I’m rating this 2 stars as someone who has read 2 other Emily Henry books and has gone into each one with an open mind. I totally, completely understand that this is commercial fiction and it’s meant to be a little corny and over the top for entertainment value. It’s just meant to be sexy and fun. It’s not winning any prizes and it’s not trying to be literary fiction and there’s nothing wrong with that.

BUT.

I think in the realm of commercial romance novels and Emily Henry novels, this was SUCH a cop out of a story! She really phoned it in on both the plot and the prose. Maybe it’s because she has this large, loyal fan base now and she doesn’t have to worry about whether or not people will read it because her fans always will, so she just didn’t care as much about making something genuinely tender and charming. At this point she has found the formula that will keep people coming back for more without fault, at least for now. And I truly think Emily Henry could write something more sincere than this but she simply doesn’t have to in order to sell books so she just doesn’t. It’s baffling to me that she’s okay being part of the “we all know this kind of sucks but that’s just how commercial romance writing is” narrative when she could elevate the genre instead. With her reach and popularity, I would love to see her really push things to a deeper level with her next book. If the next one is like this again, it’ll be the last for me, for sure.

As a side note - does Emily Henry actually think moaning while eating is sexy, or does she just think we will believe it’s sexy because she’s telling us it is? Gagged every time lol.