From Here to You doesn’t burn in the way it’s supposed to

Although From Here to You has a sweet premise, the story’s execution might leave romance fans wanting more, unfortunately.

It’s pretty easy to describe Jamie McGuire’s From Here to You in terms of genre, as it has elements of second-chance romance, love at first sight, and also a sort of emotional recovery for its heroine, Darby Dixon, who leaves an abusive relationship at the start of the book only to fall for a man of similar background, all while being pregnant.

But a good idea can’t just coast forever, and romance is no exception to that. Unfortunately, this is where From Here to You falters. This isn’t to say that there aren’t things to like about the book.

For example, Darby actually sets boundaries and wants things to go slowly. She tries to take it slow with Scott Trexler, her new love interest, although that doesn’t last long. Finding herself for the first time is a great goal. Additionally, the book doesn’t let her blindly go along with whatever Scott tells her; she notices things, although narration does repeat that several times, just to make sure that it all lands.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to take Scott seriously. He goes by “Trex” completely unironically, and coming from this reviewer, who has referred to both Tazer and Kaner without shame, that’s a lot. Although McGuire tries for a bit of meta humor by having one of his teammates call him “T-rex,” it falls flat. It seems like the awkward nicknames of romance heroes seem to be coming back a bit after Sarah MacLean’s Beast and Eloisa James’ North earlier this summer, and it makes it hard to enjoy the story when a reader is constantly jolted out by having to refer to a handsome ex-Marine as Trex. He has his positive qualities. Lying to “protect” Darby is not one of them, but he’s sweet and caring, both of which also get repeated often.

There’s just not much here for this reviewer to enjoy. Some contemporary romance enthusiasts might like it a bit better, but it’s just not my cup of tea.