Stand-up comedienne, Stephanie Renshaw, had given herself a
timeline to make a name for herself in the field. Starting off at twenty as a
stand-up comic, she’d given herself a decade. Now she is a few months away from
her self-imposed deadline. As a last ditch effort, she abandons touring across
the country and the new plan is to concentrate on making waves in her hometown,
LA. Steph has a place with her sister to crash while she finds her feet, but
getting her own place is as urgent as getting good gigs. A dream house in
walking distance to the biggest comedy club is up for the taking – except that
the owners will not rent it to single people. Steph ropes in Rae, a security
officer at the club in which Steph is desperately looking for a spot, as her
faux girlfriend to land the house. Rae, for reasons of her own is looking for a
house close to her place of work, and despite reservations – primarily due to
the polar opposite personalities – she agrees.
This is super-slow-burn. The book is almost twice the length
of typical romances and it takes almost 60% of the book for the MCs to start accepting
their feelings for the other. Which means that their interactions really start
almost after most books of this genre finish. However, Steph is such a
mega-engaging personality that she keeps us invested. Dark, brooding,
not-completely-likeable Rae has a backstory which is revealed slowly and works
as a justification for her being the way she is. Jae has a gift for writing
tenderness in a relationship and the way Steph takes care of Rae truly moved
us.
This is a fairly long, but sweet, read.
⭐⭐⭐☆
