okay this fucking slapped. granted, the common accusations of false advertising in this book are probably well-founded, but i read it on kindle, so i barely ever saw the fluffly summery cover while reading. i myself loved it and could not put it down, despite the heavy subject matter. most of the time it felt almost like something that could happen in real life, which is a rarity in this genre i think?

honestly i don't think someone like 23yo gus would fancy someone like january, brooding guys at this age just don't function that way,

but their relationship at the lake houses was both believable and compelling. i also loved the pace, not too slow and not too fast, with just the perfect amount of introspection. the humor was a little stale though, and also there was a little of this overwrought time travelers wife-style romantic melodrama at the end, but i feel like that is to be expected with an american romance book, so i let it slide. if not for those, it would have been a full five star