Well Traveled by Jen Deluca
Publication Date: December 6, 2022
Summary from NetGalley:
The Renaissance Faire is on the move, and Lulu and Dex are along for the ride, in the next utterly charming rom-com from Jen DeLuca.
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?
ARC provided by Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley for an honest review.
Confession:
Like most romance series, you don’t necessarily need to read them in order, but in this case I think it would make a slight difference in your enjoyment of this book. If you have read this series you will enjoy this one just as much as the others.
I just adored Lulu! Her character development was great, going from a stressed out lawyer always at the beck and call of her partners, to someone who is following her bliss. She is such a different person by the end of the book. Although she does remain a realist through out, she becomes much more relaxed and grounded with the help of the friends she makes at the faire. I loved the development of her relationship with Dex as well. She knows, or at least thinks she does, that he is as he presents himself. But as she gets to know him, she finds that there is way more to him than she could have imagined.
I know I say this alot about romance novels that are only told through one point of view, but in this case I really really wished we could have seen what was going on in Dex’s head. He is a character that has shown up in every book, and he is always presented as a carefree, lothario with a girl at every faire. But as we get to know him through Lulu, you can tell that there is a lot more going on behind that pretty face. I didn’t like him very much after Well Played, but he certainly grew on me in this book, and I was happy when the two of them were able to work things out in the end.
There were some new characters in this book that I certainly hope we see more of in future books, if there are any of those. The three ladies who tell fortunes at the fair were wonderful. They were all different from each other, but they welcomed Lulu into their lives and I think influenced her the most throughout the book.
Because this doesn’t take place at the Willow Creek Faire we get to see how a larger Renaissance Faire works and some different acts. The descriptions of the different fairs that Lulu attends were so well done, that I often felt like I was there walking around with Lulu. The descriptions of the small camper that Lulu and Dex end up sharing was also well done, especially the shower scene.
This was a great addition to this series. If you like romance that is well done with a steamy and swoon worthy romance, than you really should pick up the first book, Well Met. Like I said you don’t have to start with the first one though. If this one sounds more like your cup of tea than I think you will enjoy it without having read the others.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 