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3 stars
This was a sweet little small-town romance set in an actual small town some 15 minutes away from me; I frequent New Hope and Lambertville often, and it was fun being able to perfectly imagine the real-world locations where specific scenes took place. And even though some individual shop names were changed, I'm pretty sure I know exactly where they were meant to be.
This is a very earnest book that is campy in an endearing way and isn't afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve. The central romance developed a little faster than I was expecting and some side characters seemed a little too enthusiastic to play matchmaker to be believable, but in a story as low-stakes as this I don't mind too much. The plot did feel a touch hokey to me though, very, "we gotta put on the best talent show this town's ever seen to …
This was a sweet little small-town romance set in an actual small town some 15 minutes away from me; I frequent New Hope and Lambertville often, and it was fun being able to perfectly imagine the real-world locations where specific scenes took place. And even though some individual shop names were changed, I'm pretty sure I know exactly where they were meant to be.
This is a very earnest book that is campy in an endearing way and isn't afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve. The central romance developed a little faster than I was expecting and some side characters seemed a little too enthusiastic to play matchmaker to be believable, but in a story as low-stakes as this I don't mind too much. The plot did feel a touch hokey to me though, very, "we gotta put on the best talent show this town's ever seen to save the community center!"
One thing I will say as a positive is that I enjoyed that our two leads are fully out, adult gay men that come into this story with dating history. There's no "what are these ~new feelings~?!" or inner turmoil about how to come out that you often see in the genre, and two literal business owners have a lot more agency than you'd get with say a YA queer romance. Also appreciated how the two leads weren't the sole queer people in the book, and there was a genuine sense of community that mirrors my own personal experience. And we sidestep homophobia altogether by 1) placing it in New Hope but also 2) making the main antagonist... another gay man! Diversity win!
(Unrelated, Prescott is described as being in his early thirties in this story presumably set in 2021, which places him squarely as a millennial. You mean to tell me this guy grew up in America the same time I did and doesn't know what Smurfs are or what Star Wars is? That's about the furthest suspension of disbelief this book asked of me, but it still stuck out.)