and then I applied to college, and got in.” But how did he get an apartment with no job, no rental history, and no co-signer? (There’s no mention of him knowing anyone in the city he moved to.) How did he go to college with no FAFSA and no family support?
The major characters don’t quite feel like real people. The love interest is a little too perfect; it feels like the main character is allowed to have flaws but the love interest isn’t. And the main villain is wildly cartoonish. The author might as well have drawn a big red circle around the villain’s face with a big red arrow and a label reading “WE DON’T LIKE HER! YOU CAN TELL SHE’S EVIL BECAUSE SHE’S ANNOYING!” which made me feel patronized as a reader. That said, the other villain—Will’s deceased father—feels more real and nuanced. And the love interest’s backstory is fleshed out well and really makes sense for the character and the plot.
While the major characters are somewhat unconvincing, the side characters unexpectedly shine. It was the side characters, the townspeople who haven’t seen Will in 20 years, who made me cry. In fact, I was more invested in Will’s personal arc of becoming reacquainted with his hometown and finding community there than I was in the romance.
In spite of the shortcomings, this was never a chore to read, and I generally enjoyed it. It’s the candy you buy at a gas station on a road trip: it’s not a hot meal made with fresh ingredients, but sometimes gas station candy is exactly what you want.
Rep: Main character is a cis white gay man. Love interest is a cis white man who describes himself as pansexual and queer. Nonbinary side character with a male love interest.
Content notes: Emotionally abusive parent. Parental homophobia. Family estrangement. Death of an estranged parent. Child endangerment (detailed, on page) . Most of the bad stuff happening is backstory; it’s mostly only the child endangerment that happens in the present.
October 16, 2025
I wanted this to be the perfect cozy fall read — the kind of story that makes you want to curl up with a blanket, a warm drink, and get lost in small-town charm. Unfortunately, “Fall Into You” just wasn’t it for me. The premise had potential: a big city guy returns home to his family’s apple farm, clashes with the current manager, and slowly rekindles a sense of belonging. It should have been full of warmth and heart, but the execution fell flat. The pacing dragged, and the emotional beats that should’ve tugged at my heartstrings never quite landed.
The writing style felt awkward and disjointed, making it hard to connect with the story or the characters. Will came off as distant and frustrating, while Casey didn’t have enough depth to make me care about his side either. The romance — which should’ve been the cozy centerpiece — felt forced and unnatural, like it was just ticking boxes instead of building real chemistry. By the time I reached the end, I was more relieved than satisfied. It wrapped up in a way that felt… ehh, nothing exciting or memorable. I wanted comfort and connection, but I got a slog that left me checking how many pages were left. It definitely did not have the fall vibe I had been hoping for. -2 Stars
The writing style felt awkward and disjointed, making it hard to connect with the story or the characters. Will came off as distant and frustrating, while Casey didn’t have enough depth to make me care about his side either. The romance — which should’ve been the cozy centerpiece — felt forced and unnatural, like it was just ticking boxes instead of building real chemistry. By the time I reached the end, I was more relieved than satisfied. It wrapped up in a way that felt… ehh, nothing exciting or memorable. I wanted comfort and connection, but I got a slog that left me checking how many pages were left. It definitely did not have the fall vibe I had been hoping for. -2 Stars
June 19, 2025
DNF! Boring and hated the writing style.
did-not-finish
August 27, 2025Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC.
Unfortunately, I ended up DNFing this story about 1/4 through. I just couldn’t get on with the narration style - it was very descriptive, often went pages and pages without any dialogue, and the dialogue often didn’t start on a new line, so I felt like it was just one big block of text.
I found the story vaguely interesting, but unfortunately not enough to make me push through the style of this author.
I think a person who enjoys detailed, descriptive writing would enjoy this book more than I did.
It’s written in third person present tense, which some readers might want to know before picking this book up.
Unfortunately, I ended up DNFing this story about 1/4 through. I just couldn’t get on with the narration style - it was very descriptive, often went pages and pages without any dialogue, and the dialogue often didn’t start on a new line, so I felt like it was just one big block of text.
I found the story vaguely interesting, but unfortunately not enough to make me push through the style of this author.
I think a person who enjoys detailed, descriptive writing would enjoy this book more than I did.
It’s written in third person present tense, which some readers might want to know before picking this book up.
August 30, 2025
Not for me
I wish I liked it but I didn’t. I tried to read this completely but to be honest I had to skip through most of it because I wanted the story to move. I found the pacing to be very slow and felt that the descriptions were long and meandering at times. There’s a really good story in here - I love the characters and the whole concept — I just think the story is hidden in all this extra detail that distracts from the overall plot.
Keep writing though. You completed a book and published it. That’s more than most people do in a lifetime so that’s great.
I wish I liked it but I didn’t. I tried to read this completely but to be honest I had to skip through most of it because I wanted the story to move. I found the pacing to be very slow and felt that the descriptions were long and meandering at times. There’s a really good story in here - I love the characters and the whole concept — I just think the story is hidden in all this extra detail that distracts from the overall plot.
Keep writing though. You completed a book and published it. That’s more than most people do in a lifetime so that’s great.
