✨Im Literary Anxious✨

Estimated Reading Time🕒: 3 minutes

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: Ali Hazelwood✍🏻 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 347📖

Stars: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Spice: 🌶️
Story Format: Standalone
Ending type: HAE

“Why did you keep it?”

“It made me think of you.“

“Why would you keep some thing that makes you think of me?“

“ Because I think of you anyway, Mallory.”

♟️Rivals to Lovers
💛He Falls Immediately
♟️Office Mate Who Threatens Bodily Harm
💛He’s a Virgin
♟️Freeloading Guinea Pig
💛She’ll Take Care of Everyone But Not Herself

Not quite what I expected, but I still finished with a smile and that warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest.

Having read Hazelwood’s other work, I didn’t realize this was YA, which definitely impacted my expectations. My 3.5-star rating mostly comes down to the pacing. The MMC and FMC don’t even meet until 30 pages in, and their story doesn’t really take off until halfway through the book.
 

Don’t get me wrong—I loved Mallory as a character, and her personal journey carries the first 60 pages or so. But, let’s not lie to ourselves, I’m here for the romance. And while I enjoyed Mallory’s arc, things felt painfully slow until she finally starts acknowledging her feelings for Nolan (grudgingly, of course).

That said, I did enjoy the read overall. Watching Mallory grow was so satisfying, Hazelwood’s quirky writing brought plenty of laughs, and secondary characters like Oz, Darcy, and Emil kept the story lively.
 

Thoughts:

• I never want Oz as an office mate, but I definitely want to be his work bestie.
• Anyone who threatens to chop off someone’s hand and boil it in their urine is the exact amount of unhinged I need in my life.
• Never felt more seen than when Mallory describes Darcy farting on her (looking at you, Edwierdo 😑).
• I get mood swings, but GOOD LORD, I’d smack Sabrina into next week with that attitude.
• I’m way more intrigued by Emil than Nolan, and I don’t think that’s how secondary characters are supposed to work.
• Nolan had the appeal of a wet noodle until page 90-ish—it’s hard to like a character who barely has any screen time.
• Mallory reminds me of Emelin from Lisette Marshall’s Fae Isles series: constantly carrying the weight of the world.
• Koch can kindly choke on his rook.

Grab a copy!
Amazon Paperback $9.63
Amazon Kindle $8.99
Barnes & Noble $14.00