Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka met and fell in love in high school. Austin went on to graduate from Harvard, while Emily graduated from Princeton. Together, they are the authors of several novels about romance for teens and adults. Now married, they live in Los Angeles, where they continue to take daily inspiration from their own love story. You can find them online at EmilyandAustinWrite.com. You can find more of my reviews of their work here.
Eliza and Graham are anticipating an anything-but-sexy week-long getaway to celebrate their five-year anniversary. Nestled on the Northern California coastline, the resort prides itself on being a destination for those in love and those looking to find it. For Eliza and Graham, they might as well be on vacation with a roommate. When a well-meaning guest mistakes Eliza and Graham as being single and introduces them at the hotel bar, they don't correct him. Suddenly, they're pretending to be perfect strangers, and it's unexpectedly . . . fun. Eliza and Graham find themselves flirting like it's their first date and waiting with butterflies in their stomachs for the other to text back. Everyone at the retreat can sense the electric chemistry between Eliza and Graham. But when their scintillating game of role-playing ends, will they still feel the heat?
Those who know we well know a few things about me: 1) marriage in trouble is not my favorite trope, and 2) rom-com/romance media that centers around "changing onself" to be with their "one true love" is a huge turnoff for me. So, you could say I was maybe hesitant to pick up Do I Know You?—but I'd read and enjoyed The Roughest Draft and attended the authors' launch event for the novel and for Amy Lea's Exes and O's and figured I just needed to check it out. And I'm so glad I did. I think Do I Know You? completely tops The Roughest Draft; the characters are more relatable, the stakes are higher, the setting is romantic despite the tense situation, all making for a novel that I read in two sittings. I believe this pair does tropey romance justice by both deviating from the norm and staying in line: their marriage is in trouble and (spoiler alert) they resolve their problems, but there's two beds instead of one, and while you may think it's forced proximity, it's more like forced distance. While Eliza and Graham both adopt personas over the course of the book, they don't change who they are fundamentally in order to reconnect, which I truly, deeply appreciated. All-in-all, I found this to be a really enjoyable read, and I think even those most hesitant about the tropes will find many things to love within these pages.
Now, let's talk about Graham, because I just adored his character. I think he's probably one of my favorite male MCs I've read in a while. There's this culture around men being super macho and chill and in control of themselves and their emotions—and Graham feels the pressure to be like that, but that's just not who he is. Instead, he's insecure, and wanting to be a better version of himself but struggling to strike that balance over being someone else entirely. I love how his insecurity is portrayed in Do I Know You? because it ebbs and flows depending on his relationship status with Eliza. I think it really goes to show how much of his identity is tied up in his marriage to her, and how much is riding off of them really working on their marriage. I really bought into the stakes of the book, and was compelled by their romance, through the depiction of Graham's character.
Emily and Austin both write like they have MFAs—as someone studying writing, this makes reading their books more than just pleasure reading, but also as a kind of study to adapting what one learns to writing a genre so often scorned in literary circles. But, because I study writing and I love romance, I feel like I have a special ability to appreciate a lot of the stylistic choices they do really well, especially in Do I Know You? which includes the parallelism between Eliza's and Graham's journey, both in the metaphysical and physical senses (the alternating POV chapters of how they decide to wear their rings had me tearing up). While the beginning of the novel was super awkward to read, I completely loved how it raised the stakes of the novel, while also viscerally putting readers in Eliza's and Graham's shoes regarding the state of their marriage. Some of these moments permeate the novel, and I was gaping at some of the most awkward and unhinged moments, both from shock and also pure delight at it from a craft level. I also love their figurative language, the use of alliteration and metaphor, even if it sometimes feels more elevated than the characters themselves. I feel like this could definitely be a taste thing, but I just really love their writing at a fundamental level.
This duo's adult romance novels I think are going to be on the auto-buy list for me in the future, so I can't wait to see what they come up with next! Until then, you can find them online at EmilyandAustinWrite.com. You can find more of my reviews of their work here.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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