Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
DeWitt (Savor It) delivers a sensitive marriage of convenience romance about love blossoming in close quarters. Growing up, LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds spent summers together at their respective grandmothers' shared house in Santa Cruz, Calif. At 19, they attempted to have a no strings attached summer fling that ended in disaster when feelings got involved. Seven years later, following the deaths of both their grandmothers, they co-inherit the crumbling co-op. Contractor Deacon has the skills to fix up the place, but he needs capital. LaRynn has the money, but she needs to be married to access her trust fund. They strike a deal: they'll get and stay married just until the work is done and they're able to either rent or sell the property, at which point they'll split the profits and go their separate ways. With firmly established boundaries--and an end in sight--surely they should be able to coexist without any problems. But as they live and work together, old feelings resurface about their relationships with each other and with their respective families. They help each other work through past hurt, grief, disappointment, and regrets, forging a powerful bond. DeWitt tackles tough issues without ever losing sight of the fun and effectively uses the renovations as a metaphor for rebuilding damaged relationships. This satisfies. (Nov.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
LaRynn has recently inherited half of her late grandmother's beachside home in California. There's one big catch--her ex-boyfriend Deacon has inherited the other half. Their passionate summer romance ended in mutual heartbreak nearly a decade ago. With their funds running low and the house needing extensive work, they devise a plan to marry in order to access LaRynn's trust fund. Their intention is to quickly get the renovations done, sell the property, and get a divorce. But as they work on the house's repairs, their emotional walls begin to crumble, leading them to understand each other in a way that wasn't possible when they were younger. Through flashbacks, readers see what went wrong in the first place, while through their present-day, dual point of view, readers see LaRynn and Deacon fall in love all over again. This atmospheric tale of second chances is set against a stunning backdrop and features themes of growing up, home improvement, and family struggles. VERDICT Fans of slow-burn, emotionally charged romances, such as those by Kate Clayborn, Yulin Kuang, and Emily Henry, will enjoy DeWitt's (Savor It) novel immensely.--Migdalia Jimenez
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Two former flames agree to get married for as long as it takes to flip the run-down apartment they've inherited together. LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds haven't laid eyes on each other since the summer in Santa Cruz when they had a brief fling as teenagers. The relationship didn't last, but it made enough of an impact that when they're finally face to face again, a decade later, they have to figure out how to exist around each other. Total avoidance isn't a possibility, because their grandmothers--who were married to each other and both recently died--left them a shared inheritance of a ramshackle apartment, and LaRynn and Deacon have to figure out the best way to fix it up and sell it for a profit. The only snag in their plan is that LaRynn can't access the money they need in her trust fund until she gets married, and Deacon can't use his construction skills to do the repair work without said funds. When the idea of tying the knot comes up between them, they reluctantly agree to a temporary union: stay hitched for as long as it takes to renovate the house, then go their separate ways. Living in the apartment while they fix it up, they're sharing a space that lacks most of its walls, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of emotional barriers still in place. As their forced proximity also forces LaRynn and Deacon into some tough but long-needed conversations, it begins to lead them to the realization that the intense feelings they had for each other still burn just as hot as they did during that summer 10 years ago. DeWitt's latest romance is less about two people finding love and more about how they rediscover a love that never truly disappeared. Through dual timelines and points of view, we're offered a window into both the evolution of Deacon and LaRynn's romance and their incredibly satisfying, hard-earned road to a happily-ever-after. A swoony slow-burn romance that lives in the little moments. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
