Cassie Harris is the best boudoir photographer in Chicago, and she loves that her job makes people of all shapes, sizes, and genders feel sexy in their own skin. She also loves that her best friend Dana is about to launch her own lingerie line, and that Cassie will be photographing Dana in the apparel for the national ad campaign - until that comes to a screeching halt. Dana has to go on bedrest for her pregnancy, the advertising agency isn’t sure if Cassie is the right photographer for the job, and all of the sudden, Cassie is the model and art director, and her competitor Reid Montgomery is behind the lens. Things between them get hot, both on set and off, but does Reid have Cassie’s best interests at heart?

This was a fine and charming debut, but it loses one star for plot reasons and one for personal.

The plot: Reid

is paid a bonus by the ad agency to “keep an eye on Cassie,” because they wanted to hire him for the campaign and Dana wouldn’t allow it. They prefer their known, white man photographer to the unknown, loud and unapologetic Black woman photographer. And Reid keeps this a secret from Cassie<i> until, like, the eighty percent mark

. That is TOO LONG to keep a secret! I can’t trust Reid to be a good partner if he’s keeping a secret about

Cassie’s employer being racist and sexist

for that long. No thank you. 

Also, he’s the most irritating kind of bad boy: he wears a leather jacket and wears a motorcycle helmet to… ride his bicycle. That’s someone who thinks he is cool and is not.

The personal: this book has huuuuuuuge Naperville energy. The girls that get it, get it. Most of the book takes place in River North, arguably one of the most boring neighborhoods in the city. You cannot tell me that Cassie wouldn’t prefer living on Southport, at a minimum. She’s an Uptown girl! An Edgewater girl! A Hyde Park girl! I totally missed that this was a Chicago book until I opened it (the skyline is literally on the cover, Maddie) and was excited for a taste of home while I am exiled in Missouri and instead it feels like the author goes into the city twice a year. Fine! She didn’t get anything wrong, she just didn’t get it right, you know? Also, Cassie’s parents are like big landlords and that is not a vibe.

Anyways, I did really love this giant bunch of hot, messy people, and I’d read more in this series.

Thank you Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC!

CW:

racism, sexism