Heidi Hart

Kristan Higgins is really hit or miss with me. She's reliably funny, but often her small town settings are just too twee, and I often find her characters to be drawn with all of the subtlety of a street carnival caricaturist, defined by a single, overblown trait with no nuance or variation. I found Waiting on You to be more hit than miss, a second chance romance (possibly my favorite trope) sweetened with just the right amount of angsty conflict, but it still set my teeth on edge in parts. 

The romance centers around Colleen O'Rourke and Lucas Campbell. (Note: I finished this three days ago and just had to go back and look up Lucas's name because I couldn't remember it -- not a great sign for the staying power of this book.) Colleen is the town's happy-go-lucky bartender and matchmaker, pretty and popular and always up for a good time (with all the connotations of that phrase fully intended). I could have done without the slut-shaming: minor characters make frequent references to Colleen's trampiness just because she played the field throughout her twenties, and while these comments usually (but not always) get shut down by a glare or set down from Lucas (and since when do we ladies need a man to defend our reputation?), I'd have much preferred if Higgins had just left these sections out.

Lucas was Colleen's high school sweetheart. He is a modern-day "poor relation," raised by his aunt and uncle after his mother died and his father went to jail for dealing drugs (which he only did to try and get out from under the mother's medical bills to provide for his kids.) Lucas is a good guy, but he majorly bungles up his life trying to do the right thing. He and Colleen were hot-and-heavy all through college, but then broke up when he wouldn't marry her (not because he didn't love her, but because he believes it's wrong to take a wife and start a family before you can support them). Two months after their split, he falls into bed with a college friend, and when she winds up pregnant, he marries her because it's the right thing to do, though of course he isn't over Colleen and Colleen is devastated when she hears the news.

Now Lucas is divorced and back in town to help his uncle, who is dying of cancer. He and Colleen find their old chemistry undiminished, but both are (understandably) gun shy: Lucas doesn't plan to stick around after his uncle passes, and Colleen has friends and family and a successful business in Manningsport, and she doesn't plan to leave. Their future prospects are dim, despite their chemistry.

I liked Lucas and Colleen and their romance, but as is often the case, Higgins' secondary characters and subplots kind of made me nuts. As usual, the supporting cast were cardboard cutout caricatures who each embody a single trait: Lucas's aunt Didi is Evil, his cousin Bryce is Dumb, the girl Colleen is trying to set Bryce up with is Naive, Colleen's twin brother is Mysterious, their mother Long-Suffering, their father Mr. Midlife Crisis, their stepmother is a Trophy, and their half-sister is the Plucky Plot Moppet. I like less-crowded stories where the author takes the time to focus on just a few supporting characters and make them into fully drawn, complex people with their own lives and stories, even if it means cutting WAY back on the number of characters and subplots, but that's just not Kristan Higgins' style.