Another library book which I thought would be another light, fluffy romance, but is quite a bit deeper.

Saoirse is holding a lot of teen angst: about her future plans, her ex-girlfriend, the best friend who got caught in the middle, her mother’s early-onset dementia, her father’s new relationship – and meeting Ruby at a party for a summer fling is a release valve for her feelings. Their romance can stay chill and light-hearted, and she doesn’t have to think about the hard stuff. Which works as well as you’d expect.

She does end up confronting those tricky things in her life, more or less, and she’s a very flawed protagonist. It’s not the traditional “happily ever after” you get in most romance stories, but it was a satisfying and heartfelt ending.

She ends the book with a better understanding of the other people in her life, a bit more emotional maturity and empathy, and a way forward. I liked it.

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