Get Over It, April Evans by Ashley Herring Blake

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was an interesting read. We’ve got April who is struggling with life in general – friendships, business, family, and no love life in sight. She ends up with a summer job teaching art and it turns out her co-teacher and cabin-mate is the same woman who April’s ex left her for. Turns out, Daphne, the co-teacher, is now the ex of April’s ex and struggling with all the things that come from being dumped when you thought you were about to be proposed to. Yeah, it’s a mess. And Daphne’s breakup was only a month previous to the start of the story.

Here’s the blurb:

A summer job at a lake-town resort brings together two women with an unlikely connection in this new contemporary romance by USA Today bestselling author Ashley Herring Blake.

April Evans’ life is in shambles. She’s had to close her tattoo shop in Clover Lake and she’s subletting her house just to make rent. And her love life? Nonexistent ever since Elena, her ex-fiancée, left her for a younger woman three years ago. When she is asked to teach a summer art class at the town’s new resort called Cloverwild, April jumps at the opportunity, especially since the job comes with boarding. She’s sure that this is the silver lining she needs . . . until she meets her Daphne Love, the woman who stole her ex-fiancée. And even worse, it’s clear Daphne has no idea who April is.

Daphne Love is cursed in, well, love. She thought she’d found the unconditional love she craved in her girlfriend, Elena, but now she’s single again and utterly brokenhearted. When her friend hooks her up with a summer gig as an art instructor at a swanky resort in New Hampshire, Daphne feels optimistic for once. If only she had a roommate and coworker who didn’t seem to hate her on sight.

Their already-tense relationship gets even shakier when April and Daphne find themselves competing for a rare opportunity to showcase their art in a London museum. But slowly, barriers begin to fall, and an inexplicable allure keeps drawing them closer, leaving them to wonder if the perfect picture they’re looking for can only be painted with each other.

The read was fine and I kept thinking, a month isn’t enough time to start healing from a three-year relationship that you didn’t want to end. How are they going to do this whole falling in love thing? I won’t go into loads but I think AHB did a fine job of making it work.

We do have Ramona and Dylan show up quite a bit and their whole situation is even more stressful for April. Life and those she loves are moving on with their lives and she feels stuck and alone and having feelings she shouldn’t be having.

Meanwhile, Daphne, who has lived an incredibly sheltered – and closeted – life, is ready to live. And helping her out is the bartender at the resort, Sasha. Sasha is a sweet and lovely butch who we don’t learn much about but I definitely wanted to. With Sasha and April’s help, Daphne starts to experience things she’s only dreamed of. She also figures out that she’s falling for April.

But wait! The ex shows up! Shocker, right? Yeah, of course she had to. Anyway, that’s as much as I’ll share.

There was a lot of angst in this book but also loads of the humor and great dialogue that we’ve come to expect from AHB. I didn’t love all aspects of the book, but it kept me engaged and entertained. Much of the friend/family drama felt very real and well done. And that got the 4 stars. I think the ex drama didn’t hit as well with me. Either we needed more of Elena’s story or less of it. I’m not sure.

Either way, I’m already jonesing for Sasha’s story. Yes, there was a preview in the ebook so YAY!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC!



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