4.5 ✰

• Thank you to NetGalley & Dell Books for an ARC of People Watching by Hannah Bonam-Young. All thoughts are my own :)

Hannah Bonam-Young can do no wrong with the books she releases; she has easily become my favorite romance author, and I always buy her new releases as soon as they're available. I love this cover as well.

I loved reading this and learning more about Milo & Prue and how their story grows. I loved the dual pov and being able to read their feelings grow for each other and being able to learn more about the separate families and the difficulties that each family had going on at the time, the characters having their familial issues going on made them feel more realistic. one thing i did not love about this book was the insta love, Prue & Milo had fallen in love veryyyy quickly which just is not for me! I still overall loved the story and love Hannah Bonam-Young’s writing and characters!

3🌟

I had a lot of high hopes from this, especially because of how much I love HBY, and this cover is absolutely stunning! However, this ultimately fell flat for me, and I think this may be my least favorite book of hers.

HBY books are always short, sweet, and to the point. This is something I have come to love from her, especially because she has the ability to flesh out an entire story in less than 400 pages. Her writing is easy to digest, allowing me to fly through this book in one day. However, I felt like everything about Prue and Milo's story was rushed, unrealistic, and superficial. In this day & age, the hyper-experienced mmc paired with an infantilized virgin fmc is a no for me. Like... I genuinely thought he was joking when he said his body count was 200+. Milo was literally so obsessed with Prue, and not in a good or cute way, tbh.

Again, I cannot support these two MCs getting together. I am a firm believer in love taking time to develop and nourish, but they literally fell in love within like a month? And they were instantly attracted and lustful for each other within the first week! There was little to no emotional connection between the two of them and everything was just overall rushed and surface-level.

Honestly, the plot was all over the place and dare I say, a bit of a trauma dump as well. I genuinely think Milo needed therapy and Prue needed to grow up. So many things went wrong in this book! The third act breakup, which lasted all of 24 hours, was unnecessary and predictable. I think there was so much potential for the storyline, but it ultimately crashed and burned, in my opinion.

I don't want to harp too much on this book, because I truly do love all of HBY's other books, but this was a major disappointment. I would say that the only good thing about it is how quick and easy it is to read.

Thank you to Dell and Netgalley for this arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for this eARC!

This was a good book! I’ve only read one other of Bonam-Young’s books, but I saw her in conversation with Lyla Sage semi-recently and the way she spoke about writing, and romance novels in particular, pushed me to finally pick up “Next of Kin” and request this eARC. I definitely was not disappointed. I’m normally a little skeptical about reading virgin FMCs, but the communication between Milo and Prue was top tier. My concern normally lies in the power imbalance, but her being super transparent and him being super clear made that a nonissue.

This book was a lovely exploration about figuring out what is important and what you really want out of life. I really enjoyed the conversations between Prue and her dad about where she was going with her life. Also, I liked the contrast between Milo’s family wanting him to stay and Prue’s wanting her to leave.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, family is definitely my kryptonite—you want to make me cry? Throw in heartfelt conversations between siblings, parent/child, anything, and I’ll sob. So this book definitely got me.

I also love a good small town romance; it’s just such a cozy, comforting vibe. And Bonam-Young did it pretty well. I would’ve maybe liked to see a little more of the extended town and people, but I still really liked the setting.

This will be another great fall read! Definitely recommend picking it up when you can!

Prue is perfectly content living with her father and ill mother, and helping her father at his shop. When former townie turned wanderer Milo returns, she finds herself not as satisfied anymore.

It was a fine. I read it and forgot nearly everything almost immediately, but not because it was bad. While I find the toddler-esque "I do it!" attitude of FMCs in books with ill parents ungodly exhausting, this one almost seemed more so, because she had two men trying to tell her what to do, and she was oddly okay with it?

Again, it was fine. I've liked other titles from this author more. However the "My husband just looks at me and I get pregnant!" troupe of Milo's sister in law almost made me DNF the book. I simply got bored at parts and felt like there was too much going on. Like suddenly Milo and his siblings have *a past* and then it's resolved in like two chapters? Why even have the subplot?

Maybe I didn't actually like it. Thanks, NetGalley!

I actually loved this. This is one of my arcs that I’ll definitely be buying a physical copy of for my bookshelf come September. (It was good but also the cover is gorgeous)

My only real qualm? They went from strangers to deeply in love in 2 months. Be sooo fr.

Otherwise I was smiling through basically 85% of this book. They were just having a great time besides all the not so great things that were happening in their lives. I’m assuming this was alluding to an Aleks and Nadia book as well? If so I hope we get to see more of the siblings getting closer. I have hope for them.

The tattoo and the painting? Hehehehe

This was in fact a classic much more experienced man teaches much less experience woman about sex but I don’t feel like it was gross at all. So many people are saying it was but I’m really not getting that. I thought it was really sweet.

Really not sure how this man had any money to survive at all but shhhhhh that’s not important

Thank you to Dell Romance for the E-ARC of this book.
I love this author so much and was so excited to be able to read this prior to it being published.
While this isn't my favorite of HBY, I still found this story to be endearing and enjoyable.