June 6, 2025
I genuinely had the best time reading this book.
I laughed OUT LOUD multiple times at the quirky awkward internal monologue of Will.
I had all the heartwarming feelings reading this, it was the perfect romcom.
I absolutely adored Will and how ridiculous and adorable he was. He really holds himself under a microscope and analyses himself in a way that he doesn’t hold others accountable to. He was very endearing and his self realisation journey was incredibly heart warming.
Casey was a great love interest, he was unexpected at times but really helped Will understand parts of himself that Will was trying to pretend didn’t exist. The meet cute was so much fun and complete agony at the same time.
Selma! Obsessed. LOVE HER. Can she have her own book please.
One thing I’m confused about is the bridge situation, if Wills stuck in town and can’t get out, how are the others opposite also stuck in town and can’t get out? It’s breaking my brain slightly to be honest. But I’m ignoring that for the plot.
Thank you to Storm publishing and NetGalley for this eARC. This is my honest opinion.
I laughed OUT LOUD multiple times at the quirky awkward internal monologue of Will.
I had all the heartwarming feelings reading this, it was the perfect romcom.
I absolutely adored Will and how ridiculous and adorable he was. He really holds himself under a microscope and analyses himself in a way that he doesn’t hold others accountable to. He was very endearing and his self realisation journey was incredibly heart warming.
Casey was a great love interest, he was unexpected at times but really helped Will understand parts of himself that Will was trying to pretend didn’t exist. The meet cute was so much fun and complete agony at the same time.
Selma! Obsessed. LOVE HER. Can she have her own book please.
One thing I’m confused about is the bridge situation, if Wills stuck in town and can’t get out, how are the others opposite also stuck in town and can’t get out? It’s breaking my brain slightly to be honest. But I’m ignoring that for the plot.
Thank you to Storm publishing and NetGalley for this eARC. This is my honest opinion.
September 23, 2025
Fall Into You was a great book. It had that small town charm and a cute story, but also dealt with some difficult themes, like processing grief and child abuse. It was the perfect book to read on the first day of Fall! It had all the quintessential elements for a Hallmark-esque story, but queer. The main character, Will, has lost his father and inherited the family farm. And now he has to decide whether or not to sell. But the current farmhand/manager, Casey, makes that decision a lot more difficult. Will and Casey were both interesting characters and their stories were well written. And despite some of the heavier moments, this story was cozy and made me want some apple cider or maybe an apple fritter.
June 5, 2025
[3.75 ⭐️] [ARC] Thanks to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Looking for a cute and funny small-town romance with some heavy topics added in? Look no further than Fall Into You by Dylan Morrison. This story was fast-paced, heartwarming, and deeply engaging. It follows Will, who left his hometown as a teenager to escape a toxic relationship with his father. Years later, he returns to sell the old family farm, something he never imagined doing. Along the way, he meets Casey, and though their first interactions are filled with tension and bickering, their relationship slowly evolves into something sweet and genuine. The emotional depth of the characters is beautifully portrayed through their dialogue, actions, and inner thoughts. The writing style is absolutely chef’s kiss—fluid, expressive, and emotionally resonant. Themes of grief, parental loss, and anxiety are woven in thoughtfully, with representation that feels authentic and respectful. I could easily see this being adapted into a film, and I’d be first in line to watch it. I’m also incredibly excited for the next two books the author has planned, I’ll be reading them as soon as they’re released!
Looking for a cute and funny small-town romance with some heavy topics added in? Look no further than Fall Into You by Dylan Morrison. This story was fast-paced, heartwarming, and deeply engaging. It follows Will, who left his hometown as a teenager to escape a toxic relationship with his father. Years later, he returns to sell the old family farm, something he never imagined doing. Along the way, he meets Casey, and though their first interactions are filled with tension and bickering, their relationship slowly evolves into something sweet and genuine. The emotional depth of the characters is beautifully portrayed through their dialogue, actions, and inner thoughts. The writing style is absolutely chef’s kiss—fluid, expressive, and emotionally resonant. Themes of grief, parental loss, and anxiety are woven in thoughtfully, with representation that feels authentic and respectful. I could easily see this being adapted into a film, and I’d be first in line to watch it. I’m also incredibly excited for the next two books the author has planned, I’ll be reading them as soon as they’re released!
August 27, 2025
kind of a masterclass in a) how to make romance tropes work by grounding them in real, lived-in people and relationships and jobs and places, and b) how to achieve what people love about fanfiction in original fiction by, that’s right, grounding those aspects in real, lived-in people and relationships and jobs and places
as a bonus, i very much see the bones of my favorite of the author’s fics, my favorite fic of all time, in this story, so this was always gonna work for me
as a bonus, i very much see the bones of my favorite of the author’s fics, my favorite fic of all time, in this story, so this was always gonna work for me
June 5, 2025
Will + Casey
-mm romance
-enemies to lovers
-forced proximity
-romcom
-third person
i have a really hard time connecting with third person narratives & for the romance/spice to be such a low level it makes it even worse for me personally. but the story was super cute!
