And the Crowd Went Wild, Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Review by Aura Johnson)

Dancy had a massive public humiliation at the who’s-who Hollywood event when the past she thought she left behind came back to haunt her. Not to worry though, because the one place she hid from the debacle was one place Dancy did not expect to end up – her high school ex-boyfriend’s remote house in the middle of nowhere…the one whose heart she broke before they were even of legal age.

Clint Garrett is a famous football player with no-nonsense routine, no distractions, and a high need for privacy. Enter his high school ex who tore his heart out, left him there to hurt and did not even spare a glance. Yet, she is the one who ends up on his front step, though they have not spoken in nearly two decades. As Clint wonders why she is here, how she got the address, and plots to get her out of his life, something interesting happens: they start to need each other and support each other in their own spotlights.

I read this book in approximately 24h. Why? Because it was amazing. The character development had depth, there were side characters that were though annoying and some downright awful, still had some background to them. The book felt cozy and I simply had to know what happened next. It seemed as if the author has thought of everything, no detail was left out and I actually found myself wanting to visit this caboose where Dancy was exiled to by Clint.

Reading this, I rooted for their friendship, for their ability to communicate like adults and not experience misunderstandings or half-truths. Of course, not everything in this book was realistic, it’s a novel, not a biography, but I liked that it was close to real life, most scenes were so vividly described, it was really easy to picture what each character was up to. I recommend this as a nice comfort read.