Well Met (Well Met #1) by Jen DeLuca

Content/Trigger Warnings: Talk of loss of a loved one (non-hodgkins lymphoma), grief deception, depression depiction, abandonment, and anxiety

“I didn’t choose the wench life. The wench life chose me.”

My heart, my heart can’t get over this book! Everything I wanted, everything I needed was right here in this book! Now I’m kicking myself because I waited so long to read this book. I’ll let you in on a little secret, I’m obsessed with anything that’s Renaissance Festivals. Whether it’s in a book or out in the physical world, I love Renn Fest so much. I attend it every year and it’s just the biggest highlight to my fall bucket list. So when I found out that there was a contemporary-romance that takes place during a Renaissance Fair, my heart was over the moon. And I’m still in love with this book!

🌹 Emily – 24, leaves her past behind and travels across the country, to a small town in Maryland, to help her sister and niece while her sister recovers from an accident. Her niece, Caitlin, wants nothing more than to join her friends in the the Renaissance Festival, but she can only join if a parent or guardian volunteers as well. Soon, Emily goes from being the newcomer to Emma the tavern wench.

🌹 Simon – 27, a high school English teacher, protective of his town’s Renaissance Festival, that he helps run every year to help continue the legacy, while he transforms into the famous Ian Blackthorn, the sexiest pirate at the whole fair!

I loved these characters and I loved the way they fit so well with one another. From their very first encounter, the tense build between them was so good. However, as individual characters, they were just as amazing. Watching them go through everything and reading their character development just made me the happiest reader ever. It was so hard not to fall in love with them.

“Like the stars, your love should be a constant source of light, and like the earth, a firm foundation from which to grow.”

One thing that really struck me was that this takes place in a small town, in Maryland. This book hit so close to home for so many reasons. One, I’m originally from a small town. So I understand how word travels and how the sense of community can be great, but also feel like a heavy anchor at times. And secondly, I currently reside in Maryland. So that fact that there are references to the Renaissance Festival that literally happens in the state I live in, it made me feel a certain kind of soft and sappy.

And of course, I have to talk about the family dynamics and the amount of family love this book has! As I mentioned, this book had so many of my favorite elements and that includes all the family goodness. I loved that there was a strong unconditional love between Emily and her sister, April. I loved that in their times of need, they both rallied for one another, to take care of one another. It filled my heart with so much love. I also really loved that we saw the positive side of small towns with how every rallied to Emily, to take care of her while she was hurting. I really loved that and as I said, family elements are one of my favorite things a book can have.

“Let us love you, and remind you that you’re worth it until you figure out what you’re going to do next.”

Overall, I an’t believe I waited so long to read this, but I’m so happy that I finally read it. I laughed, I swooned, and I cried for this book, these characters. I think I love every inch of this book and it was the perfect book that lifted my heart in so many ways. From the romance, to the setting, to all the family dynamic love, my soul feels very complete after reading this book. I’m excited for book two and if you’ve been thinking about picking this book up, please do. I promise, there’s so much to love about this book!

Buddy read with Drew from Drew the Reader ❤️