Caught A Vibe

by Eva Moore

What would you do for a second chance at your best one-night stand?
Penny Maxwell's dreams are coming true. Her sex toy business is launching on technology's biggest stage and soon everyone will have a blended orgasm within reach, until the pandemic arrives and puts a kink in her plans. The only good thing to come out of her stay in Las Vegas is a truly stellar one-night stand who follows her home, but can she juggle a start-up launch, a global shut down, and a new relationship? She is sure as hell going to try, because what that man can do with his gamer's thumbs...
When video game reviewer, Dash Hall, gets assigned an article on a revolutionary sex toy, he never dreamed it would change his life. His ADHD has him constantly chasing fresh dopamine, but one night with Penny has him hooked. When she falls ill, driving five hundred miles to care for her doesn't feel impulsive. It feels vital. Becoming her quarantine roommate as result certainly wasn't in the plans, but he'll take any time he can get with her before she comes to her senses and realizes she can do better.
Between the panini pairings, sourdough adventures, and accidental naked video chats, love blooms, but can it survive the stress of the quarantimes? Find out in this opposites attract, lovers-to-friends-to-lovers, forced proximity, work-from-home romance!
"Truly, this was a refreshing, compulsively readable, of the moment book. One of my favorites of the year." -Early reviewer

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Ebooks, Forced Proximity, Friends To Lovers, Rom Com, Amazon

414 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 30, 2022

About the author

As a young woman, Eva Moore loved nothing more than to dive between the pages of a romance and lose herself in the story. They were perfect for avoiding midterms and report cards. She even met her husband while reading a book. About the time the second baby came along though, she found she had little time for diving into anything but laundry. Missing her stories desperately, she began to make up her own. The stories she played with in her mind while she washed dishes and changed diapers eventually made their way onto the page, and she was hooked. Eva now lives in Silicon Valley, after moving around the world and back, with her college sweetheart, her three gorgeous girls, and two Shih Tzus who think they are cats. She can be found most nights hiding in her closet/office, scribbling away, and loves to hear from the outside world.

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you had asked me if I would ever find myself truly enjoying a book set during the beginning of Covid quarantine I would have laughed at you.
But I was WRONG!!!
Full disclosure, the author Eva is a friend of mine, but have you ever known your friend was good at something, but then been smacked over the face with the reminder of how good they are at that thing? That was me reading this book. I know Eva is a talented author, I have read her work before. I was not however prepared for how much joy and understanding I would find in reading this book.
I was delighted over and over again by this book. It is sexy, smart, funny. Our hero has ADHD and his inner monologue and habits felt so real and familiar to me as someone who also has ADHD and struggles everyday to remember to switch my laundry from the washer to the dryer. The heroine of this book is smart, sexy, driven, and flawed and I loved her. Her flaws, vulnerabilities and ambition really came together to make a character that I liked and wish I knew. Also, did I mention this is SEXY! The Hero is completely focused on our heroines desires and fascinated by her brain and its just amazing!
I loved this book so much that I have read it TWICE! Thats right, this ADHD brain was able to concentrate on this amazing book twice and within a few weeks of each other.
Go read this book, I think you will love it.

[Lynn_G · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this one, but I just couldn’t connect with the FMC. Penny’s ambitious and super open minded at first, and she has a one night stand for the ages with Dash. The next morning, she gets her hackles up and makes all sorts of assumptions about the MMC, none of which are particularly flattering nor are they accurate. Turns out Dash had almost single-handedly salvaged Penny’s debut of the product she’d been working on and had invested everything in launching. Makes one wonder what these two see in each other past the physical.
Then when he literally swoops in to care for her while she’s seriously ill with an at-the-time little known but deadly virus, she gets bent over minor issues and again makes assumptions about him. He even brainstorms a way to continue interest in her product launch during a distribution nightmare and she’s still not buying his sincerity.
It’s pretty tedious, to say the least, and her closed-off prickliness is a major factor in why I this was a DNF for me. I tapped out at 40%.

