Tourist meets townie in this grumpy one + sunshine one romance. Zoey's on the trip of a lifetime - two weeks in Moose Springs, Alaska. Graham's making his living there off of being the grumpy proprietor of one of those can't-miss tourist stops. If you recall the restaurants where guests are literally paying to be insulted? Think that, but toned down a bit. Sarah Morgenthaler's writing is funny, her characters are likeable and the whole book is as escapist as the vacation Zoey's embarked on.
What I liked:
- Zoey has a wealthy BFF, but she's a waitress at a truck stop, has been saving for this trip forever and is now sleeping on said BFF's luxury suite sofa
- I grew up in Vermont and worked at two very popular tourist stops, I was predisposed to dislike these entitled, destructive rich tourists.
- The moose! (see below for a bit of a CW there)
- The sexual tension is high without much actual sex. It's not sex-shamey, just sort of a natural progression based on where the two are at. It fit my particular preferences at the time I was reading it, your mileage may vary.
What I didn't like:
- Zoey is "not like every other tourist." It's not quite the not-like-other-girls trope but it's close. Graham is immediately smitten and goes from grump to Golden Retriever for her in like 5 minutes. I assume this is related to the fact that her BFF is one of the few good rich repeat visitors and Graham was predisposed to liking her, but I would have liked a little more development of that.
- TTA was too long. If I were reading it for the hijinks, maybe that would have been fine, but there were a few too many tourist catastrophes for me. We got it after the first couple times that Zoey falls, gets left behind, nearly dies, etc. The book needed some tightening up.
If you've ever wanted to date Luke from Gilmore Girls or go on vacation to Alaska, The Tourist Attraction is probably the book for you. If you're not up for a bunch of slapstick humor, maybe give this one a miss.
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Content Warnings: moose has a 50-50 chance at survival after being relocated due to endangering tourists trying to get a photo with him, Graham punches someone, Zoey is abandoned in the woods during a dangerous storm, mentions of drug use. I apologize, I waited too long to write this review and I'm sure I've forgotten some.
Suzanne received a digital copy of this book from the publisher for review but ended up listening to audio via Hoopla.