On the Importance of Purse Snacks

When Romance Twitter gets hype over a book, I listen. Which is how I ended up paying full price* for this delightful book despite it sharing a title with a not-very-good-but-serviceable-on-a-Saturday-night movie.

Alexa Monroe finds herself trapped in an elevator with Drew Nichols. During a power outage, the two flirt over purse cheese, prompting Drew to ask Alexa to be his date that weekend for the wedding of one of his exes to one of his friends. The sparks from their flirtation erupt into a full-blown flame with the two proceeding immediately to trading weekends–she lives in Berkeley, he in Los Angeles–and texting in between. But long-distance with someone you have only just met is a challenge they may not overcome.

I’m conflicted about this one. It is a wonderfully sweet story. Both Drew and Alexa are charming, clever, and immensely likable. I wanted to be friends with both of them. I mean, Alexa is my girl with her affinity for snacks and snack storage. It’s well-written and evenly paced.

However, parts of the story rubbed me the wrong way. Alexa had a nasty habit of jumping waaaay ahead of the situation and working herself up into a snit. Unfortunately, that’s the primary source of conflict between the two of them. The pair manage to have adult conversations about race, their professional ambitions and fears. But their romance seems to be one place they can’t get it together. For me that was frustrating and took some of the shine off the story.

Despite this, I think this story is going to end up being one of the ones I go back to frequently for a pick-me-up. Drew and Alexa are just too cute not to revisit, and if Guillory wants to come back with Carlos’s story, I would pre-order it immediately.

*sob. But no ragrets. Support diverse authors!