Yes & I Love You

Yes & I Love You is the first book in Roni Loren's Say Everything duo. I've enjoyed all of the books I've read by Loren and this one was no exception. It was refreshing to have main characters that had struggles they had to work through on a daily basis, not just a flash in the pan "issue" to deal with and then it's gone. I really appreciated the way the main characters were written. Hollyn Tate is the writer of the very popular Miz Poppy review blog. She has lived with Tourette's all of her life which has also led her to develop social anxiety. She's working through her fears by seeing a therapist and purposely having an office outside of her home in order to interact with others. While these are steps in the right direction, speaking to new people still freaks her the heck out. Jasper Deares is an aspiring actor who specializes in improv. He has ADHD and while he has aspirations of owning his own theater, he currently is a barista inside a bustling office building. He didn't have the easiest childhood therefore making connections isn't always easy for him, but when he meets Hollyn, he feels like there could be a connection there, but he's not sure she even likes him as a human! Hollyn's boss wants her to take her blog to the next level by beginning to utilize video. For someone like Hollyn, having to put herself on video is her worst nightmare coming true. With her Tourette's, the last thing she wants is videos full of her tics. Knowing she needs help and having formed a tentative friendship with Jasper, she reveals to him that she is Miz Poppy and asks him to give her some training in order to be able to follow through with the videos, otherwise, she's going to lose her job. He agrees in exchange for her writing a review of his improv group. Will Hollyn and Jasper be able to stop the feelings that are starting to grow between them as they spend more time together? Or will they decide to give their relationship a real shot? As I mentioned at the start, I really appreciated these characters and the way the story unfolded. It was nice to see characters with diversity and the story was handled beautifully. It did take me a bit to get into the story, but once I did, I was all in. I hope you take the time to pick this one up - it's worth it!

Hollyn Tate has a job as Miz Poppy, an on-line reviewer of the entertainment business in New Orleans. This job is perfect because she can be her sassy self without anyone actually seeing her and wondering what is wrong with her. Hollyn has Tourette's and cannot help all of her facial tics that randomly happen. After being made fun of most of her life when she was younger, Hollyn tends to stay away from other people. When Hollyn's therapist urges her to put herself out there, she ends up finding an office space in a creative community. Proud of herself for even leaving the house, Hollyn is actually putting herself out there and has met a few people, including the cute new barista, Jasper Deares. All is going well until her boss tells her that he wants her to start doing a vlog of her column instead. When Jasper, also part of an actual improv group offers to give her free, private lessons to help her out in the guise of being her fake boyfriend, things start to really heat up. The more time these two spend together, the less fake their relationship is becoming until they both finally realize that they have way deeper feelings than they ever thought they would. Just when it looks like everything is coming together perfectly and Hollyn is ready to make her big reveal, everything comes crashing down. It will take a huge leap of faith by Hollyn to really put herself out there, but in the end, her happy ending will be all worth it. I just adored this story. I loved both Hollyn and Jasper. Both of these characters had difficult childhoods but together they were learning to help each other overcome their greatest fears. This story made me laugh, cry and swoon....all the great feels of a perfectly told story. I also learned a lot about Tourette's that I never really knew before. Overall a wonderful book that I highly recommend.