Double-Decker Dreams

February 20, 2023
MacMillan (The Heart of the Deal) delivers an insightful romance about what happens when expectations clash with reality. During a six-month stint in London, high-flying American consultant Kat spots the man of her dreams passing by on a bus and lets her overactive imagination run wild. She assumes he’s an upper-crust Brit and plots out an entire fanciful future for them together. Then she actually meets “bus beau,” aka Michigan school teacher Rory Cooper. At first, Kat places Rory firmly in the friend zone, still daydreaming of a fairy tale love. For his part, Rory is nursing a broken heart and isn’t looking for a relationship. As the pair grow closer, however, Kat slowly realizes that a solid, real-life connection is worth more than swoony fantasy. But when a friend of Kat’s innocently mentions Kat’s early romantic ideas of who Rory would be, a taken-aback Rory runs scared. Can they make their way back to love? MacMillan keeps readers guessing until the book’s heartwarming finale while ably demonstrating both the impossibly high standards set by rom-coms and the messiness of genuine love. A stellar supporting cast, especially Kat’s outrageous neighbor, Jules, provide solid underpinning. This appealing tale should win the author some new fans.

June 10, 2024

When Kat spotted "Alexander" atop a double-decker bus, she knew he would be her knight in shining public transportation. Though she had been career-focused since taking an overseas assignment to escape her ex, she wastes no time planning their picture-perfect future: she, a soon-to-be partner and eventual CEO of her consulting firm, and he, an English aristocrat brimming with elegance and endless devotion to her. When the truth turns out to be further from her fantasy (and closer to home) than she ever imagined, Kat must reevaluate whether her rom-com-induced expectations are realistic. MacMillan (The Heart of the Deal) offers an ambitious contemporary romance that seeks to be empowering but ends up more saccharine and sanctimonious. Though the characters are well-developed, the narrative is drawn out and difficult to engage with. Narrator Madeleine Maby presents a convincing Kat, who, unfortunately, is more petulant than playful. Maby's attempts at various accents are exaggerated and inconsistent. VERDICT Though not likely to inspire an insatiable fandom, this audio will appeal to listeners seeking a chaste friends-to-lovers contemporary romance. Recommended for fans of Abby Jimenez and Emily Henry.--Lauren Hackert

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