Review: It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time by Kylie Scott
Note: An advanced reader copy (ARC) was provided by the author.
Kylie Scott is one of those authors who happens to be an auto-read for me, regardless of what the blurb for a new book mentions. In short, I'm more than good going in blind because, more often than not, the time I spend reading her books is time well spent. With her latest release, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, however, I confess that I waffled for the first half, and had to take a break from this second-chance romance. That break was exactly what I needed, and thankfully, the second half of this novel set in the author's native Australia worked things out.
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time is a story of young love scorned that finds a second chance seven years later. Adele Reid was only sixteen the summer she first met Peter Gallagher, fifteen years her senior and her father's new employee in his construction business. Pete would become her first true friend, her first love, and her first heartbreak. His rejection of her when she was eighteen led to seven years of exile on her part, but now she's back to attend her father's wedding. She's no longer a child and while Pete turned her away once, will she be the one to turn away from him this time around when she realizes that some things should simply belong in the past?
I'm sure the whole notion of a teenage girl and a man in his early thirties being best friends sounds iffy, but hey, I'm close friends with people who are at least a decade older than me and vice-versa and I actually do believe that men and women can have purely platonic relationships. So, yes, Adele and Pete being friends years ago was feasible and I totally get Adele developing romantic feelings towards the man she was spending a lot of her time with. Do I think they shared a connection back then? Yes, I do. Do I think that connection was romantically mutual? Nope, sorry, I don't. I honestly just didn't get that vibe from Pete. Sure, when he saw the far more adult (though her being mature was a big question mark for most of the book) Adele, he lusted over her, but as a teen? I doubt it.
There was a whole lot of bickering and very little meaningful connecting in the first half of the book. There were clearly some negative feelings, thoughts, and emotions that were still lingering even seven years after the whole "booby-trapped" incident. There were many moments where it felt like twenty-five-year-old Adele and forty-year-old Pete still acted like immature kids, choosing to pout and grunt and throw tantrums or walk out instead of actually communicate. But there was a particular point in the story where everything seemed to finally click, and not a minute too soon. They still had issues and there were still times that I was oh-so-tempted to smack Adele and Pete upside the head, but the chemistry that was missing before? I felt it and these two got their acts together for a pretty good HEA. It Seemed Like a Good Idea wasn't my favorite Kylie Scott read but it still earns 3.5 stars for me. ♥
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time is a story of young love scorned that finds a second chance seven years later. Adele Reid was only sixteen the summer she first met Peter Gallagher, fifteen years her senior and her father's new employee in his construction business. Pete would become her first true friend, her first love, and her first heartbreak. His rejection of her when she was eighteen led to seven years of exile on her part, but now she's back to attend her father's wedding. She's no longer a child and while Pete turned her away once, will she be the one to turn away from him this time around when she realizes that some things should simply belong in the past?
I'm sure the whole notion of a teenage girl and a man in his early thirties being best friends sounds iffy, but hey, I'm close friends with people who are at least a decade older than me and vice-versa and I actually do believe that men and women can have purely platonic relationships. So, yes, Adele and Pete being friends years ago was feasible and I totally get Adele developing romantic feelings towards the man she was spending a lot of her time with. Do I think they shared a connection back then? Yes, I do. Do I think that connection was romantically mutual? Nope, sorry, I don't. I honestly just didn't get that vibe from Pete. Sure, when he saw the far more adult (though her being mature was a big question mark for most of the book) Adele, he lusted over her, but as a teen? I doubt it.
There was a whole lot of bickering and very little meaningful connecting in the first half of the book. There were clearly some negative feelings, thoughts, and emotions that were still lingering even seven years after the whole "booby-trapped" incident. There were many moments where it felt like twenty-five-year-old Adele and forty-year-old Pete still acted like immature kids, choosing to pout and grunt and throw tantrums or walk out instead of actually communicate. But there was a particular point in the story where everything seemed to finally click, and not a minute too soon. They still had issues and there were still times that I was oh-so-tempted to smack Adele and Pete upside the head, but the chemistry that was missing before? I felt it and these two got their acts together for a pretty good HEA. It Seemed Like a Good Idea wasn't my favorite Kylie Scott read but it still earns 3.5 stars for me. ♥
Release Date: 07 August 2018
Date Read: 05 August 2018
Learn more about Kylie Scott.
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