This is a romance novel, the first in a new Clover Lake series, and I found it disappointing.

Plot summary

Ramona and Dylan both had difficult childhoods. Ramona’s mother left a decade ago, forcing Ramona to abandon college and her career to care for her father and sister, Olive. Meanwhile, Dylan is a nepo baby actress whose career is reeling after a tabloid-heavy breakup.

They meet when Dylan arrived at Clover Lake to film a queer movie – based on a book by Iris Kelly – and Ramona helps her “method” act the role of a small-town coffee server. However, it’s not their first encounter – they were each other’s first kiss in a moonlit cove years earlier, around the time their two families were imploding.

Fortunately, the book dispenses with the “will they remember each other?” tension quickly. The suspense only lasts a few chapters, before they dive into serious dating and graphic sex scenes (which were long enough that I mostly skipped them).

The conflict arises when they both discover each other’s ulterior motives: Dylan’s publicist wanted a “wholesome” romance to improve her image, while Ramona hoped the friendship would help her meet an Oscar-winning costume designer on set and resume her career.

The book ends with growth for them both – Dylan reconciles with her parents and Ramona moves to LA for a new job – and the two realise they love each other to move in together.

Why it didn’t work for me

I struggled to engage with this book because I never got a coherent sense of narrative or location. The story jumps quickly from “just friends” to “passionate lovers”, and I found myself missing the emotional development in the middle.

Because Dylan is making a film, the book takes place in a revolving door of locations, jumping from one set to the next. There’s no distinct sense of place. The coffee shop is a major element at the start, but is mostly dropped once they start dating.

There are exceptions – like Dylan hearing that Ramona loves mushrooms, and taking her to a Mushroom Museum on their first date – but overall the book was missing something. I wanted to see more of them actually caring for each other and admiring small details, not just being told “and then they were in love”.

Several key conversations happen off the page, which could have elevated the book. I’d love to see their first few weeks of dating; the aftermath of Olive meeting their mother; Dylan’s final conversation with her parents. Those milestones were opportunities for great scenes, but they happened “off camera”.

Although I’ve enjoyed other books by Ashley Herring Blake, this was a struggle, and I won’t rush to read more in the Clover Lake series.

Quotes

P127:

Dylan frowned. “I think I just want to talk?”

“Talk,” Ramona said, her stomach fluttering.

Dylan nodded, her gaze soft as her eyes roamed Ramona’s face. “About you. Your life. The town. I think it’d help me get into Eloise’s brain a bit more.”

Ramona opened her mouth, but nothing came out. All she managed was a nod, her feet turning and moving them back toward Clover Moon, though she doubted she’d be able to sit in a booth with a cup of coffee in her hands and talk to Dylan Monroe about her life. Life was emotions, dreams.

Love.

First kisses.

Her mind whirled, searching for some way around this, when Dylan stopped walking.

“Actually, will you come somewhere else with me?” she asked, her eyes toward the lake. “If I can find it.”

“Find what?”

Dylan didn’t respond at first, just looked at Ramona as though digging for gold behind her eyes. Ramona couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, not with Dylan Monroe’s green-glass gaze on her like that.

“A place we both know,” Dylan finally said, then started walking toward the water.

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