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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow this was cute and funny and sometimes spicy! Like I'll be thinking about one scene in particular for awhile... I also loved all the Chicago details, I could totally picture where they were a lot if the time.
Some suspension of disbelief is required to enjoy reading this novel but if you can find yourself in the brain space to read it as a fun, fluffy, palate cleanser you will like it!
I found the main character to be periodically frustrating, but that's a common occurrence with lots of romance heroines.
I found the main character to be periodically frustrating, but that's a common occurrence with lots of romance heroines.
Brinkley is in the revenge business. Sometimes that means bringing injustice to light and righting wrongs. Sometimes, it's a little more murky.
When one of her cases goes sideways, her target ends up working for her as a trainee—the target who charmed her into letting her guard down, along with her panties. Yeah, that guy.
Then she learns he's interviewing for a professorship at the university where her mother teaches. As their lives get more entwined, she finds herself letting him past more and more of her barriers. But is he worthy of her trust?
I'm not a fan of revenge storylines, so I was happy to find that this book doesn't glamorize revenge. It does lead to some awkward and sometimes hilarious situations, though. There were several laugh-out-loud moments for me, and some frankly brilliant word play. Yet this book has more depth than most rom coms, as well as some steamy scenes. It's an insightful and entertaining novel.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
When one of her cases goes sideways, her target ends up working for her as a trainee—the target who charmed her into letting her guard down, along with her panties. Yeah, that guy.
Then she learns he's interviewing for a professorship at the university where her mother teaches. As their lives get more entwined, she finds herself letting him past more and more of her barriers. But is he worthy of her trust?
I'm not a fan of revenge storylines, so I was happy to find that this book doesn't glamorize revenge. It does lead to some awkward and sometimes hilarious situations, though. There were several laugh-out-loud moments for me, and some frankly brilliant word play. Yet this book has more depth than most rom coms, as well as some steamy scenes. It's an insightful and entertaining novel.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Revenge plots are my catnip so even though this can read like a couple of petty and immature adults to most people, I gobbled it up. They aren't wrong about the immaturity of the MCS; I just found the revenge for hire concept really fun.
Thanks to Gallery Books and Netgalley for my copy to review.
Thanks to Gallery Books and Netgalley for my copy to review.
It’s hard to describe specifically why I DNFed this one. It felt very “tell not show” right from the start. I thought the premise would be fun but the straightforward/choppy writing style didn’t work for me. Maybe it was that the protagonist Brinkley also thought in black & white, with quite abrupt decisions that were not thought out on the page so I failed to follow them or see the logic. On her second “date” she is abruptly seduced by the guy, almost immediately? Why? They kiss/lightly grope each other briefly at the bar and somehow Brinkley claims to be on the brink of an orgasm as a result? How.
Here’s an example of the baffling writing style/lack of logic. Brinkley plans to bump into him at an art supply store, they reach for the same book “accidentally” and exchange 5 (short) sentences each. And then somehow this happens:
Here’s an example of the baffling writing style/lack of logic. Brinkley plans to bump into him at an art supply store, they reach for the same book “accidentally” and exchange 5 (short) sentences each. And then somehow this happens:
“The metal detector.” His low voice held the tremor of a growl, like he was giving me a preview of exactly what he’d sound like when he came.
This happened on page eighteen, for their SIXTH extremely non-flirty/non-sexual sentence to each other. To be clear, other sentence examples included “Don’t be.” and him saying his name with a “Mark.” So for her to be imaging what he sounded like mid-orgasm was a surprise. It just felt weirdly sexual and completely out of place in the context. “Weirdly sexual” is not something I say often, as I am a gal who loves smut. But again, I think that’s bc I wasn’t “shown” their sexual chemistry, I was “told” it.
This is not a dealbreaker but now that I’m ranting I’ll note this as well: somehow he smelled like “light rain and moonlit nights.” What. At one point he had “storm cloud eyes” and then later they were “the color of tornados.”
Basically I was frowning for the entire 46 pages so I figured I should DNF.
Loved this book! Really strong beginning and the conclusion of everyone's story. It did get a tad slow in the beginning and I wish I had an epilogue but overall loved the characters and the storyline. Some of Brinkley's antics as a Heartbreaker had me literally laughing out loud at times.
3.5 - This is a fast, funny, at times ridiculous but also poignant enemies to lovers, slow burn open door romance between two reluctant co-workers who have LOADS of chemistry! Brinkley is an aspiring artist who got dumped badly and found new confidence working as a heartbreaker for a company that seeks revenge on men who have treated women horribly. When Mark, one of her former targets gets hired by her employer, the two are forced to work together and the sparks start to really fly. While Brinkley begins to question the ethics of what she does and find the courage to open her own art studio, she also has to deal her disapproving mother, who wanted her to stay on the academic career track. Mark on the other hand wants nothing more than to find tenure at a University and will go to any lengths to achieve this goal, ultimately leading to a betrayal that will jeopardize their HEA.
I liked this one but didn’t love it. I wanted to get inside Mark’s head more - he was just a bit too one dimensional for my tastes and I had a hard time forgiving him for what he did. Recommended for those that enjoy their romance with lots of humor, heavy steam, and can appreciate a hot guy in a sweater vest. For fans of other enemies to lovers office romances like The hating game, Shipped or The Ex-talk.
I liked this one but didn’t love it. I wanted to get inside Mark’s head more - he was just a bit too one dimensional for my tastes and I had a hard time forgiving him for what he did. Recommended for those that enjoy their romance with lots of humor, heavy steam, and can appreciate a hot guy in a sweater vest. For fans of other enemies to lovers office romances like The hating game, Shipped or The Ex-talk.
I have mixed feelings with this book. I didn't like the H4H owner or the cut-throught academia world. But I did like that this enemies to lovers Rom-com novel was set in Chicago ( it's doesn't come by that often) but I also liked the artistic side of our female lead, Brinkley.
Not a fan. Didn't like the writing or the plot. It felt like there were huge leaps in conversations like I'd missed a few seconds of the book, but nope. Then later in the book it started referring to inside character tells that we were supposed to know which weren't mentioned until that very moment. The dialog was super off too.