Mr. Wrong Number by Lynn Painter

e-Audio, 08:27:24
Narrated by: Callie Dalton & Andrew Eiden 
Release Date: March 1, 2022
Published by: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Read from: March 18-21, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: 
For Readers Interested In: Contemporary, Romance, Realistic Fiction, Adult

     Things get textual when a steamy message from a random wrong number turns into an anonymous relationship in this hilarious rom-com by Lynn Painter.
     Bad luck has always followed Olivia Marshall…or maybe she’s just the screw-up her family thinks she is. But when a “What are you wearing?” text from a random wrong number turns into the hottest, most entertaining—albeit anonymous—relationship of her life, she thinks things might be on the upswing….
     Colin Beck has always considered Olivia his best friend’s annoying little sister, but when she moves in with them after one of her worst runs of luck, he realizes she’s turned into an altogether different and sexier distraction. He’s sure he can keep his distance, until the moment he discovers she’s the irresistible Miss Misdial he’s been sort of sexting for weeks—and now he has to decide whether to turn the heat up or ghost her before things get messy.

*MY THOUGHTS*

When I heard about this I just knew it was going to be hilarious. I was looking forward to a kind of social media centered romance. But what I got was not the super fun book I was expecting.

Olivia gets a steamy message from an unknown number the day after she’s just left her old life behind. On a whim, she answers it. Unsuspecting Colin Beck has always thought of Olivia as his best friend’s little sister. They’ve always gotten on each others nerves, but now that they have to live together its worse. He tries to ignore her…. Until he realizes she’s the anonymous woman he’s been sexting for weeks. With a situation like this, where exactly do you go from there?

The FMC was terrible. I hate to say it like that, but she was. The synopsis says annoying, but she was weird. Like the whole napping on his bed without saying anything? That’s just weird. But anyway, I also didn’t like the way she jus lied for no reason. And why she kept doing all these things with huge consequences but had nothing happen to her, so she felt no remorse. Like ma’am, you almost burnt down a building…. You don’t feel some type of way about that? And then you lied about something huge to get a job that you KNEW you shouldn’t have. Why did you still take it? And further more, if you were going to use your nephews, why didn’t you use them? I have so many questions. She was just weird.

Now Colin Beck was also terrible. I liked him ay first. But then when he got to where he knew who she was and still said nothing? And that blind date? My blood was boiling. He slid further down my likeable meter. I don’t think there was enough swooning or standing up to his parents in the book for me to start liking him again.

I also didn’t like the ending. The person who “outed” her, what did they have to do with anything? I didn’t understand why they even said anything or how they even knew. Like were they social media stalking you? I know who it should have been, but I won’t put it here because spoilers. But if you ask, I can tell you lol

The spice was ok. It had one of my favorite scenes, “can’t wait so the counter will do.” It doesn’t really go into detail, but it also still shows sex on the page, so I would say the rating on my scale would be a 2.5. Not too vanilla, but also not too spicy.

This was just ok for me. I wanted so much more out of it as a fan of books that incorporate social media and cell phones. But this one missed the mark for me. Hopefully Painter’s next YA novel that comes out this year will work better for me.

Overall, I give this