How To: Con Finn Woodhouse

by Ronan Jericho

The chauffeur's daughter has always been a little odd.
Unapologetically herself and out of step with the world around her, Flora Fairchild has spent her entire life orbiting the Woodhouse family, owners of a multi-trillion-dollar tech empire.

For years, she has quietly pined after the charming and untouchable Roman Woodhouse, who notices her the way one notices a feral cat—from a careful distance. With her disastrous hair and glasses, Flora expects to be invisible forever.

Until Paris.

After an internship abroad, Flora returns confident, composed, and impossible to ignore. And Roman finally notices.

Which becomes a problem for his older brother.

Finn Woodhouse—twenty-nine, controlled to a fault, and already CEO—is in the middle of executing the biggest merger of his career. The last thing he needs is a disruption.

Especially one that comes in clogs and a prairie dress.

How To: Con Finn Woodhouse is a contemporary romance and the first installment in the Mirror Garden universe.

Genres: Clean Romance

356 pages, Paperback

Published June 23, 2026

About the author

Ronan Jericho is the author of Camp Chronicles—a multi-book adventure series starring her self-named lead, Ronan Pierce. The first book in the series, Camp Chronicles: Shadows No Longer, was published on September 12, 2025.

Jericho has been writing since childhood—her first story centered on the dust bunnies under the family couch—and she never stopped, realizing it was more than just a hobby. Camp Chronicles began in 2018 after she graduated college, and the series was written and refined over the years from its early drafts to its final publication.

She is currently developing additional books in the Camp Chronicles series, with more adventures following Ronan Pierce already underway. Jericho has also created a connected universe called The Mirror Garden, which features separate, stand-alone stories and characters that explore different corners of one fictional world. The characters often cross paths, but more than that, they are reflections—mirrored versions of the same soul across different timelines, moods, or what-ifs.

She is excited to introduce her readers to more Camp, The Mirror Garden, and other series coming soon.

Ronan does not respond to direct messages or friend requests here. If you'd like to keep up with news or have questions, head to ronanjericho.com.

www.ronanjericho.com
www.thecampchronicle.com

Reviews

[Maeve · Rating 5 out of 5]

OKAY, HERE WE GO!!!! FIRST REVIEW!!
THIS BOOK IS GORGEOUS, EFFORTLESS, ETHEREAL!! THE VIBE IS IMMACULATE!!

*No spice at all. Totally clean. A few kissing scenes, but nothing gratuitous. Written beautifully and tastefully.*

After Camp Chronicles, Book 1, I was super interested to see what Jericho was doing with this v cool Mirror Garden because I had heard it was definitely different and I was not sure what to expect. I was like romance?? She’s a fantasy/adventure novelist… BUT HOLY SMOKES SHE CAN DO ROMANCE. AND SHE'S DOING IT BETTER THAN EVERYONE.

I genuinely do not love reading romance novels because they feel so, idk, played out, or just boring, nothing happens, or they’re dirty and dark making it hard to read, and this book is absolutely doing the work to make me question my preference. But, honestly, it could just be the fact that Ronan Jericho is a fantastic writer and that she could write a book on how to watch paint dry and I’d read it. Gladly. So, if you aren’t a romance fan, this might be for you anyway.

Anyway, first let’s talk plot. I loved how this book flowed. I was never bored despite there being no perceivable “action”—we aren’t thrown into some adventure like Camp, no, we meet a heroine who is relatable but she’s not battling mystical forces, more like battling her hair LOL—despite this, I was enthralled by the descriptions, the movements, it felt like a play almost. A really funny play. Each scene had such a prettiness to it (is that the right word?), from the beaches to the house to Paris (and the ending!), I was really pulled into the movements of the book. It felt very modern Jane Austen.

Also, you get sucked into the Woodhouse Estate like it’s a living breathing thing and don’t want to leave. I live so close to Mill Valley irl and I wish I could live at this place specifically.

