Reviewed by CJ | Rating: 4/5 | Steam: 🫑No steam
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⚠️ This is a full spoiler review. If you haven’t read Picture This yet — go read it first. We’ll be here when you’re done.
OPENING HOOK
An Amazon Original novella, 80 pages, out today, and it might be the perfect summer read for a relaxing afternoon. This is a one-sitting, beach-chair, cold-drink kind of book and it delivers exactly what should.
THE FULL STORY — SPOILERS INCLUDED
Delylah Banks is back in Montana for her best friend Emily’s wedding. They’ve been living together in New York until Em moved in with her fiance, and now it’s back to Haven River Ranch for everyone to take part in the big weekend. This also means that Delylah is back in the orbit of Noah Chappel, Emily’s older brother and Delylah’s long-standing childhood-and-still-to-this-day crush.
You already know the rules here: best friend’s older brother, so nothing can ever happen. Emily’s made that clear for years to both Delylah and Noah, always with some version of “it would be weird” or “what if it goes wrong.”
But wedding prep throws them together in a glamping tent setup to wait out a storm, and that’s where things start to shift. They’re bonding, reminiscing, and Delylah ends up confessing her crush. They’re interrupted which cues a little bit of a misunderstanding when she feels embarassed and flees until Noah shows up at her hotel room later and clears the whole thing up, admitting he’s had a bit of a thing for her too.
From there it moves fast, in the best novella way. They decide to spend the wedding day together and the next thing you know, a few months later Delylah’s following her plan to pack up in New York and move home to Montana.
There’s a dude bro friend of the fiancé that Emily keeps trying to push Delylah toward, which obviously goes nowhere, and a bit of drunken chaos in the mix, but otherwise there’s no high drama, no big conflict. Just short, sweet, and wrapped up in an hour or two.
BEST PART OF THIS BOOK
Noah showing up at her hotel room after the glamping incident to clear up the misunderstanding by telling her he’s had a crush on her too. That was my favourite part.
WORST PART OF THIS BOOK
Emily’s anxiety-induced refusal to take no for an answer about setting Delylah up with the dude bro friend. It’s a very small thing in a very short book, and it was hardly a complaint, but it stood out as the worst part for me.
THE STEAM RATING BREAKDOWN
- No sex scenes, this one only has kissing
- Nothing on the page, a tiny bit of intimacy implied at most
- The romance is the whole plot and because this is a novella, there’s no room for subplots
- No content warnings to flag
THE ENDING — SATISFIED OR DISAPPOINTED?
Satisfied. It wraps up quickly and easily, which is exactly what a novella like this should do.
WOULD WE REREAD IT?
Yes. It’s not something I’d plan a reread for, but if I had an hour to kill, I’d happily pick it back up.
THE CHARACTER WE LOVED TO HATE
Jake, the dude bro friend Emily kept trying to set Delylah up with. Nobody really needed to be a “hated” character in a book this short and low-stakes, but if we need to hand out that title, it’s him.
WHO IS THIS FOR
Anyone who wants a quick, easy palette cleanser. Low time investment, low expectations for plot or character development, and that’s exactly the point.
WHERE TO GET THIS BOOK
📱 Ebook
Amazon Kindle
🎧 Audiobook
Audible
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Plot Twisted. 🔥
📱 | Genre: Contemporary Romance | Steam: 🔥