I read this in ONE sitting.

I was surprised by how good the slow-build office romance and how real it felt from both sides. The confusion, the worry, and the sheer awkwardness and lack of/messed up/excellent communication of a relationship or pseudo-relationship.

Older Asian actress falls for her younger White female assistant and the complications that entail. It is written thoughtfully and well. I haven't read a book with so much detail about the emotions and well being of characters outside of historical romances.

There is a subplot, which is essential to the story with a Weinstein director-type with an inappropriate conversation towards a character that is considered sexual harassment.

I would highly recommend it.

I received an ARC from Edelweiss and Berkley for an honest review.

I received an ARC from Edelweiss and Avon in return for an honest review.

I remember reading the 2nd book in this series and thinking it was okay, but this book redeemed. The book was sheer banter on every page, upping the any and knowing at any second the perceived villain would enter the page of the book and tumble down the house of cards, but I wanted it. I will be willing to give favors knowing full well

The youngest daughter of a Knickerbocker family, Justine Greene, is the most unlikely female ever to step foot into Jack Milligan's empire. She is getting justice for women from wayward men. Before they both know it, they are both doing favors and getting deeper entangled and realizing there is no way out.

Sheer fun. I read in one sitting.

Cultural Appropriation is a thing and those to argue otherwise should read they well-thought-out articles, but won't. These articles break down moments in recent cultural history and tell the reader why those moments would not good from a non-white perspective.

I am aware that most of the "White Culture" is in fact appropriated from all other cultures but mostly from the African American culture. While this book brought no new information to me, it was nice to see it all in a nice book with quick histories and modern examples.

I liked this better than than the first one, Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors. I actually can't tell you anything about the first book because I don't remember it, and I usually remember something. But I do recall I was reading about retellings of Austen at the time.

There are not a lot of retellings of the Persuasion (which is my favorite Austen), and that is why I was looking forward to this one and intrigued how it would work. If you think about it, Persuasion is not a happy heartfelt book, and neither is this one.

Ashna Raje is a chef and owner of her deceased father's restaurant. Money is tight, and she is convinced by the family to do a Food Network Competition as a Professional Chef with a celebrity. Rico Silva, her high school sweetheart and first (only?) major breakup twelve years before, is a football/soccer legend who is retiring and notices the new competition and uses it to reconnect because he has never gotten over her.

The reason with the three stars is that this book has too many points of view, and I feel the mother section, while important, takes to much of the story of the two main characters. Sure, her story and life are a secondary character with her love interest, but I feel it takes away from the original story. This book is more literary fiction than RomCom/Romance genre. There has been a lot of those recently, with the RomCom/ChickLit covers. Then I get disappointed because I don't get my fluff that I was looking for because of the amount of drama (way more than I want in my RC/CL HEAs), but that is a publishing thing and a personal preference thing.

If you think about the book as mainstream literary fiction, it's very good. It's written well; the story was engaging - I read it in one setting after midnight one morning.

TW: Suicide and Rape mentioned and discussed, and part of the back story, none of it happens in the present day of the book.

I received an ARC from Edelweiss and Berley for an honest review.

I thought it was interesting at around 65 percent at the discussion of the marriage contract between the hero and the heroine. Then it went back to be fluffy and perfectly tolerable. It was a pleasant read and a nice way to end the series.