Synopsis

From the moment Emerson (POV character) and Theo (POV character) met as teenagers, they were inseparable. But just when they finally expressed their feelings to one another, they were torn apart.

Now, supermodel Emerson is nearing her twenty-eighth birthday, and she’s tired of looking for love in all the wrong places. When the calendar reminder for the marriage pact she and Theo made as teens goes off on her phone, she realizes this is it―her chance to rekindle the only romance that ever really made sense. Emerson convinces her grumpy agent to book her as the face of the fashion campaign that Theo, now a fashion photographer, is shooting. The good the campaign is being shot in ridiculously romantic Cinque Terre, Italy. The bad news? Theo might not be as happy to see her as she'd hoped.

The two embark on a four-day campaign that tests not only their feelings, but their ability to keep their hands off one another. But as roadblock after roadblock keeps them apart, Emerson starts to will this photoshoot be the key to getting one last shot at love, or will it be a final goodbye?

*Blurb taken from Goodreads

Review

A cute and simple rom-com set in Italy, I found this novel to be reminiscent of Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation. Not only was this a dual POV, but it also jumped back and forth between present-day Emerson/Theo as they reconnect during an Anthem photoshoot, and high school Emerson/Theo as their friendship-turned-romance bloomed. Due to this setup, the foundation of their relationship gets established from the jump and it’s easy to buy into their longing for one another.

I thought it was wonderful to have an MMC that not only leaned into his emotions, but also communicated them. Cayouette took us as far from toxic masculinity as she could get. Standing ovation for that! Instead, conflict came from our two characters trying to reconnect and relearn one another after ten years apart, especially when Theo doesn’t understand why Emerson abandoned him to begin with.

There is miscommunication in here that drove me crazy, and I’ll get to that in critiques. But I want to talk about a miscommunication that 100% works and is painful in how realistic it is. Though light for most of the text, Emerson’s storyline does hint at a traumatic event that led to her leaving Salem in favor of LA, and that caused the initial rift between herself and Theo. At a photoshoot when she was 18, she was raped by the photographer. Unable to speak to the experience as she worked through her PTSD, she left to make a new start. Over the ten years of separation from Theo, she seeks therapy, finds an amazing and supportive friend group, and builds a platform meant to inspire girls and young women. Eventually, time passed, and we get our second-chance-romance plotline.

The author speaks to her own experience with sexual abuse and gives Emerson a journey centered on healing. This topic is handled beautifully. I applaud Cayouette for writing Emerson as a powerhouse who seeks to help others while continuously reflecting on her own mental health. And I especially love Theo for the way he handles being a partner to someone who has experienced sexual abuse. This is a book that all men and women should read in order to understand the impact of such violence. For how to heal, and how to support.

Some heavy and important topics get tackled in this text, but Cayouette balances them well in a genre focused on light-hearted emotions and romantic endeavors. Truly a fine line to walk, and she walked it with imminent grace. I think Emerson and Theo are a couple that will grow old and grey together.

While I do think Cayouette tackled some themes wonderfully in here, the overall plotline felt disjointed. Because I abhor a miscommunication trope, this book took me a long time to get through, and I was irritated for about 70% of it. It’s tough, because I would definitely recommend this based on the way Emerson’s healing journey is written, as well as the way Theo’s character is composed. But the miscommunication is bad. So, so bad. I almost DNF’d multiple times.

Critiques

Miscommunication: As stated above, the miscommunication due to Emerson’s traumatic experience as a teen worked. It’s real, prevalent in our world, and respectfully executed.

That being said, other forms of miscommunication were rampant in here. Like, every other chapter had a new issue of Emerson and Theo not talking to one another and overanalyzing literally everything.

Which drove me absolutely bonkers. The simplest of questions, or the most common sense observation, would have removed basically every bit of conflict in this book. Theo’s confusion and anxiety, I get, because he’s unawares as to what happened when Emerson left all those years ago. It’s nigh impossible for him to truly read her. Emerson, though? It’s obvious Theo likes her. She clocks that he probably likes her. Secondary characters tell her that he likes her. But he’ll do one little thing that has her fretting and positive he only sees her as a friend. I wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her.

What’s worse is that they would talk through a miscommunication—and then have another one. Talk through that one, and have another one. Over and over and over again until I was wondering whether they should be end game at all. That amount of miscommunication does not seem to correlate to a healthy relationship. Now, this does get resolved for the final time right at the end, and I do think we can count this as a forever couple, but only because they have so much history. If this didn’t have the second plotline of our POV characters in their teens, I wouldn’t have bought the romance for a second. Especially since adult Emerson and Theo take so long to reconnect. We only get the most basic, surface-level rekindling that’s filled with angst up until the final chapter.

Emotional Manipulation: I dislike jealousy tactics. Don’t play with people’s emotions. Please, I’m begging you. It’s childish, and it would have made more sense in the high school plotline. But Emerson and Theo both choregraphed situations specifically to make the other jealous in the adult plotline. I stopped listening for a few days when that happened, because come on. That’s horribly manipulative and I don’t condone it. Even if Emerson immediately felt guilty for her ruse and went to rectify that Harry wasn’t in fact her boyfriend, but was selling a PR stunt at the shoot, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Socialite Lifestyle: Part of my issue with this novel comes completely from personal blocks. I can’t wrap my head around Emerson’s world. The high society life doesn’t click, and the way she stressed over the tiniest hits to her reputation genuinely didn’t make sense to me. I had to suspend my disbelief and just keep telling myself this is probably a legit concern for celebrities, even though I was thinking to myself: Who cares? Especially the lead-in to the third-act break-up where Emerson’s agent spreads the rumor that she’s had work done.

1. I’m sure her PR team would come out on top of that one, especially with everyone in the industry (minus Emerson) apparently aware of how horrible he is.

2. Why would it matter? Celebrities get work done all the time. It’s their face—they should be allowed to do whatever they want with it if it makes them happy. Even Emerson mentions her photos get touch-ups and such, therefore she doesn’t have a platform of complete, 100% natural beauty. My bafflement over this causing yet another issue with miscommunication really drove home that this world Emerson lives in makes no sense to a reader like me.

Content Note

There is mention of an off-page rape committed against one of the POV characters.

You can find more content warnings at the Trigger Warning Database

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