Review by Ronny
Series Name: Story Lake, # 1
Story of My Life is a perfect laugh-out-loud, romantic small-town romance.
Favourite Quote:
I crossed my arms. “Seven p.m. Prepared to be dated.
It was the stupidest threat I’d ever made, and the twinkle in her brown eyes told me it was probably going to end up in the pages of a book.
Book Synopsis:
Hazel is given a one-two punch when she’s forced to move out of her Upper East Side apartment and is given a final warning from her publisher.
If she doesn’t turn in a book by her next deadline, they’re cutting her loose.
Hazel rashly decides to leave what’s left of her city life behind and impulse buys a house in rural Pennsylvania sight unseen. How better to entertain the loyal readers she still has and rediscover her writing mojo than immersing herself in small-town life?
Too bad this town looks to be on its last legs. At least she’s finding swoon-worthy inspiration from her hot, grumpy contractor Cam and his animal-rescuing, community-involved family. It’s all just research. What could go wrong?
Review:
This is my first Lucy Score book, but I can tell you it won’t be my last. I fell in love with this book right away. I love it when the heroine has hit rock bottom, like rock, rock bottom and out of drunken desperation, makes a life-altering decision that is going to take her on a journey that is sure to be filled with unforgettable shenanigans. I love romcoms, but in all honesty, most of them don’t make me actually laugh out loud; that was not the case in this book. I found myself laughing, giggling, and smiling almost the whole way through. This book oozes those fun romance vibes that chased away those winter blues and had me rereading it a month later.
Ok, let’s chat about the story first. This book is that ray of light you feel on your face on that first true spring day; it just wraps you in this warm, glowing happiness, and you never want it to end. I was hooked right from the first chapter. I love a good small-town romance because they are often bursting with charm, crazy shenanigans, and quirky characters that are bound to put a smile on your face, and this book has all those qualities and so much more. Story Lake is an unforgettable town and one that I would definitely want to return to again and again (thank god, this is the first book in the series). Another reason this book hooked me was that Hazel was a fish-out-of-water big-city girl who finds herself in a small town and a house falling apart around her. So now, not only do you get those laugh-out-loud moments that often come with the fish-out-of-water trope, but you get the delightful chaos of a home renovation trope. Weaving a small-town romance with these tropes makes for a fabulously fun read, if it is done right and in this case, it was.
Hazel is wonderful. I loved watching her find her creative writing spark again. Watching as she realizes that she is her own person who doesn’t need her terrible ex-husband, and at the end of the day, she will rise from the ashes of her divorce and shine brighter than she has ever done before. It was also delightful and very swoony to watch Hazel and Cam form a fake dating pack so she could get her writing back on track. Cam is so deliciously grumpy. He’s that Luke (from Gilmore Girls), grumpy. He is grumbling and complaining about everything around him, a kind of hero, while at the same time being the first person to show up to help Hazel, his family, or a neighbour. It’s great! He is also a little broken, with some emotional baggage that is the cause of the third-act break-up. I know not everyone is a fan of the third-act break-up, but I liked this one. Cam really had to come to terms with his past before he could ever be in a real relationship with Hazel.
The romance is sweet and spicy. I love that grumpy sunshine chemistry because it makes for some flirty fun banter. I liked the fake dating parts of the book, because they often went completely off course, usually because of Cam’s meddling family or the locals. It was great fun and was a great way to force Hazel and Cam together in a more romantic light. There was just something about these two that felt right. Their meet-cute was fabulous and probably one of my favourites in terms of being unforgettable and so unique. It’s been a while since I read a romance that had a meet-cute that just zinged my bookish soul. Everything within their growing relationship felt well-balanced; it wasn’t too heavy with emotional baggage, or overly fluffy, or spicy, or unrealistic. It was just really well written. I can tell that Lucy knows her stuff.
Story of My Life is the perfect rom-com, and I cannot wait to read the next book in this series.
