Well Traveled by Jen DeLuca

e-Audio, 09:29:47
Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
Release Date: December 6, 2022
Published by: Books on Tape
Read from: December 2-5, 2022
Well Met, #4
Source: PRH Audio (I received a copy of this book from the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Misogyny, Sexism
For Readers Interested In: Romance, Realistic Fiction, Adult

     A high-powered attorney from a success-oriented family, Louisa “Lulu” Malone lives to work, and everything seems to be going right, until the day she realizes it’s all wrong. Lulu’s cousin Mitch introduced her to the world of Renaissance Faires, and when she spies one at a time just when she needs an escape, she leaps into the welcoming environment of turkey legs, taverns, and tarot readers. The only drawback? Dex MacLean: a guitarist with a killer smile, the Casanova of the Faire… and her traveling companion for the summer.
     Dex has never had to work for much in his life, and why should he? Touring with his brothers as The Dueling Kilts is going great, and he always finds a woman at every Faire. But when Lulu proves indifferent to his many plaid charms and a shake-up threatens the fate of the band, Dex must confront something he never has before: his future.
     Forced to spend days and nights together on the road, Lulu’s interest in the kilted bad boy grows as he shows her a side of himself no one else has seen. The stresses of her old lifestyle fade away as she learns to trust her intuition and follow her heart instead of her head. But when her time on the road is over, will Lulu go with her gut, or are she and Dex destined for separate paths?

*MY THOUGHTS*

This series has been a part of my blogging life since the beginning. I always feel like I’m living vicariously through them because I’ve never been to a ren faire and this seems like the most authentic way to experience it; by not only being a visitor, but also someone who works there. This one was no difference.

I think I loved this one so much because I loved Lulu. She reminded me of me. I am the perfectionist who is always trying to make sure things are great and that I have people watching me to be sure that I am doings things to help me advance. I also thought Dex was cute. He definitely wasn’t what most people thought of him. And I loved that. I do wish that was explored more. He seemed to be upset that people were making him into something he wasn’t and he seemed to be ok with just being behind the scenes. But it wasn’t really told WHY he was like that. I wish it had went into his POV so we could find more info about him and his past. Because all we really knew was he used to be one way and something about Lulu made him change. And that’s all well and good, but WHY.

The romance itself was cute, but I guess I just didn’t understand the why. I knew she had a crush on him and she saw some of the things others didn’t, but it just felt like it fell out of nowhere. I don’t know why she wouldn’t say more about what made her different. Like I get that she sees the real him, but is that all? For them to be using the L-word so freely by the end? For him to say ok I’ve been a good time for a while, but now I’m finished. But DeLuca really knows how to write a romance because even with this happening, I didn’t really mind it. (Or maybe I just realized I wasn’t getting it at the end? lol) Either way, I still enjoyed this.

I read this on the audio, so it did have some weird time jumps. I think had I been reading a physical version it would have flowed better. But to read it in audio, I think it would have been better had there been some like actual time breaks instead of just mentioning like “3 weeks later” or “It’d been so many months since I’d seen him” if that makes sense. It just gets confusing after awhile. I don’t think it would have made much difference if it hadn’t been such a big thing to the plot, like “they spent xyz amount of time” at a faire or something.

This wasn’t my favorite plot wise tho. To be honest, it was a bit dragging in some places. It just seemed to be the same thing happening over and over. They were like playing at faires and making band decisions and traveling and that was it. The only thing that stood out was the tarot cards. And that was because I’d read 3 different books that mentioned tarot cards. It made me think I was in need of a reading or something. So I signed up for one online and have been doing some research on it too. It’s been eye-opening lol

This book was much like the others, but it served as like a comfort kind of read. I enjoyed being in the world again and seeing the characters from older books. Like Mitch and Simon! They were my favorite from the series, so I was glad we got to see them again. I’ve heard this was the end, but we’ll see. I hope there’s more to this series. I will definitely miss this ren faire!

Overall, I give this

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