ARC Review: "Never Getting Back Together" by Krysti Meyer ★★★

ARC Review: Never Getting Back Together by Krysti Meyer

“Never Getting Back Together” is a delightful and heartwarming told from the first-person narrative of Quinn Kelley, a 21-year-old aspiring nutritionist who has a chronic health condition called MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome). Circumstances force her and Ty Rossi, ex-boyfriend, college-goer and prankster, to work together to organise the town festival.

“Ty was my first love and such a huge part of my life. Not knowing him is like waking up one day to find out the sun didn't rise. How am I supposed to navigate the world around me without seeing how he fits into it? And, more importantly, do I even want to?”

OVERALL REVIEW
This was a quick read, full of quite amusing banter and reasonably funny moments. Both Quinn and Ty felt somewhat shallow to begin with but as the story went on, I liked them. Especially Quinn’s passion for helping others drives her throughout the book – it is lovely to see her character grow and it is the most effective part of the story. Ty was initially not impressing me at all in terms of who he was as a person, I was like “Really? *This* guy is who you can’t forget??” – a prankster who nearly cost her future career because of a prank gone wrong? Bit red flag. But I warmed to him, especially after the dance. I would have liked Quinn to have opened up more about her struggles and to have had Ty support Quinn more especially when all things come to a head around Chapter 25.

The chemistry between them fell flat through most of the book, unfortunately, as they were mostly competitive or grumpy so not a lot of flirtatious moments. Though, during Chapter 17 I did genuinely find Ty’s efforts sweet. In fact, I was more rooting for the girls-supporting-girls moments between Quinn, her aunt Becky and cousin Liv than the romance!

I would have made this rating a 2 were it not for the character arcs and the excellent use of similes and metaphors. I mean take this example:

“My heart trips over itself like I'm a heroine in a Jane Austen novel when having a guy ask you to dance was akin to a marriage proposal.”

Absolute perfection! Krysti is a legend for mentioning Austen. There were so many good references to songs, TV shows and films: I thoroughly enjoyed this aspect!

Another great thing was Krysti’s raising awareness of MCAS which is a condition I don’t think I’ve heard of before. Krysti used her own experiences to put in her novel. Knowing people with chronic health conditions myself, it is more difficult for them to be both diagnosed and it is good that she emphasises this and shows the struggles of affording the medication.

I am honoured to have been selected as an ARC reader for this book, and I’d like to thank Krysti and Netgalley for the opportunity.