-mm romance
-enemies to lovers
-forced proximity
-romcom
-third person
i have a really hard time connecting with third person narratives & for the romance/spice to be such a low level it makes it even worse for me personally. but the story was super cute!
June 23, 2025
I’m not gonna lie this was a slow burn for me in the beginning but it sank its teeth into me about halfway through and I devoured the back half in one sitting. Plus the epilogue about happiness made me weep.
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July 17, 2025This is the third book in a row that unexpectedly has childhood trauma as a theme. And very strangely, I just don't seem to be interested in that anymore. So much of this book was spent relating or processing the past.
July 19, 2025
5⭐️ This was just great. Essentially an Emily Henry novel but make it gay. Really sweet and believable version of a lifetime movie with a bit more heart. Lovable characters and great tension throughout!! Would highly recommend
August 14, 2025
This book might be enjoyable to a early teenager. The story is good but the drag and over load of detail and with nonstop mind dialogue inside character. Just made the book long, drawn out, and boring.
June 22, 2025
4* for old times’ sake ❤️
October 29, 2025
3.5 stars: Sweet.
December 7, 2025
not super standout but generally good: good prose, good characters, silly, lots of stuff about apples. really tho, this is a story about intergenerational trauma and i thought that was done well!
September 13, 2025
4.5 stars!
Heads up this is more fiction with a central romance than it is a genre romance.
So, most of this review is just a lot of reflection and gushing. I thought about organizing it and then I didn’t. But it’s all pretty darn positive because I loved it. Literally my only negative is that the editor should have wrangled this much better, and then it would just SING. However, even without that I had a wonderful time and let myself float through the story and take me where it willed.
I’m super happy about the simple fact that this isn’t billed as a “gay” romance, because quite frankly one one member of the couple is actually gay, and lumping a pansexual guy in as “gay” because he is currently dating a man is not cool (he’s no more gay when he dates a man than he is straight when he dates a woman).
I loved all the characters, including and especially sweet Casey and sassy Selma, but my absolute favorite here was Will. I have a huge soft spot for grumpy characters who work on their mental health (without it feeling like a movie therapy session) and are cranky but kind and flawed but trying hard, and Will is that. Also, he had some stuff in his childhood that I also went through, and I maybe connected with him because of or even in spite of it. Sometimes when something hits too close to home it stops being entertainment. But I loved Will all the way though.
While this book definitely has a central romance, the plot is focused on Will and coming to terms with his rough childhood and facing his hometown and the memories there (both good and mostly bad) and realizing he’s deeply unhappy and has “made it work”. It features an MC who isn’t perfect but who went to lengths to not be who his parents were, to be kind and patient with children (you’d be shocked how rare this is), and try not to harm anyone. It’s part of his journey to outgrow the damage done to him and break a many generations long horror fest of traditions. It was awesome, honestly.
Will is a 35 year old cis white gay man. He’s a cranky but kind guy with significant anxiety and self-worth issues that have improved with therapy but he still struggles with, partially because of his childhood. He was born with extremely specific expectations for his life that, to his parents, he failed to live up to. When he was 18 he got a full ride to college and that plus being caught with a boy was the final straw for Will’s family, and they became estranged. Will is highly educated and has a doctorate on botany with an emphasis on apples. Will has not insignificant baggage and mental health issues related to how he grew up. He’s very overwhelmed by the return to his hometown and a lot of painful memories, so he doesn’t even realize until chapter 12 that he LIKES Casey. He knows Casey is hot, but it doesn’t hit him until then that it’s more than that.
Casey is a 28 year old cis white pansexual man. He is mostly comfortable with his sexuality though struggles to label himself specifically (he goes between pan and queer, but essentially communicates that he’s into multiple genders of people). It’s implied he’s dated men and women in the past, and his single serious relationship before Will was with a woman named Rhonda who he thought he’d marry (who left him for her high school sweetheart Gary). He’s tall blonde, with green eyes and a muscular build from his physically active job. He is very popular around town and all the women are attracted to him because he’s sweet and pretty, which is true to life honestly (there are no lesbians from what I see, so literally all the town women are into him…plus Will). He’s the sunshine to Will’s grumpy. He’s clever and sweet and helpful, but can have a temper, though he’s never cruel even when angry. He likes to help but sometimes takes on too much, and can be lonely.
The town Will grew up in ranged from passively to aggressively homophobic. Will is shocked when he returns 16 years later to find it’s a more neutral/friendly place for gay and other queer people. It’s one of the reasons Casey struggles to understand why Will implies he was so scarred by his childhood, and why Casey at first assumes Will is overreacting. Eventually when he finds out new information he begins to realize how much damage was done to Will over the first 18 years of his life. Will actually assumes that Casey will agree with Bill, that what was done to Will as a child was fair and deserved and Will made too much out of it; and Will prepares to be cast aside for that, the way he was for most of his life. He thinks this matter of factly, and decides to enjoy things before Casey wants nothing to do with him.
