This has all the bones of a good romance novel, but unfortunately there were more things that I disliked than things I liked. Let’s start with the good – I actually really grew to like the hero, who starts out being a real jerk but develops such deep feelings for our heroine that I couldn’t help but like him. I also thought the premise was interesting – an office romance where things have already taken a turn for the sexual before they start working together. The relationship evolves over time and I could definitely see the changes.
Essentially, the story follows Sam (female) and Ryan, two people who meet in a bar. Sam’s had a rough day, and finds herself drawn to the grumpy, rude guy next to her. Inexplicably, she finds herself having a steamy night with him… only to discover that he’s the new employee working for her company. As Ryan’s new boss, it would be completely inappropriate to start a relationship – especially considering he is anything but her normal type – but spending time together leads to a deeper attraction, and that leads to all sorts of trouble.
So we talked about all the things that I liked… and now it’s time to get to the reason why I’m rating this 2 stars. The writing had a clunky feel that made it difficult to get into the story, focusing more on events that occur rather than the actual connection between the characters. I didn’t really feel the chemistry here; normally when you read a romance novel that starts with a one night stand, the book either picks up after the event has taken place, or spends more time on developing the attraction and setting the scene. Here were see Sam and Ryan meet, him be a total jerk, and her (drunkenly) fall into bed with him for no apparent reason – all within the first few pages. Then when they start working together, the power dynamic was extremely off-putting. I appreciated the gender swap (her being his boss), but there were just so many comments about him being her underling and job performance, etc. that it became a problem. I also didn’t love how far into the book Ryan had self esteem issues – he was just grateful for anything that he could get, and that rubbed me the wrong way. As you can see, my list of complaints is much longer than my list of compliments, so while there were definitely things I enjoyed, I can’t say this really worked for me. I appreciated receiving an ARC and am voluntarily leaving a review of this office romance.
Releases March 13th
Kindle Edition: https://amzn.to/3aLjm4U
Blurb:
Sam Huxton doesn’t do one-night stands, especially not with men she’s just met! But the hot guy at the bar was hard to resist and one night is all they share – no names, no numbers, just some much needed fun…
Until the same guy walks into Sam’s life the next day as her new employee. Sam never mixes business with pleasure and makes it clear an office fling with Ryan is off-limits. But after-hours…one thing can lead to another. Can Sam trust her heart and her business with the new guy?
Jeeves Reads Romance 
Leave a Reply