Now to our main guy and gal.
Flora: Flora is a lovable character. She starts off as quiet, unsure of herself, and her internal narrative is palpable for someone who has been told she’s worthless her entire life because of her looks. I related to her as someone who bloomed a bit later in life. Jericho does a great job of writing what that’s like. Her trip to Paris feels so perfect for her and I LOVE HOW JERICHO DIDN’T USE A BOY TO BRING HER OUT OF HER SHELL. Alexandre was a side note (a cute and sad one!) and Flora finds herself outside of a man. Score one for good writing. Even with her faults (the whole Roman thing is morally gray to a degree), Flora is really a great lead who grows in smarts as the book moves forward. She’s also hilarious and always makes the right choice in the end.

Finn: FINN, OH FINN. Despite the fact that there are a lot of reasons to dislike Finn (ahem his entire plan), I still fell in love with him. I think Jericho did a great job at writing a male lead who isn’t all “dark and broody” because of his past and then learns to open up through *love*. No, Finn is mistaken as dark and broody, but he’s really just burdened with responsibilities, tired, emotionally repressed, and had his childhood taken too quickly. He’s actually a really interesting character imo and his change is super satisfying without being cliche. I went from being super annoyed with him to totally rooting for him by the middle of the book. Plus the ending feels well earned for everyone.

I loved him, basically.

And together they’re *chef’s kiss*—one my new favorite literary couples.

I think one of my favorite things about the book was the running thread that Finn had always been watching Flora, aware of her, noticed her, when no one else did. Roman saw her after she had her glow up, Finn always saw her. That is some fantastic writing. I absolutely loved this book and can't wait to see where this Mirror Garden series goes. I'll be along for ALL of them!!

*Mid-book comments*
Just got my copy cause I asked for it to be sent earlier bc I'm going on vacation and will be out of town when it was set to ship!!! Supposed to be my beach read but I'm already on page 123 and I'm in L-O-V-E. Truly, Jericho can do wrong. These are real characters, a real romance, a setting that is so rich and alive I could die. I live like a town away from Mill Valley and she is nailing everything about it. Even Mt. Tam.
I HAVE TO MOVE TO THE WOODHOUSE ESTATE IMMEDIATELY!!!
Also.... I'm in love with Finn already.

[Cassie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obsessed!!! Jericho’s writing style is just so good. I loved her Camp book and this one also didn’t fail! Can’t wait to see how this series develops. Her POV is so interesting, and I love how it makes the book so fast paced.

I literally stayed up until midnight last night reading this and finished it in less than 24 hours. A cute non-spicy romance with some self discovery. I fell in love with the characters!! It also was so fun being an observer in this mega-rich family and drama. I feel like even if you don’t love romance, there’s a lot to this book that anyone would like it. Highly recommend!! Jericho has become a must read author now for me.

[Charlotte H. (In My Sarcastic Era]

I'm super excited to read this, I hope it connects with the Camp Chronicles book series, but probably not! Hope for an ARC but idk yk.

[Mystery Rose Writer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars rounded down.

This was a great book! I loved the characters and the writing style, and the Sabrina elements. For the first few chapters of the book, it seemed practically like it was just a novelization of Sabrina with the names changed, but after Roman's accident, when things began to pick up, I nearly forgot it was inspired by Sabrina at all! 😆 (The author used inspiration from the 1995 Sabrina, but I highly recommend the original, with Audrey Hepburn). There were a lot of aspects i did and didn't like about the book. Pros and 'Cons' as it were. 🤭 Her trip to Paris was great, and it was nice to see Flora finding her style. I read a lot of mysteries, so I was honestly a little suspicious of Alexandre at first, but he turned out to be sweet. 😂 One thing that stood out to me while reading the book, was that it seemed to be head-hopping a lot. We would be experiencing one characters thoughts and emotions one second, and a completely different characters the next, many times within a chapter, and it felt a little disorienting. I also noticed some spelling or grammatical errors, but im sure those will probably be fixed in the final edition.

