2.75 stars
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this digital ARC.
I am a sucker for an enemies-to-lovers romance, especially when it's done so superbly. This one, sadly, was just fine. While I generally liked the writing of Jen DeLuca, this one felt a little paint-by-numbers for me. And if I'm being honest, the enemies part felt kind of flimsy.
Emily is staying at her sister's to take care of her niece after a car accident temporarily put her sister out of commission. As summer rolls around, her niece ropes her into participating in the local Ren Faire and that's where she meets Simon. They immediately butt heads and things evolve from there.
This story earns the rating because there was potential of greatness but Emily and Simon's clash is not all that strong. In reading it, it feels more like Emily is misinterpreting his 'hatred' for something else. Their hatred didn't leap off the pages for me and the transition to more was just okay. The climax of them getting together was nicely written so I'll give the author that. I feel like they got together too soon in the book and it was rushed so it was too obvious that there would be conflict before they truly got together. Their chemistry was just fine but it was nothing special compared to other enemies-to-lovers books I've read. The best part about this book was the Ren Faire aspect of it all and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about it. The supporting characters had interesting story lines and Ren Faire characters so it kept me reading. I was able to read this in one day so it does flow well enough. The hate to love aspect simply needed to be stronger and more fleshed out.

4 lovely, the sweetest, heartwarming, Shakespeare-n, poetic and fair-y , entertaining stars!

It's a lovely rom-com, smartly developed characters with great chemistry, love, sisterhood, family. second chances, grief story.

Renaissance Faire theme a little bit disturbed me but all those lively, small town, genuine characters made me have a second thought.

Emily may be an ordinary heroine with her regular story-line as a beginning of most of the rom-coms ( girls loses her job or is cheated, dumped by boyfriend , having nowhere to go than a family crisis occurs so she goes there to fix it and patch things up!
But her parts with Simon, stubborn , pretentious hero who is hiding his emotions behind concrete barriers warmed my heart! They were one of the lovely couples I've read for so long!

As a summary, the book satisfied me , gave me a smile, warmed my heart, touched my soul. It's a great, soft, summer reading!

I DEVOURED THIS BOOK.
Ahhh. I can’t describe how much I loved this book. The writing was so wonderful and I love the characters so so much.
Simon. Oh Simon. I loved him so much.
And oh my god Mitch lmao. I need more!!
But I loved Emily, with her insecurities but strong sense of self.
Y’all. This book was everything. I learned so much about Faires and I felt like I visited one for the summer too.
10/10 would recommend!

Thank you Netgalley for the early copy of this book.

I enjoyed it, mostly. The faire setting was fun to read about. I just wish the chemistry between the two main characters was stronger.
Emily’s thoughts dragged on and I had to skip through some pages multiple times.

This book was a delight from start to finish. The author had such a way of describing settings and plot that I actually felt like I was there (and when I realized I wasn’t, I reallllllly wanted to be there). I am so going to talk this book up to my library patrons and I can’t wait to purchase it!

This was an incredibly cute and nerdy rom-com! If you enjoy Renaissance Fairs, you will absolutely, incredibly enjoy this story. It was a super cute enemies-to-lovers. I, personally, am not 100000% into Renaissance Fairs so some of the details flew past me, but the love story was cute!

Consider me properly wooed by this book! This was the perfect summer romance.

Fresh of the heels of a bad break up, Emily moves to a small town to take care of her older sister and niece after her sister was in a car crash. Emily gets roped into joining the town’s annual Renaissance Faire as a tavern wench. Right off the bat she get’s off on the wrong foot with the leader of the faire, Simon, who seems to disapprove of every move Emily makes. But once the faire begins, Emily’s wench persona can’t take her eyes off the pirate captain, played by none other than Simon. And when Captain Blackthrone wastes no chance to flirt with her, she becomes confused as to whether this is all a part of the show or actually real.

I loved the premise of this book so much. Emily and Simon clearly detested each other. But their faire characters fell into somewhat of a “showmance". and the banter was 10/10. I really loved the two sides of Simon. During the week he was a buttoned up English teacher but on the weekend, he let loose and became a devilish pirate with a wicked tongue *wink*

I also really liked Emily as a protagonist. Because of her previous breakup, she was dealing with insecurities of not being enough. She was somewhat lost at the start of the book and I loved seeing her move out of her comfort zone and embrace a new start.

I am definietly adding whatever Jen DeLuca writes next to my tbr!

This book was swoon-worthy, I can’t stop thinking about it! I love the trope, enemies to lovers, and this fit it perfectly and was a book for me. I loved the setting and what it did to the hero and heroine, taking on different personas involving pirates and kilt-wearing warriors, and with that conflicting feeling arise.

