I was delighted when Charish Reid offered an advance reader copy of (Trust) Falling for You in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed her previous books The Write Escape and Hearts on Hold. She writes entertaining and heartfelt romances set in academia and centers them around Black women.
In (Trust) Falling for You, the humanities department at a small liberal arts college goes on a week long team building retreat. Yolanda and her nemesis, Samuel, have to bunk together and are matched as team building partners. Yolanda resents that Samuel got the grant she applied for, but thinks he has a nice butt. Samuel doesn’t know why Yolanda doesn’t like him and doesn’t know how to talk to her. They are opposites forced to work together, Yolanda is a Pantser and Samuel is a Plotter. After a few spectacular failures, they start listening to each other and build trust. With the hostility out of the way, their attraction grows.
There are a lot of ways to do the opposites attract, and I really like the way Reid approaches her characters’ differences. Neither is right, neither is wrong, and both are capable of growth. Though they both roll their eyes at the team building exercises, the forced proximity and cooperation spurs the growth of understanding and trust. They move from not understanding why the other was so upset about that small thing, to trusting each other enough to admit insecurities and apologize, and then trolling Yolanda’s matches on Tinder together. Once they start flirting, the sexual tension ramps up.
By the end of the retreat, it feels like they have a solid friendship base to go with their simmering heat in bed. The process of watching them get there, admitting vulnerabilities and making little compromises to give each other room to be themselves was a joy. I’m only sad the bear didn’t get more time. After three books, I am fully on the Charish Reid bandwagon. I enjoy spending time with her characters. (Trust) Falling For You is out February 19.