I love all the 1990s nostalgia that is going on right now. Dr Martens are making a come back (glad I kept my pair from high school!), the Boo Pails are back at McDonalds, flare jeans and baby doll dresses with a white tee are back with a vengeance! YEAH flare jeans! My 1990s kid heart is so happy and I am just loving it! I love seeing remakes of some of my favorite 1990s films—the remakes aren’t great (looking at you Baywatch!) but it’s fun to see people trying to introduce them to as new audience! And I have seen a number of books thick with 1990s nostalgia and I am absolutely here for it!
That was the number one reason I wanted to read this book—-1990s nostalgia. Well that and it had romance so you know I am all over that! I am not a fan of second chance romances though so I was a little hesitant to read this one based on the fact that the characters already had a complex history, but the promise of a Y2K filled book of nostalgia, I couldn’t pass it up!
This book is definitely not the fluffy romance I was expecting, but it was a lot of fun to read and I love discovering new to me authors. I am excited to read more books by Allison Winn Scotch. I haven’t read anything else by her but after reading this one I am excited to read some of her others. As we start to get into the holiday season, this book might be a great option as it has a strong holiday influence so keep that in mind as you are lining up your holiday reading. If you are a 1990s kid, you will find a lot to enjoy in this one!
Summary
Two exes wake up together with wedding bands on their fingers–and no idea how they got there. They have just one New Year’s Eve at the end of 1999 to figure it out in this big-hearted and nostalgic rom-com from New York Timesbestselling author Allison Winn Scotch.
When college sweethearts Frankie and Ezra broke up before graduation, they vowed to never speak to each other again. Ten years later, on the eve of the new millennium, they find themselves back on their snowy, picturesque New England campus together for the first time for the wedding of mutual friends. Frankie’s on the rise as a music manager for the hottest bands of the late ’90s, and Ezra’s ready to propose to his girlfriend after the wedding. Everything is going to plan–they just have to avoid the chasm of emotions brought up when they inevitably come face to face.
But when they wake up in bed next to each other the following morning with Ezra’s grandmother’s diamond on Frankie’s finger, they have zero memory of how they got there–or about any of the events that transpired the night before. Now Frankie and Ezra have to put aside old grievances in order to figure out what happened, what didn’t happen…and to ask themselves the most troubling question of all: what if they both got it wrong the first time around? (summary from Goodreads)
Review
The nostalgia in this one is so on point. I can vividly remember where I was no New Years Eve 1999 and I just love how the author really brought in all the elements of the 1990s and NYE 1999 to this book. While the 1990s music and vibes are a big theme in this book, it’s not the only focus. The bulk of this story is about Ezra and Frankie’s love story. If you are looking for relaxing fluff to read, you might want to pass on this. This romance was more emotional than I was expecting but it was so worth it and I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and exploring what went wrong in 1999 and what went right going forward. This romance really had a bit of everything but the thing that stands out for me is the emotion.
The characters, Ezra and Frankie, really embodied the whole angst that has become the 1990s trademark. They are each flawed characters with their own set of baggage and issues. Very characteristic of the time period but now with the gift of time and age, they are able to grow as characters both individually and together in this book. This book has just so much heart and I love watching the characters come alive under the author’s pen. Their relationship is multilayered and nuanced and I think reads will really enjoy the exploration and growth that the characters go through. I did struggle a bit with the POV, it’s in the third person so there was a weird detachment for me as a reader and I think the story would have been stronger if we got to explore the characters through their own eyes, but overall it wasn’t a deal breaker for me. I still felt like the characters grew and evolved throughout the story and I felt empathy for them so overall it was fine.
This book will especially appeal to those readers who have grown up in the 1990s (the 40s demographic). I mean the 1990s nostalgia angle is really the reason I read this book, but I know that fans of modern romances will find a lot to enjoy in this one as well. I am so glad I read this one, it was such a treat to walk down memory lane within the story but to also explore interesting characters and a romance that I felt had chemistry and promise. If you have seen this one around the blog-o-sphere, I think it’s certainly worth a read! I really enjoyed my time with this one!
Book Info and Rating
Format: 368 pages, paperback
Publication: November 1st 2022 by Berkley Books
ISBN: 0593546539
Free review copy provided by publisher, Berkley Books, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: contempo lit, women’s fiction, romance, chick lit
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