Casey never knew his dad, and his mom never knew who it was either for sure. He was born to his mom on a music festival circuit. He didn’t get any formal schooling (though he was taught to read by a few people on the circuit) until he was 12 and DCFS found out. He then lived with his aunt and absent/jackass uncle until he graduated high school, and was basically nomadic and never stayed anywhere more than a couple months until he turned 22. When he moved to Will’s hometown 6 years ago, he was in such a dearth of having a stable home or any present parents, started working for Bill and got along very well with him and even vaguely saw him as a father figure. Bill was uncomfortable but not aggressive about Casey being pansexual, possibly because Casey mostly dated women, or possibly because Casey wasn’t supposed to uphold Bill’s “legacy.” Casey began fixing things to help Bill and threw himself into the work, and improved the land, the apples, and pretty much everything else. He eventually moved in with Bill to keep him safe when he got diagnosed with dementia, and became his medical POA. He believed Will was a “mean and spiteful person who willfully turned his back on his family.” Until, of course, many years later when he found out what happened to Will and apologized.
I was so worried that the homophobic parents would either a) get a posthumous “they weren’t actually homophobic they were just worried and couldn’t communicate,” or b) “they weren’t actually homophobic you just were too sensitive and misinterpreted so this is really on you,” or c) “they were homophobic but no one is perfect so it’s fine.” I’ve read WAY too many books with this in the past (some where the homophobic family members are catered to and somehow most often the queer person apologizes for standing up in any way to the homophobia, which just makes me see red) and it’s so tiring. The ONLY acceptable “reunion/forgiveness” ending for homophobic family/friend characters is massive life changes, follow through, apologies, and groveling frankly. And it pretty much never happens. Anyway, didn’t have that problem here. I mean the situation wasn’t simple, but none of this happened which is a huge relief. Will was able to move past a lot of stuff, and if not forgive then certainly deal with a lot of his parents’ hurtful things, and though he remained with the mental and physical scars, he eventually made choices to make his own life what he wanted despite his harmful childhood.
When Will recollected the various “mistakes” as a child that would have “sent someone on a tear,” like accidentally dropping a plate or ordering the wrong food at a diner, it brought up my own flashbacks. I had a childhood friend who punished her for things like accidentally spilling milk (the irony is not lost on me) or getting dirt on a shirt. I have one parent who would change like the wind and be enraged about a randomly broken “rule” as a means of control. The chaos and unpredictability of that environment is awful, and I didn’t even have the queerphobia growing up (I am queer, but no one including myself guessed for a long time, so the queerphobia of my childhood was never directed at me, not that it never occurred).
Will recounting the other issues from his childhood such as his father eschewing “too much” education, ranting about how being part of a family meant suffering to do what was expected regardless of anyone involved actually wanted it to happen. For Will this included being less brainy, more “manly,” marrying a woman and procreating with her (regardless of his inability to be attracted to women), letting his dad dictate his life until one of them died, and taking over the family business.
His dad must have been older when he was born, because Bill died in his 80s and Will is only 35.
Also on a tiny side note that I didn’t find out until after I finished the book — oh my god, this author is gyzym? No wonder I loved this book! This guy wrote some of my favorite fanfiction in one of my then-favorite fandoms (from like 15 years ago). Seriously, no wonder I loved this writing and this book.
Contains:
—mild autumnal vibes
—mentions pumpkins
—apple orchard
—emotionally neglectful and abusive parents
—past child abuse (Bill punched Will and his class ring broke his skin, the cut got infected and left a scar)
—MC returns home to small town and falls in love
—evil mega corporation trying to ruin small town
—gay mc x pan mc
—bi/neptunic bff side character (Selma - she appears to be into women and enby people)
—strong family history of Alzheimer’s dementia, and knowledge MC will likely eventually have it too
—mc with clinical anxiety and a lot of personal baggage
—
—brief epilogue 5 years later on Will’s 40th birthday
Other:
—third person single POV
—cheating: no
—romantic rival: no
—kids: no
—breakup: kind of? They weren’t technically dating, but Will kind of has a breakdown/panics about selling the orchard and flees, and Casey is sad but understands that’s what’s happening, and Will returns after reflecting
—sex: completely closed door. Implies Will likes to be manhandled and tossed around some in bed and that Casey has no problem obliging.
—HEA: yes
He tried, though. Will tried. He did his best to grow into the man his family needed him to be. But the older he got, the more obvious it became to everyone that there simply wasn’t a Bill Robertson within him.
“Sel?” Will says, a little concerned in spite of himself. “Did I actually kill you here? Why are you breathing like that?”
“I am… Lamaze breathing,” Selma says, through what sounds like gritted teeth. “It’s helpful… for stress relief.”
“Why do you know Lamaze breathing?”
“Because I dated a pregnant woman in 2014,” Selma snaps, all traces of Lamaze breathing abruptly abandoned. “You wouldn’t remember this, because you were lost to me in studying for one of the stupid letters after your name, but she was wonderful. For three months, anyway. After that she tragically rolled right on back to Terrible George— and because he was never around, I used to take her to Lamaze class, and also it doesn’t matter, because the Lamaze breathing isn’t helping, because what do you mean you inherited an enormous piece of property and you are on your way to make a land deal and your father died and I haven’t looked over anything and—”
“I think for a lot of people, it’s easier to just live with what hurts than face the effort of trying to change it. They’d rather do what they know, even if all they know is suffering.”
