Published: 9th April 2018
Source: Netgalley & Preordered
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
My Rating:
How many coupons does it take to fall in love?
Flick Dalgetty knows what she wants and how to get it, which is why she’s about to start her dream job in Washington. Until then, she needs somewhere to crash, and Tom O’Connell’s place is her sole option. He’s a repressed, antisocial ogre…but man can he kiss.
For Tom, being around Flick is like being too close to the sun. Her untamed energy is overwhelming, and he’d spontaneously combust if he had to live with her long-term. Housemates with benefits—and an expiration date—suits him just fine.
Then Flick gives Tom thirty coupons, each entitling him to one obligation-free activity, from bowling and bubble-bathing to morning delight, removing all the guesswork from being incompatible partners and shifting their fling into high gear.
Now the problem is their arrangement is drawing to a close, and they might be falling in love—and there wasn’t a coupon for that.
I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Did I ever tell you guys about my love for Ainslie Paton’s book The Love Experiment? I think I did. I will search my blog and show you I did because that was a great surprise romance from an author I hadn’t heard of. I now follow her on Twitter and think she’s a genius and that was after one book. The second book in the series was one I was seriously excited for. I mean, a couple who are opposites who fall in love doing all these tasks in these coupons? It sounds weird and I want to read it.
I will start off with a grumble. I am not spoiling anything by saying there are love coupons involved in this book, it’s in the damned title. You would think the love coupon element of the story would get introduced within the first third of the book, wouldn’t you? Yeah, not so much. My biggest grumble about this book was the fact that the titular Love Coupons aren’t actually part of the story until pretty much the second half of the book so it detracted a little from the story as I kept waiting for those damned coupons to crop up. That is my biggest grumble about this entire book, though. I just wanted to put that out there to start off with because the rest is gonna be all good stuff.
First off, Tom and Flick were so damn adorable and I want to just hold the pair close and protect them from the world. Flick is this little ball of energy. She’s always doing something/saying something/going somewhere. She’s not the person who sits still and quiet for a night, she’s a whirlwind and force of nature. Whilst Tom is her complete opposite. He has a plan and he sticks to it. He knows where he wants to be today, tomorrow, next week, next year. His life is mapped out and he has no time to divert course. He is set. Flick has a plan, but she isn’t as fussed about how she gets there (just as long as she gets there, and she is almost there goddammit).
So, two opposites who, through a weird sequence of events, end up being roommates. Roommates under duress mind you. Tom doesn’t want anything to do with Flick because she’s too damn messy… even if he doesn’t end up eyeing her up from time to time, he’s totally not interested. And Flick has convinced herself her only interest in Tom is that she finds it fun to rile him up. They are both totally wrong and they took forever about realising but they were adorable getting to that realisation. That's really what made the book. These two adorable idiots being in denial and falling in love until they get smacked upside the head and realise how stupid they’ve been.
Spoilers may be ahead in this paragraph so skip this one if you’re concerned and go to my summarising thoughts below. So the best part of this book though was Flick’s determination to head to her new job doing exactly what she always wanted in Washington. She was only ever going to live with Tom temporarily while she finishes up her notice period with her old job. Her time with Tom was gonna be a fling, even if she did get certain feelings while sleeping with him. And when they began the coupons it had an expiration date. It could never be serious. She was never going to be willing to give up her perfect job and she doesn’t ever apologise for that fact. She is determined to follow her own career plan and what I loved she could care about her career and there’s no shame in it. And when it comes down to it it’s Tom who sacrifices his set plan. He gives up things for her when so often it’s women who seem to have to make sacrifices. Can we all celebrate a woman who gets the job she wants and the man? Yeah boy, I’m down for women doing they’re thing and getting love out of it too. So yeah, my spoiler celebration is over.
In the end, this was an excellent romance. I loved how Tom and Flick were opposites and through a stroke of luck they came together to be temporary roommates and ended up falling for each other too. They’d been working and socialising together for ages but through chance, they fell for each other and I loved reading it. I wasn’t sure about either at first, but I think because they are so opposite they balanced each other out and so when you read about them laughing together, having fun, dancing on tables and having fun you couldn’t help but love them. I may have wanted the coupons to arrive sooner but every part of this book worked for me. They slowly fell in love and the coupons were what made them both realise that fact so they couldn’t come along too soon. I definitely recommend I loved it.
An awesome contemporary romance I cannot recommend enough. I definitely need to read more by her. Have you read this?
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