Review of "The Story We Wrote"

Another book down in my TBR. 12th of the year. Not one of my many books that I've had on my shelf for a year or two, but at least it's one less to read!

This week's read was The Story We Wrote by M. Hartley. This is one of the books I recently got on my trip to Barnes & Noble, and I just couldn't wait to read it. The book follows Boone Cassidy, a cowboy with a reputation in the small town of Faircloud, Texas, and Aspen Westgrove, an aspiring romance author who has never known what it's like to be in love.

The two characters have known each other since high school, though because of their differences, they never really crossed paths, and Aspen promised to stay away from a guy like Boone. But when she finds herself needing a new job and a place to stay when the family of the coffee shop she works at are planning on closing the shop, a certain cowboy comes to the rescue. Because this is a romance novel and everything always works out, surprise surprise, Boone Cassidy has an opportunity for her to work and operate his family's ranch farm stand after his sister runs off.

His parents offer her the job, full creativity when it comes to what she wants to sell, and a place to live on the ranch. Right next to Boone. Neighbors to lovers!! We love. Anyway, as much as Aspen loves the work and the life she has, she yearns to be a writer, but like mentioned above, she's never experienced anything close to what she desires to write about, leading to trouble in paradise.

To help Aspen get an idea and inspiration to write her story, Boone suggests the two go on three dates as a way to help spark some creativity for her. Yeah...we all know how this ends. Of course, the two fall for each other because faking and pretending NEVER WORKS OUT. But! It's a classic trope for a reason. The friends to lovers aspect of this as well was so well thought out and flowed so smoothly throughout the entire book. They didn't get together too quick, and when they did get together, it was a hot minute before he even referred to her as his girlfriend (if I remember right. I have the brain of a goldfish when it comes to things I read two days ago).

Also, CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE BANTER BETWEEN THEM!! It's so fun and realistic and something about Boone makes my stomach fill with butterflies. Telling Aspen "I'm the guy you read about in those books", while cringe to a sense, was actually so hot for some reason. And he sure as hell proved it. My favorite thing though, is the "hi darling", "hi cowboy", IT HAD ME GIGGLING AND KICKING MY FEET! Not to mention...when the scenes got spicy (which I kind of liked there wasn't an overload of sex scenes), it was sooo good. We love a man who whimpers!!

But of course, I did have some slight problems with the book as a whole, which does affect my overall rating, as you will see. For starters, when Aspen and Boone finally did have sex, it was so quick. And don't get me wrong, there are times where things shouldn't be drawn out, but the first time they are with one another, it's over so quick. It's like a paragraph of thoughts being shared, then they get close, they come, and that's all. No aftercare, no sweet talks and whispers against each other's lips, it just felt incredibly stunted. Again, while that's not always a bad thing, but it threw me off in that certain moment.

Another thing that kind of turned me off from the writing was the descriptions and describing of things that we're already well aware of. Almost towards the end of the book, it's described what the Tequila Cowboy is like, when we've already spent multiple scenes and chapters at this specific place for about two hundred pages. Another instance of this is when Aspen is describing Boone's parents, Jill and Dan, in a similar sense that had been done when she first met them when being offered the job.

Last thing that bothered me, is specifically in a series like this, it's very clear that the side characters are always bound to be together. It happens in Elsie Silver's books, Elle Kennedy, Liz Tomforde, just to name a few. However, in this instance, it felt too...on the nose. The couples being paired off with their future love interests during parties and the rodeo, it was very clear the author is setting up the series, but it wasn't natural in any way. 

Overall, I think this was a very sweet and heartfelt book, I thoroughly enjoyed the romance and banter, and while it did have downsides, I don't think it at all changes the way I felt about this story. Aside from the fact that the ending confused the hell out of me, but then again, I'm as dense as a fruitcake when it comes to certain things, this was a pretty solid story and I can't wait to read Mac and Penny's book!

Below is my review.