She never thought she'd be the prince in the Cinderella story.
Cassidy Joanes met the man of her dreams during the annual Halloween office party. Only problem? He was wearing a mask, and she hasn’t a clue who he is—only that he can rock a Dread Pirate Roberts costume.
With only a few men in the office, she makes it her mission to find the man who swept her off her feet, only to be met with date after date of disappointment. And with a growing attraction to her boss, she’s not sure she can find her prince before she falls for someone else.
Sweet in a lovely, nerdy way...what's the right word for it? Adorkable? Cassidy is known as Marvel Girl in her office. She is a billing assistant in an OBGYN clinic and there is always a superhero figurine on her computer, just for luck. Her boss/unlikely friend persuades her to attend the office Halloween party and even helps her to choose a costume. Buttercup. I don't know about you, but there are lots of people who can't imagine Christmas/New Year holidays without rewatching this timeless classic. Cassidy even puts in a pair of contact lenses, something she hasn't done for ages. Shame she doesn't know what happens to contact lenses if you keep them in solutions well their expiry date (if you're squeamish, skip this part, nothing bad happens, but just the thought...) She starts chatting to... yep, you've guessed it, Dread Pirate Roberts ...and they click in the most unexpected and romantic way. He is funny, caring...well, you've seen the Princess Bride. He even helps her get out those horrible lenses. The downside of this undoubtfully kind and sadly necessary action is that Cassidy can't see a thing without them. So when our nerdy Cinderella makes her escape, she still has no idea who she has been taking to. Of course, she needs to find him, and luckily she knows something about him that could really help her, a very particular kind of tattoo. Cassidy decides to date elegible men and try to figure out who her mysterious Westley is in real life. Meanwhile, Pirate Roberts... a.k.a Dr Jon Bateman is convinced Cassidy doesn't want to do anything with him because there are rules that prohibit office romance. Hold on, then why has she clearly gone on a dating spree? There's also a mystery of disappeared/ misplaced /siphoned off money. As Cassidy is from the billing department and certainly has serious work ethic, she won't rest until she's found the culprit.
Altogether, I really enjoyed this workplace romance. The characters were adorable. Sometimes office parties do serve their purpose of making the most unlikely match possible and bringing the timid and nerdy (with a heart of gold) together. Humour is a subjective thing, but this time it really worked for me. Recommended to anyone who works hard, and has had to endure excruciatingly boring work conferences with the promise of having a bit of banter and a cup of coffee or two.
What if the love of her life had been in her office building this whole time? Dressing in accidental couples costumes could’ve been the universe throwing them a very obvious bone.
This was a Kindle Freebie and I'm still not going to recommend it. Cassidy works in the billing department of a doctor's office and gets talked into going to the buildings Halloween party. She dresses as Princess Buttercup from Princess Bride and who does she end up meeting there? Why, the Dread Pirate Roberts, of course! They hit it off but because of eye contact issues, Cassidy is virtually blind by the time they are getting hot and heavy in the backseat of the car and when Westley's mask comes off she still doesn't see him. She ends up running away because she suddenly remembers that she is wearing “boob bags” to help fill out the dress and she ends up not knowing who Westley was. She did see a Flounder from The Little Mermaid tattoo on the guy's shoulder and knows Westley had green eyes. She then decides to date green eyed guys in the building.
Westley was the new Dr. Jon Bateman and he knew it was Cassidy but thinks she is weirded out because he is older than her and could sort of be called her boss. When she starts dating different guys from the building, he really thinks she thought it was no big deal and just likes to fool around. He really liked her though, and when they have to go away for a conference, hopes they can rekindle the magic.
This was a pretty quick read that was super light, the writing had some immaturity to it, and the story bounced around from embezzelment, to Cassidy's parent's love/hate relationship issues, and Jon and Cassidy falling in love from being together for only a couple hours. A lot of Marvel stuff thrown in because Cassidy is a big fan and some of Disney secondary characters talk because Jon has a bunch tattooed on his back.
I showed up for the Halloween time setting and it delivered that with the Halloween party, a haunted maze, and then ending on Halloween night. There's some slapstick, goofy humor that didn't quite land with me and can't say I ever felt the depth in their feelings. The writing needs to be shored up but if looking for a Kindle Freebie with some Halloween in it, it does have that, with a random embezzlement plot.
This is a fun, but kind of light, story that doesn't really hold together very well. The author holds onto the central confusion/disconnect for the entire novel (okay, 86%, I checked) and had to rely on some fast footwork to drag it out that long. And they fall for each other in mere hours, though at least it's an appropriately intense set of interactions.
