Romance book connoisseur Tara Chen has had her heart broken ten times by ten different men—all of whom dumped her because of her “stage-five clinger” tendencies. Nevertheless, Tara is determined to find The One. The only problem? Classic meet-cutes are dead, thanks to modern dating apps. So Tara decides to revisit her exes in hopes of securing her very own trope-worthy second-chance romance.
Boston firefighter Trevor Metcalfe will be the first to rush into a burning building but the last to rush into a relationship. Love just isn’t his thing. When his new roommate Tara enlists him to help her reconnect with her exes, he reluctantly agrees. But Tara’s journey is leading him to discover his own new chapter.
The more time they spend together, the more Tara realizes Trevor seems to be the only one who appreciates her authentic, dramatic self. To claim their happily ever after, can Tara and Trevor read between the lines of their growing connection?
Release Date: Jan 10, 2023
Series: The Influencer
Book: 2
Heat Level: Sensual
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $11.99
Tara and Trevor are roommates who barely co-exist. Tara is a die-heart romantic who has failed at relationships more times than she cares to admit. She has been struggling to find the right one. She decides to go back through her list of Exes to see if she can get a second chance at love after hearing her grandmother’s story at finding love again. She enlists Trevor to help her this time around. What is better than having a male perspective?
Trevor is a womanizer and is not interested in finding love. He is contemptuous of helping Tara, but he soon realizes the other guys don’t really understand Tara as he does. The more time he spends analyzing Tara in this new light, the more he likes her over-the-top behavior.
This is a slow burner. I normally don’t like the womanizer kind of guy. Very few authors can pull that off for the hero. I’m not a prude by any means, but I don’t want any explicit details of the guy with other women. In this case, it works. Tara is just a roomie who kind of works his nerves with all her books and ideas of love, and they have no romantic connection at first. However, Trevor becomes a good guy once he put on his friend’s hat for Tara. I really like that he slowly started to appreciate all that was her.
Tara is this likable girl who just wants the guy for once. You can’t help but root for her and want her to end up with Trevor. The dreams and fantasies about Trevor were steamy. She is scared and vulnerable at the same time. She is supposed to find her second chance romance, and yet she is finding herself falling in love with her roommate, who has commitment issues. It is not an easy situation, but the author manages to strip Trevor down to show that he does care.
There is a bit of miscommunication to give the mild angst needed in the story. I wish that readers got more of a chance to see Tara and Trevor in a relationship once they got together. However, the sexual tension held my interest.
Overall, I highly recommend this for fans of rom-com.
~ Samantha
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