It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

I have a new favorite Kylie Scott book!!! Never in my wildest dreams did I think a book could outdo Lead! Well, I was wrong!! It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time is a 10-star one click, that will guarantee to sweep you off your, romantic toes!!! So, full of heart, soul, then throw in the outrageously funny it and it takes the cake!!

4.5 stars-It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time is a standalone novel featuring an age-gap romance between the business partner and the boss’s daughter. I’ve been a fan of this author for years now and her books never fail to put me in a good mood. The streak continues with this title, in fact this book will rank among my favorites from her. There are plenty of comedic moments, banter between characters, and a fun, fresh vibe which worked perfectly with Miss Scott’s easy-going, effortless writing style that makes characters feel like old friends. The pacing was brisk and upbeat, and I found it incredibly hard to ever set this book down. I’m partial to this author in general, but her snarky, take-no-prisoners heroines paired with the broody, closed-off hero are my absolute favorites. Adele and Peter fit those roles perfectly; I smiled at Adele’s sass, felt for her heartbreak, and rooted for these two to find their happily-ever-after. This was a couple and romance that simply made me happy. The timeline of this book jumps from the past (7-9 years ago) to the present, but it didn’t feel jarring in the least, with the transitions smooth, clearly marked, and pertinent to the storyline. I loved seeing the relationship between Peter and Adele blossom and enjoyed all the little snippets from the past and present that demonstrated how well-matched these two were. Though I didn’t think their chemistry was quite as palpable as some of this author’s couples, there is no denying these two generate plenty of heat. If you’re a fan of this author or just looking for a fun read guaranteed to pull you in and have you smiling, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time isn’t one to be missed. *eARC received via author's ARC team/ PA. The author had no influence over this review*

I absolutely love Kylie Scott's books. Pete and Adele's story was interesting with the age differences and the fact that Pete is her dads business partner. A story with humor, some drama and a whole lot of love! I enjoyed this book immensely, like I enjoy all Kylie Scott's books.

I received a review copy of the book before release for an honest review. This was a pretty awesome story told in the first person. It is about Adele who falls in love with her neighbor and dads partner Pete as a teen. It is told in the present and past so we watch how the two become so close and then how things fall apart. Adele has been away for 10 years since the disastrous night. Now she is back home as her dad is remarrying and she is there for the wedding. Her dad has her move in with her crush, Pete. Which is really what was crazy about this story. Everyone knows she had this huge thing for Pete 10 years ago. So its not shocker how things go as she hangs around for the wedding and after. I really enjoyed it though I really wanted to hear Pete's thoughts. It is told through Adele's feelings and actions and I really wanted Pete's side of things. That said I really enjoyed it.

Great read! Love her books!

I loved. I hated. I laughed. I cried. Worth it.

This book was really good. I didn’t know if I would like it. I really like Kylie Scott’s books. The story between Adele and Pete was heartfelt about what she went though when she was 18. It was just as bad what Pete had gone through. I was so rooting for them after they connected after 7 yrs. I recommend this book if you like 2nd chances with a strong female roll.

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time by Kylie Scott is a fun yet complex romance. When Adele comes home for her dad's wedding after being gone for seven years some things have changed and some things have not. Seven years ago she was only eighteen and her crush on Pete, who is both 15 years older than her and works with her father, caused a bit of trouble. To say the least. Now she is older and hopefully wiser. Once Adele is back home it becomes evident that what once was a teenage crush can be so much more. Her connection to Pete is more than something superficial, it always was and now a friendship which became young love can have a chance to actually be explored. I enjoyed the storytelling and character creation the Ms. Scott develops. This was a fun story but also one that was well built. Any time when reading a novel about something that is at times considered a bit forbidden it needs to be well done and this one really is. Overall I very much enjoyed It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time by Kylie Scott. Adele's character, who the story's POV was written in, was one that was relatable and what she and Pete had was natural, real and passionate. (I voluntarily reviewed an advance review copy of this book I received for free in exchange for my open and honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.)

