Things We Never Got Over Review (With Summary & Age Rating)

If you love spicy viral books, this Things We Never Got Over review is for you. It explores exactly what makes this Lucy Score book so popular and beloved. You’ll get all the details you need to know (without any spoilers). Let’s spice things up!

Like so many readers, I first heard of the Knockemout series through TikTok. Well, it was a little too spicy for me, but my high school friend (a spicy romance reader) reached out to me as she was reading it, and she had so much to say about this series that she became a writer on this site to write about them! So, what you will read in this Things We Never Got Over review are mostly her words, with my edits and a few of my thoughts sprinkled in.

Naomi shows up to help her twin, Tina, who lives in Knockemout, and there, she meets the brooding perpetually single local bartender/barber, Knox Morgan.

Naomi’s twin, Tina, is her polar opposite and always seems to be up to no good. Although Tina exits the story fairly quickly (not a spoiler), she leaves behind her 11-year-old daughter, Waylay, and with no other family in town, Naomi is the only logical choice to care for her.

Naomi and Knox are immediately attracted to one another but dance around their magnetism, as neither is looking for or desiring a relationship. As the story progresses, however, their connection is undeniable and they soon throw out all the rules they’ve set in place.

Things We Never Got Over, despite being a romance book at its core, also features an entertaining cast of supporting characters and many unexpected plot twists. Naomi’s new life in Knockemout isn’t an easy one, as she faces a custody battle, a new job, the return of her evil twin, organized crime bosses, and tries to manage her feelings for Knox at the same time.

In a town where things seemed so simple when she arrived and everything was handled with a handshake, why did Knockemout, Virginia turn into the most complicated town in the country for Naomi Witt?

Things We Never Got Over was a quick read despite being over 500 pages. That being said, some parts, and even characters, were unnecessary, and the book could have gotten its point across in around 300 pages.

Some parts of Things We Never Got Over were tremendously cheesy. For example, Knox owns a restaurant and brings brownies and Midol to the female servers once a month when they are on “Shark Week” since their cycles are synced. The chapter then describes the women walking around the restaurant wearing heating patches on their bellies and eating brownies. That is not only far-fetched but also unrealistic.

Speaking of far-fetched, Naomi’s best friend Stef visits her, then essentially just stays for the entire book. Her parents do the same. The reader is unrealistically left to believe that these normal people are just flocking to Knockemout, joining in the BBQs and festivities, and living as one happy big joyous family.

When I say there are unexpected twists and turns in Things We Never Got Over, I very much mean that. I do not think any reader who began this story and learned about small town, U.S.A., its sexy bartender, and its wide-eyed newcomer expected it to take turns involving a crime boss, kidnappings, gunned-down police chief, and poker games with questionable characters, but alas, it’s all in there.

For a spicy romance novel, the last quarter of Things We Never Got Over was a bit of a reach as it attempted to cross the line into thriller territory. While I understand the story needed more depth, I am unsure if this plot twist really worked. It felt a bit forced.

All of that being said, I did really enjoy Things We Never Got Over. It was fast-paced, and some of the characters, particularly the main characters, were very well-developed. Score’s description of the town deserves a nod, since I felt I could picture Knockemout perfectly.

And the spice, well, if you like it… it’s very much there. This was, at its core, a romance of two unlikely people, and the witty supporting cast that surrounded them was more than entertaining.

One thing I loved about Things We Never Got Over is that Knox was 43 years old. As a fortysomething myself, I especially notice that the majority, if not all, of the books I read in the romance genre, focus on characters in their 20s or early 30s. Kudos to Score for making her leading man a bit older and therefore more relatable to people in my age category.