The real draw for this is, by far, Cassidy. She's an unashamed dork and the author does a great job getting that across. I loved her passion for her marvel superheroes and I loved her dedication to her job and determination to get to the bottom of the side-mystery. I didn't like so much her holding onto the whole "but he's my not-really-boss" for so long and she was singularly clueless in putting the Westley/Dr. Hotness thing together. Still, she was fun and I totally get his intrigue with her.
Jon wasn't as well fleshed-out. A grown man that into Disney cartoons (as in tattoos of characters on his back) needs some explanation beyond mere statement. I mean, we get him contemplating his next tattoo, but I kept waiting to explore what the draw was for him and that never came. In most other respects, he's pretty standard hot doc with an interest in the quirky dork and some interesting banter. Which isn't a bad thing, just kind of thin.
With the long draw-out of the first-night misconnect and the kind of thin characterization this earns 3, maybe 3½ stars. I'm rounding to 3, though, as my confusions kept me from fully engaging with the story. Still a fun read and I'll likely look into more of the series. But not avidly.
A note about Chaste: This seemed almost accidentally chaste. The story resolves at the point where they know they're meant for each other and circumstances prevented them getting any hotter and heavier than some intense making-out. There are mentions of groping and that includes actions on a clear road towards sex. But it never gets there on-screen. So this fits my tag for chaste, but may not fit for stricter tastes.
This was adorable. This is basically a simple trope well done: two people meet at a party, in costume, and the heroine isn't wearing her glasses so she doesn't recognize the hero. Then she has to figure out who he his. The reasons why this gets dragged out longer than it otherwise may have are fairly simple in that they work together and there's a slight power imbalance (although it's not a direct reporting relationship, so it doesn't bother me so much in the end), and the aforementioned blindness.
Basically, the two characters are charming (he's into Disney, she's into Marvel, both of them just seem really nice). And it doesn't go down the route of over-the-top or unnecessary dram, which I always enjoy in a novella. There's certainly a misunderstanding, and some obstacles, but they make sense in the context of the story. It's just a sweet story, which is what I wanted last week.
It was free- so I grabbed it. Unfortunately, it seems to have a hidden identity (not 'stranger' like I thought) and power dynamic issue. It's a nope for me.
Light and fun, this was a lovely Sunday read. The pacing was a little off to me—Cass probably could have figured out who he was sooner and then they could have fully wrangled with the relationship vs job stuff longer— and I kind of wanted an epilogue, but they genuinely just made me smile. I definitely bought their connection though, which is really what I want from this kind of book.
Blurb: She never thought she'd be the prince in the Cinderella story.
Cassidy Joanes met the man of her dreams during the annual Halloween office party. Only problem? He was wearing a mask, and she hasn’t a clue who he is—only that he can rock a Dread Pirate Roberts costume.
With only a few men in the office, she makes it her mission to find the man who swept her off her feet, only to be met with date after date of disappointment. And with a growing attraction to her boss, she’s not sure she can find her prince before she falls for someone else.
I received a free copy through the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.
4.5-stars — Cute, real, authentic. That is the best way to describe this book.
I love that we have a hero and heroine that are just NORMAL. These aren’t your stereotypical book characters. They aren’t perfect specimens that blow everyone away with their beauty, etc. They feel normal. But they’re still very attracted to one another. I LOVE when I feel like the people I’m reading could be me, or my best friend, or whatever. And not just the heroine, but the hero too. Jon was a perfect example of NON-TOXIC masculinity. He was adorable, and charming, and sexy, and sweet, and caring, and he LOVES Disney!! Because why not?? WHY NOT?? And he blushes, and he’s nervous, and just…*swoon* I know I love me a beta boy, but Jon was more than just that. He was a nice guy. I love nice guys.
And Cassidy was freaking adorable too!!! She was all the things that Jon notes — fun, smart, sassy, AND beautiful. In a perfectly dorky way. I loved how diligently she worked at her job, and I LOVED the way she naturally teased and flirted with Jon. I loved that she was unapologetic for who she was. I loved that she was flat chested, and self-conscious of it! I love having someone real to read about.
And OMG the two of them together were just freaking hilarious and adorable. AGAIN, so authentic feeling. I loved the way they bantered when they were just Jon and Cassidy, and I loved the way they flirted when they were Buttercup and Westley. I *wanted* them to work it out. Desperately. And I love when people smile when they kiss. I love that happiness, it feels relatable.
Honestly, the only reason I rounded down instead of up is that occasionally I found some things a bit hard to believe…like Cassidy not knowing it was Jon. And their romance felt a wee bit quick at times. I didn’t actually mind that much, but I did notice. I was also somewhat unsatisfied with how the side plot with the missing money turned out…I know, odd, but it just left me…well…unsatisfied. I also wouldn’t have minded a more fictional resolution to the workplace drama surrounding their romance…it was a bone of contention, but in the end we didn’t get to know how it played out at the office.
