WELL MET is whimsical, hilarious and brilliantly written!

I absolutely LOVED it! Ms. DeLuca cracks me up with her witty dialogue and endears us with an imperfect hero and heroine. Feeling unworthy of favor and happiness yet deserving of both!

I love everything about this story! I love Emily’s character! She’s been hurt and heartbroken, but she has a wicked sense of humor that tickled me every single time she opened her mouth! Her character is vulnerable and easy to relate to. I want to be her!

Now Simon… poor, poor Simon. This guy… I love him so much!!! He puts on a brave face but deep down he was suffering, but only Emily was able to see his true pain and she wanted so badly to heal and love him. Even though he was a total jerk the moment they first met! You gotta love a good enemies-to-lovers trope.

The secondary characters are just as brilliant! Emily’s sister and niece are sweet and so funny! And one of the most memorable characters in the story is a tall, blonde and handsome kilt-wearing gym teacher with a mighty big…. sword 😉

I.Love.This.Book. There is so much heart and loss, and hope and heartache, and promise. And love. SO much love! If you love witty dialogue, snarky heroines, wounded heroes, kilted men (and sexy pirates) all centered around an Elizabethan Renaissance Faire, then you definitely need to beg, borrow and buy WELL MET!

I was SO excited to read this book and it didn't disappoint. It was super charming. I love the friends to enemies trope and this book ticked all of the boxes. Simon and Emily budding romance spiraling through Renaissance reenactment is perfect. Sexy and cute!

This book just made me feel good. I loved the romance between Emily and Simon with the backdrop of the Renaissance Faire.

Have you been to a Ren Fest? Have you or your friends worked at a Ren Fest? Do you like heroines who are smart and kind, but who have been knocked around a bit in life? Then this is the story for you. It is lively and fun and really feels like you are working at a Ren Fest. It is a fun read and our heroine is very likable.

This was an adorable, super easy read. I really enjoyed the whole ren faire aspect and am now counting down the days to the local ren faire. Emily ends up in a small town caring for her sister after an accident and gets drawn in to the local ren faire group by her niece. The guy running the faire is a bit uptight and he and Emily don't mesh. Emily makes friends and assimilates into the small town life via her involvement with the ren faire, making her really consider her future plans. Cute book and the escapism I really needed right now!

"I didn't choose the wench life. The wench life chose me."

Good murrow and well met! I'm so excited to be reviewing Well Met by Jen DeLuca. This book is everything for me: romance, pirates, renaissance faire, books. I loved ever single moment, you should have seen the grin on my face through a good 90% of the book!

Well Met is a story of 25 year old Emily who has just been through a break up when her mom asks her to drop everything and come take care of her sister and niece as they recover from a car accident. While Emily's sister is out of commission with a broken leg, her daughter doesn't have any major injuries allowing her to try out for the town Renaissance Faire. The catch being for anyone under 16, a parent or guardian must also volunteer. Enter the main plot of this story, Emily getting to know to the local town folk and volunteering to be a wench in the Faire.

As soon as I read that this book took place primarily at a Renn Faire I knew I was hooked! The descriptions of everything, the set up, the performances, the food, the costumes, everything, was so spot on that I had no trouble picturing a Faire in the woods. In fact I pictured the Faire I try to attend each year, it was pretty much set up in the same fashion as the Faire in Well Met. The accuracy of it all has me longing for the Faire to begin this year! Ours moved to being in the fall a few years back and I can't wait to hopefully go again!

The characters in this book are so down to earth and real that I felt as if I was the one joining their small town. I related to Emily in so many ways, she's wonderful! Without giving anything away, I feel like the growth we see from Emily and how she handles herself is important for people to see. The message that you may care deeply for a person but you also need to care about your own mental health and take care you as well.

As for the supporting characters, I adored them! Wish we got to see a tad bit more with her sister and niece but I loved all the friends she made!

This book brought out every emotion! I smiled and laughed at so many wonderful parts but I also cried here and there. Any book that can get all the emotions is a good one for me. Being at the Faire warmed my heart so incredibly much!

