This is so good. As in, read the sample, bought immediately, read the rest, finished at 10:30 at night. It takes several of my recent disappointments—Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date, Kiss Her Once for Me, Late Bloomer—and does that vibe right. Two grown-ass adults, realistic and frustrating capitalism (saving a bar where 20k is a big chunk of money), diverse and marvelous cast, a truly swoony romance. (And the corporate Tom Hanks character is ditched like the smarmbag he is instead of reconciled as the love interest. HALLELUJAH.)
Really, apart from the friends-to-lovers, my favorite part is the work that goes into this community. It’s not a magical Hallmark-esque, Stars Hollow town. It takes effort and collaboration to keep the economy functioning, the gentrification and predatory corporations at bay, and to stand up to those who want to police or exclude others. (Bigots, jerks, bullies, et al.) The fact they succeed (at least temporarily) may skew towards fantasy these days, but it’s a refreshing change from the maintenance-free, almost creepy conformity of the usual quirky romancelandia small towns.
(One tiny niggle: Cash considers her two options as straight or gay when she’s questioning her sexuality. It feels true to her as a character—she is the Lesbian Masterdoc incarnate—but it could be seen as bi erasure. I wasn’t too bothered by it, because again, it’s true to her specifically, not necessarily to the author or world at large. In other circumstances, I might have been.)