I realized a few years ago that I loved librarian romances, which wasn’t even a subgenre I thought I needed or wanted. But when I did boy howdy was I on the hunt for them. I was very happy to discover this author and, by extension, their books from Twitter. The romance was on point and enjoyable. Y’all know I don’t like rehashing the plot since there are so many that do that, so I’ll just jump right in.

I really enjoyed hearing about the struggles that educated Black women go through regardless of what field they are in. She also did a good job on showcasing all the various microaggressions that women of all types, such as the purposeful omission of Victoria’s doctor title. There was also discussion on code-switching, which is something not a lot of people know about and the various ways we do it. Such as with our peers, friends, co-workers, parents, etc.

As a side note, I also completely respect an author who can make T.S. Eliot somewhat sexy. Kudos to you on that Madame. Because otherwise he is dry and tedious as all get out.

This was a sweet romance with just enough spicy parts. It also did a good job of showcasing the various struggles people go through, be it dealing with anxiety and possible imposter syndrome, ADHD, or even getting your first period. Both the hero and the heroine grow in this book which is nice to see. I won’t say how since that could be spoiler-y, but it is a satisfying.
The TLDR is that I adored everything about this book! The banter, the setting, the characters – everything to me was *chef’s kiss* perfect.

Mild spoiler-y territory below.

So, I'm really conflicted about this book.

On the one hand it is a very engaging book. Even though I figured out the twist fairly early on, I was still speeding through it trying to figure out how it would all come together.

On the other hand, it was really hard to like any of the characters in this book. Either they were too pretentious (Miri and Fatima), or too naive (Soleil), or too wishy washy (Penny). There wasn't enough to know about Jonah and the only insight we got into him was the snippets of Fatima's novel and that was through a veil of Fatima trying desperately to not seem like the communal narcissist (taken directly from the book) that she was.

Hell, Fatima wasn't even a good writer. I get that's the point. But it was bothersome that it kept being brought up how much of an innovative writer she was. Because she wasn't. She stole from real life experiences and didn't really have the decency to veil it better. Like people knew her story and what prompted her to write it. And then for Miri to be so blind to how Fatima used them and how she was truly a terrible person got old quickly. That type of blind following is why people thought Fatima had started a cult. And her reasoning that Fatima didn't do it because the book ended differently than it had in real life? That doesn't mean anything except that Fatima was at least smart enough to know her ass could have gotten sued if she mad it too true to life.

Penny was...I just felt bad for Penny. I really did. You see girls like Penny all the time and it's just heart breaking and I liked how the empathy that Nelson, the interviewer, had for her came through. She was a follower and it helped to lead to the catalyst in the story and she had a lot of guilt for it.
She wasn't a bad person she just didn't want to be left behind and quite frankly that is something I think we all feel at one point or another. She just didn't want her friends to forget her. And they were, and even though it was more in the vein of moving apart organically (in a way because if Fatima never showed her face it wouldn't have happened), it still hurt her. Because it still hurts when this happens in real life.

This reminds me of something that my dad use to say. There are three truths to every story. There is Person A's story, Person B's story, and then what really happened. And that is what this book was. We never heard anything 'live' from Soleil until the very end, although her article snippets did give her side of the story. Even with all that and the interviews from the outside players, we don't know what really happened between Fatima and Jonah and how much he shared with her or what was the actual truth. And we were never going to know which is a bit brilliant in the end. That's why despite not liking virtually anyone in this story, it gets three stars. Because if nothing else I was engaged enough to not DNF.