When We're Thirty

Written by Casey Dembowski

Narrated by Asia King and Curt Bonnem

Two friends. One pact. The performance of their lives. Hannah Abbott is stuck in a dead-end relationship and at a job she loves but that barely pays the bills. The four walls of her tiny New York City apartment have never seemed so small. She’s barely toasted her thirtieth birthday when her old college friend Will knocks on her door with an unexpected proposal.

Will Thorne never forgot the marriage pact he made with Hannah, but he also never imagined he’d be the one to initiate it. One ex-fiancée and an almost-career-ending mistake later, however, he finds himself outside Hannah’s door, on bended knee, to collect on their graduation-night pinky promise.

With both of their futures at stake, Hannah and Will take a leap of faith. Now, all they have to do is convince their friends and family that they’re madly in love. As long as they follow the list of rules they’ve drafted, everything should go smoothly. Except Will has never been good with rules, and Hannah can’t stop overthinking the sleeping arrangements. Turning thirty has never been so promising.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Productions
• Release date: Dec 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094433936

Casey Dembowski

Casey Dembowski loves to write stories that focus on the intricacies of relationships—whether romantic, familial, or platonic. Her novels focus on the inner workings of women and how everything in their lives leads them to exactly where they are, whether they like it or not. Casey lives in New Jersey with her family. She has an MFA in Fiction from Adelphi University and currently works in corporate marketing communications. In her (limited) spare time, she enjoys reading, baking, and watching her favorite television shows on repeat.

Reviews for When We're Thirty

[ladytessa431 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good story. Minimal spice. All the feels! Worth the time.

[abeermehilba · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Started off really well then took a dive to... nothing. The narration wasn't the best either.

[leautsch · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Too slow (reading and development of the story, 1 step forward three steps back), characters way too immature, listened to approx. 5 hours and gave up.

[Michelle Potter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Could not put this book down, easy to listen to. Happy ending but surprised by the journey look forward to reading more from this author

[Airmi Zolina · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A cute second chance romance that shows the relationship grow and develop.

[Lucia Garcia · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Light hearted, sweet, predictable. It is all I needed for this season.

[Patricia Devlin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The voice of Hannah read soooo slowly. I had to change the speed for her chapters then change it back for Will’s since his were read at a normal pace.

[Kaylan Bianca Beukes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a lovely and light read. The plot twists had me.

[SarahJane Spies · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely delightful! Definitely would have loved an epilogue of some sort, but I did genuinely enjoy the story, and I liked all of the characters—even Madison. Anyone looking for a cute friends to lovers story with a dash of marriage of convenience—this is a good one.

[CHRISTINA GUTIERREZ · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

While I enjoyed the book, I feel like there’s more to their story.

[Tayna · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Cute story, low on spice. Will and Hannah have a great love story, the low angst, mature response to conflict in this book was perfect. I hope the author writes books for Will's brothers, I'd love for both of them to get their own stories.

[Karen Chandler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a cute storyline of a pact that changes to love. This is a fun read with believable characters

[Diana Ramirez · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sweet story! Fast ending. Plot took a little long getting to the point. Would recommend to a colleague!

[Kaori · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It was really nice, had the ups n downs of life in it.

[Stacey Kennard · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this. Well written. Narration was okay. I honestly usually like a story with a bit more heat as I feel it adds to the relationship development, but this story didn’t need it. Only complaint I have is that the ending was so abrupt. Wish we could have had more closure and/or an epilogue.

[Kyra Forbutt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was an enjoyable read. I did feel at times that the author was in a rush to finish, so there was quite a lot left unfinished we never quite did get to see the downfall of the ‘villain’. They never had the opportunity to confront Jonathan. The ending created more questions.
The book itself was an easy read and the characters were lovely and somewhat relatable

[LM Rader · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A must read!!! All must have romance tropes are so well written with the perfect nuance to make it heartwarming and special...

[Imelda Fernandez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was great! Every chapter made my mind paint the story. It was exciting. I was engaged the whole time. I think it was a great love story!

[diana · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic book must read, would recommend to anyone, loved it ?

[Victoria Moore · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The plot was good. The beginning of the book was slow and I was getting bored listening to not important things like drinking coffee. I liked the characters. I wished there was more passion between them. The narration was too slow.

[Rebecca Jamison · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this.

Hannah Abbott is a music journalist working at a magazine. She and her best friend Kate have the closest bond but her relationship with boyfriend Brian isn't the one.