Emily dealing with her bad breakup and coming to a new town with no strings now takes a turn when she joins the Renaissance Faire with her niece and is brought into a new world, a world which Simon is determined to keep on track. The two clash and Emily can’t seem to get on the right side with Simon, but Captain Ian Blackthorne and Emma are an entirely different story.

This was such a great read for summer and was a lot of fun. If you’re looking for a cute and sexy read with a hate/love relationship, this is a great option!

Thank you so much to Berkley Romance for providing me with an ARC

I love a good ole’fashioned romance. Small town, slow burn with everything you want and more.
It was a smart, funny and endearing read.
Very sweet and clean.
Plus pirates, wrenches and kilts...

~BREAKDOWN OF RATINGS~
Plot~ 5/5
Main Characters (hero/heroine)~ 5/5
Secondary Characters~ 5/5
The Feels~ 5/5
Pacing~ 5/5
Addictiveness~5/5
Angst~ 5/5
Steam/Hotness/Chemisty ~ 5/5
Theme or Tone~ 5/5
Flow (Writing Style)~ 5/5
Backdrop (World Building)~ 5/5
Originality~ 5/5
Ending~ 5/5
Book Cover~ Simple but conveyed the right message
Series~ Standalone
Source~ Kindle eBook - copy provided by publishing through NetGalley

Would I read more from the author? Yes
Would I recommend this book? Yes

3.75 stars for this Renaissance Faire-inspired contemporary romance. Emily, fresh off a painful breakup with her long-term boyfriend - she dropped out of college to put him through law school, spoiler: BIG MISTAKE - temporarily moves to the small town of Willow Creek in Maryland to help out her older sister April, who's laid up from a severe car accident, and April's 14 year old daughter Caitlin.

Right after she gets to town Emily finds out that Cait is dead set on participating in the town's amateur, six-weekend-long Renaissance Faire as a performer and - lucky Emily - a parent or guardian is required to participate as well. Which Emily wouldn't mind so much if the high school English teacher in charge of the fair, Simon, weren't such a critical, annoying stick in the mud. Maybe she's more interested in Mitch, the hot blond gym teacher ("Gaston mixed with Captain America")?

The weird thing (to Emily) is that when Simon starts dressing up as a pirate for the fair, it's like he gets a total personality transplant. What gives?

Well Met is a cute, sexy read. There's not too much really unusual going on here, as compared to other contemporary romance novels, other than the Ren Faire setting, and maybe Simon's struggles to deal with a tragedy in his past. But if you like the idea of the main couple acting like a pirate and a bartending tavern wench (yay?) during their spare time while they work out their love-hate relationship ... this should fit the bill.

Enjoyable rom-com with a Renaissance Faire at the center of the story. Sparks fly in a bad way when Emily joins her niece working at the Faire for the summer. Her nonchalant attitude does not impress Simon, who is the organizer. Once the Faire starts, Simon's pirate character starts flirting with Emily's serving wench and those sparks turn from hate to love, or do they? Role-playing versus real life, Emily has to decide if small town life is for her and if she'll have a happily ever after.

Thanks to @Netgalley and @berkleyromance for allowing me to read this ARC of Well Met in exchange for my review! This one had been on my radar for a while so I was thrilled I was approved for this ARC.
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Emily has moved to Willow Creek to help her sister recover from a car accident and help with the care of her teenage niece. Her life has been rather unpredictable of late, but she definitely didn’t expect to be volunteering for a Renaissance Fair for her niece’s school. Luckily, she finds she grows to love the people and town more by participating, except for Simon. The surly, often cold, English teacher and Fair director doesn’t seem very keen on the newcomer to town. Are they destined to be enemies forever or is there more to the tension between these two?
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I can honestly tell you anytime a book’s main character shares my name, it automatically gets major bonus points. Though the premise of a Renaissance Fair as a setting for a love story had me arching an eyebrow, it actually made a great setting for a very cute story. I found myself laughing out loud several times and the story moved right along. One of the center places of this book is a book shop, so again, major bonus points.
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There were some things I didn’t love about this book. There wasn’t as much tension or depth to this story as I would have liked. There were plenty of “cheesy” moments (and I’m a sucker for those moments), but there was almost too much of it at times throughout this story for my taste.
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Overall, this was still a cute, summer read and worth a read for a light hearted rom-com!

I enjoyed this first novel by Jen DeLuca and will keep an eye out for future books by her.

