2.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this arc.

This book honestly caught me off guard at some points, taking turns I did not expect it to take (in a pleasant, but heartbreaking way). And it is always refreshing to read a NA book that doesn't have a complete idiot of a love interest.

This short, fresh love story is told between two point of views: Layla and Josh. I think this really benefitted the story and definitely the pacing. Both of the characters were likeable, you felt yourself laughing with them and feeling sympathy for them.

It starts off with Layla coming back from being away, scared of running into her ex-boyfriend Josh, and then from there the story goes into the past to tell us how it got to that moment, and then continues after they meet again. I found this to be an enjoyable choice of the authors instead of just starting it already into their broken up relationship.

Overall I enjoyed this book. It was nice for a change of my usual crs full of fantasy, plus it was not a long read at all (I read it all in less than a day).

This books was a nice refreshing read from all the other books i've been reading. I like how i was easily able to imagine this 'world' as the author was descriptive. I could even imagine the faces the other characters were making. It was a really sweet read with a really sweet male interest that I enjoyed. I would def read another book by this author in between books whenever I need a little break from the stuff I usually read.

The blurb hooked me on this read, and the cover caught my interest.
The book is written from a dual perspective between Layla and Josh.  Layla and Josh have a history as Layla journeys back to a small town she knows she will run into him in.

This was a delightful romance. I love that Josh was sweet and that the books weren't too steamy. It was a nice mix of sweet and sad. I really loved Layla's characters trying to forge her own path. The romance was slow and didn't come around until the book's end. It took me a while to figure out the time jumps, but it was a great story.

3 stars

~ I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own ~

Wow! This book was a breath of fresh air for me as I don't live in the South or often read about characters in the South. I loved the dynamic between Layla and Josh. As a matter of fact, I loved the dynamic of their entire friend group.

Josh

I met the girl of my dreams in a church parking lot while my best friend was having sex in my truck. Her name was Layla and she was trying her hardest to ignore me, and them, from two parking spaces over. I swear, I've never seen someone so beautiful in my life. I've also never struggled to get the girl, but for some reason my foot and my mouth became friends that night in the worst of ways.

Cheesy pick up line, that failed? Check.

Inability to form coherent sentences? Check.

Ego crushing let down? Yup. That happened too.

I can't put my finger on it, but there's something about Layla that sucks me in. I need to get to know her. Spend time with her. Make her mine. Who knows, maybe she will be the one to finally settle me down. That is, if I can convince her to give me the time of day.

Layla

Everything about Joshua Thomas screams, run away. His sharp jaw. Those vibrant eyes. Lush lips that have probably tasted every girl in this tiny town. I know better than to give him a chance, but knowing what I should do and listening are two different things. He makes my heart flutter in ways I thought only possible in Hallmark movies. He makes my legs shake from one look. I resisted him once. I don't know if I can do it again.
A sweet romantic read which I devoured in one sitting

This is a very American county story, with the male and female character backgrounds showing two different classes. Josh represents the country boy who grows in a small town and remains in that small town to run his family’s farm. Layla represents the girl from a well to do family that marries for power not love.
The story between these two was very nice and Bailey B did a good job of telling the story with short sentences that are easy to follow as well as portraying both POVs of the male and female protagonist in such a way that makes the reader feel that they really know the characters.

I personally feel that this book was adorable. It was a cute and sweet read. Both main characters were very sweet. However, I think that parts of this book were rushed. For example, we never got to observe how everything was okay with Layla and her brother after the showdown. We never got to see a lot of time with Bryson and Josh. I think seeing those would make the character growth seem better. But this was a cute sweet read I was able to complete in a day and I think it is great for a stressful night.

I love books that are easy to read and leave you with feel good emotions that make you go awww and this was that book. I enjoyed it.

Thank you to netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really wanted to like this book, but sadly I was pretty disappointed with it. The synopsis sounded intriguing enough and I have a soft spot for a good looking cowboy love interest, but I honestly just couldn’t connect with the characters. Their romance felt too forced and seemed very surface level. Josh was sweet, but Layla was very much a “I’m not like other girls” type of girl and she was just a very frustrating character.

I did enjoy the author’s writing style and it did have some cute moments throughout, but I think overall I just wanted more from the story and characters.

2.5 stars

I did not enjoy this book at all. Very huge disappointment. I hope that the other romance books I read by this author aren’t this boring

I wanted to like this book. The writing was descriptive and the interactions between characters we engaging, but I just found the book really dull.

Sure there was cute moments. The romance was really nice, but there wasn’t really anything that made me LOVE the book. In saying that, I still finished it so I give it a 2/5

I‘m so sorry, but I had to stop reading at 57% and here is why:

- the characters are inconsistent of their behaviour and the way they think. I don‘t want to spoil anything, so I won‘t go into details but it infuriates me.
- some people mentioned and their opinions are highly offensive and not very well written (e.g. the brother of the female lead). It makes me mad and not in a good way. Besides, the dialogues are cringey most times.

Overall, I didn‘t enjoy reading it so I will not continue.

