This is one of those books that is going to nag at me.

First, I want to say this is described on the back as an “endearing and humorous novel,” “joyful and uplifting,” and I couldn’t disagree more. This is not a light, romantic read. *See my note at the bottom.

It kind of reminded me of People We Meet on Vacation where the author uses past and present timelines to build up to the break up and how they deal with being back together after years apart. The difference for me with this one was I never really felt invested in them as a couple. Their chemistry and physical attraction happened really fast, was glossed over—no steam here—and never really grew from there. There was no banter, no common interests, nothing that connected them on a deeper level during their entire relationship. It was pretty tumultuous the whole time and I still wasn’t convinced at the end that they should get back together.

This is a story mostly about toxic relationships and the effect they have on one’s feeling of self-worth. Most of these characters are flawed and the hook for me was seeing how it was going to all play out and how they would overcome them. However, I still kind of felt icky at the end. They all still have A LOT of work to do and the story felt far from resolved.

There was also a twist in here I didn’t expect that wasn’t really necessary to the story involving a character who, also, wasn’t necessary to the story. I’m looking at you Rodney.