There are some basic problems a book with this plot has and needs to solve. Is Emily a doormat for staying attracted all these years? Is Scott a jerk for never noticing Emily, too shy to mention he was interested before, or stupid for not realizing how important she was to him? And why didn’t he stay in touch (pun originally unintended)? I’m not sure this book resolves those questions well.

Emily is very nice, self-aware and bright enough, but she’s still lacking in self-confidence. This makes it hard to get worked up about Emily since she doesn’t do a lot to help herself before Scott’s arrival. For example, when she realizes she hasn’t changed much in her life since Scott was last around she boldly goes and - cuts her hair. Yeah. That’ll change everything.

Scott is a problem, too. Scott isn’t a jerk. But he isn’t shy or suffering from some other reason why he couldn’t previously tell Emily she was wonderful. He’s a real guy - that is, Scott just isn’t too smart about Emily. He isn’t any worse than the average guy, but then who wants an average guy in a romance? Of course he does make a really big mistake when he gets drunk, starts fooling around with Emily and then calls her by someone else’s name. Even worse, he doesn’t remember anything about it later. At least he is smart enough to ask Emily’s girlfriends for advice when he has problems with her the morning after. That is a big plus.

That’s because the girlfriends are what makes this book. As a group they’re loyal and supportive, insightful and funny. Anyone would want to have them on his or her side. When Emily does get her big chance with Scott and Scott blows it, I wasn’t really as interested about her as all of her buddies were. I was interested in how they reacted. And I would have loved to have their advice when I had my own boyfriend problems.

I would like to read more books in the series - because of the female friendships, not the man-woman relationship. That can be a drawback for a romance. On the other hand there are a lot of other females in this group that need a man. And a lot of them sound spunkier than Emily. So I have hopes for the next book.

--Irene Williams