Kiss Me Like You Mean It

by Laura Wood

Ophelia Turner-Jones likes to be in control, but her neat and tidy world is about to be turned upside down.

One year after a drunken night out in Las Vegas, Lee receives a surprising email. She hasn’t seen or talked to him in months, but now Lee needs to track down her longtime crush, Nico… and tell him that they accidentally got married.

Adrenaline-seeker Nico has never stayed in one spot for long, so the last place Lee expects to find him is settled in a picture-perfect small town in Maine, surrounded by a community of loveable oddballs and eccentrics. Breaking the news to him should be simple, but walking away proves impossible when she discovers that Nico needs a wife to save everything – and everyone – he holds dear.

Nico's life is a mess, and he doesn't want to drag his best friend's little sister into it. Unfortunately, Lee might just be the answer to all his problems... if he can keep his hands off her.

With the help of the whole town, Nico and Lee have to convince the world that they’re happily married and in love… but what happens when the story they're telling starts to feel too much like the truth? What do you do when you're really falling for your fake husband?

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Autumn, Contemporary Romance, Audiobook, Adult, Marriage Of Convenience

Audible Audio

First published August 13, 2026

About the author

Laura Wood is the winner of the Montegrappa Scholastic Prize for New Children's Writing and the author of the 'Poppy Pym' and 'Vote for Effie' middle-grade series and YA novels, A Sky Painted Gold and Under a Dancing Star.

She loves Georgette Heyer novels, Fred Astaire films, travelling to far flung places, recipe books, Jilly Cooper, poetry, cosy woollen jumpers, Edith Nesbit, crisp autumn leaves, Jack Gilbert, new stationery, sensation fiction, salted caramel, feminism, Rufus Sewell's cheek-bones, dogs, and drinking lashings of ginger beer.

Reviews

[Nina (ninjasbooks)]

Nopes, not finishing. Cliche after cliche. Las Vegas shenanigans? Best friends who secretly have always loved each other? Miscommunication trope? Grandmother who is quite different from anyone else?

[ahmeeka]

DNF – unfortunately this author is just not for me

[Viv ❦]

3.5⭐️

this was a fun fall romance-nothing extraordinary but enjoyed it!!

single dad, brother’s best friend, small town, fake marriage and friends to lovers. what more do you need?

[Nada A.]

4.8 stars
I thought I was getting a cute fall story but it ended up being so good!!

[Anna (annareadit)]

RTC

[Bena Sarapaite]

3.75⭐️ Labai jau toks surealus, bet tuo ir žavi! Priminė gilmore girls ir if it makes you happy! Smagiai susiklausė 🎧

[Karen]

Kiss Me Like You Mean It is a book with a chaotic story which somehow works, even though it starts with the 'got drunk and got married in Las Vegas' cliché. The characters of both the FMC, Lee and MMC, Nico are likeable and I loved the way that Lee's character grew as the book progressed. From an anxious introvert, she slowly grew to a confident character who wanted nothing more than a family. There were also a whole cast of other likeable characters, not just the MC’s

This is the fist book by Laura Wood that I have read and I really enjoyed it. It was the perfect romcom read, with a sprinkle of autumn throughout.

Favourite Quote: ‘You’re stuck in this tepid relationship with a man who has all the personality of a glass of skimmed milk’.

Tropes:

🏘️ Small Town Romance
💒 Fake Marriage
👨 Single Dad
⭐️ Brothers Best Friend
❤️ Friends to Lovers
🧑‍🧑‍🧒 Found family

[Renee]

Kiss Me Like You Mean It by Laura Wood

4.25/5⭐️
2/3🌶️ (4ish scenes)
3/3🦋

•My Thoughts•
This was fun and super swoony! I loved the dynamic between our main characters and how they complemented each other so well. I love the growth we get to see in Lee, our female main character, and how she settles into herself and how her natural gifts are exactly what Nico and his daughter Pheobe need. The small town, Maine setting sounded gorgeous and I loved the fall vibes sprinkled throughout. I ALWAYS enjoy a fake relationship dynamic and their accidentally married in Vegas turned marriage of convenience had me kicking my feet. I think my biggest issue and it’s not even an issue, it was just a “me expectation” thing…this was super romcom-y with the silliest small town (like Lucy Score Story Lake level wackiness) and I wasn’t prepared for that. There was still the sharp wit and humor that I’ve come to expect from Laura but a lot of small town shenanigans. I can absolutely enjoy this dynamic but it threw me a bit because I wasn’t expecting it. Everything was well written and so much fun and I can see this hitting *even better* for me on a reread with the proper expectations! Absolutely still recommending this one!

