One liner: Clay wants to make his ex jealous and Giana needs tips to snag her musician crush so pretending to date each other is the best solution to both their problems.

The book was off to a good start with Giana explaining her job and trying to get Clay to do an interview. I was on board until the fake dating solution sort of just popped out of nowhere. At least that’s what it felt like because I already started skimming here and there. Giana and Clay had chemistry and I enjoyed the first half. It was the second half when the book started to fall apart. It jumped from one thing to the next and things were resolved too quickly.

One liner: Dahlia’s returns home to Boston when her dad needs her and must face the people she left behind when she moved to Hartwell after a tragic accident.

Much of the first half of the story takes place in Boston before returning to Hartwell. Dahlia’s story was the one that hurt me the most. She falls in love with Michael, her boyfriend’s best friend, and leaves him due to a tragic accident. The accident remains a mystery with the characters always dancing around it, never specific about what happened until it’s finally revealed. I kind of hate when this is used as a plot device (I think that’s the right term), but it was effective when the truth comes out. This is probably the one I like most of the three books I’ve read from the series.

One liner: Emery and Jack are attracted to each but a real relationship remains out of reach because of Jack’s father.

I’ve been waiting for Jack and Emery’s story since I first read Hart’s Boardwalk #2. (I haven’t read book 1…I jump around). Jack was a mystery and I wanted to know what he was hiding as much as his former friends did. Just about every book has led to this story and the first half wraps up Jack’s past pretty well as it follows Jack and Emery’s interactions with each other from the past to the present. Learning about their past also led me to believe Emery needed to move on from him. I couldn’t stand his noble idiot indecisiveness, which ultimately affected my enjoyment of the last half. Jack no longer held my interest. Not because he was no longer a mystery, but his indecisiveness took a toll on me as much as it took a toll on Emery. I was over it. I skimmed the last quarter of the book and was a bit disappointed in it.