Kristen does it again!! Another grumpy single dad romance that I can't put down. Elena and her next door neighbor, Grant, get into a prank war when his daughter Noah steals her candy bowl on Halloween. After hi-jinx ensue, Elena ends up befriending Noah and helping her in math. This is an age gap, single dad, grumpy sunshine novella for the ages. Despite some plot holes (which is where the .5 stars have gone) this is a solid, adorable, and quick read. A great palette cleanser in between harder reads. 

Not a bad book but not for me. Everything moved really fast and the dynamics changed between the characters really quickly, too quickly. There was a big focus on their age gap and her infertility and the lack of communication surrounding this was frustrating at times. 

The relationship between Noah and Elena was sweet and it was nice to show that anyone can become family and look out for you. Grant (not a name I want to read in a romance book) was too old to be acting the way he did even though most of it came from a good place, I liked that he opened up with Elena's help. I enjoyed that Elena wasn't passive and that was strong but also vulnerable. Lots of bits of drama all came about near the end, but still, not the book for me, it felt like it was missing something. I think I just wanted a bit more depth for each of the characters and the events that happened. 

This is definitely a shorter read, but I loved every minute of it. For reference, I really very fast, so I read this in less than 2 hours. The story didn’t feel rushed or cut short. I actually found myself wanting more chapters nearing the end, but I really enjoyed the 2 years of epilogue at the end. In my experience, there’s normally only one.

This entire novel was so well executed and well thought out. All the characters were likeable and I never once thought “wow, this character is exceptionally annoying.”  I loved all the characters. The way the author delicately talks about the triggers was so heart warming and I found myself getting emotional for the Elena. The fact that the author gave Noah a voice was so refreshing and she truly felt a main part of the entire book. Grant was amazing and didn’t make me think, “I’m rolling my eyes so hard at this main character my eyes actually hurt.” 

I just loved this book so much. If you’re coming here from Tiktok, read it. It’s everything that every TikTok I saw made it seem. There’s a reason this has such good ratings.