2.75 stars. this was actually much more enjoyable than it should have been. first of all it is a full twice as long as it needs to be, the naïveté and insecurity of one of the main characters doesn't change throughout and white it started out charming it ended up eye rolling, character behavior/motivations sometimes didn't match (really it's mostly not how people who are aggressively in the closet would act in public), and there was some bad writing/editing with repetition of words/phrases that pulled me out of the scenes (something like "She pushed her up against the hard wall and through her sweater she could feel the hard wall behind her").

all that said i still liked this. i liked spending time with these characters and their closest people, i liked the unfolding of it all and the way they tried to always talk it through (even though there were still the annoying miscommunications, but they didn't last long), their honesty with each other. i do wish this was better but i still found it hard to resist. ( )

4.25
This was a fun one.

one of the FMC's is experienced and the other is a baby queer. one is a politician the other is a literature student. It is one hell of a slow burn, but I think it's worth it. It's so corny and they sometimes lay it on thick but I wouldn't have it any other way.
I think this will be a relatable one to a few.

side note: I was massively side-eyeing them at the museum. ( )

dnf @ 14% ( /-90 pages)

Bored me to TEARS.

Wow. I think I will need a few days to process this book. With almost 630 pages or 21 hours of listening, the author draws you into the world of 2 extraordinary characters. It was a rollercoaster ride to the end, and I had to shed a tear or two - no, to be honest, I was even a bit devastated because it gave me so many feelings.

But first things first. The focus is on 25-year-old Sutton Spencer, a literature student at NYU, and 28-year-old Charlotte Thompson, deputy mayor of New York, running for the House of Representatives.

Sutton is naïve, sometimes awkward and shy, but incredibly likeable. I didn't like her that much at first, but eventually, I fell in love with her. Her character develops the most throughout the story. Charlotte is in the middle of her life and knows exactly what she wants. Still, when Sutton enters her life, she questions her ideas about the future.

I just loved the two of them in combination. I think they fit so well together precisely because of their differences - they complement each other.

The secondary characters were annoying in parts, to be honest. I don't know if that was intentional or if it was just me. But in the end, it doesn't matter because the plot is primarily driven by Sutton and Charlotte, anyway.

The story is a mix of friendship, romance, desire and politics. I liked the political part because it sets the story apart from other love stories.

Of course, a novel about "friends with benefits" calls for conflict and drama, but that only happens in small doses until the end. The author based their entire relationship on honesty and communication. In the end, I thought Haley Cass was going to break with that, which ultimately didn't turn out to be true.

I really enjoyed the ending - especially the epilogue. I wish it had been longer, but that's complaining on a high level. Yes, the book's length is daunting, but the plot is entertaining and draws you in. And believe me, the chemistry between these two is worth it.

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Check out more reviews on my blog www.wordsandfiction.com. ( )

GOSH I LOVE THIS BOOK. ( )