Phoebe Whitford has never been one to ask for anything, not wanting to be greedy, but she has found her way into a career she loves and a group of friends that mean everything to her. Declan may not have fulfilled all the dreams that his family had for him, but he has a life he loves…if only he could just get over his crush on Phoebe. One night after a few too many shots, Phoebe asks a question of Declan that could change the trajectory of their friendship...and their lives.
I have been obsessed with Phoebe and Declan finding their way to each other from the moment they were first introduced in NEED S’MORE TIME and I am so glad that we finally get their story! These two have been orbiting each other for quite some time so the tension has been building for awhile which made it so satisfying when they finally come together.
A fair warning for anyone who read CURATED and loved Emmy and Ryan together…this book starts during the third act of CURATED so don’t panic like I did. I definitely panicked real hard and had to talk myself down from entering Nellie’s DMs and yelling at her. But it became clear that there was no need to panic the further I read on so PHEW, don’t need to yell at any authors today!
Nellie has a beautiful way of incorporating real, regular, every day things into a story that I don’t know that I’ve seen elsewhere. In this story, it was on the page STI testing - something that does and should happen and is not something that is discussed on the page other than a quick “I’m clean” before…things happen. So it was refreshing to have this occur on the page and it turned into such a cute moment for the couple.
This book is filled with so much to love. There is fake dating, friends to lovers, found family…and NO THIRD ACT BREAKUP! I love a good third act breakup, but it is such a breath of fresh air when there isn’t one and the story still works. Plus, both our main characters are queer (chaotic bisexual millennials unite!) and Phoebe is also neurodiverse…we love some good representation!
Declan is a king of consent and we absolutely love to see it. Despite their difference in level of experience, the pair understand the need to communicate, in and out of the bedroom, and it makes their relationship stronger for it. We could all learn a lot from the way that Declan and Phoebe communicate and would probably be better off for it.
Oh and the found family...love a good found family! It was especially gratifying to see old friends return in this book and continue to be as disgustingly in love as they were when their own books ended. The introduction of some new characters also had my heart swelling (WE STAND OLD MAN JOE) and I can't wait to see who gets their happily ever after next.
EDUCATED can be read as a standalone, but I personally think reading all of Nellie Wilson’s stories in the order she published them gives you the most in depth understanding of this friend group (and plus, they’re all fun!) NEED S’MORE TIME, CURATED, and STORM WARNING are all currently available on Kindle Unlimited and EDUCATED will be joining them on August 8, 2023.
Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from the author for free and have voluntarily written this review. Since this is an indie published book, I have no included any affiliate links, but you can support Nellie by visiting her website!