He tries to think, instead, about how it would feel to be Todd Gunderson right now, shocked and alone and scared, half-drowned, too deep in the nightmare of the experience to realize anyone is even there to help him. Will can’t be scared right now, because if he were Todd Gunderson, he would want whatever adult was coming to help him to be strong. Hearty. Unafraid.
Will is, in fact, utterly, chokingly terrified, but he’s reasonably certain pretending he isn’t is at least half the battle.
Will says, “All right! Come on! Let’s go!”
“Don’t want to,” Todd says, in a small voice; he is, Will notices, clinging to the tree quite tightly. “Can’t move.”
Will takes a deep breath, wanting to sound reassuring and steady and not like he’s going to freak out and start screaming if they don’t get off this precarious log in the next fifteen seconds. That’s what his father would have done—freaked out, and yelled at Will, and made it worse—and Will’s surprised to find within him an untapped well to reach for now, of the sort of things he’d always wished the man might say instead. “I know you’re scared, Todd, but it’s all going to be okay.”
All his previous boyfriends—not that Casey is Will’s boyfriend, or anything like his boyfriend, or even remotely interested in filling the position, obviously—but still, the people Will has dated in the past have been pretty clear about not enjoying Will in his less-than-centered moments. Whether implicitly or explicitly, the message that has always been made clear is that Will, in less-than-optimal mental condition, is less-than-optimal company.
But Casey isn’t like that. He’s just not.
…he walks downstairs still wearing the flannel, feeling like maybe, after all, there was some glimmer of the family potential in him all along.
Of course, then Casey smirks when he sees Will, and says he knew Bill’s shirts would fit him, and Will experiences what’s surely the least heterosexual series of emotions and impulses to ever occur inside of said shirt, so. Maybe not.
“Sure,” he says weakly, after a second, instead of adding insult to injury by uttering the words “stone intestines” in front of what surely has to be the most attractive man the state of Ohio has ever produced.
Still, Bill’s face would loom in his mind, spittle flying from the sides of his mouth as he bellowed about duty and family and what it meant to be a Robertson, as he explained that Will was selfish and impulsive and hard of both head and heart.
…For the first time, it occurs to Will to wonder whether he, himself, today, can think of a circumstance in which he’d scream at a child of this age. Not just his own child, to whom one would think he’d have a particular attachment—at any child of this age. He wouldn’t, is what he concludes, a little startled by it. He would not yell at any of those children, not in any circumstances, not unless their lives depended on him doing so. Even then, he’d probably try to find another way. They were just children—they couldn’t be expected to process that kind of aggression, to not take it personally. It wouldn’t be fair, to treat them they like they were adults just because it would be easier if they were, or because he, himself, didn’t have the emotional intelligence to do any better…
…when they’re about halfway back to the farmhouse, something in Will that has been splintering for years now finally, finally cracks. A bough, perhaps, on the scarred, complicated tree of his life…it hurts, feeling it break at last, but not as much as the blow that first cracked it did. That blow was the first piece of a story that led him here…he thinks maybe the first blow was years earlier, before he was even alive. Before his own father was alive, maybe. Perhaps it had been the very first Bill who had first lifted the axe, and all of them, ever since, have been telling that same old story he started for the sport of it, handing it down like an heirloom, or a curse.
And none of them, Will realizes, would ever have talked about it. None of them ever had; it was as obvious as anything else about them, that they couldn’t or wouldn’t engage that way, when the emotional chips were down. It wasn’t their way—it Wasn’t What Robertson Men Did.
But Will thinks he’s had just about enough of being a Robertson man. He takes a breath, and starts talking.
Will thinks that once it would have really upset him, but here in the heart of autumn’s vibrant, dying resplendence, he feels calm, at peace. Things hurt, sometimes, even when you don’t expect them to, or wish they wouldn’t. Things hurt, and you feel it, and you carry on. What else is there? What other choice does life offer?
He’s sad, all of a sudden, in a way he didn’t expect to be over his old man, in a way he’s surprised to find he’s grateful for. “We all lost something, I think,” he says, quietly. “All us Robertsons, handing down the same stupid, needless pain across a century. It used to make me so angry, thinking about it—what good did it do anyone? What was the point?” He meets Casey’s eyes, warmed by the steady, patient understanding in them, and shrugs. “I thought the only way to win was to stop playing, but. I think… I think the truth is, it’s more about changing the rules.”
Casey’s face breaks into a grin, and he starts to run.
“Okay, Will,” Selma says, “Stay focused. I understand that you’re experiencing the end stages of a Midwestern courtship ritual and that’s very distracting, but there’s work to be done here. Give me three more minutes of even your most half-assed attention and then, I swear, the two of you can run off into the corn together and, I don’t know, commune sensually with the woods while wearing as much flannel as possible, or whatever people do down here—”
… it reminds Will of their teenage years in a way that brings him a small, almost comforting pang. Back then, every birthday had felt like turning a page in a new, exciting book, breathless with excitement to see what was going to happen, and they’d celebrated together by imagining what the next chapter would hold. Now that Will’s reached that awkward point in his life where he’s probably read at least as much of the metaphorical book as there’s remaining to go, it’s nice to look back on the year he’s left behind him, savor it for the utterly singular delicacy it was.
