ARC Review: A Lot Like Love by Jennifer Snow

“A cute, but unmemorable, story”

~ Under the Covers

A cute, but unmemorable, story about reconnecting and finding what you really want in life. A classic small town, single dad tale.

Sarah Lewis has just inherited a run-down B&B from her grandmother. But she has a whole life in L.A. and a career that definitely takes up all of her time and energy right now. However, knowing anyone that might buy the B&B is just going to tear it down to make a fancy resort, she decides that she has to honor her grandmother’s dreams and fix up the B&B to show its potential to sellers who would appreciate its charms. Wes Sharrun shows up and offers to help out with the renovations. His construction company could use the work and he thinks the B&B project could help. His daughter also takes an immediate liking to Sarah, forcing them to spend even more time together. Sparks start to fly and they both have to figure out what they really want in life.

To me, a 3-star read is one that’s enjoyable while I read it, but ultimately not going to be something I go back and think about a lot in the future. That’s exactly what this book is. There were a few funny moments, a few heartbreaking moments, and definitely some cute moments, but there was nothing that stuck out to make this story particularly unique. First of all, it’s a small beach town and Sarah inherited an old B&B plus Wes has the construction know-how to fix it. Right off the bat, this isn’t a unique premise and it feels exactly like a other books with a similar storyline. The secondary plot is about how Wes can’t relate to his daughter Marissa; she’s too brainy and he’s into sports, so they can’t possibly have anything to talk about. Of course, Marissa is exactly like Sarah and they instantly connect. Again, definitely not a unique story line. Overall, I think these two ideas combine in a way that’s fun to read, but I won’t be going back to anytime soon. If you ask me 6 months from now about this book, I will have to look back at my review to be able to tell you anything at all because I’ll have forgotten this story.

I do have a couple of gripes though. First of all, how is it possible that Wes is a 32-year-old man in modern times and has never heard of coding? Especially when you consider that that’s his daughter’s big passion. Do 9-year-olds know how to code completely independently? Unlikely at the level that Marissa could in this book, but I’ll ignore that part completely for the sake of this story. However, Wes making absolutely no effort to have learned about anything technology-related and refusing to use the app his daughter designed just for him? Unbelievable and definitely unforgiveable. The reason given in the book just doesn’t feel like enough for me. Additionally, there’s another subplot of Sarah finding out some of her grandmother’s secrets. Definitely could have given us more there, as I really wanted to get to know Jack and see how this history impacted Sarah.

Overall, if you love small town beach romances, I think you would enjoy this story. It’s perfect as a beach read, given both the setting and the predictable nature of plot. Marissa is a real highlight, since she’s very precocious and sometimes feels like the most adult person in the whole book.

     

What did you think of our review?
Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below!

READING ORDER & BUY LINKS

Click on the covers to buy the books

---

[about-author author=”Jennifer Snow”]

 ♡ Don’t want to miss any of our posts? ♡