The first genre—from what I remember—that paved the path of love for romance in my reader heart was contemporary romance. As much as I love, adore and gravitate towards fantasy, there’s something so grounding, touching and real about the genre of contemporary romance that always has me coming back to it. Sometimes not even the presence of magical beings or a protagonist’s ability to fly can rival the strength of a love story between two very real people struggling with very real, very relatable and heartbreaking pain.
To me, It Happened on a Sunday represents all that and more.
The blurb immediately hints at who may have been the spark of inspiration that led the author down the path that created these characters in this particular world. It both interested and worried me at first, wondering if I would be able to get lost in it or if I would find myself unable to shake the original couple from my mind.
It was the single most pleasant experience to note that one page in, the author’s writing ensures you see nothing but Sloane and Sly. Author Tracy Wolff adopts a really smart and interesting choice of writing; where the length of the book is not influenced by the number of events that take place in it, but rather, by the depth with which each event is delved into. There are perhaps… ten prominent situations that take place through the whole book, within which Wolff tells her whole story. Having gotten used to big books usually being peppered with several shorter filler scenes and only two or three longer important scenes, I enjoyed reading a book with a selective number of scenes, but whose content expands across emotional, situational, personal and social interactions and struggles. Kudos to the author and her writing for being able to drown me from nearly the first moment into a world of glamour, grit and love.
Unusual as it may seem, I would say there’s a certain level of worldbuilding this book requires. A layman has very little understanding of what each day could possibly look like for a celebrity. Sure, of course, they are ultimately people like us; except imagine if everything about your life were to be fodder for the press and public to consume. The weight of this, the effect it has on an individual, the internal (and external) strides someone has to take to constantly live with and overcome the consequences of being in the limelight and (my favourite part) the subtle mention of how there’s a gender related difference to this experience as well, were all a very large part of the book. To say I was surprised (and pleased) with this book is to say the least.
The characters, are of course, the heart of any book; but with contemporary there’s a certain vulnerability the characters and the theme requires, that demands a complete baring of the soul to its readers. Sloan and Sly are much like braids, taking turns baring their hearts and pain to the reader in their own unique ways but in an eternally entwined pattern. Personally, I enjoyed that this book balanced the characters’ growth, even though it may not initially seem that way. The subtle mention of trauma being loud in some and quiet in some, but both being equally true, significant and debilitating, was so wonderful.
The plot of this book is closely associated to its characters. It is quite simply the coming together of two people who find peace in one another. Though, I will say, as simple as it sounds, it is perhaps one of the more complex plot lines to sew; since as readers we often want it to feel perfect and right, with not a single detail out of place—something we might not even demand of a fantastical theme. I did come across a few reviews that mentioned an “insta-love” aspect to this story and I would just like to make a small shift to the phrase. I would call it an insta-connection. A singular moment in time when you feel a kinship, a familiarity or a comfort with someone that intuitively makes you want to pursue a relationship with them, whether platonic or romantic or any other. To me, that’s what this story was about. A connection that’s explored with a lot of courage, communication, love, pain and healing.
The pace in this book is even for the most part, but somehow perhaps because of how the author has styled her book, you do feel like you’ve spent longer with the characters than is true and you’re sometimes impatient for the story to move forward.
Reading It Happened on a Sunday was a sweet experience that makes me smile every time I think about it. It’s a warm hand that is holding you gently but surely, while helping you navigate out of a crowd, quietening all the bluster and having you thinking only about moving forward with them. Are you smiling yet?
Nine out of ten stars! Happy reading! Please read the list of trigger warnings before venturing into this book, it features themes that some may find difficult.
It Happened on a Sunday is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
Will you be picking up It Happened on a Sunday? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Tracy Wolff comes a fierce, emotional romance about two people surviving the spotlight and choosing love when everything says they shouldn’t.
They call her the Black Widow. A pop star. A tabloid tragedy. A girl who set the world on fire―and got burned in return.
But Sloane Walker doesn’t care what they say. Not anymore. The headlines, the hashtags, the rumors that never die? Let them come. She’s survived worse―like the betrayal that nearly destroyed her and the fans who blamed her for surviving. These days, she’s armor and eyeliner, singing songs that hurt and pretending they don’t.
She’s halfway through a sold-out tour and dangerously close to unraveling when a meet-and-greet throws her into the path of Mateo Sylvester―a media darling with a magnetic smile, a thriving career of his own, and a grandmother who happens to be Sloane’s biggest fan. He knows exactly how brutal the spotlight can be. He’s lived it. He’s got the press eating from his hand. She’s got a flask full of sweet tea, a voice full of ghosts, and no patience for golden boys with good intentions.
She tells herself it’s just a photo op. Just another handshake. Just another public face with private secrets and no idea what it means to bleed for your art.
But Mateo sees more than the stage persona. He sees the cracks in her smile. The songs she’s too scared to write. The girl underneath the glitter, still fighting to stay.
They weren’t supposed to fall. Not in the spotlight. Not when the world is watching. And definitely not when the people closest to them would do anything to keep them apart.
