Claire Hopper is a normal teenage girl, studying for exams and hanging out with her best friend Evie, and living in the cozy Glenridge, Connecticut. But Claire has a secret: she used to be a child star on a TV sitcom in LA, before her father embezzled all her money and the abusive producer ruined her confidence. But can she keep her pasta secret when her old co-star and first crush, Luke Cordova, comes to town to shoot a film, and asks her for her help?

Kate O’Shaughnessy is the author of Lasagna Means I Love You and The Wrong Way Home, as well as other books aimed at Middle Grade readers. This is her first YA book, and is aimed at a teenage audience. The lead characters are teenagers in their last year of high school, and the language and writing style is aimed at that reading level. That said, it does have some mature themes, like sex (it’s not graphic) and underage drinking. Like a lot of Romance and YA, it’s written in first person.

This book is heavy on the cosy feels. It’s full of references to crunching leaves underfoot, pumpkin spice everything, and all that lovely, cosy, romanticized Fall stuff. I really liked this. It wasn’t heavy handed or over the top, but it gave the whole book a lovely atmosphere that was quite fun.

This book of course suffers from a few things that a lot of this genre do: misunderstandings that a simple conversation would resolve, and an unlikely hidden identity. One misunderstanding is that Luke kissed her years ago when they were kids, and she later was told this was on a dare, but never fact checked the truth before going ahead with a bunch of sweeping decisions based around this. And the author tells us that Claire is unrecognizable after a nose job and growing up. Her character on the show was a nerdy child, and now she’s a filled out teen without braces. It’s not a bad explanation for why people don’t recognize her, but it feels like someone would have, or highly unlikely that no one would have made the connection. That said, I don’t think these are major flaws or ruin the story.

I think Claire and Luke are nice characters. They feel simple and well rounded, and pretty cute together. I liked their sweet, simple romance. After reading heavier fare recently, this felt like a little pleasant holiday. The side characters were fun and sweet. Claire’s mom works in catering, so her cooking and the smells from her kitchen fill the book with warmth, adding to the cosy, Fall scents (think apple pie and pumpkin baking smells). Evie and her boyfriend are childhood sweethearts and they are funny and vibrant, with their own relationship journey. And Claire’s brother, Nicky, has a close relationship with her that’s really nice. Nicky is a football star, and he’s just met someone he might be getting serious about: a Trans woman called Mara who is very cool and kind. This was a sweet subplot too. Most of the people in this book are nice people, so it’s a pleasant space to spend time in.

This was a sweet and relaxing read. It’s not ground breaking or anything, after all it’s a romance. It’s about being reassuring, happy, soothing and following tropes. But it wasn’t being lazy about it. The author has created vibrant characters and atmosphere, and then delivered a cute, sweet second chance romance for the reader. I think this one will probably appeal most to it’s target audience, but I did quite like it myself as a light, happy read.

Read It If: you’re looking for a simple, sweet, Autumn romance read, this one is lovely. Aimed at teen readers.

With thanks to Harper Collins Canada for the ARC of this book for review.