Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Bad for the Boss

not rating this, since it feels unfair to rate a book talia hibbert has intentionally made “mysteriously disappear”. i absolutely understand why she did that. it’s a bit problematic, surprisingly dark, and very melodramatic in a way that reminds me of a wattpad story (if a decently written one) and not what i’d expect from having read her more recent books. it’s also rough around the edges and you can tell it’s from very early in her career. i absolutely did eat this the fuck up, though. it still has her charm and early versions of some of my favorite elements of her more recent and polished writing.
weirdly enough, this has made me more confident calling talia hibbert a favorite author, since i can trust that i’ll still enjoy even her worst works.

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xnolakola's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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westcoaster05's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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leahkarge's review against another edition

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DNF @ 26%

making sexual advances on your employee when trying to convince her to report sexual harassment she faced at the hands of another employee is deranged behavior. as is threatening to put her over your knee and spank her for “bad behavior” when you’ve barely known her 48 hours.

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saemiligr's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I feel like the blurb doesn't do this book justisce. It's incredibly heartwarming and sexy and I adored it.

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laurasliterarynook's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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zabeishumanish's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Check trigger warnings!
The book is absolutely stellar.

These characters are remarkable well developed. At some points in the story the plot was weak for me, but the sheer vibrancy of every character on the page makes me want to entirely ignore that. Plot drawbacks that stand out are; not knowing why Theo felt comfortable pursuing Jen despite being so worried about her experience with workplace sexual harassment, Jen never meeting the sister Theo talks about constantly, information about Jen history with a panic disorder, and more backstory for everything surrounding the stalker situation. These are mostly small concerns and entirely overshadowed by the amazing cast.

This is primarily a duel POV romance, with POV from the love interests. There are also three partial chapters from the perspectives of different side characters. I think I would normally find a break from story flow like that off putting, but I loved them. The first is Jen’s best friend Aria in over protective friend mode. When I read the section in her POV it felt like both a glimpse into Jen’s life that she would rather keep hidden and a potential way to introduce the POV of the next character in the series. When I got to the next side character POV though I got that these sections were designed to bring depth to the story and show the differences in human experience. The second side characters POV was Jen’s grandmother, who is suffering dementia like memory problems. The writing in the section made me cry as the familial love shown through earnest confusion and doubts. The third side characters POV was a lesser villain in the book. While hinted at earlier in the book, her internal monologue reveals her to be incredibly racist, which was jarring given the diversity of the book’s cast. The writing was artful, in all three cases, but especially with the racists perspective. The section made her both more distasteful and villainous while simultaneously a human with human worries, concerns, and feelings. There was so much marvelously more depth to the book that I was expecting from a romance. I’ve loved Talia’s more current romcom-y romance, but I adored how this book hit me in all the feels.

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