Bailey's Reviews > Dream On, Ramona Riley

Unfortunately, I didn't love this latest from Ashley Herring Blake. It was obviously super sweet and fluffy and queer, which is great, but it just didn't quite hit all the way. My biggest gripe is that the plot/writing felt shockingly basic for an author with so many books under their belt. (view spoiler)[One of the MCs literally describes shot-for-shot what their grand gesture would be if they ever had to win the other one back... and then it happens, exactly as described, pages later. Several images were used repeatedly (most notably, Dylan sleeping in a pizza box as a child... we get it). The love scenes were great, but felt really unbalanced since there was nothing for most of the book, and then a bunch all in a row. There are other issues, but we'll leave it at that. (hide spoiler)] It is still worth the read, and the fact that it's paving the way for a new AHB series is still thrilling. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the digital ARC. 3.5 rounded down.

Side note: I don't know how this happened, but I just read what feels like a YA version of the exact same book. "Make My Wish Come True" by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick is about a small-town girl who reunites with her now-famous first love (✔) who is an actress with a bad reputation (✔) that needs to fake date a sweetie pie in order to save her career (✔) and also help the small town girl achieve her own dreams (✔)???