Well Met (Well Met, #1)

by Jen DeLuca

[Berls]

4.5 stars
I was pretty excited to read this book, since the setting of a Renaissance Faire just hits my inner nerd in the sweet spot. I have to say it was everything I was hoping for and then some.

Well Met is exactly what it you'd expect in that it's a contemporary romantic comedy - it's not deep but it is a hell of a lot of fun and has some really great characters that I enjoyed watching fall in love.

Emily is a very likeable character - she's moved to a small town to help take care of her sister and teenage niece after a car accident leaves her sister less mobile for several weeks. I enjoyed the self-sacrificing side of her, even if she was also running away from her own imploding life. She could have run away home where she'd be cared for, rather than to her sister who needed care. But that's partly because that's the sort of person Emily is -- she's a caregiver type and I really enjoyed and related to that part of her.

Simon is, in many ways, the exact opposite of Emily. Where she is easy to like, Simon has a very rough exterior. Where she is adaptable and eager to please, Simon is unbudgeable and often unaware of others' opinions (let alone worrying about pleasing them). But his transformation when he is a pirate for Ren Faire exposes another side of him and helps us (and Emily) start to see that maybe that rough exterior is about more than being an ass, but actually carrying an awful lot of responsibility and grief.

The setting of a small town is already one of my favorites, with everyone knowing everyone and the camaraderie, but add to it a small town preparing for and hosting Ren Faire and it just got better. The way Emily becomes a part of the town through her participation in Ren Faire was fun to watch. Even better was watching her and Simon don new identities for Faire and with those identities lose some of their inhibitions, preconceptions, and misunderstandings to flirt, tease, and eventually fall in love.

I listened to Well Met and thoroughly enjoyed Brittany Pressley's narration. I've enjoyed her narration a few times of the past year and she's proving to be consistent in delivering distinct voices imbued with personality.