Reviews

Four new co-workers are thrown together to work on a project. An ice queen, an M&M junky, a super perky friend type, and a statistics addict. What could possibly go wrong?
Both of the main characters (ice-queen and M&M junky - yeah you know where I’m going with this lol) are so loveable and human.

Friendships and found family play such an important part of this story and I am so here for it. Some of my all time favourite things to find in books.

A. L Brooks writing is smooth and rich with emotion and heart. A great fast read with both main characters growing and becoming the people they had lost due to past heartbreaks.
An addictive read/listen … took me one day 😬😁

gayanyway's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

raven9949's review against another edition

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challenging lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

niceus's review against another edition

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lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

00leah00's review against another edition

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4.0

3.75

“A Heart to Trust” by A. L. Brooks is a sort-of enemies to lovers, opposites attract and workplace romance.
Jenny is a PA when her company is bought by a larger company. She then shortly meets the other PA’s with the new firm and is introduced to Olivia. Olivia is a UK transplant and comes across as cold and uptight at first glance. They, along with two others, are vying for the three openings the new company will have available for PA’s.
Olivia and Jenny’s personalities conflict with each other and these things lead to them making incorrect assumptions about each other. This leads them to butting heads and just not getting along for a while. Olivia is very professional and a bit more reserved and serious when at the workplace, however, she is quite warm and friendly once out of the office. Jenny, on the other hand, is more laid back about things. She likes to keep things a bit lighter and more fun while at work like playing desk basketball.
The workplace environment is front and center for most of the story. There are quite a few shenanigans, manipulations, and back stabbings going on as they try to prove who deserves the full-time positions. It went on a little long and in my opinion, made Jenny out to be a bit more naïve and gullible than I preferred. I wish she would’ve been a tad bit smarter and a bit quicker on the uptake about what was going on than what she was.
Another issue besides the office atmosphere for Jenny and Olivia is that Olivia is married. This is not a cheating story. She is married to her best friend, who is an ace/aro man. There are specific reasons for them being married, but it’s not for love like they are wanting people to believe. So, not only does Jenny think she’s married, she also thinks she is straight which of course makes her ignore any feelings she may be having in regards to Olivia.
Brooks wrote a nice group of secondary characters from Olivia’s husband, Broderick, who is very sweet and likable guy to Jenny’s friends/chosen family, Tamara, Roz and Carl. Jenny and Olivia’s co-workers, Chrissy and Maxwell, are both fun to read as well, especially Maxwell with all the statistics he liked the randomly toss out.
My only problem with “A Heart to Trust” is that the main characters don’t really start interacting until around the 40% mark. Up until then it’s seeing them in their personal lives or snarking at each other but never anything beyond that. The romance of the story didn’t truly begin until at about 80% so even though this could be classified by some as slow burn, it also felt rushed toward the end. This is okay if there’s going to be a follow-up story and we get to see them together. I hope that’s the case here.
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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