The Woodhouse estate sounded pretty awesome, and all the staff were hilarious, especially Gina! I love how Clara Woodhouse is always looking out for Flora, though she definitely could have been a better parent when Finn was younger. And one thing she said about animals concerned me. At one point she says she had the house 'exterminated for cats?' What does that even mean? 💀

Virginia certainly was a creep, and im glad she didnt have a larger role in the book. (Virginia Creeper, ha!)

Finn having Roman given too much pain medication and stealing his phone was diabolical! I do love Roman and Jane's interactions towards the end. They make such a cute couple! 🤭🥰

Also, the brief mention of Georgie disappearing, and Chris trying to forget a girl not entirely working, makes me wonder if we are going to get books about them later on? 👀

Overall, the book was great, and I am so grateful for being allowed to read it early, but there are some things that bothered me, hence the rounded down 3.5.

Firstly, the book mentioned repeatedly how 23 and 24 was 'far too young' to be married. I dont see why. Its a perfectly reasonable, normal, age to get married. Age shouldn't have anything to do with marriage. (As long as you're legal of course 🫣). Maturity is the problem. One person not being ready for marriage doesnt mean that they are too young to be married. The fact that it kept being repeated annoyed me.

Now, the biggest reason that this book lost a star for me. During the Woodhouse/Carlisle/Brooks dinner, some comments were made about stay-at-home moms, and they were frankly sickening to me. 'They dont do anything? They sit at home, drinking matcha and spending their husband's money?! Under the 'guise' of raising the kids?!!' this is a perfectly awful and mostly untrue view of stay-at-home moms. And acting like having a stay-at-home mom in the family would be the worst possible thing on earth?! Yes, there may be some moms out there that do this, but in now way should it ever be said that this is ALL stay-at-home moms. If they dont do anything, then who do you think does the housework? Cooks the meals, cleans the house, buys the groceries, raises the kids? If she's not doing it, who is? And spending the husband's money? First of all, they are married, it is the family money. Also, thats what its for! How else are they supposed to be clothed and eat?

This could totally just be the views of a snobby rich family, but the fact that it was brought up more than once, and nothing was ever said in the book to refute it, makes me feel like the author doesnt disagree with that view, and I am heartbroken and sickened at the idea that that might be true. My mom is a stay-at-home moms, and she has done an incredible job of raising me and my siblings. I really hope no one really thinks this of mothers, and that they only have worth if they have a job that pays. Being a mother is their job. Mother, nurse, chef, personal shopper, teacher, event planner, life coach, and so much more.

Anyways, thank you for listening to my rant. I get steamed when people disrespect mothers. 😤
Despite this, How to: Con Finn Woodhouse was a great read, and i look forward to reading Ronan Jericho's future works.

[Luna West · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOWWWW! I read this in like TWO DAYS! Gorgeous book. Like actually gorgeous. Totally clean and somehow 10x as romantic as most modern romance books. I will add if you are a very sensitive reader to physical touch/kissing/some morally gray decisions, just keep moving. This book is clean, but, again, if you're sensitive, just... yeah...

Anyway, Ronan Jericho is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. HTCFW is a masterclass for romance trope beating. Here’s why:

#1—anti-manic-pixie-dream-girl but still eccentric
Flora is not a manic pixie dream girl, who has no driving internal goals or ambitions, functioning merely as a catalyst for the male lead's emotional growth. Sure, she wears docs, thrifts, and listens to The Smiths, but she’s got ambition, a clear rudder, she doesn’t let anyone walk all over her (well, after she goes to Paris), and she’s not quirky just the sake of being quirky (ala Zooey Deschanel in 500 Days of Summer). She’s eccentric because she doesn’t know how to not to be, she wears strange clothes because she’s poor and has no sense of what to wear, and grew up being told she was ugly. Flora is strange, yes, but she’s strange in a way that makes sense and doesn’t exist to solely lead Finn to something bigger. Flora has spirit and life, and youthful girlish energy, but also a heaviness—depressed for a while, totally unaccepted by peers because of her looks, a head of hair that could likely power a few electrical poles, isolated.
She doesn’t grow for the sake of a man, she grows because she learns she’s defined outside of men.
Fantastic.

