First of all, reading about all the pancake creations in this book made me wish I could eat gluten! Serious pancake envy happened during the reading of this book.

My biggest complaint with this is just personal preference, as there are a lot of tropes and plot points that are not my favourite in this one. But I didn't hate those elements, and I think it did a relatively good job with them. The only exception to that is that there are also some pacing problems with the romance tied to some of these tropes that I think could have been more refined, especially since it seems to be a bit rushed in the end. Though I also have to say I do love ridiculous, quirky small towns in books, and that energy is alive in this one in a way that helped balance out the elements that I enjoy less.

This isn't my favourite Talia Hibbert book, but it wasn't bad. And I have to commend her for taking a premise I was worried about and making me more than chill with it. I was particularly worried about how she was going to handle Rahul having a long-standing romantic interest in Jasmine. As I have found, there is a solid risk with that dynamic that the 'friend' isn't actually behaving like a friend and has a hidden agenda, or is resentful, etc. And I think by making the storyline bounce between the beginning of their friendship and where they are currently, we get a better picture and understanding that shifts the energy away from that.

So, over the past year, I have learned that I really love silly, ridiculous, historically set rom-coms, and this is no exception.

For this one, I do think the comedy and situational humour shine a bit more than the romance itself, though the romance wasn't bad. It just wasn't what left the biggest impression on me. I also liked seeing how things kind of spiral from super anxious Lydia hyping herself up to propose to her pen pal, finding out that she has been catfished, to them going on an adventurous sluething expedition that keeps getting more convoluted as she searches for her catfisher. Every step was met with wonderfully curated chaos that added to the energy of the humour and book, and built itself up nicely to add to the plot and mystery going on.

So this was an ok read. Not bad, not great. The key thing that stands out to me is that they have an MMC who is the more 'dominant' grumpy archetype, and give him a story arc involving agoraphobia. And I really appreciated that they didn't erase his dominance or try to underplay it because of that. I think lots of novels might have shied away from the more vulnerable moments with him, in this misguided attempt to keep up a dominant mask, so it was nice to see that diverted. However, outside of that, I've seen lots of the defining elements in this story done better elsewhere, and struggled with some of it. But overall, it was still enjoyable, and a fun read.

This was a very much for the humour and vibes type of read. Some of it inched towards being ridiculous, but not necessarily in a really bad way. I think they balanced out the overall energy that those more ridiculous kinds of circumstances make sense, and were reeled back before it became over the top. Though when it started to move in that direction, it did take me out of the moment personally, but more than once it seemed to disrupt the flow of the plot itself, so it wasn't my favourite thing to see. Though all in all, the book was funny and silly, and it was a chill time.

From the title, you probably guessed it, but this book does lean into the 'Daddy' kink vibes. So if her calling him Papi and Daddy is a hard nope, stay away. I do think for an age gap, fathers' best friend book, it was done in the least creepy way possible. With her being in her early 30's, and them not knowing the connection to her father when they hook up. Which, in the end, made the father's best friend situation just funny to read. They also touch on some more heavy emotional aspects in a way that I think gave proper weight to the situation, but didn't overtake the lighter energy of the book.

Overall, this was a fun romance vibes type of read, and I loved my time with it. Though I will 100% admit that my emotional attachment to some of S.J. Tilly's older works clouds my judgment when it comes to rating her books. I just find them so fun, and many of them have become my comfort reads. And I definitely see myself picking this up again in the future for a goofy romance pick-me-up.