Kayla Reviews WELL MET

Summary:

All’s faire in love and war for two sworn enemies who indulge in a harmless flirtation in a laugh-out-loud rom-com from debut author Jen DeLuca. 

Emily knew there would be strings attached when she relocated to the small town of Willow Creek, Maryland, for the summer to help her sister recover from an accident, but who could anticipate getting roped into volunteering for the local Renaissance Faire alongside her teenaged niece? Or that the irritating and inscrutable schoolteacher in charge of the volunteers would be so annoying that she finds it impossible to stop thinking about him?  

The faire is Simon’s family legacy and from the start he makes clear he doesn’t have time for Emily’s lighthearted approach to life, her oddball Shakespeare conspiracy theories, or her endless suggestions for new acts to shake things up. Yet on the faire grounds he becomes a different person, flirting freely with Emily when she’s in her revealing wench’s costume. But is this attraction real, or just part of the characters they’re portraying?   

This summer was only ever supposed to be a pit stop on the way to somewhere else for Emily, but soon she can’t seem to shake the fantasy of establishing something more with Simon or a permanent home of her own in Willow Creek.

My Take:

I have never in my life been this smitten with a romance novel. I don’t know if it’s my love for Shakespeare or Jen DeLuca’s ability to make me laugh, but I could not put this one down.

For those of you who’ve been following the blog for a while, you know that I usually struggle with romance novels, but this was a breath of fresh air, especially after all the true crime I’ve been reading.

Simon and Emily are both flawed and broken characters dealing with their own types of heartache. Because of their separate reasons for angst, they don’t get along well at first, but their Renaissance fair characters, Captain Blackthorne and Emma the Tavern Wench, banter and flirt as well as any Shakespearean lovers. Eventually, the lines between their character’s relationship and their real relationship begin to blurt, and this leads to the absolute best enemies to lovers romance I’ve ever read.

If you need a fun, light read to get you out of a slump, this is the one for you!