There were some fabulous secondary characters in this one, and I can’t help but wonder how many will get their own stories. I loved the sneak peak we got into the next book that answered the question about one of them! I’m really intrigued by so many, so yay!!
On a side note, I loved that there were 2 clear instances of LGBT side characters, but they were so casually mentioned, like it’s just the way the world is…you know, probably because it is. You don’t see that often. Where it’s not part of the plot WHATSOEVER, it’s just a passing reference in some ways, but it normalizes it. I know that’s a small detail, but I noticed it.
So yeah. This book was a delight for me to read. It left me smiling and feeling good about the world, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that.
I received this book as an ARC and I hoped to really like it. The blurb caught my interest so I had high hopes. Regrettably, it just didn't meet my expectations. I hate when that happens because I am appreciative to the author but at the same time I have to be honest. The storyline never hooked me in. I wasn't interested in either one much less their road to happily ever after; which by the way was more of a HFN. Maybe it started with the h. I couldn't relate to her and buy into her nerdy quirkiness. This just wasn't the book for me. Others might feel differently but that's the beauty of different personalities, tastes and opinions.
I got this for free through Lauren Layne's newsletter and I liked it a lot! Fun banter and I bought the connection. Also, she doesn't recognize him because . I FEEL YOU.
However, I'm really upset the next book isn't Rae and the cousin. How do you not follow up immediately on that set up????
It was a fun Office romance, After a drunken Halloween night dressed as Princess Buttercup Cassie meets her Wesley problem is she took out her contacts and couldn't see him...
So the fun search begins for the unforgettable 4 hours spent with a mystery man...
Why not a 5 star...
I just couldn't picture Doctor Jon.... He comes across as a chiseled Chris Pine (according to Cassie) Yet he doesn't ever work out has tattoos all over of Disney characters and comfort eats, has a comfort blankie... he sounded to soft maybe... I definitely wasnt picturing Chris Pine... More like Ricky Gervais....;
Yay for free reads! (Available on Kobo and Amazon).
But, this story didn't have me entirely gushing. The meet cute was really, really cute. I loved the setup on how Cassidy met her Westley, but found it really irritating at how long it took her to realise who he truly was. It would've been a substantially shorter story, had she not eliminated him from her list of possibilities right from the very outset. I guess that the author needed to demonstrate their connection on another level, other than their initial meeting.
All in all, it was cute. It just didn't hit me in the feels, at least not as hard as I would've liked for it to be a 5-star read.
A really fun read. Definitely felt connected to Cassidy because of her movie obsession. Also absolutely loved Jon, he was such a sweetiepie. I thought this whole set up was amazing, I just wish they could have gotten together sooner honestly
This was my first Sandra Marie story and I can't wait for the next one. I really liked the story of Cassidy and Jon. She is a dorky Marvel fan and he is a sweet Disney lover. Jep, not only the bad and tough guys are sexy!
At first this was cute - a smidge TOO cute at times, but some of it was maybe because I recognized behaviors I have (overzealous dorkery+social anxiety).
Except...that whole middle part where she's afraid to ask him and he's somehow certain she can't see him that way had me rolling my eyes so hard it physically hurt.
Folks there's an inability to communicate and then there's these two idiots.
I might have found it cuter, or at least more tolerable, if every other thought wasn't "no..it can't be...can it?" From Cassidy and Jon took a tour into unhappyville really quick.
There was just something OFF about this book. I don't know how to describe it. Like it was trying just a bit too hard. This would have been fine without the weird billing mystery mistakes (it had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the plot) and with Cassidy and Jon getting their act together quicker.
Also less said about Cassidy's parents the better. I had such a negative reaction to what felt completely abnormal to the plot that I'm hard pressed to understand why it was part of it. And dwelled on so much.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Princess Bride in the real world. This was a super cute fall/Halloween office romance of will they won't they and characters that are fun to read about. I love dorky romances.
How cute was this? Wow. What a perfect read for Halloween, too. It's not the spooky Halloween, but more of the dressing up and costume parties Halloween. Which I don't seem to see in books much these days. You think Halloween, you think it's going to be spooky.
Cassidy meets and hooks up with someone at a company costume party. Then the rest of the book is Cassidy trying to figure out who her mystery man is. He knows who she is, but not vice versa. It was a little annoying watching her try to figure it out and it took Cassidy a very long time to get there. However, it was also fun to just go with the flow of it, too.
