tl;dr: cute story for someone but not for me
The Story:
I feel really guilty about the fact that I could not force myself to finish this book. Especially since I’ve made it through some real train wrecks, and this one is not even that bad.
The story is about Van, a newly minted college professor who hates her job, and Willa, current graduate student and tennis wunderkind, who used to hang out occasionally because Willa’s older brother and Van are best friends, and have been for ages. Willa’s brother is teaching tennis at this summer camp, and when he breaks his leg, his sister steps up to take his place.
Willa’s had a crush on Van forever, and Van is expecting a little twerpy kid, like the way that Willa used to be, but is gobsmacked to see that Willa is now all grown up and looking pretty good. Van is over-the-top on socially awkward, and Willa begins to think that Van not only isn’t into her, but actually hates her. But no, they both really want to be together. Once they finally hook up, during a viewing of one of the movies in the original Star Wars trilogy, while dressed in cosplay (yes, you read correctly), Van feels horribly guilty and thinks that Willa’s brother is going to kill her.
And that’s when I threw in the towel.
Technical Elements:
There’s nothing specifically wrong with this book. I think the problem here is that this is not a good match for me. I don’t really enjoy fluffy angst-free romance, and the conflict here is so non-existent, it’s laughable. From the snippets we get about Willa and her brother, you can tell that the likely outcome is that everything will be fine once he finds out. Often times, when a book is lackluster and not holding my interest, the smutty portions will help me power through, but here, this romance just doesn’t do anything for me. Perhaps it is because it is two women? Or maybe the characters themselves don’t work for me.
Final Thoughts:
If you like geeky heroines, you will love this book. It’s sweet, it takes place at a summer camp, and the writing is superb. It just wasn’t for me.
This book doesn’t appear to be available at libraries, so keep an eye on Goodreads for any changes or to buy from your favorite retailer!
For another fluffy romance where geekdom features, check out Forever Mine by Erin Nicholas. Stay tuned because I will be reviewing the next book in that series soon.