GRR Review The Way You Look Tonight (Seattle Sulli by Bella Andre

WARNING: This review contains spoiler.

"The Way You Look Tonight" featured a simple and popular plot: boy left town, became successful, went back a dozen years later, and found the girl next door (who had a crush on him) is now all grown up. They proceed, through some bonding activities, settle down to become friends with benefits, then lovers, then some dark secret blew them apart, and one side has to do some grand gesture to heal their wounds and get back together to achieve the HEA.

While both characters are very nicely written, both with emotional wounds that lead them to rather rash decisions (he's a cynic of human nature and assume the worst until proven otherwise, she's had enough of everybody assuming she's a screwup due to a single lapse in judgment a decade ago) the trigger to "darkest hour" is... a background check. Really? That's it? That just feels so... trivial. Which also means the subsequent grand gesture feels somewhat trivial as well, as FMC was pretty much on her way back already.

But that's not the author's forte. Author's forte is creating a rich background, about the siblings of the main character Rafe, about the lakeside cottage, about the FMC Brooke's truffle business, about how this cabin was once owned by the Sullivan family and is now owned again... and how the epilogue shows Rafe giving his parents the deed to the lakehouse, now all restored, as anniversary present, that you can almost forgive the simplistic and almost cliche plot, and the lame conflict that leads to darkest hour, which wasn't even that dark.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Man went back home, found neighbor girl is all grown up, but secrets and distrust are not unlearned overnight...

Tropes: Return, scars

Overall Rating:  3/5