"We're just friends" ....uhmmm
The third installment of the Maple Hills Series is a book I had been impatiently waiting to read.
This book focuses on crowd favorite Henry Turner, the new captain of the Titans hockey team. His love interest is Halle Jacobs, a professional people-pleaser with dreams of becoming an author. Having just broken up with her narcissistic-manipulative-asshole boyfriend, Halle decides it's a new year, new me, and strives to put herself first more often. Part of this plan is to write a book for a competition. Only problem is; she barely has any experiences. This is where Henry comes in. He is in desperate need of help to survive his junior year of college.
The two decide to help each other out and become friends. They still struggle with their respective duties, but they help each other through these times. And characters from the previous two novels (+ a few new ones) are also ready to help a friend in need. Halle finally gets a friend group that won't drop her the second her boyfriend breaks up with her. She finally gets some real friends and there are beautiful scenes where girls support girls.
Besides the beautiful character development of Halle, she is also in some sort of romantic situation with Henry. The two kiss and make love on a few occassions, but don't put a label on it just yet (though they wouldn't pursue anyone else).
I wouldn't say I was disappointed with this book, but it didn't live up to my expectations. The book was quite different from Icebreaker and Wildfire, because there were far fewer smexy scenes. A book is obviously not rated by how much spiciness it contains. But with the characters talking about sex as often as they do, you would expect them to shake the sheets just as much. And when it finally happened, the scenes were much shorter than they were in the previous novels. It all felt quite rushed and out of place to me. However, I did like that the book focused on friendship and didn't force the characters to date before they were ready.
What I loved about the book, was the focus on personal growth and how this is a process that you don't go through alone. Henry and Halle are surrounded by all these amazing and funny people, but they also take time for themselves when necessary. Henry's neurodivergency is discussed a lot in this book. He is not forced to get a diagnosis, though AD(H)D is, on one occasion, put forward as a possible explanation for his problems in life. As a neurodivergent person, I think Hannah Grace did a beautiful job of describing Henry's worries.
All in all, I would definitely recommend this book. But Icebreaker and Wildfire remain superior, in my opinion.
Rating: 4/5 body paintings
