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Tal Bauer does it again 😍

I was hooked from page 1, when Wyatt saw a devastated man drinking himself into a stupor at an airport bar, all alone while others stared at him, but did nothing.

Noël - which I pronounced as Noelle in my head the whole time, as those two dots means it's pronounced that way - the day before was just left at the alter by his now ex-fiance, who only texted him a measly "I'm not in love with you. I met someone else" as an explanation for why she did it.

He's going on their supposed honeymoon alone, then, to lick his wounds alone and in misery.

But then a ruggedly handsome, big cowboy walks over to him, tips his cowboy hat his way and says "Howdy."

It was all over from there.

Wyatt started falling right away. Noël as well, but maybe a little teensy bit slower, as before Wyatt he thought he was straight, and he was getting over his ex-fiance now - although it really doesn't take that long, which shows just how not in love both of them were.

But Noël gets rip-roaring drunk, and Wyatt is there to take care of him and make sure he doesn't drown himself in alcohol, as well as making his flight and getting him to the resort - they're both staying at, as Wyatt's younger brother, Liam, and his longtime girlfriend turned wife to be, Savannah are having their wedding there in Cancun, the same place Noël and his now ex were going to be during their honeymoon - and to his room, safe and sound.

As Wyatt is there a few days early - insisted on by Liam, who dresses it up as "checking out the resort" for them a few days early, but it's really just letting Wyatt having a vacation, which he hasn't taken once in 9 years, since they tragically lost their parents to murder (their dad was a Sheriff in their small Texan town, and made some enemies with criminals who one day took out their anger on him for locking them up) and Wyatt's way of coping was to be even more of a caretaker than he already was at 17.

And he held onto his father through rebuilding their house (which was burned down in the murders) and starting a vineyard that his father wanted to have, and had just started the very beginning of it before he died.

So Noël and Wyatt are there alone for a few days. That's all it takes for more to develop, as a humiliated and alone Noël invites Wyatt on the activities he and his now ex were going to do during their honeymoon, especially after a waiter mistakes Wyatt for Noël's new spouse.

And when Wyatt's family shows up, Noël integrates into them so well and he forms a bond with all of them, even Jason, Wyatt's 8 year old nephew (although I think he should start out as 7 as it says he's in first, then second grade throughout this, and still 8 after over a year, so I think that was a teeny tiny mistake on Tal's part) who is as hyperactive and talkative as Wyatt apparently was at that age.

But Noël has some issues, obviously. He was just dumped at the alter, for one - even though it's clear he's pretty over her fairly quickly and didn't really love her - and he has a lot of insecurities. Everyone he's known has left him in his life, so he think it's his fault, that there's something wrong with him, that he's unlikable, and eventually everyone leaves him. Case in point, his ex.

So when, at the end of their week together, Wyatt talks about keeping touch with Noël, visiting him in New York and Noël visiting him in his small Texan town, Noël freaks out and just leaves with a note saying "Wyatt, I'm sorry."

I actually appreciated that the big separation and angst happened at around 40% and not near the end. It broke the formula and left so much more time for rebuilding their relationship and making it strong enough to last a lifetime.

Because, let's be real, realistically, things that happened that fast - 6 days fast - is not usually going to last. Especially as it's a rebound stage as well, although Wyatt never feels like that to Noël, at all.

But a few days prior, he was set to marry another person, and then within like 3 days, he's kissing and having sex with someone else, and a man on top of that, when he'd never realized any attraction to a man before.

It all seemed too good to be true, and with Noël's insecurities, he doesn't handle the situation right, and leaves them both brokenhearted.

But for Noël, he doesn't see how it could work. Not only because of how he sees himself, but he lives in NYC, Wyatt lives in Texas, they have completely different lives. How can they make a life together?

Wyatt, for his part was just...so damn sweet and kind and gentle, I loved him to bits. He fell head long into love with Noël so quickly and was so happy and excited for their future, whatever it took to be together.

Maybe, for his part, he didn't take a step back and look at the reality of the situation - because yeah, all they'd had was a week in paradise with no real world responsibilities to work through, and hadn't really been tested yet - but I love how he admits that and sees it later on. What Noël still did was wrong, 100%, because he should have stayed and talked to Wyatt, at least not left him hight and dry with no explanation or goodbye, and he absolutely hurt him.

But maybe Wyatt was too eager and a bit too naive to see the whole picture.

