From No.1 New York Times bestselling author of It Happened One Summer comes a romantic comedy about an accidental relationship between three smitten men . . . and one commitment phobic woman. Gabe makes me wish for lazy Sunday mornings in bed with coffee and the smell of cinnamon in the kitchen. Sweet. Tobias is Saturday night. Strobe lights and moaning and…that tipsy feeling, like if you have one more drink, you’ll be sorry.” “And me?” “You are…” I swallow. Being open and honest to someone about how I feel on the inside is harder than I remember. I’ve been out of practice so long. “You’re real life. The place where I’m in my pattern and feel safe. You’re not a detour, you’re a path forward.” We have Elise, a commitment phobic heroine who becomes the sheer obsession of not one, not two, but three men. And each of them was EVERYTHING. But of course one of them steals her ID badge from work (which she finds adorable, wtf) and they proceed to show up all together at her place of work and then all start getting it on in the break room. WTF. Overall I did mostly enjoy this and I think this is honestly more of a me problem in that RHs are very hit or miss for me and tend to work more when they are set far far far away from regular life in mafia or fantasy situations than in real life New York.

Happenstance on Apple Books ‎Happenstance on Apple Books

So. The entire book was wildly unbelievable, this includes the storyline outside the relationship too. There’s a reason almost all RH books have the men know each other prior to the woman being introduced, otherwise you have to create chemistry or camaraderie between everyone from the ground up. Elise Brandeis has never won a Pulitzer—and she never will. At least not while she’s delivering sandwiches at the Gotham Times, instead of working there as an actual reporter. Her only shot at seeing her byline in print is to prove to the no nonsense managing editor that she has a nose for news. And she’s got just the story to grab her elusive attention. I think this is the first contemporary RH I've read and if I'm really honest, RH at the best of times takes a lot of convincing on my part that it's even remotely believable. I mean in the current economic climate being with 3 guys DOES make sense but from a "do 3 hot dudes really like to share one woman?" I'm not so sure really and I'm not entirely sure this book convinced me of that. Porn,” he says from his elegant lean against the interior wall of the tram. “You know me from pornography, darling,” he drawls, his mouth spreading into a grin. “The good shit.”

Games

First off, a huge thank you to Tessa Bailey and the publisher for sending me the ARC for this book! Gabe is a sweet, kinda dumb, gigantic teddy bear. He’s also a premature ejaculator. TB thought this was important enough to be reminded of. Constantly. I have actually been to Roosevelt Island on the cable cars, so I enjoyed this bit, though sadly I didn't visit the abandoned smallpox hospital!) But the lines between me and these men have blurred so much, I have no idea which new territory we’ve entered."

Tessa Bailey - Ebook Library Tessa Bailey - Ebook Library

Before I get into it, while I still have your attention, I want to tell you the ONLY parts I enjoyed about this book. They’re called Banks, Tobias, and Gabe. If it wasn’t for these three characters I would have DNF-ed this book, period. But, no matter how much I enjoyed these characters, I do not think the love interests alone can save this book or make it worth recommending.

Elise is working in the kitchen delivering sandwiches to the reporters in the office and pitches some ideas to Karina, the managing editor, to have Karina give Elise a chance to write something. Elise has never gone to journalism school, and all the writers at Gotham Times have gone though journalism school and have a master’s degree and years of experience. She’s said and I quote “I’m not cut out for long hauls. I’d make it though one year of journalism school, tops. Forget about a master’s. I don’t have that kind of dedication inside me.” She got he job delivering sandwiches to the writers in hopes of skipping all the steps and just getting to where she wants to go. We have Tobias, the British porn star who hides his pain be behind smarmy sexual jokes. Gabe, the sweet cinnamon roll construction worker who is obsessed with Elise from first sight and with debilitating confidence issues from his previous marriage. And Banks, the quiet and intense rugby star turned locally famous rugby coach with mommy issues.