Rating - ⭐⭐.5
Spice - 🌶🌶🌶🌶
Trope - brother's best friend, billionaire romance, math nerd × baker, friends to lovers, grumpy × sunshine, age gap (11 years), virgin FMC, it's always been you, workplace romance, secret relationship, death of a family member
Bonus chapter - 1
This book was a rollercoaster ride for me, it had its ups and downs. Some moments were amazing and heart-touching while the other weren't.
Greer is Brooks's best friend's little sister, she isn't just off limits but also 11 years younger than him. Both have had feelings for one another but never really acted upon them for obvious reasons. I couldn't understand why the FMC has to be in their early twenties to justify the whole age gap genre, like a little older would still do the deal; but then we had to go out and make her a virgin, that was a huge turn-off.
Greer was one awkward mess, but she was cute with it. She was smart, sweet, and responsible but she's also very gullible. "I did learn how to erase even the concept of having needs. To be honest, I think all girls are taught that. We’re told good women aren’t needy, that we shouldn’t be a ‘stage-five clinger’ or a pain in the ass by asking for anything. That’s what makes us good, that’s what makes us desirable—how little we can get by on. It’s fucked up. Greer was so real here. I loved her character, I just didn't feel the need to repeat the fact that she was in her early twenties or that she was in desperate need of "experience" and had this "urge to lose her V card". I wish these didn't define her (sadly they did in the first half).
Brooks was the perfect grump with a sad past, and Greer was a typical sunshine who brought happiness and joy everywhere she went. She was the light Brook was missing in his life, she made him smile, and laugh, but most importantly she made him happy. I loved seeing how she would always bring a smile to his face when he needed it. She made him feel and live again. Brooks too, brought a positive change in her, he was considerate towards her and allowed her to be herself and by the end, Greer was confident and had a vibrant aura. Friends to lovers was the right trope for them. They had this amazing chemistry between them where they could talk things through, and that made their story a bit more enjoyable.
Things I didn't like much -
* There was a lot of pursuing other characters(in the beginning).
* The book felt like a repetition of book one. I wish it was slightly different but again it could be just how the author writes her work.
* The spicy scenes didn't allow us to see the "emotion" side of the relationship, I wish we had more of them. One moment they were having sex and then BAM they were in love, where is the build-up?
* The way how Greer reacted when he asked her for some time, especially with the whole crying like hold on for a second, he didn't end things he just needed to plan things out. It was at this moment, you could tell that she was too young to understand stuff.
* Using any kind of drugs(for pleasure) is a big no-no in my dictionary, I just can't promote this act even in books. Drugs are not something that should be taken lightly, and seeing that it was one of the key themes of this book, I just couldn't help but feel pissed. If someone close to you has died of substance abuse, I doubt the person would ever look towards that thing, but here the characters Hh both willingly took it. I immediately lost all my interest here.
* I wish the whole encounter with George was set up in a different scenario - any sibling would have been angry at the given situation. Regardless, I liked how it was effortlessly handled in the end.
I wasn't into this book but I continued it to see where the story goes. I just couldn't feel much connection with these characters.
The only reason this got a 2.5-star was because of the last 20%, where the plot got better - the side characters got to be a part of their story and showcase their friendship. The last chapter had me in tears, I knew James wasn't a bad dad - he lost his daughter and didn't know how to react but the end was beautiful, he found another daughter in Greer - happy tears. The bonus epilogue again had a lot of similarities to that of book one but it was good.
Won't say I love it, but I also didn't hate it.
It just wasn't for me. Maybe a right book at the wrong time scenario.
Overall 2.5/5