[Abbie Collins]

Penny is annoying she's not a 'boss lady ceo' she's a self centered piece of shit. Dash I'm sorry u have adhd but literally no one cares stop with the sob story please I can't cope . WHY DID EVERY CHAPTER END LIKE THAT.

[Sookie Cullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️
Glad I bumped into this book and author during stuff your kindle day.
Will definitely be reading more of their work.
Loved this story and plenty of 🌶🌶🌶 to keep it yummy!

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was bad! I will admit that I didn't read the synopsis before going in - but I would probably have read it anyways. The plot could have been so empowering and feministic - but the plot was only the backdrop... I thought the characters very incredibly annoying, HATED their inner monologues and thoughts. The only good parts of this was the talk of women - and the cat. OH and the whole covid thing was quite stupid, there was no build-up only a "oh, now there is this thing called covid and we can't go out".

[Kilby Blades · Rating 5 out of 5]

What happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas when Dash is still thinking about his one-night stand with Penny well after they both go home. When she gets COVID, he shows up at her door hundreds of miles away and nurses her back to health. Having exposed himself to the virus, they end up quarantined together.

You know I love a book with kick-ass, high-achieving heroines. Penny is an entrepreneur and a CEO on the brink of wild success with a breakthrough toy that will revolutionize pleasure for women and couples. You know I also love a beta hero who stands behind his woman. Not only is Dash's dedication to Penny's well being swoonworthy (again, he literally nurses her back to health), he's all about making sure Penny and her company can be a success.

Forced proximity turns out to be a curse and a blessing. On the plus side? Incendiary sex. On the not-quite-ready-to-handle-it side? Catching all the feels too fast to outrun the ghosts. If you're looking for real love between real people with real life problems and a high-heat twist, this is your read!

[Jadine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love loved it! Reading the beginning of the quarantine stuff was a bit hard but not horrible. I think I had just forgotten and it was jarring to relive it for a moment. I would have lost my shit long before Penny finally did LOL I don't know how she held herself off from it for so long. It wasn't just the sex that distracted her from the apartment mess, Dash always seemed to surprise her. When she thought he was just not doing what she wished he was doing, it was because he was doing other things for Penny that she then realized/recognized and that made the apartment mess forgivable. I thought both Penny and Dash had a lot of similarities in how they managed their lives, but for different reasons/causes. I think this is Eva Moore's best book yet!

[Quynn Hockema · Rating 5 out of 5]

Up Ups and Down Downs

This book was truly incredible. I didn’t want to put it down. As someone who had to live long distance from their significant other this book clued me into what I wish could have happened. However, while there were many up ups there were also many down downs that made me cry but in the best possible way.

[Audrey Osburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wowzers

Didn’t expect a lot of this but I liked it. It was really interesting to read a story that included covid in the timeline.

[Liv · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I really thought this was gonna be my kryptonite and it turns out it fell slightly flat for me. No spoilers in this review.

The plot - ah how do I explain this…. Its like a workplace romance kind of book, set at the beginning of Covid times which certainly bugged me more than I thought it would. More on that in a minute though. It’s a forced proximity, friends to lovers, disability rep romance because the MMC has ADHD. More of a palate cleanser than an angsty book. The smut was like 2.5/5 on the spice scale. Lot of mentions of sexual content, but not masses of intricate detail. It is a HEA and I have no idea if it’ll be a part of a series or not. Back to my issues; it was like watching children argue. What the fuck? SO much miscommunication I actually don’t think they successfully communicated for this whole damned book… The miscommunication trope is great, when it’s done respectfully but it fucking sucked in this context. Also, I don’t mind Covid centric books, but the whining and the tantrums over something the whole world experienced and dealt with (sans tantrums) just pissed me off. You’re a grown adult: SHUT THE FUCK UP.

The MC - Penny is a type A personality through and through. Think Amy Santiago from Brooklyn 99 if she acted like a petulant child throughout the whole series. I know her intentions were good but she focused so much on being this badass CEO that she forgot to be a decent person first.

