An open-door romance & a debut novel by a Canadian writer, One Call Away is a perfect book when you're in a reading slump. Or if you're looking for a romance with a meaningful back story (after all, Olive tells Ben Romance is very diverse now. Jump into this century). Or if mutual pining is on your list of favourite tropes (it isn't on mine, but thanks to the author's writing I got interested in Olive & Ben's story from the get-go). Is this gonna be one of those books that you just know from the beginning it's going to be great?, I thought to myself, and I wasn't disappointed (which only proves that with the right execution, every trope can become "your" trope).

The narration flows between both POVs, which was great, as I don't enjoy romances written from only female's point of view. Here, we've got Olive, a lifestyle writer, and Ben, a sports journalist working for the same publisher. They're both feeling vulnerable, burned, afraid to trust again after failed relationships left them doubting themselves. Oh, and Olive's plus size, which by no means defines her. And yes, representatation matters.

Overall, a great, character-driven story of two people looking for a connection & a solid 4-star read from a new author. Looking forward to more books from her.

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One Call Away is set to release on March 23, 2023.

Thank you to the author for a copy of an e-arc in exchange for this honest review. 

Idk, maybe it's a classic case of "it's not you, it's me". First quarter of the book was really interesting, it hooked me right in, but then,

at about 35%, when Nick wanted to tell Olive who he really was, and of course he decided against it, and of course you knew that later on she would eventually find it out, and she would feel angry & betrayed, but would end up with him anyway - that's when I lost interest.

A bit dragged out, especially at the end. Also,

her going to the culinary school in the end came out of the left field for me.

Boooring. Good idea, but the execution not so much. (But it's my first book by this author, so maybe I'll give her one more chance?)