⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️ ⭐️. 5
– NetGalley Review (thank you for allowing me the chance to review this book)


This was a sweet and heartwarming 3-star read, clearly written with a younger teen YA audience in mind.

Emery is a bright and optimistic character who handles difficult family situations with humour and grace. Dean is caring and dependable—their romance is gentle, kind, and built on mutual respect. The friend group is fun and supportive, with the kind of energy that younger readers will enjoy and connect with.

I especially appreciated how the story addressed a challenging moment directly, rather than brushing past it, and the twist near the end added just enough surprise to keep things interesting.

I’m only dropping stars due to a lack of story depth and complexity, but from a teen reader’s perspective, that actually works in the book’s favour. It’s straightforward, accessible, and positive—ideal for early YA readers or those just getting into contemporary romance.

A lovely, light read that I’d definitely recommend to younger teens looking for a feel-good romance with sweet characters and solid messages.

Thank you netgalley the publisher and the author for a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

This book I would have loved when I was 14 and in my wattpad era. It was very very very fast paced and there was no dimension in the characters. Very basic, very straight to the point.
A lot of this felt very superficial, things felt unrealistic and could have done with more depth, more understanding to what was going on. The father-daughter relationship could have used maybe a bit more dialogue, more talk about what had made them so distant. The cruel stepmother felt very exaggerated.
I do think that the author could have benefited in re-writing some of these scenes to a more mature level. This is more fanfiction/ wattpad level than published author level.

I did feel that at the end the writing got a bit better though, more emotional, more descriptive. It was a bit too fast paced though and could have been written in a better way of sticking to the junior year. Scenes were flicking from one another too quickly.

This was a really quick and easy read! I thought this was a very cute story and was very entertained, as I read it in one day. It may not be life altering or a book that teaches you a valuable lesson, but it reminds you of what it is like to be in high school before a lot of change comes your way.

Emery has been through a rough patch. Her mother died when she was very young, her father blames her for it, and that same father never tells her life altering information until she is in that situation. She took it very well and I know I wouldn't be able to handle it. I do wish she had more depth to her, maybe a distinct personality trait, but I think this book is targeted towards the lower age of the YA genre.

I liked Dean, but I felt there were some inconsistencies with him or the author missed some chances of conflict. Dean is known to be the heartbreaker of the school and neighbor, but Emery never doubts that he will use her. I feel like that would have been a good conflict to have in the story. None of Emery's friends express their worries that she's going to get used by him. They're more supportive of their relationship instead of having some valid concerns.

I really liked Piper! I thought she was a good support system for Emery moving into this new period in her life and I really enjoyed seeing their friendship grow. I also liked seeing all of the characters after high school and what they were doing with their lives.

Overall, I enjoyed this story. It may not be the most life changing story or have complex characters, but I think it's still a good story to check out.

This was such a lovely read!
I am sure many teenage girls are going to swoon over this story.

It was sweet, romantic, enough drama and lots of fun characters.

Emery is such a happy go lucky girl. Even though she is pushed in quite some uncomfortable situations by her father and stepmum, she keeps her head held high and tackles it with lots of humour.

Dean is a sweetheart, with his heart in the right place. The way he takes care of Emery is absolutely lovely.

The friends surrounding them are super cool and I can imagine every teenager would want to hang out with them.

I loved the way a difficult situation in the book got solved, nothing got swept under the carpet, but it got dealt with right away. I think teenage girls can really learn something from this and I'm glad this was written down so well.

The last few chapters were quite a twist which I enjoyed a lot!

All in all, such a fun book! And I will definitely recommend this to the teenagers I know who love to read as well.