Loved this! A perfect slow burn of friends to lovers and boy, did they hit that spot with a bang! The lovers bit does come very close to the end of the book and the prospect of it was tantalising throughout the book!

Loved the secondary storyline of Ingrid opening a bookstore too - can I work there?!

An enjoyable story of self discovery and love; a friendly reminder to us all that not everyone needs to have their life figured out in their 20’s or 30’s and perhaps the riskiest and most life altering decisions may result in the best outcomes.

Ingrid and Cory, like many couples in all walks of life, are facing the inevitable question: get married or break up. For many, the answer is straight forward but for others there is hesitation. The expected answer for those who have been together for a decade is to get married but when there is hesitation, and constant postponements perhaps the correct answer is different than expected. I liked Ingrid’s initial journey of dating; the way she took baby steps, treading through the unknown, leaving a trail of both hilariously failed and some successful meetups. She was trying which I loved to see and was very proud of her putting herself out there. It was slow but fruitful. I enjoyed how their ultimate decision was made in steps rather than impulsively; after all, after 11 years together, there is still some semblance of love.

At 50-70%, I skimmed quite a bit. I felt a lot could have been cut down and the pacing was extremely slow and I struggled to care about Ingrid’s day to day life.

However the last 30% or so picked up again once Ingrid decided to move forward with her life and not let anything hold her back. I appreciated Ingrid and Cory’s relationship post break up; it was nice to see the friendship was still there. There is, of course, romance and yearning and the slowest of slow burns and some really cute, lifelong friendships as well.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this and hope to read more of Stephanie Perkins’ books in the future!

The slowest of slow burns. I see the book girls out there on social media exclaiming to bring back yearning and Stephanie Perkins must have done so too! All said yearning is done between a library, a bookshop and a sweet little cottage in need of renovation. What a dream!
In all seriousness, I nearly died from second hand embarrassment for the first fifth of this book, but moving past if was well worth it!

Having loved the 'Anna and the French Kiss' series I couldn't wait to read this but sadly it just doesn't measure up. It's very, very slow and really quite dull. Macon doesn't sound at all attractive, there appears to be no 'zing' and the descriptions of the food they ate was enough to make me want to stop reading. Who could have guessed that a book about librarians (which has such potential for book lovers) could so singularly fail to engage its readers.

I'm so gutted to be leaving a lower review than I expected because I was a huge fan of Stephanie Perkins' work in YA (Anna and the French Kiss was one of the books I read as a teenager that truly won me over to love romance novels).
This had an interesting premise and one that I think I was a bit wary of to begin with. Ingrid and her long-term partner Cory decide to separate for a month to see other people. Without giving any major spoilers, I feel like the first 40% of this book could have been completely cut out because this entire plot felt arbitrary and didn't lead to any further high-stakes in the rest of the novel. I struggled to relate to Ingrid's inner monologue and decisions and found myself skimming pages because a lot of it felt very repetitive to me.
For me, this slow burn didn't quite do it for me, but I hope others are able to find comfort and peace in reading a slow-burn romance between two people who adore books.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

More than a love story, this is a story about love: love for books above all, then perhaps also romantic love, the kind that can exist between friends, lovers, and parents and children. A book that could have been a few pages shorter and tried not to “tick all the boxes,” but which ultimately makes for an enjoyable read.

Piú che una storia d'amore é una storia sull'amore questo: l'amore per i libri soprattutto, poi eventualmente anche sull'amore romantico, quello che puó esserci tra amici, tra amanti e tra genitori e figli. Un libro che avrebbe potuto avere qualche pagina di meno e anche cercare di non "annerire tutte le caselle", ma che alla fine si fa leggere senza rimpianti.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.