What makes a love story compelling isn’t just a well deserved happily ever after, nor is it the moment where two best friends realize that their person has never been far. What makes a romance compelling is the couple’s journey to one another despite the obstacles they’ll inevitably encounter. Wilhelmina Cunningham and Ramsey Bishop had such a solid friendship that their transition to lovers was so effortless it surprised even them. Loving each other through loss, through grief, and life’s challenging transitions is what made this union arguably the best depiction of the friends to lover trope that I’ve ever read.  

I no longer question how Christina C. Jones does it. As long as she is still passionate about continuing to do this—crafting love stories that doesn’t shy away from life’s complexities— then that’s all that matters. Wil’s journey to recovery after a major life shift while simultaneously experiencing other major life changes resonated heavily with me. I understood her fear, her hesitancy, and yet her insistence to enjoy the blessings this season of her life was bringing. Ramsey’s journey to rediscovering his “why” for his passion reminded me of moments where I also had to reconnect to what fuels my passion.

Finding or rediscovering your why, recovering from loss, growing in grief, challenged by life’s rollercoaster—these things do not impede on what is for you finding you. Wil and Ram’s personal journeys aligned in such a way that brought them closer together rather than part. Though certain plot lines were similar to past series installments, there was enough variety to make this one just as entertaining and unique to this couple. May we all be encouraged like Wilhelmina was to focus on the blessings life is bestowing upon us in the current season and not remain stuck on the ones we thought were for us in the past season.