The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler

This book was so enjoyable and cute for 70% of it. Graham and Zoey have an instant connection. Graham is a grumpy, Alaska native who runs a local diner, has a blind dog that he dresses up in outfits, and is a woodcarver in his spare time. Zoey is a tourist who has been saving up for this Alaska trip for years (so ~she’s not like other tourists~ in this typical rich area). Because of their instant connection, the story provides a lot of cute moments of them feeling like a couple from nearly the beginning. There’s also the cool backdrop of Alaska, the vacation romance element, and the small town vibe that I loved.

But, firstly, the book went on too long. It started to drag a bit. Then, there was repeating conflict. The big conflict here is that this is short term, since Zoey is a tourist. That’s all well and good, but the characters decide to “fight” about this over and over at the end which feels inconsistent with the rest of the story because they are not a tumultuous couple.

Also, Graham has a violent streak which was so unnecessary. I loved his grumpy personality with a heart of gold. But then, he has these moments of “alpha male” where he wants to punch any other guy that shows interest in Zoey, he punches a wall at one point, and actually ends up punching another male character for a reason that I think was really weak and unjustified. Zoey at one point does call him an “alphahole”, which is a romance community word for these type of toxic masculine characters, but beyond that the narrative doesn’t really address this behavior as bad. He even breaks the law a few times and it’s brushed off because “he’s a local and knows everyone.” It was an addition that felt unnecessary because his grumpy but loveable personality that was present for the majority of the book was just fine!

The combination of the book dragging on so that I lost some of the tension, along with the bad behavior dropped this from what would have been a 4 star down to a 3/3.5 star. This is going to be a series set in this tourist town, and I will likely continue as I did enjoy the setting and am intrigued about some of the side characters and their stories.

tropes:
– nicknames
– small town romance
– vacation romance: tourist + local