Spoilers below so read at your own risk! Damn, this took me awhile to finish. Honestly my somewhat disappointment is really my fault because I went into this book with really high expectations, but I'm not sure why, beyond the fact that I was interested in the blurb on the back of the book.
However, this was decently good. I liked Ted. I liked the setting being in Jersey. I liked all of the side characters in Jersey, for the most part. My biggest qualm with this book was Laura. I'd consider myself a hopeless romantic in a lot of ways, but Laura is the same age as me and this homegirl is straight up delulu. I was so frustrated with her for most of the book for being so obsessed with the luggage guy/Jasper even when Ted was so obviously right in front of her. I was also annoyed at her for believing the fantasy of her parents' story when it was very clear that her parents' relationship was clearly anything but.
I read another review that mentioned how they thought the author was bold to not make Jasper a villain. I agree with this--it was bold, and I'm not sure if I liked it. Jasper was bizarre. His whole obsession with kitchens is not a "normal" passion (to my knowledge), and it made it difficult for me to see him as anything more than a caricature. I think the kitchens bit was supposed to be funny, but I was like, is this guy OK? Anyways, by the time Laura agreed to do a photoshoot with Jasper (like 70% into the book!), I was like, omg when will this torture end? It took me forever to keep pushing through because this book really dragged out the Jasper storyline, to the detriment of the Ted storyline. I also kind of just wanted both Jasper and Suki to fade off into the sunset; I was a little annoyed that Jasper and Suki's story took up most of the epilogue, especially considering they were my 2 least favorite characters in Laura's story.
Because there was so much focus on closing up loose ends with Jasper & Suki, the ending with Ted was so rushed. To sum it all up: Laura goes on a date with Jasper and they kiss, then she comes home and kisses Ted, then she tells Ted about the letter from his ex-wife and Ted walks away/disappears, then Ted is MIA for like days while we have to read a ton of shit about other characters, then Ted comes back and randomly confesses his love to Laura while she's doing a photoshoot with Jasper, and then they all live HEA? This grand gesture just happened so abruptly after we hadn't seen him in so long, and then suddenly Laura and Ted were dancing for like a paragraph in her mom's special spot and then they were having sex. Granted, the whole book is a pretty rushed relationship considering the story takes place over the course of 3 days, but damn, they really rushed at the end. Not to repeat myself but I will, I really just wish we got more of Laura and Ted's life in the epilogue rather than recapping Suki and Jasper.
Anyways, it was an enjoyable little romcom. A bit predictable. Not particularly spicy, but it has it's sweet moments, and I loved Ted. There are some tough but important life lessons spread throughout. I just set my expectations too high for this book in general. Laura was frustrating as fuck, and Jasper/Suki were annoying me for most of the book. It took awhile to push through this one, but glad I can check it off my TBR.