Title: Well Versed
Series: Well Met, #5
Author: Jen DeLuca
Narrator: Brittany Pressley
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: September 22, 2026
Print length: 352 pages
Audiobook length: 10 hours, 8 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Purchased (audiobook); e-ARC via NetGalleyRating:
It’s a second chance at first love at the Renaissance Faire, where the search for a new queen shapes a destiny, from USA Today bestselling author Jen DeLuca.
Caitlin Parker was eighteen when she fell out of love with the magic of the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire—the site of her first real heartbreak. But now, twenty-four and unemployed, she finds herself in her childhood bedroom and her childhood lady-in-waiting costume, assisting a rotating cast of substitute queens for the season. The very last person she wants to see is Alexander Wright—the sword-fighting, Shakespeare-spouting young man who won and broke her teenage heart. Yet there he is, older, annoyingly hotter, and back on stage at her Faire.
When Alex broke things off with Caitlin the first time, he thought he was just ending a summer fling. He didn’t realize how much he’d fallen for her until he let her go, and he certainly didn’t know he’d tarnished her memories of her cherished Faire and worse, shattered her view on love and relationships. His need to right that wrong this summer brings them together again and again, and this time, it won’t be so easy to let go of this summer fling.
But as summer winds down, real life is catching up to both of them. Caitlin’s always thought that being an adult with adult responsibilities means leaving whimsy behind. Alex, with a life full of stage combat, songs, and sonnets, doesn’t know how to live any other way. Can they go after their dreams and find a future together where they can still say “huzzah”?
It’s good to get back to the Faire! Four years after the release of Well Traveled, Jen DeLuca’s delightful Renaissance Faire romance series is back, delivering her signature mix of Faire fun and modern-day romantic challenges.
In Well Versed, Caitlin — whom we first met way back in book #1, Well Met, as a 14-year-old volunteering at the Faire — is now all grown up! Time flies for sure. Caitlin is now 24 years old and recently laid off from a tech job, and while she job hunts, has moved back home with her mother April and April’s partner Mitch (whose love story was the focus of book #3, Well Matched). And since it’s the start of summer, that means it’s also time for the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire, organized by Caitlin’s aunt and uncle and the focus for their entire community each summer.
Caitlin used to love the Faire as a teen, when she’d don the costume of a lady-in-waiting, get into character, and wander the faire grounds at the side of her queen. But a heartbreaking end to her first love left her disillusioned and absolutely done with anything related to Faire — she hasn’t been back, and even swore off her love of Shakespeare in order to pursue a career in IT. No more swoony sonnets for her!
The past comes crashing back on opening day of Faire, when her ex Alex strolls back into her life. Two years older than Caitlin, he’d broken up with her after their first romance, telling her to find someone her own age (he was 20, she was 18). She’s never forgiven him, and is furious that he’s back, up on a stage spouting Shakespeare and looking unfairly great. It gets worse, though — when Mitch is injured, Alex steps in to take his place in the Faire’s centerpiece swordfighting exhibition, and that means he’s at her house every day to practice. She can’t get away from the guy!
Meanwhile, the Faire itself is missing its queen — the former queen has officially retired, and each replacement seems to miss the mark. It seems inevitable that a certain jaded someone will finally step up and embrace the role, if only she can recapture some of that earlier joy she used to feel at the Faire each summer.
As Caitlin and Alex spend time together, old wounds are finally given time to heal. Caitlin thinks a summer fling with Alex might be a great way to have fun, as a break from dealing with the pressures waiting at the end of the summer — figuring out jobs, where to live, and what to do with the rest of her life. But as things heat up, Caitlin and Alex’s feelings definitely go beyond a mere fling, leaving them wondering how to balance this new beginning with all the demands of adulting that they feel closing in on them.
As always, the sense of delight at the Renaissance Faire is fully embodied here in Well Versed. The book captures the summer experience, the joy of putting on a costume and embracing a different way of being, and the sense of community as people come together to create something magical.
While it was a bit of an adjustment at first to see Caitlin as an adult (we met her as a young teen!), she’s an interesting main character to spend time with. Caitlin’s struggle to get over past hurts, assert herself differently, fit back in with her hometown, and also figure out her future feel realistic for a young woman in that particular phase of her life. I enjoyed seeing her reconnect with family and friends, especially since they’re all so much a part of the Well Met series’s broader story. How fun to catch up with them all and see how they’re doing!
The love story elements are well done, showing the repairing needed before Caitlin can accept Alex as a friend once again. I appreciated that Caitlin comes to realize that Alex’s intentions were good all those years ago, despite his not-great delivery, and that the time wasn’t right back then for a serious relationship. Of course, being set at a Ren Faire, their reconciliation is full of swoony gestures, and all the swordplay and sonnet deliveries don’t hurt!
I did wish for a bit more Faire content — we see them at the Faire throughout, of course, but often it’s just a recap of how the day went after a few brief scenes of the day starting. Perhaps the author felt that we didn’t need full-on scenes of Faire life, after the previous four books… but I did! I wanted to spend just a little more time wandering the lanes, hearing about characters and accents and flower crowns and mead, seeing the jousts… all the little touches that make these books so enjoyable.
The inevitable communication issues pop up right near the end, as is typical for so many romances. Thankfully, here the issues are less about misunderstanding one another than that the characters are so in in their own heads that they’re not fully listening to one another… and also, thankfully, it all gets resolved without too much agonizing to wade through.
Brittany Pressley is one of my favorite audiobook narrators, and once again, she does a terrific job with the characters and the Ren Faire dynamics. She lets the various personalities shine through and keeps them all distinct, conveys the humor and whimsy of so many scenes, and captures the dialects (pirate, Scottish warrior, Queen!) of the Faire voices with flair.
Overall, I really enjoyed Well Versed… and as usual, really hope we’ll get more books set in this world! Huzzah!
Interested in this series? Don’t miss the previous books:
- Well Met (published 2019)
- Well Played (published 2020)
- Well Matched (published 2021)
- Well Traveled (published 2022)
Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
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