Isabella Shay is usually a very honest person. But when she’s running late for her first day at her dream job and the barista yells for “Amy” three times with no answer, she does the unthinkable.
Izzy takes that PSL.
It’s the exact drink she ordered and paid for, only way further ahead in the queue—and she’ll take whatever bad karma is coming for her; she’s desperate and very late. But when she turns around and runs directly into the most attractive man she’s ever seen, spilling the drink all over his made-for-GQ shirt and tie, she ends up having the ultimate meet-cute. Karma who? Sparks fly and things feel beyond promising, until he says to her: “See you tomorrow, Amy.”
Izzy reasons she can just straighten things out the next day, no biggie. Only when she gets to her new office and meets the VP of her department, it is none other than Blake Phillips—the hottie from Starbucks. And the man might’ve been charming to “Amy,” but he is an arrogant grump to Izzy, an arrogant grump who does not find her explanation funny at all. But day by day, an attraction simmers between them and they’ll have to find a way to work together without ripping each other’s heads—or clothes—off.
Release Date: Jan 14, 2025
Heat Level: Hot
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $10.99
“I’d finally found what seemed like the perfect job, with a company that was considered to be the best place to work in the entire freaking world, and I’d totally blown myself up. I’d somehow managed to lie and insult a vice president on my very first day. As if that weren’t enough of an aww-shit sandwich, I was so profoundly disappointed in AVP Blake’s awful character arc that I could cry. He’d started of the day like some dashing hero in a rom-com, attractive and charming and filled with promise, but then, in an instant, he’d shown himself to be a pompous, arrogant, judgmental jerk. A jerk who would most likely be firing me the following day.”
It’s twelve days into 2025, and I think I’ve just read my favorite book of the year, which is high praise. I have been waiting to read a book like this for so long. I feel like I’ve been starving for some actual chemistry that jumps off the page, and that is what Blake and Izzie have in spades.
Their initial meet-cute is perfect and right out of a romance book, but then it takes a turn for the worst when Blake learns that Izzie may have told a lie, which he has a zero-tolerance policy. Throw in the fact that she is now his direct subordinate, she is totally off limits. Unfortunately, these two are like magnets constantly being pulled into each other’s orbit.
The reader gets to watch their silly antics on how they circumvent the office rules and how they become each other’s person. I adored how they were able to show each other the most authentic versions of themselves and how organically they fell in love. It’s like watching the beginnings of a real relationship.
They would Facetime constantly, stay awake on the phone until they fell asleep, wanted to talk to each other every second of every day. It’s like Lynn Painter went into my brain and found out that I wanted a man who was obsessed with his heroine when she created Blake. He is down bad for Izzie, and that made this book everything. I honestly have nothing negative to say about this book at all. No notes. It’s perfection.
If you’re a fan of authors like Sarah Adams and Christina Lauren, then I would definitely pick this up.
~ Michelle
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