AUTHOR: Erica Lee GENRE: Queer Romance PAGES: 236 pages RELEASED: 25 April 2023 SYNOPSIS: Annalise Finch is content - she has a job she enjoys, lives close to her family and friends, and spends most Wednesday nights drinking wine with her grandma. According to her grandma, though, she has lost her sparkle, and the only solution is to join a site to hook up with other women. The only problem (aside from a meddling grandma with a dirty mind) is Annalise doesn’t like women. At least, that’s what she always thought, but when she meets Brinley Adams, she starts to question everything. Brinley Adams loves women, but not commitment. She is more than happy picking up ladies at the bar she works at to have a little fun. When a hot blonde walks into her bar and completely fails to go home with the woman she came with, what choice does Brinley have but to take her under her wings? Their arrangement is perfect - Brinley will teach Annalise everything she knows about pleasing a woman, and in turn, Brinley gets to have a little fun herself. Since neither of them are interested in any sort of commitment, what could possibly go wrong? It’s not like this is a romantic comedy. Falling for the teacher never felt so good…
Annalise is as straight as they come, so she’s a little shocked when her meddling grandmother signs her up for a women-only hook-up app. Her grandma has the best intentions, telling Annalise she needs to get her spark back after mutually breaking up with her longterm boyfriend. In order to get her grandmother off her back, she agrees to meeting up with some of the women on the app, if only to satisfy her curiosity. But her first attempt goes horribly wrong and she’s left sitting at the bar by herself. Enter bartender Brinley who has had eyes on Annalise since she walked into the bar. She can see that Annalise is a little out her depth and the pair come to an arrangement - Brinley will show Annalise the art of hooking up with women. It’s a simple enough no-strings-attached plan until both women realise just how much time they like spending with one another, and Annalise realises she might not be as straight as she once thought… Erica did not hold back when serving up this spicy yet sweet romance. Who doesn’t love a hook-up to lovers romance with ALL the spiciness! Annalise and Brinley had instant chemistry and it was fun following their friendship and romance progress as they embarked on their student-teacher arrangement. Even though they’re hooking up from the get-go, it’s a little bit of a slow burn in terms of them realising their feelings for one another. Obviously, a bit part of the story is Annalise coming to terms with her sexuality after having never really questioned it. She’s literally the last person to realise that she’s queer, but her journey to figuring out her bisexuality was filled with lots of heart and soul. And while her family and best friend are all “omg we knew you weren’t straight” and continually wanting to label Annalise’s relationship with Brinley before Annalise figures things out for herself, Brinley is super patient with Annalise and her path to coming-out, even though she internally has her suspicions. I also loved seeing a bunch of queer pop culture references - it may end up dating the book just a little, but it was nice to see some love shown for those books, artists, films and TV shows. Plus Erica gets a little meta when talking about romance book tropes, which was fun. I’ll admit that while I do generally like a kooky and slightly meddling grandma in my rom-coms, I just couldn’t totally vibe with Annalise’s grandma, and ever her best friend. They were both a little over-the-top characters, and had they been paired back a little, they would have been perfect. Fortunately, we don’t really see too much of them throughout the book, so their characterisations weren’t a massive deal. I adored this book, so if you’re looking for your next sapphic read, this is definitely one that needs to be near the top of your TBR! |
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