I’m genuinely still so conflicted on this book because there were parts of it that worked for me…and then parts that had me sitting there like ????? 😭

The setup was... interesting. A shy girl getting dared to walk up to a stranger at a bar and tell him nothing but lies? I will say I was intrigued. And I did love the weather reporter angle (I’m such a sucker for niche career romances for some reason). The banter between Elizabeth and Evan was probably the strongest part of the whole book for me too. They had this playful back-and-forth that kept me reading even when the story itself started frustrating me.

BUT HERE IS MY ISSUE.

Apparently Evan genuinely misunderstood what Elizabeth was confessing when she came clean but I’m still sitting here wondering HOW??? Because she literally tells him her real name and admits she lied about everything, and even reading the scene from his perspective later I was still like “bro are you deaf??” 😭 I truly thought I had skipped chapters the first time because when he later acts shocked about her not being the childhood girl, I was staring in confusion.

And honestly…Evan’s reaction to the lying at the beginning felt weird to me too 😭 Like this girl walks up to you, invents an entirely fake identity, and your response is basically “haha cute” and then immediately going home with her??? Sir??? (which to be fair he thought she was some childhood friend, but still you haven't seen her in forever and can barely remember her and you're going home with her?)

One win is I appreciated how much the story emphasized therapy and emotional healing (even if some of the execution didn’t fully land for me)

Unfortunately, the conflict just became REALLY repetitive after a while. It felt like every single issue circled back to Evan in some way, and eventually the drama started feeling more exhausting than emotional. And Elizabeth…girl 😭 I wanted to root for you more than I actually did. She came across pretty immature to me for a lot of the book, which made some of the emotional moments harder to fully buy into.

Overall, I don’t think this was a bad book. The writing was decent, the humor worked for me more often than not, and there was some chemistry and charm to keep me reading until the end. I just never fully connected with the emotional core because I was too distracted by the same conflicts repeating over and over again.

It just personally ended up being one of those “liked some parts, frustrated by more” reads for me.

things to know about the book ↓

🌦️ bar meet cute
🌦️ witty banter
🌦️ mistaken identity
🌦️ therapy/mental health rep
🌦️ instant attraction
🌦️ miscommunication conflict
🌦️ opposites attract
🌦️ dual POV

spice rating:🌶️🌶️🌶️
swearing: yes

Thank you BookSirens, Pen Pinery, publisher & author for this arc in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I went into this one really excited because the premise is exactly my kind of story. Isolated cabin, danger closing in, a wounded girl showing up out of nowhere, and a man who has built his entire life around keeping people out… it had so much potential.

And honestly, I did like the overall idea. The tension and underlying danger kept me interested, and I wanted to see how everything would play out. The ending was satisfying, and the story itself wasn’t bad.

But I struggled to fully connect with it.

The writing style felt very blunt, and it made it hard to really sink into the story. I felt like I was reading what was happening rather than experiencing it. I also really wish we had Alessia’s POV, because I think that would have added a lot more emotional depth, especially considering everything she went through.

The pacing was another issue for me. Since the story takes place over about 20 days, everything moved pretty quickly, including their relationship. Because of that, the emotional and physical connection between them didn’t fully land for me. The intimate scenes, in particular, lacked the passion and tension I was expecting.

Overall, I liked the concept more than the execution. It had a strong foundation and enough suspense to keep me reading, but it was missing that deeper emotional pull that would have made it unforgettable.

Thank you to Pen Pinery and Royal Reeds for allowing me to read this arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.