Quick Synopsis

College sweethearts reunite to restore more than just an old inn in this new romance by Katie Shepard, author of Sweeten the Deal.

Publisher’s Synopsis

When’s the best time to tell your ex that you want them back?

Probably not in the middle of a Category 3 hurricane. But when Broadway actor Tom Wilczewski is about to dive into the floodwaters to rescue his co-lead, he calls the ex-wife he hasn’t seen in ten years to swear he still loves her and ask for a chance to make things right.

Two months later, Rose Kelly is tired of seeing pictures of her ex-husband Tom rescuing Hollywood darling Boyd Kellagher. Not that she’s jealous. Of course not. She’s far too busy taking care of her elderly aunt and worrying about the storm damage to the family B&B on Martha’s Vineyard to miss the love of her life. But after belatedly hearing Tom’s voicemail, Rosie asks him to follow through on his promises for once by helping her fix the inn. Thinking this is the perfect way to win her back, Tom agrees.

When they get there, things are…less than ideal. Rosie expected the inn to be in better shape. She expected it to have more beds. And she expected more help from her actual family—not from Tom and the rest of his Broadway cast. But Rosie begins to wonder if maybe the life she expected isn’t the one she really wants. If she and Tom can repair the inn together, can they possibly repair the damage to the relationship they both thought was long gone?

Book Review

No One Does It Like You is a contemporary second-chance romance about a couple who has been divorced for 10 years. After a hurricane damages her family’s bed and breakfast, Rose has no one to turn to for help making repairs and asks the last person she can think of – her ex-husband, Tom. Despite having not a single handy bone in his body, Tom offers to help in hopes of winning Rose back.

When I picked this book up, I was hoping for an adorable, heartfelt romance set amid a HGTV show. Sadly, I did not find any of the things I was hoping for. While it is clear the plot is contrived from the synopsis, it felt truly ridiculous once I started reading. The writing leaves you feeling like you are starting in the middle of a book. Plot points and details are written with little to no set-up, leaving readers confused. This is made worse by the fact the characters are about as confused as you are.

No One Does It Like You is an entire book that epitomizes the miscommunication trope to a laughable extent. The two protagonists might as well be on different planets, just making assumptions about the other, with the little that they actually communicate. Tom just assumes that Rose asking for his help means that she wants to reconcile, despite the fact she has said nothing to him about it or spoken to him for a decade. Meanwhile, Rose assumes that Tom is in a relationship with his male costar, because she saw a photo of them together online. So when Tom breaches the subject or reconciliation, Rose is thrown for a loop. Because they fail to communicate at the most basic level, their interactions and conversations are awkward and uncomfortable. While I kept hoping it would get better, I could not even root for the main characters due to their immaturity.

So that I do not absolutely tear this book to shreds, let me tell you what I liked. I thought the LGBTQIA+ representation was well done. I enjoyed the found family elements of the story, and I liked Boyd’s character best as a himbo with a heart of gold.

Overall, No One Does It Like You felt like an amateur self-published novel that forwent editing. I would not recommend it unless you are dying to read a romance novel that mentions fandoms and shipping.

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