No One Does It Like You by Katie Shepard

Shepard, Katie. No One Does It Like You. Berkley, 2024. 384 pp. ISBN 9780593549339 $19.00.   ***   College sweethearts Tom and Rose have been divorced ten years, but ex-husband and Broadway star Tom is still the one that Rose can call upon in a pinch. When she takes on the renovation and repair of her family’s inn on Martha’s Vineyard, which was abandoned and left neglected after her beloved aunt’s passing. Like belling the cat, not a single family member wants to help and indeed, encourage her to sell.   Their marriage fell apart due to their immaturity, lack of communication, and not making time for one another, but the chemistry, love, and passion are all still there under the fear, vulnerability, rejection, and hurt. Tom enlists his co-star and rumored love interest Boyd to help, public interest in the project picks up, and the next thing you know, a fan-fiction contingent that ships Tom and Boyd are helping with interior design, while Tom’s castmates assist with construction. Many hands make light work; at the end of the project, will Tom and Rosie go their separate ways again?   The writing is very skillful: a lovely slow burn with the rebuilding of the inn mirroring the rebuilding of the relationship, and the impending hurricane season building tension alongside amping up of physical desire and Tom’s progress in getting back into Rosie’s heart–and bed. The pace might drag a little too much and there are some uncomfortable moments of biphobia and misogyny.   I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #NoOneDoesItLikeYou via #NetGalley courtesy of Berkley.