[REVIEW] Well Met

title: Well Met
author: Jen DeLuca
genre: adult, romance
published: September 3, 2019 by Berkley Books
my copy: Paperback, International Edition, 319 pages
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4 / 5 stars
goodreads

All's faire in love and war for two sworn enemies who indulge in a harmless flirtation in a laugh-out-loud rom-com from debut author, Jen DeLuca.

Emily knew there would be strings attached when she relocated to the small town of Willow Creek, Maryland, for the summer to help her sister recover from an accident, but who could anticipate getting roped into volunteering for the local Renaissance Faire alongside her teenaged niece? Or that the irritating and inscrutable schoolteacher in charge of the volunteers would be so annoying that she finds it impossible to stop thinking about him?

The faire is Simon's family legacy and from the start he makes clear he doesn't have time for Emily's lighthearted approach to life, her oddball Shakespeare conspiracy theories, or her endless suggestions for new acts to shake things up. Yet on the faire grounds he becomes a different person, flirting freely with Emily when she's in her revealing wench's costume. But is this attraction real, or just part of the characters they're portraying?

This summer was only ever supposed to be a pit stop on the way to somewhere else for Emily, but soon she can't seem to shake the fantasy of establishing something more with Simon, or a permanent home of her own in Willow Creek.

cute and quick!

I read this because I had the sudden interest to read chick lit romance after loving One Day in December (although it's exactly a chick lit romance?).

Well Met follows Emily who arrives at the small town of Willow Creek, Maryland after a disastrous relationship. She's there to help out her sister, April, as she recovers from a car accident. While Emily helps out her sister, she was pushed to join the local renaissance fair as a guardian to her niece where she plays the role of a wench and meets the serious and somewhat rude head of the fair, Simon.

"I figured the best way to stop feeling that tired was to stop fighting losing battles. Stop banging my head against a bring wall, trying to get him to do the right thing.  -p190

Emily is such a lovely character and she's the type of person who'd put everyone else over herself (which is a sad tale). From start to end,  I loved Emily and there were times when I found myself relating to her (and at some point to Simon).

I kind of like that it's a hate-to-love relationship. I like how their relationship slowly developed. Simon basically lived rent-free in Emily's head since they met and that's kind of a cute thing (and maybe just how things sometimes start). What I did not like though is how there doesn't seem to have a clear development on Simon's part. This is probably just me but I don't think I saw when he started liking Emily. Unless he's putting too much strong front which could be a good call in my opinion.

"Love is always a risk, isn't it? But here's a question for you: how does he make you feel?" -p234

It took me quite a while to actually ride the Simon train generally because I felt that he was quite unreasonably rude. But then, once you get to know Simon and his story, I ended up liking him (and somewhat relating to him at some points as I mentioned earlier).

OVERALL, Well Met is a fun and quick hate-to-love romance. I related to both Emily and Simon at some points and I LOVE how their relationship developed (mostly Emily's but yeah, they're still cute!).

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