Title: Well Traveled
Series: Well Met, #4
Author: Jen DeLuca
Narrator: Brittany Pressley
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: December 6, 2022
Print length: 304 pages
Audiobook length: 9 hours, 29 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Purchased (audiobook); e-ARC via NetGalley
Rating:
The Renaissance Faire is on the move, and Lulu and Dex are along for the ride, in the next utterly charming rom-com from Jen DeLuca.
A high-powered attorney from a success-oriented family, Louisa “Lulu” Malone lives to work, and everything seems to be going right, until the day she realizes it’s all wrong. Lulu’s cousin Mitch introduced her to the world of Renaissance Faires, and when she spies one at a time just when she needs an escape, she leaps into the welcoming environment of turkey legs, taverns, and tarot readers. The only drawback? Dex MacLean: a guitarist with a killer smile, the Casanova of the Faire… and her traveling companion for the summer.
Dex has never had to work for much in his life, and why should he? Touring with his brothers as The Dueling Kilts is going great, and he always finds a woman at every Faire. But when Lulu proves indifferent to his many plaid charms and a shake-up threatens the fate of the band, Dex must confront something he never has before: his future.
Forced to spend days and nights together on the road, Lulu’s interest in the kilted bad boy grows as he shows her a side of himself no one else has seen. The stresses of her old lifestyle fade away as she learns to trust her intuition and follow her heart instead of her head. But when her time on the road is over, will Lulu go with her gut, or are she and Dex destined for separate paths?
Four books in, Jen DeLuca’s Well Met series is going strong, consistently hitting the sweet spot of mixing unexpected romantic pairing with a super fun setting — the world of Renaissance Faires.
In Well Traveled, the focus shifts to Louisa “Lulu” Malone, whom we met in book #3 (where she was introduced as the cousin of the male romanctic lead). Here, Lulu takes center stage, and she’s a great character to tag along with.
Raised in a high-achieving, highly competitive family, Lulu is an intensely driven attorney working her butt off for partner status… but getting passed over year after year with promises that it’ll be different next time. Out of town on a pointless assignment, Lulu decides to unwind by visiting the nearby RenFaire (which she associates with her beloved cousin Mitch), but even in her few moments of relaxation, the demands of work keep her cell phone ringing and buzzing the entire time. Finally pushed too far, Lulu quits in dramatic and memorable style, but then doesn’t quite know what to do with herself.
Fortunately, the nearby performing group all know Mitch, and with his encouragement, invite Lulu to tag along with them for the next few stops on the Faire circuit, which will eventually lead to Mitch’s hometown, a place of refuge for her. With nothing else on the horizon, Lulu accepts the offer, and soon finds herself on the road and camping out with the Dueling Kilts — whose guitar-playing singer Dex is hot and charming, but has the reputation of being the ultimate player and king of the pick-up and hook-up.
Lulu and Dex become friendly, and Lulu also starts to find herself in this new world of Faire life. She learns how to put on a bodice and skirt and wander the lanes of Faire, making herself useful by serving turkey legs or passing the tip basket after Dueling Kilts performances. When she comes across a trio of fortune tellers who draw huge crowds that they can never quite accommodate, Lulu realizes that they need her help, and soon becomes their de facto “office manager”, organizing their schedules, taking appointments, and along the way, shedding her own skepticism and learning more about tarot, gems, and crystals.
The central storyline has two main points of focus — Lulu’s search for purpose, and her growing attraction to Dex. Lulu does not want to return to the old-boys-club world of corporate law, but she does still love her profession, and wants to figure out how to practice law without selling her soul. Meanwhile, as they travel together and share a small camper in very close quarters, Lulu’s connection to Dex deepens, and she begins to see that there’s more to him than the flirty, sexy guy who supposedly has a woman at every Faire.
What can I say? This book is sweet and loads of fun, and makes me want to chuck it all and run away with the Renaissance Faire! Lulu’s search for meaning is touching and relatable, and I enjoyed seeing her struggle not just with her romantic life, but with embracing her need for emotional fulfillment and recognizing that success doesn’t have to mean making work the only focus of her life.
I did get annoyed toward the end of the book, when miscommunications and assumptions seem to derail her relationship with Dex and threaten to permanently separate them. Of course, this is a romance, so a happily-ever-after is guaranteed. Yes, of course there has to be an obstacle before the HEA resolution, but the obstacles here seemed a little short-sighted and silly for such a smart woman to see as insurmountable.
All in all, this is yet another super enjoyable installment in a terrific series. I haven’t seen any promises of a 5th book yet, but I certainly hope there’s another on the way! I always enjoy these visits to the RenFaire. Let’s lift a tankard of mead and give a big huzzah to the world of Well Met!
Bookshelf Fantasies 
This seems like such a strong series. My daughter read the first book and loved it, I really should catch up to her, lol.
Yes, do it! If you’re up for something light and fun, this is a great series to try!