Well Met
Jen De Luca
I started this review back in late December 2020, and now I’m finally finishing it up. I’m falling into the rabbit hole of romance novels; it’s pure escapism from the dumpster fire of 2020, and the enjoyment I get from them more than justifies reading them. I don’t often read anyone other than Alyssa Cole these days, and I don’t bother reviewing her here anymore because it’s just going to be me raving about whatever romance she’s written, but I did decide to branch out into other contemporary romance fields — with the subset of humor. Thank goodness.
Snarkiness is what’s getting me through.
“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?
Goodreads
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.”
Well Met is one of the first first-person perspective romance novels I’ve read. I still prefer third person more as it provides more nuance to both romantic leads. One of the reasons I think I enjoy the third person omniscient style of romance novels is I often find getting in the heads of both characters to be rather rewarding, as they show off a writer’s ability to fashion not just one, but two relatable and nuanced characters with their own motivations. Also, it’s great to read twice the amount of people falling in love, yeah?
Emily was still surprisingly relateable for me, but not for universal reasons. I too have an age gap with my sister, one that’s being remedied by this last year’s traumas on a personal and global scale, and have also recently become single after being made to feel (among other things) like I wasn’t “good enough.” Emily’s growth in Well Met, without giving spoilers, mirrors my dreams for myself for this year. Who knew literature was both a window and a mirror for adults too?
I read mostly for Emily’s development, since again that relatability factor was incredibly high for me, but had moments where I was glad a mask covered my grin as I read the flirtations of her and Simon. Their chemistry as their Renaissance Faire personas almost lends to an “enemies to lovers” trope, as well as “arranged marriage” and “small town”. It definitely fell into an “outsider experiencing something for the first time” narrative though, and I never really felt like Emily fell in love with the Faire itself, or got to do much despite being more than capable. She was quite passive now that I think about it, and her growth is through the kindness of others, rather than her actually making a plan or setting boundaries or goals for herself
There were times I wasn’t quite sure if DeLuca was trying to evoke, subvert, or hybridize tropes or not. Worse still, I found the eventual romance outside the Faire to be less than satisfying since so much of the book is spent developing their persona’s chemistry, and stuck from just Emily’s point of view, I feel like Simon never really gets to shine or grow too much.
Simon also has a very specific body type, one that doesn’t get chosen a lot for male leads in romance novels, which is the lean build. The way he’s written though, he reminds me of when I was a teen and all I wanted was a skinny boy. Perhaps that’s just me, but he came across as a little diminutive and while I’m not saying every male protagonist needs to be a beefcake, I think there are better ways of writing different body types. In many ways, it felt like DeLuca was envisioning Cary Elwes’ portrayal of Westley in Princess Bride (which, not bad) for what Simon was modeled after playing Captain Blackheart.
Simon also has… a lot going on emotionally. I think some time spent in his head would have helped tone down the dramatics, allowed him for some much needed introspection, and given him the opportunity to grow and react in front of the reader directly rather than through Emily’s eyes. Just… third person omniscient. That’s all I’m saying. It works for a reason!
This book also doesn’t get my certified steamy rating for a myriad of nuanced reasons, and has me refining what I mean when I say “certified steamy.” While there is sex in the book, and a few kisses, there is little build up between both, and are rather standalone events for me. Sex, while alluded to, is only ever graphically written once and encompasses just about everything that other authors spend time spreading out over their books. It almost felt like too much/too long to read. DeLuca also does a poor job showing any kind of emotional build up to the moment, rather having the characters declare “this means something to me” and telling over showing for a lot of these attempted swoon-worthy moments.
That being said, I still found myself snorting with laughter a few times while reading it as it hits most of the right notes for me as someone who enjoys Renaissance Festivals. The nigh constant flirting she absolutely nailed, and anyone who has been to a fair, especially the NYRF, knows it’s all about flirts and winks and sexual innuendo. It’s all pretend, and Simon and Emily’s alter egos had great chemistry! — I still don’t think they had great chemistry, and that’s because DeLuca gets bogged down in making the whole story from Emily’s perspective. Things that are easy to parse out as a reader take ages for her to realize despite the heavy handed way they are written. Feeling like I’ve figured something out before a character isn’t inherently bad, but what the author chooses to do with the emotional pay off of when the character finally realizes my already far gone conclusion matters. Emily and Simon just didn’t live up to what I hoped for them.
While this isn’t a flaming review against it, I found this book left me wanting more from it, but not quite entirely a dud. I’m hoping this is remedied in Well Played (currently on hold through my library), which follows a different character we meet in Well Met who has been volunteering/working the Faire for years. Ultimately, not a bad book, but I’m clearly not raving about it either. It gets a solid 3 stars for me, no more or less.
The Little Book Witch 