Picking Daisies on Sundays (Picking Daisies on Sundays #1)
If you're ready for small-town romance featuring second chances and healing hearts, this gentle love story will restore your faith!
Daniella's backstory hit me like a truck because that specific kind of rejection - confessing your feelings to your best friend and watching them pull away - is just devastating in such a unique way. It's not just about being turned down; it's about losing this fundamental understanding of who you are to someone you trusted completely. Four years of avoiding Levi makes total sense when you think about it that way. Of course, she ran. I probably would have moved to another country.
The setup at that West Village bar reunion is almost cruel in how perfect it is. Like, of course, Levi still looks amazing. Of course, all her carefully built walls start crumbling the second she sees him. The author understands how the universe seems to have this twisted sense of timing when it comes to matters of the heart.
But here's what made this book special for me - it doesn't shy away from how absolutely torturous fake dating would be in this situation. Every time Daniella has to hold his hand or laugh at his jokes or pretend to be his girlfriend, it's like picking at a wound that never fully healed. The author shows us that Daniella knows exactly what she's getting herself into, and she chooses the emotional masochism anyway because sometimes we can't help ourselves.
The wedding setting is brilliant because it creates this intense, inescapable environment where every look and touch feels loaded with meaning. Watching Daniella try to protect her heart while also dealing with family expectations and old feelings bubbling up had me genuinely anxious for her.
What I really appreciated about Levi is that he's not written as either completely clueless or intentionally cruel. He feels like a real person who's genuinely confused about his own feelings and is slowly working through his emotional blocks. That makes everything so much more complicated and realistic.
I loved how the rom-com references aren't just cute easter eggs - they're actually part of how Daniella processes her world. Those Friday night movie marathons become this lens for understanding her own story, and it feels so authentic to how many of us actually use fiction to make sense of our lives.
What absolutely gutted me was Daniella's internal struggle with feeling worthy of love. The way rejection can make you feel like wanting something beautiful makes you pathetic instead of hopeful? That hit way too close to home. The author captures how rejection doesn't just hurt - it can fundamentally change how you see yourself and what you think you deserve.
This book reminded me why I love romance novels so much. Yes, it's about getting the guy, but it's really about learning to believe you're worth loving in the first place. Definitely adding this to my list of books that made me cry happy tears.
Ratings: 4/5 Wedding Dances✨
