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LGBTQAI : Lesbian main character and love interest
Sex on page: Yes

I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I picked up this book because I needed a f/f workplace romance for a bingo. While the blurb (and sometimes the book) describes Kade as Jen’s boss, in the book they seemed to me more or less as equals, since they are both board members in Jen’s company.

I found most of the romantic scenes okay, but nothing too engaging. Strangely, I preferred the side plots (though these were still often connected to the two main characters and their relationship). Kade and Jen both have family members who are either sick or elderly, and there is a huge focus on how these people can be cared for and kept engaged instead of ignored. There is also discussion of the unfair expectations placed on women enterpreneurs in business, especially relating to their work/family balance.

I also loved Kade’s character development – throughout the book, she learns how to deal with her own guilt over losing her best friend, as well as her complicated relationship with her father. Partly due to Jen, she learns how to love herself and accept herself as somebody who deserves to be loved. This was one of my favourite themes in the book.

That being said, I often found the professional/work side… strange and. Obviously, some level of unprofessionalism in any workplace romance novel, but in this book the lack of professionalism went beyond Kade and Jen’s relationship. In this book, each main character conveniently works with her own best friend, and Jen talks casually to Kade’s assistant even at the beginning, and this assistant plays matchmaker for them by rearranging Kade’s schedule and cancelling/moving events constantly. While I understand how this was necessary and I enjoyed some of the banter between Kade-Holly and Jen-Jeremy, I still found it jarring.

Overall I’d give this book 3.5 stars, which is rounded up to 4. ( )

The only word to describe this book is: beautiful.

Read full review @https://www.bestlesficreviews.com/2019/01/its-not-date-by-heather-blackmore.html ( )

I think I was supposed to like the characters in this book, and I think that I failed horribly at that.

It's the story of Kade and Jen. Kade is a successful businesswoman and Venture Capitalist (sorta?). Jen has a small company that she's trying to get off the ground that has to do with Home Care for the elderly.

But, they first meet in Maui at a conference and spend an amazing day together. Unfortunately a year later Kade basically becomes Jen's boss.

They like each other, but, aside from the sorta boss/emplyee thing they have going, they're also Kade's baggage that they have to get through, and it's the whole set for sure. In addition to family baggage, there's also Kade's internal struggles and friend baggage too.

The plot was okay, but, my biggest problem was with the characters. They almost all seemed sorta disjointed. I could never really get in their heads. With the two main characters Jen was just too perfect, and Kade too broken, for me to care. And then there was Holly, Kade's assistant. I know I was supposed to think how she acted was cute or whatever, but, instead I never liked her, despite her part in Kade's story.

I just generally didn't like this book. Usually a novel may start rocky for me, and then slowly get better. But this one on the other hand sorta went the other way. Started awesome, and then slowly... well, turned not as awesome.

I was given this ARC by Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books. ( )