Anna is struggling. Her music career is on hold due to anxiety, and her longterm boyfriend has decided to “open their relationship” before committing. Anna decides to try out a dating app in a kind of revenge, and meets Quan. Quan is also struggling, through his trials involve a changed body post cancer treatments. The two of them both want only a one-night-stand…except things don’t really work out, not the first time, nor the second, nor the third… Then things get even more complicated when Anna’s family suffers a blow and she’s forced to return home to help.

I’ve read two of Hoang’s books before now and I was dying to get my hands on this one. Book of the Month to the rescue! I got this a few weeks before the actual publication date, and sped right through it. It was exactly what I needed. I loved revisiting old characters (Quan, Michael, Stella), and seeing Anna’s journey. Anna is only just discovering that she is on the autism spectrum, which is poorly studied in girls and women. Her journey – through anxiety, through self-discovery, through romance, through family hardships – feels very personal and well-drawn. It’s a romance book, yes, but with a much deeper undercurrent. And I loved that. It was exactly what I was looking for.