Ansel: A Short Story

Regretfully Yours #1

by Maya Alden

She wasn’t just an assistant—she was his greatest asset.

Ansel Tyler has the perfect assistant—smart, dedicated, and secretly in love with him. But when jealous colleagues whisper in his ear, he makes a cruel mistake, deciding to let Neha Rao go once he secures his promotion.

Neha never expected forever, but she didn’t expect disrespect, either. When she overhears Ansel saying he intends to fire her once he gets his shiny new Vice President title, she refuses to wait for the inevitable and resigns.

Ansel is good at crunching numbers, but losing Neha doesn’t add up, and he quickly realizes the depth of his mistake. Now, career be damned, he’ll do whatever it takes to win Neha back—not as his assistant, but his partner in life.

Ansel is part of Regretfully Yours, an angst-filled short story series about heartbreak, redemption, and groveling heroes who fight for their happily ever after.

Tropes
💔 Overheard
💔 Workplace
💔 Boss-Assistant
💔 Betrayal & Grovel
💔 Short Story (~25K words)

Genres: Romance, Novella, Second Chance, Workplace Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Workplace

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 21, 2025

About the author

A top 20 Amazon Bestselling Author, Maya Alden pens angsty contemporary romances.

Reviews

[Mairi Swan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good short story with a betrayal and some grovel. I expected more from the hero but as it was short it"ll do

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trigger Warnings:Parental death, domestic violence, single parent mom, abandonment

This was a quick cute read, I wouldn’t say the grovel was perfect but I did enjoy it. The characters weren’t memorable but I do look forward to reading the rest of the books in this series. The thoughts of the MMC weren't consistent. And I wish the FMC had a bigger backbone since she gave in easily but I did love the angst. I love that Maya Alden’s books have POC characters, I was able to relate to the FMC in some ways cuz of it.


Neha has been a loyal assistant to Ansel for 3 years. When Ansel gets promoted, he promises to keep her as his assistant and move up together. But after Neha overhears Ansel’s true feelings about her, she is done working for him.

Now for spoilers


Neha has been working for Ansel for 3 years at Sterling & Co Investments. She goes above and beyond to do her job for Ansel, they’ve worked from the bottom to the top. She does everything in her power to ensure that Ansel will get promoted. She respects him and believes that he respects her. Although she has a crush on him, she’s never made a move and he’s never showed interest. He goes on dates regularly. Whenever he does his job, he relies on Neha to check his work. She always checks the numbers before submitting it to him and he always seemed to appreciate it. We start off with Neha getting his coffee right in time to meet him in office. Ansel says he appreciates Neha and has a meeting that might be related to him getting promoted. Once he returns, he confirms that he got promoted and Neha is delighted. Ansel says that he will take Neha with him to his new office since he couldn’t have done with without her. But nope, this asshole wasn’t being truthful.

When Neha goes to Ansel with work she has ready, she overhears him talking to a coworker named Vanessa. Vanessa is a friend that got a lil flirty with Ansel but they never crossed the line. Especially since their company has a strict rule against employee relationships. Vanessa asks if Ansel is actually considering taking Neha with him to his new job role. And he says that Neha is just an assistant.

“She is just an assistant as you say, which means, she’s entirely replaceable,” Ansel drawled.”


He says that he thought he could have Neha be the assistant of the person replacing him. But that worker is bringing their own assistant so Neha is left with no job. He says that he talked to HR already and tried to get her a good severance deal. The most they could offer was 3 weeks of pay. The guy was acting like he was doing Neha the biggest favour when he was betraying her. Vanessa says that Neha told everyone Ansel can’t work without her and Ansel said it’s another reason for why he’s letting Neha go. Which is crazy cuz all of his colleagues are jealous he has an assistant like Neha. Then Vanessa mentions that it’s obvious Neha has a crush on Ansel. Ansel says he knows and it’s another reason why he’s getting rid of Neha. He’s relieved she didn’t make a move on him. The fact that he’s talking about her like this was so fucked up. Especially cuz he was leading her to believe she was leaving with him. Ansel promises to help Vanessa move forward in the company. He planned to have lunch with Neha in a fancy restaurant to soften the blow. But Neha was heartbroken, she didn’t want to give Ansel the satisfaction. So she goes to lunch with him and she isn’t her normal bubbly self. Neha was currently studying to get her MBA and Ansel had the company help fund her education. He tries to ask Neha about her studies but she gives him short responses.


