Short and sweet read, but ultimately felt a little rushed.

Roberta James, our protagonist, is a physical trainer who seems keen on putting up a tough front, when in reality she's pretty emotional when it comes down to it. We see a little bit of this in Bridal Boot Camp, mainly through her reaction to Somewhere over the Rainbow. For the most part though, we have to go off her friend's description of her as a "big softie who cries at weddings and is obsessed with rom-coms". I will say that I definitely prefer to gleam information on protagonists based on their actions within the narrative; showing vs. telling and all that jazz. The issue here is that with a short story, there's only so much room for showing. And the focus here is definitely moreso geared towards showcasing the budding relationship between Rob and Ryan, than the actual characters themselves.

I don't think that's necessarily the mark of bad writing, but is definitely something to bear in mind going into this one. If you're looking for anything more than a quick-fix romance, this might not be the best bet. However, if you are looking for a quick-fix, Cabot definitely delivers! The characters are fun, and there's definitely some cute moments as well as some raunchier ones as well! Personally, I think this would have been a better fit for me if it were novel length, with a bit more development in plot and characters, but I pretty much guessed that would be the case gong in. I think novellas are a hard thing to pull off, and this missed the mark for me.

I will say that the setting is pretty well fleshed out. I got a pretty decent impression on what Little Bridge Island is like, both in terms of geography and the society too. We know all the best places to grab coffee, learn the lay of the land in terms of who's who and I even found the section on street names to be pretty cute and memorable. And I guess that makes a lot of sense to focus on the setting, given that this serves mostly as a precursor to No Judgements. That definitely felt evident to me whilst reading Bridal Boot Camp, especially with the mentions of the upcoming hurricane that we already knows will settle over the island for the events of No Judgements.

Overall a fun quick read, but lacking a little depth for my taste. Cabot does a good job of setting the scene for the following instalment (the real focus of the series), and I'm definitely left hoping that it pays off. Fingers crossed No Judgements is more to my tastes!