Problematic Summer Romance (Not in Love #2) by Ali Hazelwood

This was enjoyable! This is only my third Ali Hazelwood. She is good fun, not what I’d call a favourite or auto-buy but I will very likely make my way through all her books eventually. I jumped the gun and read this one out of order.

The prompt for this was to — participate in a group or buddy read — and this was used in the ‘women simply vibing‘ group which is a book club I’m a member of on Fable. This is a really nice little space on Fable, it currently has over 3,000 members which is a lot, but not everyone participates every month and there is usually enough to have a few chats going. I like the way it’s broken up into chapters and it allows you to comment after a particular chapter. It really reduces the chances of spoilers which is a big plus.

I’m also a member of The Sapphic Agenda and Kristen Ashley Book Lover club, they don’t have near as many members so there isn’t as much chat, but they are still good fun.

So, Problematic Summer Romance! There was a lot to like about this book. I really enjoyed the settings, present day takes place in Taormina, Sicily and flashbacks (from over three years before) in Edinburgh, Scotland.

By skipping Not In Love, I was definitely a little lost with the characters a few times, this has mostly just made me curious about everyone so I’ll need to pick that up soon, but I also didn’t really have a good grasp of the characters like I imagine other readers would have had. For instance I didn’t have a good understanding of Maya and Eli’s relationship, Maya gives an overview but I feel like we might get a better insight to that in Not In Love?

I also feel like I was supposed to find Conor a bit more aloof than he is in this book and then see him be redeemed. I think I’d have disliked him from jump had I read him in Not In Love, but in this I just felt the grumpy didn’t last very long and the rest of him was yearning, broodily. I couldn’t hate him, even when he was pushing Maya away. I mean he said stuff on those phone calls with Maya that can only ever be seen as yearning, no matter how much he protests!

The main conflict between Maya and Conor was the 15 year age gap. Maya was 23 and Conor was 38, and that is a pretty significant gap, but it was this pretty huge issue for Conor but his objections with the age difference never seemed to be addressed. It felt more like he eventually gave in?

I do feel like the yearning went on a little TOO long but Conor yearning was kind of awesome, I really did fall in love with him. It’s strange, I’ve read a few books lately with Irish MCC’s and they have all been hot AND emotionally intelligent, I feel I need to point something out here though, emotional intelligence is not something Irish men have in abundance, in fact, I feel like it’s really important to note that Conor is an apparition. Oh how I wish this wasn’t the case, but emotional constipation is more on brand I’m afraid!

I had great fun reading this though, as I’ve said, I’ve only read a few Ali Hazelwood books, but so far I love how she writes her FMC’s, Maya wasn’t perfect and it made me love her all the more. I’m here for FMC’s not having to be flawless, we all have our issues and we all still deserve a HEA. Maya totally deserved her HEA with Conor!

Synopsis:

What is wrong meets what feels right in this romance set in Italy by the New York Times bestselling author of Deep End.

Maya Killgore is twenty-three and still in the process of figuring out her life.

Conor Harkness is thirty-eight, and Maya cannot stop thinking about him.

It’s such a cliché, it almost makes her heart implode: older man and younger woman; successful biotech guy and struggling grad student; brother’s best friend and the girl he never even knew existed. As Conor loves to remind her, the power dynamic is too imbalanced. Any relationship between them would be problematic in too many ways to count, and Maya should just get over him. After all, he has made it clear that he wants her gone from his life.

But not everything is as it seems—and clichés sometimes become plot twists.

When Maya’s brother decides to get married in Taormina, she and Conor end up stuck together in a romantic Sicilian villa for over a week. There, on the beautiful Ionian coast, between ancient ruins, delicious foods, and natural caves, Maya realizes that Conor might be hiding something from her. And as the destination wedding begins to erupt out of control, she decides that a summer fling might be just what she needs—even if it’s a problematic one.