At a very high level, this is a book about Naomi (the good twin), who finds herself stranded in a small town after her sister (the bad twin) steals her car, her money, and leaves her with an 11 year old niece she never knew about. Grumpy and emotionally shut off Knox, the tattooed local business owner who finds out and helps her, can’t stay away from his new neighbor despite his better instincts.

This is a romance of course, but it’s also a story of family (found and blood), a story of finding yourself when life doesn’t turn out as expected, a story of community and letting new people in.

The author has a way of creating these believable characters and realistic settings that it feels like you could really wander into Knockemout and get a coffee at Cafe Rev from Justice. Is Knox the perfect man? No. Of course not, because he’s wonderfully flawed as all humans are and I appreciate that.

I was sucked in from the very beginning and read it in less than 24 hours. This was a read while you’re cooking dinner, stay up too late reading, cancel your Sunday plans ‘cause you’ve got a book to binge kind of read for me. Rock Bottom Girl will always have a very special place in my heart, but objectively I think this is the best book Lucy Score has ever written.

It made me laugh, it made me cry, but most importantly it left me feeling happy and hopeful. I highly, highly recommend this one, I read it nine days into the year and it’s already on track to be my 2022 favorite.