Absolutely LOVED this book! Quirky and incredibly heartfelt Second First Impressions solidified Sally Thorne's position in my "Must Buy" author list.

2 years late but gotta catch-up sometime…

It’s a delightful and occasionally emotional story with adorable interactions but it’s also not entirely memorable. I enjoyed it a lot while reading but now that I’m done the details are already fading.

I loved the main characters opposite personalities. It was a believable extreme. Ruthie, so uptight and almost agoraphobic. Teddy, immature but freeing. They had great chemistry, though there was also a lack of deeper connection to really sell the love story. I think it could have benefited greatly with a Teddy POV.

Mostly, there were great characters all around, some interesting situations, emotional backstories, and two leads that desperately needed the catalyst to grow and evolve. It was a nice one-time read.

Absolutely loved The Hating Game but didn't find myself connecting with the characters or romance in this one.

I just could not find the relationship fun at times and even though I do love a longer romance book, this one felt like it was a bit too long. I think Sally Thorne's writing is great but there is a disconnect for me with these characters. I will be trying to find a Sally Thorne that I love again as I have loved some of her other books! This one just wasn't a favorite for me

I feel like I'm the only one not over the moon about Thorne's books. Like they're fine, and perfectly readable, but theyre not exceptional for me.

This was definitely an anticipated read as The Hating Game is one of my favorite romances. Overall, I liked the book and I found it to be cozy and warm. There was a fun cast of characters and I really liked the setting of the retirement community. There was just something that was slightly lacking that made it not a five star read for me and I can't place what that was. Maybe there wasn't enough stakes in the relationship, maybe that the characters weren't fleshed out in a way that I was hoping to see, or maybe it just missed some mark that I had in my head.
I really identify with our main heroine, Ruthie. As someone who works in a profession with a lot of older coworkers, a family that is religious (though not as bad as her family), and who is pretty content in the little world that I have carved out for myself, I can really understand both that want to stay in your shell and that everyone around you is moving on. I think Thorne did a really good job in creating Ruthie and all of her quirks. I wish there was a way to dive more into her back story and understand her more. I felt similarly about our hero, Teddy, overall I really liked him and parts to him were great but I felt like I wanted more. As much as I like Melanie, the whole parts with her method just seem unnecessary and could probably be pulled.
Overall, if you are looking for a sweet cozy romance that is kind of like a romance pallet cleanser, this is the book for you. If you want something with high chemistry and high stakes like The Hating Game you may be disappointed.

I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't like Ruthie, our main character. She seemingly has this tragic backstory, but she doesn't. She just has decided that she should remain trapped in a retirement complex with turtles for the rest of her life. It doesn't make any sense.

Nor does it make sense that she runs into one guy at a gas station and he falls in love with her even though she's dressed like a 90 year old woman. The love story felt SO forced. What did he see in her? I don't get it. There wasn't any chemistry because it was hard to even see the attraction.

The love story was predictable and the epilogue just made me dislike Ruthie even more for being blind to anything around her, in constant need of affirmation of others and just not that interesting of a person. I'd rather a book about her assistant, Melanie, who actually seemed to have a personality.

A delightful book full of adventure, action, and thrills. Fun to read, engrossing world building, and very descriptive imagery made it feel like it was cinematic. It's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. Would recommend.

Very cute storyline. I liked Ruthie, a little stereotypical of "young girl acts old" but it wasn't too much. Teddy was incredibly sweet, sometimes too sweet. It was hard to tell if he was actually being serious at points or if he meant what he was saying.

The story progressed easily and with the added side characters it was fun to follow. I loved how Thorne weaved her past struggles into how she lives her life. I love how Sally Thorne writes, she finds the best ways to describe something and you know exactly the feeling she's talking about.

While I liked the ending because it was everything that you want to wrap up all the loose ends, it started to feel too good to be true at some point. Overall it was a very cute story.

I could not get through this book. It was awkward and the descriptions were jarring and embarrassing.

I just love the way Sally Thorne writes romance, its so believable and relatable and she just builds the heat. Whenever someone is looking for a book to read I recommend anything by Sally.

I feel like I might have read this one wrong. At no point did I want Ruthie and Teddy to ever get together. I felt no chemistry between them at all. I loved them as friends - she teaching him how to be a little more together and him showing her how to be a little more like a 25-year-old. They balanced each other out, but never did I feel a romantic spark. I mean, yeah, I knew what was coming because it's a romance book, but I kind of frown and was disappointed when it become a physical relationship.

Having it set in a retirement community with the Parloni sisters torturing Teddy was my favorite part. More crazy old ladies torturing young men in books, please.

I absolutely loved this book! I was so engrossed by the characters right off the bat. Sally Thorne's writing is out of this world, if you've been in a reading slump this is a great place to start, it absolutely blew me away!

You ever go into a book with such high expectations because the authors previous work literally made you feel like you were falling in love all over again, only to be let down? That was me with this book.

Now, I’m not trying to shit on the author, the book was cute. It just wasn’t… what I was hoping for? It’s as if the author was trying to make the characters quirky, to the point where they were rather boring. 👀 The steam, the angst, the… oh wait. Wrong book. There wasn’t much of any of that in this one, sadly.

I typically read thriller/horror novels and use romance as a buffer, so I try to find gems. Ones that make me feel. Ones that can give me butterflies. The only thing this one gave me was tattoo fever and the fear of liver spots.

It’s a three star from me. It was cute, but that’s about it. Sorry Thorne.

Also, thank you Netgalley for the ARC, and I apologize for how late I was at reading it. 🙈

This was another romance book that I loved. I enjoyed the overall story and how fun the character are. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a light fun romance along with any of her other books..

This is a super light, fun, and funny romance novel that you can read in a day or two—a perfect pick if you’re looking for a good old escape from your life and need to quickly rocket to a whimsical and simple world where a couple of people are totally going to fall in love, have some hot sex, and live happily ever after.

This book centers on Ruthie, a meek and reserved 25-year-old who works at a retirement community where she cares deeply about the residents and is heavily focused on her insular life there (which absolutely does not include dating). But everything gets turned on its head when the retirement community is bought by a company that might shut everything down—and when the company owner’s tattoo-covered son, Teddy, appears on his motorcycle with his flowing black hair.

At first, Teddy and Ruth seem like polar opposites in every way, but as they get to know each other, their chemistry is hard to deny. But can they fit their dreams together, take risks together, and admit that opposites attract? While you might be able to guess that everything works out, the path to get there is very pleasant, with a lovely cast of characters, a slowly-building romance, and a few surprises at the end. We also love the book’s inclusivity—of older characters who are delightful and of a character with OCD, just to name a couple of examples.

Almost DNF this one - I felt Ruthie was very one dimensional. The storyline of her as young working woman that acted as a grandmother was overdone. But Teddy saved the day.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book! The title and this beautiful cover drew me in and i was excited to read this book! I will be recommending this book to others for readers advisory

I am not a huge romance reader, but I did enjoy Sally Thorne's last two novels. This was another cute, feel-good story that I enjoyed reading; surprised to find this one was more sweet than sexy.

I really loved this book and the whole aspect of second first impressions. I think Teddy's description was wonderful and I really wanted more to the story because I loved it so much. I didn't like the references to cardigans being boring and that all libraries have nerds and are stale, but I had to push that to the side.