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time by Kylie Scott is a fun yet complex romance. When Adele comes home for her dad's wedding after being gone for seven years some things have changed and some things have not. Seven years ago she was only eighteen and her crush on Pete, who is both 15 years older than her and works with her father, caused a bit of trouble. To say the least. Now she is older and hopefully wiser. Once Adele is back home it becomes evident that what once was a teenage crush can be so much more. Her connection to Pete is more than something superficial, it always was and now a friendship which became young love can have a chance to actually be explored. I enjoyed the storytelling and character creation the Ms. Scott develops. This was a fun story but also one that was well built. Any time when reading a novel about something that is at times considered a bit forbidden it needs to be well done and this one really is. Overall I very much enjoyed It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time by Kylie Scott. Adele's character, who the story's POV was written in, was one that was relatable and what she and Pete had was natural, real and passionate. (I voluntarily reviewed an advance review copy of this book I received for free in exchange for my open and honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.)

I have always appreciated how Kylie write her heroines. There's an honesty and sincerity about how they can work through their issues and be happy with who there are with or without a significant other. I highly recommend this book!

I enjoyed this one quite a bit! I’m giving it 4 out of 5 stars. This review is for an ARC, and reflects my honest opinion. I absolutely loved Kylie’s Stage Dive series, so I was a little nervous to try something else by her. I definitely shouldn’t have been! These characters were great, and highly entertaining. Just a warning, there’s a significant age gap between the main characters…like 15 years. I really liked Adele’s character; she’s a little quirky, has a smart mouth, but is super nice/kind. I think we’d be good friends in real life. Pete was also pretty good, although he did drive me a little nuts occasionally. He sounded gorgeous though, even if I felt like he was a little too old for me. Full disclosure: yes, I’m older than Adele. You might be expecting dual POV, but it wasn’t. It was all told from Adele’s side, and also featured some past sections to give us the necessary background information. The epilogue was a nice wrap-up, and I’m glad they got their happy ending. I was rooting for these two despite all the obstacles that popped up over the years. They’re good for one another. The focus of this book was definitely on these two, but there were some secondary characters who we get to know a fair amount. Shanti was probably my favorite. There was a “twist” that happened in the plot, but honestly I was expecting it.

Ironically, I ended up reading It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time right after I finished Respect by Jay Crownover. Both books featured May- December romances although the age difference in It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time was larger. Both books also had the characters reuniting after a time apart and that time apart was led up to by an attempted romantic overture by the heroine which needed badly.  Pete and Adele were apart for seven years before being reunited at the beginning of this book. She was his boss's daughter who would spend the summers hanging around with Pete. However, after the aforementioned overture, their friendship ended and it wasn't until Adele's father's wedding that they meet again. Adele ends up staying with Pete during the wedding and their proximity leads to a physical relationship forming between them. Usually, I'm not the biggest fan of reuniting stories with flashbacks but It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time does an excellent job of not having the past overwhelm the present too much. Adele is on a trajectory of change in her life and her reunion with Pete comes at a good time. Despite that, they do have struggles to overcome. In addition to simply enjoying both Pete and Adele, I liked that this book took place in Australia. I will admit to look up some of the wildlife causally mentioned in this book and even threatened to show my sister a picture of the huntsman spider I looked up. Overall, I was a fan of this Kylie Scott standalone and highly recommend it. 

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time is not a typical Kylie Scott story, and I love that she took a risk to write a love story where there’s a forbidden aspect to the hero and heroine’s relationship as well as a significant age gap between them. It’s never easy to discuss topics or to create a storyline that readers could possibly take issue with due to their own personal beliefs and feelings. But, in my opinion, the 15 year age difference between Adele and Pete shouldn’t really be a point of contention for readers because Adele is of age when she acts on her feelings and ultimately gets shunned for them when she’s 18 and then when Adele and Pete finally take a chance on each other 7 years later, she’s a grown woman who should be able to choose how she lives her life and who she wants to be by her side. Don’t get me wrong…I understand that it would be frowned upon for Adele and Pete to be together when she just graduated from high school and the fact that Pete was her father’s partner also adds to the awkwardness of the situation, but it’s clear since Adele started coming to her father’s house at the age of 16 during her summer vacations that she shared a special bond with Pete…that she became a confidante to him and that their friendship meant EVERYTHING to Adele. Scott provides readers with flashbacks of Adele and Pete’s time together before one misinterpreted situation destroyed several friendships, so readers are shown the whys and hows of Adele’s forced departure and the reasons she stayed away for 7 years, and Scott also makes it clear that the only thing really stopping anything from finally happening between Adele and Pete is his fears and, at times, his obnoxious and immature behavior. Pete’s words and actions are why I struggled to understand Adele’s infatuation with him and her determination to make things work between them. For much of the story, I didn’t like Pete and I actually didn’t want Adele to fight for him because I didn’t think he deserved her, and it was difficult for me to be happy for them when he finally does get his head out of his ass because of his previous reactions and missteps. The biggest reason I think I struggled with Pete was because the story is only told through Adele’s perspective and what she shares with readers about her heartbreak and emotional state is difficult to see passed. If we were privy to Pete’s internal thoughts, it would have been easier to understand his frame of mind and give him the benefit of the doubt in some situations due to the circumstances that he had to deal with, but because we only get her side of things, I felt too much sympathy for what Adele had to go through and it made me angry with Pete and his inability to get it together. Regardless of my issues with Pete, though, Kylie Scott crafted an emotional, angsty, and steamy read, and it was quite easy to mesh the flashbacks with the present day scenes because Scott provided smooth transitions between them and I really enjoyed the secondary characters, especially Adele’s stepmother, because they added humor and banter to Adele and Pete’s story, making the heavy issues not be so overwhelming. 4 Poison Apples

