Quick Take
- Narration: Elizabeth Lamont brings Maya’s anxious energy and Hazelwood’s dialogue rhythms to life competently, though the Sicilian setting could use more atmospheric texture in her delivery.
- Themes: age-gap and power dynamics examined honestly, trauma shaping personality, the gap between how we appear and what we want
- Mood: Sun-drenched and emotionally tangled, with more psychological weight than the breezy Italian setting implies
- Verdict: Not Hazelwood’s most seamless novel, but the Sicilian backdrop and honest handling of the age-gap trope make it a satisfying listen for fans of her voice.
I spent part of an August afternoon with Problematic Summer Romance and finished it past midnight, having made the classic Hazelwood mistake of thinking I’d just do one more chapter. That pacing compulsion is one of the things Ali Hazelwood has mastered: she writes prose that creates forward momentum even when the character work is giving you friction. And this book gives you friction. Maya Killgore is not an easy companion for eleven hours.
The setup is, as the title half-promises, deliberately cliche. Maya is twenty-three, Conor is thirty-eight, and he is her brother’s best friend who has made it structurally clear she should not exist in his vicinity. They end up at a Sicilian wedding in Taormina, trapped in a romantic villa on the Ionian coast surrounded by ancient ruins and whatever catering catastrophe is currently engulfing the destination event. The bones are familiar. What Hazelwood does inside those bones is where it gets more interesting.
The Age-Gap Trope Handled With Unusual Honesty
The phrase “power dynamic” appears in the synopsis because Conor actually uses it to explain why pursuing Maya would be wrong, and Hazelwood doesn’t let him off the hook just because the attraction is mutual. This is a book that genuinely grapples with whether the cliche can survive scrutiny rather than simply deploying it for tension. Conor’s argument against himself is made in good faith. Maya’s counter-argument is made in equally good faith. The novel earns its eventual position rather than pretending the complications don’t exist.
What readers found frustrating about Maya is real. She is, as one reviewer put it, both too much and not enough in certain stretches. Her sassiness as a coping mechanism is part of how Hazelwood has constructed her, and the backstory that explains it arrives in flashbacks. For some listeners that context will land and transform the experience. For others the character will remain an acquired taste. Elizabeth Lamont’s narration navigates this carefully, never making Maya unlikable but also not softening her edges.
The Sicilian Setting as Emotional Architecture
Taormina does more narrative work here than a backdrop typically gets credit for. The ancient ruins and natural caves serve as counterpoint to the contemporary chaos of a wedding unraveling in real time, and Hazelwood uses the physical setting to shift emotional register in a way that feels more deliberate than most romance locations. When Maya and Conor find themselves in the same cave that’s been there since the Greeks, the weight of that is felt.
The heat level in Problematic Summer Romance is consistent with Hazelwood’s recent work: explicit but emotionally grounded. The physical chemistry serves the emotional arc rather than replacing it, which is one of the things that distinguishes her voice in the contemporary romance space. This is Book 2 in the Not in Love series, following Deep End’s world, though it functions as a companion novel rather than a direct sequel and does not require knowledge of the previous book.
Where It Fits in Hazelwood’s Catalog
One reviewer noted that this is not Hazelwood at her peak, and I’d agree with that assessment while still finding it a worthwhile entry. Love on the Brain and The Love Hypothesis remain her most seamlessly constructed novels. What Problematic Summer Romance offers instead is a more emotionally complicated protagonist and a more rigorous treatment of a trope that romance fiction often leaves unexamined. If you’ve read Hazelwood before and come with appropriate expectations, this delivers her signature warmth and wit within a slightly messier framework. If this is your first Hazelwood, you might start with one of her earlier titles to understand what she’s working against here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to read Not in Love (Book 1) before Problematic Summer Romance?
No. Problematic Summer Romance is a companion novel set in the same world but follows entirely new protagonists. You can read it independently without any background from Book 1.
How does the age-gap dynamic between Maya and Conor develop, and does the novel take it seriously?
The novel takes it seriously. Conor explicitly names the power imbalance as his reason for resistance, and Hazelwood works through rather than around the complications. The resolution feels earned rather than convenient.
Is Maya’s personality a significant obstacle to enjoying this audiobook?
For some listeners, yes. She is described by reviewers as frustrating, with behavior that makes more sense once her trauma history is revealed. Whether that context satisfies you will determine how much the early hours grate.
How does this compare in heat level to Ali Hazelwood’s earlier romances?
Consistent with her recent work, explicit but emotionally integrated. It runs hotter than The Love Hypothesis but is on par with Love on the Brain and Deep End in terms of how the physical content serves the relationship arc.