If you love love or Renaissance Faires than definitely pick this up!! You won't be disappointed! I for sure will buying a finished copy at some point in time, I want to reread this and annotate the crap out of it!!

To end out this review, I loved every moment and think everyone should read it then go to a Faire!!

HUZZAH!

I loved everything about this book. I already can't stop recommending it to everyone. I was excited about the Ren Faire being included in this book and I had high hopes for it and I was not disappointed! I completely adore this book and highly recommend it!!

I am trying to gather my thoughts to write a real review, but I basically just want to bang out a billion heart emojis and grin in the afterglow of reading this book. YOU GUYS.

A while back, Jen posted a reply to a Twitter meme to post the plot of your book written like a Reddit /r/relationships post, and she posted "I’m (25F) working the local Ren Faire, but the guy (27M) in charge is an uptight dick who wears a lot of vests. It’s the first day of Faire, & said dick is now a pirate in disturbingly hot leather pants. He’s flirting with me! Should I go for it, or is he probably still a dick?" I, in a total reading slump, went YES PLEASE and then realized I had a copy of this book already on my Kindle, waiting for me! Less than 24 hours later I'm reeling from a book hangover and seriously thinking just flipping back to page 1 and starting the book again.

Well Met is written in the first person past tense from Emily's POV. I marked this as both fake relationship and forced proximity, because it's a bit of those tropes but not in the way you typically see either trope. I love the twist Jen DeLuca takes on these two tropes. Emily is volunteering for the summer with her niece at the Renaissance Faire that Simon helps organize, and it's pretty much enemies at first sight for them when he reminds her of her jerky ex-boyfriend. But it's a small town and they're all working on the upcoming Ren Faire together, so they're forced into proximity every weekend. And then the Faire actually starts and HOLY HANNAH, Simon in his persona as Captain Ian Blackthorne is basically sex in leather pants. Emily, in her Faire persona as Emma, is tossed into a "showmance" with him and as her character falls for his, Emily wonders how much is real and what's for show. I AM SO HERE FOR IT. It's also definitely full on hate-to-love, so if that's your jam then READ THIS BOOK.

If you've read other reviews by me, you know that romances with strong growth storylines are a big must for me. Simon and Emily both have major baggage from their pasts, the fallout of which causes a lot of their bumps and misunderstandings from both sides. And Lord help me, but I love an insecure hero/heroine. (Possibly because I am a messy ball of insecurities myself? Who knows!) While I love the romantic storyline between Emily and Simon, Emily also goes through some amazing personal growth, in her relationship with her sister, the friends she makes in Willow Creek, and really learning to believe that she is enough and deserves all the good things. There's one part in the book where she asks her big sis, "Am I worth it?" and it damn near broke my heart right in two. I want to hug Emily, and Simon, and also Stacey and Mitch and April and just be bestest buddies with the whole gang.

Well Met is a stand alone contemporary romance, though I really hope we'll get books for Stacey and for Mitch from Jen DeLuca in the future!

I am a true fan of rom coms and this summer I've read some fantastic ones, including Well Met by Jen DeLuca. This is a cute story that takes place in a small town that holds a renaissance faire each summer to raise money for the local schools. The characters are realistic and quirky, both musts in a good rom com. This is Jen DeLuca's debut and I will definitely look for more from her in the future.

Well Met by Jen DeLuca is thoroughly charming. It's quirky. It's original. A delightful debut.

The Renaissance fair backdrop of this story is so much fun. Pirates and wenches. Sword fights and Queen Elizabeth herself...again, just delightful.

Personal preference here but I might have enjoyed this story more if the POV was third person instead of first. I would have liked to have been inside Simon's head sometimes.

The relationship between Emily and Simon is definitely a slow burning one. They dislike each other at first, which is a romance thing I LOVE but I did start to wish the story would move a little faster. Once they finally kiss though I was very much all in.

The nerd-charm of this book is off the charts and I look forward to reading more from Jen DeLuca.