[Lilly Dunkley]

4.5⭐️

Holiday book numero dos! What a cute little romance! Really enjoyed this a lot! Forget how much I live a small town romance with an abundance of qwerky characters!

[Alex | brightestbookshelf]

★★★★

🍂 Marriage of convenience
🧣 Brother’s best friend
🍂 Single dad
🧣 Small town hijinks
🍂 Forced proximity

Ophelia (Lee) and her brother’s best friend Nico accidentally get married one drunken night in Vegas… but they only realise they actually went through with it a year later. During that time Nico has learned he has an American 8 year old daughter - whom he has relocated to live with - and also needs a wife so that he is granted his inheritance 😅

This was so much fun! The synopsis sounds like *a lot* - and it kind of is a chaotic mess?! But it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and is silly enough that it really works! It had me laughing out loud, instead of rolling my eyes at their antics.

Nico and Lee are actually English MCs, but the book is set in a small town in the US - which I have realised I love because you get the laugh-out-loud British deadpan humour & dry wit, but all the feels of an American small town romance?!

The town is definitely a character in this book - I loved all the small town stereotypes! They are so meddlesome and their hijinks are hilarious. It gives Inglewild and Rome KY vibes, or the town from If It Makes You Happy, and it’s such a perfect autumnal hug.

The found family is also very cute, and I loved how Lee was welcomed into Nico’s family and the community. My biggest reservation here was the timeline - it was so short! And it felt unlikely that Lee would go from having essentially one friend age 32, to becoming best friends with the whole town in a matter of weeks (however cute it was!) This also meant the romance felt accelerated.

I mostly listened to this, but whilst I love Thomas Judd for some characters (Osric Mordaunt 👀) I don’t think he fits Nico at all! So I ended up buying the actual book too and actually preferred reading! 📖

Overall a very cute and entertaining read, and I would recommend picking it up this autumn!

[Jennifer]

Okay but this book sounds so so good!

[tappkalina]

dnf at 31%

[PAPERBACK COWGIRL]

Kiss Me Like You Mean It - Laura Wood

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This book was literally the perfect fall romcom read. It had a hot single dad, a very introverted, type-a but badass fmc, a hilarious kid and multiple glamorous grandma’s, a small town full of meddling busybodies and a good dose of friendships and emotional depth. This book had me laughing out loud on multiple occasions and it was so heartwarming. It’s truly an art to create the perfect small town love story without it turning into a cheap hallmark rip off, but Laura Wood executed it perfectly!

[Joanne]

I had such fun reading Kiss Me Like You Mean It! I loved both Laura Wood’s previous novels for adults (Under Your Spell and Let’s Make a Scene) so this book had a lot to live up to, but it certainly delivered.

There are so many tropes in this book that you’d almost think it might not work yet somehow it does. There’s a small town romance, fake dating, brother’s best friend, hot single dad, found family and a marriage of convenience. And, of course, at one point there is just one bed!

Ophelia (known as Lee) and Nico have been in love with each other forever but have kept it a secret from each other. He’s her brother’s best friend and she’s, yes you’ve got it, his best friend’s sister. Neither knew that the other thought about them in a romantic way. When they bump into each other in Las Vegas, they get very drunk, so drunk in fact that they forget they got married! One year later, a ‘happy anniversary’ email alerts Lee to this fact and she tracks down Nico to break the news.

What she doesn’t expect is that Nico has a good reason to look like he is in a very stable family situation and a wife on the scene would be ideal. They agree to pretend to be happily married for as long as it takes and the whole town of Rosemont is on board with the pretence.

I so enjoyed reading this book. There are some brilliant characters in the town (special mention for young Pheobe) and it sounded such a lovely place to live. As you might guess from the cover, the book takes place partly in Autumn so expect maple lattes, Autumn leaves and Halloween decorations. The relationship between Lee and Nico was such fun to read about. For so long, neither wanted to the other to know how they really felt so pretending to be a happily married couple proved challenging as they tried to keep their true feelings under wraps. Well, I’m sure you can imagine how this might go and things get very hot between the two.

