The Co-op – 4.5/5 ✩
The Co-op by Tarah DeWitt follows LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds, two former flames who are thrown back together after being named the two owners of a family home.
LaRynn and Deacon have a complicated history. After meeting through their grandmothers, they agreed that their relationship would stay purely physical, but relationships like that don’t often stay solely physical, especially with people like LaRynn and Deacon. When one confesses their feelings for the other, both end up with broken hearts and what ensues is years of silence until they both end up back in the same, nostalgic beach town trying to figure out what they want to do with the home their grandmothers once owned.
I’ve never read any of Tarah DeWitt’s books before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I absolutely LOVED this book! Her sense of humor is infectious and she has such strength in character building.
Romance is my favorite genre to read, hands down. But sometimes, I find that while the romance in a novel can be amazing, the characters can lack a certain degree of depth. And while I have no problem with this, it also was NOT the case in The Co-op.
LaRynn and Deacon were multi-dimensional characters each with their own backstories that added so much to what could’ve been just a fun romance novel. I loved each of these characters so much and I really enjoyed the fact that you typically get a grumpy/sunshine romance where the male character is grumpy and the female is sunshine and in this case, it was flipped. I loved the character development in this novel – there was one point where one of the characters said, ‘I don’t care if it sounds pathetic anymore’ and this one line is just one example of how much these characters grow with and for each other. LaRynn and Deacon feel like completely mature, developed versions of themselves by the time you reach the end of the book.
The Co-op is also a unique novel because of the incorporation of music and the concept of having a soundtrack to one’s life.
My only piece of criticism is that I wish there was more female friendship (or friendship in general) portrayed in this book. I loved the relationship LaRynn and Deacon shared, but I do wish that we could have seen some more moments of friendship between LaRynn, Elyse, and June and also friendship between Deacon and Jensen.
Overall though, I loved this novel! Thank you NetGalley for the digital galley in exchange for an honest review!
Anchored Musings 