A solid 4 stars, because damn, I really liked this book. The writing is still distancing for me, I never get giddy or shaky-happy or react enough to need to put the book aside for a moment and breathe, and I like having that in my romance, but this was really pleasant? I enjoyed reading this. When I called Roberts oldish after the first book I meant it, and I still think I'm right, but that also means maturity, I think, and that translates to really solid friendships and relationships, and really sturdy, good people, which I liked so much. No weird conflicts or jumping to bad conclusions, no real irrationality - always points in a book's favour when it does that for me. And maybe it's because Del is such a big part of this group already, or maybe it's because Carter and Jack have been drafted in at this point, but this book felt like a group of friends who are family, who adore each other and respect each other and love time with each other, which I also liked so much.

I also liked - how Parker dealt with her brother and one of her best friends considering a relationship (which is to say, she didn't do anything, just thought it through; how fucking nice, not having that meddlesome-ness); how Laurel and Del considered each other without going to the "what if we try something at it doesn't work out" line of thinking or worrying (because they're adults who love their group - tribe - and they'd be able to deal with it!); how the group of friends - this tribe - feels really cosy and comfortable and nice without feeling forced (because books or TV shows with big groups of people who gradually become everything to each other tend to feel heavy-handed or forced or false to me often). The main group of four love each other a lot without being cloying or over-the-top. I like that the friendships and relationships here get love across not with big gestures but with little knowing things, background things; knowing how to deal with a particular fight, knowing little things about one another from years of experience. It feels comfortably comfortable. Del and Laurel in particular focused a lot on knowing each other for years and loving each other now, which is so nice because books with this particular trope don't do that enough. The shift isn't usually documented enough. This was good.

Considering how much there is here to like it's weird that I'm not emotionally into it, but I enjoyed it, and sometimes that's what you need from a book. Glad I skipped Emma's book for this.