I will admit something; I met my husband at work. I was on my way to the kitchen in the morning to make myself some breakfast when I saw him there already toasting up some bread and a jam jar in the shape of a bear.
When I saw the jar, I immediately gravitated towards it and all I recall saying is “I love bear-shaped things.” According to my husband, this was the clincher and what made him want to know more about me.
This book evokes that exact same emotion. From that one small exchange, he was completely smitten and it was shortly after that that I followed.
The plot
Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other, executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Lucy can’t understand Joshua’s joyless, uptight, meticulous approach to his job. Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy’s overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and Pollyanna attitude.
Now up for the same promotion, their battle of wills has come to a head and Lucy refuses to back down when their latest game could cost her her dream job…But the tension between Lucy and Joshua has also reached its boiling point, and Lucy is discovering that maybe she doesn’t hate Joshua. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.
My thoughts
This was such a fun little read. Nothing too heavy, not too light. It’s like a palate cleanser between meals.
But I don’t want to cheapen the book and say that it’s “chick lit.” Honestly, I can write a whole blog post about “chick lit,” but I’m not going to get into that right now.
I don’t want to say that anything that’s a little more fun to read is not a real book. These are really great books and their purpose is to make you feel good as well. Some books make you really contemplate your life’s purpose. Other books make you laugh and cry happy tears. This is definitely the latter.
I think the one thing that really bothered me about this novel is that it was too easy for Josh to guess what Lucy is thinking and doing. He’s supposed to be this really observant guy who can recall facts and history from all over time. However, he’s able to tell from one glance her emotions? I don’t know about that and that’s with sitting right across from her for the duration of their working relationship.
Also, I wasn’t a fan of the man-gawking. I can understand if the character is buff and brawny and can tear a phonebook in half, but I really wish Lucy tried a little bit harder to get to know him than to objectify him. Wait, can you objectify men?
But other than that, I thought this book was great! It was a lovely little novel and if Sally Thorne decided to write anything else, I’ll probably read it.
Simone and Her Books 