I picked up Partner Track partly because the cover is so objectively terrible I felt like they were trying to keep me from reading the book. But I had also heard that even though it looks like it takes place in a megachurch, the book was high heat. The book does have a lot of sex and does not take place in a megachurch.
Perdie is an associate at a firm in Charleston, SC. When we meet her, she is in a deposition and just about to eat the opposing counsel, Carter Leplan, for lunch. I love seeing characters we are told are smart and competent be smart and competent. It was great. For a minute.
Perdie is a mess, and I usually like a mess, but, everything in Partner Track is mess. The plot careens from scene to scene without a lot of sense of direction. A lot bothered me in the book, but here are three things that took this from tolerable to intolerable.
- Carter Leplan, takes a partner position at Perdie’s lawfirm. He takes the position he knows she wants (knowing they weren’t even considering her does not make his actions ok), he does it without discussing it with her, he is senior to her in authority, he still wants to have a romantic relationship with her. Putting himself in a position of authority over her with the goal of having a relationship with her is an act of bad faith. And then he tells Perdie she needs to do more to fight for their relationship all I can say is, “nope!” I realize that we forgive a lot of red flags in romance, but I can’t forgive that red flag.
- Perdie blocks Lucille’s boyfriend’s number on Lucille’s phone without her consent. (Yes, Lucille had done something equally bad, yes they agree to be better at boundaries, but Perdie lost me at that point and it was way too early in the book for Perdie to lose me).
- The death of Bananas the Pug. It’s not that I think animals can’t die in romances. Beloved pets die and that can be a part of a character’s emotional arc. However, in this book it just felt kind of pointless.
There are some nice moments between characters, some good bits of banter, and if you’re in it for the smut, it’s got good smut.
CWs: lots of alcohol, misogyny, sex pest boss, power imbalance relationship, the dog dies near the end.
I received this as an advance reader copy from Carina Press and NetGalley. My opinions are my own.