This book mentions Dolly Parton a lot and she’s clearly highly regarded by the residents of the town as well as the author herself. The book is dedicated to her and she features in the author’s thanks at the end too. So it was particularly poignant that the day I finished reading it, the news of Dolly Parton’s death was announced.

Kiss Me Like You Mean It was funny, romantic, sexy and just a hugely enjoyable read. I would happily read more about the various members of this family and their friends, or some of the residents of Rosemont. Maybe Nico’s brother next please Laura? This is a perfect cosy romance to curl up with this Autumn. Although, when I say cosy, did I mention hot?!

[fem – femsbookshelf(f)]

This was just way too long and idk it lost me somewhere near the end? This could have been a 4 star read if it was like 350 pages at most and if there were more fireworks between the characters. I did like it tho, it’s just not my favorite ever. Very much a 3 star read.

[Emma]

Tää oli just sitä mitä mä tarttin tähän hetkeen, 4 siirappista tähteä

[Monica Haak]

MIS. COM. MU. NI. CA. TION.
I said what I said.
Deze voelde ik niet, waar komt dat kind vandaan? Why doesn't it aline??

[Margaret McLaughlin]

Lovely Book

Really great book, wonderful characters, made me laugh out loud. Would love to live in Rosemont!, sounds a great place to live.

[Jessica]

4.5⭐
these characters own my heart ❤️

[Zeina Aldarra]

One of the best small-town romances I’ve read recently! 🥹

Our story revolves around Nico and Lee, who are total opposites. Lee is shy, socially awkward, somewhat cold, and an introvert, while Nico is outgoing and extroverted. But there’s one little problem: he’s her brother’s best friend, and Nico has always viewed Lee as off-limits. Lee, on the other hand, has been in love with him since she was five.

However, one drunken night in Vegas is about to change everything when they wake up married!

A year later, thinking their marriage was just a farce, Lee gets an email wishing them a happy anniversary and informing them that their marriage is actually legal. 😳 So Lee ends up flying to Maine, to a small town where everything is cute and magical and looks like it was taken straight out of Gilmore Girls. There, she discovers that Nico is actually a dad, a single dad to a beautiful 8 year old girl named Phoebe.

When Lee goes there intending to ask for a divorce, she discovers that Nico needs her help with his inheritance In order to gain access to his money. So they end up fake dating… while already being married. 😂
What follows is a list of the cutest dates, the small-town residents gathering around to help Nico convince the lawyer that their marriage is real, late nights at the bar, dates at the pizzeria, ice cream, a Halloween party, and so many adorable moments.

And through it all, Nico can’t help but fall in love with his wife, while Lee can’t resist falling even harder for her husband.
Will they finally end up happily and really married? 💕

I've had a great time reading this book. Super cozy with the best small town vibes you could ask for. Lee&Nico couldn't be any cuter and their romance was super sweet and Phoebe was the cherry on top in their relationship. I actually cannot recommend this book enough. If you are a fan of all these vibes and tropes, this book is for you.

Thanks to @netgalley and the publisher for granting me an arc of #kissmelikeyoumeanit in exchange for my honest review.

Xoxo😘
#booksbooksbooks #BOOKSTAGRAM #review #SmallTownRomance

[Books of the Moth]

Let me tell you first that I really adore ‘Under Your Spell” and ‘Let’s Make A Scene’. The first book in this series was so wholesome, warm and sweet and the witch theme made that book unique. The second book was a masterclass in tension between not just the characters but between their actions and their feelings unsaid. I loved the chapter with Lee and Nico in that book. It made me curious about these two, so ’The Fate of Ophelia’ book as I called it was one of the most anticipated books on my list this year. In some aspects this is a lovely story but I feel a bit disappointed.

The first quarter of the book pulled me in. It was witty, funny I liked Lee very much and the story kicked in smoothly. My problems are mainly in the second quarter: both main characters started lusting over each other too quickly and too strongly for my liking. Where I wanted yearning, connection and tension it was just description of sexual urge and desire. Why write this really intriguing characters and then focusing on their hotness more than their personality?
There were also more and more inconsistencies in tone and characters. Ophelia changed too much too quickly and Nico was like a completely different person. I just could find reason to these sudden changes. That problem was luckily addressed later and perfectly made sense in the end but in that part of the book it was really weird.
After that blip the real connections started to build more organically and honestly and in the end this story was great. I liked how this book spoke about the sacrifice we make for the ones we love, how we can make our family life our success beside our work and still be our most honest selves. How can we be relaxed with someone who makes the effort to truly understand us and treating us accordingly. These are beautiful themes of this relationship. But sometimes I felt this book wants too much to tell in one story.