Well Met is scheduled to release September 3rd. Thank you Netgalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 plus stars for Well Met! One of the most delightful and endearing books I’ve read in 2019! I never thought I would enjoy a book set at a Renaissance Faire so much but this book was really something special.

Emily has come to help her sister out following a car accident and inadvertently ends up signing up for the Faire so that her teenage niece, Caitlin, can participate. Emily meets Simon at rehearsal, the grouch of a man running the Faire, and in true enemies to lovers fashion, sparks fly.

There is so much more to these characters than what originally meets the eye and these details are so well fleshed our which is what elevates this book beyond most of the contemporary romances/rom coms I’ve read this year and the build up creates excellent tension, with sizzling pay off. Highly recommend Well Met as either a current BOTM choice or a purchase when it releases wider 9/3.

This was a sweet and fun read—I finished it in one sitting. If you’re looking for a light-hearted romance to escape to, with plenty of Shakespeare, then this is the story for you!

It takes place at a fair and the story revolves around two people who don’t like each other at first. But when the festival starts and they are in costume, they see a whole new side of each other that threatens their mutual dislike. The banter and angst was entertaining as was spending time in the festival.

This was the sweetest and most delightful romance! I'm a sucker for a good enemies to lovers story. Add in the fact that this takes place at a Renaissance Faire and I was sold. Just seeing the cover and reading the blurb, I knew I would love this book, and I was 100% right.

Emily isn't much of a small town girl, but when her sister gets in an accident and needs help with her teenage niece, Emily moves to Willow Creek to be there for them. When her niece wants to join the Renn Faire for the summer, Emily is fine with being her ride. What she's not anticipating is having to volunteer herself. But she does it. For her niece. She commits to being a tavern wench for every weekend in the summer. It wouldn't be so bad, except that the guy running the show seems to have it out for her.

Simon's brother used to run Faire, but now it's left to him. Everything has to go perfectly. He's rather particular about the details. As soon as the Faire starts, Simon- the uptight English teacher becomes Captain Blackthorne, the fun loving pirate who Emily- or Emma the tavern wench, loves to banter with. I loved the back and forth these two had. Their sexual tension was off the charts.

As Emily gets to know Simon, she understand why he is the way he is. And she starts to fall for him. Not only Captain Blackthorne, but Simon the person. No one is more surprised about this than her.

As Emily decides what to do with her life, whether she'll stay in Willow Creek once her sister gets better, or move on, Simon factors into that choice. I adored both Simon and Emily. Simon is my favorite kind of character. He was a bit high strung and Type A, but he has his reasons. I loved that Emily got to the root of who he truly was and loved him for it.

Well Met is a fantastic debut novel. I seriously will be reading anything and everything else this author writes. I hope we get some more from this world... maybe a Mitch book? The writing was great, the banter between the two characters- perfect, and the ending was swoony. This charming read was a gem of a book and I highly recommend it to all lovers of romance.

I just could not get into this book. I tried a couple of times for the sake of this review, but have finally admitted defeat. I didn't find the characters at all engaging and couldn't bring myself to be interested in their arc (together or separately).

In Well Met,

Emily had just been through a bad breakup and then when her sister is in a serious car accident. I guess when it rains it pours when it comes to Emily. So she decides to move from Boston to a small town in Maryland to help her recover as well as watch her niece. The niece, Caitlin, wants to volunteer in the town's Renaissance Faire, but the catch is she needs an adult to join the fair. Emily agrees and at the fair she butts heads with Simon, who runs the fair and teaches English at the local high school.

Emily struggles with fitting in in a place where everyone else has a long history together and gossip spreads. Emily's prior relationship was really bad, and she's still working through some of her insecurities. It was kind of stressful. I overall though the book was sweet but I couldn't connect with the characters as much as I wanted too. I felt like there was something off with them, or I just felt like they didn't click well together.

MY RATING: 4/5 STARS 

I received an ARC from Berkley Romance in exchange for a honest review. 

Guys, this book was so stinkin cute and adorable. It was so close to being a 5/5 stars if it had an extra UMPH towards the end but regardless, this enemies to lovers romance will get you pump and excited. 

