Do not judge this book by its cover.
Its art. And it makes people happy. And thats a very good thing. We have this problem in our culture. We take art that appeals to womenfilm, books, musicand we undervalue it. We assume it cant be high art. Especially if its not dark and tortured and wailing. And it follows that much of that art is created by other women, and so we undervalue them as well. We wrap it up in a pretty pink package and resist calling it art.
While this quote doesn’t embo what the entire book is about, it does however capture a moment of strength of the main character and it is perfection.
Summary - When Solne Marchand, the thirty-nine-year-old owner of a prestigious art gallery Los Angeles, takes her daughter, Isabelle, to meet her favorite boy band, she does so reluctantly and at her ex-husbands request. The last thing she expects is to make a connection with one of the members of the world-famous August Moon. But Hayes Campbell is clever, winning, confident, and posh, and the attraction is immediate. That he is all of twenty years old further complicates things…
I RARELY love romances this much – this book was just so freaking good. It doesn’t tick all the romance rules and that could be why I loved it so much. A lot of times when books have a lot of steam (and I mean a LOT) the plot is flat and the characters are underdeveloped because so much focus is on the spice BUT that is not the case at all with this one. Solene and Hayes just feel real and it doesn’t hurt that their chemistry is .
Few warnings though: If you don’t enjoy steam, skip this one If you don’t like the older woman/younger man trope, skip this one
Otherwise…READ THIS BOOK.
Find The Idea of You at the publisher →
Toni Rocchetti is a copy editor helping authors strengthen their narratives, deepen character arcs, and find the story that is already in the draft. She reads 80+ books a year across literary fiction, memoir, and nonfiction — and writes about what she is learning along the way. Work with Toni →
