I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

This is such a wonderful story and comical with how it begins. Tess is not at all what is expected from an art loving, rich, NY city girl unexpectedly spending her summer in a small town in the middle of nowhere in the south. I love watching her gain her confidence, friendships and so much more. The relationships in this story say so much.

Colten, the small town boy seems to be everything anyone could want, but he holds back for his own reasons and a family we all fall in love with. The author did such a great job portraying these two characters, Tess’s growth, their growing attraction, the relationships Tess develops and her struggles. I highly recommend this read for anyone who loves new adult fiction and romance. This book seems to have it all!

This was a great read! I really enjoyed the main characters and the writing of this one! The story was quick and easy!

DNF @ 11%. This book is too childishly written for me, and I don't feel like reading something like this at the moment. I love small-town romances and friends-to-lovers romances, but this is starting very slowly, and I'm just not that into it. The writing is a little on the cheesy side. I may pick this up at a later date, but it's a DNF for now.

Thank you to NetGalley, Rayna York, and Toad Tree Press for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

i really really wanted to love this one. small town romance, great characters, friends to lovers trope (MY FAVE- dont fight me on this) (i have a sword collection) (for legal reasons that was a joke) (for other reasons it wasnt), u know everything was there. it just needed that extra ZUSH. idk the word for it or how to begin to spell it, just sound it out. the girls that get it get it, the girls that dont shouldnt be reading my reviews.
i still really recommend it, and liked it! just isn't making my top favourite shelf unfortunately. was a highly anticipated read for me. lmk if u think differently after reading it!
thx netgalley for this book that im finally sitting down to review, hope its not too late for the thank you

The description of the book alone sold me on requesting it on NetGalley. (I think the cover art could have been better 😅) It reminded me of one of my favorite movies Where the Heart Is, where a woman gets left in a small town by her boyfriend who drives away with her phone, wallet, and belongings. Leaving her to figure it out on her own with no one to call for help. Unfortunately, it was extremely cringy with how the characters talked or acted and unrealistic in a way that made it super corny. I wanted to love it, but I’m only giving it 2 stars because it reminded me of one of those corny lifetime movies you wanna love but can’t because of how bad the acting is. The idea for the book was unique and there though.


Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an early readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute, quick, summery read. I can see devouring this on a beach day. It was relatively predictable, but the characters made it worth it. This was a great YA book and I can definitely see a younger audience thoroughly enjoying it! I was quite invested in Tess’s story and her journey of found family, love, friendship, identity and standing her ground. Would recommend.

What a cute story! Perfect for fans of small town vibes and a sweet love story.
I flew through this book and was sad to see it end.

The writing in this felt very stilted and despite an intriguing premise I couldn't bring myself to finish it. The main character and her likely love interest also both annoyed me from the get go, which further compounded my inability to finish this.

This was a very cute and heartfelt small town romance! I really liked the small town of Jasper Creek and the the love story between the couple was perfect. The pacing was great and the emotion came across just right. I was hooked from the beginning!

Cute summer read of a modern day fairytale. A great YA book! I got through this book so fast, I couldn't put it down.

This felt like a much shorter book than it was. The protagonists in this book are younger in age than my regular reads, but the situations they find themselves in give them a form of maturity.
Our leading lady finds herself abandoned in a gas station, and she does not immediately grasp the seriousness of her situation. Her boyfriend has taken off in her fancy car without paying for the gas and taking all her money and clothes with him. It may have meant to be a prank taken to the extreme, but I shudder to think of what that would actually feel like!
Tess is so embarrassed by the situation that she grasps the only lifeline thrown to her and stays to work off the money instead of calling her parents in for a rescue. The rest of the book is about the reasons for the decision and her growth arc, as Tess realises that there is a world out there that she was earlier unaware of.
There is the standard flow of events, but the author has written well, and I think the best part was the final few chapters and the conversations that took place because it provided a good ending to better appreciate the journey until that point.
The characters are all quite distinct, and each plays their role well and ensure that there is a lot of variety in the book, whether it is the kinds of people or the decisions they make in their lives.
There is not much more that I can elaborate on about a book like this. It was a pleasant, quick read, and I would recommend it to readers of the genre.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

This was a lovely YA romance, perfect for the summer time or to get into the summer vibes. I really liked the small town and everything about it, especially the family Tess meets when she is left at the gas station. I’m not the biggest fan of ‘insta love’, but it worked for the story.

Very slow start and it really did take me a bit to get into. But once I got going, it was pretty cute

This was a fun cute read! Pretty hard for me to not enjoy small-town romances.

Thank you to Netgalley, publisher, and author for the ARC!

Book review :

Charming and beautifully written, “The Right Kind of Unexpected” is a gentle, heart-warming tale of redemption, hope, discovering who you are meant to be and finding the one place in the world you can call home. This is a story that echoes back to the old-fashioned notion of working for what you want, having the patience to wait for something and being prepared to take a chance on love.

The story revolves around 18-year-old Tess who is travelling to Disney World with her boyfriend Dax. Dax ends up taking her car along with her wallet, phone and other things leaving her stranded and shell-shocked at a gas station in a small town called Jasper Creek where she knows no one. That is until she meets Colten and his family.

Colten is a boy around Tess’s age who works in the garage attached to the gas station. His parents, the owners of the gas station and diner next door offer Tess a waitressing job and a place to stay for the summer. She chooses to take the job so that she doesn’t have to spend her last summer before starting her first semester at NYU alone in a house where she’d be surrounded by her two negligent parents.

I was really, really invested in Tess’s story and journey of found family, love, friendship, identity and standing her ground. Will she find her love ?

I liked reading this book and would recommend this book to all. I am thankful to netgalley and the publisher for gifting me this book in return of an honest review.

Happy Reading!

A small town romance is always a fun read for me.

I think because I’ve read so many that i expected a little more from it. The initial point that dragged me in was her boyfriend leaving her at a gas station but I feel like I was missing an extra umph from the novel overall.

The writing was very interesting & kept me intrigued, but I was not completely captivated with the story as I have been with other small town romances.

I loved the slow burn romance of this book! A lot of romance novels will jump into things but it's a relief to finally read a book where the charters start as friends and their relationship progresses into something more. Definitely more realistic in terms of real life relationships! I loved all of the characters and truly felt engulfed in the storyline.

This was a cute summer read. She ends up getting abandoned at a small town gas station/diner after a crappy boyfriend takes off with her car, cell, and wallet. She finds the nicest people in existence who just happen to have an age appropriate super hot son. They give her a safe place to live and work and she finds everything she was missing from her life up in NYC.

There's a time jump and I didn't mind it one bit. I think the story needed it. I just wish she had kept in touch with everyone at least a little bit in the off page time. I appreciated her relationships with everyone in the book but really liked how she won over Jed, the grumpiest of grumpy old men.

this book was so incredible!! i am so thankful to netgalley for letting me read this book early! it was just such a fun and precious read. loved it so much!!!!