Jen DeLuca

All's faire in love and war for two sworn enemies who indulge in a harmless flirtation in a laugh-out-loud rom-com from debut author Jen DeLuca. 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? 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

Loved the originality of this story and how it takes place at a renaissance fair. Super cute read!

Amanda 

"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? 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"--

Rebecca Hurd

Such a cute romance story!! Loved the faire and the spin on a period romance!! Such good chemistry between Emily and Simon…or Emma and the Pirate lol

The first 100 pages made me put this book down twice but after that it’s actually pretty cute— definitely a more niche setting which needs more description but still good. 

Abigail Marie

very cute, love the ren faire vibes, now I would like to go to a ren faire

fris🐝

Marcy Pursell 

Such a fun and cute read! For any Renaissance Fair lovers, this book is for you!

Soha

** spoiler alert **
           The premise pulled me in. When it comes to an enemies-to-lovers story in most books, let's be real, it's usually just because they either never grew up or because they don't know each other well enough and have been holding onto some stupid grudge that they realize later holds no weight at all. Even then, I like a well-written slow burn. 

The book starts off with Emily volunteering for her niece's Renaissance Faire as a tavern wench. Except for the rule that the kids can't participate if at least one adult (in relation to them/who knows them/parent/guardian) does not (which is not mandatory, as she later realizes), I do not see why she decided to volunteer at all. She certainly had more important things on hand. Maybe because she was an English major in college?

Emily, an unemployed college drop out and Simon, the school English teacher who is the person-in-charge of organizing the Renaissance Faire (after his brother's passing) - with this setting and with these characters, I expected something a little deeper than just superficial flirting and physical attraction throughout the book. It was a (slight) slow burn, tense, and definitely had me holding my breath at multiple moments, but it was all there was. And this would have been okay had the author written an open ending or something more realistic; a logical progression for the character development that was shown. I just went "...Okay" when they confessed their love for each other, considering that the only change I saw in their relationship was physical. 

The story was predictable, but I have no complaints about that. A lot of YA/Contemporary Romance novels are predictable and that's okay because, in the case of a good story, it's mostly about how it is executed and what it makes you feel despite knowing what's going to happen next. 

It was a well-written, cute story and even though I didn't love it, it was a good one-time read :)

Yasmin Dunnewind

Just some quotes of the book

We have in our midst a woman named Emma. She is a tavern wench of great beauty, whose smile lights up the day like the sun, and the night like the moon. She has absolutely stolen my heart, but I do not mind in the least. In fact, if she would agree to keep my heart and take good care of it, I would never want it back

someday, I wanted someone who would love me. Not for what I could do for them, but for who I was to them

Like the stars, your love should be a constant source of light, and like the earth, a firm foundation from which to grow

The smell of the books, the promise in the shelves of printed pages . . . I loved stories, and always had

Birthday wishes were allowed to be lofty. I blew out the candles and let those wishes fly away with the wisps of smoke. The ones that were meant to be would come back

An absolutely delightful read. Was I occasionally annoyed by the main character because of her indecisiveness and occasional borderline obtuseness? Yes. But then I remembered I was also 25 and stupid once, and I am OBSESSED with renaissance faires so this was really easy to like.

Rachael Bahr

Such an adorable read, I would definitely kill to read from Simon's point of view though!

Cameryn Wright

I was almost thinking "I don't want to read this" and i am so glad i read it anyway.

Holly

Sobbing, shaking, crying, etc.

I was almost thinking "I don't want to read this" and i am so glad i read it anyway.

The writing wasn’t great and v cheesy but the vision was there. Cute, easy read.

Jordan

Joana da Silva

Cute story with a very important message.

Gillian Rose

This ticked off so many of my boxes!!!! And I really miss Ren Faires!

Camille Carso

Super cute book! I loved the characters so much and loved their bantering. I’m always a sucker for a guy in a billowy shirt so this book had it easy. I wish we knew what Simon thought during the book. I love it when you get duel perspective. However this sadly wasn’t the case here. I could see myself reading more of these books in the series.

menna

actual rating: 2.5⭐

for me this was okay, i didn't hate it but i didn't love it either. i couldn't get into it until the second half of the book. i wasn't invested in the story or the characters. i enjoyed some parts but the others were kind of meh to me.

Okay so I originally picked up this book because someone on TikTok said people who like New Girl should read it. So I was expecting New Girl vibes when I read it and soon became a little disappointed as it did not give me New Girl vibes at all. But overall I enjoyed the book, it was a sweet romance and I love any good Ren Faire and/or Shakespeare references.

Kiara

Connor 

3.5 maybe? This was fun and cute and good but also I really wanted to shake Emily for talking to someone who’s grieving the way she did. Like. My dude. Pls. (I mean I get it we all put our foot in our mouth some time but ouch?) (but also Simon and Emily were adorable. So. Over all, a delight!)

Andrea Rodriguez

(spoilers ahead) As someone who goes to one of the USA's biggest (if not the biggest) Renaissance Fairs in Texas every year, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Like many, I missed out on going last year due to covid and reading this just got me so excited to go this year. It was such a refreshing setting and I was hooked from the start. 

Things I liked :
- Enemies to lovers is my bread and butter and I thought the author did this trope so well. She built it up perfectly and I adored the scene where Emily and Simon finally got together - it was *chefs kiss* the perfect mixture of sweet and spicy.
- As mentioned above, the setting and just the general storyline. 
- The supporting characters - they were fun and I geniunely loved the friendships they made with Emily. 

