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ndouglas11's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. This was a cute and enjoyable read with refreshing mcs but it was so much shorter than expected and I wished there had been more substance
breadedbookpages's review against another edition
4.0
DatDBS is quite a gentle book. It has an anxious fat heroine who signs up with a reality TV and is selected, but her boyfriend breaks up with her with only a short while to the filming so she asks her coworker to step in. The coworker she hates.
At first, I was worried just how Dade would turn the whole plot on its head with the whole Hate-to-lovers trope since it seemed that all of Callie's complaints about Thomas were legit. They still are legit even when we delve into Thomas's point of view and experience just how deeply he has fallen in love with her over the past several months they began working together.
There is however one comment about asexuality that I didn't think was quite necessary. It's when Thomas comments on how he isn't asexual, he wants sex. Asexuality does not equal being sex repulse and vice versa. A person who is asexual can be interested and have an enjoyable time having sex.
The book is quite short and it's extremely delicate in caring for Callie's anxiety. I wished it was longer, so we could see more of Thomas. Overall, this is a satisfying romance.
At first, I was worried just how Dade would turn the whole plot on its head with the whole Hate-to-lovers trope since it seemed that all of Callie's complaints about Thomas were legit. They still are legit even when we delve into Thomas's point of view and experience just how deeply he has fallen in love with her over the past several months they began working together.
There is however one comment about asexuality that I didn't think was quite necessary. It's when Thomas comments on how he isn't asexual, he wants sex. Asexuality does not equal being sex repulse and vice versa. A person who is asexual can be interested and have an enjoyable time having sex.
The book is quite short and it's extremely delicate in caring for Callie's anxiety. I wished it was longer, so we could see more of Thomas. Overall, this is a satisfying romance.
rosewelsh's review
3.0
If you want a sure fire way to make sure I read your book, just classify it as "librarian romance."
Callie is a librarian in a Research Library who has recently broken up with a terrible ex-boyfriend. Problem is, she and aformentioned ex are supposed to be the stars of a reality show called Island Match, where she and her partner will have an all expenses paid vacation. Callie NEEDS this vacation. She's been working her ass off and suffering with this terrible dude for so long, a week on a beautiful island is what she deserves damnit. However when she calls the producers to tell them her ex is out of the picture, she also spills that she is dating someone new. A co-worker. Who she is notably not really dating, but man is he a dreamboat.
Thomas McKinney is a fellow librarian working alongside Callie. Whereas she is a multi-tasker, capable of handling so many things and once with aplomb, Thomas is the opposite. He can only concentrate on one thing at a time, which causes Callie to feel anxious as she always has to pick up his slack. I feel deeply that I would also strangle Thomas. Truth is, Thomas has always been in love with Callie, and gets nervous around her and forgets how to do his job, which leads to her thinking he's frustrating and annoying. When she asks him to play the part of her boyfriend, he jumps at the chance to fix the view she may have of him.
Over the course of the week, Callie and Thomas play the role of happy couple. As this is a novella and just shy of 150 pages, things move very quickly when it comes to their relationship. They actually admit feelings for one another far earlier than I imagined they would, and they managed to handle it in a pretty adult manner with far less communication issues than I expected. Thomas is basically a perfect dude in that he listens to her and talks her through her anxiety without trying to necessarily 'fix' Callie in any way. That being said I found Thomas to be kind of boring? He's almost one dimensional in that he's basically a character created to appease Callie. He goes out of his way to communicate with her and help with her needs but I didn't get the feeling that the reverse was very true. She obviously cared about him but the book read more as the story of a woman looking for acceptance from a man regarding her anxiety rather than looking for love in some ways. I don't know how to explain it. It may be due to the fact that the book is so short it's hard to build a lot of emotional depth, but it was still something noticeable. Overall, a quick love story that was a nice read.
