Book Review: Pot Shot by Laura Piper Lee

Official Synopsis: Nomi Wyeth, former valedictorian and current pothead, has her heart set on opening her own boutique cannabis dispensary in charming downtown Sparrow Nook, New Jersey. Cannabis changed Nomi’s life, giving her relief from Crohn’s disease when nothing else could, and it’s her dream to help others find the same peace and comfort she has. But Nomi’s plans are rudely interrupted when Dr. Julian D’Angelo, former salutatorian and current asshole, returns to Sparrow Nook with a chip on his shoulder, a probation to serve at the medical practice next door, and a lifelong vendetta against weed.

When an unfortunate shaving accident lands Nomi onto Julian’s exam table, Julian is appalled to discover that his high school nemesis is still inconveniently gorgeous, still hates his guts, and worst of all, that she’s planning on opening an amoral weed bordello next to his clinic. War is the only answer and definitely not an excuse to keep running into witty, free-spirited Nomi.

As they battle each other all over Sparrow Nook, from “pot luck” fundraisers to public debates at City Council meetings, their fraught pasts and feelings for each other become harder and harder to ignore. It’s tough to say what will change first—their minds or their hearts—but one thing’s for sure: they’re not going down without a fight.

Nomi Wyeth was meant to go far, but when Crohn's disease decided to make her life hell, especially when she started having allergic reactions to the 'normal' drugs, she had to find another way to make it day to day without being in intense pain. Instead of going to pharmacy school, Nomi ends up looking into the marijuana industry, waiting for the day she has saved enough money to open her own dispensary in her small hometown. When everything finally looks like its lining up, the perfect location in an old pharmacy, enough savings to hopefully start the dream, and two friends who are ready to help...Nomi can't help but finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

That is until her high school rival, and crush, moves back to Sparrow Nook as a new family doctor. Julian D'Angelo left after high school to become a doctor, moving to Philly and leaving the town with his entire extended family behind, and now he is working on blocking Nomi from opening the dispensary that will help many of the residents of the town. Nomi can't help but start to bicker and fight with him, especially when his opinions on the weed industry are just...wrong. When Julian has a hard time with one of the clinics patients, he finds himself in another ultimatum...learn about how medical cannabis can help people, or not the recommendation he needs to return to Philly.

Now Julian and Nomi are forced to spend days together while Nomi teaches him about how cannabis can help people who western medicine is just simply not working for, slowly changing his opinion of both weed and how the medical industry works as a whole. But his former threats against the dispensary are still working against Nomi, even if his personal opinion has changed, meaning that no matter what she might lose her dream to him. When they start to realize that they both may have never worked past their high school feelings, they end up falling for each other fast. But both of them are still keeping parts of themselves hidden away, and that may change everything about how they feel.

So for one, this book is hilarious, even with its darker/more real themes at times, this book is definitely a comedy in its soul. The first two chapters had me laughing out loud. Julian is not the most likeable character at first, but honestly he grew on me really fast. Nomi has trouble telling people about how sick she actually is at times, which is something I can totally understand. I really liked the silliness overall of the story, along with Julian having a very large, very nosy Italian family that just constantly rips on him. Overall this book is a funny, sometimes serious, romance that by the end has your just feeling good (once you move past the moments where you want to punch Julian.)

Overall, I really enjoyed the comparisons between Julian and Nomi, both really smart kids who felt like they had their own things to prove. I liked seeing the different paths they took but how those paths merged in the end. Nomi wants to help people who have been 'left behind' by some of the more modern medicine, offering alternatives but also supplemental help to them, and the moments where she is sharing that with Julian and showing him how she can help too are really great. But also, any book with chronic illness representation really means a lot to me.

I rated this book 3.5 out of 5 stars!

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