#2—FINN WOODHOUSE EVERYBODY
Male lead is unique and not a trope. Flora's weird... and Finn’s weird himself and if you miss this you may miss the most important thing Jericho did here. She wrote a male lead who wasn’t allowed to be himself and operates in a performance 24/7 but is secretly just as strange as Flora (Aragorn, animal lover, junk foodaholic, kind of a loner). What I like about him as the lead is that despite all the trouble he gets himself into and the occasional elitist behavior, he’s very lovable. I have never read a male lead like him before. I was entranced from the first few paragraphs. He's so strangely enchanting.

#3—THE PLOT!
The plot isn’t simply rich guy falls for working class girl, it’s man who happens to be rich fell long before he knew it for the strange girl he grew up with and was always trying to get close to her. It’s so PERFECT!

#4—Growth
Flora grows when she goes to Paris and she grows in an amazing way. She doesn’t grow bc of Alexandre. She grows before that and is able to get past Roman and actually date someone else. The man doesn’t bring her out of her shell, he’s just apart of her arc. AND *spoiler* when he breaks up with her, she doesn’t fall apart!!! She keeps growing.
SUCH GOOD WRITING!!

#5—not your typical "ugly duckling to swan" make-over
Yay! We avoided this cliche. Flora’s make over is her own doing. She choses to change how she dresses because she never liked it. She choses to cut her hair because she wants something new. It’s not the classic “weird girl gets makeover and wow now she’s pretty!” — it’s Flora choses to set aside the old shell because it was never her anyway.

#6—taking responsibility
Flora takes responsibility for her actions, so does Finn, so does Roman. I loved how each one of them had their moment of “that was dumb!”. So often these books lose moral so quickly and each one of them realizes eventually they were wrong in their own way and says sorry and means it. 10/10.

#7—I can't spoil it...
Twist at the end is crazy and I didn’t pick up on it but the signs were there.

Also, y'all this book, like Camp, is actually hilarious, absurd, and full of comic relief. Ronan Jericho is hilarious!! Way funnier than any other author I've ever read. She has the best screwball comedy without it being corny/cheesy/or deployed at the wrong time. She deploys it perfectly. Gosh, I just LOVE HER.

Can't wait for the rest of Mirror Garden and Camp. I'm a HUGE FAN! Flora & Finn to eternity.

[Galilee Lawless · Rating 5 out of 5]

RECEIVED ARC COPYYY! Sorry I'm late to the party... but I'm here now! Also new to Goodreads. What a wild website. Also why is italicizing and bolding things so cumbersome?!

Here is my TLDR about this lovely book: She never glorifies it, she writes it and she writes it well.

I credit the author a lot with what she did here. It was nuanced and real and I can tell she grew up around people who likely behave like the Woodhouses, it was wonderfully specific (from the notes on olives being "cheap" to the champagne they use at parties from character's worldviews that make zero sense sometimes to the horses...). She never glorifies it though, she writes it. I loved it from start to finish. Crushed it in about a day. I love the omniscient narrator POV and how we get to see what everyone is thinking. I loved Flora and her way of doing life, I loved Finn and how he learns to change, I loved the eccentric and elitist Woodhouses who are out of touch, but I do believe mean well. I also noticed some bizarro review when I was looking at the ones here now and I hope it doesn't dissuade anyone from reading this book! Please don't be misled by reviews that are clearly from reviewers who didn't understand the book!

What I love most about this book is that it depicts people who aren't perfect and the narration corrects them without saying it directly (or sometimes directly). The Woodhouses are explicitly written as an elitist, hyper-achieving, status-obsessed family, but they are also hilarious and loveable. The opening scene had me cracking up. Poor Flora. Holly (the archetype of the "perfect, career-driven asset" and exactly who Finn should like) is immediately positioned as a antagonist, signaling to the reader that the Woodhouses' superficial rubric for human worth is deeply flawed even for themselves... I won't spoil it but Finn has to reckon with a lot. Characters have blind spots so they actually have room to grow in the rest of the novel. Finn’s entire journey is about learning to drop this exact performance-based armor and find himself when he's with Flora. Aragorn was such a wonderful note! Jane Brooks is written really well as well. She knows what she's getting into and she jumps in anyway.

