A review by lezreadalot
A Convenient Arrangement by Jaime Clevenger, Aurora Rey

4.0

It felt like Cody knew what she wanted, and that was her.

3.5 stars. As a collaboration, this was super successful. I'm not sure how Clevenger and Rey handled the co-writing of this unique romance, but it wasn't obvious that there were two authors; it was so seamless. I've really liked the books that I've read from them separately, and though this has some bumps, I enjoyed it quite a lot!

Jess is a columnist for a sapphic publication, and her editor wants her to work on a piece about cuffing (couples getting together for the colder months, and agreeing to break it off come spring). She enters into a fauxmance/relationship of convenience with Cody, a single mom professor working towards tenure who needs a date for some work related functions. I loved the single parent aspect of this; there's something about butch women being super strong and maternal that just makes my heart glow. I loved Cody and her relationship with Ben (especially given the uniqueness of their situation), and Ben himself didn't suffer from too much of the 'kids don't act like that' syndrome that you always see in books. (He did a little, but not a lot.) Seeing Jess bond with him was adorable, just the kind of fluff I love to see in single parent romances. 

The romance was wonderful; I could not stop smiling while reading this. From the adorable meet-cute to getting to know each other on dates, they just had that spark. I fell in love with both characters individually, and they were great together. Cody especially: such a dreamboat. There were lots of thwarted opportunities thanks to parenthood, but it was still just steamy enough. (I do wish there had been one less FTB scene.) I feel like these authors just mesh really well; the writing is super simple, but I was 100% swept up in the relationship. The conflict that stemmed partially from a lack of communication did disappoint me, especially because what I loved about the first 3/4 of the book is that they communicated so well. It's not that it was unbelievable; in the circumstances you can definitely see people reacting in certain ways. But I just wasn't impressed, and it did sour the book for me a teensy bit. It didn't last long, thankfully.

I know I'm definitely going to be reading the companion romance, because I really liked what little we saw of those characters. This was such a fun romance!

☆ Review copy provided via the publisher and NetGalley. Thank you!