I loved Hannah's writing in Next of Kin, and I was not disappointed by People Watching. It hit that sweet spot between being full of emotion and tackling difficult topics while also being incredibly funny and heartwarming. I went into this book mostly blind - I saw art of Prue and Milo, and I was sold. The book had some "tropes" I don't always enjoy (sexually experienced MMC and more inexperienced FMC, as well as what might be classed as "insta love"). However, the way HBY executed these in People Watching just made me love the book even more. There is so much emotional vulnerability and relationship building between Prue and Milo that it didn't feel like they were falling in love quickly. And I absolutely loved their dynamic and Prue's bucket list! It felt so natural for these characters and their circumstances (also goes to show just how sexy consent is).
I loved Prue; I really want more soft FMCs! Now, just because she's soft doesn't mean she isn't strong. Her arc and growth throughout the book were so great to see and made me tear up multiple times, especially when she learned that sometimes being strong means accepting help from others.
Milo is slutty (in the most complimentary way possible). I mean, the tattoos, the moustache and wearing short shorts?! However, his confident, funny, and flirty exterior hides his vulnerable side. When we say we want men who yearn, he is what we are talking about. Down bad is an understatement for this man!
I also have to mention the side-characters: Milo's siblings, Prue's mom and dad - they were all so fleshed out and real! I NEED at least a novella about Prue's parents, and I am very hopeful that we will get to see more of Milo's siblings in the next book.
I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves emotional stories and yearning, as well as funny and hot characters!

This was such a lovely, beautiful book. The story with Prue and her mother was so touching and bittersweet. And Milo and his siblings' dynamic, it was so nice to see them start to heal together. And of course Milo and Prue together. I have nothing bad to say about this book, it was truly wonderful.

3.5 Stars

ARC:
Released : 11th September 
Thank you to Bedford Square Publishers for the ARC

I have never been more excited to get an ARC! If you don’t know Hannah Bonham-Young has quickly become one of my auto-buy authors after discovering her next year - and I was super intrigued about this one as it has moved away from her usual art cover style, wondering whether it was marking the start of something new.

In the quiet tourist town of Baysville, introverted Prue has built a life of routine, working at her father’s gas station, writing poetry, and caring for her mother with Early Onset Alzheimer’s - until an enigmatic drifter named Milo rolls into town in a battered van. Drawn into his free-spirited orbit, Prue strikes up an unlikely friendship that quickly turns into a bold, no-strings arrangement. Their chemistry deepens and life pulls them in unexpected directions, both must decide whether they’re ready to take the leap from comfort to something real.

HBY’s writing is romance with a literary feel to me - and in the first 20% of this it felt much more sitting on the literary side of the fence to me which I was loving - and then… the spice was way more descriptive than her others when it hit and caught me completely off guard!

Over the past two months I’ve been feeling unimpressed by almost everything I’ve read - this one was a breath of fresh air, finding myself annoyed when I couldn’t simply dedicate my whole day to finishing it!

I think the chapters were a little longer than normal than we see in HBY books, but despite that it was still a fast page turner for me - and the epilogue was so sweet. I’ve been on the fence about where this rates, whilst reading I felt like it was a 4 but afterwards, I thought there were a few things that bought it down to feeling more like a 7/10 so I adjusted to 3.5.

I can’t wait to add this to my shelf physically when it comes out!

I usually love HYB books but this one fell flat for me. The main characters lacked character and the only chemistry was physical. Plus the whole 200 girls and she’s a virgin is icky

People watching
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ok, I definitely have mixed feelings with this one! I had previously read Out on a limb and Out of the woods and LOVED them both, so I was expecting something that made me feel the same way. No matter what, I have always connected with the characters that Hannah writes but in People watching is was sooo difficult for me.
The 3⭐️ are mostly because of the author's narration, I just love it regardless and eventually it made me have a good experience with the book but there was just several things that didn't click.

My biggest issue was that I pretty much hated the way that both main characters were presented!! I don't usually care about the sexual past of the MCs but what do you mean that while his 'body count' is OVER 200 people, the FMC is OF COURSE a virgen. No, I'm sorry, but I don't like this type of disparity in the dynamic and even less when it's made their entire personality for, at least, the first 30% of the book. Also, despite of the fact that we have both MCs points of view, it took me a long time getting to knowing them, cause since they met (on chapter 3) is was all "sex sex sex, her hair, his moustache, sex sex sex, the tattoos, the body, sex sex sex". I mean, I get you people are horny and that you are attracted to one another but damn! And don't get me started on the "teach me about sex" trope. The relationship was very insta lust and I didn't vibe with the way that suddenly they had bigger and deeper feelings towards each other.

The best part of the story for me, was the family issues. It's true that the drama of it was A LOT for such a non particularly long book but I feel that Hannah dealt with them with care and the connections with the secondary characters brought out from the MCs a sweetness and a sensitivity that was missing at times in the romance.