The male counterpart - Dash is certainly an interesting take on the ADHD personality. He’s kind and honest, but he has struggles and whilst he isn’t always open about them, he didn’t deserve half of the shit he got. Yeah he’s definitely not perfect by any means but he didn’t deserve the abuse thrown at him for 75% of this book.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

…

I want to start this by addressing the few 1-2 star reviews that the only comments given were about how difficult it was to read about Covid because they are a nurse and it brought up old memories. At what point did you think this was about something else? The blurb CLEARLY tells you this is a book about living in quarantine after Covid. It wasn’t a surprise. At all. If you don’t like a book, fine, but don’t use the ONE thing you could have got from the description as your reason for not liking it. It’s hard to even take a review like that seriously and you’re just bringing down the rating for no real reason.


Onto the actual book. This one did take me a few days to read when I normally can finish same day or split in 2 days. I think that’s mostly because it was a pretty serious book without a lot of comedic relief. I still enjoyed it and liked the characters for the most part. As someone who not only suffers with ADHD but also has children who do as well it was difficult reading about Dash’s traits. I liked him I truly did but every time it mentioned his mess, I cringed because it just bothered me so much. I deal with this myself and my children and it’s a hard cycle to break.

The only complaint I have is having to sign up for a newsletter to get the full epilogue. I refuse to do that ever. If I want to sign up for it, I will but not because that’s how you get me to do so. Instantly makes me irritated with the author for that. Not sure if I’ll read anything else by her but we’ll see.

[Colorado · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning of this book coincides with the onset of the pandemic. COVID accelerates the relationship, with Dash and Penny experiencing "in sickness and in health " shortly after hooking up. As both are thrown together in a small apartment- first due to quarantine, followed by lock downs and office closures- we remember the stages of this earth shattering event. We see their confusion, frustration and adjustment to shortages, Zoom calls, social distancing and Dash's job as a reporter highlights some of the funny trends like sourdough starter and succulents. In parallel with the challenges of a pandemic, each character has individual challenges. Dash struggles with ADHD and is trying to figure out how to gain satisfaction with his work. Penny is an entrepreneur trying to make a success of a manufacturing startup despite COVID issues with shipping delays, vendor shutdowns, etc. The normal issues experienced by any new couple- she's neat and he's messy- are intensified by close proximity. One of the story lines relates to Penny's product being a sex toy and there are a lot of hot scenes. Now that we are 3 years from the beginning of this pandemic, it was fun to look back through a romance lens.

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't recall giving this book permission to emotionally DESTROY me but here we are. Me, in a puddle, on the floor.

First, reading about the beginnings of covid was honesty low-key traumatizing. I honestly had become desensitized to the whole thing and forgot how f*cking scary those first 6 months were. I can't decide if I appreciated the reminder or hated it, to be quite honest. Either way, it had me very emotional.

Freaking Dash, man. Oh my god. I don't know that I've ever loved a book boyfriend so much. I've always been into the gamer boys but I guess I should've been looking for specifically ADHD gamer boys because DAMN. I loved that man.

I absolutely loved Penny too. I saw so much of myself in both of them. So many of their flaws and lack of belief in themselves resonated with me so deeply. If you see my highlights from the book, you'll see what I mean. They're almost all mental health related. Things that I constantly need to remind myself.

"I am worthy of love just as I am."

"My happiness is worth the effort."

"It’s okay to fall apart. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to get messy and make mistakes."

I was not emotionally prepared for this book. My therapist WILL hear about this.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. The COVID Pandemic is front and center in this book and I did not think I would ever want to read a book like this. But, like, it worked. It felt really believable. I loved the control freak sex toy designer heroine. I loved the eager to please, self-doubting game designer hero with ADHD. I loved the supportive people around them. I loved the blending of internal and external conflict.

I started this while I was at a convention because I was struggling with another book. I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep and I just didn't want to read the other book I had started. This was already on my kindle, and it just sucked me in. From the meet-cutey insta-lusty beginning, through COVID, and the stress of pandemic forced proximity, while learning how to be together.

