This book's title doesn't do justice to how deep, thoughtful, and complex it is. Yes, there's humor, but there's are a lot of important mental health conversations (the author put a trigger warning at the beginning of the book, but it's not in the blurb, so some readers might wish to know before buying it). and character growth. The blurb I read didn't indicate that the FMC is a divorcee with two grown kids, but I appreciate that Holiday has written Blair with a lot of nuance, and I found her such an interesting character. At first glance, grumpy Jank seems more one-dimensional, but his friendship with Blair ends up being really good for them both.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually loved Blair and Jack as friends, and I loved that this was sloooow-burn; I actually felt that their sexual relationship started in a way that was way too fast and jarring. This was a five-star read for me for the first 70% of the book, but having sex for the first time when they did felt wrong to me. Then there was a time jump that also felt jarring, and it happened again too! I felt that Blair and Jack, and perhaps this book as well, lost their way a bit once sex entered the story. I get that characters aren't supposed to be perfect, or the book would be boring, but it felt like character growth took a backseat for a while. I still love them together and think they're good for each other, I just wish the transition from friends to more had happened a bit differently.

All of the book's messaging (about mental health, being a woman in Hollywood, being a good parent, and being a person outside of one's identity as a wife and mom), was SO GOOD! It was really heavy-handed, but still very, very good.

This book was a five-star read for the first 70% before losing its way a bit, and I still very much enjoyed it. Thank you to NetGalley and Forever/Grand Central Publishing for the free eARC! I post this review with my honest opinions.

Note: I will likely not post this review to my Instagram account because most of my followers are "closed-door" romance readers who would not enjoy this book's "open-door" sex scenes, but I will definitely post this review on Amazon on the book's publication date.

I really enjoyed this! Lighthearted without being unserious, grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, enemies to friends to lovers. I enjoyed the character building and the fact that they were both grownups and not just starting out. Good banter, minimal sex but lots of yearning!