3.75 stars --IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME by Kylie Scott is a contemporary, adult, second chance, erotic, romance story line focusing on twenty-five year old Adele Reid , and forty-year old Pete Gallagher. Told from first person point of view (Adele Reid) IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME follows the rebuilding relationship between twenty-five year old Adele Reid , and forty-year old Pete Gallagher. Nine years earlier, a then sixteen-year old Adele Reid, was pawned off onto her father’s new hire, thirty-one year old Peter Gallagher. For six weeks, every summer, Adele would visit her father, only to find herself ‘babysat’ by her father’s employee, an employee for whom Adele had developed feelings, feelings she revealed after her eighteenth birthday. Adele’s father Andrew, having discovered by accident, his daughter’s feelings towards his most trusted employee, inadvertently forces his daughter out of his life, and that of the man with whom she had fallen in love. Fast forward to present day, wherein Adele’s father Andrew is about to remarry, leaving Adele, once again, in the hands of Peter Gallagher, the man who destroyed her heart, and continues to send mixed messages with every taunt, rejection, and condescending remark. What ensues is the acrimonious but rebuilding friendship and growing love between Peter and Adele, and the fall-out as Peter continues to push away the woman with whom he was falling in love. Peter Gallagher struggles to accept change in his well-ordered life, and the return of Adele Reid, dredges up too many painful memories of a time long ago. Adele has never stopped loving the man who broke her heart, a man who will continue to send mix messages of love and hate for a woman he had hoped moved on from the past. The relationship between Adele and Pete is one of second-chances, of a sort, for two people whose friendship was destroyed by misunderstanding, betrayal, heart break and humiliation. At one time, Pete was able to tell Adele everything about his life but time, maturity and a sense of loss, has hardened Peter Gallagher’s heart to love and a happily ever after. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and seductive but our hero’s inability to let go; his back and forth, bi-polar emotional up and downs with Adele Reid was disheartening and disappointing. Our heroine is left floundering as to the how, what and why of Peter’s battle between wanting Adele Reid or letting her go, an unattractive quality for any story line hero. We are introduced to Adele’s father Andrew, and his new wife Shanti; Peter’s current / ex-girlfriend Leona; furniture designer Jeremy Karas; as well as Adele’s roommates Maddie and Hazel. IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME is an emotional read; a heart breaking story about two people caught up in memories from the past, a past mired in pain, bitterness, rejection and regret. Although some of the scenes were intended to add humor and fun, the desired affect was lost due in part to the ongoing rejection and heart breaking turmoil. The premise is engaging; the characters are colorful and dynamic; the romance is conflicted, infuriating and suffers from the hero’s constant rebuffs and dismissals.

When Peter first met Adele, he’d only just started working for her father who owned a construction firm. She was there for the school holidays and only sixteen; Pete was fifteen years her senior. This friendship between a teenager and a man in his thirties made me uncomfortable and left a bad taste in my mouth. During that first summer, Pete took Adele under his wing and she soon developed a crush on him and it continued until she turned eighteen and it all came to a head but didn’t end well. Adele was left brokenhearted. Fast forward seven years and Adele has returned home for her father’s second wedding. She’s not been back since she left for college. Peter was moody, grumpy and defensive right from the first page, but we soon get to find out why. Adele is still harbouring feelings for him, though and when he spurns her one time too many she decides to go back home. This causes Pete to finally crack and things get heated. Pete’s behavior afterward is deplorable and I was seriously doubting whether I could keep going with this book. There is no real connection between Adele and Pete, their chemistry was completely absent to my mind it just felt so contrived and forced. Reading this book, seemed like a good idea at the time, sorry for the pun and use of the title, but I’m sorry to say, I was wrong. Readers of Kylie Scott might disagree with me, but sadly, this wasn’t the book to make me a fan of her writing, but as others have rated it highly, I’m sure this is my fault rather than the author’s. Not everyone is going to love every book, as we all know but for me, it just didn’t hit the spot.

