Review | Well Met

Title: Well Met by Jen DeLuca

Date Published: September 3, 2019

Dates Read: July 16-17, 2021

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.87/5

Here's a fun fact you may not know about me: I freaking love Renaissance Festivals. I think if I had an endless amount of energy, supplies, and funds I'd probably be one of those avid fans who make themselves era appropriate costumes and pretend like I was a serving wench or a handmaiden or something. When I was in college I wrote a short story about a Ren Fest/LARP event - though it was a sci-fi drama not a romance - so nerd stuff flows freely through my veins.

I actually found this book through my library recommendation system. I filled out a form letting the Book Squad (yes, that is their name) know what books I liked and books I hated (*coughcough*DUNE*coughcough*) and one of the ten or so books they recommended was this one! The second I saw that it was a love story set in a Ren Fest I was hooked and the rest, as they say, is history.

Ok, so what happens? Emily Parker is new to the small town of Willow Creek, Maryland. Escaping a bad breakup where she literally gave up everything for her jerk of an ex-boyfriend, Emily moves in with her sister and her 15 year old niece feeling particularly worthless.

As her sister recovers from a car accident that left her with a broken leg, Emily takes on the responsibility of bringing her niece, Cait, to the annual Willow Creek Renaissance Festival auditions. Emily assumes she'll just have to passively participate - driving Cait wherever she needs to go and helping with acquiring costumes - but it turns out she's in for more than she bargained for. In what feels like a whirlwind, Emily is cast as one of a team of two tavern wenches and is expected to sacrifice every weekend in the summer for Ren Fest rehearsals and then the Festival itself. It honestly wouldn't be so bad except for the director of the Festival, Simon, who seems to have a stick so far up his butt it may be impossible to get it out.

But there may be more to this moody manager and Emily has a whole summer to figure it out...

Ok, so what did I think? I was an immediate fan of this book when Emily saw the beefcake gym teacher, Mitch, and basically thought, "I'm going to climb this man like a tree," but then the book introduced Simon and I was ready to give Jen DeLuca all my money and my future firstborn child.

This was another romance novel where I identified with the main character so strongly it was a little bit scary. Though I don't have a stupid ex-boyfriend who made me drop out of college so he could finish his law degree (yeah, he's a piece of shit) I do understand Emily's existential crisis at her future and I think her character growth is really believable and honestly kind of hopeful. At the beginning of the book she doesn't stand up for herself and second guesses each part of her life because it doesn't follow the "normal" path, but by the end she stands up for herself and is able to tell Simon that she refuses to be put second.

Simon was probably the most interesting character aside from Emily because of his interesting backstory. Still reeling from the loss of his older brother even years later he intensely controls every aspect of the Ren Fest planning to keep his brother's vision alive and in the process becomes probably one of the biggest assholes I've read in awhile. His alter-ego, Captain Blackthorn, is a smooth talking pirate who could easily seduce tavern wench, Emma (Emily's renaissance alter-ego), but Simon, high school English teacher is the exact opposite. He's awkward and bumbling at the best of times and comes off like he hates that Emily is even there at the worst of times. Sometimes the drastic shift tripped me up a little bit. As an awkward person myself, there were times where my brain just refused to connect Simon and Captain Blackthorn as the same person and sometimes I found myself wishing the scene I was reading with Simon had Captain Blackthorn in it. Regardless, the slow burn, enemies-to-lovers story between Simon and Emily (or Emma and Captain Blackthorn) was delicious and I was sad when the book ended.

Some of my other favorite things about this book include:

• Willow Creek, Maryland - I just found out that this is not a real location and I am very sad about that. I have never been a fan of small towns - I don't need everyone to know my business - but I have never wanted to move into a small community more than I wanted to crawl into the community of this book. Every character introduced was vibrant and realistic. I want to spend an entire afternoon eating lemon squares at the book store, Read It and Weep, and give up my entire summer slinging beers in a makeshift tavern in the forest

• The relationships - I'm not just talking about the romantic relationships either. DeLuca does a great job at developing the relationship between Emily and her sister, April. April was already a teenager when Emily was born so they didn't have the "normal" relationship like most siblings born closer together have. However, you can really see that relationship develop and deepen as Emily settles more into the Willow Creek community and experiences triumphs and heartbreak and the same can be said between Emily and her niece, Cait. Overall I would love to hang out with the Parker family

• The supporting cast - Mitch alone takes the award for best supporting character, but he's not the only one who really fills out this community. Stacey, Emily's tavern wench partner-in-crime quickly becomes Emily's Ren Fest shoulder to cry on when April isn't available. Both of them alongside some other minor characters that Emily gets to know really help this story develop into something more than just a romance novel and I really appreciate that.

The great thing about Well Met is that it is also a series! This book kicks off the Ren Fest Love Series (its a working title that I just created) and is followed by Stacey's on love story Well Played and ends this October with the love story of the beefcake who has my heart, Mitch, in Well Matched. I don't think I have to say that I'm going to read them, but you already know I'm going to read them.

Long Story Short:

• Alexa, when and where is the nearest Ren Fest?

• Look, ever since Pirates of the Carribbean I've been a sucker for pirates - either Will Turner or Elizabeth Swann, I'm not picky - so did Simon even really stand a chance?

• I'll only move to Smalltown, USA if it's Willow Creek and only if Mitch is there.

My Rating: 5/5