I really wanted to like this book. Unfortunately there were too many things that baffled me or took me out of the story.

I was excited for a romance with what would be considered in Romanceland...older protagonists. This brings me to the first thing that was hard for me to swallow. The way Naomi is depicted, I'd think she's 60 not 39! I'm currently 36....I get that premature grey hair is a real thing and I've known people who have it. What I couldn't get was why she acted like she was the age of her hair color, if you know what I mean. Grey hair, clothes that cover every inch of her body. She isn't that much older then I am, but it really felt like she was my grandma's age.

She was raised in a strict, Christian home which she rebelled against. A tragedy happened and then what....all the sudden she lets her parents run her life even though she'd essentially been kicked out/ran away from home? I can understand wanting to calm her rebellion after the tragic event, but to swing so far the other way? And then the Wicca stuff? I'm not a Wiccan. I have very shallow knowledge of the religion, the broad strokes. The depictions in this story either felt more like a "here let me teach about this religion" OR "well I'll just keep the bits that work for me and make up the rest". Naomi could've just as easily been a woman who loved nature. Making her Wiccan seemed more like a plot device for her to be a 'witch'.

There was a lot of repetitive language that got on my nerves, and the depictions of other characters (Mrs. McIntyre especially) did nothing to make me like them. I also had a hard time believing that Naomi had no idea that Nathan's daughters were his. Just so many moments throughout the book that could've worked but didn't.

I did like seeing Cletus Winston again though :)