Sometimes a book earns your attention long before you ever read the first page.

That’s exactly what happened with I Thought You Said This Would Work. Its bright yellow cover and retro-inspired halftone texture kept catching my eye every time I scrolled through my Kindle library.

But the design also left me slightly puzzled. The bold 3D typography and playful illustration hinted at humor, yet the styling didn’t quite match the emotional depth the story promised.

Once I finally pressed “read,” though, the book turned out to be something entirely different from what I expected: a heartfelt road-trip story about friendship, forgiveness, and the messy process of becoming who you’re meant to be.

The Cover

I Thought You Said This Would Work immediately catches the eye by using bright yellow with complementary turquoise blue and peachy orange. The grainy effect of a halftone print texture gives this an “old school” print quality that speaks to the designer in me. However, paired with the harsh 3D extrusion, it goes from feeling slightly nostalgic to DIY looking. The way that the words seem to sit on top of the flat background is a little visually distorted. I’d almost expect something like this from a book that was specifically about design, but it doesn’t actually make much sense for the content. The illustration is quite cute and does speak to the content. I would have liked to see a different typeface interplay with the background. Or perhaps, the same typeface but without the 3D effect.

Interior

I Thought You Said This Would Work was a simply formatted ebook with no noticeable errors.

Did the design affect whether I bought the book?

Probably. I bought I Thought You Said This Would Work a long time ago, and it has sat on my Kindle for ages. I notice it every time I scroll past it and think, “I should read that…what was it about again?” Now I know, it was worth the purchase!

Something I love about Garvin’s characters in I Thought You Said This Would Work is that they each exist on a continuum. They are not static. She represents who they were in the past, when they met and began their friendship, and who they are after all they have been through. Then, during the course of the story, they evolve further. The characters feel real because they are struggling, changing, and emoting all over the place.

The animal characters in I Thought You Said This Would Work mirror their counterparts. A lovely way to simplify and showcase the relationships outside of the characters themselves.

The first-person narrative for Sam, our main character, is written in simple terms and a bit of colloquial language you might expect from a middle-aged Wisconcinite woman. She talks to herself out loud a bit, breaking up her internal monologue, and making her more relatable. Humor and hijinks keep the tone light despite a deeply emotional subject matter.

While the story of I Thought You Said This Would Work is marketed as a friendship tale, I’d argue that the main theme is self-healing. Friendship, loyalty, and sacrifice are all part of the journey as Samantha faces her own shortcomings, impending empty nest, loneliness, and mortality.

I Thought You Said This Would Work is not a full-on tear-jerker, but it might make you misty-eyed. There is a sense of humor about the whole adventure that lifts you while still stirring the well of emotion. Other women’s fiction can at times lean a little harder toward heartbreak, so this was a fresh take.

I really enjoyed I Thought You Said This Would Work. I had hesitations, because I don’t read a lot of books about friendship, but I was pleasantly surprised. The story moved along at a moderate pace. It was really easy to get invested in this journey and the people on it.

This is a feel-good read that felt like spring. Sit with some sun on your face and sip a cool glass of lemonade. Read this heartwarming tale, then plan your own summer adventure.

I read this to fulfill the Playing Card Reading Challenge prompt: Read a book about friendship.

Here are 12+ books about friendship to read now!

Are you still friends with your college roommate(s)?

May your life be as full as your bookshelf and as long as your TBR list.

Happy Reading!