Because we love a cynical woman who falls in love anyway.
Song Vibe Check:
"Yuck" By: Charli XCX
"Play Date" By: Melanie Martinez
"Shape of You" By: Ed Sheeran
I will admit the cheesy art pop cover was what pulled me into picking this one up. It's a pretty cover, even if a bit cheesy too and in my head that old book called "Love in the time of Cholera" was what I was thinking.
Yes, a morbid title, I know.
But of course, cholera had been replaced by "serial killers" and as I read the synopsis... well, I had to give it a try. If we ignore all the true crime references, it is quite a funny book to read! So, let's unpack it all, shall we?
Short Summary: Our resident cynical PhD candidate who believes in the worst parts of the world falls in love with her new neighbor who may or may not be a serial killer.
Long Summary: Phoebe Walsh has been surrounded by tragedies all around her. Her estranged father is dead. She has a dissertation to finish. She has to reconnect with her cheerful brother who is *GASP* trying to propose to his current girlfriend. And perhaps worst of all, she needs to head back to her childhood home to get the house ready so it can get sold.
So, a nice neighbor who tries to help her out on her first evening back should be good news, right? Except that for Phoebe, this mysterious guy may be a serial killer. But, given her obsession with true crime and associating people's suspicious actions as signs of possibly being a serial killer, her neighbor is most likely one out to kill her before the summer ends.
But, his name is Samuel Dennings, or just Sam for short. And he is an elementary school music teacher. Aaand he is actually a really kind guy who just wants to know Phoebe better and the more she inquires about her mysterious neighbor who isn't actually a killer, she realizes that perhaps she is too far into the fact that she may be able to love again and perhaps, find some happiness in all of the tragedies in her life.
I entered this book expecting a snobbish character and while she does have some of those traits, she also does a lot of things to protect her heart from caring for others even though she obviously still cares. The cynicism definitely shows and as someone who has been hurt and not appreciated enough, there were some aspects of her character that I could relate to. Grief gets touched upon a bit in this book and her brother Conner was one of my favorite characters in the book. But, I was here for Sam and his curiosity to get to know her better.
And because frankly, Sam's entire existence made this book better. He's the sort of love interest who is a huge cinnamon roll and how the only thing I wanted to do was to just give him a hug and protect him from Phoebe's prickly nature before she finally softens up to him, but their banter was absolutely great and the book flew by fast for me (for the most part!) I didn't really care about her dissertation and I might not have gotten all the references of true crime scattered throughout the book, but it had the right amount of spice and cheesiness for a good Rom-Com.
And it seems more Rom-Coms are re-entering my world again, so we'll see what's next.
Overall: 4.5/5 stars
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