It’s always a good idea for this reviewer to pick up and devour a new romantic release from Kylie Scott, folks. She never fails to keep me fully engaged with her own unique brand of humor intermixed with love meets heart wrenching, relationship angst. That’s why she’s at the very top of my absolute favorite author list. This book was no exception. I absolutely loved Adele, the sassy, doesn’t hold back, loves him with everything she’s got and then some more type heroine. Even as a teen, this gal had given Pete, the hero, her heart and soul, but he just didn’t know it yet. When she summoned the courage, in an impulsive, not so well thought out way, to say things went to hell in a handbasket would be putting it mildly. Unfortunately for her, that chain of events became legendary and bound her to a part of her past that was difficult to live down. Pete, dear too handsome for his own good, much older, knucklehead Pete, was a different sort of fellow. He kept his emotions in check and certainly didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve. Clueless to her naive teenage infatuation, he had no idea that the time he innocently spent with her was weaving a web of undying love. With baggage of his own, his heart was on lockdown despite the parade of attractive girlfriends Adele witnessed entering and exiting out of his life, which were briefly revealed in flashback scenes. What he did embrace was the sense of family he felt being a part of Adele’s father’s family business. Flashforward seven years and we find Adele has been able to move on and date other men but Mr. Right still hasn’t appeared. She is able to summon the courage to swoop back into her old hometown and sweep her past feelings for Pete under the rug long enough to attend her father’s wedding to Shanti, a sub-character I absolutely adored! She had a brand of sass all her own and, boy, did she ever own it! I loved how she controlled hot headed situations and nudged people into doing what needed to be done. Pete attempted to prove he could be the man he needed to be by putting the past behind him, as well. However, the term “repeat Pete” comes to mind, my fellow romance book loving friends. You see, he had a habit of not fighting for love and wreaking havoc and heartbreak on Adele’s heart. One knucklehead moment in particular had me wanting to wring his neck, pull his heart out, stomp on it, and hand it right back to him, which was the same way Adele felt. But not to worry, folks. It didn’t involve another love interest. It was simply sheer stupidity and cluelessness on his part. When an unexpected twist takes their relationship down a whole new road, I’m happy to say Pete pulls his blinders off and realizes Adele has been the only person his entire life who has been able to see and love the real him unconditionally. So, yeah, this “I regret nothing” even as she falls to her doom leading lady gets her HEA. For me, that’s what truly made this storyline work for me. Title: It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, Author: Kylie Scott, Pages: 316, stand-alone, very graphic steamy scenes, knucklehead hero who takes awhile to fight for love, sassy, doesn’t hold back heroine, relationship angst, not celibate during 7 year separation, too young for him at first, much older hero, may not be romance safe for some, dated other people in the past. (I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.)

Kylie Scott takes second chance and enemies to lovers and combines them into the BEST THING EVER with It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time! I swear I could not put this down once I picked it up. If it wasn’t the angst bringing on a back and forth that had sexual tension so thick you could cut it with a knife it was the explosive chemistry that they put off heat the requires a fan. Add in some serious feels to that too making for an unputdownable read. Pete and Adele have some serious chemistry. I was not exaggerating when I said it was explosive. With a complicated past and an age difference between them there were a more than few hurdles in their way that they battle through. And boy do they battle. Both stubborn, both still helplessly drawn to each other, and both trying to keep themselves in denial. The tension between them is something I’m normally not a fan of, but with Kylie Scott’s incredible writing bringing these characters to life I found myself craving it. These two had me glued to the pages dying to know what was going to happen next as I fell in love with them.

I just can't with this, it is so creepy. If you're in the States, "Roy Moore" creepy. In one part she is 16 or so and he's drunk and rubbing her leg. Nope! Not cool. I find it sad that it is written as "okay" for young girls to be written as passive teenage victims who, 'want it." No more Scott for me. I can't believe the same person who created by Mal Erickson wrote this drivel.