A digital chance encounter that springs an online friendship that slowly crosses the borders of the digital realm into real life, bringing along the bazillion-dollar question, what do you do when you meet The One at the most impossibly wrong time?
There’s so much going on in Anna’s life. Teaching countless hours at the studio and nurturing the three major relationships of her life – her group of tight-knit friends, all while attempting to not screw up this whole adulthood thing leaves very little time to waste on yet another dating app. At this point, a relationship is off the menu. Being “self-partnered” is more than enough.
A serious relationship has been crossed off Liam Brody’s list of goals, at least for the foreseeable future. Completing his residency and becoming a trauma surgeon is his only priority. Casual relationships, his friends, and books are the only things he’s willing to lose his precious free time to.
When an accidental email starts a deep online connection, both Liam and Anna dive in with zero concern . . . because there’s really no harm in getting close to someone who you’ll never meet in real life, right?
Wrong.
When a turn of events brings their “safe” virtual connection to an unexpected face-to-face, Anna and Liam learn their online chemistry pales in comparison to the real deal. A realization that brings along the bazillion-dollar question – what do you do when you meet The One at the most impossibly wrong time?
*by Mist@ke is book 1 in a standalone series with connected characters, but independent storylines.
Review
Neither Anna nor Liam have time for a relationship. He's busy doing his residency, she's on the verge of owning her own fitness studio. A mistyped email address leads to an unexpected connection but Liam's life plan doesn't include a serious girlfriend for at least another few years. Maybe it's better they stay as friends.
It was fun watching Anna and Liam banter their way from penpals to friends to lovers. The slow progression let them build upon all the little conversations and connections until they made a believable couple.
I really liked Liam and could understand where he's coming from even though his insistence on following his well-defined plan nearly derails them completely. His reservations came from a place of wanting the best for Anna and stemmed from a catastrophic failed relationship (though I don't think he should take the blame for his ex's depression but that's another conversation). Apart from his reluctance to commit he sounds practically perfect (and he gets bonus points for his honesty regarding the no-commitment boundary).
Anna was more difficult to like because her emphasis on healthy living sometimes felt like I was being preached at by a well-meaning but misguided and judgy influencer. For instance, she cleans yoga mats with cleansing essential oils and refers to canned cheese as poison in a canister. Most frustratingly, her idea of bare minimum makeup is mascara and blush which is two products more than the actual minimum. However, I did love her friendship group as the supported and challenged each other through trials, tribulations, and drunk fishing (sounds fun but possibly a very poor idea in practice).
The book could do with a little extra editing particularly in terms of continuity. The most egregious error comes early on, when Liam and Anna bond over a Tolkien quote. Supposedly. There was no discernible Tolkien quote in that email. I'm willing to be wrong and hope this would be fixed in an update.
Overall, I found this a charming and funny novel with an engaging premise with a few hitches in the execution.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley, all opinions are my own.
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