Conor Harkness is Maya’s brother’s best friend, and she is completely infatuated with him. He is clearly attracted to her, and in the years since they met, he has assumed the role of confidante and protector. However, at 15 years her senior, he refuses to let it go beyond that and has drawn a very clear line in the sand that Maya is desperate cross. When her brother gets married in Italy, Maya decides it’s time to push Conor to his limit.
I love a standalone that’s linked to another work. This novel splintered off of Not in Love and follows two of that book’s minor characters (Eli’s sister and his best friend) who have their own romantic issues to work through. The trope here is age gap romance, which I’m not necessarily opposed to as long as the characters are on equal footing – and these two are. Maya very much understands her wants and needs – both physical and emotional. She is smart and accomplished all on her own. An imbalanced power dynamic due to age and/or financial status could easily have been at play here, but it wasn’t. What frustrated me is that Maya very aptly and maturely explained that to Conor, yet Conor denied both of them the love they mutually desired well past the point of rationality. Once he started to open up, however, I really enjoyed watching the two of them figure things out. I also loved the snippet we get of Eli in this one. It’s not his book, but I think I preferred this side of him to the one where he’s the main character.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
Pair with: limoncello spritz
Peaches to Apples 