In general, I would probably recommend other books from the author before recommending this, but the experience wasn't totally bad. I ended up having an ok time and I'm looking forward reading more of her stories.

Also, bonus points for the cover! Is stunning!

❤️‍🔥 ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE ❤️‍🔥

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book but I knew that I’ve loved every Hannah Bonam-Young book that I have read so far 📖 and from the second I met Prue, I just knew I was going to love this one too!

The connection I feel to Prue is so strong, I saw myself in her in so many ways that all of her emotions seemed to mould with my own as I read 🥺

It was so beautiful to watch both Milo and Prue emerge from their respective shells to learn new things about both themselves and each other, HBY always seems to write such complex love stories with family issues woven into every page - this makes her stories real, relatable and emotional 🩷

More and more I’m finding that in my contemporary romance books, I need a deep emotional connection to the story in order to truly love it and every book I’ve ever read from Hannah Bonam-Young has been perfection.

When Prue and Milo’s story releases soon, you would be a fool not to fall in love with them too!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc.

Unfortunately, this book was a dnf for me. I didn’t love it and couldn’t get into it but I have been slumping therefore it’s probably me over the book so I would definitely still recommend!

I enjoyed this book just as much as I have of all Hannah Bonn Young’s novels. The characters, Prue and Milo, were very likeable and I did feel their connection, once it got moving I felt it was a little fast and intense. Milo was likeable but I struggled to feel how he could truly change from his previous lifestyle so quickly. Saying all of that I still really enjoyed the romance and storyline of it all.

This was lovely. I really enjoyed both main characters, and thought their relationship was very believable. My only issue was I felt their feelings developed very quickly.

I also enjoyed the third act conflict; it was refreshing to see something a little different to the usual miscommunications that tend to be used as conflict in romance novels.

I’m sometimes fearful of stranger-to-lovers because I hate insta-love, but I decided to trust Hannah and boy did it pay off!
Prue and Milo are immediately attracted to each other and their attraction was written in such a playful real way, I absolutely loved it! It was also very in-line with their characters, so it felt very organic.
But before they acted on it, they became friends , then they added the benefits - and their friendship got me completely obsessed with the book, I could not put it down!
Prue is busy helping taking care of her mother, who has Alzheimer’s, but her Dad insists she needs to move on with her own life. The hurt we see through Prue, and how she feels regarding her mother’s disease, is something that sadly so many of us can relate to. The sad truth is society nowadays is not equipped to care for the elderly or people with dementia, which causes a lot of hurt and suffering not only to the people going through it but also the ones trying to look after them. I think Hannah did a wonderful job portraying those struggles through Prue and her father.
On the other hand we have Milo, who has his own emotional scars. He’s been running away from his trauma for many years now, and is the definition of “dealing with it through humour” which is also highly relatable. His arc was beautiful and his relationship with his siblings was so heart warming to read about. He finds home and peace not just in Prue, but in their small town community.
Milo is also the definition of “down bad” and “a man who yearns is a man who earns” 😂 and Prue, my sweet strong Prue, deserves all of that yearning.
Their journey together is beautiful, hilarious and heart breaking - I laughed and cried and swooned.
I can’t wait to read more from Hannah Bonam-Young!

I was extremely excited to get an ARC of this one as I’ve loved all of Hannah’s other books! People Watching is about Prue, who worries that she’s missing out on life by staying in her hometown with her parents, and Milo, who hasn’t been able to find his place or his people. Needless to say they find each other and their dynamic was really intriguing to me - on paper they’re extremely different but the chemistry is incredible from the start and they end up being perfect together!

The small town setting is really comforting and cosy (who wants to move to an A-frame cabin in the Canadian woods with me?!) and the story was definitely more character driven than plot driven but that worked really well for me. Both Prue and Milo’s family situations are complicated and messy which made them real and relatable, and they are able to help each other get through whatever life throws at them. This is also definitely the spiciest of her books so far - do with that information what you will!!

Overall a gorgeous autumn read with flawed but endearing characters and a satisfying love story 🍁🍂🧡

Sad to report that this book was a huge disappointment and no one is more upset than me 😭😭😭

This book started off cute but it went downhill very quickly: instalove, cringey sex lessons, secrets that created unnecessary conflict and two dimensional characters.

The characters honestly read like teenagers rather than adults. The sex scenes literally made me want to claw my eyes out they were so cringey - we get it she’s a virgin!!!!!! And the INSTALOVE like Milo was fkn talking about marrying her a couple of weeks, HUH????? There was no build up, no chemistry?

The book was sitting at a 3 star until a certain plot point (which created the conflict) arose - and it just filled me with rage and I couldn’t get past it. There were so many random side plots that weren’t resolved and overall I’m just feeling so dissatisfied.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bedford Square Publishers for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review

This book wasn’t for me. I have loved HBY’s four other books and I devoured them. They had such character depth and plot to them. Sadly this one fell flat on the character depth and the story for me. This one was far too insta lust and I did not like the amount of red flags I saw in Milo. This one really didn’t feel like a HBY book to me sadly.

