this took me waaaaay too long to finish but i don't care cuz it gave me 2000s rom com flashbacks and I. LOVED. IT.
➝ heroine working at a fas
3.5 stars
this took me waaaaay too long to finish but i don't care cuz it gave me 2000s rom com flashbacks and I. LOVED. IT.
➝ heroine working at a fashion magazine company? ✓ ➝ hero is the grumpy boss of the heroine? ✓ ➝ hate to love and cute banter where the MCs are seconds away from either killing each other or taking each others clothes off? ✓ ➝ NYC setting? ✓ ➝ cute scenes filled with sexual tension?? ✓✓✓
this honestly just gave me nostalgia cuz i watched a lot of rom-com movies when i was a kid and this reminded me of 13 going on 30, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Devil Wears Prada, etc. and now after reading this, I JUST WANNA WORK AT A FASHION MAGAZINE COMPANY AND HAVE A HOT BOSS!! [image]
so this book starts with Dominic Russo (H) going to a pizza restaurant where he's supposed to meet his mother (owner of the magazine company he works at) and a waitress told him that there were no phones allowed but he's an asshole so he ignores her then proceeds to be rude to her. the waitress, who is none other than our heroine Ally Morales, isn't taking any of his shit so obviously, she's rude too and she makes him a pizza where the pepperonis are written in "FU". he gets her fired cuz again, he's an asshole, plus all his frustration from the past year finally blew up and he took it out on her. his mother was having none of his attitude and chased after Ally and then proceeded to hire her.
then obviously after that there was a ton of push and pull, cute situations with sexual tension and the MCs "fighting" but its just foreplay, the whole "i want you but i can't be with you" trope from the H, etc.
Dominic annoyed the hell out of me in the first half. it just seemed like he wanted Ally just for sex cuz his inner monologue is him whining over and over and over about sex and how much he wants her but can't have her cuz his dad used to sexually harass female employees before he got hired and he didn't wanna be like him. ↳ D O M I N I C
"I've never not wanted you. I only want you. I'm no better than that dickhead you went out with. I don't want a relationship with you. I want a quick, dirty fuck to get you out of my system. But we both know it won't be enough. You'll get your hooks into my soul and-"
see what i mean? i don't mind this in other books but it was just sooo excessive here since 95% of his inner monologue in the first half revolved around him wanting to have sex with Ally but can't do anything about it so he just "uses" his hand every night. [image] like, ok?? thank you for not sleeping with OWs while thinking about the h i guess. plus, he kept rejecting her and kept giving her mixed signals which made me wanna smack him in the head a couple times.
honestly, if you're planning on reading this, this would be a great drinking game where you take a shot every time he lusts after Ally and only talks about her physical description cuz y'all would 100% blackout. fun right??
he does get better after their first kiss tho which was around 60% so yup, this was also a slowburn. he was sweet and started to become the alpha possessive asshole we all know and like BUT he does have idiot moments in the last 20%, though, there is GROVELLING and i was all for that.
as for Ally, i LOVE her. she didn't take any shit from Dominic and even called him out for playing games with her. ↳ A L L Y
"You say you care about me. You're obviously attracted to me. And as much as you bitch and moan about me ruining you life, I think you actually like me. But not enough to want to be with me. And because of that, I can't trust you, Dominic. I'm not going to open up and share my life story with you. You haven't earned that access."
like yess bish THANK YOU. i have another one ↳ A L L Y
"You showed up on my date. You showed up at the club. You say you don't want to want me, yet it was your idea to get to know each other better. You wear vests just to mess with me. Then you tell me to quit the job that I desperately need so you can feel better about wanting to fuck me."
so yup. Dominic told her to quit just so he could fuck her. granted, he didn't know her situation where she's literally working 4 jobs so he could take care of her dad who has dementia but since he's obsessed with her and read all her files, doesn't he think that there's something fishy?? working 4 jobs is A LOT. but did he think about that? nooo because all he ever did was lust after her. ANYWAYS, im glad he felt bad once he realized what's happening and tried to help her.
as for the drama (spoilers), there were a few OM drama here but nothing too serious. Ally went on a date, Dominic showed up and ruined that cuz he was jealous. Ally "flirting" with this hot designer, Dominic got drunk cuz he was jealous. this is actually my favorite part in the book cuz Drunk Dominic was adorable!! i wish he was drunk all the time honestly. and Dominic accusing Ally of cheating on him with said designer and also accused her for basically using him for his money.
i mainly liked this but even as a slowburn lover, i was impatient as hell. the cute moments filled with sexual tension? loved them but also disliked them cuz there was just too much. it's a perfect contradiction really....more
Ahhh this was really cute! Both the MCs, Kate and Kennedy are both so likeable and their banter? Omfg it was amazing.
I love the whole unrequ4.5 stars
Ahhh this was really cute! Both the MCs, Kate and Kennedy are both so likeable and their banter? Omfg it was amazing.
I love the whole unrequited aspect and honestly wasn’t even that bothered that H had a gf (of 2 months) in the beginning. Despite this, the OW/OM drama is actually super tame and not at all dumb, frustrating, or angsty. It was actually pretty funny and entertaining.
Since H had a gf in the beginning, I just wanna clarify he never cheated. Emotionally cheated? Not really since he was confused and, tbh, very naive when it comes to his feelings for the h. So he didn’t even know he was even falling for her. BUT he did end things with his gf pretty quickly.
And the OM drama was nonexistent imo just cuz it was more brotherly/sisterly relationship, but it did add to the entertainment since H was jealous, thus, finally realizing his feelings for h. I really like how the tables have turned for the characters cuz h has had unrequited feelings for H for at least 6 years but now when he realizes he’s in love with her, she’s “moving on”. Did that stop the H from acting all obliviously jealous and doing most of the chase and wooing? Nahhh. This is why I love this book and it didn’t bother me that he was naive for so many years.
This is definitely on the slowburn side and even tho I LOVE slowburn, I just couldn’t wait when they finally get together! And was I satisfied? Hell yes.