Genre: Contemporary, Comedy, Workplace
LGBTQ+ Category: Bi, Lesbian, Trans FTM
Reviewer: Liz RH
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About The Book
Warning: No mimes were injured in the making of this queer, workplace rom-com
For Clare Kolikov, her work is her life. A successful HR manager with a heart of gold, Clare has no time for relationships or anything else that might distract her from climbing the career ladder at a San Francisco Bay Area matchmaking startup, W;nkdIn.
When she’s force-volunteered as an LGBTQ beta date tester at W;nkdIn, the buttoned-up Clare teeters on the edge of despair, especially when the “experiences” involve pole dancing meet-n-greets, plant healing workshops, and miming.
But Clare has her real work cut out for her when she meets Julia Dawes, the hot coworker who’s organizing her dates. Julia is a free-spirited, multiracial fashionista with “roller-blade confidence” and a Kristen Stewart haiku fan blog, whose attraction to Clare is as immediate and crippling as the debt she’s drowning in, thanks to the failed essential oils business her ex left her saddled with.
Workplace rules aim to keep Clare and Julia apart––especially after Clare becomes Julia’s boss––but their attraction only grows like an out-of-control Excel spreadsheet.
When an office rival threatens to expose their budding, secret relationship, Clare is left with an impossible choice: Give up her dream job or lose out on the girl of her dreams.
Mixing business with pleasure has never been more bold, steamy, or hilarious…
Fans of Casey McQuiston and Karelia Stetz-Waters will love this hilarious, heart-warming, lesbian romance
The Review
What’s not to like about this book? Great protagonists and three dimensional side characters (embarrassing mother FTW). I enjoyed the author’s writing, which made the trope of the career focussed, hyper-organised person meeting and falling for her polar opposite work well. I was invested in Clare from the very beginning and I cheered for her all the way.
Sadly, it’s often the case that books advertised as ‘hilarious’ really aren’t. This one is. Some cringing (not in a bad way), and a lot of giggling.
The romance worked for me, too. If you’re a sucker for a good love story with a bit of angst, then you’ll enjoy this. It was a slow burn, but they got there in the end, with lots of emotion and plenty of spice.
The San Francisco setting gave me a real sense of a place I don’t know well: the pain as well as the pleasures of living in the city.
All in all, a great read.
The Reviewer
I am a writer of LGBTQ mysteries (MM and FF) and a voracious reader of anything mysterious and a bit queer…I’m also very partial to a good romance. I live in small town west Wales where I spend my time staring out of the window at the rain and the trees. Sometimes the sun shines and then it’s really lovely, and it’s no hardship to take the dog for a walk or three. I see reviewing as both payback to everyone who has reviewed my books, and also a chance to read lots of new stuff and tell people about it. What’s not to like?
