betting it all on love

Ali Rubin was just finishing her time in London when a drunken pub night changed everything for her. She met Graham, a friend’s roommate, and challenged him to a game of darts, winner gets to choose an ugly tattoo that the loser has to get. And when they tie, they both get the ugly tattoo.

Years later, Ali finds herself living back at home and starting over with yet another new career. After London, she moved to New York and became a chef. But it didn’t make her happy. So she moved back to Baltimore, moved back in to her childhood room and takes a job as an intern for an event planning company. She wants to plan weddings and family celebrations, and if her internship goes well, Ali hopes to find herself working there full-time.

Ali gets assigned to work on a wedding, and she’s very excited. The wedding will be held at Black-Eyed Susan, a longtime institution of a hotel, and Ali thinks it could be the perfect venue. She meets the bride, a comedy writer named Claire, and finds out that the groom’s family has owned the hotel for generations. But it’s not for another week or so that Ali gets to meet him, and to see that he’s the guy from that darts bet all those years ago in that London pub.

Ali feels all those old feelings rush back, but she is stuck. She has been hired to plan this man’s wedding to another woman. And if she does well, she gets the job she’s been working so hard for and gets to move out of her parents’ house. But Graham, who just might be the love of her life, will be married to someone else. No matter how she looks at it, it’s not good. But she can’t stop thinking about the guy. And he clearly hasn’t forgotten about her through all those years. Is their relationship inevitable? A huge mistake? Or just not going to happen at all?

Never Planned on You is a charming rom com that reminded me of those good movies from the ‘90s. Ali has a big Jewish family, and their celebrations could come directly from the pen of an Ephron. The story for this one sounds simple, but there are layers to these characters that take the tropes of rom comedy and turn them on their heads. It’s warm and witty, with all the right feels, and satisfies like a binge marathon of The Price Is Right.

I really enjoyed Never Planned on You. The characters are smart but flawed, and I could feel their chemistry through these pages. I thought it was lots of fun, just the distraction I needed from the bitterly cold temperatures I had to deal with this week.

Egalleys for Never Planned on You were provided by St. Martin’s Griffin through NetGalley, with many thanks.