Disappointing
Three strikes, and... Grey is officially off my one-click list. There was a time when Grey was one of my favorite rom com authors - if not my #1 - so it is REALLY disappointing to acknowledge how bland and generic this was. This 3-star rating leans more towards a 2 than a 4, and that's mostly because I was genuinely bored while reading. The interactions between this couple were just so surface-level, and their relationship development felt VERY rushed. Romance novels have been getting longer and longer recently, so it was actually refreshing to start a light and quick rom com like this one, but it felt like the plot meandered so much that the focus was not on the romance. It also wasn't that light or playful, to be honest. (MINOR SPOILER) Not only does our heroine get cheated on by her ex, but she also gets harassed/assaulted by someone - both on the page. So it really didn't deliver any of the things that I was hoping for, which is a major disappointment.
The story follows Chloe, a woman whose life is turned upside down when she discovers that her boyfriend - who is also her boss - is cheating on her. In need of a new place to stay AND a break from her career, Chloe takes a housesitting job for a former baseball player. Luke doesn't seem to be too excited about having Chloe come live in his home, but he's a sweetheart with his young daughter. And as Chloe's role in the household changes, she soon finds herself falling for both Luke and his daughter. But Chloe just got out of a relationship with another older man who was also her boss, and that causes both of them to hesitate about taking things further. As Chloe and Luke navigate the complexities of resisting their attraction, things become complicated.
So why didn't I DNF this one, if it was clearly boring me early on? Well, it's short, so there's that. But I also wanted to give Grey the benefit of the doubt - there was nothing truly WRONG with the story, there just wasn't a whole lot that was compelling about it either. I kept thinking that the slow burn would pick up speed at some point, and the chemistry would become apparent. That simply wasn't the case for me. I never became emotionally invested in the relationship, and the slow burn was so slow that it felt incredibly underdeveloped by the end. I always know it's a bad sign when I don't save quotes while reading, and I saved exactly ZERO quotes from this one. So it was not terrible, but definitely underwhelming. It feels like it's finally time to admit that Grey is no longer a good fit for me, and leave it at that.