When she finishes eating, she gives Ansel her resignation letter and Ansel is thrown off guard. She told him she heard what he said and Ansel feels guilty. This whole thing was because he felt insecure. He felt like people thought he was incapable of working without Neha. The inconsistent thought was him suddenly mentioning he has always been attracted to Neha. I couldn’t feel any chemistry in their interactions. Ansel apologizes but Neha told him not to apologize for something he meant. She apologized since he thought she told others that Ansel couldn’t work without her, saying she never said that. She apologized for making him uncomfortable, saying she didn’t think that he knew she liked him. Ansel says he wished they didn’t end this on a bad note. He says that since she overheard, she knows that she can get a severance package if he lets her go. But Neha said she didn’t care, she cared more about her pride. I had so much respect for her in this moment. Neha was raised by a single parent, her mom had an arranged marriage with her dad. Her dad was abusive and eventually, her mom left her dad. South Asian culture has a lot of stigma surrounding divorces and single parents (trust me I would know), so seeing Neha talk about it was so relatable. Anyway, Ansel says he doesn’t know what to say. Neha says she will help him, and tells him to say goodbye. Then she left without turning back.


Neha lives with her roommate Penny who owns a cafe. She offers to let Neha work there as a barista since it’s more chill and Neha can focus on her studies. She says she doesn’t expect Neha to pay rent since she isn’t working. Apparently Penny was in a similar situation and Neha had her back. Penny knows Neha worked her ass off with Ansel, she barely slept and prioritized him over herself. So Neha takes the offer and has never felt more happy. She is stress free and has more free time. Meanwhile Ansel is a mess, he has a new assistant and they’re good but not great. Before he was annoyed that Neha would correct his work or make suggestions cuz HE was the manager. But now he regrets it cuz his new assistant doesn’t do that. So he’s making so many mistakes since he’s used to Neha double checking his work. Honestly it felt like Neha babied this guy at work and made his life so easy. Never sacrifice all your time and happiness for a workplace. You just never know when they’ll kick you aside. He regrets getting rid of Neha the way he did and misses her. His colleague Charlie calls him an idiot. Then he mentions he knows that Ansel and Neha like each other. Ansel isn’t sure what to do but Charlie said they worked in a toxic work environment. He said that Ansel should consider leaving if he hates it. When Ansel meets his brother Michael, his brother said he fucked up. Ansel says that he doesn’t care if Neha comes back as his assistant. He just misses her as a person and maybe her not working at the company is a good thing, since they can’t date if they work together. But he knows Neha wants nothing to do with him. This man is so self centred.


When Neha is making coffees, Ansel walks in. The audacity of him to smile at her like he did nothing wrong. I loved how Neha was cold and barely talked to him. She acts like she doesn’t know his coffee order which makes Ansel sad. Like the fuck? He’s like oh no she isn’t taking care of me. I’m sorry but if you expect your partner to baby you and take care of you without prioritizing them, you suck. When he goes to office, he keeps noticing his numbers are wrong from reports Vanessa sends. He fixes the numbers since he catches it but he heard that Vanessa was after his job, and was tryna sabotage him. He isn’t sure of what to do so he goes to Neha. This is where I was disappointed. I wanted her to be more cold and refuse to help but Neha still loved him. She is cold at first with Ansel, but after, she calls a guy named Jimmy in Vanessa’s department. Jimmy confirms that he sent the correct numbers and Neha asked him to check the files. They all realize that Vanessa intentionally messed up the numbers to screw Ansel over. Neha starts to help Ansel on what he could do. Ansel got HR involved and during a presentation in front of the company, he showed the wrong numbers that Vanessa sent him. Then he asked everyone what they thought of the numbers. Once they said it was wrong, he asks Vanessa why she sent the wrong numbers. Vanessa lies and says that Ansel changed the numbers. Ansel then shows the correct numbers and the HR manager takes over. She says the company does not tolerate intentionally sabotaging others to move forward. They fire Vanessa and she doesn’t know what to say.


