Another fun read from Ms. Alexander. It has many of the same themes as other books by the author but it takes reading several of her offerings back to back before I get tired of them.

I'd go 3.5 but am rounding up because of the number of times I laughed out loud.

Anyone who has enjoyed a Robin Alexander book in the past will very likely enjoy this one, too. ( )

This is my second reading of this book. My first reading of this book occurred in May 2017.

Robin Alexander is the perfect example to be used for why I tend to give authors 3 to 5 books before I decide on if I like them or not – if I’ll continue to read them or not (previously I would have used Georgette Heyer). Why do I say this? Simple enough – I read three books by Alexander in 2014 and, naturally, I loved . . . . heh, no. I gave those three books an overall rating of 3.8, though that was mostly due to giving one of the three a rating of 4.5. It then took me two more years to try another book – and then I went on a longish string of 5 star reads. Did I love everything I read after that point? No, of course not. Some books I actually ended up rating worse than the initial three reads, but this is all boring and stuff so I move on. The point is that Alexander ended up being, basically, my favorite author and I almost gave up on her books before I should have. Eh, happens.

If I recorded things correctly, this is the third book I’ve reread by Alexander. And second I’ve placed on my top shelf reachable only by reread books. Alexander is the only author who has more than one work on my 6 star shelf.

Strangely enough, this book was even better than I recalled, and I spotted bits of humor here and there that I am fairly certain I hadn’t noticed the first time. There are both humorous lines, and humorous passages (as in, humorous banter; and, in context, humorous scenes). I loved everyone involved with this book, character-wise (well, I mean, ‘obviously’ I wouldn’t want anything to do with Janice, the grandmother, and she wasn’t great on her own, but the interactions added something to the book). Let’s step back and say: I loved the two main characters, Shawna and Ashton; and a good number of the side characters like Jet the daughter, and Patty the friend (actually, I believe I came to like Patty more this go-around than in the previous read).

The interaction between Shawna & Ashton as friends and lovers was great; the interaction between Patty and both Shawna & Ashton was good; the dynamic of the ex-Megan (Shawna’s ex) was quite good, and I kinda want to see a book starring Megan and Lucy (or Megan and anyone, really, but she seems to be doing well with Lucy so . . .).

Great story line. Humor, romance, sex, . . . hmms . . . humor again.

Rated: 6 stars

April 26 2018 ( )

A very sad thing happened just moments ago – the book ended. I’m sad now.

It is rare for me to think and/or say this but I loved the characters in this book to the point that I want to know them in real life, and if they are based on real life people the author knows, then I’m jealous, I am.

There’s Shawna Haydel, 39, work-at-home (she also has a gas station, and is the reason for the ‘financial services’ shelf since she also works as an accountant) mother of 16 year old Alicia ‘Jet’ Haydel; and there's Ashton Guidry, 39, biology teacher and (reluctant temporary) color guard coach at the same school Jet attends. Both of them are the point of views in this book. And both are darn right lovable. The others, the non-point of view characters, are also lovable – though slightly less so depending on the character. There’s Jet, already mentioned, who is also a member of the color guard; and both of Shawna’s parents (Lou and Will) are also still alive and around (Will being the bald man (but for two hairs) who is there in the story, has a distinct personality, but hasn’t much to do with the book; and then there is Lou, another one with a distinct personality, though shown more through her interactions with her own mother – who just happens to live with Lou and Will), and grandmother (Janice, who had been the principal at the high school and is very prim and proper). Rounding out the first tier side characters is Patty – one of the four who were friends in high school (Shawna and Ashton being two of the others, while Cassie makes the fourth but isn’t around the town any longer). Filling in the second tier are those like the band leader Stiles, who is a pushy dick, his girl-friend Joann (who Shawna and the rest knew at high school – as a stuck up bitch), and . . . well, Janice probably goes on this level instead of first tier. Hmm. I kind of ‘ruined’ my tier system so let’s forget about that. Like, I should have had Meagan (Megan?) on the first tier but, like I said, let’s forget about tiers. Megan is Shawna’s 1) best friend; 2) ex-partner/wife (and referred to by Jet as Mom-Megan – one of Jet’s two mothers).

