Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Truth be told, I don’t actually read a lot of Romance. It’s not really a genre I actively seek out, or stock my shelves with. Not because I see anything wrong with it, it’s just not a genre I tend to gravitate toward on the regular.
With this being said, however, I do have a handful of Contemporary Romance authors that I gel with quite well. I do seek out their stories and pick up everything they put out. Rachel Lynn Solomon is one of them.
I love RLS. It’s her character work and dialogue that really does it for me. I enjoy how well-rounded her characters are and how they aren’t perfect. Each one will have flaws, or personal challenges, that they are navigating through in addition to the romance elements.
Business or Pleasure follows Chandler Cohen, a ghostwriter, who after penning a memoir for a social media influencer has become unsatisfied with her current career path. She’s not sure how much more she can take of being pushed to the shadows and overlooked.
Leaving a business event feeling down on herself and unsure of her future, Chandler heads to a bar. Relatable.
It’s there she meets an extremely charming man. He seems interested and she definitely is. One thing leads to another, and the most awkward hook-up ensues.
His moves left her cringing, but he did try. Feeling unsatisfied, Chandler takes off while he’s asleep; less uncomfortable that way.
She blames her bruised ego from the night before for allowing it to get that far and then vows to just get on with her life. It’s too bad, he was really cute though.
Her ability to get on with her life starts sooner than she expected when she gets a call from her agent, offering her a new project, to ghostwrite a memoir for a C-list actor, Finn Walsh, best known for his role in a cult classic werewolf television show.
We’re talking full on CW here, people.
Finn spends most of his time now traveling around to various conventions, where his fans still come out in droves. He’s had some other work, direct to television movies, that kind of thing, but he’s sort of stuck in a rut of his own.
This memoir will allow him to tell his story. To help people to see who he really is, versus his character’s persona.
Chandler never watched the show, but she definitely knows Finn. The man of the awkward one-night stand. How can this possibly be her life?
Nevertheless, awkward moments aside, Chandler accepts the assignment. She’s really going to get to know Finn now, whether she wants to or not.
The two end up traveling together, as he keeps up with his convention commitments and works on his memoir at the same time. There’s a huge elephant in the room and they decide to talk about.
When Chandler admits their encounter was well short of mind-blowing, Finn is mortified. No one has ever told him that he wasn’t performing as well as he could, or should. Trusting her, Finn requests Chandler school him in the art of satisfaction and she’s more than ready to teach.
I thought this one was a lot of fun. I always enjoy Solomon’s characters and romance plots. This one is extra steamy and promotes a message of sex positivity, as well as open and honest communication amongst partners.
I thought the relationship between Chandler and Finn was cute, although I could have done with more focus on the emotional areas and less on their sexual relationship.
That’s purely personal taste though. This is still an above-average Romance read, IMO.
This story includes some mixed media elements that added to the fun, such as excerpts from Finn’s show. I love fandoms and those excerpts definitely helped to build out that vibe surrounding Finn.
As a couple, these two are off the charts cute. I actually felt there could have been a bit more tension, miscues, or miscommunication between them.
I know that sounds crazy to say, as we all always complain about the pointless miscommunications, but it does add a bit to the basic problem/resolution format.
There was a little bit of that, but this almost seemed too easy. Either way, it was a ton of fun, I am glad I made time for it and I can’t wait to see what RLS comes up with next!!
Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
Solomon’s characters and witty banter will keep me coming back each and every time. Well done!