One sentence summary: Emily temporarily moves to a small town to help out family, finds herself volunteering for a Renaissance Fair, learns about herself, and develops new friendships (and more) with the town's citizens.

Like I said, this was an enjoyable book. I can honestly say I've never read a book set at a Renaissance Fair before, and it was cool to get a glimpse of what they're like. I liked all the characters and really liked the story line of how Emily gets closer to her family.

My criticism is that it was a little slow to get into - the first third of the book was just about preparing for the fair, and I found that to be kind of boring. There wasn't a ton of conflict (not that that's bad!), and the conflict that was there was just okay (it was mostly about trying to decipher Simon's mood swings with a dash of misunderstanding-causes-angst thrown in). Despite this, I would still recommend it and thought the author did a good job.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Well Met was a super fun debut novel! I was immediately sold on the quirky cute premise and small town Ren Fair setting. I love slow burn and enemies to lovers tropes and really enjoyed this lighthearted take. I would definitely recommend it to fans of contemporary romance and look forward to reading more from the author!

4.5 stars -- I was between a 4 & 4.5 stars for this, as I do think there are some plausibility issues in the progression of feelings in the central relationship... but ultimately, I don't care about those issues. I had SUCH a great time reading this and was so delighted to find such a charming contemporary that scratched my itch for slow burn romance a la Mariana Zapata. I loved pretty much every element of this aside from a little bit of instalove, from the small town setting, to unironic enjoyment of Ren Faire life, to the family dynamics, to the characters... yeah. Really fun, really adorable, and hit me right in the feels in the best way possible. (Also, snaps to this author on such a strong debut-- the authorial voice and overall pacing were handled very nicely, and I will definitely be looking out for more from Jen DeLuca)

Wow. This story drew me in from the first few pages and didn't let go. I adored Emily and Simon, and the whole cast of characters, and quickly became invested in what was happening in their lives, as we as The Faire. And the Faire itself - what a unique setting! So much fun! This will definitely be a reread and I can't wait to read more from DeLuca!

***Thanks to the publishers and #Netgalley for providing me with a copy of #WellMet in exchange for my honest review***

::Happy sigh::

Jen DeLuca's novel is about starting over and finding your strength to put yourself first. Emily has moved into her sister's to help her and her niece after an accident. Emily has been through a rough patch and needs a new start. Where better to start than a small town that puts on a Ren Faire every year. At first she thinks it's silly, but a handsome pirate soon changes her mind.

I could not put this down! The characters were complicated and so lovely and the story flowed perfectly. The sexual tension was spot-on.

I can't wait for more from Jen DeLuca!

*ARC received for an honest review*

First and foremost, take my reviews with a grain of salt right now. I am just an unhappy, bored reader. Nothing is capturing my heart or my attention. I had hope for this cute little book though - and it wasn’t bad.

Emily moves to a new town to help her sister after an accident. She gets sucked into the town Renaissance Fair where she meets Simon - the grumpy English teacher in charge. They immediately clash. And then their Fair alter egos like one another while they don’t like each other in real life.

I felt like there was no real explanation for Simon’s change of heart. Both of these characters had some intense self-doubt that leaked into their relationship. I appreciate that’s realistic - it just isn’t fun. There were lots of times Emily should have spoken up. Or had more faith in herself. And times when Simon was just illogical in his actions.

Still it was cute. Super easy read. I liked the Ren Fair aspect. I liked the Shakespeare. I liked that Simon wasn’t a macho hulk. This was definitely a sweet light read perfect for the summer - and a non-angry reader.

What a wonderful debut!

A renaissance festival romance? Count me in!

Emily has had a rough year, so when her sister needs help recovering from an accident, she moves to the small town - Willow Creek - where everyone knows everything about each other. Emily is roped into participating in the local Renaissance Festival with her niece, but clashes with Simon. The straight-lace English teacher doesn't appreciate the suggestions from Emily to change how things are run.

My favorite thing about this romance was how Simon was able to come out of his shell and forget his worries when he was "in character" as Captain Blackthorne - the pirate of the Renaissance Festival. When things go off script, and Emily's character as a tavern wench becomes involved with the charming pirate, Emily is forced to recognize her attraction to the frustratingly closed off man.

Simon has a lot of things in his past that has made him such an advocate for keeping the Festival the same every year. As he lets Emily get close enough to see these scars, she begins to understand his motivations and how Simon, too, is stuck in a sort of limbo.

I absolutely loved this book, and I hope that we continue to see couples in this small town in future books!

I enjoyed the book and the back and forth between the main characters. I felt like the main character could be repetitive at times. I liked the setting of the Faire and the characters that Emily befriended along.