Will’s a better Reeves than he ever was a Robertson; he proves it as he walks around the front half of the property, checking in on employees setting up for the event, and customers heading out for the day, and making sure everything’s all right at the market before he actually goes home. ….the Robertson way would have been to bellow that everyone better be doing their jobs.
Heads up this is more fiction with a central romance than it is a genre romance.
So, most of this review is just a lot of reflection and gushing. I thought about organizing it and then I didn’t. But it’s all pretty darn positive because I loved it. Literally my only negative is that the editor should have wrangled this much better, and then it would just SING. However, even without that I had a wonderful time and let myself float through the story and take me where it willed.
I’m super happy about the simple fact that this isn’t billed as a “gay” romance, because quite frankly one one member of the couple is actually gay, and lumping a pansexual guy in as “gay” because he is currently dating a man is not cool (he’s no more gay when he dates a man than he is straight when he dates a woman).
I loved all the characters, including and especially sweet Casey and sassy Selma, but my absolute favorite here was Will. I have a huge soft spot for grumpy characters who work on their mental health (without it feeling like a movie therapy session) and are cranky but kind and flawed but trying hard, and Will is that. Also, he had some stuff in his childhood that I also went through, and I maybe connected with him because of or even in spite of it. Sometimes when something hits too close to home it stops being entertainment. But I loved Will all the way though.
While this book definitely has a central romance, the plot is focused on Will and coming to terms with his rough childhood and facing his hometown and the memories there (both good and mostly bad) and realizing he’s deeply unhappy and has “made it work”. It features an MC who isn’t perfect but who went to lengths to not be who his parents were, to be kind and patient with children (you’d be shocked how rare this is), and try not to harm anyone. It’s part of his journey to outgrow the damage done to him and break a many generations long horror fest of traditions. It was awesome, honestly.
Will is a 35 year old cis white gay man. He’s a cranky but kind guy with significant anxiety and self-worth issues that have improved with therapy but he still struggles with, partially because of his childhood. He was born with extremely specific expectations for his life that, to his parents, he failed to live up to. When he was 18 he got a full ride to college and that plus being caught with a boy was the final straw for Will’s family, and they became estranged. Will is highly educated and has a doctorate on botany with an emphasis on apples. Will has not insignificant baggage and mental health issues related to how he grew up. He’s very overwhelmed by the return to his hometown and a lot of painful memories, so he doesn’t even realize until chapter 12 that he LIKES Casey. He knows Casey is hot, but it doesn’t hit him until then that it’s more than that.
Casey is a 28 year old cis white pansexual man. He is mostly comfortable with his sexuality though struggles to label himself specifically (he goes between pan and queer, but essentially communicates that he’s into multiple genders of people). It’s implied he’s dated men and women in the past, and his single serious relationship before Will was with a woman named Rhonda who he thought he’d marry (who left him for her high school sweetheart Gary). He’s tall blonde, with green eyes and a muscular build from his physically active job. He is very popular around town and all the women are attracted to him because he’s sweet and pretty, which is true to life honestly (there are no lesbians from what I see, so literally all the town women are into him…plus Will). He’s the sunshine to Will’s grumpy. He’s clever and sweet and helpful, but can have a temper, though he’s never cruel even when angry. He likes to help but sometimes takes on too much, and can be lonely.
The town Will grew up in ranged from passively to aggressively homophobic. Will is shocked when he returns 16 years later to find it’s a more neutral/friendly place for gay and other queer people. It’s one of the reasons Casey struggles to understand why Will implies he was so scarred by his childhood, and why Casey at first assumes Will is overreacting. Eventually when he finds out new information he begins to realize how much damage was done to Will over the first 18 years of his life. Will actually assumes that Casey will agree with Bill, that what was done to Will as a child was fair and deserved and Will made too much out of it; and Will prepares to be cast aside for that, the way he was for most of his life. He thinks this matter of factly, and decides to enjoy things before Casey wants nothing to do with him.
Casey never knew his dad, and his mom never knew who it was either for sure. He was born to his mom on a music festival circuit. He didn’t get any formal schooling (though he was taught to read by a few people on the circuit) until he was 12 and DCFS found out. He then lived with his aunt and absent/jackass uncle until he graduated high school, and was basically nomadic and never stayed anywhere more than a couple months until he turned 22. When he moved to Will’s hometown 6 years ago, he was in such a dearth of having a stable home or any present parents, started working for Bill and got along very well with him and even vaguely saw him as a father figure. Bill was uncomfortable but not aggressive about Casey being pansexual, possibly because Casey mostly dated women, or possibly because Casey wasn’t supposed to uphold Bill’s “legacy.” Casey began fixing things to help Bill and threw himself into the work, and improved the land, the apples, and pretty much everything else. He eventually moved in with Bill to keep him safe when he got diagnosed with dementia, and became his medical POA. He believed Will was a “mean and spiteful person who willfully turned his back on his family.” Until, of course, many years later when he found out what happened to Will and apologized.
