A wedding day is filled with joyous memories filled with family, friends, and the beginning of a new chapter for the bride and groom… except for Sawyer it was a day and last place he wanted to be part of, since he was the groomsman for his best friend, who was marrying his ex girlfriend. Not only was it uncomfortable, but Sawyer was made to play the part in this ceremony. In a low key savage yet understandable moment, Sawyer decided he was leaving since he didn’t care about these people… right in the middle of the ceremony. A runaway groomsman was unique, hilarious, and filled with moments that had me equally laughing and swooning from the romance and lightheartedness. 

I cannot imagine being at the wedding for my ex so for Sawyer to be a groomsman for his ex, I gave him props for sticking it out as long as he did. I admired Sawyer for just doing what he wanted on his own terms. Despite the initial threats that forced him to be part of the wedding part, he later realized he fulfilled all the obligations required of him so what point was there in sticking around people he couldn’t care less about. I also enjoyed his “I don’t care” exit from the church haha. 

Since Sawyer stayed in Canoodle, California, it was a small town with the locals all knowing one another and being surrounded by mountain views. Sawyer met a couple of interesting people from Jaz, Sully, and of course Fallon. Fallon was the sweet, independent woman who was in charge of running the cabin lodgings where Sawyer stayed. I found it interesting that Fallon and Sawyer had already met in the past… that being that they went on a blind date few years back, but unfortunately Sawyer had no memory of it. Whilst trying to stay hidden and regroup from the fall out of the disastrous wedding ceremony, Sawyer was left trying to come up with the next big screen play that would save his career. 

For Fallon, maintaining and trying to fix her the cabins wasn’t just for the sake of the business, but also maintaining the memories she had growing up when she visited her grandparents. I respected the amount of time and effort Fallon put into everything in order to help her grandpa Sully. Sully, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s had a lot to under take to care for him and ensure he was comfortable at all times. Fallon put her former job as a nurse on the back burner and changed aspects of her life from moving homes, and jobs in order to care for Sully. Fallon had her fair share of struggles, but through it all she was determined to save the cabins and it was nice she also had help curtesy of Sawyer doing work on the renovations. Suffice it to say, Fallon was a strong character in her own right and even with juggling so many responsibilities she made the time for her friends and boyfriend to have some life outside of caring for Sully. With Sully, I liked seeing how grumpy he was around Sawyer, and how they formed a friendship together building things for the cabins. Sully was a sweet and grumpy character who I liked and loved seeing the connection between him and Fallon.

Another thing I liked about this book was how in the story Sawyer tried coming up with new ideas for his next screen play. Whenever Sawyer would try to come up with a potential storyline, he would imagine the scenario, the characters arc, the tropes, etc.  In the book, the companies that Saywer had worked with were essentially what Netflix and Hallmark companies were, expect with the name change of course but you get the idea when reading. The fact that Sawyer was in a small town, even he knew that there was potential for possible storylines that he could create, but it was all a matter of how to craft the perfect one that made sense for him to write. Even in the moments when Sawyer found himself narrating in his head about the town, the people, and picturing him being part of the story made me laugh a bit. In a way, it felt like Sawyer was pointing out all the things that we readers enjoy seeing in stories from the romance, the different personalities, and plot. 

Sawyer and Fallon may have had a disastrous blind date many years ago, but this time around they really got a chance to know each other. I really enjoyed how Sawyer and Fallon developed a friendship through out the story because, in that time it allowed for them to truly get to know each other. In mere weeks, Sawyer was able to understand aspects of Fallon’s life that truly meant a lot to her. Things such as, the significance and importance as to why she wanted to maintain the Canoodle cabins Sully made, and also how important Sully was to her. Sawyer had such a natural ease with Sully, and it made for a great friendship as well. I think for Fallon she realized fairly quickly that despite initially attempting to ignore her attraction to Sawyer, she couldn’t help but see how much he fit perfectly into her life and the people in it too. I loved seeing the lighthearted nature and jokes that Sawyer and Fallon had and also able to have deep conversations together. The slow burn was well worth the wait and had me throughly enjoyed every aspect, even the moment when Fallon and Sawyer would just hold hands and hug made me so freaking happy! That’s when you know the slow burn is good is when even the smallest touches or words have a greater impact. The romance between them was absolutely swoon worthy and oh so spoke to the hopeless romantic in me. I couldn’t get over how sweet and loving Sawyer and Fallon were together. 

This was such a wholesome, funny, lighthearted, and heartfelt story with lovable characters and a unique premise. With the small town setting, and the different characters living in the town, it was easy to feel sucked into the world, and feel like I was part of the community. I really enjoyed the slow burn romance between Fallon and Sawyer, and the building tension between them had me excited. The romance was absolutely romantic and I couldn’t get over how much of a romantic Sawyer was. The relationship between Sully, Fallon and Sawyer was so endearing and come on, who couldn’t adore Sully’s grumpy attitude. Meghan Quinn always knows the way to my heart and has a way of making me smile and laugh while reading her books and this book was no exception. Would totally recommend this book!