Alex Turner is single and happy…ish. She’s a bad-ass divorce attorney who doesn’t need a relationship to define her. She’s a self-made woman, with an awesome support group. She knows what she wants and when that doesn’t please her anymore, she has no qualms about walking away.
And yet.
All it takes is seeing her ex-boyfriend’s fiancée picking out her dress on TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress to send her spiraling into a well of self-doubt. A quick Facebook stalking reveals that she was the last person all her ex-boyfriends dated right before they got married.
What did it mean? Is dating Alex really so bad that the next experience for all these men turns out to be so good in comparison that they’re willing to settle down?
Unable to let it go, Alex embarks on a revisiting of “ghosts of lovers past” to analyze and better understand why she can’t stay in a committed relationship and why all her exes are finding their “happily ever after” right after passing through her life.
Things climb to a new level of frustration when newly divorced Will Harkness, her celebrity grandmother’s ex-stepson, whom Alex has carried a flame for since they were kids (whether she’s willing to admit that or not), decides to join her — under the premise of looking out for her.
They get along like cats and dogs — after practically throwing herself at him when they were teenagers, Will rejected her, and Alex never forgave him. Still, Will has remained in her circle for years, even after her grandmother’s divorce from his father, Will refusing to relinquish the refuge he found in being part of her family — no matter how hard a time Alex gives him.
What Alex doesn’t know is that Will didn’t reject her because he wasn’t interested. He rejected her for fear of the relationship going belly up and subsequently losing the only real family he’s ever known.
But when this enemies-to-lovers duo toe this forced-proximity line, their mutual attraction only grows, and Alex’s attempts to keep Will at arm’s length are lost.
Thank You, Next is the full romcom package — great witticisms, entertaining characters (Lexi, Alex’s grandmother, definitely wins the award for Best Supporting Character as she steals the show whenever she’s in the scene — her lifestyle including on-call tarot card readers and aerial yoga in her living room), and of course lots of fabulous sexual tension and steamy love scenes.
However, the thing that really pulls the whole story together, adding a level of maturity that you don’t always find in romcoms, is the way Christopher allows her characters to dive deep into their own psyche to analyze all the ways in which they sabotage their own relationships.
As Alex revisits her past romances, she begins to understand the way her upbringing shaped her. Her parents divorced when she and her sister were young, and her father basically checked out — happy to dump his daughters off at his mother’s when it was his turn to have them. Her mother, too, was always too busy for them, her love for her career having more pull over her than her love for her daughters.
Alex’s fear of attachment runs deep. She’s never wanted to need anyone, and she’s made sure to make that work for her. Until Will becomes a real part of her life. Now, understanding how to be a working part of a healthy relationship matters more than ever.
The same goes for Will, as he studies the places where he went wrong in his marriage (not communicating enough, for example). Once Lexi reassures him that he will not lose her and Will decides to take the plunge, he, like Alex, realizes he’s got a lot of self-work to do if this is something he wants to work out for a long time.
Thank You, Next is not your average romance read. It doesn’t shy away from exploring heavier topics but manages to keep things light and entertaining. However, this is a novel for those who like to sink their teeth in a little deeper. Christopher has created lead characters who are three-dimensional and realistic and not just cartoon reflections of people in relationships as many romance books sometimes do — which is not a criticism of romance novels that lean on the lighter side. There’s a time, place, and audience for all types of romcoms. If a richer, more deeply perceptive romance experience is what you’re looking for, this could be the romance novel you’ve been hoping to stumble upon.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.