Right Where We Left Us

 Author: Jen Devon
Title: Right Where We Left Us
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Date Published: 06/18/2024

Read Dates: 05/06/2024- 05/08/2024
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

 📖 I received a gifted e-book ARC. The following is my honest review✍🏻

Right Where We Left Us is a dual POV forced proximity romance centered on Temperance and Duncan. The two are constantly thrown together (Temperance’s older sister is married to one of Duncan’s brothers, her best friend is marrying another brother). While they had a brief relationship at 18, now 14 years later they are stuck in a pattern of wanting each other, casual hookups, and angsty separation.

This book just didn’t hit right for me, but I can be a mood reader and maybe it was just not the right book at the right time.

Positives: it was beautifully written, Jen Devon really had a way with words! If you enjoy a lot of angst and tension between romantic leads, this one will have you hooked with the back-and-forth.

Negatives: the pacing kind of dragged. I love a good slow burn but this one felt mostly just slow, no burning. 🤷🏻‍♀️ The first few chapters were an overload of secondary characters being introduced, all friends and/or family and a little difficult to sort out and keep track of (maybe not a problem for people who had read the previous book).

Temperance Jean Madigan and Duncan Brady have never gotten it right. After one radiant, secret summer together when they were eighteen, they’ve been on-again off-again ever since. Now, despite red-hot chemistry and TJ’s closeness with Duncan’s family, they’re virtually strangers, only capable of adversarial banter, awkward small talk―and the occasional messy hookup.

When a wedding at the Brady’s vineyard lands TJ there for the summer, their mutual avoidance strategies prove impossible. The last thing TJ wants is to be under those angsty, heated glances Duncan thinks he hides. And for Duncan, having fiery TJ constantly close is the ultimate distraction that he absolutely can’t afford. When forced proximity begins to chip away at their armor, buried tensions resurface, old wounds urge confrontation, and once-in-a-lifetime love demands one last chance to finally get it right.