It is an incredibly sharp, layered setup to the end. The characters really beat a lot of cliches and classic tropes. I will say to readers: If you want a book where every character is perfectly polite, bland, and shares your exact personal worldview from page one, go read something else. But if you want realistic family friction, sharp prose, and a genuinely satisfying character arc, this book delivers it beautifully. I love how Jericho writes the funniest things.

Five stars across the board!! I would say for readers 15+, not because of spice, but I don't think people younger will "get" the novel. I've recommended it to some of my friends and we're doing it for our Malibu Babes Book Club! Can't wait!!!

[Katy R · Rating 5 out of 5]

okay! here's my Katy-Is-Awake-Now review:

I freaking LOVED this book. A super modern/inspired take on Sabrina without being a knock off—way better than Sabrina, dare I say. As other reviewers stated, there is something magical about it. Can't put my finger on it, but it was sort of effervescent... what a word. Also such an honest without being reductive take on girlhood.

One thing before I get going: if you are a very sensitive reader, who dislikes or takes moral issue with any PDA or kissing, then I suggest just waiting until you can fully handle it before reading. This book is clean (as clean as it gets really) but it's not robotic. So pls don't come back here and be like "they kissed, call the Navy!" Moving along.

Now, if you need your male leads to be morally pristine from page one, How To: Con Finn Woodhouse may frustrate you initially. Finn absolutely makes selfish decisions, rationalizes emotional manipulation, and spends much of the novel emotionally compartmentalizing himself into oblivion (I kinda loved it tbh). But the book’s greatest strength is that it KNOWS this. The narrative never rewards him for it.

In fact, the entire emotional core of the story hinges on Finn realizing that he’s been lying to himself as much as anyone else.

What impressed me most is that Flora is 100% NOT written to absorb bad behavior passively as most female characters are written to do so. She confronts him directly, articulates the betrayal with painful clarity, and forces him into actual accountability rather than symbolic groveling. What a thought! A female character who holds the male character accountable, the male character actually changes not just to get her and go back to his old life, but because he sees how she's right and how he's been injuring himself and her. It's giving P&P.

The reconciliation works because the book understands trust is not repaired with one speech or one kiss. Finn has to publicly tell the truth, risk his reputation, and pursue Flora honestly for the first time in his life.

Tonally, the novel balances humor and emotional devastation incredibly well. It’s glamorous and funny one second, then deeply introspective the next. The emotional dialogue often feels startlingly mature beneath the screwball-comedy surface.

There’s also something oddly refreshing about a romance where the billionaire fantasy is constantly undercut by absurdity— truck accidents, rabbit funerals, Madagascar expeditions, and a hero who realizes far too late that love feels less like fireworks and more like finally being able to breathe properly.

At its core, the book is really about emotional deprogramming and I LOVED THAT! It was a microscope on a societal problem. Finn starts the novel believing competence and control are the same thing as worth. Flora quietly dismantles that worldview by simply being alive in a way he forgot how to be. That transformation feels earned.

Beautiful book and well worth the read if not just for the setting, hilarious one-liners, and honest girlhood.

06/07/2026
Not me crying. What a surprisingly, amazingly strange, and fantastic book. Why was it SO good?! So absurdist, so picturesque, so funny, and so moving? It genuinely felt like a movie but a book.

I will expound more tomorrow when my brain is fully functioning—it's 9:51 pm as I write this and I'm exhausted and this deserves a full review, but I wanted to quickly mark it as a five and gather my thoughts.

Will sleep very soundly with Finn Woodhouse as my new book boyfriend.