The book opens with a bunch of 16 year olds giggling and writing on paper while 16 year old Patty made a ‘potion’ (not the drinking kind of potion, luckily, since . . . well, spit and stuff). The potion is some kind of love potion – the girls wrote down the person they loved and/or wanted to love them, and put that paper into the potion. Shawna is nervous about the whole thing because she wants to write the name of one of the other young women there, but doesn’t want anyone to know or see the paper. The ritual is concluded, the page is turned, and it’s now 23 years later.

Shawna works out of her home while overseeing her daughter Jet. The ‘present’ part of the book, which apparently takes place in 2015 based on a comment in the book (which literally said ‘it is 2015’), starts off with Jet being super annoyed. And wanting to drop out of the Color Guard team. Because there’s a new coach and she’s bitchy and mean and stuff. Coach Ashole (or Ashhole, I forget spelling now). I suppose I should interject two things here – Shawna and Ashton haven’t communicated in roughly 20 to 21 years, and Shawna has no clue that Ashton has moved back to the small town, so there’s no inherent reason for her to immediately hear ‘Ashole’ and think ‘Ashton’. And she doesn’t immediately realize this fact. But she does want Jet to remain on the team, for now, because of the promises Jet made (and the money spent on the ‘stuff’ associated with being a member of the color guard).

Ashton, meanwhile, has been forced to become the temporary color guard coach due to the current coach needing to step away for a while for emotional reasons (going through a divorce).

And, um, stuff.

There’s no way I can do this book justice so I’m going to move on from my normal rambling.

The book is super humorous, lovely, great book. Brought tears to my eyes several times (from laughter), and there were many humorous moments/scenes. Some of which are created by having the daughter (Jet) catch her mother (Shawna) doing things. Like dance around.

“Were you backing it up on the fridge?” [Jet]

“I was…uh…was…removing smudges with my butt. Did you forget something?” [Shawna]

“My laptop. I have a paper due Monday for English. I’ll just go get that now,” Jet said, still looking disconcerted as she left the room.

“I saw a smudge, and I rubbed my butt on it. That’s perfectly normal,” Shawna called after her."

- 24% into the book. Jet catches Shawna dancing for joy when she reconnects with Ashton (and this also might be the scene after Shawna learned that Ashton is also a lesbian)

Some of the humor scenes involve just Shawna and Ashton – like the time Shawna catches Ashton sleep walking and sleep fighting the vacuum cleaner, or the time Ashton catches Shawna drinking wine out of a pickle jar due to nerves. Things more humorous in context. Or, I should say, read in the book.

"You're having wine...in a pickle jar. Why is that?" Ashton asked, looking confused.

"Oh." Shawna looked closely at it. "I didn't even notice. I just grabbed it."

Several of the sex scenes are quite humorous as well. For . . . reasons.

I, relatively recently, read two Alexander books close-ish together and labeled one as the best romance book I’d ever read and the other the best humor book I’d read. Well, I’m pushing both books out of their positions and sliding this book here in their place. This book here is both the best romance book I’ve read and the best humor book I’ve read. I wish to put this book on my top tier, but, sadly, I have to wait until I reread this book to do that.

Rating: 5.99 (only rereads can be 6 star books)

May 4 2017 ( )

It is a good thing when I burst out into laughter just from reading those bits I'd highlighted from the book. Especially when I wasn't thinking that hard about the book, and when I was just going through my highlights long after the fact to see what to share or not share.

“Who are you?” Ashton yelled and started popping the vacuum like a cat would do to something it was unsure of.

(it probably helps when the highlight puts me back into the scene. Like above - Ashton had gotten out of bed in the middle of the night and might not actually be awake when she attacked the vacuum cleaner) ( )