I love this line of thought by Noël later on in the book, where he thinks about how he doesn't regret leaving in the sense that he learned a lesson from it, and he grew from that pain and anguish he caused. He knew things then that the Noël in Wyatt's hotel room didn't. But he still regretting, above all else, hurting Wyatt.

I don't think he needed to go about it that way, but...humans gonna human. They're gonna fuck up, but in those fuck ups...they grow and they learn and evolve. A lot of the time, the only way to mature and grow up and be a better person is to go through the hard shit first.

I love how the story rebuilt their love for each other. Not that they ever lost it, but they were brokenhearted, and so needed to be built back up from that low. And also fall in love harder than before, in a life altering, forever kind of way.

I loved that so much. This book is long, but that's because it takes its time getting you to fall in love with the MC as much as it takes its time getting Wyatt and Noël to fall in love with each other.

Which, they do at first in just 6 days, sure, but Tal writers his characters and his romance in such a way that it doesn't feel rushed at all. This book is 400 pages, so it spends a good 150ish pages on those 6 days in Cancun together, showing how they fall in love, so quickly and so passionately.

But then spends the next 250ish pages on about 6ish months of time, of these two falling in love for good, and getting to the place where they're ready to take that leap into forever together.

The sex was, of course, absolutely amazing. The chemistry was off the charts. It's such a feat when an author can make a couple happen so fast, but it doesn't feel that way at all, and also have such high levels of chemistry and heat and passion when they've just met a few days prior in the story.

We get such amazing sex at the beginning, then nothing as they go through the angst and separation and then rebuilding their connection into a relationship, but when we do get sex again, it's wonderful too, and even more meaningful between them. At that point, they're for sure making love when they're together.

I did like the plot as well, where a famous singer, Tessa and her regular, non-famous fiance, Tyler, want to get married, but she's a genuine person, and wants a more private, real, intimate affair.

Wyatt's vineyard is just the place for it. But the company Noël works for cares more about extravagance and selling the image to the masses for billions of dollars, of course, and they have a contract with a magazine, Elite, to basically "own" her wedding. But Noël isn't playing ball, because he doesn't want them to intrude on Wyatt's property, which means so much to him, and Tessa's wedding which she wants to be more private.

Wyatt is one of the most real people that Noël has ever met, and his way of living, his way of being, brings out the Noël that was really under his New York persona, who he had to be in such a big, hopping city with a job working with the stars.

But as we go on in the book, we see what a toll it takes on him, and how over it all he is, and I was just reading how much he didn't like so many aspects of his job, wanting him to just quit and go to Wyatt for good in Texas.

Which eventually happens, but it doesn't happy automatically, as I wish it would have because I'm impatient haha.

I just adored this. Wyatt is steadfast in his kindness, and while he's a little stand-offish at first when they get back into each other's lives - understandably - and is slower to trust this time, he's always been all in, and he's still all in after he understands Noël's reasoning for freaking and leaving him in Cancun more. He's just waiting for Noël to choose him, because Wyatt chose Noël a long time ago, probably the moment he walked up to him in that bar.

Tal is just always so good at making an epic love story, that can stand the test of time. That is so passionate and electric.

Also Tal is going to Tal, and at times his writing is a little gushy, a tad purple prose-y, but I don't care. And if you know that and don't like it and are still reading his books, I dunno what to tell you or what you're expecting anymore.

I adore it. I adore how in love his characters are, how much they feel, how much they love, how intertwined in each other they are. How he builds connections.

I got teary-eyed over wine when Wyatt brings out the last barrel he made with his dad before he died, because it was so emotional, and even though we don't get to really know his dad all that well, we get told of so many memories of him, and how much Wyatt loved him, and how they were best friends, and how great of a dad he had. It just hits so hard after the whole book of moments where Wyatt is reminiscing about his father in his grief.

I do wish we'd gotten more from Wyatt about how he felt about his mom, as she always kinda felt like an afterthought to his father, which I don't think Tal was trying to go for. Wyatt just happened to be close to his father in life. But I do wish we had gotten a memory or two about his mother and what he felt about her. He loved her, clearly, but we didn't really get to feel that or see that. Felt bad for her, almost.

But that wasn't too big a deal and I don't give any points off for it, as it didn't detract from the story in any way.

And these two get such a hard won HEA and I absolutely loved it. Two massive thumbs up from me, and I can't wait to read more from this wonderful author, to see what he comes up with next.

Can't wait! 🥰