With Vanessa outta the way, Ansel still misses Neha. He visits the cafe and asks her to give him a chance. Neha says fine and they go on a date to Central Park. After that, it becomes a normal thing for them but she still hasn’t let him in fully. Ansel does admit he was insecure and Neha was the best assistant. What annoyed me is her sister Sanya saying that Neha should move on from what happened. I swear Neha was too nice to Ansel. She would make snappy comments about him saying she was just an assistant and was replaceable. She does call him out when she can and he always apologizes. But he easily got her help after everything. Anyway, he knows that Neha was interested in working for some guy. So Ansel gets her a job opportunity there without taking credit. She finds out since Charlie tells her. She becomes a senior manager and loves her job. After dating Neha for months, Ansel and Neha finally fuck after saying they love each other. He wants to marry her at some point, and Neha says she will think about it. 6 months later, Ansel quits his job even though the company is desperate to keep him. Neha says she can financially support him but he says he’s fine. He says he wants to work in Penny’s cafe for a bit and came up with a future business plan. After that, he surprises Neha with an office. His business was called Tyler and Rao Microfinance Initiative. His plan is to help women with loans to start up businesses. It was a dream of Neha’s, so he brought it to life. It’s named after their last names and he asks if Neha wants to be his partner. She says yes and the book ends happily. In the epilogue, Ansel takes Neha back to the restaurant he fired her in. He proposes so that he can create a good memory of the place rather than have a negative memory there. While I did enjoy this, there could have been more grovel. Ansel suddenly saying he’s loved Neha this whole time felt like bullshit. I couldn’t feel the love between the characters. But very fun read.


Stay safe folks!

[Nivsreview · Rating 1 out of 5]

idk what I was getting into before picking this one because clearly i didn't expected such complicated story.

neha an assistant to the person named ansel who's into finance earning six figures and when one day he was having a conversation with his another colleague he badmouthed Neha's work ethics.

neha who overheard the conversation and right after she quits from her job. ( which in my case is stupid right? just because your boss is saying something bad about you, you can't just quit a job that pays you )

after that he realised his mistake and now he wants neha back but not as an assistant this time more than that.

ok now the thing which really pissed me off is how at one time you've no feelings but her but the moment she resigns you realised you've feelings.

and who in their right mindset would give a second chance to someone who once badmouthed about you to some other person.

this book is totally supporting lowering your standards which you should never.

no matter what how much he's begging you to forgive, that's just unacceptable.

so in my personal opinion i don't support the stories where a female is asked to lower her standards or settle for anything less when you deserve nothing but the best.

and also there was too much conversation and I don't even think the banter was bantering.

just a plain boring story for me and because of it i don't think I'm gonna try any more from this series.

[JillyB · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short story by Maya Alden? Sign me up! So before I begin…this is a short story. Make sure you know that going in. Nothing goes too in-depth, but I feel that Maya was able to tell a complete story, in a short amount of time which allowed me to get some work done(which is code for another book read)

This story engages the overheard trope which MA seems to excel at. The overheard conversation gives a great gut punch.

Heroine_works as a pa to the hero. However, she goes above and beyond her job qualifications. She also goes to school. She has unrequited love for the hero.

Hero-Wants to move up the corporate ladder, and gets there on his own steam. But the heroine has definitely made things easier for him. Her due diligence to the job makes him shine.

OW-Vanessa works for the same company as the hero. She too wants to climb the ladder(by any means necessary. )It is rumored that the hero and her are an item. The office gossip is all a flutter.

When the hero is offered a higher position in the company it is brought to his attention that the heroine might not be the right fit, or caliber for his new station in life. Now who ever could it be that is poisoning the H’s head 🤔 The h overhears him talking to Vanessa that he will need to let Neha go. He says some other things as well. The h gets the jump on him at his celebratory(firing you) luncheon and gives her notice. She also lets him know she heard him and she is done with him. Our girl stays strong!

The H realizes fairly quickly that he was a grade a jerk and that he misses her. His brother and some friends also tell him what a poopy head he is. Meanwhile, the h has the support of her bff. The hero works his way back into her life. They take down the bad people. They start learning how to be friends and eventually give into their mutual attraction for each other. The pages were on fire for that coming together moment(s). MA ends up wrapping up the story nicely and even gives us a bonus epilogue on her website. So in a nutshell this book gave me the following:

Overheard-gut punch
Ahole hero
Redeemed ahole hero
Evil ow
Sweet, smart, heroine, with a backbone-love that she stole his thunder with quitting before the firing
Supportive secondary characters
Unrequited love
Funny moments
Nice wrap up and a bonus epilogue
Sexy Times(so this was near the end, wasn’t sure we would have any in the short story, but oh my goodness, so glad I was at home when I read that chapter!)

I am looking forward to more of the short story offerings by Maya Alden. I received this as an ARC.

