Overall Grade: A
Tropes: enemies to lovers; hate to love; brother’s teammate; sports romance; soulmates; grumpy/sunshine; fake dating
Pippa Grant and her ilk (Penny Reid, for example) have this innate ability to both make you giggle and tear up in equal measure. A cornerstone of Grant’s romance is incorporating animals that either bring her MMCs and FMCs together or wreak havoc in an adorable way throughout her stories. You pick it up and think, “this will be light reading” only to be hit with the power and emotion of the overall message. In her newest book, Until It Was Love, Pippa Grant charms us immediately with the enemies to lovers’ banter of her characters, Goldie and Fletcher. Even though we aren’t present at their meet-cute, a time from their past that was less about falling in love and more about falling into hate…at least for Goldie, Grant begins their present with a meet-cute that entails Fletcher fainting after he donates blood and falling on top of Goldie, as she tries to save him from hurting himself from the fall. This, of course, follows her internal dialogue about his unfortunate mustache, a foible that mars his face. Only these actions can be found in a story from a writer such as Grant who entices her readers with some silliness, only to hit her readers over the head with a helping of spice (she’s more of a 3 chili pepper writer) and an emotional torrent. Honestly, it makes for a compelling read because you’re never quite sure if you will laugh at the ridiculousness of her characters’ behavior or cry at their heartbreak.
All of this is wrapped up in Until It Was Love. I couldn’t put this book down, and I loved the adventures of Goldie and Fletcher. Goldie hates Fletcher, realizes she misunderstood him, uses him to fake date as a means to frustrate her brother, shows us the pain of her past, becomes enamored with Fletcher, struggles with the challenge of leaving town while falling in love with him, and learns to love her life in the small town of her youth. Fletcher must learn to love and trust himself again, and Grant writes his pain in ways that make you commiserate with him. Pippa Grant owned me with this book, and she reminded me why I adore her stories. There is just something deeper under the surface of stories.
If you want to be entertained, engaged, and enticed, Pippa Grant’s Until It Was Love is EXACTLY the story you need right now.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 