This is the debut novella by Emma Sterner-Radley. The premise of the book is that if people are stuck in their personal situations, “life pushes you along” in many different ways: it can be by chance, by self determination or by someone else’s help. The latter is what happens to Zoe, a 26 year old bookstore employee who feels dissatisfied with her job and lack of love life. With a little help from her best friend, her brother and Rebecca, a sexy job hunter she’s secretly attracted to, Zoe tries to change her life.
While it is positive that the book departs from the ubiquitous lesfic romance by presenting a mixed race relationship between two women with an age gap of 14 years, it falls short in delivering realistic situations and there is a good amount of telling but not showing.
The book is written mostly from Zoe’s point of view with a few chapters of her best friend’s and a couple of Rebecca’s. The author clarifies the pov in each chapter title which I don’t think it’s necessary. Some parts of the dialogues (specially Rebecca’s lines) seem to belong more to written speech and sound a bit unnatural or too long. Additionally, the relationship seems to evolve too fast in the last few chapters (with some degree of “insta love”) compared to the slow pace at the beginning of the book.
Overall, an ok summer read. 2.5 stars rounded to 3.
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
