AUTHOR: Olivia Dade GENRE: Romance PAGES: 400 RELEASED: 13 February 2024 SERIES: Harlot’s Bay #1 SYNOPSIS: When Athena Greydon's fiancé ends their engagement, she has no choice but to move into the Spite House she recklessly bought him as a wedding gift. This is a problem, for several reasons: The house, originally built as a brick middle finger to the neighbors, is only ten feet wide. Her ex's home is attached to hers. And Dr. Matthew Vine the Freaking Third (aka the uptight, judgmental jerk who convinced his younger brother to leave her) is living on the other side, only a four-foot alley away. If she has to see Matthew every time she looks out her windows, she might as well have some fun with the situation--by, say, playing erotic audiobooks at top volume with the windows open. A woman living in a Spite House is basically obligated to get petty payback however she can, right? Unfortunately, loathing Matthew proves more difficult than anticipated. He helps her move. He listens. And he's kind of...hot? Dammit. Between a rock and a hard place, but it’s a skinny house between your ex-fiancé and his uptight brother…
A month out from their wedding, Johnny Vine calls off his engagement to Athena Greydon, then hightails it off on their honeymoon to Hawaii alone. Left with a broken heart, Athena packs up her life and moves to Harlot’s Bay, like she had intended, moving into ‘Spite House’, the skinny house next door that she had bought Johnny as a wedding present. And to really top things off, her other neighbour, across the four-foot alley, is Johnny’s older brother Matthew, who has continually made it clear what he thinks about Athena, despite only having met her face-to-face at the engagement party. It’s not the most ideal situation for Athena, but with nothing in her bank account and no job, she can’t not move into the house she now owns. Finding Athena as his new neighbour is the last thing that Matthew expected, and he can’t help but worry about her uprooting her life to a town she didn’t even have to move to. And he can’t help but blame himself for his brother’s actions. As they get to know one another across their four-foot alley, they can’t help but be drawn to each other, especially when they both see one another at their lowest points. You had me at forced proximity! But seriously, I don’t actually think I really read the whole synopsis before I dived into this book - I saw a woman moving to the tiny house between her ex and his brother and I knew I had to read this one! This was my first time reading anything by Olivia and I throughly enjoyed her writing style, especially how she created the world of Harlot Bay and the characters within it. As much as the romance between Matthew and Athena is the draw-card, the other characters we are introduced to are all so interesting and I can’t wait to see more of them in future books in this series! Also, give me a WHOLE book on the spicy monster romance bookclub because they are DIVINE! Athena and Matthew’s romance was very much a slow burn, with lots of sweet, hilarious, swoony and spicy moments leading up to their relationship. At times, the chemistry between them felt a little forced, but at other times it felt so natural. I particularly enjoyed the moments when they each saw each other at their lowest points - Athena with her depression and Matthew with his anxiety - and how their preconceived ideas were pushed to the side in order to support and help the other. A big part of this story is about Athena and her depression, which Olivia handled so well. It was so crushing to read Athena’s perspective as she sunk to a deep depression as her life seemed to crumble around her. Meanwhile it was so sweet to see Matthew slowly realise that something was wrong and him put aside his own fears and anxieties to be there for Athena when she had no one else. Athena’s road to managing her depression was also super realistic, and it was great to see a positive representation of taking that step to get help and know that getting back on track takes time but that things do get better. Meanwhile, Matthew was facing his own grief and anxieties, which surrounded the previous accidental death of his infant brother. It’s another confronting moment in the book, but Olivia was again handles it with care. While I did struggle at times with really connecting with Matthew & Athena and their relationship, this was a super sweet, and little bit spicy, romance read that all the romance girlies definitely need to check out! I’m definitely keen to see more of Harlot’s Bay and whoever takes on the lead in the next book. |
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