The meet cute was adorable. The characters were adorable . . . a Marvel fan falls in love with a Disney lover. Guess which is which, it'd surprise you! The side story of finding out who is stealing the money was a little bit of a waste of pages and didn't need to be a part of the story.
Overall, it was a cute holiday-ish read and I'll probably read the rest of the Romance for all Seasons books.
My Review: This was a cute book. Cassidy works in billing in a doctor's office/complex. The book takes place in October when the office is holding a Halloween costume party.
The heroine, Cassidy, is a bit of a nerdy, clutzy mess, but that makes her fun. Note...the hero, Jon, may be a doctor, but he's the same. The difference is that Jon is obsessed with Disney movies, whereas Cassidy has a Marvel fetish.
Jon has no intention of going to the party, but then someone suggests that he can go incognito if he wears a mask. That's appealing because as a doctor in the office, people are either kissing up or standoffish. Jon just wants to meet people on an even playing field. So he goes to the party dressed and masked as the Dred Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride. Coincidence/Fate/Karma means that Cassidy is dressed as Buttercup.
And the four hours they spent together was incredible, although Cassidy has no idea who Jon is. He even takes off his mask at one point, but by then Cassidy couldn't see him (after an incident with her contacts, and without them, she's obviously blind). It's the perfect storm of craziness and then it becomes a search to find out who was dressed as Wesley...a kind of reverse Cinderella. Jon has no idea that Cassidy doesn't know who he was and thinks the night didn't mean as much to her.
It's a sweet story and was an enjoyable read. Very sweet and innocent.
I received a complimentary copy of this book and posted a completely voluntary and honest review.
The story itself is nice, full of funny and comical moments but not well developed. I started the book and stopped at 3% because I was bored then I went to reread the plot (which is why I decided to give the book a chance) and I decided to take it back. The encounter between Westley and Cassidy is truly hilarious. The plot becomes monotonous and loses that extra thing as soon as the party ends. Cassidy could have saved herself a lot of unnecessary dates if she had simply asked any male present at work one of the simple questions she had already asked W. at the party and already had the answer so she could find him right away. When she discovers W.'s true identity, Cassidy decides she doesn't want to start an affair with W. even though there is nothing to forbid relationships between staff members at work. Oh, I forgot that they both fell in love with each other from the first moment they saw each other (although Cassidy without lenses doesn't see so I don't know what kind of love, "at first sight", she can feel since she remembers nothing about W. and spends more than half the book to find him without having any memory of his features, gestures, tone of voice, etc.). The scandal involving a misinterpretation of the insurance thing is useless to the plot as is the presence of Cassidy's ex.
That’s it? Are you kidding me?! That was the dumbest ending ever. Throughout the book Cassidy tries to find her Man in Black and then there are workers stealing money and then that ending? There should have been more, I hate it when authors leave it like that. It doesn’t seem resolved, it was too quick to end the book. Lame! Glad this was a free ebook, otherwise I would have been so pissed about spending money on it
This was a cute story. Cass works in the accounts section of a medical practice. She keeps to herself pretty much, decorating her desk with her favourite Marvel characters, [glances up and smiles at my ownFunko figurines] but makes an effort to attend the office Halloween costume party as Princess Buttercup. There she meets her Wesley; the Dread Pirate Robert to be exact. And they end up making out in his car. At some point she had to remove her contacts - he helped - and she has no idea what he looks like. [this is a weak point, but it kind of works… no, it doesn’t but I’m willing to hand-wave it away] She thinks it can’t be their newest cute obgyn Dr Bateman as he told her he wasn’t going to the party. Dr Bateman adores Disney side kicks and has a Flounder tatt. But I get derailed by the secondary plot line. To explain: 3 stars
So I needed to find a book for my Monthly Keyword Challenge. I surprisingly didn’t have books with those words in the title, so I looked at the free Nook books that I could just easily download onto my Nook. I literally went through 1,000 titles. The ones I did find that would fit just didn’t appeal to me. This one did though. I like the whole Cinderella connection. And the cover wasn’t bad. I was intrigued.
WHAT I LIKED
The characters. I like that Cassidy is a Marvel-loving geek, and she’s proud of it. I like that Jon is this successful doctor but is also a modest, Disney-loving, sweet guy. We didn’t really get to know the other characters that well, but I am intrigued by her ex, Steven. He seems sweet. And I saw that he’s the main character in the next book, so that kind of makes me want to read it!
