What is this book about? Let’s give the blurb its moment to shine as it is one of the good ones (i.e. it matches the content of the book well)
Sadie Shaw and Jonah Fisher have been academic rivals since they first crossed paths as undergraduates in the literature department thirteen years ago. Now that a highly coveted teaching opportunity has come up, their rivalry hits epic proportions. Jonah needs the job to move closer to his recently divorced sister and her children, while Sadie needs the financial security and freedom of a full-time teaching position.
When Sadie notices that the job offers partner hire, however, she hatches a plot to get them both the job. All they must do is get legally married. It’s a simple win-win solution but when sparks begin to fly, it becomes clear that despite their education, these two may not have thought this whole thing through.
Right from the jump, we learn that Jonah has long had a crush on Sadie. Over the years, he’s tried to bury it, but he’s never quite vanquished it. Sadie sees in Jonah a symbol of everything that is wrong in academia. She’s learning, however, that there are two Jonahs: the symbol version (Tweed Jonah) and the real Jonah (Cardigan Jonah) and she’s got a lot more time for the latter than the former.
Sadie describes herself as all fists and all teeth and it’s pretty accurate, although there is a soft underbelly there with some trauma around being abandoned. The Jonah we get in the book is solidly Cardigan Jonah – kind, smart and enjoys a good argument (provided it comes from a place of respect).
Their love, as it is revealed, is really sweet. The particular plot beats of a romance novel are there, but they’re richer because in their narration of their love (it’s dual POV), especially with Sadie, we get a lot of literary theory. I know that might sound like a turn off, but it is explained clearly and simply so it’s accessible to someone with absolutely no relevant background. It makes the emotions that much more rich and engaging. I particularly enjoyed the use of eucatastrophe.
On that topic, the setting of Australian academia was completely foreign to me which I also loved. It sounds like a brutal, unfeeling place and the best you can hope for in terms of good outcomes is permanent employment and no more than that. So as for the traditional markers of success, temper your expectations.
I would characterise this book as women’s fiction with a romantic plot. There are two central relationships: Sadie and her sister Francesca, and Sadie and Jonah. Sadie and Jonah is a standard romance plot with a HEA. The stuff with her sister though is a lot more complicated and Sadie spends a large chunk of the book sad. It’s hard to be swept away by a romance when one of the protagonists is sad for a huge stretch of it.
For this reason, the book felt unfinished or rather, like it ended too soon. From Jonah and Sadie’s perspective, they have their HEA. But with Francesca being such a big part of the book, the persistent sadness taints the experience of that HEA. In the author’s note there is a hint about ‘something to come’, which I assumed meant that there would be a book about Francesca, but the next one (thanks to some Instagram digging) is actually Jonah’s sister’s book. I do really hope that Francesca gets her own book so that the story can feel resolved for me.
Overall, this is enemies-to-lovers done right with the best reason for a marriage of convenience that I’ve ever read. The sadness, though, is still sitting with me the next day. For me, that type of emotion in a book really lingers while the sharp emotional high of an HEA is over pretty quickly. So do take that into account when considering this book. Mileage might vary.