No One Does It Like You is a second-chance contemporary romance about a couple who have been divorced for ten years. Tom and Rose met and married young. The stars and hearts in their eyes quickly faded and broke, and they have been plodding along through the last decade, neither really happy in their lives.

Rose has a large family whom she loves and is devoted to. (Maybe too devoted.) Especially a favorite aunt, Max, who owns an inn on Matha’s Vineyard. Worn and aged, a hurricane looks like it may be the straw that broke the inn’s back. While everyone else in the family votes to sell the property, Rose is determined to fix it up and fill it once more with her extended family. She’s fueled by happy memories of her childhood but frustrated by the lack of support from everyone around her.

Tom is an actor who, after long years of mediocrity, may finally be poised to kick-start a Broadway career. Caught driving during the same hurricane that wrecks Rose’s inn, Tom’s co-star Boyd attempts to drive through a flooded road with disastrous and life-threatening results. Tom steps in to save Boyd’s life after calling Rose and leaving her a message, confessing that he still loves her, has never stopped loving her, and would do anything to get back together.

With no support from her family, Rose turns to Tom. Did he really mean what he said about doing anything? Would he head to the Vineyard in the middle of January and help her fix things up? Tom readily agrees despite having no construction-related skills at all. He figures he’ll wing it all, and he will ultimately win his ex-wife back.

Once they arrive at Martha’s Vineyard, everything starts to crumble for me as a reader. Plot points and details seem to appear randomly with little or no set-up. In too many scenes, I felt like I was joining a story already in progress or trying to understand the punchline of an inside joke. For example, despite hearing Tom’s message that he would do anything to get back together with her and asking him if he meant what he said, Rose seems genuinely confused that Tom thinks they are getting back together. Their interactions are awkward and almost uncomfortable at times. I wondered if they two ever actually talked to one another! Seventy-five percent of the story felt like a comedy of errors without the humor.

I struggled to connect with or care for the characters, but I read to the end in the hopes that, somehow, everything would come together. My hope was in vain. And so, I can only give this book two stars–an “it was okay.” But you know what I always say: Not every book is for every reader. Though this one wasn’t for me, it could be one you will really enjoy!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for inviting me to read and review an advanced readers’ copy of No One Does It Like You in exchange for my honest thoughts.