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The movie star and the small-town girl he left behind. They have a lot of catching up to do in an emotional and rousing romantic comedy about fame, second chances, and making dreams come true. Parker Pruitt’s dream is to restore her small town’s long-shuttered theater—one to be named in honor of Noel Carter, the boy who followed his dream from Emerald Grove, Washington, to Hollywood…and broke Parker’s heart. Now he’s back to attend the kickoff ceremony, and for Parker, that means smiling through a swell of mixed emotions at seeing her former best friend for the first time in a decade. Noel may be one of the hottest actors in the world, but he’s still touched by the tribute. And a little nervous about seeing Parker again. But when his weekend jaunt extends into a six-week stay, long-repressed memories and feelings come rushing back. As the simmering attraction between them builds, Noel is determined not to ruin this second chance even if his return to LA is hanging over them. They’re making the best of the time they have left, but is there any chance of a Hollywood ending?
Publication Year: 2025
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02.25 ⭐
Maybe it was more a me problem here, but I did not enjoy myself that much.
The author's writing is fine, maybe I'll give her another try with something else she wrote.
But this book didn't do it for me. I'm usually a sucker for second chance & friends-to-lovers, but here I found it unsatisfying.
Spoilers ahead!
I didn't like the fact that neither of them made a move, anything, for 10 whole years but still thought of each other during their whole separation. They each had 'meaningless' relationships, nothing serious as they said and still thought of each other, but the FMC couldn't try to reach him after ignoring him that long, and he couldn't try coming back, at least to see his grandmother? I just can't stand this kind of second chance anymore where both MCs could have done something to end the whole 'no talking for 10 years' but they are either too dumb or too coward to take the leap. Either ways, the explanation of what happened 10 years ago felt weak and a little ridiculous: what was the rush after spending so much time as only friends, to wait for her to be ready? Why did she promise if she felt it wasn't right? I got that she's scared but, her so wise and know-it-all mother couldn't put some sense back in her head or something? And I also felt like he could have tried harder too.
While they reconnected, they jumped right into the sex with benefits thing (without even talking about it by the way). It was just mentioned she had won the date with him, there was a lot of 'are you dating?' from nosy people, but it wasn't an official relationship. At least that's how I felt. It was more like friends to friends with benefits than lovers. Every time spent together was spent having sex and avoiding the big subjects as 'what are we?' 'what are we going to do after these 6 weeks?' 'what should we do for us to work?', nope, nothing important was discussed for this relationship to work.
I hated how, to make their relationship work, it was the MMC's grandmother and the FMC's mother and also, her new best-friend, that had to say the right thing for them to open their eyes about their feelings, what they wanted, what they should/could do... It was truly frustrating. MMC thinking of, maybe, staying in the small town? 'Yes, but she didn't ask me to stay'. Them confessing they'll miss each other, again, and having a goodbye sex? Nope, thank you, Grandma, for mentioning that long distance relationship is also a thing. It's like, they kept saying they loved each other but didn't want to be together.
At the end, it ended up working fine, but if nosy side characters weren't there, would they even be together? Pretty sure, they wouldn't.
Thanks to NetGalley, Montlake and Teagan Hunter for the free copy.
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