I’m not usually a fan of the billionaire falls for ordinary poor girl troupe but this one was billionaire woman falls for ordinary man so I thought I’d give it a try. All the characters were quirky, fun, and interesting and dealing with their own demons, insecurities, and secrets. So the story actually had a little more depth than a standard romcom while still remaining a light fluffy feel good read. ( )

The One Who Loves You by Pippa Grant
Tickled Pink #1

For a book I almost did not finish…I have to say I am glad I stuck with it even if I did skim for the most part. There were times I felt the H/h were caricatures and acting much younger than their purported ages but by the end of the story I did become invested in them, the town, and the future of the series.

What I liked:
* The setting in Tickled Pink, Wisconsin
* The small-town community
* The abundance of quirky characters – they were confusing and hard to take at times
* The premise of the story: rich people moving to a small town to become better people
* The secrets that came out
* Teague: the hero and book boyfriend, a bit hokey at times, has a secret, not easy to warm up to, kind of a mixed bag, lives in a treehouse, divorced, father of a teenage girl
* Phoebe: heroine of the book, New York socialite, wealthy, spoiled, hard to warm up to, grows a lot in the story
* The supporting characters: Tavi: sister of Phoebe and influencer, Carter: wannabe musician and brother of Phoebe and Tavi, Gigi: matriarch and grandmother…rather difficult, Bridget: daughter of Teague, and others
* The secrets (two major ones) that came out at the end and how they impacted the H/h
* That more than one of the Lightly family became more self-aware
* That I persevered and enjoyed reading a new-to-me author

What I didn’t like:
* It took half the book to really get into the story
* It didn’t grab me, and I had trouble relating to the characters
* It seemed longer than it needed to be and felt it could have been edited down by 100 or more pages

Did I enjoy the story? Yes…eventually
Would I read more in this series? Yes…I would give the next book a try

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for the ARC – this is my honest review.

3-4 Stars ( )