By: Melissa Ferguson
This is a wholesome, Hallmark-style novel that I would describe with “no door” romance. Basically, the main characters kiss at the end. Oh la la! I thought that parts of this book had a lot of potential, but the overall story did not really work for me. And, in fairness, in a workplace romance, I always have reservations when one character is the other character’s boss. It is just a fine line for an author to walk and I did not find it to be successful in this book.
A fact about me: I am not a fan of wacky, embarrassing scenarios that let us know that the heroine “is just like us.” Like, one time my coffee cup lid was not properly secured while I was walking on a crowded street and when I went to take a sip, it spilled all over my shirt. I looked and felt like a damn moron. So, I get it shit happens! But also can’t we just have a business woman doing business stuff without also slipping on her impossibly high heels and causing her to drop 250 pages of her highly secret romance novel manuscript in front of an entire company meeting that her new boss picks up and reads before handing it back to her? Can WE JUST HAVE IT ALL?!? That scene was too much.
Our heroine, Savannah, then dumps her secret manuscript on the floor of her secret hiding room that anyone go into? I understand this is the catalyst for the plot of the book but I do not understand? You already have it all the tote? Why dump it on the ground outside of the tote? Maybe just put the tote down? Or better yet, put the tote down next to your desk where you have all of your other things and I guarantee no one is going to find it there. This is again, not a smart business woman thing to do.
Also, when we learn about this weird workplace secret storage room, it is casually mentioned that Savannah accidentally found that room when she was having a bad day. You know, because Savannah’s supervisor was mad at her for going on a date with supervisor’s ex-boyfriend. Later, ee learn that Savannah was new to the job and did not realize this guy was her supervisor’s ex-boyfriend (which makes this guy a total shitty person! He knows this would be a terrible thing to do, but does it anyway and then we are supposed to like him in the end? No. Next).
There was a part near the middle of the book when I realized that Savannah is actually good at her job, and I wanted more of that character. Because, as written, she is actually just a wet blanket that people walk all over. When we learn that Savannah’s on and off again boyfriend of 8 (!!!!) years left her for her younger sister and he proposed to younger sister within 3 months of dating (wait, what?) And, Savannah’s parents were like, this is totally normal and pushed Savannah to forgive this huge betrayal (umm, what?) But, also Savannah lived in her younger sister’s condo, so the three of them would watch movies together on the living room couch? This…was just— dumb? Like no one would do this? And if people DID do this, everyone they know would talk nonstop about how this is insane. Anyway, not a fan of our girl, Savvy.
Will Pennington, our hero, is the son of the CEO of Pennington Publishing and his mother has recently hired him to join the namesake company. He is basically the second person in charge, after his mother. He is also bland, bland, bland. There is a part where he has tracked Savannah and one of her authors down at a honky tonk because he was “worried about her.” This made me uncomfortable as he is not even her direct supervisor, but supervises her supervisor’s supervisor. There are many levels. Dude, why are you following around this one editor’s assistant?
Will is also supposedly good at his job, but he makes several hiring or firing decisions based upon Savannah’s opinion of the coworker, and all he really knows about Savannah is that she is using company time to write her own romance novel in a secret storage room on the premises? Is she a very good judge of character? I think no.
The idea of this book was really intriguing to me. The plot just did not work for me.
🌟🌟/5
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0785231072/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1652461101&sr=8-1
Or your local, independent bookstore!