Reviews

Just Hanging Out by Lillian Francis

mommasaystoread's review

4.0

A fun, quick read. Poor Shawn has a crush on his co-worker and manages to get himself in some uncomfortable situations with his daydreaming about that crush. The story flows well and is witty and often humorous. The only drawback for me was that I would've liked to have known more about the characters, but considering the length of the book and it's premise, it came together very well.

alisonalisonalison's review

2.0

This was cute initially, but I have really mixed feelings. I enjoyed the writing and I liked this a lot for the most part. That's why it gets two stars. Ahem. However (and this may be a spoiler, but it's implied in the blurb), giving a co-worker provocative underwear for secret Santa at a company holiday party is not okay. He even jokes about getting fired. Shawn's gift is pretty horrifying and thoroughly inappropriate and definitely, 100%, is sexual harassment. He's fully aware of that, which, on one hand, is good, but on the other hand, he still goes through with it, which makes him really icky. That part made me cringe so hard. He's very contrite and regretful (fortunately), and knows how stupid he's been, but I kind of wish he'd been told off properly by anyone and then really reprimanded by his employer, who was there when it happened (and somehow wasn't worried about a lawsuit or having to fire Shawn). This is a very short story and workplace disciplinary measures and harassment investigations aren't very cute or exciting to read, but still. Maybe I'm getting a bit too "real world" here and overthinking it, but as much as I liked Shawn as a character initially, the fact that he gave that gift under those circumstances is gross and I didn't like him so much afterwards. He should have done it in a private moment--that would have been perfect. The conflict in the story didn't need to be that particular conflict, and it's resolved so quickly and easily as to be unbelievable. I know this is a light romance short story, but it was a bit too implausible and unrealistic and icky for me to fully enjoy it. As Shawn points out: if he was giving this gift to a female co-worker, he would have been fired immediately. Why is it any different when it's a male co-worker? Why didn't he listen to his conscience?

ktomp17's review

3.0

I'm voluntarily reviewing a free advance reader copy I received from the author.

I liked the incorporation of pagan rituals and it was very interesting in that respect. The story between MC's (Shawn and Tim) was a little slow for me ot start. It took a little bit for me to really grasp the flow of the setting and characters. It was told from Shawn's POV, but it was a cute book.

lillian_francis's review

Currently available in Kindle Unlimited

http://mybook.to/JustHangingOut_LF