I had a hard time connecting with these characters, and I think it’s because they are 20 years older than me. Their sense of humor, way of texting, etc. were not relatable for me beyond the expected fact that Annie was a restaurateur and mother of adult boys. I found the beginning of the story really slow and the “meet cute” between Annie and John was more than 50% of the way into the book. And it was honestly really intense and aggressive, so I felt like the John we got to know was completely different than the John that was introduced. I liked the catalyst for Annie finding herself at the seaside cottage and how she made it her own space. I also liked seeing her interactions with Max; it helped me understand her character more. There were too many people in this story, which made it hard to follow all the secondary/tertiary characters and remember who was who. There was a big climax/disaster towards the end of the book that felt a bit contrived but was very gripping. The relationship (once these characters didn’t hate each other) was very sweet and while a bit spicy, it was pretty vague and minimally spicy. I would try another book from this author if the character felt more relatable to me and the romance was a more significant part of the book.