My biggest problem with one aspect of this book is a confession (or unpopular opinion):
I strongly dislike the way that we talk about books nowadays. I mean it especially about how the conversation changed in the last decade focusing more and more on tropes.
Tropes aren’t inherently a bad thing, they are just tools for writers. Certain patterns, type of stories are in storytelling since the beginning. Every writer in every genre uses them.
So it is strange to me that tropes became the main bases for communication around romance and romantic fantasy: books mainly written by women for women. This has a cheapening effect on these works which makes me feel frustrated. Every genre has masterpieces and lower quality and every genre has its patterns but not every genre are marketed this way. This form of conversation around some books just makes me sad…
I despise trope based marketing: I don’t have favourite tropes or disliked tropes because in my opinion any trope can be written greatly or poorly. It depends on the writers strength. In a good writers hand any trope can be great if that serves the plot and the characters well.
So I feel that trope based marketing gives me absolutely nothing. I don’t search for books based on tropes in a way that I don’t search for a restaurant for the ingredients. If I read a food review I'll search for the quality of the meal in it, not for the grocery list of the chef…
In a case of my next read I always look for the blurb and if I knew the style of the author already. I'm interested in the story, the characters, the language. I’m bored out of my mind seeing one check-list review after an other, again and again. It is truly endless…

What is this have to do with this book specifically?
This trope based conversation around books became part of some books now. And it puts me out of the story in an instant. As I said earlier ‘Kiss Me Like You Mean It’ has several problems. But this meta conversation about the characters knowing that they “living the tropes” like the 'marriage of convenience', 'my brother’s best friend', 'hot single dad'… etc made me wanted to scream.
It is enough reading in the ‘praise’ section sentences like this: “Packed with all the best tropes” and “Lee and Nico together are absolute tropey perfection” Now I have to read it in the story as well?
Why?
“Actually,’ Lee pipes up, ‘my friend was saying that we’re basically a marriage of convenience trope.’
‘Yes!’ Kat hoots.
‘What do you mean a trope?’ I ask.
‘Like a romance novel,’ Kat puts in, as if that clears anything up.”

This is not the first novel I’ve read with this kind of meta conversation but this was the first where I felt that it has nothing to do with the story. ‘Book Lovers’ by Emily Henry comes in mind but in that book both of the main characters are working in the publishing industry and the book itself was commenting / critiquing on publishing and the way we consuming literature today. And some of the romance tropes were intentionally turning on their heads by the author.
‘Any Trope But You’ by Victoria Lavine is the other book where tropes were part of the plot: a disillusioned romance writer started to live the tropes and realizing that she still has hope. But again this book was a commentary on relationships in a consumerist and cynical world.

But in the case of ‘Kiss Me Like You Mean It’ it didn’t bring further the plot or the characters, didn’t made any criticism or commentary. It was just weird and unnecessary… Lee and Nico had so interesting professions and exciting relationship dynamics with their friends and family. I wanted to read about more of those things and not this unnecessary conversations about tropes. Especially because this comment above made it seem that only romance novels are about tropes.

Can we please concentrate on the story and the characters again? Can we have conversation about the main themes, messages of a book or how it made us feel or think instead of the mechanics of writing?
I know this is probably just me and I’m old fashioned and not on trend or whatever. But this bugs me because I want to be a part of the conversation about my beloved stories. Sadly I did fell out of it because this is not the way I operate so I’m feeling left behind.

Despite my rambling about this I liked this book more than I disliked it in the end but in some ways I was a bit disappointed… I don't like feeling the great potential of a story and seeing it not reaching all that high that it could've been. This is just one sign of my expectations of a talented writer like Laura Wood. She is still one of my favourite romance writers and I will wait not too patiently for her next book and hope for the best…

P.s.: I also miss a conversation between Lee and Jack about his blind spots around his sister and his ignorance of her feelings. It is good that Nico pointed that out but I think it would've been better if we hear it with her words. Their relationship feels like it just starting or starts to evolve and I wanted that be the story of Lee's self-realization. Also Jack is so open and understanding with Cynthie. It would've been nice to see that he starts to make more effort with his little sister.