[K. Zelda · Rating 5 out of 5]

🚨🚨🚨 ALERT: RONAN JERICHO IS RECLAIMING ROMANCE!!! THIS IS V GOOD NEWS 🚨🚨🚨

Gosh, I hope she keeps this up. I am sitting here on this very hot Saturday just beaming at my book because it was so DARN GOOD.

If you don’t generally love romance/contemporary romance/or the modern drivel they’re putting out, this MAY be the place to start or a place to stop. I am not a romance girly, but because I loved Camp, I wanted to try it and see what Jericho was doing with this and wowwwww. Loved it. Loved it. Loved it x1000.

I loved this book because it was so deep without ever calling itself deep. The characters are rich, fulfilling, funny, understandable. Idk how to explain it.

It’s hilarious. From Flora’s outfit choices, to Finn’s genuine confusion over everything, to Roman’s living style, to the crazy stuff that happens, to Allison’s one-liners, I just was cracking up. I’ve never read a romance that had me laughing so hard.

HTCFW feels like if a modern Austen novel collided with Sabrina (1995), a nature documentary, and the emotional collapse of a billionaire who accidentally falls in love while trying to manipulate a merger. Somehow, it works perfectly????

It sort of begins as an off-kilter and, as other people mentioned, slightly absurd rich-family drama/romance and slowly reveals itself to be a story about emotional repression, identity, and the terrifying vulnerability of being genuinely known by another person. Finn Woodhouse—our hyper-competent tech CEO who looks like Richard Madden in Cinderella 2015 by the books own definition😍😍😍—is a super strong romantic lead because the novel never excuses him. He hurts people. He compartmentalizes. He convinces himself that emotional dishonesty can stay contained. And then Flora Fairchild, the super smart but dreamy chauffeur’s daughter comes in and just ruins his life.

The chemistry is fantastic, but what really elevates the book is its emotional intelligence. Flora is not written as a manic pixie dream girl or a moral prop. She’s strange, observant, funny, wounded, deeply alive, and fully capable of confronting Finn. Their relationship feels earned because the novel allows a lot of consequences to exist.

Tonally, the book is wildly confident. It’s romantic, literary, glamorous, weird, heartfelt, and very funny. One minute there are private jets and billion-dollar mergers, the next there are lemurs, rose gardens, existential conversations, rabbit funerals, and a billionaire trekking through Madagascar covered in dust trying to win back the girl he conned and accidentally loved for real.

And somehow, beneath all the wit and absurdity, the novel ends up asking something very sincere:
What happens when a person who has spent their whole life performing competence finally encounters someone who makes them want to be honest instead?

[Rey Palazzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just... I can't. Finn is such an AMAZING male lead. I don't even know how to write how much I loved this book. I've never read anything like it before. It's so crazy nuanced. I'm going to read it again immediately. It felt like a romance, but also a glorious social commentary.

I expected a fun "rich-family" romance with some witty banter, yearning, and emotional tension. I did NOT expect giraffe poaching, corporate blackmail, emotional collapse in Madagascar, or a rabbit named Aragorn becoming one of the most emotionally important symbols in the book.

And yet somehow… it all works.

here's something you gotta understand before reading though. This novel operates in a heightened romantic-comedy-drama space. It’s not trying to be gritty realism. It feels much more spiritually aligned with classic funny romances and modern Austen-inspired satire where emotional truth matters WAY more than strict realism. The Holly reveal sounds insane when summarized out of context, but within the world of the book, it actually feels thematically coherent because Holly has always represented commodification, performance, and status obsession taken to grotesque extremes. But I loved how Jericho didn't really "vilify" in the normal way as in girl v. girl drama where they're fighting over a boy. It was more like we're fighting because are diametrically opposed human beings.

The novel also earns its major tonal swings by staying emotionally honest underneath all the absurdity. Beneath the billionaires, private jets, and elite social circles is a surprisingly sincere story about loneliness and the fear of being fully known. Finn and Flora’s relationship works because it never becomes cynical. Weird? Absolutely. Dramatic? Definitely. But cynical? Never.

