Not Since You

I’ll admit, I rolled my eyes at the ‘honeymoon cruise alone’ premise—until Keira Grace’s opening lines made me forget I was listening to a setup I’d heard before. Her narration is *that* good: warm but never saccharine, with a timing that turns Riley’s already snappy dialogue into something cinematic. Take the scene where Lexi corners Charlotte in the ship’s library (yes, of course there’s a ship’s library). Grace’s delivery of Lexi’s ‘*You still bite your lip when you’re lying*’ isn’t just flirtatious—it’s a gut-punch of history between them, and you *feel* the decade of unsaid things in the pause that follows. The pacing is where *Not Since You* stumbles slightly. The middle act drags just enough to make you notice the cruise ship’s itinerary mirrors the plot’s—too many port stops that don’t advance the story. And while Riley excels at writing tension, a few of Charlotte’s internal monologues about her ‘five-year plan’ start to feel repetitive. But these are quibbles. What sticks with me is how *funny* this book is, in a way that doesn’t undercut the emotion. The scene where Lexi teaches Charlotte to dance in the ship’s disco—all clumsy steps and accidental groping—had me laughing out loud, only to be sucker-punched by the vulnerability that follows. This isn’t just a romance; it’s a story about the stories we tell ourselves to avoid the truth. And Grace’s performance ensures you’ll believe every word of it—even the ones the characters won’t say out loud.