Author: Katie Warren
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBT
Personal Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ / ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 out of 5 stars)
I finished this in one sitting because it was just so lighthearted and I was smiling all the way! It’s definitely a feel-good romance to lift the spirits.
Plot
A year has passed since Julian’s husband died. The only reason he managed to barely function on a daily basis is having his best friend Nora as his roommate and practically caretaker. Nora urges him to move on by trying to ‘communicate’ with James leading Julian to text his old number. He doesn’t know that the number has already been recycled to Liam, a guy from the neighborhood who’s starting to get sick of the bachelor life going through one-night-stand women.
At first, Liam ignores the messages thinking the sender would stop when he/she realizes that it’s the wrong number. However, it became later on clear that they expect no response as they were communicating with a deceased loved one. They started corresponding from there and he suddenly feels a connection.
Romance and Grief
I love several romance elements in this story, the biggest one revolving around Julian’s grief for his romantic partner and how Liam fully accepts and respects that he doesn’t intend to replace his ex-husband in his life. I can’t imagine losing a life partner I’ve loved for years and someone asked me later in life if they’re able to replace him and what he stood for in my life. I wouldn’t want to be someone who asks that of someone else either. When reading romance books, sure it’s heart fluttering to hear the character saying something like ‘it was never THIS good with him/her before’ or something to that effect just to make the existing relationship elevated. But there’s also something pure, unconditional, and respectful about acknowledging that these two relationships are different but they’re not supposed to be pitted against each other. I truly love that the book took the high road and took the latter.
Anyway, on to the lighter parts! I also really like that humor is the foundation of Jules and Liam’s connection. Relationships really do tend to last longer when it’s so natural to smile and laugh with the person you’re with. It’s not just about getting physically attracted to each other because that intensity tends to lessen over time. It’s not just about feeling on cloud nine during the honeymoon phase of the relationship. No, the relationship has to feel like friendship first then more.
Next, the tropes. Are they super common and obvious? Yes. Am I mad at it? Definitely not. I only really dislike common tropes when they’re not executed well but the tone of the book and the established personalities of the characters were just too good for me to be upset about all of it. It’s too big of a coincidence that Jules and Liam just happen to live close to each other, that they’d bump into the same cafe and farmer’s market on random days, and it’s too unlikely for Liam to be in a company event that Nora just happens to be an organizer of and she dragged Julian there to be auctioned at the last minute. Yes, even the premise of the book is just one big coincidence that might never happen. But I really didn’t care because the writing kept it so lighthearted that I just ate it all up. The vegetable jokes weren’t even funny to me but the writing made it so apparent that Jules and Liam were enjoying it that I did too!
Lastly, the spice. Who knew s*xting can be that hot? I was squealing when they finally kissed and I did not expect the bedroom romance to be that… sheesh. All I can say is – hell yeah.
LGBT Aspect
🛑🛑🛑 **Spoiler Alert** 🛑🛑🛑
Before meeting him in person, Liam initially thought that ‘Jules’ was a woman. Upon seeing him, Liam panics because he’s a guy in his thirties who has always been sure he was straight until he developed an attraction to Jules. I think the book dealt with this short identity crisis really well by showing how Liam was so confused that he was hot and cold toward Jules. The story also showed him trying to research what his identity means with this setup and how he tried to test his sexual preferences because these are all realistic scenarios that one goes through when having an identity crisis. Since this is a lighthearted novel, it was resolved really quickly by Liam accepting that it really didn’t matter to him what his label was as long as he knew in his heart that he was happy with Jules. Because in reality, yes the majority of the LGTBQIA+ community struggle for decades with their identity, but some are actually pretty content with not having labels at all. Liam has been a workaholic that doesn’t even have a close friend he’s comfortable around. He’s in his thirties and unhappy with his love life. It’s not a big leap for a guy like him to suddenly find happiness and just don’t care about everything else because he finally feels alive about something. It’s not like he had this circle that he deeply cares about their opinion. It was just him and his mom so acceptance could’ve been done quickly. A lot of the LGBTQIA+ struggles about acceptance just stems from public perception. He didn’t have that.
Lastly, yay to Jules. Honestly, when he said he won’t be someone’s experiment to determine their sexuality, I applauded him. He didn’t give in very easily either. To make sure he wasn’t going to be someone’s secret he actually asked Liam on a full-pledged date so he can gauge his reaction when they were seen in public. I love a protagonist with principles.
🛑🛑🛑 **Spoiler End** 🛑🛑🛑
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a quick, spicy read and you don’t have a problem eating up romance tropes as long as the characters devour the plot with their presence, then I would highly recommend this. I felt all the sadness, the confusion, the anger. But most importantly, I was smiling from beginning to end because Jules and Liam are just too cute together.
The Stray Reader 
Leave a comment