Book Synopsis:
Everyone knows they can count on Paige Alder. But between volunteering at church, putting in overtime at work, and helping her best friend plan an anniversary party, she's lucky to grab a cheese stick for dinner. Paige can't even remember the last time she had a few minutes to relax or dig into God's Word. Then she meets laid-back Tyler, an attractive, Jesus-loving guy. Will he be able to help Paige get her priorities on track?
My Review:
3/5 stars. This book was kind of boring and the main character was super annoying. I wasn’t compelled/hooked at all. The last few chapters were decent and the small amount of character development was nice, but this book didn’t have a lot going for it. I won’t read the others in the series.
Almost nothing happened in this book. There wasn't really any big conflict, and the little bit of conflict/turmoil that were there was always played off as kind of a joke from the main character, negating any story development. I felt like there was too much comedy in general in this book. Characters couldn't have a normal conversation without someone, usually the MC, saying something that was supposed to be funny. It's not like I don't like humor, it just felt like too many jokes in quick succession, and a lot of them weren't even that funny.
The fact that she makes too many jokes wasn't the only thing I disliked about the main character, Paige. There was a lot. The entire book is basically about how busy her life is and how overwhelmed and stressed she is. That was excrutiating to read about. She let everyone around her make plans for her, even if it doesn't really work for her. She neglects her health and budget, like skipping out on workouts and being aware of it, or "splurging" on eating out every week, then just says "oh well" and then forgets about it. Multiple other characters in the book tell her that she has a problem with saying no, and she doesn't realize this until around the third-to-last chapter of the book.
The whole "Paige's life is so busy" also made the book more boring. It was very repetitive, with Paige talking about how she got home late and didn't have time to eat dinner or shower, then she was swamped again the next day, over and over and over again. Good conflict in a book doesn't mean long blocks of texts describing problems that are mostly the MC's own fault.
Paige was also just a little dumb. There were some things she said that I couldn't tell if they were supposed to be a joke or if it was just a lack of street-smarts. There were a couple moments that stood out to me most. At one point, Paige's friend asks if milk was vegan - a very obvious yes - to which Paige replies that she doesn't know. The other is the fact that she seemed to know very little about how pregnancy worked, despite being a 23-year-old. You figure that stuff out just by being around people. Again, I don't know if the author also wanted to make Paige a little dumb, but it was another unlikable thing about her.
Now I'll move on to the positives. There was a little bit of character development in Paige by the end of the book, which was relieving. She finally took a day off work - only after her coworkers insisted - and spent the day at home relaxing and doing stuff she had been putting off. That was nice to read because the whole rest of the book had been chaotic. I wish this development happened slightly sooner, though.
There was a smidge of romance. The love interest was a decent guy who seemed good for Paige, but the tiny relationship development wasn't that swoon-worthy. I liked him, though, he was probably the most sane and enjoyable character to read about. He was kind of boring, though, so that's saying a lot.
Finally, the last two chapters of the book were great. I liked reading about them setting up for the party and that whole scene. That was the best part of the plot, it only took 17 chapters to get there.
Content:
This is a very clean book. Even though it has romance, cheek kisses is as far as it goes. There's no language, and no violence.
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