I was so worried that the homophobic parents would either a) get a posthumous “they weren’t actually homophobic they were just worried and couldn’t communicate,” or b) “they weren’t actually homophobic you just were too sensitive and misinterpreted so this is really on you,” or c) “they were homophobic but no one is perfect so it’s fine.” I’ve read WAY too many books with this in the past (some where the homophobic family members are catered to and somehow most often the queer person apologizes for standing up in any way to the homophobia, which just makes me see red) and it’s so tiring. The ONLY acceptable “reunion/forgiveness” ending for homophobic family/friend characters is massive life changes, follow through, apologies, and groveling frankly. And it pretty much never happens. Anyway, didn’t have that problem here. I mean the situation wasn’t simple, but none of this happened which is a huge relief. Will was able to move past a lot of stuff, and if not forgive then certainly deal with a lot of his parents’ hurtful things, and though he remained with the mental and physical scars, he eventually made choices to make his own life what he wanted despite his harmful childhood.
When Will recollected the various “mistakes” as a child that would have “sent someone on a tear,” like accidentally dropping a plate or ordering the wrong food at a diner, it brought up my own flashbacks. I had a childhood friend who punished her for things like accidentally spilling milk (the irony is not lost on me) or getting dirt on a shirt. I have one parent who would change like the wind and be enraged about a randomly broken “rule” as a means of control. The chaos and unpredictability of that environment is awful, and I didn’t even have the queerphobia growing up (I am queer, but no one including myself guessed for a long time, so the queerphobia of my childhood was never directed at me, not that it never occurred).
Will recounting the other issues from his childhood such as his father eschewing “too much” education, ranting about how being part of a family meant suffering to do what was expected regardless of anyone involved actually wanted it to happen. For Will this included being less brainy, more “manly,” marrying a woman and procreating with her (regardless of his inability to be attracted to women), letting his dad dictate his life until one of them died, and taking over the family business.
His dad must have been older when he was born, because Bill died in his 80s and Will is only 35.
Also on a tiny side note that I didn’t find out until after I finished the book — oh my god, this author is gyzym? No wonder I loved this book! This guy wrote some of my favorite fanfiction in one of my then-favorite fandoms (from like 15 years ago). Seriously, no wonder I loved this writing and this book.
Contains:
—mild autumnal vibes
—mentions pumpkins
—apple orchard
—emotionally neglectful and abusive parents
—past child abuse (Bill punched Will and his class ring broke his skin, the cut got infected and left a scar)
—MC returns home to small town and falls in love
—evil mega corporation trying to ruin small town
—gay mc x pan mc
—bi/neptunic bff side character (Selma - she appears to be into women and enby people)
—strong family history of Alzheimer’s dementia, and knowledge MC will likely eventually have it too
—mc with clinical anxiety and a lot of personal baggage
—
—brief epilogue 5 years later on Will’s 40th birthday
Other:
—third person single POV
—cheating: no
—romantic rival: no
—kids: no
—breakup: kind of? They weren’t technically dating, but Will kind of has a breakdown/panics about selling the orchard and flees, and Casey is sad but understands that’s what’s happening, and Will returns after reflecting
—sex: completely closed door. Implies Will likes to be manhandled and tossed around some in bed and that Casey has no problem obliging.
—HEA: yes
He tried, though. Will tried. He did his best to grow into the man his family needed him to be. But the older he got, the more obvious it became to everyone that there simply wasn’t a Bill Robertson within him.
“Sel?” Will says, a little concerned in spite of himself. “Did I actually kill you here? Why are you breathing like that?”
“I am… Lamaze breathing,” Selma says, through what sounds like gritted teeth. “It’s helpful… for stress relief.”
“Why do you know Lamaze breathing?”
“Because I dated a pregnant woman in 2014,” Selma snaps, all traces of Lamaze breathing abruptly abandoned. “You wouldn’t remember this, because you were lost to me in studying for one of the stupid letters after your name, but she was wonderful. For three months, anyway. After that she tragically rolled right on back to Terrible George— and because he was never around, I used to take her to Lamaze class, and also it doesn’t matter, because the Lamaze breathing isn’t helping, because what do you mean you inherited an enormous piece of property and you are on your way to make a land deal and your father died and I haven’t looked over anything and—”
“I think for a lot of people, it’s easier to just live with what hurts than face the effort of trying to change it. They’d rather do what they know, even if all they know is suffering.”
He tries to think, instead, about how it would feel to be Todd Gunderson right now, shocked and alone and scared, half-drowned, too deep in the nightmare of the experience to realize anyone is even there to help him. Will can’t be scared right now, because if he were Todd Gunderson, he would want whatever adult was coming to help him to be strong. Hearty. Unafraid.
Will is, in fact, utterly, chokingly terrified, but he’s reasonably certain pretending he isn’t is at least half the battle.
Will says, “All right! Come on! Let’s go!”
“Don’t want to,” Todd says, in a small voice; he is, Will notices, clinging to the tree quite tightly. “Can’t move.”
