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Only Love Can Hurt Like This is a word-perfect deep dive into the highs and lows of love. Neither of them expected to fall in love. But sometimes life has other plans. When Wren realises her fiancé is in love with someone else, she thinks her heart will never recover.

On the other side of the world, Anders lost his wife four years ago and is still struggling to move on.

Wren hopes that spending the summer with her dad and stepfamily on their farm in Indiana will help her heal. There, amid the cornfields and fireflies, she and Anders cross paths, and their worlds are turned upside down. But Wren doesn’t know that Anders is harbouring a secret, and if he acts on any feelings he has for Wren, it will have a serious fallout for everyone.

Walking away would hurt Wren more than she could imagine. But, knowing the truth, how can she possibly stay?

Genre

• Romance
• Chick Lit
• Adult

Book Setting – time and place 

Indiana (United States), Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England

The storyline, in general terms 

The story follows Wren, a 28-year-old whose life is turned upside down when her fiance, Scott, ends their relationship for his PA (it sounds cliche, but it’s not). Wren decides to go and stay with her father and stepmom in America for a couple of weeks to avoid them. Wren slowly sinks into farm life, helping out while working remotely as an architect. She’s introduced to local farmers Jonas and Anders. It’s a cross between friends and enemies to lovers, but it’s cute. I keep saying that!

What did I like about the book? 

It was cute! I loved the friendship growing between Wren, Jonas, Anders, and Bailey. The author also makes us understand that Bailey and Jonas were capable of having a platonic relationship without it being weird.

Despite the slow burn, I appreciated the character development and how Wren helped Jonas move on with his life from his toxic ex and found a way to connect to Bailey, her stepmom, and her father without continuing to feel like an outsider.

What would have made it better? 

It’s not such a slow burn. Maybe there should be more hints before the 75% plot twist and a little more tension.

What didn’t work for me in the book? 

I felt nothing when the twist came 75% – 80% in. Maybe I was having an emotionally numb day. Still, I didn’t know enough about Anders or Laurie’s relationship to understand it all, and Wren and Anders weren’t nearly close enough to believe in them at this point. That being said, from the POV of Anders at the end, I did feel the emotion pour from him, but by this point, I was ready to move on.

Wren and Anders finally get together at 90% of the book, so we get one epilogue, and I feel cheated. It definitely kept me invested, but I nearly gave up. Sorry if this is one of your favourite books of the year; it just didn’t hit the spot for me, and I really wanted to love it! I like it, though.

Overall opinion and recommendation.

Slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow burn…

This book was a cute small-town romance with a hint of city life, hot farmers, and an equally attractive female protagonist, Wren. I’m not used to the slow burn, geez. I was 60% in and still waiting, but I was invested by this point.

This book came highly recommended from TikTok; however, I feel it was highly overrated due to the title being linked to the Paloma Faith song. It’s a good book, worthy of the four stars; it’s exceptionally well written with great detail, although I’ll admit sometimes the details were far too much, causing me to skim.

Will I read another book by this author? 

If you want to know more about Paige Toon or check out her books, please visit her website https://www.paigetoon.com/

Star rating: 4 stars

Have you read this book yet, or do you plan on adding it to your TBR? Let me know by commenting below.

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