Milo is a gypsy. He has a mustache, tattoos, a half broken down van, and a wandering soul. He finds himself back in his small town after an emergency call from his brother. Not exactly a tight knit family, Milo is roped into making amends with his past.

Prue is the sheltered hometown sweetheart. She still lives with her parents, taking care of the family business and her mother with dementia.

This is an extreme case of opposites attract. Milo is a man whore and Prue is Mother Theresa (if she had filthy thoughts about mustache man). The chemistry between the characters was lacking and this book was a bit into insta-love for me based on their limited interactions. They are both emotionally stunted, and I think I wanted more character growth that I have come to expect from HBY.

The highlight of this book was each character's family members. HBY always knows how to incorporate the best side characters that you love and want to see more of. I can't wait to read the next book in this series.

Milo and Prudence meet in their small home town after Milo is asked to move back to help his brother start a new brewery!

This is spicyyyy and I LOVED it. I love how Prudence is confident without a guy however finds that Milo adds a lot of positive to her life. I like that Nik, Milo’s brother, encourages them to improve their mental health and do the hard work. I really enjoyed this and Hannah Bonam-young is an auto buy author for me!!

Thank you NetGally for this ARC!

This was a quick and easy read. It is an insta love story, which I’m not a huge fan of. It was a bit unbelievable that Milo instantly fell for Prue after being with so many people and had a hard time with commitment.

I did like the way Prue dealt with her mom’s dementia and family life. I feel that the end was a little rushed with the 3rd act break up.

This is an incredible book that I could not recommend more to romance readers. I am such a fan of Hannah and was so excited to read this and it did not disappoint.

HBY does it again! A lovely masterpiece of self-discovery, exploration, and love. Milo and Prue are such rich characters and their development over time was so well done. But I have to say, Milo was the star of the show. So sexy. So enchanting. So silly. Prue was so eager and sweet. But them together???? Explosive. A million degrees. I definitely would recommend this to everyone!

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for providing me with the advanced reading copy. I was so excited when I received it because Hannah‘s books have been absolutely life-changing and I knew this one wouldn’t be any different from her previous books.spoiler alert it wasn’t. I absolutely adore the story and if you are a fan of contemporary romance and light, fluffly stuff, then I recommend to you.

People Watching wasn't quite the right fit for me, though I went in with high hopes after loving Next of Kin and Out on a Limb. Unfortunately, this one didn't land the same way.

The dual POV might have contributed to my disconnect. I struggled to really feel invested in either main character. Despite the fact that both were written with depth and had meaningful life experiences and trauma, I never fully connected emotionally, which left the story feeling flat.

The pacing felt uneven, and while I'm not opposed to spice in a romance, the frequent explicit scenes here felt more gratuitous than purposeful. They didn't seem to move the story forward, and I found myself skimming through large portions. By that point, I realized I was searching for a plot that never fully materialized.

That said, the characters were realistic, and I can appreciate that others may connect more deeply than I did. This one just didn't work for me personally.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I’m genuinely disappointed by how much this didn’t work for me. I went in hopeful, despite not being a fan of insta-love, because HBY is one of my favorite authors and I thought she might handle the trope in a way that would win me over. Unfortunately, the pacing felt rushed and the chemistry between Milo and Prue never really clicked for me. Their entire romance spans just a couple of weeks, and while I can get behind love at first sight in theory, I just wasn’t convinced by how it unfolded here.

Milo, in particular, raised a lot of red flags. He seemed oblivious to basic social cues and, like others have mentioned, there were moments that called his understanding of consent into question. Prue was a bit more tolerable, stubborn for sure and not the best communicator, but ultimately not compelling enough to carry the story. Neither character really resonated with me, and the narrative voice didn’t feel quite like the HBY I’ve come to love.

I wish this had worked out, but it just wasn’t for me. That said, if you're more open to insta-love and less focused on character depth, it may land better for you.

thank you netgalley and dell for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

i'm seeing a lot of reviews mad at HBY for crafting milo as a self-proclaimed slutty bisexual with a mustache and tattoos because it perpetuates a stereotype, and to them i say, i'm sorry. more for me. i would step into the ring for this man and am disturbed by the number of people shaming him for having threesomes and orgies. didn't we learn by now a person's sexual desires and history does NOT dictate who they are as a human?

anyway, he is everything and prue is my whole world, but i guess i'm the odd one out who views people by their hearts and not their sexual histories. milo and prue have a beautifully yin-yang relationship in which they encourage one another to grow and learn.

i struggled a little bit with the parental dynamics, but not enough that it detracted from the experienced. another HBY banger for the ages.

