Actual rating - 2.5

Young woman recently out of prison seeks a second chance in NYC and bumps into the most annoyingly cheerful and bow-tied man outside a ritzy department store window display. He offers her a chance to apply for the window dressing job; she takes it, even though his bowtie and demeanor are so not her goth style.

I don't know, this didn't hit for me. Tessa did a good job showcasing the inner pain for the "Ted Lasso" inspired Aiden, but the romance was absolutely insta-love and went from 0 to desk sex in the office so fast. When I'm promised a grumpy-sunshine romance, I want a bit more tension between the leads, but Stella was grumpy at Aiden for about one chapter and then was doing everything to not fuck her boss.

The banter was good, I liked some of the secondary characters (I was more into the age-gap little side romance we get a glimpse of), and I read the whole thing. The sex is hot.

This read very similarly to The Sweetest Fix.

CW: Stella served time as part of an armed robbery where someone is shot (but not killed, her friend is the one who fired the weapon, toxic family