Just Like Heaven

Just Like Heaven 

by Julia Quinn 

5/5 

“He leaned down and whispered, “I love you,” in Honoria’s ear.

Just because he wanted to.

She didn’t look up, but she smiled.

And he smiled, too.”


        Five freaking stars to Julia Quinn and this amazing book! I am SO SO SO shocked that this book doesn’t have a higher rating on Goodreads.... Like what!! I loved Marcus and Honoria’s story so much. From start to finish I was hooked and couldn’t find one fault in the book. I throughly enjoyed it and definitely feel like they made it to the top five of my favorite Julia Quinn couples! This book is the first in the Smythe-Smith series, and if you’ve already read the Bridgerton series you’ve already heard of the INFAMOUS Smythe-Smith musicale! Do you need to read the Bridgerton series to read this spin off? No, but you should because The Bridgerton’s are so much fun, and we do get appearances from our favorite family in the spinoff! I recommend really anything that this Queen Julia Quinn writes! You can't go wrong with a single book of hers! So if you want a funny and lighthearted friends to lovers historical romance then definitely check this one out!

Honoria Smythe-Smith is:

A) a really bad violinist

B) still miffed at being nicknamed "Bug" as a child

C) not in love with her older brother's best friend

D) all of the above




Marcus Holroyd is:

A) the Earl of Chatteris

B) regrettably prone to sprained ankles

C) not in love with his best friend's younger sister

D) all of the above

Together they:

A) eat quite a bit of chocolate cake

B) survive a deadly fever and the world's worst musical performance

C) fall quite desperately in love

D) all of the above

      So stinking cute! Marcus and Honoria have known each other since she was six and he was twelve! So of course they’re like “family”. One of my favorite parts of this book though was seeing that friendship bloom into something more! I enjoyed the pacing and the writing, and I felt like every scene was worthy of the relationship that the author built up! It all starts to change though when Honoria runs into Marcus in town, not too far from where he lives. I loved how our first scene between them without her brother Daniel, we see them sharing a piece of dessert and we really get to see the type of relationship they have and the promise of what we’ll get throughout the book!
    Some of my favorite scenes were seeing Honoria take care of Marcus when he falls ill, and really seeing the intense bond they begin to build during that particular part of the book. It’s so frustrating but also so amazing when you as the reader can see how they feel about each other, but they can’t! One of my other favorite scenes was the ending of this book and how they finally get together. Like it was just SO perfect that everything went down at the Smythe-Smith musical! Like I mean everything! Not only do we get to see our main characters FINALLY get their happily ever after but a lot of the plot points in this book conclude in this scene! I also loved seeing Marcus come to Honoria’s defense and not letting anyone talk badly about her. Sigh, he was just SO in love with her, and after that even Honoria knew how he felt. She was like, “yep he loves me.” LOL. I just felt this ending fit their crazy relationship so well and it wasn’t overdone or underdone.
   Throughout this entire book we get hilarious one liners and both Marcus and Honoria are HILARIOUS. Julia Quinn’s writing is almost like historical romance with a dash of rom com! Her books are really just on a different level! Some of the funniest parts of this book were when Honoria was taking care of Marcus. Not just what he says, but also just her rambling and some of the things she does! I almost spit out my water when she started using his underwear as cold compresses and to clean his wound. Just her internal monologue during this scene had me dying! We get so many good scenes during this book, and like I said it’s just so well rounded and I felt like everything happened perfectly and nothing ever fell flat! Julia Quinn outdid herself and I loved seeing the best friend type banter between Marcus and Honoria and then eventually the intense love they have for each other. I loved this one so so much and I really recommend it! If you have read this book and want one just like it you should check out Because of Miss Bridgerton ALSO by Julia Quinn, because she’s amazing, duh! XO