Cassie is a children's book writer with writer's block. Her editor suggests that she come to live in London and see if new scenery can shake something loose. Cassie is hesitant because she's built her life in America for the last five years. Returning overseas might help her write her last few books but it also might bring up all of the feelings for the reasons she left. But it will be closer to an in vitro clinic and she wants a baby terribly. So she lists her house on a swap site.
James has been dating a woman for nine months but doesn't think it's very serious. She, however, does. And has created all sorts of expectations around that assumption. Expectations that, when not fulfilled at her birthday, cause her to become The Vengeful Ex. It's time for James to get out of town. So he lists his house on the same swap site and they come to an agreement for the course of several months.
During that time, they don't see each other in person very often but they do exchange emails and phone numbers and slowly grow closer together. However, there are large jumps in time that make it hard to really see any true connection between the two with most of the relationship being off-page.
I very much appreciated that the h/h were a little older (in their mid- to late-thirties.) It's more believable that they could be so successful in their jobs. I wish there had been more in the description about Cassie's search to have a baby. That is a HUGE plot point and takes over most of the back half of the book. There were also a number of smaller plot points that, had there been fewer, they could have been explored better making the book richer. Things like Jame's dead sibling and parent, his failing relationships with his only remaining family, Cassie's friendships on both sides of the ocean, James's friendships (or lack there of), Cassie's struggles with her writing, the difference between James and Cassie on listmaking the man James had made redundant, his ex-girlfriend's apparent in ability to let go, etc. Each of these was brought up and I thought "This will be a fun plot point later" and then it was resolved in almost buried single sentences. Even James's aversion to children which was built up and built up was resolved really quickly. If plot moppets could be anything other than children, these were all plot moppets, introduced solely to show one aspect of a character or relationship then moved quickly off page.
Overall a fast read but so much concentration was put on having children (with most of the "interesting" plot points going to that) that any other development for characters, place, relationship, or literally any other plot point was left behind.
Three stars
This book comes out April 18th, 2021
ARC kindly provided by Bookouture and NetGalley
Opinions are my own
Scottie is a basketball player whose ex broke her heart by breaking up with her and moving to the fancy, snooty school. When the story opens, her basketball team has just lost in an exhibition game against her ex’s new team. So Scottie is understandably upset. When she and Irene get in a fender-bender, the result is that Scottie is going to be driving Irene to school every morning. The resulting furor at school gives Scottie the idea that the two should fake date in a win-win situation to them both. But then pesky real feelings get involved.
