REVIEW: It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time by Kylie Scott

In It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time by Kylie Scott, Adele isn’t normally the type to run away from an awkward situation or to leave things unresolved. But when it comes to her former relationship with Pete, her father’s business partner, things have always been complicated. Although he’s fifteen years her senior, Pete and Adele forged an unlikely friendship when she was in her mid-teens. It was strictly platonic on his part. On her part…not so much. She crushed on Pete for years until she finally made her feelings for him known at her eighteenth birthday party. Blame it on liquor–or lust–but Adele ended up making a fool out of herself and causing a rift between not only them, but also between her father and Pete.

“You missed me, just like I missed you… The connection between us is still there, though,” I said with a smile. “Oh no. This breaks all your no-emotional connection rules. Alarm bells must be going off inside your head. What are you going to do, Pete?”

Seven years later, driving her way across Australia to her father’s home for his upcoming wedding, Adele is determined to sort through the mess between her and Pete. But of course the hunky guy can’t make anything easy. Once he finally warms up to her, boy do things get steamy in a hurry. Spontaneous combustion has nothing on them. Pete’s mercurial moods on the other hand are driving Adele nuts. She knows he’s got emotional baggage from a tough childhood that led to his adult relationships being of the casual, unemotional sort. And that’s not going to work for her. She finally knows what she wants and if Pete isn’t willing to go all in then Adele will walk. But she truly hopes it won’t come to that.

‘Before I knew it, he had me cornered, backed against the front door. Not that I was trying to escape. Hell no. I was actively trying to climb him like a tree, wanting to wrap my legs around him and never let go.’

Hilarious, a bit heartbreaking, full of sass and, at its essence, uplifting. Kylie Scott’s It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time was a powerhouse unputdownable novel that brought out ALL the feels in this reader.

‘I’d been here a time or two before. Not exactly like this, though close enough. My heart on my sleeve, and everything I wanted just within reach. Maybe this time he’d reach back for me.’

I’m still a novice when it comes to Kylie Scott’s work but I think even if I had read her whole backlog of books, this would still be my favorite. Mainly because Adele. Freaking. Rocked. I am so not kidding. From her comical inner monologues to her determination in regard to what she was willing to accept in a relationship with Pete, Adele was a superb heroine. Now I have a feeling it might be tough for some readers to get past the fact that she and Pete were about fifteen years apart in age. And honestly there were a few moments where I wondered if he had felt something for her even when she was a teenager and he…was not. But I was pretty okay with the age issue overall. It seemed more like Pete didn’t look at Adele “that way” until they reunited when she was closing in on her mid-twenties.

Pete, though. Boy. He pushed it a few times in my mind with how he could be so hot and then cold with Adele. There was a reason for it. But it rather proved that being the older one in the couple didn’t mean he always had it together emotionally. I really did dig Pete and Adele’s friendship. Kylie Scott alternated back and forth from present day to back when they first met, moving forward with passages that showed their friendship growing and changing at key points. There was such a raw honesty to what Adele and Pete shared with each other over the years. I suppose where they had confided so much, that also gave them the ammunition to hurt each other if they weren’t careful–which did happen here and there. But overall I did feel like Pete and Adele were too closely tied to one another to *not* find a way to work things out.

Kylie Scott took a forbidden romance trope, turned it on its ear, and made me fall in love with this couple right from the beginning. For all of their awkwardness, Adele and Pete’s romance was a thing of beauty once it was all said and done. So I sincerely hope we might get a follow up novella at some point in the future to check back in on these awesome lovebirds…

Book Info:

Publication:  August 7th 2018 | Kylie Scott |

“Addictive like all Kylie Scott books, you’ll swoon, laugh, ache, put your life on hold, and compulsively read until the wee hours of the night—only to reread the whole thing the next morning. Perfection!” – Katy Evans, New York Times bestselling author

Returning home for her father’s wedding was never going to be easy for Adele. If being sent away at eighteen hadn’t been bad enough, the mess she left behind when she made a pass at her dad’s business partner sure was.

Fifteen years older than her, Pete had been her crush for as long as she could remember. But she’d misread the situation—confusing friendliness for undying love. Awkward. Add her father to the misunderstanding, and Pete was left with a broken nose and a business on the edge of ruin. The man had to be just as glad as everyone else when she left town.

Seven years later, things are different. Adele is no longer a kid, but a fully grown adult more than capable of getting through the wedding and being polite. But all it takes is seeing him again to bring back those old feelings.

Sometimes first loves are the truest.