Things I didn't like:
- Emily just seemed so obtuse at times lmao like, some things seemed so obvious, but she was still confused or unwilling to believe people liked her/wanted her around. However, I understand that this is due to what she went through with her god awful ex, and, as someone who had several exes like Jake, I can appreciate how the author accurately portrayed a jaded person still recovering from a shitty ex. Still annoying at times though lol.
- I hated how one little argument snowballed into the huge falling out at the end and I get that this is a typical formula for these type of books, but it just seemed slightly unrealistic. It wasn't enough to bump it down to 4 stars for me, but I had to comment on it.
- Only other complaint: I wanted more of Emily and Simon at the end. It ended too soon for me!

Overall, I loved the nostalgia that I felt while reading and I truly loved watching their relationship come to be and really wish there had been more.

Gisela Ayala 

Well Met was our Lit Chicks November Read and it was exactly what the heart needed! 

So much laughter, love, and pirates! Check out our review on YouTube here! 

Huzzah!

Harley Rae

DNF at 80% because of explicit content. The bookstore lied to me when they put this book in the YA section. #doyourresearchkids

This was so cute! I just want to crawl into the book! The main character was relatable and super fun, her love interest trying to woo her was even better but not before the enemies to lover quarrel lol. I loved the side characters as well! We all go through horrible breakups, this was just a fresh start. This was my first time reading something by Jen DeLuca and wow! I was not disappointed, hoping to read more from her in the future.

Katie

Things I loved:

Simon. Listen I really did not think that anyone could rival Jonah from The Simple Wild & Wild at Heart and then here comes Simon. Oh my heart! I will admit at first, I didn’t even think he would be the main love interest at all. There was something about the way DeLuca first wrote Simon that made you look over him and not really pay that much attention to him. But as the book went on, you started to find yourself (like Emily) falling for Simon. Plus, his past plays a lot into him and it still breaks my heart to think about it. And ugh…I want a Simon, please.

Characters. Outside of Simon being wonderful. I have to say this cast of characters was possibly some of my favorite to read. Emily, our main, reminded me so much of myself. And yes, at times that really did annoy me the point that I wanted to strangle her and then I realized “oh wait…it’s me.” Stacy and Mitch are some of the greatest book friends I have ever read and honestly, I want to be friends with them. April and Cait are the kind of family members you want in your life. The kind that know what your heart desires, even if you want to ignore it, and still try to do what is best for you.

The Banter: It is very much your typical enemies to lovers story, but done with a twist. Let me tell you, this twist is what made it so much more fun to read. You have Emma, the tavern wrench, and Captain Blackthorn, the pirate, going at each other and flirting and it’s just so freaking cute. Also makes you realize just how much of a hopeless romantic they both are. But then you turn around and you have Emily and Simon going at each other like nothing has ever happened between them at the faire. There is also great banter between Emily and Mitch and Emily and her sister, April as well. There were a good handful of moments that I was legit laughing out loud at the book and then turning around trying not cry.

Things I disliked:

Pacing. This really didn’t bother me until around the 80% to 92% mark of the book. What happened, I felt like this could’ve been added earlier on or more would’ve been needed at the end of the book to make it feel like it wasn’t as rushed. It was like all of sudden I got smacked with another conflict I wasn’t ready for (and while it did not ruin the book or knock a star off), I still wish it would’ve come sooner or there was more time to really resolve it then having it thrown in our face and fixed in a couple of pages.

More of Simon and Emily. I know the whole point was to have Emma and Captain Blackthorn as Simon and Emily flirting. But at the same time, I would’ve loved to see them outside of the faire and hanging out more. I think it would’ve allowed some readers to better understand them than just their characters that they are playing. Even though, I feel like being Captain Blackthorn is the only way Simon felt comfortable flirting and talking to Emily. But still, it would’ve been nice. Maybe in the next book we will get more?

Lack of Communication. Most of Emily’s problems could’ve been solved if she would have spoken up for herself or what was on her mind. Instead, she sat on things and let things blow up inside of her before spilling out. I know that is part of her character growth and I see that. But at the same time it was slightly annoying to see her try to change and then go back to how she was and then not communicate at all after she said she would. I don’t know….I think that also played into the last 20% of the book and that’s probably why I was also a little annoyed.

If you haven’t read it and are looking for a good romance, I highly suggest it!

Nicole Dykeman

I loved this!! We love experiencing the renaissance fair vicariously through fictional characters! And now I want to go to a real one ASAP. There was a lot to be loved here, between Emily’s growing and improving relationship with her sister and niece, finding a welcoming place she belongs in this small town, and the fun and flirty pirate/tavern wench vibe that was going on brought me back to my Once Upon a Time obsession days. 

My gut reaction upon finishing was 5 stars because my nerd girl self was captivated by the magic of the Renaissance Faire, but I’m docking a star at the end of the day because I don’t really feel like Simon truly redeems himself after the big argument they have? At the end of the day it wasn’t a big deal and didn’t impede my enjoyment of the story, but like, in principle…homie needs to prove himself a bit more before I’m all in.

lindsey

*3.25/3.5
this wasn't a bad book by any means, i actually quite enjoyed my time with it. i'm just a little bit surprised by how much i didn't LOVE it. the upside is that when they actually were together, they were super sweet and adorable and the smutty bits were so good that i couldn't put it down. BUT i found the inner dialogue to be quite cringey and difficult to read :/

Well Met

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