[Jamie]

DNF @ 70% even though my kindle says 47% 🙄 the book ends on page like 100 but has another 40 pages of previews for other books which is one of my biggest pet peeves
But yeah this book wasn’t satisfying at all and he didn’t grovel at all either

[Joanne Farley · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s Maya Alden so you know I am going to be reading it. This short story is part of her new regretfully yours series. This book is due to be released on the 25th of May but you can preorder it now.
The trope for this book is overheard and what a gut punch it is.
Neha has worked for Ansel for three years but more importantly she has been in love with him as well. She never thought he would treat her the way he did. It takes Ansel a hot second to realize what a monumental mistake he has made. Once he does he is all in on making it right.
I should not be surprised because it’s Maya but even in this short story she managed to pack a punch. Ansel’s growth as a character was amazing. I loved it from start to finish.
I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

[Existentialboredom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alden is so very hit or miss and lately it’s been miss after miss. I’m wondering if maybe she’s capable of writing a blue collar H with a blue collar job, maybe that will help the monotonous blueprint that is her MMC’s. I digress.

Neha, our doe eyed FMC, tells us from the jump that she’s in love with MMC. We’re not really sure why, or how that happened. Because in Alden’s world, women are silly little creatures led by their irrational infatuation with men who aren’t that interesting.

Similarly, the MMC’s inner monologue also tell us that he has fallen for the MMC. He admits this when thinking about how he wanted to get the FMC fired btw. Which is fine, this is romancelandia after all.

But what’s totally missing is WHY THESE PEOPLE LIKE EACH OTHER.

Never mind love. Forget about dependency. And give it a rest with the BBS. LIKE - do these people LIKE each other? Answer - who knows, it’s a total mystery. Why is it a mystery? Because both of them have personalities that resemble… it’s hard to explain this… but they resemble a stereotypical Hinge profile. You know the type - “likes travel, food, and hiking/working out”.

And yes I’m aware this is a short story - but Alden just doesn’t have the skill to pull this off anymore.

[dee☁️]

yawn

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Regretfully yours, Ansel is a short novella written by the talented Maya. But don’t let the short story fool you. It was a perfect bite size morsel of everything I expect from Maya’s story. It had hurt, betrayal, guilt and redemption all packed in nicely with a strong heroine and a somewhat clueless hero who realizes what he has lost after he messes it up.

This is the first time Maya has written a short story and I enjoyed it as much as I enjoy her novel. The story was well written and beautifully developed with well crafted characters. This was a perfect read for a lazy evening with a hot cup of tea. I don’t want to give any spoilers but this was a great read with overhearing, gut wrenching betrayal and satisfying redemption. Highly recommend it .

[emm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great novella from Maya! I really loved reading Ansel and Neha's story. The way Maya weaves her stories it makes you feel like you know these characters. This short story had it all. Other woman drama, Neha overhearing being spoken about her and how he is going to get rid of her, strong MFC and realizing what he had when she is gone. Boss and assistant romance. This is the first of the 4 short stories that Maya is bringing out. Looking forward to the next book.

[alaynasvanity · Rating 1 out of 5]

For fuck sake! Stop with the doormat heroines or just stop writing all together.

[Meggi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first short story that I have read by Maya Alden and it will not be the last! It was the perfect, bite size morsel to please my grovel appetite. I loved it! It was just long enough to not feel rushed, but quick enough to read in one sitting without getting a lecture from my family that I was spending too much time with my head stuck in a book. 🤣 I can’t wait for the rest of the series! If it is as good as Ansel, then I won’t be disappointed! I’d totally recommend this book to any fans of grovel and things being said that shouldn’t have been and then overheard. I am going to try super hard to avoid spoiling, so some parts may end up vague, however excited and exclamation point laden they may be. I speak in exclamations when I’m excited and Maya Alden’s books always get me excited to talk about! What can I say?😉

Ansel featured my favorite trope, overheard. I love that one, because to me, while it calls for a TON of grovel, it isn’t too far to make up. In this case, Ansel was definitely a jack@$$. On the plus side, it was one really badly timed conversation that screwed him as well as her. I actually think his particular misspeaking was not as bad as some others, mostly because he really screwed himself more than her. She actually came out just fine for it!

I loved Neha and that she didn’t even think for a second about putting up with any kind of disrespect! She was an incredibly strong FMC and I loved that! I loved that she sooo outclassed Ansel and he knew it! She was definitely the brains in that organization!

