You're My Cherry Pie by Athena Carstairs - Romance Book Review

A charming and light fake dating romance that had me hooked!

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You're My Cherry Pie by Athena Carstairs book review

At the very beginning, we’re treated to a steamy kiss between Oakleigh and Finn, then the book opens properly 8 months later, with the kiss trying to be forgotten about. The two are connected via Oakleigh’s best friend Wren (who we met in book 1, There’s Pumpkin About You), who happens to be Finn’s sister, and their mom, who Finn accidentally reveals the kiss to in a probing moment. Before they know it, they’re fake dating for a set time period of 1 month to keep everyone happy.

This story was cute and an easy read, while also dealing with more heavy hitting topics, such as OCD. The representation and depiction of it seemed realistic; while the condition was a main part of the story, it wasn’t the entire story.

There was something of a lack of communication trope going on in this story, alongside enemies/friends to lovers (they sat somewhere in the middle really!) and best friend’s brother. While I love the latter two, I’m not a huge fan of the lack of communication thing – but here I can make an exception as it was their previous encounter that had set the tone for their relationship at the beginning of the book, rather than a continuing miscommunication – although it did take a while to set right!

The characters were nicely done. They were believable and cute; I totally felt the chemistry between them and was dying for them to figure themselves out and get it together for real! One thing that irked me just a teeny bit was Finn’s nickname for Oakleigh. He called her “Cherry”, which was sweet and obviously ties into her personality and the title of the book, but what was odd was calling her that to other people occasionally, who didn’t call her Cherry. It felt a bit stilted.

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I, of course, loved the small town setting where characters are on top of one another, dipping in and out of the lives of characters from the author’s previous book (There’s Pumpkin About You) and ones who I’m sure will appear in future books. I’m looking forward to these!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for an ARC of this book.