And honestly, the weirdness becomes one of the book’s greatest strengths. The story has a distinct personality in a market where many romances blur together. It’s romantic without being cheesy and corny or spicy (GUYS, TOTALLY CLEAN! BUT SO ROMANTIC.), funny without undercutting emotional weight, and self-aware enough to embrace the ridiculousness of life, love, and lemon bars .

By the time Finn Woodhouse is hiking through Madagascar looking sleep-deprived and emotionally shattered just to tell Flora the truth face-to-face, the book has fully convinced you that yes—this absurd man really would cross the globe for this equally absurd girl who smells like sunscreen and knows the Latin names of plants.

And somehow, by the end, you believe they belong together completely.

I LOVED IT! 10/10!!

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars.

What impressed me most about *How to: Con Finn Woodhouse* wasn't the romance, the humor, or even the twists—though all three are excellent. It was the way the characters grow.

At its heart, this is not a story about a girl being rescued by a boy, nor is it a story about a makeover transforming someone's life. It's a story about discovering who you are when you stop allowing other people to define you.

Flora was my favorite part of the book. She is quirky without being a caricature, vulnerable without being weak, and independent without becoming unlikable. Her growth feels earned. She doesn't become someone else; she becomes more fully herself.

What surprised me even more was Finn. He could have easily been written as a stereotypical wealthy romantic lead, but instead he is complicated, funny, awkward, deeply human, and carrying burdens of his own. The relationship works because both characters are growing, learning, failing, and trying again.

The supporting cast deserves recognition as well. The world feels lived in. The staff, family members, friends, and even the antagonists all contribute something meaningful to the story. Many of the funniest moments come from these interactions, and the humor throughout the novel is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny without ever feeling forced.

What I appreciated most is that the book trusts its readers. The characters make mistakes. They hold flawed opinions. They hurt each other. They apologize. They learn. In other words, they behave like real people. The story doesn't lecture. It allows the reader to witness growth and draw conclusions for themselves.

The romance is refreshingly heartfelt. In a genre increasingly dependent on shock value, this novel proves that emotional connection, tension, wit, and character development can be far more compelling.

By the end, I found myself invested not only in Flora and Finn, but in the broader world the author has created. That's a sign of a successful novel. I wanted to stay with these characters long after I finished the last page.

This book has heart, humor, charm, and something increasingly rare: optimism. It believes people can grow, relationships can heal, and individuals can become more than the labels placed on them.

I finished it wanting the next book immediately.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sent this as an ARC, and I read it not entirely sure what to expect, but overall I really enjoyed this book. Flora is such a fun character to experience. Her quirky personality and fashion sense were so much fun to read. Add poor, oblivious Finn and you've got your story already 😂

This was a very refreshing read overall. It's so nice to find a clean romance that is actually clean, while still being engaging and enjoyable.

[Sophie Devoto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I seriously couldn't put it down and read it in one day!

The Story: Well written, funny, and entertaining without the action found in camp chronicles. I enjoy Jericho's sense of humor and how she leaves hints throughout the story about what has been really happening. How Finn noticed Flora before she changed, before she was seen as "pretty". The flashbacks and stories about the Woodhouse brothers and Flora's past together. How Flora stayed undeniably herself, just with a new taste in fashion and a haircut. Every character had their quirks that made them stand out.

I personally enjoy romance stories, but it's SOOO hard to find a clean and not spicy YA romance novel these days. I appreciate authors who don't need to rely on spice and dirty language to try and make their book more interesting. Even if you don't normally enjoy romance, the writing of How To: Con Finn Woodhouse is on-point and the characters are interesting and more than just a cliche, so you should try reading it anyway ;).

I had fun looking for Camp Chronicles Easter eggs, although it has been a while since I read Camp Chronicles so I probably missed most of them.

I'm excited to see how HTCFW connects to the other books in the Mirror Garden series, I have a few ideas...

[Olivia Schubert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great!! I read the ARC in under 24 hours. It was truly a page turner. The characters were lovable and relatable, and I seriously could not put this book down. I also love the Bible quote in the beginning and all the religious and pop culture references.