This book was the perfect size to wrap everything up without it feeling rushed, which is no easy feat! Seriously, I loved it and can’t wait for the other short stories to come out in the series. Yes, I know I already said that. It just shows how excited I am for them! This was an excellent and fun read! I was lucky enough to receive an ARC copy. I love reviewing her books, because I have yet to find one I don’t like! 💜

[DiDi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short story. I mean short! That being said it packs a punch and Maya is able to somehow bring the longing, the overheard gut punch, and the redemption.

Honestly, it was better done than a lot of full length I’ve read recently.

We have H who is focused on his career and getting a promotion in corp finance and his assistant the h. She is smart and goes above and beyond saving his bacon by FINDING mistakes and giving suggestions on presentations etc.

There is OW who is after the same promotion as H and over a year she has been putting words in his ear to try and get him to get rid of the h. In the meantime both are attracted to each other and the h is fully in love with the H.

The H receives the promotion and the h believes he is keeping her and taking her with him. Then the gut punch she overhears the H talking to the OW about his plan to fire her and worse he knows she has a crush but she is just his assistant. The h decides to resign and does so at a lunch that she originally believed was their celebration and confirmation that she would be going with him. She now knows it was to soften the blow. What I loved was she told him she heard everything. She handled it with class.

The H quickly realizes how wrong he was and the reasoning behind it. He also realizes he wants her not as his assistant but by his side. It was a hard thing to swallow not only for what he said but his beliefs at the time and the fact that he really was going to fire her. He goes to see her and she calls him out on his shit. He then starts to really take a hard look at himself. They team up to expose the OW and her underhanded behaviour to sabotage him. She had been deliberately trying to make him look bad to get him fired.

He continues to work on building the trust of the h. They start to non date and then date. The H quits his job and they end up with a HEA that I truly believed. I won’t say anything else about the ending just that it was very satisfying.

I’m glad we had no scenes with the H dating it was mentioned that he had dated and the h had even made reservations for his dates. I wish it had stated how long since he had dated but I’m going to pretend it’s been a long time. If you are looking for a quick read that still provides a great story with excellent development of characters and plot I highly recommend checking this out as soon as it’s released!

[Carole Copeland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just ok

This was just ok. Story got a bit wordy and bogged down with thought life in places. The author missed a moment in the story when the couple fet together for the first time. The author set up the story where he was teary and so wanted her forgiveness, he was emotional. Then when the moment happens, the author even uses the term "make love" she turns it into a raunchy scene just to have it be dirty. The first time should have been more... reverent. Which some authors can make that into an amazing scene and others can't.
Also, not a fan of portraying women and people of color as not being able to do things on their own. We have amazing examples of both in this life that their climb has had nothing to do with gender or skin color, who have done amazing things. Having the "villainess" doing what she did because she was a woman who needed to fight her way to the top was just silly. Just let her be a power hungry person and leave it at that.
Also, still looking for more plain lead female characters. Not always so perfect.

[Melissa M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even Maya's short stories are amazing! I was privileged to get an ARC for this story and I loved it so much I read it twice in a day. Ansel is about to be promoted and Neha is his assistant but really she makes him look good at work. And it helps she is secretly in love with him. She assumes that once Ansel is promoted she will go with him since she pretty much is his right hand girl. She overhears a conversation which essentially cut down everything she has ever done for him. So what does any woman do when a man cuts her down? She leaves and of course like a good man you do whatever you can to get her back when you find out the error of your ways. Even for a short story, you get the angst, grovel and redemption. I cannot wait for the next one!

[Jules · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this has officially taken the number 5 spot in my favorite Maya Alden books(sorry A Kiss From A Rose). I read this in probably an hour & a half because of how short it is, but the length of it didn't take away from the angst. this short story had the perfect amount of OW drama. I absolutely loved the comeuppance the OW got. I loved how our hero, Ansel, pulled his head out of his butt pretty quickly & worked hard for Neha's(our heroine) forgiveness. I am so looking forward to reading the rest of these short stories from Maya Alden in the next coming months. I received this as an ARC.

'Ansel: A Short Story(Regretfully Yours)' will be available May 21st, 2025!

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Rounded To 4 Stars

I thought this book was alright. The things Ansel said were awful and I was sad that she had to hear them. Firing her after everything for no good reason? I legit hated him. I’m glad the heroine really told him off and made him work for it when he wanted her back. I’m glad the story went a little farther and explored their relationship a little bit and didn’t just cut off when she finally decided to give him a chance. I did end up liking him by the end.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Ansel! This novella may be short, but it delivers plenty of romance and angst.
Neha is a strong, well-written character, and I loved her resilience. Ansel was refreshing—he admitted his mistakes and put in the effort to make things right. That kind of character growth made the story even better.
The supporting characters also had personality, which made the story more engaging.
Overall, Ansel was a great read! It’s short but satisfying, and I’d definitely recommend it.

