At Your Pace is a contemporary romance set at a New York university. It's full of fluttery feelings, cozy campus vibes, and (for post-grads) college nostalgia.

We get a male POV through the main character, Emerson, a college athlete. He starts a group project with a cute girl in class, and his friend convinces him to ask her out by the time their group presentation is due. Emerson may be good-looking and reasonably confident in general, but when it comes to dating, his religious trauma has held him back. He's balancing his studies, workouts, athletic practice, and his own baggage, all while trying to impress Valeria and eventually ask her out.

The male POV was a nice change of pace from the standard romance POV. Emerson is likeable and surprisingly in touch with his own feelings and barriers, even when they are conflicting and get in the way.

Something else I really liked was the representation of autism with Emerson's friend Asher. He isn't overexplained, he just is the way he is, and his friends respect his preferences without thinking much of it.

What I think the author does best, in regards to the actual romance itself, is the snuggling. I found that the comfort, the sense of safety, and the butterflies of nearness were conveyed wonderfully. It legitimately made me want to spend the night snuggling!

I would have liked to see more of the overcoming of religious trauma and anxiety. Most of Emerson's internal debate has to do with logistics (when he should text Valeria, when he should make a move, what someone else might be thinking, etc.), when we're shown that he has a very visceral, physical reaction to religious shame around sex. The first time he starts to branch out sexually, it's a big deal, but after that, we're just told he "takes it slow" and everything is okay. I would have found it compelling if he continued to struggle physically, even if he felt things were progressing emotionally.

One yellow flag was a seemingly-random mention of AI. I think that the point of its inclusion was to hammer home the modernity of this story—there were mentions of TikTok, the pandemic, etc., so when Emerson Googles a question and sees the AI overview answer, it makes sense that in a modern world, it would be there. But I found the inclusion odd, especially because he relies on the answer, even when he'd searched proper articles when doing research beforehand. I kept thinking there was going to be some kind of lesson learned, where he shouldn't have relied on AI, but that lesson never came. There was a line about not telling Valeria he had relied on AI to answer a girl-related question, so maybe this will come back as a point of contention in the second book.

Overall, I had a good time with At Your Pace and would recommend.

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Sage T. Green, Author