ARC Review: Overdue by Stephanie Perkins

Is it time to renew love or start a new chapter?

Ingrid Dahl, a cheerful twenty-nine-year-old librarian in the cozy mountain town of Ridgetop, North Carolina, has been happily dating her college boyfriend, Cory, for eleven years without ever discussing marriage. But when Ingrid’s sister announces her engagement to a woman she’s only been dating for two years, Ingrid and Cory feel pressured to consider their future. Neither has ever been with anybody else, so they make an unconventional decision. They'll take a one-month break to date other people, then they'll reunite and move toward marriage. Ingrid even has someone in mind: her charmingly grumpy coworker, Macon Nowakowski, on whom she’s secretly crushed for years. But plans go awry, and when the month ends, Ingrid and Cory realize they’re not ready to resume their relationship― and Ingrid’s harmless crush on Macon has turned into something much more complicated.

Overdue is a beautiful, slow-burn romance full of lust and longing about new beginnings and finding your way.

Title: Overdue

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Expected Publication Date: October 7, 2025

Review:

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I was very excite to find this book as a read now on NetGalley as it was on my list of titles to request. I've enjoyed Perkins's books in the past and was excited for another title from her. This was my first adult title by this author and I was looking forward to how she tackled that. A book about people who work in a library, and there's love? Sign me up! I want to hear all about it. And now I'm sad to write this review because I just could not get into this book.

First off, I love a good slow burn romance but this book was so slow to the point of being frustrating. There was zero chemistry between the FMC and MMC. I just didn't feel the attraction. Did the FMC tell me about it? Yep, a whole lot. But I never felt it and that was a big turn off.

The FMC, ugh, he was so shallow and definitely did not read like a 30 year old woman. She spent much of the book complaining about the same thing over and over again. And it was hard to get to know the MMC as we saw him only through the FMC's eyes. I feel like this book may have benefited from being dual POV.

I liked the idea of the characters taking a break but in reality, after 11 years, I just cannot find this realistic, If you're taking a break, then you're breaking up. 

And the pacing of this book was super slow. Had the plot been interesting and captivating, that slowness may have been easy to overlook. But it wasn't interesting or captivating or keeping my attention at all. Plus, we don't get much of the characters loving what they do, loving books, etc. Why include their jobs as librarians if they aren't going to talk about it and make it part of their personalities?

In the end, I ended up DNFing this book because I really disliked all the characters and felt zero connection with them plus I just couldn't bring myself to keep picking it up and reading it.

I do see that it has many great reviews so I urge people to give it a try for themselves and see if they like it more than I did.

1.5 stars rounded to 2

Author:

Hi, there! I'm Stephanie Perkins, and I'm a New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author. My next novel is called Overdue, and it's a sweet and swoony romance for adults that will be published on October 7, 2025. I'm also the author of three YA romance novels, Anna and the French Kiss, Lola and the Boy Next Door, and Isla and the Happily Ever After, as well as two YA horror novels, There's Someone Inside Your House, which was adapted into a film for Netflix, and The Woods Are Always Watching. I also edited (and contributed a short story to) a romantic holiday anthology called My True Love Gave to Me and its companion anthology Summer Days and Summer Nights.

I don't check my Goodreads inbox! Better ways to reach me are listed here on my website: http://stephanieperkins.com/about/, and you can also find me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/naturallyste...