Natalie and Rob couldn’t have less in common. Nat’s a messy artist, and Rob’s a rigid academic. The only thing they share is their devotion to their respective best friends—who just got engaged. Still, unexpected chemistry has Natalie cautiously optimistic about being maid of honor to Rob’s best man.

Until, minutes before the ceremony, Nat learns that Rob wrote a one-star review of her new novel, which has them both reeling: Nat from imposter syndrome, and Rob over the reason he needed to write it.

When the reception ends, these two opposites hope they’ll never meet again. But, as they slip from their twenties into their thirties, they’re forced together whenever their fast-track best friends celebrate another milestone. Through housewarmings and christenings, life-changing triumphs and failures, Natalie and Rob grapple with their own choices—and how your harshest critic can become your perfectly imperfect match.

After all, even the truest love stories sometimes need a bit of rewriting.

It’s a rare phenomenon to find a romance novel that captures the breadth of life—career, friendships, family—but One-Star Romance does it all. A hilarious and heartfelt portrait of relationships in their many forms, this is Laura Hankin (author of Happy & You Know It) at her best yet.

When we meet her in her twenties, Natalie ties two things to her identity: her career as a (struggling) writer and her best friendship with the (newly engaged) Gabby. On the day of Gabby’s wedding, Nat learns the groom’s best man, Rob, wrote a one-star review of her first book. On top of fears that she is about to lose her best friend, the knock on her writing is a bridge too far. The two hope to never see each other again, but their respective friendships constantly thwart that desire. Across their begrudging reunions, an electric chemistry begins to form between them, and heated arguments turn into witty banter. While Nat and Rob have nothing in common on paper, they can’t ignore their uncanny ability to help each other grow. As they enter their thirties, they learn to give themselves grace through the turbulence of life—and just might find love on the way.

The characters of One-Star Romance are written with such relatability, both in sense of humor and insecurities, that I’m convinced Laura Hankin pulled them straight out of my life. Pick this book up, and I’m sure you’ll fall in love too.