[Serial Romance Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of novellas and this one was satisfying. It has one of my favorite tropes: overheard. I really enjoyed how Neha had a backbone and her honesty about having feelings for Ansel. I appreciated that she made him really work for it and it seemed like he had genuine remorse and really worked on himself as a person.

This was a nice palate cleanser after some OTT monster smut. 😂

[Sahana Ketheeswaran · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fun read. Superb to read between my serial series reading. Like a mini break. It was angsty how he already worked out her severance packet. I wish OW caused a bit more drama when getting caught but YOLO. Can't wait for the next one

[A Brew Story · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cute story! I love when there is a badass FMC, then mmc does her wrong and then has to come eat crow. Ansel did it magnificently though.

And the epilogue, perfect location!

[Angeles · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC REVIEW

A perfect short story!❣️

[Sabs ✨️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 🌟

[azahlia · Rating 2 out of 5]

“But did I believe him because he was sincere or because I was so damn desperate for him?” I have an answer, but I don't think you're gonna like it Neha.

[Christelle Ruiz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not that good! The story felt too short and too quick. I don’t know why but this story could have used a bit more context and content to make it more appealing and interesting.
It didn’t gave me time to get into it and it was over! I didn’t really like the characters and their HEA was meh!! 🫤

[Petra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of being able to read this book as an ARC reader. Neha knows her worth and didn’t wait around for Ansel to screw her over. He realizes pretty quick that he screwed up and starts the grovel. It was a really fun short read and I can’t wait to read the next one. Maya is one of my favorite authors and I am looking forward to what she has coming out in the future.

[Lani · Rating 3 out of 5]

eh. I had high hopes she was going to make him really grovel but it's just the same old story. he realizes he messes up, makes a few gestures and she's right back in his clutches. I really am going to stop hoping the grovel will match the betrayal because it never does.

[Tiffany Cunningham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh..

This author is always hit or miss. You think it’s going to get good after she overhears Ansel talking about her and confronts him but it just doesn’t.

[Kathleen Lemke (Kathy Page) · Rating 4 out of 5]

My rating: 4 stars

What I loved: I liked how Ansel(H) realized he messed up and went to Neha(h) to help him get the ow out of the job. I also loved how at the end he surprised her with them working together.

What I didn’t like: I wished we got more. At least with the ow and what happened once she got fired….maybe a scene with them running into her and she being all miserable while the H and h are all over each other. I like a little karma in my books .. I’m evil and greedy lol ;)

***Major Spoilers/ Details/Triggers: h overhears the H talking badly about her. h works as the H’s assistant. When H gets promoted he told the h that she will be going with him but the h overhears him talking to ow about how he was letting the h go. Ow lied and said that the h was telling coworkers that he can’t do his job without her. That everyone knows that the h is in love with the H. h upset that the H lied tells the H that she heard him and she quits. H upset and realizes that the ow lied and had been sabotaging his work. H goes to the h an apologizes but the h shuts him down. H comes back and tells her about the ow and how she is sabotaging him. H asks the h for help. h helps him and during that time the H again asks for forgiveness and tells the h that he wants her. h is weary at first but she finally gives in, especially since H shows her how sorry he was. HEA with them starting a business together, h agreeing to marry him and them getting a place together.

Final thoughts: This book was a good quick read. Now I’m off to start Basil’s book.

[PrettyInPinkRita · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this arc for an honest review.
But I also pre-ordered this author’s book because I love Maya Alden’s books.

This is the first book in a group of novellas called “Regretfully Yours”.

I had a hard time forgiving Ansel in this book.
He is a very driven individual working towards a v-p position in his company. Neha is his incredibly faithful and hard-working assistant.

Just as he’s about to get his promotion Neha overhears him telling a jealous colleague that Neha won’t be following him in his new position.
Although Neha has been the reason his office runs so smoothly, he dismisses all her efforts.
Neha quits before he can fire her.
Good for you Neha!!!
Again .. Maya Alden creates incredibly strong female characters.

I’m not sure I completely forgave Ansel.
But he quickly came to understand how valuable Neha was to him. And he came to understand that he had always been in love with her. She as well has always been in love with Ansel.

This is a quick novella. And Ansel makes many gestures to win back Neha.

If you want a quick angst-filled book , this will fit the bill.