My only complaint is that it was a little long for my tastes.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book for free on stuff your kindle day and wanted to give it a shot. I think this had an interesting premise- although I'm not sure I'm ready yet to read books set during COVID but I liked the idea that they were totally different and then started living together immediately because of the pandemic. Also I thought it was so cool to read about a female entrepreneur who was so passionate about her work. However, both of the main characters really annoyed me. Penny had meltdowns over everything and refused to learn how to delegate while simultaneously getting mad that everyone needed her help all the time. Dash blamed everything on his ADHD when in reality he never tried to learn coping mechanisms for it (and instead just left the apartment gross because he could never remember to clean messes right in front of him). Lastly, they had no emotional connection. They just liked sleeping together.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had potential. The base storyline was good. The characters could have been great. But something just didn’t quite hit the mark with this for me.

It was great to have such consensual spicy scenes, that were majority driven by the women’s pleasure, however the spice a tad repetitive and didn’t really do it for me personally.

It was an easy read, and the characters on paper seemed believable. I just can’t place why they didn’t gel for me. I’d have liked to see a less bossy girl boss, and a less messy adhd type. I think stereotypes maybe slightly too much.

This isn’t to say it was a bad read. But for me not a very memorable one.

I give absolute props to the author for including in stuff your kindle day, because I think it’s a fantastic way for us all to find new authors we love, and I have no doubt many will have enjoyed this book, it just fell a little shy of the mark for me.

[Brianna Ayers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I normally hate anything covid related let alone wanting to read about it but this book was so good! It’s during the time covid hit and everyone had to stay indoors and away from people. What happens though when you have a one night stand and then get sick?! You’re stuck in quarantine together and what else is there to do indoors? Do the nasty lol!! This book was so spicy especially in the beginning and at first I thought it was going to be like a lot of smut books and not really have a storyline but this shocked me. It’s not all about the spice. It was about falling in love, finding yourself, facing challenges especially during a difficult time and the spice just added a very good element to this book. I got this on stuff your kindle day and I’m so glad I picked this one! It was really good. I’m excited to read more by this author now.

[colleen J · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very compelling and realistic story set during the beginning of the pandemic. A one night stand turned into more, Penny and Dash keep in touch and decide to move in together after shut downs. They will need to figure out how to live together if they want it work. And stop getting distracted by the great sex they have!

This is a rare contemporary novel where I didn’t feel like I needed to suspend my disbelief all over the place. The characters feel real, they have friends and jobs. They also have baggage, and I was very interested to see them work through it.

This story depicts true-to-life COVID details, be warned if you would rather escape from reality. I did receive a free advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Look! A new book! Not a re-read!

3.5 rolled up to a 4 because I love the premise. I started this back in August, when the Bonkers Romance Book Club rewards went up, but I got stalled out about 2/3 of the way through because the plot really started to feel circular. Like Penny and Dash as characters were going in circles and I really needed something to happen - turns out it did like 10 pages after I paused in reading. Lol, whoops. (but also I had Shadow Market kickstarter books to read and then life happened)

But Penny and Dash are both really strong, well-drawn characters so I definitely wanted to come back to them to see how it would all work out. And many chili peppers for spiciness - this is how you have fun with toys, lemme tell you.

[Alexis C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was immediately drawn in by the premise—smart and talented sex toy CEO meets sweet gamer guy—but I stayed for the heartfelt story, sex with toys positivity, and relationship dynamics between Dash and Penny.

I really enjoyed seeing how their relationship developed from a one night stand, including how they learned to navigate quarantine living as well as the complications of one of them having a serious for control and the other having ADHD. I also loved the gaming element of the story and how it actually had meaning to the plot—it was really innovative!

contemporary romance readers will want to add this to their tbr!

[Ellie✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so different for me! I haven’t yet read anything that is based through COVID times and really threw me back into life in lockdown.

