Title: Much Ado About You
Author: Samantha Young
Rating: ★★★

ARC provided by Berkley through NetGalley.

Much Ado About You has the perfect premise. Who doesn’t want to move to a quaint English village on the coast, run a small local bookstore, all the while falling in love with a sweet, handsome Englishman? While the story itself ended up being pretty mediocre, the romance was smoldering and for that alone I ended up enjoying this book.

For most of the book, there was a distinct lack of connection between me and the story. The characters had zero to little personalities, there wasn’t much substance to the actual plot, and as much as I hate to say it, the entire thing just felt bland. Evie frustrated me to no end. A lot of her thoughts and actions made things more difficult for herself than they needed to be, especially with regards to Roane.

The romance was the book’s saving grace for me. The smoldering tension between Evie and Roane was incredibly well written. The chemistry between them was oozing off the pages, and I couldn’t get enough of their interactions. All of this amazing romantic tension only added to my frustration with Evie’s actions (inactions, really) throughout a majority of the story. However, I will say that the waiting finally paid off when the two of them finally get together.

Much Ado About You was one of those instances where a book features a great premise, but the execution falls flat. The plot was missing a lot of substance to make it a captivating story and the characters were too one-dimensional to elicit a strong sense of connection. The romance was the best written aspect of the story, as there was no denying the sparks flying between our protagonist and her love interest.