Sigh herein lies the risk when I don’t write reviews soon after reading a novel. I clearly liked this book, but I can’t remember enough about it to write a proper review.
I’ll rely a bit on the review of the incomparable Emmalita, on whose advice I read this to begin with, to jog my memory…
I think I enjoyed the interaction between Solange and Dean more than I liked their set up. It’s hard to do a fake dating premise that doesn’t come off as a bit ridiculous. Are there genuinely law firms that prioritize men with spouses/partners and think that they’re more committed? I work one of those million hour a week jobs, and it’s not the workers with families who are seen as committed to the job…they’re the ones who might one day realize they want a job with more balance and leave, if anything (note here that I enjoy my high stress job but it is a job, it’s a complicated balancing act).
So the central conceit–that Dean needs to fake a relationship in order to convince a high profile super talented and also DEI worthy associate (???) to join his law firm? It’s a bit out of the pale. As far I’m aware, the balance of power in law is still on the side of the law firms, given the surplus of lawyers produced in recent years.
But that aside (and the ridiculous shenanigans aside that the competing villain lawyer gets our duo into, including a literal honest-to-god public sex party) I liked the vibe between Solange and Dean. Their interactions seemed natural and spark-y, and I could see how they would slowly fall for one another despite their opposing views on relationships (that is, after all, the promise of the pink cover).
