I feel like there’s now a genre I’ll describe as “uniquely charming woman expends unreasonable amounts of energy to break through to emotionally withholding man, for no apparent reason.” In these stories, a man is shy and antisocial to strangers, even rude and hostile, because of some past trauma. He may not even have any close friends. Into the novel walks the “special” woman who is singularly positioned with both the ability and desire to put in extreme efforts to draw him out of his shell. These stories bug the heck out of me. Why should the woman do all the emotional labor of turning this guy’s life around for him? Why doesn’t she focus on finding a guy who has done the work of going to therapy, doing things that make him anxious in order to overcome his anxiety, recognizing that we’ve all got problems, etc.? She deserves an emotionally healthy partner, just as we all do. I have to assume the intended audience for these novels is similarly lazy and hapless men, who want to believe in the fantasy that amazing, beautiful, charming women will just happen along and rescue with them, without having to put any effort into the necessary steps to overcome their own issues. Anyway, this is one of those novels. For bonus points, the ending is just silly and dripping with unearned schmaltz. 2 stars was generous.