Soon after her thirtieth birthday, Will Thorne, an old friend of Hannah and Kate's from college, turns up at Hannah's doorstep brandishing an engagement ring and asking Hannah to marry him. Way back in college, they had a pact. If neither of them were married at thirty, they'd get married. This is a pact that I think everyone is familiar with but this novel puts a wonderful spin on it.

Hannah could do with his health benefits for her bad knee following a car accident, and Will needs to appear like he has his life together to his high-powered family of fellow lawyers, especially following his recent heartbreak.

Firstly, I loved every character. They were all so well developed and I felt immersed in their world. All their problems felt real. It wasn't an easy ride. I love a bit of forced proximity/fake dating where you know they'll end up together and the path runs smoothly, but this isn't the way for Hannah and Will. The turns in the plot were perfect and that scene where Hannah is interviewing Leonard Nulty, the lead singer of her favourite band, broke my heart a little following the recent disbanding of my own favourite! Highly recommend.

[Cassandra Bocanegra · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not going to lie took me way to long to know what’s actually going on and figure out who is who. Even thought I gave the audio speed up to 1.5x some how it was not fast enough. Once I knew what was going on the story is cute. Definitely something I would wish would happen to me as a 29 year old. But I don’t have any guy friends I liked or I knew liked me back then.

[Misty Beams · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Cute, light and entertaining read with a lot of feel good moments

[Twyla Waithe · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

it's ok but is missing alot for private details between the characters

[Kim Eylander · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was lovely getting to know the characters. The narration was ??I look forward to more.

[Sara Workman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When We’re Thirty, Casey Dembowski’s 2021 debut novel, and wholly moley it is the CUTEST. I didn’t know anything going in and I was extremely surprised. I loved it. Casey needs all the hype because this book was exceptional!!

“Marriage is a risk, a leap of faith, perhaps more so than any other choice in your life. Because it is a choice. You’re choosing each other……”

Hannah and Will were best friends in college who drifted apart after graduation, until the day Will shows up at Hannah’s door on one knee with a ring in hand. He is ready to fulfill their pinky promise sworn college pact, that if neither were married at the age of 30, they would get married. Hannah just turned 30 and just broke up with her boyfriend.

Hannah - dead end relationship, job she adores but barely covers the bills, and a bum knee.
Will - demanding jerk of a father, rich, heartbroken, and judged at every corner for his instability.

Hannah can give Will the appearance of stability, which will show his father he is ready to move up the family business ladder. Will can give Hannah health insurance. Two people ready to say “I do” for convenience, all the while not realizing how much they actually need each other.

I loved all the characters in this book! Hold on……I lied…..I did NOT like Madison. Madison is EW, but written very well. Hannah is in love with her dog which I could completely relate to, she is easy to love because her life is real, which is refreshing. She has the coolest job, loves music, and Kate, her best friend, is a friend everyone needs in their life. Plus, her boss Riley, is AMAZING. Seriously, I want her boss! Will is a total cinnamon roll of a character. Sweet, caring, kind, and just so cute. Watching him navigate the struggles with his family and ex-fiancé was essential and real and I just wanted to give him a big hug. Both characters have their flaws but are truly authentic and it was fun to see them come together.

“You were the one person in my life who didn’t look at me with complete pity. I couldn’t lose that.”

Hannah and Will have a slow-burn relationship, they didn’t fall immediately in love, there were obstacles and hoops to jump through. They respected each other and at the end of the day their story wasn’t just about sex. I do love me some smut, but stories like these are refreshing.

“Sometimes the way you fit back together after you’ve been broken is better than the way it used to be."

Ya’ll, I freaking adored this book. Casey’s writing is fun, fast paced, and really immerses you in the setting and characters of the book. When We’re Thirty is an unconventional “marriage of convenience” trope that just works. I already have book two downloaded on my Kindle!!

[AJ · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sweet story. A little too much contrived drama. When the character is literally thinking the things that they could say to fix a misunderstanding but never says them...but there was a great amount of detail in the side characters that really fleshed out this story well.

[sandra shugars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I would like to give the story 4 1/2 stars. It would have gotten five stars only the audio version female narrator sounded stilted in her narration.

[Mekke Joseph Orie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It’s a good story but I don’t why Authors like to create self sabotaging main characters to add more pages into a book. Some of the conflicts kind of drag to the point there no character development. However I’m a sucker for romance so it was good overall.

[Carrie Nevarez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was cute and the conflict was believable. Enjoyable read.