ARC Review: "Can We Just Be Happy Now?" by Tisa Matthews (Finding Home #3) ★★★★
ARC Review
You never forget your first: first kiss, first love, first heartbreak. Sometimes, you experience it all with the same person. This is the case with our main characters Sophie Porter and Cooper Montgomery, inseparable childhood best friends, neighbours, and both secretly in love with each other. It is told in present tense from both their points of view, in a dual timeline of the Then and Now. Then is around two and a half years before the present day, when Sophie is 16 in high school and Cooper is 18 and about to go off to college. Now is when Sophie is 18 and Cooper is 20, in her first year of college. Through the assistance of both time periods, you see how it started and how it’s going – and let me tell you, it is not going too well!
The story begins after a bitter breakup between the two of them in the Now, for reasons revealed later. Sophie decides to have a bucket list of things (and people) she wants to experience in college. Cooper finds Sophie hanging out with another guy, JT, though she told Cooper she just needed time and would consider starting again. Thanksgiving is awkward, to say the least (their families have always celebrated it together so there is no escaping it). Sophie misses the way things were and wants to make things work between them again, or at least to go back to some sort of friendship. However, things at every opportunity (and I really mean every) get in the way either by her own self-destructive doing, or Cooper’s attempts to shut her out.
Between these moments are memories from Then, starting from Sophie’s 16th birthday when Cooper admits he has feelings for her. From this, it can be seen why Sophie wants to get back together with him, and wondering what could’ve happened to tear them apart. For these are all very adorable moments, where Cooper treats her like a princess, which makes switching between the timelines all the more bittersweet. Will their love, and memories, conquer all the obstacles and the hate?
This has been a rollercoaster of a read with never a dull moment, and there are so many things I have enjoyed while reading this! The pacing, dialogue, and description were perfect, I could picture everything. The small touches about this book also won me over: I loved the paragraph divider in chapters being the Goldfinch named Sunshine that visits the bird feeder by their homes and has also appeared through many moments of their ups and downs
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| Sophie and Cooper by darya.mist.art |
I am a sucker for the friends to lovers trop and a firm believer in right love, wrong time so I really enjoyed reading this. Sophie and Cooper have my heart, with their chemistry and their awkwardness. There is a constant push and pull between them – and every time you think this might be it, they might be able to work through this, something happens that makes you want to scream either at Cooper or Sophie or *both* of them! The number of times they go to say “I love you” but end up holding back from it would leave one inebriated if one took a drink every time! Neither of them watching the TV show Beauty & The Beast finale because they didn’t want to see it without the other ahh! Bless them!
Cooper is everything. I love how respectful and kind he is (also the way he would brush Sophie’s tears away or cup her face, love that gentle touch). There are even some chapters where he slips her bookmark back into the book before setting it aside: this is a top priority! Men, take note of this! The way Sophie discovers Cooper writes a message at the back of each birthday book he gives her, oh my wee heart! You cannot *not* love him! Sophie reminds me of myself – and that’s not just because we share the same name! From her love of books to her impulsiveness in some situations to her organisational skills to how easily she can become emotional, I relate so much. I also agree that if I were to get a fairly subtle tattoo and something I am certain of getting. She goes through an incredible amount of emotional maturity, something which I did not have at 18 so it was lovely to see this. I was very petty, insecure and required validation.
I must commend Tisa for the use of both dual timeline and dual point of view. It has been a while since I have read a book with this, and it is a very difficult thing to do. She used it very effectively here to not only link what is being discussed or briefly reminisced in the present day to the past but to also gradually reveal all of which happened before that has turned their friendship and relationship sour. One such example is Chapter 15 when present-day Cooper sees that Sophie is calling, and her contact photo is one he took of her skateboarding when she was 16, when they were happily dating. Chapter 17 expands on this from the perspective of Cooper in the past.Interestingly, both their reasonings for breaking up is because they do not want the other to miss out on college experience with everything and everyone, except the initial breakup is at Sophie’s request because she is insecure and the next breakup is by Cooper but due to her father’s influence on him.
A few notes I took as I was reading:
ch 18 "slipping her bookmark in place before resting it on the nightstand" Absolute green flag!
ch 25 "The flood gates open as the door to the diner closes behind Cooper" This description is a masterpiece!
ch 33 ooft! but also dang it!
ch 39 THE NOTES AT THE BACK OF EACH BIRTHDAY BOOK!!!
ch 54 my jaw DROPPED
ch 66 FINALLY
I cannot find much fault with this novel at all. It made sense why certain events happened or why a character behaved the way they did. I always like books in a series to be able to be read as a standalone and this can be read as such. I think the only thing I was perhaps disappointed in was there was no real resolution between Sophie’s father and Cooper. It does not matter ultimately but I was hoping he would come to see the error of his ways or behave a lot more civil. In real life, some people never change and this is a good reflection of that. If anything, his attitude needs to be smacked out of him – just like Cooper punched JT haha!
I am honoured to have been selected as an ARC reader for this book, and I’d like to thank Tisa for the opportunity.
Cooper is everything. I love how respectful and kind he is (also the way he would brush Sophie’s tears away or cup her face, love that gentle touch). There are even some chapters where he slips her bookmark back into the book before setting it aside: this is a top priority! Men, take note of this! The way Sophie discovers Cooper writes a message at the back of each birthday book he gives her, oh my wee heart! You cannot *not* love him! Sophie reminds me of myself – and that’s not just because we share the same name! From her love of books to her impulsiveness in some situations to her organisational skills to how easily she can become emotional, I relate so much. I also agree that if I were to get a fairly subtle tattoo and something I am certain of getting. She goes through an incredible amount of emotional maturity, something which I did not have at 18 so it was lovely to see this. I was very petty, insecure and required validation.
"You deserve the best version of me–a happy version of me. Not the one who is off making stupid decisions because she is listening to someone else's words instead of her own heart."I loved this. Everyone needs to hear this!
I must commend Tisa for the use of both dual timeline and dual point of view. It has been a while since I have read a book with this, and it is a very difficult thing to do. She used it very effectively here to not only link what is being discussed or briefly reminisced in the present day to the past but to also gradually reveal all of which happened before that has turned their friendship and relationship sour. One such example is Chapter 15 when present-day Cooper sees that Sophie is calling, and her contact photo is one he took of her skateboarding when she was 16, when they were happily dating. Chapter 17 expands on this from the perspective of Cooper in the past.
A few notes I took as I was reading:
ch 18 "slipping her bookmark in place before resting it on the nightstand" Absolute green flag!
ch 25 "The flood gates open as the door to the diner closes behind Cooper" This description is a masterpiece!
ch 33 ooft! but also dang it!
ch 39 THE NOTES AT THE BACK OF EACH BIRTHDAY BOOK!!!
ch 54 my jaw DROPPED
ch 66 FINALLY
I cannot find much fault with this novel at all. It made sense why certain events happened or why a character behaved the way they did. I always like books in a series to be able to be read as a standalone and this can be read as such. I think the only thing I was perhaps disappointed in was there was no real resolution between Sophie’s father and Cooper. It does not matter ultimately but I was hoping he would come to see the error of his ways or behave a lot more civil. In real life, some people never change and this is a good reflection of that. If anything, his attitude needs to be smacked out of him – just like Cooper punched JT haha!
I am honoured to have been selected as an ARC reader for this book, and I’d like to thank Tisa for the opportunity.
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