I divide Nora Roberts’ books into three categories: The good, the sublime, and the rest. Guess where this one falls.

For Laurel McBane, Delaney Brown is the One. He’s her best friend’s brother and she knows he’s never seen her as anything but a surrogate sister and very good friend. So she hides her love under a layer of gentle sniping and light antagonism. Now she and her friends own a successful wedding planning business, and Laurel loves astounding the clients with her baking. Then one afternoon, her relationship with Del changes forever.

There is a vast difference between character-driven and character-plodding, and Ms. Roberts crosses the line. They argue. They kiss. They date. They have sex. They argue. He proposes. The end. And that’s all. There is so little internal conflict it’s practically a non-issue, and there’s no external conflict at all. We can all do with a good character-driven story, but this takes it to the extreme.

Personally, I blame the optimism and series-itis, which is more worthy of La-La Land than reality. I was drowned in good feelings. Happily engaged friends with excellent sex lives! Happy wedding clients who’ll live happily ever after! Happy girlfriends (BFFs, natch) and happy manly guy friends! Well, call me a Grinch, call me a grouch, but all that sunshine is tiring. And bottom line, it’s boring.

Of course, this is Nora Roberts, which means she executes the rainbows and hearts with maximum style. The baking descriptions made me melt, and Ms. Roberts’ prose is snappy and enjoyable. There’s also nothing wrong, per se, with our two main characters – they’re smart and communicative but flawed enough to appeal to lesser mortals.

But that was all. The book engaged all of my superficial attention and none of my emotional depth. Whichever way you look at it, that’s disappointing.