My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Her dress probably cost more than my monthly salary, and I didn’t even have to look down to know that her nails had been buffed and polished more than even her wine glasses at home. And those were meticulously polished daily with silk cloths and steam from filtered water by housekeepers wearing gloves.

 

Clayton may be eye candy, but Andrew was some weird whole-person candy for me.

 

One thing that I had learned while dating Clayton— you didn’t need to be best friends with someone to share gossip. Drama was the most infectious of diseases, and no amount of social distancing could eradicate it, only slow the rate of spread.

 

I hadn’t realized until now how exhausting it was to argue with yourself. You knew all about your own weaknesses and, unlike arguing with others, you couldn’t slam the door and leave.

 

My Review:

 

I struggled with this one and am waffling in how to rate it as while I enjoyed the clever lashings of humor and sensual steam, the emotional tones were far from balanced due to the overload of angst and constant conflict, which is just not my jam. But if angst is your friend, you would most likely be a happy camper and bouncing in your chair. Amongst the angst, poignant heart-squeezing threads were noted and Ms. Wen’s smoking hot sensual scenes had me gasping during their happier phases.

The storylines were original and the writing was easy to follow, colorfully described, and pulled sharp visuals to my mind’s eye throughout perusal. The main characters were likable but as a couple, they took turns annoying me with their on-again/off-again, back and forth, and panic modes became a bit tedious, yet I remained invested in the story and curious about the mysterious secrets they each hid from the other.