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Review
5 stars!
I adore this book! A funny, quirky and sweet grumpy/sunshine, fake-relationship story with a gorgeous, slow burning romance that simmers with chemistry. These characters completely stole my heart, and I loved this one!
Olive is a grad student studying for her PhD in biology. She’s smart and committed to her research, with very little time – or desire – for anything more in her life. But when her best friend in the world, Anh, needs a push in her romantic life, Olive decides that she needs to be seen to be in a relationship, and in a moment of blind panic, she grabs the first man she sees and kisses him where Anh can see her. That man just happens to be Professor Adam Carlsen, a grumpy, genius scientist with the reputation of being the most-hated hardass on campus.
“Did you…Did you just kiss me?” He sounded puzzled, and maybe a little out of breath. His lips were full and plump and…God. Kissed. There was simply no other way Olive could get away with denying what she had just done.
Still, it was worth a try.
“Nope.”
Surprisingly, it seemed to work.
“Ah. Okay then.” Carlsen nodded and turned around, looking vaguely disoriented. He took a couple of steps down the hallway, reached the water fountain – maybe where he’d been headed in the first place.
Olive was starting to believe that she might actually be off the hook when he halted and turned back with a sceptical expression.
“Are you sure?”
It’s horribly awkward, but while explaining herself, Olive follows the path down the rabbit hole, proposing they fake being in a relationship for a month before going their separate ways. Adam has a situation of his own that he needs to manage and, seeing the benefit for himself, he surprisingly agrees. And so, we are treated to a series of encounters that just get better and better as the book goes on. From uncomfortable attempts at conversation and awkward touches, they slowly get to know each other and grow more comfortable, and it turns out the unlikely couple genuinely like each other. They tease and banter and their interactions are witty, playful, and so entertaining. And underneath it all there’s a simmering tension that becomes more and more intense as Olive finds herself unexpectedly falling for the misunderstood professor.
“I wish you could see yourself the way I see you.”
It’s a delicious slow burn, and I lapped up every moment. Olive is an absolute delight – funny, smart and quirky, with a huge heart. The whole book is written from her perspective, and she tells her story brilliantly. And there is so much more to Adam than meets the eye. He’s a guy with a lot of depth, and one of my favourite parts of reading this book was trying to figure out what was going on in his head, because I could see more than Olive sees, and there’s so much more to him than his outward grumpy self. I loved these two together, their romance is realistic, emotional, and surprisingly sexy (like… damn!), and their love story left me feeling all kinds of blissed-out with a massive grin on my face.
You can fall in love: someone will catch you.
There’s a great circle of friends around Olive and Adam. All of them super smart and hilariously funny, and there are so many moments that had me laughing out loud. The group adds wonderfully to the sense of fun in the book.
There is some drama, but it fits with the story and works to progress the plot, bringing intensity but no stupid behaviour, and I love watching Olive and Adam work through it all to find their happy ending.
This is such a cute read, I absolutely loved it.
5 stars!
P.S. I listened to this as an audiobook narrated by Callie Dalton, and she does a fantastic job with it! I highly recommend listening to this one.
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