This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

Introduction
If This Is Love is a standalone that is a new release from Jewel E. Ann. This is also my first book by this author, and I will admit I did have certain expectations on this one. It's everywhere on bookstagram so I was curious to see what all the raves were about with this one. The narration was superb on this and is what kept me with this story. I will say that if you want a great western romance, then this one does check off the box. While I had my issues with this one, it still will deliver especially if you love from beginning to end conflict aspects.

Summary
The set up of the story is that our characters meet and practically grow up together. The hero is older than the heroine, but when they first meet he is still young. They build a friendship but then it turns into something more over the years but there is a forbidden theme to it as the hero is being forced to marry someone he doesn't love. The relationship between Milo and Indie is slowly built into a crescendo but any intimate connection is forbidden for both of them, and its a story that shows how they find a way together.

My Outlook
I really struggled with this one. Now, don't get me wrong, I admire a strong forbidden romance but I absolutely do not like it being dragged out till the end. The characters were also hard to get behind. They both have this level of immaturity that never changes, it only gets worse throughout the story.I am not sure if it was the narration or the story itself, but with each chapter, I became more and more frustrated with this story and most especially the heroine. You get why the hero is doing what he does but even when Indie learns the truth about the position that he is in, she only proves why he took so long to tell her the truth. I know she is young, but she doesn't really grow that much, she only gets worse in her mature level and I was unable to resonate with her much. And with all the forbidden feels to the story and how the intensity builds up, I was highly disappointed with the ending, it just felt so lackluster and unsatisfying. So I really struggled with this and there were moments that I wanted to DNF it. But I really wanted to see how everything would turn out so I kept with it. I am curious about books from this author, but if this is her style, I am not sure I will keep reading her.

Rating Evaluation:
Plot: 4
World Building:4
Cover:4
Hero: 4
Heroine: 2.5
Steam: 4
Heart & Feels: 4
Ending:3
Overall View: 3 ( )