After reading several fast paced and loud books in a row it was nice to slow down with a quiet book.
Anthony Woods has had a crush on his best friend and business partner’s sister, Gwen, for a long time and has dealt with it by avoiding her as much as possible. Gwen has recently ended a long term relationship amicably, and she feels like she need to get the romance part of her life sorted. She signs up with a matchmaking service to weed out the unserious and ensure a level of compatibility.
When Anthony needs to move out of his apartment for several weeks for repairs, he initially stays with Duncan, Gwen’s brother, but then finds himself shuffled off to Gwen’s pull-out couch. No one has any idea that Anthony has a crush on Gwen.
Despite Anthony doing his best to stay away from Gwen, they do manage to spend time together and becomes friends. And sometimes more. But they still don’t talk to each other and certainly not about the feelings growing between them. As a reader, the lack of talking was occasionally frustrating, but it was also realistic (even their friends are frustrated with them). And let’s not forget, part of the tragedy of Chekhov’s The Three Sisters is all the things they do not say. The joy of romance is that you get the happy ending. Even when I was saying, “really, you’re not going to talk now?” I knew by the end that the conversation would be had. On the plus side, all of the characters are so lovely and I enjoyed spending time with them, even when I wanted to yell at them.
When they do finally talk about their feelings it is cathartic. Anthony and Gwen together are funny and warm. While he is bad at talking about his feelings, he is good at dirty talk. The heat level was higher than I anticipated.
This was the first book I’ve read from Mimi Grace, though I have Make a Scene on my TBR. I’m looking forward to going back and reading it. She fleshed out her characters and their world very nicely. She made Gwen and Anthony fully human – smart and stupid at the same time.
CW: the horrors of dating, injury, divorced parents, anxiety, microaggressions, rats.
I received and advance reader copy from the author. My opinions are my own.
