After a difficult divorce, Celeste finds herself with the opportunity to take a deep look at who she is by herself and what she wants from life. She decides to throw herself into every opportunity with gusto to discover what (aside from her wonderful daughter) really grabs her. She quickly finds herself as the partner of a avid birder, John, in a birding competition that will teach her more than she ever expected.
While this book was cute and funny, I found it difficult to relate to any of the characters. The were just fleshed out enough that I liked them, and found them interesting, but I could never quite find myself caring about what happened next for their story.
The main source of this difficulty is that our MC, Celeste, can be both whiney and stubbornly rigid, and not in fun ways. I love a solid romance where you watch the couple grow and move towards one another, but Celeste’s adherence to her self-imposed life plan and general level of complaining really took away from the romance. John was a wonderful addition to the story and I truly loved seeing his perspective, he kept the story moving along when it had otherwise stalled. His faith in Celeste and the way that it grew into something more was a transition that felt natural. It would have been lovely to see more of that unfolding of feelings from Celeste, but she was harder for me to connect with.
The main characters, John and Celeste, seemed to take over the narration and left little room for supporting characters to do their job, support. There were many opportunities for the friends and family to really shine through, but instead, they flopped. There was no growth or development in any meaningful way. There were attempts at growth, but instead, those moments felt forced and out of alignment with the rest of the story.
The best part of the book, was the moments that John and Celeste spent actually birding. Those moments gave the book a chance to breath and catch up to the chaos of Celestes mind. These were moments when John and Celeste really showed that they could have chemistry if given the right opportunity. As someone who loves birds, it was fun to see the descriptions of birds and how to capture those moments to the fullest.
⅗ stars for a book that has potential to capture the heart if given the right chance.
Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Books for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
The Novel Llama 