Though someone please tell Olivia Dade to stop using "mercurial." She uses it correctly, don't get me wrong. She just uses it about 7 times in the novella and man did it stick out to me. No one uses that word in every day conversation so every time I saw it in writing it popped out. Very random, does not affect the writing at all just a pet peeve.
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Callie is a librarian in a Research Library who has recently broken up with a terrible ex-boyfriend. Problem is, she and aformentioned ex are supposed to be the stars of a reality show called Island Match, where she and her partner will have an all expenses paid vacation. Callie NEEDS this vacation. She's been working her ass off and suffering with this terrible dude for so long, a week on a beautiful island is what she deserves damnit. However when she calls the producers to tell them her ex is out of the picture, she also spills that she is dating someone new. A co-worker. Who she is notably not really dating, but man is he a dreamboat.
Thomas McKinney is a fellow librarian working alongside Callie. Whereas she is a multi-tasker, capable of handling so many things and once with aplomb, Thomas is the opposite. He can only concentrate on one thing at a time, which causes Callie to feel anxious as she always has to pick up his slack. I feel deeply that I would also strangle Thomas. Truth is, Thomas has always been in love with Callie, and gets nervous around her and forgets how to do his job, which leads to her thinking he's frustrating and annoying. When she asks him to play the part of her boyfriend, he jumps at the chance to fix the view she may have of him.
Over the course of the week, Callie and Thomas play the role of happy couple. As this is a novella and just shy of 150 pages, things move very quickly when it comes to their relationship. They actually admit feelings for one another far earlier than I imagined they would, and they managed to handle it in a pretty adult manner with far less communication issues than I expected. Thomas is basically a perfect dude in that he listens to her and talks her through her anxiety without trying to necessarily 'fix' Callie in any way. That being said I found Thomas to be kind of boring? He's almost one dimensional in that he's basically a character created to appease Callie. He goes out of his way to communicate with her and help with her needs but I didn't get the feeling that the reverse was very true. She obviously cared about him but the book read more as the story of a woman looking for acceptance from a man regarding her anxiety rather than looking for love in some ways. I don't know how to explain it. It may be due to the fact that the book is so short it's hard to build a lot of emotional depth, but it was still something noticeable. Overall, a quick love story that was a nice read.
Though someone please tell Olivia Dade to stop using "mercurial." She uses it correctly, don't get me wrong. She just uses it about 7 times in the novella and man did it stick out to me. No one uses that word in every day conversation so every time I saw it in writing it popped out. Very random, does not affect the writing at all just a pet peeve.
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lydiahephzibah's review against another edition
2.0
This really didn't work for me despite loving other works by Olivia Dade. We're completely thrown in the deep end with the characters and their situation which is never really explained, and what did the TV show have to do with anything? There was no explanation about why she's on it or what it's for, what the purpose of it is, and it seems to have very little impact on the story - there's barely any filming or crew involvement. This just didn't make enough sense.
jessiereads98's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
chemistryreads's review against another edition
3.0
This is a super quick read, but is honestly forgettable for me. I’ve loved other Olivia Dade books, but maybe with the shorter length, there just isn’t the depth I’m used to with her writing. I love the anxiety and nerdiness representation, along with the body positivity, however, you can only use the word lush so many times before it gets cheesy. This was just a little too cheesy overall, but still enjoyable while I read it.
anabelsbrother's review against another edition
4.0
He was hers. She'd claimed him. What else could he do but follow?
I just LOVE a book where the hero is completely gone for the heroine, especially if the hero is a cinnamon roll like Thomas. He obviously worships the ground Callie walks on and it's just so much fun to see.
NOW if I could only find my own cinnamon roll, and not the baked goods kind this time-
E-ARC is received thanks to the wonderful author!
izzief's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
m_l_valentine's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
stephsbookrecs's review against another edition
4.0
This was a cute and quick read. I love Olivia Dade books and even though this was short she still managed to pack in complex characters with real problems. My only complaint is that I wish this had been a full length novel.