This Used to Be Easier

By: Katia Rose

Narrated by: Sophie Daniels

Meg Doyle did not intend to return home from college with a suitcase and nowhere else to go.

Ideally, she would have rolled up to her tiny home town in a limousine and jumped out wearing a designer tuxedo. She would have shaken a few hands, signed a few autographs, and maybe kissed a few girls before riding off into the sunset of her glorious post-grad future in set design.

Instead, she's stuck spending the summer in her childhood bedroom, trawling the internet for job listings after a last minute internship cancellation in Europe.

It's anything but triumphant. Her friends in the city won't stop reminding her what she's missing, her mom won't stop researching lesbian slang terms to seem more "relatable," and around every corner in the small town of Chapel Creek, there's Connie Shipley.

The girl Meg used to know better than anyone in the world. The girl she spent countless nights huddled under the blankets with for sleepovers and movie marathons. The girl who leaned in and kissed her four summers before.

The girl who hasn't spoken to her since.

. . . Which makes it very inconvenient that Meg's heart still stops every single time she sees her.

©2021 Katia Rose (P)2023 Tantor

Warning: Hazardous to Cheeks

As with Catch and Cradle, this book left my cheeks in considerable pain from smiling for just about 9.5 hours straight. So. hecking. cute.

Needed an Epilogue

Enjoyable story with ups and downs. A girl with an anxiety disorder made worse by her controlling parents.

Lived up to my hopes

The book is what it tries to be. There are some predictable arcs but they are laid up and developed well. There are moments where I want to yell at the characters, not in any negative way, but because they are playing out fears or mistakes I have made in the past. I smiled, laughed, and cried, and for that alone I look forward to revisiting the book again.

A little to angsty but good

Even though there was a little too much angst for my taste, I did enjoy it.

Great book

I would definitely like more of a long term ending. Especially on a book like this with such excellent character building.

Cute

I feel this story because I had a similar experience in high school. I think it’s definitely worth a listen.

This Used to be Easier

Summer romance
BFFs to lovers
Second-chance romance
Anxiety rep
Down syndrome rep (Emmett is too cool)
Small-town

I remember reading this a couple years ago and enjoying it. Connie and Meg were such a heartwarming couple. Sometimes connections just can't be broken. It was fun, uplifting, gratifying, and quite romantic! A great summer read/listen!

Sophie Daniels did a great job narrating!

Every chapter changed pov

I’m just not a fan of books that change 1st person pov every chapter. Had I realized that, I wouldn’t have purchased it. Cute premise for a story though.