Much Ado About You: Samantha Young

We meet again!

We've been pretty dang sick in my household the past week. No, it's not the dreaded COVID, it's just some cold that my daughter brought home from school. However, COVID or not, it has knocked this mama off of her behind. I missed work, missed out on being in one of my oldest and dearest friends' wedding (sorry, Sam!) BUT it did give me an opportunity to quickly finish my latest read. Here we go :)

Brief Synopsis: Have you ever watched The Holiday? You know, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black? Cameron and Kate's characters are sick of their respective lives and decide to switch homes for the holiday season? Much Ado About You is kind of like that, and if I'm honest, is probably one of the sellers for why I bought it. The other would be the nod to ole Bill Shakespeare.

Much Ado About You follows Evie, a thirty-something year old that finds herself in a mid-life crisis of sorts. A string of horrible relationships, a failed job when she doesn't get the promotion she so deserves, and the news that her best friend is pregnant. Not to mention her alcoholic mother that's just gotten out of rehab... again... and wants to get in touch with her. She feels like everyone's lives are going on around her and she is slowly being left behind. Her solution? To get away. She finds a perfect opportunity in running a bookstore and living in the flat above it in a quaint English Village.

Everyone is amazingly welcoming of her from the get-go, especially Roane, who she has an adorable meet-cute with when she saves his dog. That night, they celebrate at the local pub/eatery and she gets a little too drunk and reveals that not only has she taken a break on men. She won't date men younger than her or men that are too rich, for reasons that she outlines from her past mistakes.

She does, however, agree to be Roane's friend. Mhmm. I'm not saying that isn't going to work out. Not at all.

Evie quickly figures out that living in such a small village comes with a price: literally EVERYONE knows everything about everyone, including the American visitor. Evie did not plan to show up in the small village in Alnster and fall in love: with it, with the locals, with... Roane? She works hard to deny her feelings for a long time, falling deeper into everyone else's storylines, including: starcrossed lovers, a mom and daughter that fell apart a long time ago but may be ready to re-connect and a young woman that is desperate to breakaway from her controlling aunt and guardian.

I'm not saying that Evie finally gives in to her feelings about Roane, but I'm not saying that she doesn't either. I'm also not saying that Evie might discover something about Roane that she didn't know before, something that might change their possible futures together forever? I guess you'll have to read it to find out.

My Rating: I'm going with a 7.5 out of 10 for this one. It's such a cute read and it's really nice if you want something easy and cozy to curl up with for a night with needed comfort. However, things did seem to go a little too.. predictably and easy? That might just be the cynic in me, though.

Favorite Quote: Remember when I said this was a nod to Shakespeare? My favorite quote was in the beginning of the book, and it's from the man himself.

"I do love nothing in the world so well as you."

Other books I have read by this author: This is my first, though I have noticed that she has written quite a few!

Check out my Goodreads (Traci Bishop) to see what I’m currently reading and to see a good chunk of the books I have already read. My Instagram can be found on the home page and I will share whenever a new post is up as well!

Until next time <3