This was like a solid 4 (or 4.5) stars for the majority of the book, but that last portion felt so repetitive and honestly the miscommunication was so irritating that it went down to more like a high 3.5/4 stars.

- Second chance romance usually feels way too forced to me, so the fact that I was rooting for these two and actually enjoyed this was so refreshing
- The setting was fun and I love the attempts at getting the characters out to see a few things since they were "on location" for the shoot
- I wanted donuts and gelato after reading this.
- Emerson and Theo are each really nice characters, we can see both POVs, which allows us to feel for each of them.
- THEO BEING A PHOTOGRAPHER!! Hello I think I need more photographer books because the way he was in love with shooting her and getting her perfect angles and frames was literally drool-inducing.
- The early-book miscommunication was actually great because you know WHERE it comes from and WHY its happening. The end-of-book miscommunication comes from nowhere and feels so backward from the openness (even though it was hesitant a bit) with each other their entire lives.

This had so many things that I was vibing with, so many elements that worked. It was a shame that the last 20% of the book felt so disjointed with the characters losing pretty much all of the growth they had experienced during the bulk of the story. But overall, I still really enjoyed this and am so glad I have the Afterlight special edition because it is literally stunning.