Monthly Wrap-up – November 2022: A Romantic Pairing

Another November has come and gone, the days racing off and leaving me behind as I tried to tackle Nanowrimo, which I’m excited to discuss in a future post. Did I succeed in writing 50,000 words? You’ll have to wait and see!

Though I missed my wrap-up for October, I won’t be missing this one, because I’m eager to share how I felt about what I read. So, I’ll dust off my blog writing skills and tell you all about the two books I managed to squeeze into stolen moments during what turned out to be an oddly busy and fast-paced month.

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

Synopsis: Eve Brown has tried but can’t quite seem to stop everything she touches from going wrong. When she ruins an expensive wedding she planned, her parents draw the line—it’s time to grow up and hold down a job or they’ll do it for her. But Eve is not sure she is capable.

Jacob Wayne, the owner of a bed and breakfast, prides himself on being in control. He demands perfection and has a plan to take the hospitality industry by storm with his perfect establishment. But when Eve turns up to interview for the open chef position at Jacob’s B&B on a whim, he rejects her for her devil-may-care attitude until she accidentally hits him with her car, and his control slips.

With a broken arm, Jacob is forced to accept Eve’s help and despises how she infiltrates his life, kitchen, and spare bedroom. But when Eve’s positive chaos begins to grow on him, it transpires that the heat between these two supposed enemies might just bring them closer

Rating: 5/5 stars

Recommended for: Contemporary romance, diverse literature, opposites attract, hate-to-love.

Act Your Age, Eve Brown is just another Talia Hibbert romance that I loved, as expected. I could save it no longer, as I was in the mood for a cute, witty, funny, and exciting romance. Who other than Talia Hibbert to unfailingly deliver? She always finds a way to make each romance unique to her characters, which is something I really admire. Often, it can feel like characters become different people when in love and lust in a very bad way, saying and doing things they would never say or do just to fit the grand idea of romance.

Hibbert, however, always takes her characters and puts them in a romantic situation, as opposed to the other way around. And what fantastic characters they were. It was nice to see Eve fully fleshed out and truly meet the final Brown sister, delving deep into her character as she goes on a journey to put her life together and find the right ways to understand herself and be kinder to her mind. Her love interest, Jacob Wayne, was similarly a shining aspect of the book with his penchant for rules and order that it was a joy to watch Eve learn how to respect.

The support characters added even more life to the book and made it a well-rounded, fun and yet complex romance between two people who initially appear very different but are shown to have quite a bit in common. I’d highly recommend this to anyone looking for a good romance, as Talia Hibbert never disappoints.

You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry

Synopsis: ‘Two friends
Ten summer trips

Their last chance to fall in love

12 summers ago: Poppy and Alex meet. They hate each other, and are pretty confident they’ll never speak again.

11 summers ago: They’re forced to share a ride home from college and by the end of it a friendship is formed. And a pact: every year, one vacation together.

10 summers ago: Alex discovers his fear of flying on the way to Vancouver.

Poppy holds his hand the whole way.

7 summers ago: They get far too drunk and narrowly avoid getting matching tattoos in New Orleans.

2 summers ago: It all goes wrong.

This summer: Poppy asks Alex to join her on one last trip. A trip that will determine the rest of their lives.’

Rating: 3/5 stars

Recommended for: Contemporary romance, friends-to-lovers, opposites attract, travel romance.

This book honestly did not wow me. While I didn’t agree with some of the harsher reviews that I’ve stumbled across since reading it, I did not think it was that great. What I enjoyed was ‘opposites attract’ friendship between Poppy and Alex, with Poppy being loud colours and self-expression and Alex being kind of muted. They had a lot to learn from each other and got along really well despite their differences.

In this friends-to-lovers romance, however, I honestly worry they were never really friends. They were just two people with feelings getting into different relationships to avoid bringing it up. Of course, miscommunication is a clear part of any novel, but a single conversation could have prevented the entire novel from existing.

My main issue was the cliches. Of course, cliches are a part of romance, but it was not the tropes that bothered me (there’s only one bed!), but Poppy’s personality. She was so unbelievably ‘not like the other girls’—the kind of girls that Alex was into that were sweet and feminine, liked yoga and taking care of themselves, and looked alike—that I think it created most of the conflict in the novel. While being different is not a problem, judging others for liking or wanting the same thing is.

Because of this, I also quite enjoyed the growth Poppy exhibited as she tried to find her happiness since she shook off the idea that she did not want the things most people wanted and really found herself again. It made for a really nice ending.

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Those are the two books I read this month! I’m really hoping I can pick up the pace in December and hit the goal I made for myself at the beginning of the year. What are your reading goals for the end of the year?