AUTHOR: Chloe Peterson GENRE: Queer Romance PAGES: 311 pages RELEASED: 1 April 2023 SERIES: Not On The #2 SYNOPSIS: After the takeover of her family business, 30-year-old Frankie vows to keep her parents’ shop unchanged. Her plan breaks down when the mystery woman who saved her from a horrible first date walks in and announces she’s the new owner. While the woman is as beautiful as Frankie remembers, her charm is long gone. Hayden, 47, has always put her expanding empire first. When she visits her newest acquisition, she is shocked to see the face that has plagued her thoughts for weeks. Hayden never mixes business with pleasure and is determined to suppress her overwhelming attraction to Frankie. An attraction that makes it hard for Hayden to maintain her ruthless corporate persona. With different approaches to business, the two women bump heads at every turn. Soon, things heat up in and out of the boardroom… Sometimes you have to get personal to be professional…
Frankie’s world turns upside down when her mother lands in hospital with heart problems and her parents are forced to sell their shares of the business they’ve built up in order to cover the medical expenses. The store has been a second home to Frankie for as long as she can remember, and she’s worried the new owner will destroy everything her parent’s had worked hard to create. The last thing she expected was for the new owner to be the same woman who saved her from an awful blind date, and the same woman she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about since. There’s an obvious attraction between Frankie and Hayden, but Frankie’s stubbornness to accept changes that will better the store puts the pair at loggerheads. On Hayden’s part, she’s fighting off her growing attraction to Frankie because she’s sworn off serious relationships since having her heart left in tatters. But there’s no denying that something is simmering between the pair, and if they want their professional relationship to flourish, they may just have to give into temptation on a personal level. There’s nothing like an age-gap workplace romance to sink your teeth into, and Chloe delivers a fun one full of tension, chemistry and heart - the hallmark of any good romance. Frankie and Hayden have instant chemistry with one another, and it only continues to intensify throughout the book, even when they both try to downplay their own feelings for each other. The relationship between Frankie and Hayden was sweet and swoony, and this was balanced out with an insight into both of their friend groups which are both made up of fun and interesting characters. This book obviously comes after seeing Cameron and Elliott’s relationship in Not On The Resume, so I’m excited to go back and discover their story after seeing them all loved-up in this book. And Chloe’s hinted that another book is coming soon too, following Reid, so I’m keen to see more of Hayden’s friend group. Chloe’s writing and pacing at times is a little off, which throws off the flow of the story, although not a great deal. Overall, it’s not a major hindrance on the book, but a few occasions felt a bit like whiplash with moments between the characters not really built-up to before jumping back to the main slow-burn pace of the story - it’s almost like a scene or two was missing just to build-up to these moments. While the book is marketed as an age-gap romance, and the two main characters do have a 17-year age gap, it’s never really addressed in the book and never comes to be an issue as Frankie and Hayden embark on their relationship. And while this isn’t a bad thing, the one thing I do enjoy about age-gap romances is when the age gap actually comes into play at some point, even if it isn’t a big issue for the characters. The only real mention of any sort of age gap is in reference to Hayden’s casual relationship with Vinny, who is 20 years younger than her. If you’re a fan of age-gap romances, look no further than Not On The Agenda and the characters that Chloe delivers. And if you need more sapphic books to add to your TBR, this is definitely one to add near the top! |
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