[Ashleigh Louise]

Kiss Me Like You Mean It begins in Las Vegas, when Lee wakes up in a hotel room with her brother’s best friend. She’s spent the last year trying to forget it ever happened, until a surprise email from a wedding chapel lands in her inbox. Now Lee has to track Nico down and tell him that they’ve been married for a year. She finds him living in a small town in Maine, and discovers that Nico actually needs a wife to save everyone and everything he holds dear. Now Lee finds herself playing the role of a happily married couple with the man she’s secretly loved for years, while the whole town throws themselves into the charade. But what is their fake relationship could be the start of something real?

I loved Let’s Make a Scene by Laura Wood when I read it last year, so I was so excited when I heard we would be getting Lee and Nico’s story next!

I absolutely loved getting to know Lee and Nico, who were both such amazing main characters. I particularly enjoyed seeing Lee find her people and let loose a little, and Nico was such a swoony MMC. I was rooting for their romance for the entire book. The fake dating (or is it?!) aspect was so much fun, and the yearning between Lee and Nico was palpable. The spicy scenes were also very well written.

The setting of this book felt so perfect for autumn, and the small town of Roseport was charming. There were a lot of eccentric characters, and I really loved the found family aspect.

While I did really enjoy this book, I do feel like there was just a bit too much going on to make it a five star read for me. There were a LOT of tropes in this book, as well as a very wacky small town, so it just felt a little too unbelievable for me. I wish the author had picked just a couple of the tropes to focus on, and there was a little more depth.

However, I did really love Nico and Lee’s story, and the ending was very sweet. This is a great one to pick up if you’re looking for a fun, swoony romance for autumn, and you don’t mind suspending your disbelief a little bit!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with an eARC. This review is being left voluntarily and all opinions are my own.

[Ian]

What can I say about Laura Wood’s Books and writing, I have been a huge fan of Wood’s books for years and she is top of my Auto Buy Author list! I adore her world building, and her characters always seem like real people in real situations! I love starting them but never them ending because I must wait for the next book to be announced!

One year after a drunken night out in Las Vegas, Lee receives a surprising email. She hasn’t seen or talked to him in months, but now Lee needs to track down her longtime crush, Nico… and tell him that they accidentally got married. Adrenaline-seeker Nico has never stayed in one spot for long, so the last place Lee expects to find him is settled in a picture-perfect small town in Maine, surrounded by a community of loveable oddballs and eccentrics. But that’s not the only surprise in store, because it turns out there’s one thing Nico desperately needs - a wife.

Nico's life is a mess, and he doesn't want to drag his best friend's little sister into it. Unfortunately, Lee might just be the answer to all his problems... if he can keep his hands off her.

This was a perfect autumnal cosy book that had just the right amount of romance and character development throughout. the relationships felt genuine and unfolded in such a natural way. I loved how the entire town came together to help make their “New” relationship seem real and created a lot of laugh out loud moments.

What a fabulous book, I'm bereft to have finished it! It's got everything; laugh out loud dialogue, a group of wonderful girlfriends who love books, a perfect town in Maine with a fabulous cast of characters, an adorable child, lots of gorgeous men and a vibe which gently mocks romantic novels whilst being an outstanding romance. I loved every page and can't recommend it highly enough.

[Sabrina]

Kiss Me Like You Mean It (which makes me think of The Killers song everytime) is a trope soup Romance in a way that shouldn’t work - brother’s best friend, married in Vegas, single father, inheritance only gained upon certain met criteria, small town setting in autumn, marriage of convenience - but Laura Wood makes it all make sense, and that’s a credit to her plotting and talent as an author.

Okay, she mostly makes it make sense. As the reader, I had to at times just go with the flow (of course he’s suddenly a single father! Naturally this has to take place in autumn!), but Wood’s writing made that easy to do, as did her character work - Lee and Nico were great characters, Phoebe was adorable, and all the small town residents played their roles like it was an episode of Gilmore Girls.

…I have to admit, in the end I did feel that Lee and Nico’s relationship lacked the depth of Wood’s other couples (from Under Your Spell and Let's Make a Scene), but I wouldn’t call it shallow. There was a lot of shared history, pining (Lee), and realization (Nico) that had me believing in their whirlwind courtship…but if there had been a little more emotional intensity between the two of them, this could have been 5 trope-tastic Stars.

(Laura Wood, if you’re reading this: Please keep writing adult Romances because you are doing it like nobody else right now even with my tiny complaint above and I need at least one guaranteed Good Romance a year. Please.)

