The issue with putting off reviews until (looks at calendar) almost a month and a half after reading a book is that you start to forget what on earth happened in these books to make you give them the ratings you did!
I think my biggest issue with this book–from what I remember at least, mea culpa mea culpa–is that the conceit is a bit much for me to take. You have to believe that April has spent twelve years (TWELVE) as a sort of anti-Lorelai in her small Stars Hollow-esque town, refusing to take part in the giant town Ren Faire pageant, refusing to be charmed by the town denizens, refusing to make friends. As the mother of a social-seeming school age daughter, you’d think that she would have gone to play dates and other such activities and bonded with other parents that way, but the contention is that she’s not actually into anything that Stars Hollow Willow Creek has to offer and is just waiting for her kid to get out so that she can move.
Again, perhaps that is realistic! I am not anywhere near the age of April but I can tell you that I have zero desire to move ever again and make new friends. That is some hard work, my friends, and I am not sure how anyone manages to do it. Perhaps that is why everyone here does Ren Faire, because that seems like a solid way to do it and if all it takes is wearing a corset in 90F heat for a few weekends a summer SIGN ME THE EFF UP.
Other small nitpick that I didn’t like: the next story is clearly that of the Lawyer Who Works Too Much, because heaven forbid you have a person in a job with many hours who can enjoy said job and manage a life at the same time (caveat that of all the white collar-y jobs that my social network has, lawyering does seem to be furthest away from figuring out how to manage a work/life balance of any sort).
Other than that, passable romance, know where this one is going in a heartbeat. Good that she got a house reno out of it!