This is a really solid, achingly beautiful and lovingly constructed story. I really enjoyed the two main characters, and absolutely ADORED the journey they were on together. The food descriptions especially were so, so good, and I could feel the care poured into the atmosphere. I also really liked the supporting cast - there were lots of really fun moments. This had just the right mix of heartbreak and hope, bitterness and pining. I truly had such a blast reading this novel and absolutely flew through it.

There was a comment in the book about sexuality that didn't agree with me as an asexual person, to the point it threw me out of the mood for a decent chunk towards the back third of the novel. That, and the fact that there were simply way more sex scenes than are to my taste, are the only real reasons I wouldn't give this novel a 5* rating.