Will takes a deep breath, wanting to sound reassuring and steady and not like he’s going to freak out and start screaming if they don’t get off this precarious log in the next fifteen seconds. That’s what his father would have done—freaked out, and yelled at Will, and made it worse—and Will’s surprised to find within him an untapped well to reach for now, of the sort of things he’d always wished the man might say instead. “I know you’re scared, Todd, but it’s all going to be okay.”
All his previous boyfriends—not that Casey is Will’s boyfriend, or anything like his boyfriend, or even remotely interested in filling the position, obviously—but still, the people Will has dated in the past have been pretty clear about not enjoying Will in his less-than-centered moments. Whether implicitly or explicitly, the message that has always been made clear is that Will, in less-than-optimal mental condition, is less-than-optimal company.
But Casey isn’t like that. He’s just not.
…he walks downstairs still wearing the flannel, feeling like maybe, after all, there was some glimmer of the family potential in him all along.
Of course, then Casey smirks when he sees Will, and says he knew Bill’s shirts would fit him, and Will experiences what’s surely the least heterosexual series of emotions and impulses to ever occur inside of said shirt, so. Maybe not.
“Sure,” he says weakly, after a second, instead of adding insult to injury by uttering the words “stone intestines” in front of what surely has to be the most attractive man the state of Ohio has ever produced.
Still, Bill’s face would loom in his mind, spittle flying from the sides of his mouth as he bellowed about duty and family and what it meant to be a Robertson, as he explained that Will was selfish and impulsive and hard of both head and heart.
…For the first time, it occurs to Will to wonder whether he, himself, today, can think of a circumstance in which he’d scream at a child of this age. Not just his own child, to whom one would think he’d have a particular attachment—at any child of this age. He wouldn’t, is what he concludes, a little startled by it. He would not yell at any of those children, not in any circumstances, not unless their lives depended on him doing so. Even then, he’d probably try to find another way. They were just children—they couldn’t be expected to process that kind of aggression, to not take it personally. It wouldn’t be fair, to treat them they like they were adults just because it would be easier if they were, or because he, himself, didn’t have the emotional intelligence to do any better…
…when they’re about halfway back to the farmhouse, something in Will that has been splintering for years now finally, finally cracks. A bough, perhaps, on the scarred, complicated tree of his life…it hurts, feeling it break at last, but not as much as the blow that first cracked it did. That blow was the first piece of a story that led him here…he thinks maybe the first blow was years earlier, before he was even alive. Before his own father was alive, maybe. Perhaps it had been the very first Bill who had first lifted the axe, and all of them, ever since, have been telling that same old story he started for the sport of it, handing it down like an heirloom, or a curse.
And none of them, Will realizes, would ever have talked about it. None of them ever had; it was as obvious as anything else about them, that they couldn’t or wouldn’t engage that way, when the emotional chips were down. It wasn’t their way—it Wasn’t What Robertson Men Did.
But Will thinks he’s had just about enough of being a Robertson man. He takes a breath, and starts talking.
Will thinks that once it would have really upset him, but here in the heart of autumn’s vibrant, dying resplendence, he feels calm, at peace. Things hurt, sometimes, even when you don’t expect them to, or wish they wouldn’t. Things hurt, and you feel it, and you carry on. What else is there? What other choice does life offer?
He’s sad, all of a sudden, in a way he didn’t expect to be over his old man, in a way he’s surprised to find he’s grateful for. “We all lost something, I think,” he says, quietly. “All us Robertsons, handing down the same stupid, needless pain across a century. It used to make me so angry, thinking about it—what good did it do anyone? What was the point?” He meets Casey’s eyes, warmed by the steady, patient understanding in them, and shrugs. “I thought the only way to win was to stop playing, but. I think… I think the truth is, it’s more about changing the rules.”
Casey’s face breaks into a grin, and he starts to run.
“Okay, Will,” Selma says, “Stay focused. I understand that you’re experiencing the end stages of a Midwestern courtship ritual and that’s very distracting, but there’s work to be done here. Give me three more minutes of even your most half-assed attention and then, I swear, the two of you can run off into the corn together and, I don’t know, commune sensually with the woods while wearing as much flannel as possible, or whatever people do down here—”
… it reminds Will of their teenage years in a way that brings him a small, almost comforting pang. Back then, every birthday had felt like turning a page in a new, exciting book, breathless with excitement to see what was going to happen, and they’d celebrated together by imagining what the next chapter would hold. Now that Will’s reached that awkward point in his life where he’s probably read at least as much of the metaphorical book as there’s remaining to go, it’s nice to look back on the year he’s left behind him, savor it for the utterly singular delicacy it was.
Will’s a better Reeves than he ever was a Robertson; he proves it as he walks around the front half of the property, checking in on employees setting up for the event, and customers heading out for the day, and making sure everything’s all right at the market before he actually goes home. ….the Robertson way would have been to bellow that everyone better be doing their jobs.
June 6, 2025
(based on an ARC from netgalley) It is with absolute joy that I get to read a romance from one of my favorite writers in published book form. And as with all his other work, I devoured it in nearly one sitting. Fall themes holiday romcom vibes with snappy witty dialogue, pageturning tension, and packed with a hearty dose of love for humanity. I can't wait to see what works come next!
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