Unfortunately this didn’t do it for me. I enjoyed the FMC and I love the cover but that’s about where my enjoyment of this book ends. I found the MMC’s pov annoying especially at the start, i’m not a fan of the reformed player trope so this could definitely be why. The relationship also seemed rushed, in a sort of insta-love way. Their dynamic seemed to rushed in my opinion. Overall I feel like perhaps my expectations were just too high maybe especially based on the premise and the emotional context of this book, but it missed the mark for me personally. 2.5

Thank you to NetGalley, Hannah Bonam-Young, and for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book more. I loved how Prudence and Milo both have or had difficulties in their lives. It made them feel like realistic characters, but they were not fully rounded characters. I couldn’t connect to the characters. Something was missing. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Milo. It’s because he felt too strong and pushy in the beginning. He doesn’t do relationships, but falls hard for Pru. While the idea of it would have been loved, it felt like insta-love. I think it needed more time to get to know the characters better and include more moments of them falling in love. I loved that Milo is bisexual. I do wish they had had a conversation about that. I enjoyed how he became close with his siblings again. I hope we get more of that in the next book. I also felt like her being a virgin would throw a lot of people off, as it is a trope that people don’t love. It didn’t bother me that she was or that he had slept with a lot of people. It was her first time that things felt unrealistic. It threw me off. The smut scenes are well done, and I believe the spiciest she has written to date. There are discussions of parental abuse, early-onset Alzheimer's of a parent, and a sick parent. They were handled with care. Please, read with care. I would recommend it!

Thank you Dell and NetGalley for the eARC.
This just might be HBY’s best work and even saying that is huge for me. My love for Out on a Limb and Next of Kin runs DEEP.
I had the time of my life reading this book. I started the ARC immediately after I got the email that I was approved, but I'd intended to savor it. That proved to be literally impossible and I absolutely devoured this book. I was staying up until 2am after I told myself I'd just finish a chapter before bed. I was absolutely addicted.
I think Milo was the most well developed character I have read of HBY's and I just loved his whole journey. She wove so much of his family, personal flaws, and relationships into a story I was fully expecting to be solely romance focused. I loved seeing him open up with his siblings and really put effort into maintaining his relationships. I particularly enjoyed his friendship with Prue's dad, Tom, and thought it was great to see Milo's desire for a father figure reflected. I think it also helped the third act conflict feel a bit more realistic. There were times at the beginning of the book when I was unsure of Milo, frankly he had some creepy insta-lust moments that I was not on board with. He was also pretty rude to his brother at the beginning of the book. The man needs therapy. But I do think his character development made him very lovable by the end of the book.
I have more mixed feelings about Prue. On paper, I really like this type of character. I saw a lot of myself in her and I think her bucket list to "get a life" was a lot of fun. However, so much of her character development was just told to us without really seeing it on page. I just didn't feel a lot of the emotion I think I should have. The scenes with her family absolutely packed a punch and watching her care for her mom with Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease were very emotional. I think my hang-ups came from the romantic development with Milo. So many big moments in their relationship happened in Milo's POV and Prue just told us how she felt after the fact. I think this really helped make Milo more endearing but it made the character development feel unbalanced to me. I really wanted more of Prue's self discovery.
Prue's relationship with her parents was one of my favorite parts of the book. It's very clear from the beginning how devoted she is to caring for them, the main goal was finding a balance between caregiving and having something for herself. I actually really loved this, because of course she wants to be there for her parents. They aren't a burden to her and if she left she wouldn't be happy away from them. She talked about her dreams of traveling as a kid but that her goal was always to end up back at home to tell her parents about her adventures. That hit me HARD.
I think the way the story handled her mom's Alzhiemer's Disease was done very well. It could have easily gotten too heavy for me but there was a lot of focus on the positives that Prue still got to spend time with her mom. I also loved the author's note at the beginning about giving the love and safety that a parent or grandparent gave you as a child back to them as a caregiver.
I feel like I've neglected talking about the actual romance in this book so far but it was fantastic. Milo and Prue had instant chemistry and while it was a pretty fast burn I do think it made sense. I think the progression of seeing them fall in love was honestly beautiful! I never thought I'd say this but one of the sex scenes in this book was insanely emotional and I did actually tear up a little bit. I can't say I ever saw that coming for me lol.

I just didn't really connect with the main characters and their romance much. I felt like everything with them felt a little bit rushed, and their connection seemed a bit forced. I liked the side characters, especially Milo's family.

One of my favorite parts of reading a Hannah Bonam-Young book are the forwards. This is a story from Hannah's heart, and I felt it in every page of poetry she wrote. I cried, I laughed, I kicked my feet. 5 fabulous stars.

This story is about a woman learning to stand on her own two feet and making her own choices.

This book made me feel scene in a way I didn't know I needed.
Wow, wow, wow.

I really enjoyed this one! Hannah does a great job at writing heavy topics/hardships and also balancing the romance with it. Prudence is our FMC and she lives in a small town with her parents. Her mom has Alzheimer’s and she helps take care of her. Milo comes into town to help his sibling and starts living there. He is nomad and has been traveling around in his van. Him and Prue have instant chemistry and she wants him to teach her some things👀 Their budding relationship was steamy, authentic and emotional! The only problem that I have with this book was the ending. There was some miscommunication between Prudence and Milo at the end that I didn’t love. It could have been solved with a simple conversation. It was a heavy topic/I understand Prue’s anger, but it could have been solved with a conversation.
Other than that I really enjoyed it! I always love Hannah’s writing and the chemistry that she is able to portray between her characters! This one was definitely more of an insta love. So if that isn’t your thing, you might not enjoy this as much. 4/5 stars!