Lovers to friends to lovers

4.5 stars

Alice “Allie” McGuffey is the best radio producer WBBB in Tuttle, Ohio has ever had and it’s pretty much the unspoken truth that she’s the reason the radio station runs as well as it does. She loves her job and thrives on it, so when the radio station’s current Drivetime star, Mark King, who up until two months ago was her lover, tells her that she’s been moved to a different time slot, and from now on, he’ll be using Lisa, her former intern as his producer, Allie is not happy. It’s not like Bill Bonner, the radio station’s owner would be fool enough to fire her (the place would go under), but she’s been relegated to the 10pm-2am slot, previously occupied by a conspiracy nut who ended his career at the station two weeks earlier by shooting up the console. Angry and hurt, she walks into the local bar, determined to pick up someone, anyone who can make her forget about Mark.

Allie is not going to be broken. She has a plan. First she’s going to find someone to sleep with, who will make her forget about Mark King once and for all. Then she’s going to make her new DJ so famous that the station owner will beg her forgiveness and give her any choice producing gig she wants. Of course, the man she sits down next to and propositions is none other than Charlie Tenniel, the station’s new DJ. Except, unbeknownst to anyone but Bill Bonner and his wife, Charlie has no radio experience whatsoever. He’s there as a favour to Mr. Bonner because Charlie’s father and Bill are old friends, and there have been some threatening letters sent to WBBB. Charlie is just going to pose as a DJ (borrowing the reputation of Ten Tenniel, his drug-dealing DJ brother) while he investigates the threats. He’s unlikely to stay in Tuttle for more than about six weeks, and therefore isn’t exactly looking to make an impression.

Yet Allie is so charming and determined, and after being invited to dinner with her and her gay roommate Joe, Charlie goes against his better judgement and agrees to stay on their sofa. And when Allie later at night asks him to seduce her, he initially tries to refuse, but when she persists, he doesn’t resist for long. She also tells him about her plan to make him a big name in Tuttle, something he adamantly refuses to agree to. Nevertheless, despite his continued attempts to make bad and boring radio broadcasts, he keeps getting more and more listeners, and despite promising himself he’s not going to stay on the sofa and not keep ending up in Allie’s bed every night, the two continue their trysts. That is, until they inadvertently reveal their fledgling relationship on air, and make a public bet to stay celibate, both determined to prove that their gender is better at going without sex. They will need to spend their days keeping their hands off each other and their nights sleeping apart.

Of course, getting to know one another better, without allowing sex into the equation builds up the tension between them to an unbearable degree and makes them aware of how compatible they are on all sorts of other levels too. But Charlie was never meant to stay in Tuttle for too long, what will Allie do when and if he actually leaves?

Full review on my blog.