This book featured Emily, who is running away from her problems. Her boyfriend who recently became a lawyer, dumped her after he got himself a well paying job and decided a college dropout wouldn't make him look too good in front of the partners. Feeling betrayed as she dropped out of college to support and pay for his schooling, she returns to her sister's small town to lick her wounds and take her mind off things by taking care of her after she and her daughter survived a car crash. Emily then gets roped into volunteering for the town's annual fair where she dresses up as a wrench and has to deal with the head organizer, Simon. 

Clearly, Emily has some issues. She's self-conscious of her background and lack of education but Simon has bigger ones. Simon has to deal with the aftermath of grief over a loved one. He's clearly working himself down to the bone to make sure his family's legacy is being carried on in the same matter year over year. It might be a bit crazy but he's going to do it even if it kills him. It doesn't help that Emily comes, distracts him, and starts challenging him for every move he does. OKAY. 

So they hate each other.

But I loved watching them fight their attraction in the most over-the-top and intense ways! I loved how dramatic everything was and when Emily got to know Simon a lot better and realize all his pained stares he threw at her, it wasn't done on purpose. Anyways, they were adorable and I loved seeing them together.

The only reason why I took a star off was because these two people clearly had issues and really needed professional help. Don't even try to DENY it people. Love can't solve everything and I felt it was cheap to have these two people fall in love and suddenly get over them. 

MY RECOMMENDATION 

So cute. Definitely read this one.

Well Met by Jen DeLuca

When Emily heads to rural Maryland to help her sister recover from an accident, it’s only supposed to be a temporary. She’ll help her sister and figure out her own life. What she doesn’t expect is getting roped into participating in her niece Caitlin’s summer Renaissance Faire as a volunteer.

Simon, the English teacher in charge of the production, is mostly cranky and unpleasant until they get to the faire site and he becomes clever, witty and flirtatious.

Emily and Simon need to overcome the challenges of both their pasts to see if love can help all end well.
This Shakespeare themed summer romance is light and fun. Emily was a sympathetic and likable character but Simon was quite abrasive. The story took so long to unfold that Simon was quite a mystery and that made it hard to cheer for a romance between the H/h. The pacing was a bit slow and the hot and cold attraction between the characters made the story feel even longer.

Well Met was a cute idea with some fun elements but some character and pacing issues made for a so-so read. Shakespeare enthusiasts will enjoy the Bard banter and in jokes. 3 stars.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a super sweet small town romance set at a Renaissance faire. I really enjoyed it and will be recommending widely.

Reviewed for Shelf Awareness for Readers:

First impressions lead to weeks of tension in Well Met, a debut slow-burn romance from Jen DeLuca. English teacher, Renaissance faire organizer and part-time pirate Simon has devoted his life to maintaining his late brother’s legacy. When Emily arrives in town, adrift after a bad breakup and staying for the summer to help her sister recover from a car accident, Simon thinks her jokes mean she isn’t taking the Faire seriously. Scowls and snappish comments abound, with two good-hearted adults assuming the worst of each other.
As the Faire itself progresses, Emily becomes Emma, a flirty tavern wench, and Simon takes the role of swoony pirate Blackthorne. Through the pretense, their stage-flirting becomes something more real and more confusing. But despite the misunderstandings, these two characters are doing their best, trying to balance familial duty with personal goals. The resolution to all this mess is a happy ending for each of them as individuals and as a couple, satisfying in its completeness without relying on clichés.
Well Met will especially appeal to readers who like bookstores, Renaissance faire shenanigans and nerdy English teachers wearing vests. DeLuca will have readers laughing all the way to the turkey leg vendor.--Suzanne Krohn, editor, Love in Panels

Discover: For fans of enemies-to-lovers romance, Shakespeare-spouting pirates and Renaissance faires, Well Met is a charming debut.

Lots of fun! Emily is helping her older sister who got into a car accident and finds herself immersed in a Maryland Renaissance Faire. She encounters Simon, an old hand at the Faire who gets on her nerves for some reason. This is a great rom com with a great setting and endearing characters.