e-Audio, 10:44:47
Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
Release Date: May 20, 2025
Published by: Hachette Audio
Read from: May 25, 2025
Stand-alone (?)
Source: Netgalley (I received an e-ALC from the publisher and Netgalley. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Sexual Content, Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual Harassment, Racism, Bullying, Infidelity, Alcohol, Toxic Relationship
For Readers Interested In: Adult, Audio, Contemporary Romance, Enemies to Lovers, Sparkly Covers, Realistic Fiction, Racial/Ethnic Diversity (South Asian Woman FMC), IR RomanceRival engineers dabble in personal chemistry while at a tropical company retreat in this smart, zippy romcom.
Engineer Trishara Malik once dreamed of being the first woman of color to smash the glass ceiling at WMC Purcell, but after years of dealing with white male privilege and blatant nepotism, she watches her hard-earned promotion go to her nemesis, Rafe Gallagher—the boss’s son. Teetering on the edge of burnout, Tris is stunned when she’s picked to attend WMC’s corporate leadership retreat in Hawaii. It’s a chance to revive her stalled career and compete for a coveted spot in an executive training program—plus, three weeks in paradise! The only downside? Rafe is her co-attendee.
Tris plans to avoid Rafe entirely, but when she arrives in Maui, a booking error has them stuck sharing the honeymoon suite. Sure, it’s not all torture. Rafe is a smoldering ten—okay fine, an eleven—but after years of competition, they can barely stand being in the same time zone. As they vie against each other during aptitude tests and team-building exercises, Tris begins to realize Rafe might not be the villain after all. With her dreams at stake, can she learn to trust the man who might have been standing in her corner all along?
*MY THOUGHTS*
I’m not gonna lie….. this helped solidify that I don’t actually like enemies to lovers books lol And it actually wasn’t his fault for once. Because being in her head and her saying he did XYZ when I knew she didn’t give him a chance to explain BECAUSE SHE WAS MEAN made me skin crawl. Stop making me agree with men lol But I DID love the feminist aspect of this. It wasn’t all bad, but I didn’t exactly have fun either if that makes sense.
Ok so the feminist aspect was her being in Tech and a woman. And Lordt I got so mad listening to all the BS she was going through. I was so annoyed with every single person. And I just KNEW that the person she was trying to get with was bad news. I’m so glad the author didn’t let her slip up just to make that other person mad. I was begging her not to touch him and making faces like she could hear me from here. In this aspect, I was so happy that she was such a strong and smart woman and showed that women in Tech deserve respect and people should treat them as such.
The thing I didn’t agree with was the way she was so frustrating to him but had no idea what his side was. I mean I get it, he was the bosses son. but did you even listen to him about anything when his dad was around? He didn’t even ACT like he liked his dad? I was so confused. Like did I read it wrong? I was so annoyed that she made me side with a man. Because why? And I hate to be a tad bit spoilery, but the sketchbook scene?! That made me crazy lol You don’t play with anyone’s art and creativity. And being all in his business when you’ve been so mean this whole time was weird. And then you just TOOK IT?! Absolutely effing not. I have cussed people out for reading some of my writing before I was ready to post the review or whatever I was writing. Idk, maybe it’s just me, but you don’t do that to someone. That’s why he said a yt woman’s name when you asked lol
The romance was cute once it finally got there. So basically like the Epilogue. I wish we had more time with them liking each other because I wanted her to redeem herself. But in that last chapter she was sweet and he was the golden retriever he had always been. And I was so proud of them. They definitely made it so that they could both get what they wanted. I love to see love win!
I keep trying enemies to lovers because I always think it’s something that I’m doing wrong. But anytime one makes me feel like the dude was in the right it makes me mad lol I think this one was a little too far out there for me. If you like enemies to lovers tho, give this one a try. You will like it more than I did.
Overall, I give this
