Well Traveled
Series: Well Met, #4
Author: Jen DeLuca
Publication Date: December 6, 2022
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Note: This review is for an ARC and is my unbiased opinion.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ½
Synopsis:
The Renaissance Faire is on the move, and Lulu and Dex are along for the ride, in the next utterly charming rom-com from Jen DeLuca.
A high-powered attorney from a success-oriented family, Louisa “Lulu” Malone lives to work, and everything seems to be going right, until the day she realizes it’s all wrong. Lulu’s cousin Mitch introduced her to the world of Renaissance Faires, and when she spies one at a time just when she needs an escape, she leaps into the welcoming environment of turkey legs, taverns, and tarot readers. The only drawback? Dex MacLean: a guitarist with a killer smile, the Casanova of the Faire… and her traveling companion for the summer.
Dex has never had to work for much in his life, and why should he? Touring with his brothers as The Dueling Kilts is going great, and he always finds a woman at every Faire. But when Lulu proves indifferent to his many plaid charms and a shake-up threatens the fate of the band, Dex must confront something he never has before: his future.
Forced to spend days and nights together on the road, Lulu’s interest in the kilted bad boy grows as he shows her a side of himself no one else has seen. The stresses of her old lifestyle fade away as she learns to trust her intuition and follow her heart instead of her head. But when her time on the road is over, will Lulu go with her gut, or are she and Dex destined for separate paths?
I am a big fan of the Well Met series. There is something so magical about the renaissance faire world Jen DeLuca has created. I was super excited to read Well Traveled. Unfortunately, I had some mixed feelings about it in the end. I’m going to start out with the things that kept me from loving this book and end with the good stuff.
The stuff that kept me from giving this one 5 stars:
- Some of the magic of the Willow Creek Faire setting was missing. It was fun to hear about other faires, but those woods were part of the first books magic.
- I wasn’t so sure of Dex because of his ladies’ man persona prior to this book. His switch to misunderstood felt a little awkward knowing some of his history. Not that I didn’t love the switch.
- The biggest thing was the first half of the book. To be honest, I got bored. It was all about Lulu and her finding herself. There wasn’t enough Dex in the first half to feel like a romance novel. Lulu thought he was hot, but I didn’t necessarily feel their chemistry. Maybe there needed to be more interactions between them or something. I don’t know.
The 5 star material:
- Jen DeLuca’s writing.
- I loved the way this book started out with Lulu and her phone.
- Lula was a strong, independent woman.
- Lulu and Mitch’s relationship as cousins.
- Seeing Stacey and Daniel and all of the band while they did their things.
- I loved all of the fortune teller stuff.
- The last half of the book after the romance started.
- How smart and caring Dex was when it came to his family and friends.
- Lulu and Dex together were sweet and had great chemistry once they really interacted.
- The ending was adorable.
If the first half of the book would have been more like the second half, I think I would have fallen in love with this book. It was good, but I needed less set up and more togetherness. I do think other readers (maybe those who are more likely to read women’s fiction) might enjoy this one more than I did. Not to say that I didn’t end up liking it — I did.