“Difficult things build resilience.” (Page 113).

Louie does not have her stuff together. She has so many issues – anxiety, time management, sometimes her self-esteem is so low – it’s a lot for anybody to take on. She doesn’t think she and Ryan can work out because of where she is in life. Ryan is an architect, champion of low-income housing, lover of kelpies, painter of orchids, owner of a rope chair, lover of light. Yet he also needs to be in control and won’t take no for an answer when it comes to certain things.

“She wouldn’t have called any of her past boyfriends men. But Ryan was a man. He had a profession and knew what he was doing with his life. He fitted comfortably into the world. A world that she often found complex and confusing.” (Page 190). Louie is describing Ryan as a man, but she really means that Ryan is adulting and has his stuff together. Louie thinks, in this way, that they’re opposites and how could they work out? She feels like she has nothing to offer.

Both Louie and Ryan are impossible and fascinating. “When it came to parking fines, Louie was risk averse. She would happily walk for twenty minutes.” (page 25). Yet her phone passcode is 0000. Sometimes she spends hours in a brain fog, unable to move, captured by her own fear. She is the exaggeration of all my own anxieties and depression. I really, really wanted to see her triumph over herself because it’s like she is my champion. If she can pull herself out of a slump, then so can I. I also related to Ryan and his need for unrelenting control. Without compromise and compassion for each other, a relationship would never work!

I love the writing style in this novel. It is clear, succinct, and straight to the point. Yet sometimes the description of light, paintings, and landscapes go on so long that I feel like I’m there. I can feel my own response to the gray day with unending rain giving me Seasonal Affective Disorder (even though it’s summer and not a cloud in the sky where I live right now).

If you liked the show Lessons in Chemistry and you like to read contemporary and/or romance novels then you would enjoy this book.