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Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.
My Rating:
Book Publish Date: July 12, 2022 Pre-Order Here
Circling Back To You is a contemporary office rom com that started off strong but personally fell flat for me as I was reading the book.
Even though this was a cute read, it didn’t deliver on the best friends to lovers and fake dating trope.
We have our two main characters Matt and Candence who both work at Prism Realty in cubicles right next to each other. Matt is a broker and Cadence is an analyst for the company. Cadence has had a crush on Matt for a while but never acted on it because seems to be a ladies’ man in the office. A lot of people in the office are placing bets on when they would get together and jokingly call Matt Cadence’s work husband.
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Through a deal with a potential client that seems like it won’t go through for Matt. Their boss orders them to go to their hometown for the new office and to solidify the deal with a potential client. Even though I feel that everything that Cadence can be done remotely, she was ordered to go to as well. On her vacation time which I personally would have said no to.
Especially since she is complaining about her low pay and the lack of a bonus. Also, she was dealing with the anniversary of her mom’s death. But there she goes to work on her vacation. I don’t understand why she needed to go, all the work she did. Could have been remote work like I said.
First off, the chemistry felt off between our two main characters Matt and Cadence. Other than their personal struggles with their family, you don’t get to see what really bonds the two other than they work cubicles next to each other in the beginning. When they finally hooked, the impression I got was. Okay, that happened.
Secondly, there essentially was supposed to be a fake dating trope. But all we got was Matt not really being straightforward with his Lola about the girlfriend situation. When he was boarding the flight, he just asked a favor if Cadence could just come with him to the family party. In return, he will give her the crossword puzzle answer and of course she agreed. There wasn’t really anything about Cadence agreeing to be a fake girlfriend to Matt’s family’s birthday party. Unless I missed it, they literally hooked up way before they went to the party so is this really technically a fake dating trope?
When they finally hooked up, there wasn’t really any angst about them finally getting together. Cadence claims that she wanted to take it slow but it was literally the next day they hooked up after she kinda got drunk. So there was no build up to the situation when two people in rom coms finally get together.
Circling Back To You by Julie Tieu wasn’t totally terrible, but it fell flat for me. I wish there was more to the fake dating and the best friends to lovers’ trope.
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