[Cait Cullen]

I told Laura at a signing last week that I didn’t think any fictional man could beat Theo Eliott. I now thoroughly, and gleefully, eat my words.

It’s funny how things find you at just the right time. I’ve read so many of Laura Wood’s books before (and loved each and every one of them) but there is something about this book and its characters that resonated so deeply with me 🥹 to say it was hard to put down is an understatement and I’m forever grateful that Laura’s words can make me laugh and tear up in equal measure ☺️

To quote Ophelia Turner-Jones quoting Jane Austen: “Everything nourishes what is strong already”

And I know that this all makes the book sound emotionally profound (and it is) but it is also one of the silliest things I’ve ever read and if small town antics, bonkers ice cream flavours and unnecessary theatrical improv are your thing, then this book is absolutely for you.

There are so many other things I can say about this book (the main characters are amazing, the relationships are so heart warming, the family dynamics are complex and grounding, the autumn vibes are absolutely delicious, I could go on) but really all I want to say is that this book is immaculate and everybody please go read it 🙏

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster UK for the digital review copy 🥰

[Laura]

If you’ve been here a while, you know Laura is a fav. My book club has read multiple books of hers, and I recommend her YA and adult titles to anyone who will listen.

Kiss Me Like You Mean It is the story of Lee- the accountant sister of movie star Jack Turner-Jones - and Nico, his best friend. A year after their Vegas marriage that neither of them remember, Lee finds herself traveling to small town Maine to participate in shenanigans so that Nico can get his inheritance.

The town is its own character here- Laura perfectly captured the coastal charm of small Maine communities (this could also easily be PEI or Nova Scotia) and the inhabitants of said town were perfectly unhinged nosebags. The supporting cast were SO great and I loved each and every one of them.

It’s funny and charming and heartfelt and I loved it so so much.

I loved the Easter egg of Clementine’s book 🌊 Did I also get a whisper of a book about Nico’s duke brother? 😏

Thank you to Laura herself for the widget to read early- summer got in the way but I’m so glad I was able to savour it. It’s not meant to be rushed. 🤍

[Kelly NuclearFiction]

🎧Song Pairing: Enchanted - Taylor Swift

💭Thoughts Before I Jump In:

Fall charm, a Taylor Swift lookalike fmc and that dang man has a flannel with the sleeves rolled up🥵🩷

📖What actually happens:

🔥Brother’s bestie
😱Yearning (her)
🩷Childhood friends
🍂Autumn small town charm
😂Parent trapped
🌚Single dad
🎰Married in Vegas

🗯Thoughts/sassy musings:

LAURA DOES IT AGAIN?! If you know me, her books are always a priority and at the top of my most anticipated. Thank you so much for the acknowledgment 🫶🏼

This took me awhile, don’t take that as a bad sign, this girlie is so tired and I wanted to savour every page and you best believe your bottom dollar that I did while weeping in the airport, on the airplane…

This book has absolutely everything: a meddling adorable child, feisty grandmothers, returning beloved characters, Dolly Parton references and a funny mobster 😉

[el]

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for this arc!

This was a cute, cozy, and fun read but definitely not one of my favourites. Nico and Ophelia were soo cute but Phoebe was absolutely hilarious!! She carried the book and I was happy to see how her relationship with Nico improved more as the story went on. I feel like the book was mostly just building on the tropes because I didn't really feel Nico and Lee as a couple at first but they eventually grew on me. Some of the things seemed pretty ridiculous but I still had fun reading this. A book that is perfect for fall!!

[Briony2181]

It was inevitable that I would love this book as I love all of Laura’s books but it was indeed wonderful. I had been looking forward to seeing Lee and Nico’s story since meeting them briefly in Make a Scene; this book had so many tropes I love and which made me smile, all the new characters introduced were just great (big fan of Phoebe and Taco particularly), and a very satisfying love story all round. Highly recommended but read Under Your Spell and Make a Scene first (both also excellent!)

[Tia]

absolutely adored this!!!!! I am just utterly obsessed with this author’s writing - it’s so witty and funny but also so sweet and heartwarming. This was a perfect romance with all of my favourite tropes: small town, single dad, fake dating/vegas wedding/brother’s best friend. Absolutely loved Nico and Lee together, their chemistry was everything and I just had the BEST TIME reading this book.