Assistant professor Clara Fernsby is nothing if not driven. She’s wanted to teach history since she was fourteen, and she hasn’t let anything stand in her way—not even the love of her life. And it all paid off in the end, because she landed a well-paid position at a private liberal arts college fresh out of grad school, and this year, she’s finally up for tenure.
When Theodore Harrison is brought on for the fall semester as a visiting scholar, it’s an unwelcome blast from Clara’s past. She hasn’t spoken to Teddy since a falling out ten years ago. Now that he’s here, she’s reminded of their shared history at every autumns spent at a sleepaway camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she traded battered books and burned CDs with a quiet, dark-haired boy—and fell in love with him.
That boy might’ve been her best friend, but the man teaching HIST-322 is a total stranger. But as they spend evenings working on a shared project and brainstorming over drinks at a college bar, Clara realizes she’s at risk of falling all over again. Given their history, she knows there’s every chance he’s not interested. But history’s all down to interpretation, and this time around, she’s got no intentions of repeating it.
Final Thoughts
This is definitely a slow burn friends to lovers romance. I think for the most part it was pretty obvious how it would end, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy the journey. This is the perfect millennial cozy read.
I really liked that the book skipped around to different time periods so that we could really get to know the characters and why it took so long for them to finally get together. And any book that references to MySpace, My Chemical Romance and Sylvia Plath is right up my alley!
I think this is the perfect book to grab on a rainy day, grab a blanket and coffee and finish in one setting.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Release Date: August 27, 2024