3.5

I really enjoyed a lot of parts about this (I'm a sucker for banter), and really didn't like others, so this was a hard one to rate. Hannah Bonam-Young's books always tug at your heart strings deal with difficult topics in safe and thoughtful ways, but I just wanted more from the relationship development because it was so focused on his wealth of experience and her dearth. I also found it hard to believe that Milo was so willing to settle down so fast with very little internal struggle. I'm just supposed to believe this slutty (HBY uses the term for the MMC, so I'm using it) Benson Boone lookalike is ready to stick in out, come what may, after running from his family issues for fifteen years and zero therapy? I don't know man... The third act conflict was resolved too quickly. Prue might have even overreacted, but where was the grovel?


Thanks to Bedford Square for the e-arc via Netgalley

⭐⭐ (DNF at 35%)

Hannah Bonam-Young’s backlist has been on my TBR for a while, so when I saw the ARC of People Watching available on NetGalley (thank you Bedford Square Publishers), I jumped at the chance. I was also excited for this to be my first ‘autumnal’ read of the year, and I did enjoy the cosy, Sunday afternoon in September feel of the writing.

I immediately felt a connection with Prue’s character, though I found Miles harder to warm to, and I’m not sure his POV added much for me. In fact, it often detracted from my enjoyment. I also struggled with the ‘killer’ nickname. perhaps this is a cultural thing (me being UK based and the author being Canadian), but I didn’t really understand it, and it felt a bit overused.

Ultimately, I decided to stop reading at 35%. While it’s quick and easy to read, I personally can’t get past the “experienced older man”/“infantilised younger virgin” dynamic, which is one of my least favourite tropes, and Miles’ POV made me quite uncomfortable. I can see this appealing to readers who enjoy this particular romance setup, but it just wasn’t the right fit for me.

I adored this book from start to finish. Prue and Milo completely stole my heart — their connection was electric, but also tender in a way that made me want to curl up inside their story forever. Milo was such a sweetheart (with just the right amount of wanderer charm) and Prue’s quiet strength made me love her even more with every chapter.
The plot was heartfelt and layered — mixing small-town life, self-discovery, and a romance that starts as something casual but turns into so much more. The character development? Beautiful. And yes, the spice? Absolutely delicious. 🔥
I also fell for the side characters (Aleks and Nadia NEED their own book, I’m begging) and the whole Baysville setting felt so vivid it’s like I lived there. My only complaint? I wish it was 100 pages longer because I was not ready to say goodbye to Prue and Milo. 💛
A heartfelt, steamy, and beautifully written romance about finding the courage to step out of your comfort zone — and maybe, just maybe, taking someone’s hand as you do it.

This book was perfection....or as close as you can get 🥺
It handled pretty heavy topics like Alzheimer's, health concerns, childhood trauma etc really well, without it completely taking over the story.
People Watching was definitely more spicy than her other books, but again didn't take over the plot. I loved both the main characters, Milo and Prue were both unique and flawed and such a great match for each other. I hope we get more of these characters in future books!
Tropes included:
🍁 Found Family
🍂 Spicy lessons
🍁 Small town
🍂 Poet x artist

Thank you @netgalley and @bedfordsqpublishers for the opportunity to read an early copy.

People watching was one of my anticipated read of the year. Out on a limb and Out of the Woods were so special I adored these books

I’m really sorry and I don’t want to say it but this story just did not do it for me. I couldn’t connect with Prue and Milo love story everything felt so rushed didn’t give me time to fall in love with them. I just felt all the themes and sensitive topics were just thrown into this book and not fully explored properly.

However, Prues mum Alzheimer’s was beautifully written and good to see a story that discussed and written about Men’s MH and emotions of the main characters.

I’m really really sorry but this book was a bit too much for me.
.

This wasn’t romance, it was a speedrun. A few wholesome themes tried to peek through, but the pacing and shallow insta-everything drowned them out. I love a good rake redemption, but this one needed a lot more accountability and a lot less poetry. 💀 I sincerely despised his backstory and despised it even more that no STI discussions were had? With that track record? Bro. Just no.

4.25 stars arc review.

Following Prue and Milo was great I really liked their characters and yes they had flaws and things that some people may not agree on but it’s fiction. I personally found their characters relatable especially with their family relationships, they’re not perfect but they’re trying.

‘But how wonderful and tragic and lucky is that?’

I love the message that sometimes you can enjoy things and still know they’ll come to an end but cherish the moments regardless. HBY did a great job of representing two polar opposite family dynamics and I really enjoyed seeing a sibling bond that wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

The spice was really good as well and didn’t take away from any additional plot points. I’m excited to see if we’ll get a book for Nads because I think her story could be really interesting. I also loved Nik and Sef and how Milo saw Sef as a sister despite not being blood. Overall really enjoyed it and definitely recommend plus the cover is stunning.