Overall, I thought this was a really sweet and fluffy read with a sprinkle of filth thrown in. There were some parts where it dragged just a little but on the whole a really lovely story of two people thrown together through the pandemic and trying to keep their heads a float.

The character development for both Penny and Dash was amazing and the learning they did together on how to communicate better in relationships and accommodate each others quirks was actually really valuable for real life experiences!

[Anita Parancs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Remembering back 2020, Covid was a much bigger thing in everyone’s life than the book makes it out to be. The first few months were much more dark and scary and I felt like it should’ve been part of the story more… I enjoyed Penny and Dash’s relationship and dynamic, but it felt a little dragged out as not much happened to them anyway and most of the book was their inner monologue which was almost every time the same repetitive thoughts. Also this is personal but I HATE the phrases ladyboss and girlboss and lady boss CEO… like come on, that’s NOT the way to write strong and powerful women. We are CEO’s and bosses not girlbosses… Can we just collectively agree to forget about these, please?

[Laurie Beaulieu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first book set during the pandemic and I enjoyed reading about Claire and Dash's one night stand and how it developed into a true loving romance. They both had their issues( he's ADHD and she's a Type A control freak)but Eva Moore didn't dwell on that. She showed how even being cooped up true love can bloom. Of course nothing is perfect even in a contemporary romance and Claire's issue can't be held at bay as past demons arise. But this story has an HEA one I was routing for! Enjoyed the 📚 and recommend it.

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up for free on Stuff Your Kindle day and looking forward to reading more from this author! One of the first romance books I've read where the arguments between the couple feel real, rather than a silly miscommunication trope. The depictions of life during COVID were really accurate too. But then some things seem over the top, like just how evil the editor boss is, or threatening to stab someone in the balls for manspreading. Laugh out loud funny in parts. I really liked the relationship between Dash and his mother, and their discussion around ADHD.

[Kelli Trotter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I liked the book and the two different perspectives. I connected with Penny and Dash very easily, and their relationship had strong similarities to my own. I loved Dash’s character balancing with Penny’s. There were even bits of relationship advice that I could definitely pay attention to. There were some moments in the book like when both had a bad day, that felt high school-ish with their conversation and them both having to fix it all on both sides that night. But overall, I really did like the book and wished I had a MiO!

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book DRAGGED on! The first 65% of the book it was all about sex and he’s an amazing listener and gives her the best organism and she’s so pretty and amazing and intelligent and on and on and on. The last 35% or so it has more of a plot line as they figured out just having sex doesn’t fix problems only prolongs them. So that had substance and wasn’t too bad. I feel like the writing had no depth to it and just overall didn’t enjoy this book.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, it was a quick read and it was quirky. I don't like how hostile the fmc seemed to get so quickly towards the mmc. But I think that was most of us when we were cooped up during the pandemic so it was a pretty accurate description. I think this was a good way to show how some new relationships were navigated during COVID times and I would recommend others give it a read too. It only took me like 4 hours to read the whole book.

[marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the character!!!
Dash is one of the sweetest book boyfriends
How he remembers everything about her is so cute and his character shows so much depth through his insecurities and struggles with ADHD
I also liked Penny but I think she could’ve been a bit more caring and loving
I didn’t like this whole Corona thing because it was so depressing but ultimately it made the book more realistic and gave the characters believable problems to solve
Overall a good book

[Jules · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just loved this book and the representation of the ADHD characteristics. Dash is such a fine young man and his clumsiness only makes him more attractive.

I have to admit I thought Penny was ok until they started living together and the pandemic outbreak. Then it was her life, her apartment, her company, it definitely showed a little bit of how egoistisch she was. Dash deserved so much better...

[Jennifer Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buzzing with excitement!!!

Caught a Vibe is such a clever way to talk about romance in such a fun way. I love Penny and Dash's love story. Many people felt stuck or in limbo during the pandemic. I thought this was a genius way to incorporate a fun romantic storyline. How we can stumble and fall then stand up and brush ourselves off again. Excellent story!