The romance. Even though there weren’t too many scenes of just Cassidy and Jon alone, the few were great! They both fell hard pretty quickly, but the chemistry was there, so it was believable. The beginning, when they met at the party, was just oh so good. I loved it.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
The plot. Omg. I got really irritated. Literally almost the entire book, Cassidy is trying to figure out who her dream guy is. I got frustrated because all she had to do was ask around! But no, she decides to go through all these obstacles instead. It just didn’t make sense to me. And then there’s Jon, who knows from the beginning who she is, but he decides not to confront her about it. It was a constant eye roll for me.
POV. This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I do not like third-person points of view. It bothers me! It just feels impersonal. I love the first-person POV. I like being in one person’s head. It feels realistic. I can usually get over the POV throughout the book, but I couldn’t this time. I was very aware of it.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I liked it. I didn’t love it. I just could not get past the ridiculous decision that Cassidy makes to find her soulmate. I wish the story unfolded differently with the same outcome. However, with likable characters and the chemistry-filled romance, I did enjoy it. And I’m really tempted to get the second book because Steven seems like a character I want to get to know more.
Jadi ceritanya ini tentang Cassidy, staff billing/keuangan di RS sama Jon, dokter kandungan di RS yang sama. Di awal udah kenalan kagok gitu, pas Cassidy nanyain "kamu ke pesta Halloween nanti malem ga?" dan Jon bilang ngga and they go on their own way.
Eh Jon ditelpon mamaknya, nak kmu tuh dah tua, harus mingle, ketemu orang. Dia pikir eh boleh deh ke pestanya, mungkin ketemu sama si Marvel Girl (yes, the FL is crazy with Marvel)
Ketemuan deh, tapi Cassidy ga sadar kalo itu si dokter. Jadi mereka nih pake matching The Princess Bride costume. Si Cassidy nih half blind krn dia ga pake kacamata, trus malah alergi pake softlens. Dan si dokter yang bantu copotin softlensnya pas mereka lagi makan pizza lol. They made out in his car, btw. XD (di sini ada bagian lucunya juga, ngakak parah)
Nah setelah itu, baru deh ada masalah baru lagi yg muncul juga penyelesaian untuk semua masalah di buku. Hahaha. Sampe sini aja ya spoiler dariku.
Jujur, ceritanya kocak sih, bikin aku ketawa2 di beberapa bagian (mostly di percakapan2 antara FL dan ML kita). Trus bayangin deh, ML kita, si dokter, dia tuh penggila Disney banget dan punya banyak tato tokoh2 secondary Disney sepunggung dan ada bagian dia bingung mau pasang Dory apa ga krn Dory is a secondary char di Nemo tapi dia juga lead char di filmnya sendiri (Finding Dory?) 😂
Bagian Cassidy juga lucu. Saking sukanya sama Marvel, dia punya 2 stand up cardboard Loki dan (siapa aku lupa satu lagi), dan punya banyak mini figurine tokoh2 Avengers yang dia pajang di atas komputer kantornya buat luck 😂 trus pas mereka saling suka tuh, dua2nya saling nyobain selera film masing2. Cass dengan Disney Moana dan Jon dengan Wonder Woman (kayaknya Ant-Man juga deh, oh yes i know that WW is DC, tapi si Cass selalu pake jaket WW dan ini bikin Jon teringat hehehehe)
Overall, ceritanya ringan, lucu, endingnya pas. Jadi penasaran sama cerita mantannya Cass yg masih belom bisa move on di buku ke-2
This was cute but I didn’t love the main characters and a lot of it felt underdeveloped and silly. Jon and Cassidy meet at a Halloween party, wearing full costumes. There’s an attraction, they spend the evening together, but when things get heated she leaves without knowing who he really is. The rest of the book is a reverse Cinderella story where she’s trying to find her Westley (his character name). I thought her initial reason for running was dumb and we didn’t know her well enough to empathize. He was also overly insecure about what people thought of him because he’s a doctor. There is a financial scandal in this book that felt really unnecessary. There is the description of the Halloween party and later a haunted house excursion, but this wasn’t overly Halloweeny. There were some funny scenes with her sex positive parents and his love of Disney, but overall this nothing great.
SPOILERS AHEAD: Her initial reason for running is that she has small boobs and so she’s wearing implants. Then she is trying to find him and he’s her boss. There are a lot of mentions that there’s not that many guys in the office (it’s an OB office) and so you would think she would recognize his body type and his voice and it wouldn’t be that hard to figure out who he is. However she is stumped for the majority of the book. Then when she does figure it out on a work trip, she doesn’t want to be with him because of office drama. There’s nothing forbidding them from being together but she doesn’t want to deal with the rumors. I thought both of those conflicts were dumb. There’s also a scandal involving miscoding of insurance things, and that felt very unnecessary. However, she saves the day. In the end, they live happily ever after.