I really liked seeing both of the main characters being neurodiverse, even though with Savvy there is no official diagnoses with the stuff she tells about her past and things always going wrong, it has certain hints of ADHD and such. The male MC Darwin is official stated to have OCD but is also very autism coded, yet still successful in life mostly. It’s rare to see that much representation, and it makes up for an interesting relationship dynamic not seen in these kinda of books too often, or rather it could have had the potential for it. Darwin’s condition comes up often times and is one of the main focuses of the book, but then his symptoms just vanish in time, compelled by the power of love I assume, and he is suddenly capable of things he was not before. Sadly, that’s not how these things work in real life, which is why I almost want to take the point for representation back. But I guess in the end, it’s still two neurodiverse protagonists, and how often do we see that?

The next problem is the age gap. It’s not a problem in general, since that’s what the book is advertised for and for the most part of the book both protagonists are consenting adults(there are flashbacks where Savvy is having a crush on him at 16, but nothing happens with that, it’s just mentioned) but if Savvy would not mention all the time, how Darwin was her father best friend, we would not know he is older than her. Apart from a brief mention of silver fox vibes at the beginning and the end, no age related problems EVER come up in the book. They don’t fight over generational differences, nor his body or anatomical issues, and noone is really commenting on their relationship from the outside aside from one friend who is just angry for how things went between them in the past. Darwin comments sometimes on how he is “too old for her” but it’s never really addressed why that could be a problem. Don’t get me wrong, I would not have wanted for it to become a problem but having a conversation about for example Savvy knowing he probably will die before her and accepting it out of love, would have made her bound stronger and also kinda adhered to the expectations I had when going into an age-gap relationship novel. Basically Darwin acts as if he was a teenager almost, physically and mentally, you never really get the idea he is an over 40 years old guy. Might be a downer for people who were specifically looking for such a dynamic.

In general, I think everything in the book happens a bit fast, too fast. They had a thing before, so falling back into love might be easier than falling in love for the first time, granted. But everything just happens that fast, Darwin getting better, the renovations, the development in their relationship etc. It’s basically: Savvy gets back in Darwin’s life, a few chapters later he declares his love, another few chapters they both think and talk about marriage and children, then the renovations are done, and the epilogue comes around. I think about 3-4 months pass while all of that is happening in the book, but it does not feel like it at all, it feels like we as the readers skip a lot of development. Like Darwin mentions how Savvy has been starting ripping out the old flooring, but we never actually have a chapter of them working on something, like cleaning an area or fixing old tech. It’s implied that all of that is happening, but we don’t get it shown. Same with the relationship, it feels like a lot of development just happens off-screen, and we see them just be happy together, though especially these first times and almost everything is a first for Darwin, get lost. There is also this whole part about Darwin being a virgin, but for some reason still also being a sex expert? Like he never touched a woman, but when fingering his girlfriend for the first time, he knows what to do perfectly, but why? How? I’d get if he would learn, maybe even learn faster, showing off some positive sides of his disorder being obsessed over learning how to please his girlfriend, but we don’t get to see that. He is just good at sex all of a sudden, which is quite unrealistic. I think the whole book could have been fleshed out a bit more.

Final verdict:
I think this book has so much potential! It could be a great representation of neurodiversity, but it lacks in actually tackling the problems that comes with it and makes them just vanish in time. It could be a great entry in the age-gap trope, if it wouldn’t be for the fact that nothing age-gap related really ever comes into play in the story. Furthermore, it could be an interesting way to show how two people at two very different points in their lives help each other grow in ways they couldn’t have without each other. But we don’t really see the growing together part, it’s all just implied, and we see only the outcome of the work that must have somehow gone into it? I still think it’s a great, light read for anyone who does not care about something deeper. The writing style itself was very funny, I was able to fly through the pages and what I read, was nice but nothing more than that. I just wish I would have been able to read more, a more detailed story that could live up top it’s potential, which sadly just did not happen here.