When I’m deciding what books I want to pick up with my limited time and attention (friends, my attention is possibly at an all-time low) there are certain types of stories which are more likely to grab me. When Jodi McAlister’s An Academic Affair and its pair of rival academics embarking on a fake marriage for work stability plot came to my attention, I felt pretty good about it. For a rivals to lovers book to work, you must buy both parts equally. As I type that, I feel silly having to say so, but alas. I’m happy to report that for me, An Academic Affair passes that bar easily.
This is a writerly book. My beloved dual POV is on full display. I’m not sure that there’s a more effective way to communicate the types of people that Sadie and Jonah are than to experience how each has developed their authorial voice, and how those are reflected through McAlister’s writing of each of their chapters. The nuance in their character voices shines through, and I might be extra inclined to enjoy it as Jonah writes with footnotes.
Having the relationship history laid out for the reader from Jonah’s point of view as the intro works to level set immediately without spending too much page space on it (this book is already clocking in at 384 pages). Through Jonah we are introduced to their meet cute in undergrad, the tenor of their interactions over the intervening 13 years, and that Jonah has been lowkey in love with Sadie from moment one. It becomes obvious to the reader (and it later plainly stated by Sadie as she comes to grips with her emotions) that much of how they treat each other is wrapped up in a false competition narrative that has been placed on them. The more recent history of the characters shows that they are far more than each other’s antagonists.
McAlister does an exemplary job of weaving the reality of working in academia into the character development and plot motivations of Sadie and Jonah. The academic job market is brutal (McAlister explains the nuances of Australian system well) and Sadie and Jonah are in competition for a rare full-time position. Each has their reasons for wanting it – not discounting that in their mid-thirties they just also really need steady employment. When one of them gets it, they hatch a plot – a marriage plot – to get the other a job as well. Because they have been living in the same house share for 8 years, they can sell the story and make it work, but it does require them to get married. Which I felt was well plotted, since it is so easy for marriage of convenience plots to fall apart in modern settings because it is so easy to check backstories. McAlister made sure to button up any possible plot holes.
The sibling story arcs in this one were both incredibly important to the story that McAlister is telling and also perhaps its greatest drawback. Both Jonah and Sadie aren’t the biggest fans of themselves. Jonah was raised in a combative way; arguing was the baseline method of discussion in his childhood home. Sadie has a history of abandonment that has hardened her. Jonah has an opportunity to heal a relationship with a sibling, and Sadie accidentally explodes hers, and both are wrapped up in their marriage. Each of these arcs provides the opportunities for growth that both Sadie and Jonah need; it also skewed the timeline of the novel. Because of how Sadie and Chess’s non-communication is handled, it stalls a portion of the emotional beats, leaving McAlister to jump forward her denouement into an epilogue. I was cruising along to a 4.5 potentially rounded up until that point. But that choice slammed this book squarely into 4-star territory for me.
Bingo Space: Versus. Sadie and Josh spend a lot of time working from opposite points of view.