Great read! Quick, fun and wholesome. Would definitely recommend! The story was good, I’m sure many people will be able to relate.

Thank you to NetGalley, BooksGoSocial, and the author for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

This was cute but not very substantial, packing in a lot of misunderstandings and drama and "all the other girls are sluts" and speshul snowflakeness and angst and practically every other NA romance trope I can think of. IDK. It takes a really good NA romance for my brain to forget that I'm an Old Person and get swept up in the Young Person feels. This did not manage it.

I did appreciate the setting of the book: what seemed like rural central Florida (yes, Florida has rural areas, it's not ALL beach *eyeroll*). Definitely an underrepresented rural locale. And I also liked that the main characters are working, which is definitely realistic for NA people in general. But I wish the characterization had been a little stronger, for the MCs and especially for the side characters.
Layla was the epitome of the NA speshul snowflake who is drop-dead-gorgeous but miraculously totally different from all those OTHER girls. Josh is the typical cocky hot guy who becomes an possessive caveman around his significant other. Josh's baby-mama-drama-llama is very one-note: she surfaces only when it's convenient to push the MCs apart. We barely met Josh's mom (all of once?) or brother (couple times, to drop a few one-liners), Layla's aunt makes a couple token appearances to lay down the law but is otherwise a nonentity, and Layla's parents are completely off-screen bogeymen.
I'd try more by the author but I'd like to see her expand on her characters significantly.

I seem to be in the minority on this book though, so obviously YMMV.

At times I felt like this book was predictable, but overall I liked it. It was a quick read and kept me invested in the story enough to make me want to finish and find out the ending.

Reviews posted:
Goodreads: June 3, 2021
TikTok @meghanlew_: June 4, 2021

I’m just going to start off by saying that I did not like any thing about this book, not one thing. The romance felt rushed and forced and there was literally no chemistry between the characters. Also the conflict that they had to go through at the end was resolved so quickly that I can hardly call it a conflict.

The best way to describe this book is a white boy holding a giant fish on Tinder. I felt uncomfortable and weird the whole time.

The romance went from 0 to 100 with no build up and I just hated the guy the whole time. I also just felt that both characters were shallow and annoying to read about.

Also there was a racist Halloween scene, so once I read that I definitely checked out.

This is a quick read overall. Not so much a steamy romance but there is definitely some sexual tension to be felt. The writing style was & dual perspective was fairly easy to follow. I finished this book in hours. Not much depth to it & the ending is rather abrupt!

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

What a roller coaster of emotions. But not a long roller coaster, more like one of those ones that go for 15 seconds but makes you vomit from how fast and how many loops it does in a short amount of time.
This book was well written and I finished it I n under 4 hours.
Some things I could complain about was the ending and how it went from them not together, to being a family in 1 chapter. I would have like to see more personal growth, more conversation rather then feelings or descriptions of the places they’re in. Getting to know more Layla and Josh intimately, there just seemed to be little conversation held in the book - which I would have loved to see more of.

Anyway I give this book 3.5/5 stars and recommend it to anyone with a soft spot for true love.

Thank you for the read

Josh meets the girl of his dreams but Layla doesn't fall for Josh's charms straight away, which has quickly become a cliche in romances in contemporary romances, but it never stops you just waiting until the penny drops for the female love interest. The book often felt slow to begin with, as Josh was all in and Layla was more or less playing catch-up but the plot develops further as you read on.
This is definitely a book worth reading when you want a feel-good, easy read to enjoy, and definitely one that you could enjoy in one-sitting as well. One thing I love about this book is that it is a dual perspective; I always engage more with the characters when there's a dual perspective as you can see how both characters are feeling and it often fills the gaps as well. But the book is full of cliches which can sometimes be frustrating for some readers!

**I received this free ARC from Netgalley for an honest review**

This book is from a dual perspective between Layla and Josh. Honestly, the blurb hooked me on this read, and the cover caught my interest. The author's note at the beginning was fantastic. I loved hearing why she republished it under a different name and that some of the stories had some truth to her life. The chapter photos are excellent. Layla and Josh clearly have a history as Layla journeys back to a small town she knows she will run into him in. However, she seems lost in her thoughts and kinda hesitant to be going back. Unfortunately, the book time jumps between the prologue and the first chapter. Backtracking gives the readers some history but then doesn't catch up until the end of the book. This confused me a little.

Their history is fascinating, her fighting destiny and him fighting obligations. Unfortunately, he is super sweet and romantic and very smitten. But just as soon as things go right, they all go wrong. I did find some of the quirks in Layla's reactions intriguing and charming. Her character development was alright, giving the reader enough information to understand her a little bit. This book has a bunch of heart-wrenching moments before the happy ending.

This was a delightful romance. I love that Josh was sweet and that the books weren't too steamy. It was a nice mix of sweet and sad. I really loved Layla's characters trying to forge her own path. Yes, the romance was super slow and really didn't come around until the book's end. It took me a while to figure out the time jumps, but it was a great story.

This is a stand-alone book, not part of a series.